Video marketing matters to small businesses
Video marketing has tended to be something big brands and businesses do, not something for small businesses. But times have changed. Small business video marketing is becoming more commonplace, with low points to entry (both in terms of technical know-how and costs), and its impact on business results being clearer to see.
5G versus 4G technology
You may have only become aware of 5G recently, but it’s been in development for a while. In short it’s the broadband network and technology we all use. It’s gone from 3G, to 4G to 5G (the fifth generation of the technology). The main thing though about 5G is that it is fast. Crazy fast! It can be up to 100 times faster than your current 4G. That means we all will be able to consume rich media content, anywhere, at any time, seamlessly.
Video, streaming services and other similar rich content, can and will be consumed in the same way as text is now. It will be that fast, easy to access and reliable. Coverage isn’t yet widespread, but it is getting there and being actively worked on by all service providers.
The technology will mean video becomes the standard content we consume.
Video marketing delivers a good return on investment
The performance stats for video speaks for themselves:
- Viewers of videos retain 95% of a message that they watched, compared to 10% from reading alone
- Social media videos generate 1,200% more shares than text and image content
- An email with a video in it can increase click-through rates by 96%
- Blog posts that include video, attracts 3 times as many inbound links than blogs without video.
It’s little wonder then that 51% of marketers worldwide say that video is the content that generates the best return on investment for them. Also, most pertinently for small business owners, 84% said video had helped them generate leads.
With the technology and skills becoming more prolific, the barriers to entry for small businesses to video marketing are eroding. And frankly, why shouldn’t they have a bit of this marketing action!
Video marketing strategy
As with most things in life, planning, preparation and consideration are needed so that there is a strategy behind your small business video marketing to ensure you get returns like that above.
- Who is your intended audience?
- What are the audience’s concerns, questions and opportunities to delight them?
- What is the action/outcome you want them to take from the video?
- Where will the video be hosted and promoted?
- Is the video going to be standalone or part of an integrated campaign?
- And more like this!
Of course, you can use an experienced, high-quality video marketing agency, such as our good selves, to put a strong and successful video marketing strategy in place for you. For example, videos that are less than 2 minutes long get the most engagement on social media. It’s these types of insights that can make or break your video marketing campaign.
Cost-effectiveness and high-quality production
The return on investment, coupled with the technology involved makes video marketing for small businesses much more affordable and achievable. But there are more things you can do with your video production to increase the return on investment.
Using an agency like Growth by Design, gives you access to experienced videographers but without the full film studio costs.
You can also use professional voiceover artists for your videos to get your messages across powerfully. Although you may be tempted to do the voiceover yourself, it’s best to leave these things to the professionals otherwise you risk falling at the final hurdle to save a few pennies and jeopardise the bigger return on investment.
Professional voiceover artists
Our good friends at Chatterbox Voices are a professional voice-over service, with access to over 1,000 voices in 80 different languages. So regardless of your audience, they can tailor and reflect the nuances, inflections and ensure the video is culturally relevant.
Many businesses go on ‘presentation training’ courses with cultural institutions because artists know how to project, perform and get a message across powerfully. They do this with emotion, engage with an audience, bring scripts to life and make the audience feel things and be motivated into action. That is not something an amateur voiceover artist is capable of doing.
Videos are an embodiment of your brand brought to life for people to see. If there’s background noise, it’s rough around the edges or has inconsistent sound levels, it sets an expectation and standard around the quality of your work. Although you may be able to do a video on your iphone, nothing beats an experienced sound engineer and equipment. There will be a slight additional cost, but the difference to the return you get, more than makes up for it.
Another key reason for using professional services with your video, such as a voice artist, is the credibility it gives your business. For videos such as explainers, testimonials and ads, it humanises your business and means the attention of your prospects is well and truly grabbed.
Adding video marketing to your marketing mix
Video marketing may have felt like something out of reach, or not necessary for small businesses, this is no longer the case. It can deliver an excellent return on investment.
Although it may be tempting to try and increase the ROI by saving a little bit here and there in the planning and production (doing bits yourself etc), from our experience, it rarely pays off for the business.
Lower quality, more often than not, leads to lower ROI. Working with professionals matters, but selecting the right and most cost-effective ones is what makes the difference to your business results.
Want to make a video?
To discuss your small business video marketing strategy get in touch with us on 01444 810530 or to find out more about how a voiceover artist can help your marketing contact Chatterbox Voices on 0203 744 3558.
