This article was written by Pete Lisoskie, CEO, BeLocal.com
How can you better leverage this content to drive sales and enhance your communication with site visitors?
Using video content to engage customers and drive new prospects is still an under-utilized strategy with brands big and small. When we ask in our Authority Marketing seminars who uses video for marketing, very few business owners raise their hands. Not only is it relatively inexpensive to use but video content can be leveraged in many different ways and is easy to promote through social media.
Video is powerful! It allows you to connect to your audience on a personal level, builds trust, and holds the prospective customer’s attention longer on your message.
• The “virtual” personal connection
• Help you stand out from your competition
• Personal branding
• Builds trust & rapport
• Shows a product or service in action
• Video holds attention longer
Here are the different video types that can be used to engage prospective customers.
Now that you know the power of video and the different types of videos you can produce, how do you use video to engage our customers? Here are 5 secret tips on how to get it right:
- Tell your Story: The most powerful selling sequence was established by Aristotle and that is Ethos, Pathos, Logos – or establish credibility, appeal to their emotion, and then apply logic to close a sale. With video you can follow the powerful sequence by telling your story and presenting your products and services. You can establish credibility and appeal to emotion.
- Start a Video Diary: Video diaries are a great way to show an inside, relaxed viewpoint of a brand or company. You can produce video diaries and promoted your company site through your own YouTube channel.
- Use Video to Highlight your Products: Video is a great way to demonstrate how your product works. More powerfully, you can help the customer imagine what it would be like if they owned and used your product which directly appeals to their emotion. If you get them to say, “That’s Me!” or “I Want That!” then you have a sales.
- Video Humor to Drive Traffic: Humor, done well, always is a massive hit on the internet. There are so many examples of humorous videos that have gone viral and generated several hundred thousand views. BlendTec is an example of a company that used video to skyrocket views and revenues. Cracked! is another successful example. They went live in 2009 and their episodes have been viewed over 13 million times! So if you have a humorous streak, then apply it to your products or services.
- Video as Customer Outreach: What I mean here is the use of video as product tutorials to teach your customers how to use a product of yours. The second, and most powerful way, is to teach them how to submit video testimonials about their experiences with your company. If you want to see how the successful company Zappos.com does this, go to http://bit.ly/AvzzXu. What results is lots of free press for your company in the process.
One thing to remember, video doesn't have to be complicated to record or produce. All it takes is a video camera, a YouTube channel, your motivation, or some willing customers. It's a well-known fact that video makes a site "stickier", and that means longer site visits and lower bounce rates.
Get your video marketing started this week! The longer you wait the greater chance your competition will beat you to the clicks you deserve on the internet.
