Have you ever wondered “How can I promote my business using video?” As part of the Fresh Content Strategy for Small Businesses series, we’re going to take you through how to get started using video to attract, engage and convert lookers into bookers!

By applying the tips below you will be able to use video to add a whole new dimension to your marketing by:

• effectively promoting your services, products, accommodation, tours or events
• increasing the targeted traffic coming to your website
• establishing yourself as a thought leader in your area of business
• helping you win new, affectionate customers
• boosting your revenue!

Video stands about a 50 times better chance of appearing on the first page of search results than any given text page!

Why is video marketing so powerful?

There’s no doubt video marketing is on the rise. Here are ten reasons why you need to consider leveraging video in your online marketing strategy:

1. 89% of travel shoppers stated that travel related online video influenced their travel purchase decisions. Another recent research suggests that video impacts conversion rates, even if viewers don’t watch the video; its mere presence on the product page has been proven to influence consumers’ impression of the company and the shopping experience.

2. Videos are entertaining, easy to find and consume
3. Video engage viewers in a way that text simply cannot
4. People trust their own eyes, more than your own words…
5. Recent researches have proved that users tend to prefer websites that use videos compared to the ones that don’t
6. Video advertising is the fastest growing form of online advertising
7. If you want your content to be seen as something that is fresh, you need to have it in the freshest format – video!
8. YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world behind Google.  If you’re not on YouTube… these people will not ever find you:

• People are watching 2 billion videos a day on YouTube (90% of online video viewing)
• The user base is broad in age range, 18-55, evenly divided between males and females, and spanning all geographies.
• 51 percent of users go to YouTube weekly or more often
• 52 percent of 18-34 year-olds share videos often with friends and colleagues.

9. Rise of new gadgets (e.g. iPad, iPhone 4) that make the consumption of videos increasingly easier, faster and outperforming the TV in terms of usability and video-quality. 

10. Videos are increasingly important in search engine marketing:

• According to Forrester, video stands about a 50 times better chance of appearing on the first page of search results than any given text page. Have you noticed in the last year or two how much more frequently you see video results in the main Google search results?  Wouldn’t you like to be the one capturing those clicks and speaking to those customers?  Well, if so, you’ll have to create video to do it.  This is what Google returns right on 1st page after a search for “Surfers Paradise”:By simply creating a video and optimising it for search engines you can appear on Google 1st page for highly competitive keywords that you would hardly rank for with just content pages.
• Through videos, you can increase the number of links that are pointing to your website. Links play an crucial part in determining the rankings of your webpages on Google and major search engines
  1. TIPS for creating POWERFUL and COMPELLING content for your videos
  2. How to Get your Videos Found on Search Engines
  3. Effective Tips for Creating AFFORDABLE Videos
  4. How to Make your Videos go VIRAL!

As you can see video provides plenty of opportunities for attracting and converting targeted traffic.

8 Tips for Creating Engaging Videos

Time to get creative – coming up with an angle for one video can be hard enough but then you need to rinse and repeat so here is a list of ideas to engage your creative brain. Remember let every video show the authentic personality of your business!

#1: Location Location Location!

If you have the luxury of being in a beautiful location make sure you showcase all you have to offer. People love to project themselves in the destination, plus they really appreciate a real glimpse of what they are actually in for.

#2: Testimonials

Testimonials can be a great way to capture the enthusiasm a customer has for your product especially if they have just had the experience and are still buzzing. Think how much effort goes into providing a quality service to a customer, most of us love sharing good experiences (and bad) so come up with a non invasive way to ask the customer for a quick video review. You may be surprised how willing people are to ad-lib about how they are feeling. This makes for great user generated video and viewers can easily tell it’s genuine emotions which can be infectious not to mention great for flow on sales!

#3: Educate

There are many ways to slice and dice education videos for all types of businesses. Let’s assume your are a tourism or accommodation business, everyone loves local knowledge especially if they can get it before they even turn up. Think of yourself as a mini Lonely Planet guide educating people on the best local walks, activities, food, culture or experiences that can experiences when they arrive.

#4: Answer questions

Answer commonly asked questions and give potential customers the opportunity to see the personality of the people behind the business.

#5: Do a product review

Everyone loves a accurate review on the features and benefits of a product or service relevant to your business. You could even throw in a comparison chart for good measure.

#6: Tell a story

Storytelling can be a powerful way to capture attention and draw a viewer in. You could leverage your past experiences and even weave in a message or provide a back story on how your business came to be.

#7: Competitions or contests

If you’re thinking about running a contest for your existing customers then use  video to present it and watch the buzz build!

…A final tip:

#8: Leverage customers videos.

Some of your customers might have great video-production skills. If you are an accommodation business, at the end of their stay, ask your customers if they would like to have some of their videos uploaded on your website. They will feel valued and you’ll save yourself the effort to create one from scratch!

What’s Next

We’ve got a lot to cover so we will split the video marketing tutorials into 4 parts:

• TIPS for creating POWERFUL and COMPELLING content for your videos
• How to Get your Videos Found on Search Engines
• Effective Tips for Creating AFFORDABLE Videos
• How to Make your Videos go VIRAL!

I hope that’s given you a glimpse of how you can use video to engage your customers in an authentic and fun way while boosting your bookings and sales!

Don’t forget our online marketing forums are open and available to all members providing you exclusive access to our team of web and search marketing professionals.

If you haven’t taken advantage of the discounted 5 month membership for $88 made available by the AusIndustry Small Business Online Program then I suggest you head over to UntangleMyWeb.com and register for the virtual workshop program today as time is running out!