March 30, 2020 Business, Content Marketing

In this blog post, we will discuss some ideas on how you can incorporate video to market your business. We will focus on the planning stage of undertaking a video content marketing initiative. In succeeding posts, we will take on some basics on how to create video content.

First, the question: is it worth the time and effort to write a script, invest in equipment, put on makeup, shoot a video, publish, and promote it online? The answer is yes. Your customers own multiple screens and are listed on multiple platforms. They have a phone, a computer, a tablet, and a TV. At least. They are on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube, and Twitter, among others. Each of these platforms has made it easy for users to view video content.

Marketing automation platform Hubspot surveyed 3000 consumers in 2017, and found that video ranked on top of any other type of content that consumers wanted to see from a brand or business they supported.

Image from Hubspot.

The real question is this: why are you not using video for your business?

First Things First

Maybe you’re thinking that your product is too straightforward to explain on video. Or your services too complex to even try to capture onscreen. Or you just don’t know where to start — do you just point your camera at your face and start recording?

First, here are a few questions that will help you stay focused on your goals for using video to promote your business.

1. What’s your objective for publishing videos? Answers may vary from brand awareness, additional site or social media traffic, incoming leads. Think about your call to action. What is it that you want your viewers to do after watching the video — subscribe, stay tuned, or buy?
2. Who’s going to watch your videos? Think about your ideal customer. Or even a particular segment of your range of customer profiles. Are they male or female? What age? What are their related interests? What social media platforms are they on? The more defined your profile, the better. The content and manner of distribution will depend on the profile of your audience.
3. How much is your budget? Your budget will dictate whether you will go the DIY route or hire a third-party agency. Either of which is acceptable but comes with certain expectations, especially in terms of quality and timeline. But the size of your budget shouldn’t stop you from launching your video marketing initiative. Work with the budget that you have and improve your strategy as you go. It is important, though, to know how much resources you have now in order to plan the way forward.

What Video Content?

Now that we know for whom the video will be, the outcome that we want to achieve, and the resources we have at hand, here comes the fun part: what video are we creating? Here are some ideas and examples.

Explainer videos are a fun, visual way to educate your audience about a concept relating to your product or service. The narrative of explainer videos takes a conversational approach in breaking down an abstract idea into one that the viewer can relate to.

Check out this video we created for SAP reseller and service provider APPTech Experts. To help customers build confidence in the cloud approach to computing, this video likens a cloud application to a readily available irrigation system. It is wiser for you to tap into this system to water your garden rather than to spend all the time, money, and effort to build your own.

Video ads are not just for TV broadcast anymore — they are a creative way to promote your brand online too. In fact, video ads get to be more flexible when published online because they don’t necessarily have to be 30 seconds long. If your goal is to introduce your company to the world, you can start with an overview of who you are, what you do, and what’s in it for your customers.

This video ad, which we shot and edited in collaboration with Wonder Collab Studios, of the University of Nueva Caceres features why they are the best school of choice for incoming students in the Bicol region. Apart from world-class facilities and progressive teaching methods, UNC emphasizes the initiatives they have in place to prepare their students for a real-world career.

Event Videos may serve both as a post-event documentation and as a promotion of upcoming events. In this type of video content, it is best to highlight engaging activities, wonderful setup and venue, and the fun the delegates had. This will inspire your viewers to anticipate the next event, if they want to experience the same benefits as did the featured attendees.

DDLS is a highly trusted professional training provider in Australia. Instead of simply posting pictures to announce their opening in the Philippines, they opted to capture through video the first couple of classes they conducted in the country. In this video, you will notice that DDLS is particular about high-quality instruction and high-tech equipment.

Educational Videos are beneficial to both the viewer and the creator. At the end of the video, viewers can take away knowledge that they can use in their everyday lives. This can be a how-to instruction for a product or a lesson on a new language. Creators, on the other hand, get to flex their product or expertise, and the viewers will remember this, helping the brand remain top of mind.

Creative Coconut Ph’s Co-Founder, Victor Nierva, is a Bicol language expert and runs the vlog, Magbikol Kita. The goal of the vlog is to keep the Bicol language thriving. Every week, the vlog takes on a particular grammatical or orthographic rule in Bicol, clarifies any nuances, and shows examples of usage. Fans of the vlog are Bicolanos who want to speak the language right, teachers who want to make sure they are properly instructing students in the mother tongue, and Bicolanos based overseas who want to stay connected to their roots. This vlog attracts business opportunities for us through language consulting and translation projects.

Case Studies/Testimonial Videos

Written online reviews and star ratings are great, but what better way to demonstrate your brand excellence than by having your loyal customers testify. These videos show your viewers how other buyers use your products or services and why they are happy with your brand. Because you can see the customers’ faces in case studies and testimonial videos, the review is not anonymous, which gives it more credibility.

Personal Message

Remember the time when you were still typing up the minutes of an important meeting in order to send it to your potential client and keep them engaged? It looks like those days are about to be over. Personal video messages are now in fashion. Which is no surprise because video conferencing is quickly replacing physical meetings — with our internet connections getting faster and the metro traffic not getting any better. Why send words on screen when you can send video greetings! Short videos are easy to create now that our phone cameras are very powerful and video editing apps are widespread. Definitely something to try for B2B entrepreneurs. (We know we will try it!)

Next steps

Using video for your business takes a little more effort than the usual blog post or social media ad. But the benefits for your business are also greater. Just take our Magbikol Kita vlog, for example. While we don’t monetize it through ads (yet!), it attracts high-value language consulting projects, and that’s something all of us want — high-quality sales leads. That’s on top of the intrinsic benefit of being able to help keep a beautiful Filipino language alive.

So what’s next? Here are a few concrete steps you can take to start using video for your business:

1. Figure out the goal you want to achieve in creating video content. A clear goal will inspire you and help you overcome the challenge of getting started and the even bigger challenge of consistently coming up with content.
2. Determine the audience you want to speak to.
3. Write down topic ideas.

When you have these, you can figure out what type of video content applies to your goal. And then get your face and product camera-ready!

Need help producing video content for your business? Message Creative Coconut Ph through our Facebook page or email marvi@creativecoconut.ph.