Despite video being the fastest and most direct way to consume information, it’s pretty common that small businesses focus the majority of their marketing resources on direct mailer marketing or the written copy on their website.
I’ve thought for a long while about why this might be the case.
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What is Video Marketing?
Everybody seems to intellectually understand that video is important and a substantially more powerful medium than written text, but there is still a hesitation to step in front of the camera and make some movie magic.
Because we typically only fear the “unknowns” of life, I’m going to do my best today to shine my flashlight on the conundrum of video marketing for a small business and eliminate as many of those unknowns as possible.
Fannit is not just a small business video production company, we’re an all-in-one team of marketers with broad perspective on how to not only get your message out there.
But the key is to get it resonating with your ideal audience.
Let’s look at a few ways you can start producing your own small business videos.
More helpful reading:
8 Tips to Get the Best Drone Photography Production Services for Marketing
Alright, I’ll be the first to admit I have a disdain for how overused the word “story” has become in the marketing space.
Yes, human beings communicate through story.
I think many small businesses and (large corporations for that matter) have become obsessed with merely having the story, rather than telling one that’s truly compelling.
But, many shining small business video examples focus on the story of how the small business came to be.
Think about it — the best Marvel movies are the origin story ones, right?
We all want to know how Tony Stark became Iron Man.
Hard as they tried, Marvel never really outdid the original Iron Man…
But instead, focus on how YOU became the owner of a successful small business.
That’s the story that people want to hear — not some marketers version of what you THINK they want to hear.
Here are some things you can cover in your video.
How you got your start, tell the history
Your mission to your customers and clients
Your vision for the company in the future
We’ve done this ourselves at Fannit with each of our partners providing their own account of how the company got started, in a simple interview fashion.
It was a fun and relaxed way to get a more personal look at who we are as a company, and provides an excellent small business video example in the process.
These are but just a few of the things that the high-energy Billy Mays mentions in his 2-minute small business video.
Chopping meats for salads
Chopping nuts to top ice cream sundaes
Chopping vegetables for cooking
Chopping up herbs
Explains how it works, very easy to use
Explains how easily it cleans up
These are great ways in which he highlights all of the products’ capabilities.
At a certain point, Billy goes full blown salesman and begins offering add-on products and other special offers if you “Act Now.”
By no means am I encouraging you to emulate Billy Mays, but I think he is a great example of how the right level of enthusiasm about your product or service coupled with great information can lead to some highly successful video marketing for your small business.
TIP: In order to convey energy on camera, remember that the emotion you feel while speaking needs to be slightly exaggerated in order to be picked up on camera. Most people’s natural emotion on video is fairly neutral – be energetic.
Principles to Shoot Video By
I’ve been asked a lot about what leads to success in creating a marketing video for small businesses.
These are what I believe to be the three most important tenets:
Information that will provide value to your audience – can they do something with the information you are presenting?
An honest look at you and your team’s’ personality
A decent quality camera (iPhone or better), some decent lighting, and clear audio capture
The content and the demeanor of the video are two things that you can do that don’t require you to have the fanciest equipment.
It’s also important to have a clear microphone capture — bad audio in a video is more likely to turn away a viewer than bad quality image.
If I haven’t quite satisfied your curiosity around video marketing for your small business, contact us today to learn more.
