Every small business has unique marketing needs, which can be challenging to meet. Often there’s a tight budget or too little time to make the message stand out the way it could. With the increase in social media presence, video marketing has become a saving grace for small business entrepreneurs.
A popular and attractive visual medium, it helps marketers reach customers easily. It’s still essential to package your brand and campaign correctly. We have a few proven ways to help you see successful results.
Hook and Introduction
No matter how outstanding your production may be, it’s hardly going to inspire anyone if nobody watches it. You need an exciting subject line to get your target audience to open the video. The title should be eye-catching to grab attention and intriguing enough to entice the user to open the snippet.
Try to use relevant keywords or catchphrases that are targeted to your customer’s interests. Furthermore, good quality describers are more likely to show up on search engines when potential customers look for the topic.
Sit down with your marketing team, decide who your ideal customer is, and come up with keywords specific to that group. Figuring out what you want to communicate will set the tone for your storyline. If your production doesn’t capture your customer’s interest within the first 10 seconds, they’ll likely switch it off.
With this in mind, the video’s introduction is crucial. It should aim to be informative, entertaining, and even inspiring to hook the viewer. Several software applications are available, and Boosted’s video maker for brands site mentions how they can help you create beautiful productions with music and special effects.
Unique extras that enhance the recording will help the audience remain engaged enough to keep them watching till the end. One thing to consider is that even though you want your recording to be interesting, you don’t want it to be so obscure that your audience is confused by what they’re seeing.
Overzealous marketers often create phenomenal productions that are captivating to watch but don’t get the message across to the target audience. The reason behind this is a little less awareness about which platforms work more than the others. So it is better first to explore the platforms’ stats for digital marketing and find a suitable audience in each for them. Aim to be entertaining but make sure that you keep the end goal in mind, which is to target the right audience on the right platform and with the right methods.
Quality Audio
The first thing that most people think of when they start planning a marketing video is the aesthetics. However, just as much focus should be placed on the spoken parts of the film. Your audience is unlikely to continue watching if they can’t hear or understand what you’re saying.
One of the best practices of online video marketing is to have both speech and text for those people who prefer to watch with the sound off.
Below are a few tips on creating excellent audio:
- When recording someone speaking on camera, the built-in microphone might not give the best output. The reason is that the equipment is often quite far away from the actor, which results in an echo. For more precise audio, use a separate microphone and place it as close as possible to the subject.
- To get a crisp, clear sound, you need to set the gain level. It’s the microphone’s signal volume going into the recorder and will determine the quality of the output in your video. Aim for 75% when doing the settings by asking your subject to read as though they were recording.
- Avoid too much editing and clipping. No matter how talented you think you are, it’s likely that your audience will hear the subtle changes in the sound when you cut-and-paste clips.
- If you’re going to use music in your production, make sure that it’s clear and that the timing is set correctly. There’s nothing more annoying than a drawn-out track with glitches. It might be better to add the music after the recording session, giving you a chance to adjust the volume accordingly.
Shoot Vibrant Videos
People are bombarded daily with an astronomical amount of stimulating information. It’s almost mission impossible to attract the attention of customers. Even more challenging is to keep them entertained enough to watch your content.
One way of ensuring that your audience stays engaged is by creating colorful and vibrant videos. It’s not as difficult as it sounds, and it also doesn’t have to break the bank. You don’t need a professional studio, and with some creativity, you can turn an average-looking conference room or office into the perfect filming location.
Experiment with various backdrops, props, and parts of the room for the best angle. Don’t be afraid to take your filming expedition outdoors or on location. For example, if you sell luxury cars, nothing stops you from shooting in the showroom with a row of vehicles in the background.
A key point to remember is making sure that you have enough lighting so for the audience to see what you’re doing. It’s best to have a proper camera when filming, but modern smartphones also have high-quality recording capabilities.
If you use your mobile to create your video, invest in a tripod so that the footage is steady and there’s no shaking in the video. Once you’ve done shooting your first take, watch the raw footage with some of your employees to see whether it has the impact and message you want.
Allow them to criticize and give you feedback on what they feel needs to be tweaked before it goes into editing. If you have the budget, you can hire a research company to run a video pilot to a small focus group to get unbiased feedback.
Be Prepared
A common mistake that marketers make when filming a video is that they don’t prepare a script before shooting. Small Business owners are especially guilty of this. They think since they know everything about the company, they can wing it.
What often happens in these situations is that they tend to repeat facts and forget important information that they wanted to get across to the audience. A script helps you get clarity on the message that you want to convey to your customers.
It gives you more time to think about the word choice, tone of voice, and what you’d like the end result to be. It also allows you to consider how you want the audience to interact with your video.
Preparing yourself in advance will give you more confidence in what you’re saying, which will come across to the people watching. According to statistics, 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a small business they support. If you intend to use tunes in your video, prepare any tracks upfront to complement your campaign.
You should test the levels beforehand so the melody doesn’t drown your voice out. Don’t forget to check whether the soundtrack you plan to use is free for commercial purposes.
Be Natural
Many people find the idea of being in front of the camera terrifying. If you’re one of them, then you’re not alone. Most people find being filmed intimidating, especially if it’s for something that the public will see.
Unless you have a large budget or some Hollywood talent at your disposal, you’ll need to ask employees to act in your videos. However, not everybody may be willing to participate, and as the owner of the company, you might land up being the star of the show.
Rest assured that nobody expects an Oscar-winning performance from an entrepreneur, but you’ll need to be clear with your message. Whether you’re announcing an upcoming event or giving a product update, show enthusiasm for the information you’re sharing with your viewers.
Don’t take yourself too seriously and boost your energy levels a couple of notches to show you’re excited about the topic. Speak clearly and look at the camera as though you were looking your customer in the eye.
One of the aims of video marketing is to reach more people and, at the same time, give them a taste of what it would be like to come to your small business in person. More than anything else, be yourself and as natural as you can be to let your personality shine through. It’s easier for your audience to connect with your message if they see that you’re genuine.
Final Thoughts
The matter how far back you go into the history of marketing, one thing’s for sure, it’s never been easy to reach a target audience effectively. Online videos are a unique way of getting your message across to your customers through social media.
Start strong with an impactful subject line and introduction to entice your viewers to carry on watching. Make sure that you create dynamic videos with high-quality audio so that your message gets across clearly. Be prepared with a script to know what you want to say, leaving you free to focus on your tone and actions.
Even if it might be a little intimidating in front of the camera, try to act natural. Have fun with the filming as your audience is more likely to connect with you if they see your personality shine through.
