A Quick Guide to Creating Quality Video Content for Small Businesses

Do you wish to use video content to make your small business popular? There is a common belief that video marketing is time-consuming and expensive. But in reality, it’s as easy as walking in the park; how? Small business owners can buy a good smartphone and start recording helpful videos for their target customers. 

They do not need to invest in high-cost equipment or resources to create nice-looking videos. You must work on ensuring that your video content is impressive and heart-touching. Also, devote yourself to preparation and planning so your video content stands out from the competition.

In this article, let's learn how you can create fantastic video content with the help of some easy-to-apply strategies. 

Why Do Small Businesses Need Video Marketing?

Video marketing paves the way for small businesses to increase social media engagement and build an online brand. Consider these points:

• Videos help you offer infotainment that breaks through the noise and lets the audience know about your business. 
• 80% of social media users prefer watching videos. Hence video content is the best way to engage with your social media fans and followers. 
• Video marketing allows youth to create disruptive content and build a loyal audience for your business.
• Plus, it’s a great content format to highlight your product USPs and get prospects to convert into customers. 
• Video content is a terrific brand storytelling tool that helps build deeper relationships with potential and existing customers. 
  
  

Studies show, 64% are more likely to purchase a product after watching an online video. 

How To Produce Quality Video Content for Your Small Business

Start with the strategy

The best way to start is to develop a unique video content strategy that aligns with your business goals. Here are the essential elements of a successful video strategy:

• Document audience persona
   

The right way is to create a document where you write about your audience’s key challenges, likes, interests, and preferences. 

This way, you know if you’re talking to someone who’s a college graduate, looking for an internship, or the CEO of a big company, leading a team of one hundred people. For inspiration, you can take a look at this sample audience persona:

(Source: Brafton)

• Define your goals 

Write down your video marketing objective. For instance, is it to spread brand awareness, generate leads, or earn new customers? 

A goal document will help you decide whether to create an educational how-to video or a product explainer highlighting your product features. 

• Finalize a video type

  • Product explainer: If you have a product or service that needs explanation, you must create a product explainer. An explainer video shows your product to your target users and tells them its key features. Product explainers work well to induce first-time users to try out your product or service. Look at this example of an explainer video from NextGlass, a unique wine recommendation application.

• • Brand story video: Video marketing allows you to tell users why you’re in business. You can use a brand story or an introductory video to share your startup journey and brand purpose. 
    
    
  • How-to videos: How-to or educational videos help you teach your audience about a specific topic and spread awareness about your offerings. Take a look at this example from Shopify, the popular eCommerce platform. 

• • Social proof videos: A small business owner’s biggest challenge is to get people to buy their products and services. That’s where video testimonials take center stage. Record happy customers saying nice things about your products or services and showcase it on your marketing channels. 
    
    

Decide on the video length

Before recording any video, you must know how long it will be; the ideal length depends on the video type and the platform.

For instance, the perfect length of social media videos is no more than two minutes. A good Instagram story is as short as 5 seconds. On the other hand, if you’re creating a product tutorial, the video length can go up to 10 minutes.  

Once you have these strategic elements, you can start working on your video script.

Additionally, utilizing a video summarizer can be immensely helpful in condensing longer footage into more digestible formats.

These tools use advanced algorithms to identify key moments and create concise summaries, saving both time and effort in the editing process.

Work on crafting an excellent script

The first step is to know your writing style. Just like writing a college essay, you need to align the script style with the video objective. Another basic rule is to tell a story that starts with a problem and ends with a tangible solution. 

You should work on creating your video's main character. The hero of the video should be someone the audience can feel an instant connection with. Use a conversational tone to make the audience feel you’re speaking to them.

Ensure you hook your audience with a question or an analogy that grabs instant attention. Finally, a simple table can describe your script's audio and visual elements. 

(Source: Biteable)

Make your videos look professional

Professional-looking videos are the life and soul of a winning small business video content strategy. Nobody in your audience wants to watch a shoddy video with blurred or shaky footage.

So let’s use simple techniques to make your video content look top-notch and impressive.

• Shoot with a thematic background 

The ideal video shooting strategy is choosing a background that goes with your topic. For instance, when targeting a B2B audience, you can shoot with your office in the background. 

On the other hand, if you’re making a fun DIY video for work-from-home moms, you can probably shoot with plants in your background. 

What if you end up shooting the video with an irrelevant backdrop? Don’t worry; you can remove the video background later and replace it with the help of an appropriate tool. Another helpful tool is to use free stock videos to create your video content if want to save some time.

• Get the lighting right 

You must know that lighting impacts the mood of your video. Also, proper lighting makes the video-host look good. You should shoot with natural as well as artificial light to create the right balance.

Natural light adds softness to a video, while you can use artificial light to add brightness to its ambiance.

Work on promoting your video content 

What do you do after creating some unique video content? Start promoting it! 

• Work on designing great video thumbnails. Your thumbnail image design can make or break the deal for your video. It triggers the users to click on a video link.
  
• Whether you post the video on YouTube or any other hosting platform, you need to add a search-friendly title and description. It’s what makes your video easily searchable to potential viewers. 
• Next, you must share your video on all your social media pages, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Do share it from personal profiles on these channels as well. 
• You can also use the POWR Video Slider to display your website's video content. 

Final Thoughts

Video marketing is a powerful channel to take your business to your audience. You can get miles ahead of your competition by creating and promoting thought-provoking video content.

All you have to do is strategize your video content and produce quality content that your prospects enjoy watching and sharing.