If you spend much time online, you’ve probably noticed that more companies use videos as part of their marketing campaigns. A video marketing campaign is the wave of the future, but it can also result in big expenses if you allow it to. Not all videos are as successful as others.
People like videos — 45 percent of online users watch over an hour of video on Facebook and YouTube every week, and about 500 million hours are watched on YouTube daily. Videos are easy to digest and break up the monotony of written content. They are well worth a small investment in your business.
You don’t have to wait until you have a huge marketing campaign to dive into video marketing, though. You can start today on a budget. Here are nine tips for running successful video marketing campaigns even if you don’t have much money:
1. Show the Benefits
Even if you create a low-cost video on your own, be sure to focus on the benefits of doing business with you. Highlight your product in the best light possible. Make people hungry to try what you’re selling. Think about the ways your average customer uses your product or service and show that.
Take a look at this simple video created by Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in Columbus, Ohio. The video simply plays upbeat music and shows an ice cream sandwich being built. As the chocolate is drizzled over the scoops of ice cream, the viewer’s mouth waters. All the videos are in this same tone.
2. Enlist Help
Talk to everyone you know. More than likely, you have a budding videographer or expert in your family or friends circle. Trade products or services and get them to develop your video marketing strategy and help you produce a few high-quality videos to get started.
3. Highlight Customers
Customer testimonials have long been a powerful marketing tool, and they work particularly well for video marketing. To find the right customer to highlight, determine who your longest, most loyal and best customer is. Start there and tell their story and how your product or service helps that person or business.
HubSpot highlights the company ShoreTel in this testimonial video where ShoreTel shares what it loves about the service and how it’s helped its company grow. The shots of the interior of the office and one of the senior managers at the company are fairly simple.
4. Stick to a Budget
When you’re on a tight budget, there isn’t a lot of flex room in your spending. If you choose to hire an outside company to create the video for you, agree to a budget beforehand and insist on sticking to it.
5. Know Your Audience
One of the biggest keys to a successful video marketing campaign is knowing the audience you’re speaking to. Once you know your target audience, you’ll better understand what they care about, so you can address that in your videos. People remember how a video makes them feel more than they remember whether it was professionally produced or not.
Always does a good job of tapping into what its target audience cares about. It understands that women are empowering their daughters to be strong women. With that in mind, it set out to produce this video showing that girls can do anything they set their minds to.
6. Start With a Template
If you can’t afford to hire someone to create the video for you, grab a free video template and use it to make your own. While it might not be quite as personalized as if you created the video from scratch, you can still come up with a marketing video that grabs the user’s interest. Starting with a template ensures you don’t miss any vital elements you need to cover in a good marketing video.
7. Tell a Story
A good promotional video tells a story the viewer can follow. The story should be entertaining. If it evokes emotion, even better. Think about the stories of those you serve as your customer base. How has your product helped improve their lives or perspective on things? Now, figure out how to turn this into a story that depicts that.
Lenova does a great job of creating a fictional storyline based on a fictional character — Jane the scattered multitasker. Her personality is similar to many other office workers you’ve likely known over the years. The user meets Jane, sees her struggles up close and personal, and then learns how Lenova solves this problem for her.
8. Use a Call-to-Action
Don’t just fade out after the video, but add a call-to-action (CTA) that tells the viewer what to do next. This can be a simple website address, a phone number or even directions to follow your business on YouTube for more details. The key is to figure out what action you’d like the viewer to take and ensure you state it clearly in action words at the end of the video.
9. Analyze Like Crazy
When you’re just getting your business started and you don’t have a lot of funds, you often have to invest time instead. Focus on analyzing how well your videos are working, determining where they get the most response and figuring out what changes will make them even more successful. Over time, you’ll recognize patterns for your viewers and your videos will have a better return on investment (ROI) each time you create a new one.
Successful Video Marketing
Video marketing isn’t going anywhere and is likely to become even more popular in the coming years. Take advantage of this wave to reach new customers and sell additional products to your existing customers. Successful video marketing is about trying new things, seeing what works, making adjustments and moving forward with a solid plan for success.