Corporate Video – 10 Ways Businesses Can Implement Video

Video Is A Tool For Business!

According to Forbes, more than 80% of senior executives surveyed, state they are watching more online video today than a year ago.

Successful companies use video to motivate, entertain, educate as well as market.  It’s an investment that can save your company money through proper employee training and also build more prospects and clients through web video marketing.  Let’s look at 10 applications in which businesses can use video.

1. Employee education videos.  Also known as training videos.  Training videos make a great deal of sense if you have employees that work with your customers on a regular basis.  Maybe they provide customer service over the phone or they’re involved with sales.  Are they employing the right techniques?  If not, that can make a huge difference and impact your bottom line.  The fact of the matter is that people learn more effectively through watching and listening rather than just reading.  
2. Video product marketing.  Zappos is a popular online retailer that is seeing conversions increase through the use of product videos.  Their videos capture the quirky sense of culture their company is all about.  Employees share their sense of personality while talking about shoes and how they might look wearing them.  The personal engagement of the employees is a strong asset that can’t be overlooked.  Zappos has seen 6 to 30% conversion rates because of these videos.  As a result they’ve creating 10 in-house video studios at their corporate headquarters.  This from a company that was founded only 16 years ago.  
3. Homepage videos for your website.  It’s your best opportunity to greet your customer or prospect when they visit your company online.  Make it personal, engaging…but whatever you do, don’t make this an advertisement for your business!  In fact…make it about your client…talk to their needs!  Remember this…people want to do business with people they like.  So use your personality.  Be warm, inviting…if you don’t think you’re the most personable person to represent your company…consider someone else. The important thing to remember is to be real and to share your confidence with your clients and prospects.
4. Video content for your website.  Sure…you might already have a homepage video but don’t stop there!  If you do that doesn’t really take care of all your needs.  Provide educational videos about the services you provide.  If you’re a plumber produce a few “how to” videos.  These are tips that will add to your reputation.  It will speak to your experience and people will consider you an expert in your field.  Don’t worry about sharing information…what you’re doing is providing a service that people will remember.  Law firms all across the United States are starting to realize the importance of video.  As a result they’re providing video content on their website to help their potential clients.  In fact, Thomson Reuters did a study and found out that when consumers are looking for an attorney they visit on average 4.8 law firm websites.  If video is one of those sites the number is reduced to 1.8.  Providing valuable video content will benefit your small business.  Video testimonials are another great idea for website content.  When it comes to testimonials, text can not compete with video.  Taping a testimonial with a happy client adds wonderful content to your website.  It’s video that will be clicked on and watched by prospects visiting your website.
5. Tradeshow videos.  Let me add a qualifier here.  A tradeshow video can be successful but it has to be used properly.  Tradeshows usually have a lot of people…there’s activity, conversation, a lot of noise.  In order for a video to stand out you need to take those factors into account.  Use a large LCD screen, if you plan to showcase a video…SHOWCASE it!  Don’t playback a video in a 17 inch monitor no one will see or hear.  It won’t help you.  A large LCD screen is part of the experience, it’s something that people will take notice of and want to stop at your booth.  Make sure you have external speakers so that people will be able to hear your message.
6. YouTube.  YouTube has only been around for 10 years but it feels like it has been part of the American culture forever!  A small percentage of videos actually go viral..it’s kind of like hitting the lottery when they do!  Attaining viral status is no easy feat.  You can always post funny videos of your children or pets doing something but that doesn’t have anything to do with your business.  The important thing to remember is you always want to have your target audience in mind for any video you produce.  Despite the long odds in achieving viral status that shouldn’t stop you one bit from using YouTube as another avenue in your video marketing strategy.  There’s plenty of value though in using YouTube as an important element in your marketing strategy.  YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world next to Google.  So people are using it to find products, services and how-to’s that are important to them.  Any industry should be able to take advantage of this.  If you’re a financial planner or a CPA you should consider producing videos that you can upload to YouTube in order to try to build more traffic to your website!  The key is the content.  Is it valuable?  Does it fulfill a need that your clients or prospects have?  There’s more to it though than just producing your video and uploading it.  Make sure that you properly title it, you also need to give it a description with good keywords and then tag it as well.  All of these details will help your prospects find you when they’re searching for your services on YouTube.
7. Next up…Facebook.  Creating a Facebook business page is easy.  In doing so you can populate it with the videos you’re creating for your website and YouTube.   The more likes you have, the greater the opportunity you have for people to view your videos and for their friends to be able to see them as well.  Create and share good content on Facebook and you have another excellent opportunity to grow your business.  But again…content is king, think about ways you can create video providing tips and educating your client base.
8. Broaden your exposure and share your videos through newsletters.  Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, and Campaigner are just a few of the popular email marketing solutions that are serving small businesses just like yours today!  Providing valuable information about your company and the methods used to help your clients is a great way of keeping in touch with your customers.  All of these providers offer easy ways for your recipients to share your newsletter with their friends or business colleagues.  When video is used in emails click through rates are 2 to 3 times higher!  Video lends an extra air of authority and sophistication to your company’s reputation.
9. LinkedIn.  The great thing about having video produced for your company is that you can repurpose it on so many different levels.  YouTube and Facebook may get all the press, but LinkedIn is the world’s largest business related social networking site.  They have over 100 million members!  LinkedIn offers the ability to embed a video using the application, Google Presentation.  LinkedIn is one more tool to use, and one more avenue to further your video marketing efforts.
10. Today video is being implemented into press releases.  Companies like PRWeb are recognizing that their client base wants to take advantage of online video.   If you’re a small business owner that owns an Internet store or your selling a product or service where you aren’t restricted by your location, issuing a press release and using video to get your message across might be a very good strategy.  Summit Self Defense is a good success story.  This small business in New Mexico has seen leads increase 100% which are directly attributed to the releases sent through PR Web.  Owner, Robb Hamic is convinced that implementing video in the news releases is the right strategy.  “Video is perfect…the ability to embed video right alongside a press release is worth its weight in gold.  PR Web through its research has determined that the average viewer spends 30 seconds longer on a news release if it includes multimedia.

Contact us today if your company is considering using video as a business tool.  Our team has helped companies of all sizes meet their goals and objectives through video training and marketing.