5 ways smart businesses use video
Marketing your business with video has never been more important nor as easy as it is today. It’s the hottest way to market your business and particularly relevant now in the ever-expanding environment of social media.
YouTube is the biggest search engine on the planet behind Google. It’s so ubiquitous that it’s hard to imagine a world without YouTube, yet it was only founded in February 2005. The reach you can achieve with video is far and wide, yet we are really just at the beginning of this revolution in marketing and self-publishing.
Here are 5 ways smart businesses use video and why you should be using video to market and promote your business today.
Customers get it.
We’ve all been watching TV since the 50s and we go to the movies in droves. It is a very familiar medium that everyone can relate to. Whereas previously it was the domain of filmmakers, now everyone has a video camera in their pocket. The downside to this is that we’re all conditioned to watching high-quality productions. Movies cost millions to make with sound and visuals that are amazing.
Engaging a professional for your video marketing will help you to create videos that fit customer expectations. If you’ve ever seen a video online or on TV with poor sound quality, you know just how much this stands out.
Video engages the senses of both sight and sound…
…whereas traditional print advertising engages only the eyes. Sound adds an incredible depth to visuals, just try watching TV without the sound. Obviously, you won’t hear what’s being said, but lots of the emotion, tension, suspense and feeling of a production comes from the sound track used. When marketing your business with video, not only can customers hear your message, but the music and sound effects you employ can really have an impact. Just think about those TV jingles you instantly associate with certain brands or ad campaigns.
A picture paints a thousand words.
This saying is often used when talking about photography. With video marketing it’s the same but super charged. A video is actually a series of pictures strung together, usually 25 or 30 per second, creating the illusion of movement; hence the term ‘motion pictures‘. Our eyes and brain see this as a the fluid motion experience we call video. So you are effectively getting 25 x 1000 words painted per second. Plus you can use actual words as well. We’ve been fascinated with the motion picture video since it was first introduced in the late 1800’s, and now, that is more accessible than ever for you to use for marketing your products and services.
Video allows you to articulate a very concise and targeted message…
…which can then be replicated over and over again. This is one of the great strengths of using video to educate customers or even to train staff. You can get your message right and on point, and then know that it won’t change at all when it’s being delivered. This is particularly handy in training situations where company messages or procedures are often filtered through the person delivering the message.
Here at All Is Light, we have created lots of training videos for clients. When trainers get together, they are often surprised by how different they deliver company procedures and policies. With video, you can get it right once, and then know this is the message that will be delivered. Video can deliver consistent and reliable messages that you have full control over.
Video is an amazing way to connect with your customers.
This is really the number 1 reason why video is so powerful. It’s a medium that helps connect us with our clients. They get to see, hear and feel you. Customers from all corners of the globe can make a connection with you as the business owner or staff. A great example of this is what Skype and other VOIP services have done to the humble phone call. It’s amazing to have a conversation with a friend on the other side of the world and see them on your screen at the same time. The level of connection is so much greater – it almost feels like they are in the room with you.
So by using video to market your business, it’s like stepping into a customer’s home and having a conversation with them. It’s an amazing concept we couldn’t even imagine just a few years ago.
So these are just 5 ways smart businesses use video, and why video is so hot right now and why businesses are focusing so much time and effort on marketing this way. It doesn’t have to be a full-on movie production either. A simple and honest message can be just as powerful as explosions and visual effects. The main thing is to start connecting with your clients and customers and see what sort of impact it can have on your business.
I will leave you with this little morsel of information: we now consume well over 1 billion hours of video on YouTube every day! Facebook gets over 100 million video hours viewed daily. This is staggering and is just two of the many different channels people use to watch videos.
The world is ever-evolving and changing, and video is now an integral part of the fabric of how people consume information. The great news is, it’s never been easier or more cost-effective to be part of this and get your message and business out to the world.