When it comes to promoting your business online, video marketing is a powerful strategy due to its many benefits. In this article, we’ll explain some of the reasons why video marketing is important for you as a Nigerian Entrepreneur, Freelancer, or Startup owner.
What is Video Marketing for SMEs?
Video marketing for SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) refers to the use of video content as a strategic tool to promote products, services, and brand messages to your target audience.
It involves creating and sharing videos across various online platforms to engage, inform, and connect with your potential customers. It encompasses a range of video types, including promotional videos, tutorials, customer testimonials, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and more.
Having understood what video marketing means, let’s get to know why you as an entrepreneur, should consider investing in video marketing.
10 Reasons Why SMEs Should Invest in Video Marketing
1. Increased Engagement
In today’s fast-paced digital world, many people have shorter attention spans. When you engage videos in your marketing, you can easily capture the attention of your target audience and convey information quickly and effectively to them, leading to higher engagement rates from your audience and on your social media platforms.
Great Tip: If you are marketing on WhatsApp, don’t start your posts with a video. Start with a draw-in text talking about why they should watch your next post before you post the videos. The reason is it takes time for videos to load, and that split second will make most of your viewers skip your posts to the next.
2. Improved SEO
Videos can boost your website’s search engine rankings, as well as your social signal,s making it easier for potential customers to find you on search engines such as Google and Bing. You can achieve this by optimizing your videos with titles that are synonymous with the search intent of your target audience. e.g., ‘How to Bake Cookies’ should be the proper title for your video when posting on your social media platforms and search engines such as YouTube.
Adding related tags around the theme of your video will also help boost your rankings on social media platforms and help your potential customers easily locate you.
3. Enhanced Brand Awareness
Videos help you showcase your brand’s personality, story, and values, making it easier for customers to connect with your business. Through videos, you can display your logo, show your core values, and unique personality. Whether it is humor, seriousness, or authenticity, videos capture your brand’s essence more effectively than text alone.
For example, Behind-the-scenes videos give your viewers a glimpse of the people, processes, and effort that go into creating the product or service they use. This transparency helps build trust and authenticity for your business.
4. Higher Conversion Rates
Video content often leads to higher conversion rates as it effectively communicates your product or service’s benefits.
How? When you engage in videos, you enhance your capacity to communicate product value, build trust, and evoke emotions, all of which significantly influence your consumers’ purchasing decisions. Video content bridges the gap between the physical shopping experience and online browsing, helping consumers make more confident and informed choices.
5. Videos are Mobile-friendly
Videos are easily consumable on mobile devices, catering to the growing mobile user base. According to statistics, there are over 5 billion unique mobile users worldwide, and mobile devices account for a significant portion of internet usage, with over 50% of web traffic coming from mobile devices. Not only this,but around 72% of global e-commerce transactions were made on mobile devices.
This implies there is a growing number of consumers using mobile devices for online shopping, queries, and inquiries. You would be missing a lot of opportunities if you left video marketing out of your marketing strategies.
6. Effective Communication
Complex ideas can be simplified and conveyed effectively through videos, helping customers understand your products and services better.
You can use videos to break down complex processes into a series of step-by-step visuals, making it easier for your target audience to understand your message. Also, a clear and concise narration or voiceover can provide context, explanations, and insights that guide your viewers through the concept, making it easier to comprehend.
7. Personal Connection
Videos enable you to establish emotional connections with your audience, fostering trust and loyalty.
For example, Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign included personalized videos featuring popular names on Coke bottles. These videos encouraged customers to share their own videos while enjoying a Coke, creating a sense of personal connection.
8. Demonstration of Customer Testimonials
Video testimonials allow customers to express their opinions in their own words, conveying sincerity and authenticity that written reviews might lack. You can use video testimonials from your previous customers to promote your service and products. Talking about your service provides further tangible proof of its benefits and reassures potential buyers.
9. Influence on Impulse Buying
Engaging videos can trigger impulse purchases by creating a sense of urgency or excitement that encourages consumers to buy from you on the spot. This alone can skyrocket sales for your business within a short time, as you know, humans are visually motivated. Compared to texts, videos are compelling and are widely used as a strategy to drive sales.
10. Higher Social Media Reach
Videos are highly shareable, especially if it is informative, educational, or entertaining, increasing your brand’s visibility and reach on social media platforms.
The more shares your videos have, the higher your chances of organically acquiring new leads and potential customers. Read our next post on how to create shareable video content.
Getting Started with Making Videos
To start making your videos, except if you’re highly creative, you’ll need a script, a phone with good camera quality, good recording and editing techniques.
You don’t necessarily need to be a Pro to start making shareable video content and achieve your goals. Remember, while video marketing offers numerous benefits, it’s important to create relevant content that aligns with your business goals and target audience.
