The hot way to market your business or product today is to create viral video marketing that people share with their friends and tweet endlessly about on Twitter. The best recent example is Old Spice. A guy sitting on a horse holding a stick of deodorant, crafting memorable lines such as, “I’m on a horse” or “Ladies, look at your man, now look at me.” Funny, clever and it plants a seed in your mind for the future trip down the deodorant aisle, “Old Spice, horse, that was funny, I think I’ll buy Old Spice.”
How about BlendTec’s video series, “Will It Blend?” Each video takes an everyday product like an iPad or iPhone and finds out if they will blend in the high-end blenders sold by BlendTec. Interjected with a lot of cheesy humor and a quirky host, I was fascinated by what I was witnessing and, in all honesty, wanting to buy a BlendTec blender. Which is precisely the desired outcome that BlendTec’s marketing department wants.
Rewind to reality. Most small businesses are not Old Spice or BlendTec, and don’t have the marketing budget to work with premier advertising agencies, so what are they to do? How can small businesses leverage technology and creativity to make memorable marketing videos?
Your story is your message
Before you start shopping around town for the best videographer that your budget can buy, it is imperative that you know the story that you want to tell. If you have a great product, can you build some story ideas around that product? If you have a unique service, how can you get the word out about what you do? Do you want a commercial? An infomercial? A documentary? A promotional video? There are a ton of options and the great thing about video marketing is that businesses are story goldmines. The owners, the employees, the products and services, the awards, being the underdog, returning from the dead, all fodder for creating effective video marketing. However, it only starts with knowing your story. Now you have to tell it in a compelling way.
Identify the voice behind the story
After finding the story you want to tell, you need to identify the voice in which it will be told. Is it coming from the top-down, voiced by the CEO and the marketing team? Or is it coming from the bottom-up, the customers, or the employees? By having a voice, you can guide people to a desired outcome, either blatantly or subliminally. Make people want to engage in your story through humor and authenticity, and the rewards will begin to come, but it takes time and a track record. By consistently putting out new content, you keep your story in the minds of your customers and that is priceless.
Find the fuel for telling your story
The greatest thing about digital technology and video sharing platforms on the internet is that if you are willing to experiment by spending time and money, you will know immediately what was a hit, and what wasn’t. That knowledge can then fuel your passion for continuing to create videos that people want to talk about, and ultimately drive people to your desired outcome. What else can fuel your use of video marketing? Engaging in a community of people that are talking about your videos, your company and your products. Hearing people talk about your videos out around town. People buying your product or service because of the video that a friend shared with them. Employees see what is going on, they hear the buzz, read the comments and engage, resulting in them getting fired up and excited as they see the impact their work has on others. All of this is fuel for continuing to tell your story.
There is no magic bullet
It is important to stress that video marketing is not a magic bullet solution to an immediate increase in profits. It is just one more tool that will guide people to know more about your business and when used in tandem with social media marketing, traditional marketing and actually having great products and services that people talk about, only then will you begin to see the impact that video marketing can play in an over-saturated market.