Video Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses in 2021 & Beyond
By: Stefaan De Vreese
Tags: Small Business, Time Management, Video Marketing Strategy, Side Hustle, Advertising And Marketing

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, then a video is worth a million. As such, video is a highly effective promotional tool that should be integral to your business marketing strategy. With the popularity of online video sharing and social media platforms, the video format is dominating the digital marketing landscape.

What is Video Marketing?

Video marketing is the use of video content to promote and market your product or service in the most effective way. When done correctly, video marketing helps you reach your target audience, improve engagement, inform customers, and eventually boost conversions.

It’s crucial to utilize video creatively and methodically to achieve maximum results. With a well-thought-out strategy, you can leverage the medium to enhance your brand’s presence and accomplish your marketing objectives.

Why is Video Marketing Important?

Video is the most preferred media format because it’s more engaging and attention-grabbing than audio or text. Audiences are much more receptive to video content, which makes it the most potent medium for marketing.

Benefits of Video Marketing

Businesses are using videos increasingly to interact and engage with their clients and customers. Here are the most significant advantages of video marketing:

Increase engagement — The internet age has made it harder to get people’s attention as there is just too much information to digest. Video has the capacity to captivate your viewers’ attention–and sustain it. This allows you to introduce a unique and appealing angle to your product or service and your brand’s mission.

Establish trust and credibility — Engaging video content elicits positive emotions that create a more intimate connection with your target audience. A more personal relationship with your customers humanizes your brand, builds credibility, and cultivates trust.

Boost conversions & drive sales — A survey by HubSpot revealed that having a video on your landing page increases conversion rates by as much as 80%. Furthermore, it’s revealed that individuals are more likely to purchase a product or procure a service after watching a video about it.

Rank higher on search results — Visitors are prone to stay longer on a site when there’s engaging video content in it. Google’s algorithms will rank you higher in its search results when people spend more time on your webpage.

How to Develop a Video Marketing Strategy?

Study your competition

Competitive intelligence and analysis go beyond just knowing who your competitors are, what kind of products they offer, and how their products differ from yours. In order to create a robust video marketing strategy, you need to evaluate how they’re using video to promote their products. Monitoring and studying video content from your competition’s websites, social media pages, and other channels will help you develop your own video marketing strategy to make your brand stand out.

Define your goals

The absence of clear objectives will result in an aimless video marketing strategy that fails to deliver your message across. Determining what you wish to achieve with your videos will allow you to devise a solid marketing approach. Also, having a game plan helps you create a consistent and cohesive video marketing strategy without draining your budget and other resources.

Focus on the Buyer’s Journey

The “buyer’s journey” refers to the three-stage process that a prospective buyer goes through before making a purchase.

Awareness Stage — A potential customer realizes a problem but doesn’t know what’s causing it or how it should be resolved.

Consideration Stage — Through active research, a potential buyer discovers the cause of the problem and examines ways on how to best address it.

Decision Stage — At this point, a potential buyer has narrowed down the solutions to a shortlist and is ready to commit to a purchase decision.

Understanding the buyer’s journey empowers businesses to refine their marketing strategies in order to attract the ideal audience for their product or service. Your brand should have video content to engage potential buyers at each stage of their journey.

Types of Video Content

There are several video marketing options you can implement for different goals. Depending on your objectives, some are going to be more suitable than others. Regardless of your video marketing strategy, all the content you produce should work as a collective whole. They should have the same production elements and a consistent feel and tone to help reinforce brand recognition more effectively.

Here are the most popular marketing video types:

1. Explainer Videos

These are short animated videos that explain a subject matter in a clear, fun, and entertaining manner. Explainer videos typically utilize whiteboard animation, 2D animation, motion graphics, screencasts, and kinetic typography to explain complex concepts in 90 seconds or less. This type of video helps viewers understand why your product or service exists.

Here’s an example from Freighty:

2. Educational Videos

These videos share useful, interesting content that educates viewers while presenting your business as a brand that values its customers. Therefore, educational videos offer immense advantages for your audience–and your brand. They cover any topic that viewers may find interesting and worthwhile. Educational videos are the most viewed content on YouTube because they tap into people’s inherent desire to learn and share information. This type of video is a unique tool for boosting credibility and increasing organic engagement.

Here’s an example from GoDaddy:

3. Tutorial Videos

Also known as “instructional videos” or “how-to videos,” these videos are also educational but have a completely different structure and language. As well, unlike educational videos, tutorial videos are specifically related to a product or service. Tutorials guide the viewer through all the steps required to accomplish a task or finish a process from start to finish. A few examples of tutorial videos are instructions for cooking a recipe, fixing a leaking faucet, or installing software. Having tutorial videos in your marketing strategy will help you grow your brand’s online presence and generate more visits to your website.

Here’s an example from Crucial:

4. Commercials

Video advertisements are straightforward segments focused on marketing a brand and selling its product or service. These videos are designed to promote your product by highlighting its best features, enumerating its benefits, and underscoring its superiority over similar products. This is done through attention-grabbing imagery and an explicit call to action. Commercials are typically short and straight to the point. If executed properly, video ads attract new customers and raise brand awareness.

Here’s an example from Victory Moving Company:

5. Customer Testimonial Videos

These videos feature previous or existing customers talking about their positive experiences with a brand, product, or service. Testimonials resonate with potential buyers because they can easily relate and empathize with their fellow consumers. Favorable customer feedback convinces your target audience about the dependability of your brand. As such, customer testimonial videos can influence a prospective buyer’s purchasing decisions considerably.

Here’s an example from LifeLock:

6. Product Videos

These videos illustrate how your product or service works and how it can address a prospective customer’s real-world needs. Product videos are basically an online demo of your product or service. A product video should include engaging dialogue or narration, great visuals, and an honest, no-frills description of your offering. This type of video fosters trust in your brand and moves prospects closer to a buying decision.

Here’s an example from Native Union:

7. Company Story Videos

Also referred to as “mission videos” or “about us videos,” these videos tell the story of your company and its values, culture, and identity. Instead of showcasing your product or service, company story videos often feature owners and team members sharing what they do and their purpose for doing it. Using engaging storytelling, mission videos allow viewers to get to know an organization on a deeper and more personal level. This kind of connection with your audience nurtures lasting relationships, brand confidence, and prestige.

Here’s an example from BambooHR:

8. Social Media Videos

These are videos produced exclusively for social media platforms. The videos are a little bit of everything–from conventional marketing videos to live streams, interviews, and behind-the-scenes videos. Social media videos are generally shorter than usual, so they should always be dynamic and appealing. Video content on social media gets 1200% more engagement than text and image updates. For small businesses, social media video marketing is the most cost-effective way to get more organic reach and customer engagement.

9. Customer Delight Videos

These videos are perfect for enhancing your customer’s experience and providing value after they’ve purchased your product or service. They are all about nurturing the connection with your customers, surpassing their expectations, and establishing a level of trust beyond a sale. Customer delight videos include private video messages thanking customers for their purchase, with assurances of continued aftersales support. They can be birthday messages, short tutorials, FAQ videos that answer common questions about your product or service, etc. This type of video produces brand loyalty and sets you apart from your competitors.

Conclusion

Video has become the leading format for marketing strategy content. The sooner your small business gets started with a video marketing plan, the better your chances for success. Different video types serve specific purposes, each with varied methods of implementation to meet your business goals. Remember that, although video plays a primary role, it should work in tandem with other forms of content (blogs, podcasts, email, etc.) to realize your overall marketing strategy.