TheMiddleShelf.com

Online video is a great tool for building brand awareness.  It a great tool to reach new customers and increase sales.  You can spend a lot of money on a sophisticated video marketing campaign, or you can pick up your camcorder and do it yourself.  In fact, an unpretentious and honest-looking video  may be more effective than a slickly produced commercial product.

You can place your video on YouTube free or post it on your website.  The latter gives you more control and eliminates the possibility that your competitors’ videos and ads will show up next to yours.

What should your online video be about?  Will it be easy to do?  Businesses can promote themselves via three themes:

Showing what you do. The what-we-do video basically features your company’s elevator pitch – your “about us” page on your website.  Introduce yourself, how long you have been in business and the services or types of products you offer.  Keep it short – two minutes max.  Finally, tell customers how to work with you:  online, at your shop or both.

Testimonials:  short and sweet. The secret to good testimonials is to keep them concise.  Find the three most important reasons a customer loves you and shoot three separate videos.  Then do the same with another customer.  It is more interesting to have separate customers listing different reasons they recommend you than a series of customers all saying the same thing.

You’re the expert. How-to videos are effective for improving your search results on Google and other search engines.  What are the top questions your customers ask?  Those should be the subjects of your how-to videos.  For example, if you sell gloves, discusss how to select the right size.  If you fix washers and dryers, explain how to keep them clean.

Let videos help tell your company’s story.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how valuable a video could be for your business.

Photo Credit:  Torley