Starting a small business can be tricky, the first and foremost itâs obvious that only a small budget is applied. To expect your business to go well with no fantastic amount to promote, is like fishing without any baits⊠and hooks. It is then common for small business owners struggling their first few years to close the sales, let alone having fast ROI. Sadly, itâs also not foreign when most businesses donât last their critical 5 years.
However, in recent years video marketing is introduced to help small business owners elevate their sales with a tight budget in a light-hearted way.Â
Video marketing, in a simple definition, is an engaging type of marketing that relies on interactive videos to promote a brand and products or services of a company. It comes in many types like product-demo, testimonials, explainer video, tutorials, and many more that involve the companyâs attribute to get more exposure.Â
Unlike other marketing strategy tools, video marketing is now at its peak not only for regenerating more sales, but also having its advantage in this internet era. Like, obviously. People spend almost 4 hours a day scrolling at something in their phone, watching something viral on social media; and while they are at it â marketers see this situation as a chance to introduce their brand and it works!
So, now after getting to know how advantageous video marketing is, letâs check out the perks of video marketing for your small business.
1. Raising Brand Awareness
Suppose you are a small business owner who is just starting, how do people know your presence or that your business exists? Technically you will do a hella promotion to introduce your business like having an exceptional grand opening to the extent of giving an 80% discounted price for 3 days.
Well, it is not wrong â never be. But, what if people stop coming after 3 days? I know, you will take whatever it is to put your sign high âHEY, WE ARE YOUR LOCAL SHOEMAKER â WE ARE HERE!â to keep your business running.
 In this case, video marketing will do its job to help your business stay on board and give you more exposure across places. Remember how the internet works nowadays? Get your story crafted in a scandalous (positively) video â and boom! Your chance of getting viral is now in your hand.
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2. Building a Strong Connection With Customers
Going viral or getting million views is not the only aim you have from video marketing.. It is also about maintaining a connection with customers, because oh, well â when something enormous goes viral means something hazardous can be too.  Â
In 2017, Pepsi & Kendall Jenner went viral for its controversial ads where it mimicked protests that were vaguely similar to the Black Lives Matter movements. It went downhill just the moment the 2-minute campaign was released. It was a big loss for big companies like Pepsi that an estimated $100 million was budgeted for this campaign.
Like 2-sided knives, if you do well with your video marketing campaign, a strong follower of your brand is actually imaginable. For instance, you can introduce testimonial videos of your product or have a partnership with a strong community in your area, this way people will perceive your brand as the option for their needs.
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3. Driving More Traffic to the Website
Thereâs another not-so-tricky way to get your web traffic high: put a video in your pages. You know, Google loves it when you have interesting pages with related images and videos instead of a bulky text. It wonât bore your readers in the first place, and make them stay longer on your website which is great.
The longer duration your visitors stay on your website, the more Google loves your website â and most likely gives you a good ranking on the search engine. But, how does it have to do with video marketing?
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Remember when it went viral? The more people view your video, the more curious they are, and subsequently, searching for your website is their very first instinct to do â like, whatâs all of these about? What is this company or product?
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Theyâre curious and want to know more about you.Â
And your website, aside from social media accounts, is the only place to collect the information. As a result? More high-quality and organic traffic!
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4. Increase Sales
As you may guess, I write this in order: increasing brand awareness, building customer relationships, driving web traffic, and lastly the thing you expect the most is to increase more sales. Yes, video marketing can do these for you albeit not in a direct way.
It merely goes like this: every video marketing has a Call to Action (CTA), a simple way to ask viewers what to do next, included usually at the end of the video. Successful video marketing can lead to a higher conversion rate that results in more sales.
CTA is very important, it intrigues people to take action, to visit the website for example. If video marketing can convey the message and build an emotional relationship with viewers, it is more likely they share the message with a broader audience.Â
Itâs because they feel represented or the product can solve their problems. These viewers will remember their closest ones who share the same problems and values to âtry outâ this product. And this is the way how a single video marketing can boost your deals.
Conclusion: Your Turn!
Video marketing has been widely popular since ages, as it includes visual and sound to deliver its message â added with todayâs technology, it goes beyond platforms and places. Your chance of getting recognized for your small business is very high if you opt to use this tool.Â
Also, video marketing isnât exclusively for big companies with a big budget. Even if youâre a small business owner with a shoestring budget, you can still steal the show with compelling video marketing campaigns.Â
This type of marketing strategy has many types of video that you can use to represent your small business. Understanding company value to a greater audience is a must check before onboarding on one. Although a big investment in your video marketing is a good start, it wonât guarantee you a massive result. Instead, try to invest more in your value and how it brings solutions to the audience you approach.
 It may start with something little, such as a little brand recognition to get a low conversion rate, you can slowly build steady audiences and get their trust. And if you finally understand how video marketing works, then it is your time to be the talk of the town and get more sales!
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 Author
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).Â
Twitter: @breadnbeyond
Email: andre@breadnbeyond.comÂ
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreoentoro/