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Let’s talk about the elephant in the room…. Businesses hear over and over again that video is the most powerful tool they have to reach new customers. Yet most businesses don’t use video. At all. That seems absurd, doesn’t it? If I offered you two bucks for every dollar you gave me, you’d certainly take me up on the offer (once you’d gotten past wondering if this was a scam of some sort). We repeatedly hear that in the age of YouTube and social media, video is the most effective media, yet something prevents businesses from using it. And interestingly, I think I know the answer.
Three answers, actually.

“Video should never produce just one product”

First, most businesses don’t know how they will use the video to reach customers. What’s the point of uploading a video to YouTube if no one watches it? Where is the best place to post the video? A marketing agency will tell you… in exchange for a good piece of your pocketbook, and assure you that you’re bound for success (thanks so much). But frankly, they’re often wrong. Because they didn’t take sufficient time to understand your product and your customers. The best person to build a strategy for using your video is, to be honest, you. But you need the tools and knowledge to create your plan, and an expert to help guide the process can be extremely useful. In my upcoming series of posts, I’ll provide many of the tools and information you need to lead your strategy development. You may (or may not) gain enough information and confidence to create an effective strategy, but hopefully you’ll build the confidence to use the tools and take the next step towards creating video content that reaches your goals. Because I, like many others, do truly believe that video is the most effective tool for reaching those goals.

The second reason businesses don’t use video to reach their customers is that they believe they’ll only get one product. All that time. All that money. For one video. And most video production companies will only offer that one product. But video produces 24 images per second. No one should ever walk away with just one product. The process of creating a video for your company should product several still images that can be used on a website or social media. The behind the scenes creation should produce stories and footage. The content should produce quotes and tag lines. A production process is media rich. Don’t walk away with just one product. Your dissemination strategy will help you identify what products you need from the production process, and your media company (videographer, marketing agency, etc.) can help you get them.

Still images, behind the scenes, and teasers…
All from a single “About Us”

Third, most businesses don’t know how to evaluate the success of a video campaign. And that evaluation feels like a lot of work. Confusing work. Marketing agencies will spew a lot of statistics about the effectiveness of video: video ads produce 480% higher clickthrough rates, 95% higher retention rates for information, 97% higher intention-to-purchase rates… but frustratingly, no one will ever give you a statistics on actual return of investment. Or, to put a point on it: for every dollar I invest in video marketing, how much will my sales improve? There are two reasons this statistic doesn’t exist: first, the quality of your video matters— and quality is complex. A handheld phone video of the owner showing his or her shop might be perfect for some businesses, but disastrous for others. The second reason is that the sales funnel has many parts. No one thing can take the credit for a sale. A quality product still needs to be discovered by a customer… and it needs to be the right customer, one who’s budget is in align with your price point. Ease of sale and sales support also plays a role, as does brand recognition and trust. What makes video so powerful is that it can play a part in all of these purchasing factors. And over the next few blog posts will explore how you can make video work for your business— how to plan for it, disseminate it, and evaluate it.

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