Ways to make Video work for your Business
The festive season has always demonstrated the power of video to engage and interact with a wide range of customers.
On one extreme you have corporate big players, such as John Lewis and Sainsbury's, spending £millions to create heartfelt video content in the hope that it sways consumers purchasing decisions in their favour.
Advances in technology over recent years mean that all businesses can utilise the medium of video to some degree to bolster their business. For instance if you are in a more DIY mind-set, you don’t need to look further than what’s in your pocket- since most modern smartphones are capable of shooting in HD. It goes without saying that the strategy and execution will be different to that of the companies mentioned above, though that’s not to say won’t see similar relative results.
What is more, it is easy to distribute the video content you produce by uploading to platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. These platforms render videos to all types of devices at very little or no monetary cost, leaving few reasons against at least seeing whether video can work for your business.
I’ll go through a few ways businesses have used video to great success and hopefully this will spark a few ideas for where it could work in your business!
Going Viral
Step in Thorne Travel - a travel agency in Scotland - for what is probably the best advert I've watched in 2014 (and arguably Scotland's greatest export this year)*
The owner has claimed sales were boosted 110% as a result of publishing this video- so much so that she has had to cancel annual leave to cope with demand! This would have massively raised their profile in both B2B and B2C respects. The ‘There is no such thing as bad publicity’ saying certainly rings true, and by no means does this video reflect badly on their business, though a certain amount of tact is needed to pull off similar success for your business. In terms of the content of the video, it’s actually pretty informative about what they offer, without being too ridiculous in the sense that it discredits who they are as a business. To make quite a big generalisation, British people are good at self-deprecating humour which also happens to be a feature of this and other viral success stories, so for many reading this it may come off naturally. I recommend this book if you want to learn how information goes viral in a business context.
*(They have also supposedly finished filming a second advert- which I will be thoroughly looking forward to seeing in 2015!)
The Testimonial
If you want to do something more low-key, then having one of your happy customers talk about how great you are on camera will enhance your credibility as a business, bringing trust and confidence to prospective clients. This is a safe option that will be more suited for B2B orientated industries.
Above is a testimonial we had made by Bluechew - a media and advertising agency - who have produced some great video examples to help promote products and services.
Instead of having a customer talk about their experience with you, you could tout your own offering in a subtle way by creating helpful how-to videos that demonstrate unique and creative ways your product or service can help your target markets lives.
Creating Connections
For 99% of other businesses who cannot compete with corporations, who are slowly becoming media outlets producing movie-standard content, there is still a need to forge connections with customers. It is widely accepted that video is the next best thing to being in person, with this statement being more applicable in B2C industries.
If you’re already familiar with blogging - e.g. sharing helpful tips and advice, updates on the ‘goings on’ in your business - then you could consider taking the next step up (or skip a step if you haven’t written blogs before!). This is by putting the same content in the form of video – ‘Vlogging’.
Producing content in various forms will help capture the attention of your customer base, keeping your brand and offering relevant. A way of doing this is mentioned above: creating and sharing how-to videos that showcase your expertise. Another creative, yet relatively straightforward way of doing this is by making 7-second looping videos by using the Vine app on your phone. This free service is owned by Twitter, and has been used to great effect by many businesses .
Getting started
If you are convinced of the value video can provide to your business marketing efforts but do not want to invest too much money or seek the services of a video marketing agency, then a good way to get started is by using your smartphone. If you are serious about going down this route then it would be worth considering purchasing a tripod to make your videos seem more professional.
As a medium of getting information across, video is ultimately far more engaging and therefore can be one of the more useful marketing tools available to your business.
