The Road To Success: 13 Ways To Distribute Your Company Video

So your Orlando small business video is produced.  It’s awesome!  The footage looks great.   Your message positions your company as a leader in the industry.  Your client testimonials shine.  What will you do next?

Distributing your video is the most important part in the whole process.  That’s where you’ll earn your return on investment.  You want page views, clicks, eyeballs watching, shares, Google respect…and most importantly sales.  These won’t happen if you just upload your single video to YouTube or embed the video on your website.  Businesses need to wage a full assault!

Here’s our list of 13 actions you need to take after producing your video.  Some of these are obvious, some you may have never thought of.

1)      Embed or Host The Video On Your Website.  Do this pronto!  Feature it prominently.  Don’t hide it away somewhere where it can’t be seen.  And if you make it the size of a postage stamp you’re just wasting your money.  We see some videos on websites where the dimensions are so tiny it’s absolutely ridiculous.  You’ve invested time and resources producing that project showcase it.  Don’t provide a link that just takes a viewer to YouTube.  You want to keep people on your site so they can make a purchase or contact you.  Both YouTube and Vimeo make it very easy with sharing options to embed the video on a website. 

2)      Create a YouTube Business Channel.  Upload your video to YouTube.  Think of this as just your first video, you’ll want to create a presence there.  Fill in the description area; use keywords that are pertinent to your industry, list tags…when you are doing this you are optimizing the video for Google.   Create a link to your website.  Do all of this in mind for your ideal client, your goal is to make it possible for them to find your company if they are searching YouTube for a solution you provide.  When you upload the video you’ll want to change the video filename so that it doesn’t just say acmemarketingvideo.mp4!  It should include a keyword, but also other words so that you’re not just keyword stuffing. 

3)      Link The Video To Your Email Signature.  How many emails do we send out each?  Or reply to?  Yeah, if you’re like us plenty.  Create a bold title that will draw links.  Make it opinionated or conversational.  The key is linking that email recipient to your website page that hosts the video.  You’re getting views and Google values that.

4)      Social Media.  Share your video on as many platforms as you can.  Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, etc.  Google takes your social media presence into account when ranking your website.  The other positive you can get from this is shares from your friends.  I typically will share a video on our business page and then will share that same video on my personal Facebook page too.  Our friends want to see us succeed so you’ll get more shares.   

5)      Yelp.  If you have a Yelp business listing you can upload a video to your company profile.  A great way to be found by consumers searching for local businesses.

6)      Email Newsletters.  If your small business isn’t sending out email newsletters already, you need to add it to your marketing strategy.  Showcasing your videos and providing links will greatly increase open rates. According to Invodo, using the word “video” in email subject lines boosts open rates 19%, and click-through rates by 65%.  Mail Chimp and Constant Contact are two leaders in the industry that are video friendly.

7)      LinkedIn Publishing.  Write an informative post on LinkedIn and use the publishing tool to increase exposure.  Try to incorporate the video into your entry in a way that’s relevant to your message and audience.  Your content might be featured in LinkedIn’s Pulse, a digest of some of their top posts.

8)      Online Business Forums.  If your business uses message boards or other online community groups to interact or market your services in any respect don’t overlook those opportunities.  For example if you’re a manufacturing company PracticalMachinist.com is the largest manufacturing technology community on the web. 

9)      Trade Shows.  Beware…not every video is perfect for trade show environments.  In a noisy chaotic venue, you’re often competing for attention.  People are strolling through your booth so short video clips are often the best recipe here.  The other type of video that can succeed in a trade show is something very high energy with animation or a fast-paced video that can attract attention.  Videos with lots of interviews typically aren’t a great fit.    

10)    Company Lobby Or Waiting Room.  You have your client or prospect’s undivided attention if they are waiting on an appointment (hopefully they aren’t waiting too long!) with you.  Looping a marketing video on a LED television, or even creating a longer version lobby video with extra content that maybe didn’t make the website cut is a perfect idea.  It’s a conversation starter and one more feather in your company cap. 

11)    Business Presentations.  If your company has a sales presentation your newly produced video should be part of it.  For most forward thinking companies this video was most likely planned to be part of sales campaigns in the first place. 

12)    DVD or Flash Drive Distribution.  As you market your company, you’ll want to be able to either hand off marketing products to your prospects or send them via direct mail. 

13)    All The Rest.  There are so many platforms you can upload videos too.  A short list would include:  Vimeo, Blip.tv, Metacafe, Quora, Daily Motion, Yahoo, and Bing.

Creating content is a powerful step in building your company’s brand.  As you can see it’s just a first stage in your overall marketing strategy.  Developing a solid distribution plan is essential in maximizing your ROI.