For some business owners, the thought of making and appearing in a marketing video can be daunting. However, be reassured that, whilst a  personal appearance is hard to beat for small businesses, it’s not essential. A more confident colleague can be roped in, or alternatively, you can go for an animation-style video, which just requires voiceovers. Either way, here at Pressroom, we can help you deliver a video aimed at delighting your target audience. The benefits can be considerable.

In terms of increasing your brand visibility, a well-made video outlining what’s special about your business is hard to beat. YouTube attracts some four billion views per day. Moreover, last year, the site (doubtless thanks to its acquisition by Google in 2006) became the world’s second largest search engine. The figures confirm that YouTube is a platform on which your business is well-nigh guaranteed exposure, if you produce a strong piece of content and syndicate it effectively.

Next, video plays well to the current “word of mouth” trend – that is, through social media sharing. According to marketing information site Ragan.com:

“[About] 500 years’ worth of YouTube videos are watched daily on Facebook, [and around] 700 YouTube videos are shared every minute on Twitter.”

An engaging, entertaining video is surely more likely than not to get sucked into this joyous maelstrom of social sharing.

Finally, there is promising evidence that video marketing repays the initial outlay in spades. For example, a Utah-based company, Blendtec, has had real success marketing its “industrial strength” blenders on YouTube. The entertaining videos (on YouTube channel ‘blendtec’) have in some cases attracted five million views. More significantly, since the marketing campaign began, retail sales have grown from $2 million to $10 million in two years; remarkable, considering the $50 outlay on the first five videos.

Steven Morris