Stacy Kinney

Are you looking for a way to generate business and get your name on customer’s lips? One often overlooked but effective way of creating buzz about your company is through the use of video marketing.

Video has been used to promote products and services, share ideas and disseminate information since the television became commercially available in 1946. The internet has simply moved the viewing screen from the television set to the computer monitor. Smart marketers have built successful businesses just by creating and uploading useful videos to popular sites, like YouTube and Metacafe, for users to view and share.

Video marketing is an effective way to reach customers because, for one thing, people have been conditioned by the television and many prefer to watch a show on a subject rather than read an article about it. As long as you provide a compelling reason to watch, people will sit through your entire presentation with nary a complaint.

Video marketing offers your customers an opportunity to meet you before they buy. Instead of relying on a static picture and a few words on a blog, your prospects get to see and hear you which go a long way towards building trust in you and your company.

Oftentimes, ideas and information can be communicated quicker and easier with a two minute video versus a two page blog post. If you are selling a product, video presents customers with an opportunity to try it before they buy it. And if you are selling a service, you can demonstrate your skills to your potential clients to convince them you are the right person for the job.

Best of all, videos are portable. With the technological advances made in cell phones, your customers can view your content anywhere they happen to be in the world and easily share it with members of their network. Strike the right chord in your viewers and the number of people who see your video can easily reach into the hundreds of thousands.

The first rule of thumb when engaging in video marketing is to produce compelling content. Unfortunately, people have also been conditioned to click away if what’s on the screen does not interest them. Just like you must hook your reader in the first paragraph, you have about ten seconds to capture the attention of your audience or they’ll walk away.

Many first time video marketers think that a video is a great way for them to tell their customers about their business. This is wrong. As harsh as this may sound, your customers don’t really care about you (at least not at first) but rather how you can help them. The second rule of thumb is to focus on answering the question, “How does this help me?” from the viewpoint of your audience. This will help you produce content that gets viewed and shared.

Getting started with video marketing may seem intimidating at first, but there are many resources on the internet that will help you get off to a great start. So grab a video camera and start making videos today.

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