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Small Business Marketing with Video
Posted 10-28-09 by Erika
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I hear the term Web 2.0 being thrown around and I’m not sure exactly what it means. The part I do “get” is that people expect interactivity and freshness, not some old static website that hasn’t been changed in years or even months. I also associate the term with the emerging social media business culture in which companies use informality, authenticity and direct communication to connect with their customers and build brand loyalty. There is still a place for the formal polished look, but it is definitely not the only way most companies want to be communicating.

A lot has been said about social media as the cutting edge in businesses marketing communications. But I want to take a moment to shine a spotlight on video as a powerful small business marketing tool. YouTube has made it so easy to upload a video and embed it in your website, and people are used to watching little videos online now, or even whole TV shows, that there’s a lot of potential for reaching people there. Online video is a familiar and engaging medium, and importantly, it is more communal than getting an email or looking at a website.

Have you ever been watching a short clip and had someone walk over to see what it is and then stand there behind you watching with you? It can happen in your living room when you’re watching a little videos on facebook of a friend’s kid. Or it can happen at the office when someone starts watching a business-related short. I’m sure we all have had someone forward us a link to a funny video. Videos are both communal and potentially can spread “viraly”.

If a photo is worth a thousand words, then a video must be off the charts in terms of how much it can communicate to a viewer. That’s why companies have paid the big bucks for TV commercial airtime. But paying big bucks for advertising was never in our budget as a small business. And now we can reach people affordably with video by making compelling content available to them on the internet. Compelling is the key to that. And incorporating the authenticity, and connection that social media is famous for, while maintaining some of the polish that keeps our brand looking great. I think that makes for a very powerful marketing tool.

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