Brian Wallace — March 6, 2020 Video creation platform Promo.com invested time talking to hundreds of small businesses (SMBs) to break down their online marketing efforts, including how they create and share videos and how they measure success. The more we know, the less we have to reinvent the marketing wheel and it helps us all get ahead.
In the past 10 years we’ve seen the world of video creation and marketing become democratized. It used to be extremely costly to even utter the words “video” and/or “marketing” in the same sentence. Without an in-house or on-retainer video team, it was simply not in the budget. Now, with the rise of resources, like Unsplash for free stock photos and browser and app-based video editing and creation platforms, it’s no longer the case.
That’s why it’s no surprise that 64% of SMBs said video marketing is the most effective form of online marketing. Videos perform better online, both organically and paid. There’s an unending amount of research to back it up, too:
- 81% of SMBs used video in their marketing in 2019 — an increase from 63% in 2018. (Hubspot)
- 96% of respondents report watching explainer videos in an attempt to learn more about a product or service. (Wyzowl)
- 60% of people prefer online videos to television. (Google)
And the list goes on. And on.
It’s one thing to understand that video is essential. It’s another thing to actually integrate it. So how do SMBs begin to include more videos into their marketing mix?
Creating a plan is step one and, luckly, I’ve outlined exactly what you need to do to build yours out:
- Create your video marketing template and editorial calendar. This should include a standing schedule of when you’ll post videos (can include both organic and paid).
- Develop a video marketing customer persona and/or profile. Know who you want to reach with your video efforts, where they hang out online and what call-to-actions are strong enough to get them to your site.
- Select your tools. In order to save an inordinate amount of time, look for a video production software that has everything in one place: editing, creative, music, ad guidelines and social integration. These all have a paid component because the level of sophistication to make things easy is necessary.
- Develop your video marketing look, feel, tone and voice. Just like you stay true to your brand in other formats, it’s important to keep the same for videos. When people see one of your videos they KNOW it’s you.
- Identify who is responsible. If you’re part of a SMB, then you may have limited resources and that’s okay. Divide up responsibilities and make it a team effort to get videos out. If you know that :30 videos resonate the best with your customers, and you’ve already created your video marketing brand voice, appoint a different person each week or month to oversee the efforts. Have a final “editor” in every rendition of this plan so there’s always a final set of eyes to review for any errors.
One of the things that can be most overwhelming when it comes to developing a video marketing strategy is the video marketing strategy itself. Decision makers get bogged down by details, like how long videos should be, and end up thinking themselves out of the plan. In order to just begin, it’s important to look at best practices and what’s currently working as a starting point (you can always revisit and revise every 30 to 60 days):
The Promo.com study found that:
- 65% of marketers create their own videos and only 6% use a professional video editor to create their videos.
- Ads is the most popular type of video content among SMBs (38%), and social videos ranked second (33%).
- 58% of marketers combine their own visuals with stock footage and photos.
- 70% use the Stories section of Facebook and Instagram in a video-based way.
- 38% boost videos with an average spend of $ 500.
If you can set aside even $ 500 a month to promote or boost your videos, it can greatly impact your ad results.
“When SMBs commit to upping their game by creating more videos, it also makes a difference to test what works, and what doesn’t. From various visuals to the actual messages and segmenting by audience, once you know what resonates, you can create more videos that truly convert,” said Tom More, CEO at Promo.com
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