Using Video for Your Small Business Website
More and more businesses are using videos to enhance their websites. One of the businesses that I own is a video production company. There is a lot of hype about using video on the Internet and especially as a marketing tool for a simple small business website. So if you are planning to shoot a video, I have some recommendations.
Here are a few things that I feel you need to think about:
People are more interested in people than anything else except for themselves, not products. Think America’s Got Talent, American Idol, Survivor, The Apprentice, Extreme Home Make Over, Extreme Make Over, Dancing With the Stars, Big Brother, Shark Tank, and the list goes on and on. Most small business owners want to push their products. The most difficult thing in shooting a video for another business is to try to get the owner or manager to not push the product, but the benefit. It is the old “sell the sizzle not the steak” adage.
Most people today have a short attention span and are looking for shortcuts. They don’t want to watch a video if they can get the info on the website by skimming it. Text will always be your first line of offense. A potential customer only wants to take the time to watch a video if it gives them something they can’t get through the written word.
People buy on emotion and justify on logic. Find an angle and attempt to create emotion. When making videos for other companies, this is the reason we try to focus on the “Why” not the “What”.
People would rather buy from someone they know and trust and most people are suspicious and do not trust big businesses. If it is a simple small business that you are promoting, focus on the owner’s or manager’s personality. Make the viewer want to do business with this person. Help them get to know this person. Have them reveal their passions on camera. How did they get into this business? Why did they choose this business? You want the viewer to be able to relate to this person.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Squidoo and Google have changed the way the world thinks and the way they shop. If marketers don’t understand this, they will perish. Understanding the viewers short attention span and lack of real social contact is important to marketing in general and video specifically.
Most small business owners don’t understand this. A large number of my friends hate Walmart, but they all buy a lot from Walmart. Why? Because Walmart is the cheapest place in town. People buy a lot from them even though most people hate how impersonal they are. A lot of small businesses have died because of Walmart because the small businesses allow themselves to become a commodity. If the product is all the small business is selling then the guy with the lowest price wins. Eighty percent of our video production business comes from repeat customers and referrals, despite the fact we are not the cheapest video company nor are we the most expensive. We do not sell video, we sell the whole package. We sell “us”, our services and more importantly we sell “results” at a fair price.
Our company owns a website and Internet marketing company for small businesses that have the same philosophy. We don’t just build websites for small businesses. We become a partner who has a vested interest in their success. Again, we are not the cheapest nor the most expensive, but you get what you pay for and then some.
Every successful business I have owned or have been a part of has had this philosophy. Never be the cheapest, but always have a darn good reason why you are not!
Also see these related articles to help you create better video for websites:
The Effectiveness of Advertising with Internet Video Commercial
Embedding a Video for Website Marketing part 1 of 2 (using YouTube)