Get Those Cameras Rolling

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Don’t worry about production value

You can create effective video for your business on a shoestring, with just a decent-quality smartphone or tablet camera. The focus should be on your video’s content, not on flashy effects or production value.

Of course, if you have the budget to hire a professional photographer and shoot a more fancy piece, feel free to do so. The point, however, is that if you don’t have the budget for that sort of expense, don’t let it keep you from creating great video content to attract and engage customers.

Decide what your video content will be about

This is a stumbling block for many small business owners who’ve never made a video before. What the heck are you going to talk about?

Here are several ways you can focus your video content — to make your campaign more effective, you should create more than one of these video types:

Introduce your team and your office. This is a great addition to your “About” page, and is more engaging than just showing staff bios next to their head shots. Feel free to get creative — perhaps by blending the tour and the introductions by showing each team member at his or her workstation, and letting him or her guide that part of the tour.
Product demos. A video showing the step-by-step guide for using your product makes the instructions much easier to follow — and your customers will love you for it.
Present case studies/testimonials. Give your happiest customers a few minutes in the spotlight by letting them tell their stories on camera.
Show your manufacturing/business process. Many people are fascinated with the process by which companies produce their products/services. This is an especially powerful tool if your products are made in your own country, giving you a chance to show off your pride in that fact.

Create an effective video

While production values don’t have to be on par with slick television commercials, you should have a few basics down so your video is more effective.

Keep it simple. Your first few videos, especially, should focus on a single, clear topic.
Keep it brief. While people are more willing to watch a video than read a huge block of text, you’ll still lose a lot of them if you turn that video into a 20-minute monologue. Keep it to two or three minutes. For product demos that require more time, just try to keep them as brief as possible — and consider breaking up the video into segments.
Rehearse…and then relax. You don’t have to rehearse your video script until it’s as polished as an actor’s lines — in fact, that will remove some of the casual atmosphere you should be going for. Instead, jot down a few notes, and go over them a few times so you have an idea of what you’re going to say.

Adding video to your small business marketing can give your sales a healthy boost.

It doesn’t have to be flashy, either — with a little planning and a good smartphone camera, you can start creating effective video content for your company’s website and social media channels.

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