Let’s face it. When it comes to business, we all want to kick some serious butt. With the cost of technology becoming less of a factor, it’s now possible for any small business owner to do just that..especially with the use of video online. What used to cost thousands and require an experienced video crew can now be an inexpensive do-it-yourself project.
Video use can be used in a number of ways that you should find exciting and may even surprise you to help grow your business. All the suggestions below can be done with either a simple handheld camera (ie. Flip Video, Kodak Zi6, etc) or a laptop with a webcam and microphone. Here’s five simple ideas to get you started with video in your business:
Product or service demonstrations. They say a picture’s worth 1000 words.
Well if you’re trying to explain how your product or service works, doing so with video can be more helpful and interactive than your run-of-the-mill text instructions/descriptions. Create a quick video teaching customers how your product or service works.
Other ideas could be troubleshooting videos and answering frequently asked questions via video tutorials.
Show off your digs. Regardless of how large or small your facility is, giving a
video tour is a great way to give customers a behind the scenes look at your operation. Maybe it’s an off-site facility that the end user would never see. Or it could be your storefront visited by patrons. Either way, pull back the curtain and open up your place to customers. They’ll love it!
See below how shoe company Allen Edmonds gives a tour of their facility.
Click here if you can’t see the video.
Profile your employees. One thing that many small businesses miss is highlighting their employees. Doing so can make customers feel more at ease knowing a bit about the people that make the business go. Creating a short video to introduce them to the people that work for your business is a great way to help establish trust with your customers. Additionally, giving the employees some video love can be a great morale booster as they feel valued and important.
ipad case creator Dodocase does a great job of this in the video below.
Click here if you can’t see the video.
Highlight your cheerleaders. If you’re fortunate enough to have customers that spread the word about your business to everyone they meet, use that to your advantage. Ask them to create a video testimonial for your business. That “stamp-of-approval” could be just the thing you need to convert a potential customer that’s on the fence.
Keeping customers informed. In addition to your website, you may have a blog that you use to keep your customers up to date on what’s going on in the business. If so, short
videos can be a great way to communicate messages and engage your audience.
These are just a few of many ways that your small business can leverage video as a way to promote your business, help customers get the information they are looking for, and humanize your brand! Now go forth and conquer…video!
Torrey McGraw is the host of 
Timely post, Torrey! You listed some great (and easy!) ways for businesses to make a huge impact with video. One thing I would add are customer testimonials on video. Anytime I see those (and they’re genuine), I’m sold!
[...] 5 Ways Small Business Owners Can use Online Video var addthis_pub = ''; var addthis_language = 'en';var addthis_options = 'email, favorites, digg, delicious, twitter, google, facebook, reddit, live, more'; This content is copyrighted. See my content sharing policy here. Comments (0) [...]
[...] Innovative ways to market your brand. Along with shaking things up in other departments, marketing should never be boring. One option, says Torrey McGraw, is to use the exciting format of video to take your small business marketing to a whole new level. See Torrey’s list of tips for enhancing your video efforts. CreateHype [...]
[...] Innovative ways to market your brand. Along with shaking things up in other departments, marketing should never be boring. One option, says Torrey McGraw, is to use the exciting format of video to take your small business marketing to a whole new level. See Torrey’s list of tips for enhancing your video efforts. CreateHype [...]
[...] variety of videos can be used to promote your business. According to a Create Hype article, 5 Ways Business Owners Can Use Online Video to Grow Their Business, videos can be used: for product/service demonstrations, to provide a video tour of your company, [...]