10 Video Marketing Best Practices for Small Business Owners
20 January 2023
Author, Aaron Mead
Video marketing is a powerful tool for business owners looking to reach and engage their target audience. By creating and distributing relevant video content, you can promote your products and services, increase brand awareness, and drive conversion rates. Compared with other forms of marketing, video marketing can be more effective at generating leads and encouraging customer engagement. To help you get the most out of your video marketing strategy, check out these 10 best practices from Bottom Line Strategy Group.
1. Create Compelling and Relevant Video Content
Video is an important element in any content marketing plan. When creating marketing videos, consider basic content marketing concepts such as knowing your audience and keeping their goals in mind. This will help you create video content that resonates with your ideal viewer. To learn more about creating effective marketing content, consult online resources such as CornerstoneContent.com.
2. Leverage Social Media to Distribute Your Videos
Before creating a marketing video, think about where you’re going to publish it. This will help you better understand your audience and how to tailor your video to their needs and wants. Social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube are great for distributing marketing videos. You can also add videos to your Google business listing to enhance your professionality and give potential customers a visual representation of your business.
3. Use Cost-Effective Video Marketing Tactics
Video marketing doesn’t have to be as expensive as it sounds. If you’re on a tight budget, stick to short videos and do all your filming in-house instead of hiring a production company. You can also use stock footage to add visual interest to videos instead of filming everything yourself. Stock footage subscriptions are inexpensive and provide access to countless royalty-free HD videos.
4. Use Video to Tell a Story
Storytelling is one of the most effective ways to capture the attention of your viewers. Come up with a story that will resonate with your target audience. For example, you could base your story around a common problem that your product solves or an overarching mission that drives your company forward. Vidyard explains that focusing on big-picture themes may be more effective than product-focused videos.
5. Showcase Customer Testimonials
Customer testimonial videos are great for highlighting the solutions offered by your product or service in a way that feels organic and genuine. Showing actual customers talking about your business is a great way to earn the trust of your audience! Couple this with snippets of how your product works and statistics of the results, and your viewers will be sold.
6. Optimize Your Videos for Search Engines
Including videos on your website can help boost your search engine rankings, but only if you pay attention to search engine optimization (SEO). Use relevant keywords in the description of your video, include transcripts of the audio, use closed captions in your video, and optimize the video thumbnail, so people understand what information is included in the video when they come across it in search results.
7. Use Strong Calls to Action
Every marketing video should include a call to action—a statement letting your viewers know what you want them to do next. Make it clear and specific. Only ask your viewers to do one thing, like subscribe to your newsletter, visit your website, or make a purchase.
8. Utilize Interactive Elements
According to Convince & Convert, interactive elements can make your video more immersive and engaging. They can also help you collect data about your audience! Try including interactive elements in your videos in the form of clickable links, surveys, and interactive overlays like information icons that allow the viewer to learn more by hovering or clicking.
9. Set a Video Marketing Budget
A clear video marketing budget will help you allocate your resources and track your results to ensure your efforts pay off. Think about how much you have to spend on your video and what portion of this budget you’ll need to allocate toward production costs. Remember to set aside some of your budget for distributing and promoting your finished video!
10. Collaborate with Influencers
When creating marketing videos, collaborating with influencers can give your videos a boost. For one thing, influencers have a large following on social media and can help you reach a wider audience. Collaborating with influencers can also increase your credibility, improve engagement, and boost sales. Plus, influencer marketing can be very cost-effective!
If you’re looking for new ways to engage and convert your audience, try video marketing! Using techniques like storytelling, interactive elements, and money-saving stock footage, you can create compelling videos that drive results. As video continues to be a dominant force in the digital world, marketers should find ways to incorporate video into their content strategy.
Are you looking for help marketing your business? Bottom Line Strategy Group offers a variety of marketing services, including marketing automation, SEO, and data analysis. Call 503-208-5116 today so we can discuss your project!