Get Ahead of the Competition with Amazing Video Content
76% of marketers say video has helped them increase sales and traffic.
Video is your BIGGEST opportunity in 2019!
Businesses are facing more competition than ever before. Most businesses are investing in paid search advertising and search engine optimization (SEO), utilizing social media, increasing positive reviews online, and possibly even investing in advertising on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. While it’s important to continue focusing on each type of marketing mentioned, you have to invest in strategies your competitors have not embraced yet. And what most businesses, especially local businesses, have failed to incorporate into their marketing – video content.
There’s a reason Facebook and Instagram are building out video platforms on their site – people love video. In fact, over 100 million hours of video are watched per day on Facebook. For YouTube, it’s over 1 billion a day! Cisco has projected that more than 80% of all Internet traffic will be video by 2021.
Is it really worth it for your business to spend time creating video?
- Video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year
- Video marketers achieve a 54% increase in brand awarenes
My client, Mitchell Medical Group in NYC, now has patients coming from across the country as a result of his video content. For more reasons on the importance of video content check out my blog – 9 Reasons Why Video Content is Important.
Creating video content isn’t a new marketing strategy. It’s just one that most have yet to adopt even though it’s becoming more important on EVERY platform and channel.
Video production is more cost effective than ever – you can shoot high-quality video with your smartphone. Plus there are inexpensive, easy-to-use editing software platforms like Filmora by Wondershare making it easy to do basic editing. And the more authentic the content, the better which means you don’t need to invest in having a video production company create video for your business.
If you want to stay ahead of the competition and grow your business then you can’t afford to not incorporate video into your marketing strategy.
7 Types of Video Content Your Business Needs
1. TEAM MEMBER INTRODUCTIONS.
People do business with the people they know, like and trust. A problem with today’s digital communications – it’s difficult to know, like or trust a name in an email signature or a small photo and brief bio on an “about us” website page.
But with video, you can go a long way towards bridging that gap. Create team member introduction or bio videos to introduce your team. It’s important to highlight the credentials and experience of each team member but also highlight personality, passion and hobbies. The more personality the better. These videos enable consumers to see the personality of the team, find common likes or hobbies with team members, and develop trust in the team (especially important for medical professionals).
Check out this bio video for Dr. Matt Wakefield
This video does a fantastic job of showcasing his personality as well as his medical credentials and why someone should choose him as their doctor.
2. OFFICE TOUR.
Whether customers come to your office or you to theirs, an office tour can provide customers with a deeper insight into your brand, personality and culture. You can claim you have a beautiful, modern office but why not showcase it with a video. If customers come to your office then this type of video is a must-have. You can do a simple walk-through video or you can get creative with how you do your office tour like Signature Smiles did by having Dr. Z the Kid Dentist give their office tour.
While most video content you can create without the need for professionals, if you have customers who come to your business, this is one video type I’d recommend hiring a professional video production team to put together.
In the Office Tour video you can
- highlight how welcoming and modern your office is
- walk someone through what will happen when they come to your business
- introduce your team and the role they play in your business
- highlight some of aspects that differentiate you from the competition
- appeal to your target demographic by using them in the video (similar to how Signature Smiles used a kid to conduct their tour in order to appeal to families)
When it comes to the Office Tour keep it authentic to your business. For example, if you are a dental practice that caters to professionals and don’t do as well with families then don’t have a child do your video tour.
Whitinsville Family Dentistry has a different approach to their office tour which still showcases the personality of the practice (you know they will make your dental visit fun) and takes you on a tour of the office but done in the form of a music video.
3. HOW-TO and FAQs.
Searches of “how to” videos on YouTube are growing 70% year on year.
These types of videos are essential to getting found on search results on Google and YouTube. From car repair to using new software, many people turn to online videos when they want to learn how to do something or get an answer to their question. In fact, YouTube is the second largest search engine falling only behind Google. A lot of the searches done on YouTube are in regards to someone wanting to know how-to do something or get an answer to a question.
65% of people use YouTube to help solve a problem.
Create how-to videos and frequently asked questions to get your brand in front of consumers when they looking for help. These videos are great ways to get found in YouTube and Google search results especially as Google starts to add more video content to the search engine results. Looking for a way to increase time on site – these videos make great additions to blog posts or main site pages where consumers may have questions such as “what are the benefits of dental veneers” for a dental veneers treatment page.
Here is a great how-to video by Home Depot.
So, how do you figure out what to type of how-to or FAQs video you should create?
- Use YouTube and Google autofill to see what people are searching for
- Reference the “searches related to” section at the bottom of a Google search to find related searches
- Use tools such as keywordtool.io to get insights into queries and questions people are searching on Google and YouTube for any topic
- For FAQ videos, what questions do you or your team frequently get asked by customers – create videos based on those questions
4. PRODUCT / EXPLAINER.
96% of people say they’ve watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.
Explainer videos are a fantastic way to introduce a consumer to emphasize how your product or service is different from your competitors. A video can provide people with some insight into what your product or service actually does, how it benefits them and how it should be used. This will also save you a lot of unnecessary customer service questions.
68% of people say they’d most prefer to learn about a new product or service by watching a short video. This makes video more popular as a learning tool than text-based articles (15%), infographics (4%) presentations and pitches (4%) ebooks and manuals (3%).
Here is a great video by Slack explaining what their product does.
5. CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS.
Consumers trust each other – that’s why 88% of consumers trust written, online reviews as much (or more) than personal recommendations from a friend or acquaintance. Reviews of your business are more important now than ever before. And while it’s still essential to get good written reviews on Google, everyone else is also doing this. What they are not doing is getting testimonial videos which are FAR more impactful than any written testimonial. What better way to sell a potential customer on your business than by having a current customer talk about how amazing your business is. It’s hard to dispute video testimonials. And now you can even upload them directly to your Google Business Listing to really make you stand out from the crowd.
Additionally, it’s so much more effective than hearing you tout your own winning characteristics.
7 Benefits of Customer Testimonial Videos
- They build credibility and trust
- They increase referrals
- Humanizes your brand
- Shows how your business can solve their needs
- Triggers emotion and connection in viewer
- Increases social shares
- Drive sales and new customer leads
Here is a patient testimonial video one of my clients created that has over 4,000 views (this video is also a great demonstration on how the content of the video is more important than the video production quality)
6. EDUCATIONAL / INFORMATIVE.
Your potential customers are searching right now for answers to their questions, and if you can provide them with the information they’re looking for they won’t soon forget it. Truly helpful content is one of the best ways to form a connection with your target audience and build trust in your brand. A good portion of the one billion hours of video watched each day on YouTube is educational content. Educational videos typically provide information about a specific topic so the viewer can learn and become more knowledgeable on the subject. These types of video pair with or help create great blog content.
Educational videos are also the type of video that help you get found on the search engine results.
Here is an educational video by one of my clients, Smiles@Southcenter, about sedation dentistry.
7. ADVERTISEMENTS.
Though the platforms have changed over the years, video advertisements have been around in one form or another since the early days of movie theaters. Why? Because they work. Nothing can entertain, engage, and create an emotional connection or response quite like a video can. These videos are great for raising awareness about one specific product offering from your company. These can be broadcast commercials, YouTube pre-roll ads, and social media shares.
Viewers who complete TrueView YouTube ads—watched to completion or at least 30 seconds—were 23 times more likely to visit or subscribe to a brand channel, watch more by that brand, or share the brand video.
Viewers who are exposed to TrueView ads but who don’t watch to completion are still 10 times more likely to take one of those actions.
Video ads on Facebook and Instagram tend to outperform the static images and carousel ads.
Here is video advertisement one of my clients is currently using as a Facebook advertisement to attract new patients.
BONUS VIDEO CONTENT TYPE – LIVE VIDEO.
Provide instant, real-time content for viewers with live video such as using Facebook Live. This type of video can be used to
- showcase events
- rollout new products/treatements
- do a question and answer session with customers
- do a live walk-through on how to use a product
- talk about a promotional offer
Most users enjoy the live-action and unedited approach to live videos. Facebook Live is all about living in the moment so make sure you have a solid plan of action before starting your live video.
FINAL THOUGHTS.
Only 9% of small businesses use YouTube which means there is a LOT of opportunity when it comes to leveraging video to get ahead of the competition. Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users.
According to Wyzowl’s The State of Video Marketing 2019, 87% of people would like to see more video from brands in 2019. Why not give consumers what they want?
About the Author – Leslie Whittaker
As a seasoned Digital Marketing Consultant with over 13 years of experience, I help businesses increase leads, close more business, retain customers better and, ultimately, make more money. I manage over 2.6 million a year in digital marketing budgets for clients across the United States. Recently, I helped one client grow their website traffic by over 950%, reduce their cost per lead by 60% and increase their leads by over 400%.