As a business owner, you likely know how important marketing is when it comes to making sales and attracting new customers to your products and services. There are lots of different ways you can perform marketing, from using social media to sending out newsletters and even handing out flyers to those in your local area. One type of marketing that many business owners neglect, though, is video marketing.

Nowadays, many of us don’t have the time to sift through articles to get the information we want. We want information, and we want it fast. This is where''' video marketing can be useful. In this article, we have explained a few ways on how to use video marketing for your business and the benefits this form of marketing can bring when it comes to increasing awareness for your company.

Understanding Video Marketing

Video marketing is a great tool that is used for all sorts of reasons. You can create a video to advertise your products or services, to provide your customers with an insight into who you are as a company, to provide how-tos or explanatory videos, or even to live stream events. Before you start creating video content, you need to establish your reasons for doing so.You also need to know who your target audience is and which platforms you plan to use to distribute your content.

Create Interesting Content

To keep viewers interested in what you have to offer, you need to create content that is engaging, informative and relevant. With consumers being bombarded with marketing and advertisements where'''ver they look, you need to provide something unique and special; something that will prevent them from clicking away from your video and looking for information elsewhere'''. One good way to get started is by looking at what your competitors are doing. Take a look at the biggest names in your field and work out what they are doing right, and what you believe your company can improve upon. With this in mind, you can create a content strategy that will hopefully set you apart from the crowd.

Use Social Media

Once you have created a video, it’s time to publish your content to the masses. There are plenty of platforms that you can use to host your videos. With millions of people logging onto the platform every day, YouTube is one of the best websites to consider; however, it’s by no means the only one. Check out sites like Vimeo and Wistia too and weigh up the pros and cons of each. Once your video is online, you can share it via other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, and don’t forget to include a link to your website too. Also, keep in mind that the more likes and comments you receive on your videos, the better.

Tip: When setting up your company profile on a video hosting site, make sure to keep your channel updated regularly and reply to any comments your videos receive, especially early on. Staying consistent is key, especially if you want to build your customer base and keep them coming back for more.

Improving SEO

To drum up interest and increase the amount of traffic your videos receive, there are certain techniques that you can employ, with SEO being arguably the most useful. Including relevant keywords and phrases within the text description underneath your video can help your content to be found much more easily in both the platform search and the traditional search engines like Google. Do make sure, though, that your keywords are relevant to the video content you have created; failing to do this will upset consumers and lead to negative comments and downvotes on the platforms.  If you have the budget, you can also perform off-page SEO to increase the number of links pointing to your videos.  Links to your website should, of course, be included in the text description as well.

Consider the Length of Your Videos

The length of your video should be determined by the type of content you are creating. Videos that give people an insight into the company, or videos which explain how to use your product or service should be longer than videos that contain customer testimonials or a demonstration of your product. That said, most people don’t have a long attention span these days so it’s vital that every second of your video provides something useful. Start waffling, or sharing information that no-one is interested in, and you’ll lose subscribers fast.

Tip: If you’re creating a how-to video, consider adding text instructions underneath the video itself.  Some consumers prefer this and it will save them from back-clicking.

The Challenges

In the past, higher-end brands were the main companies who performed video marketing. This was because they had a budget for the specialist equipment and software needed to create professional videos that smaller brands couldn’t afford. However, nowadays, there are various smartphones and tablets that can take videos that look just as professional as those taken with expensive equipment. If you are a small business who wants to try out video marketing, you need a smartphone with a good quality camera to start. There are also several apps you can use to structure your video, and video editing software can be found easily online.

Enlisting Help

If you need some help to make your video marketing dreams a reality, there are companies who you can enlist the help of to create high-quality content for your business, such as Spiel, an award-winning agency who specializes in video marketing. The team at Spiel can work closely with you to create videos that are tailored to your audience promote. With the company working with high-end brands such as Tesco, HSBC and eBay, you can be certain that you are in safe hands when it comes to creating promotional videos for your business.

To be successful with video marketing, you need to create content that sticks in consumers’ minds. Make sure to publish your videos on platforms such as YouTube, and share them via the social media platforms that your brand uses.

Good luck!