Quick Start Guide to Using Video to Market Your Business â€“ By NFIB

Quick Start Guide to Using Video to Market Your Business – By NFIB.com

www.nfib.com/webinars/online-video of 13

First you had to get a web site, then you had to start a blog and now, we’re telling you that you have to start using video as a comprehensive part of your marketing strategy?

Why is Using Video so Important?

Let me ask you a question first. When you realize that you need something, where is the first place you go? If you’re in search of a specific product or service and you don’t have an existing source – you probably search on Google to see who is available. And if that business isn’t listed in Google or doesn’t have a web site or blog, that business just lost out in having you as a new customer.

YouTube is now seen as the second largest search engine next to Google. In fact, according to a Cisco Systems study quoted in TechCrunch, by 2013, 90% of all web traffic will be video. And Nielsen says that over 13 million Americans watched about 3 hours of video on their mobile phones.

There is no denying that video is becoming more and more important as your next marketing tool.

http://www.reelseo.com/youtube-search-december-2009/

http://techcrunch.com/2009/06/09/cisco-by-2013-video-will-be-90-percent-of-all-consumer-ip-traffic-and-64-percent-of-mobile/

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/americans-watching-more-tv-than-ever/

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/americans-watching-more-tv-than-ever/



You Don’t Need High Tech Video Equipment to Get Started

The good news is that getting started with using video for marketing doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to spend a lot of time or money. In fact, some of the most successful videos are created using handheld cameras and online editing software.

To get you started, we’ve picked the Flip and the Kodak zi8 video cameras to review. They are the top two handheld cameras on the market today. While they mostly similar features, there are a few distinctions that set them apart and will affect your decision.

Image quality, storage, battery and uploading are the four biggest features that set these two cameras apart. We’ve created a table that you can use to compare the details and I’m going to make some recommendations based on these four main features.

Choose the Flip if:

- You want to upload directly to YouTube. It’s that easy. Film, insert the Flip into your USB and it uploads directly. No conversion from one type of video file to another.



- You want to use AA batteries. If you’re going to be traveling around and not have access to a plug to recharge your camera, then this is a feature you’ll want.

- You don’t intend to shoot more than 8GB of film at a time. The Flip has 8GB of internal memory. But once the camera is full, you have to plug it into a computer to upload the video.

Choose the Kodak Zi8 if:

- You are making videos that will be shown in a larger format. The HD image quality is where the Kodak shines. It has built in image stabilization, a larger view screen, and HD quality video. Can’t be beat.

- You prefer a rechargeable camera – The Zi8 is rechargeable and doesn’t use batteries. That means that you need access to electricity if your batteries run low.

- You like removable memory and will shoot LOTS of video. The Kodak has limited internal memory, you’ll need an SD card. The good news is that you can use whichever SD size you like up to 32 GB. While you can easily plug the camera into your USB port, you can also remove the SD card and plug that into your computer or TV.



Detailed Comparison of Flip VS Kodak

Flip Kodak zi8

Screen Size 2 2.5

Tripod Mountable

Yes Yes

Image Stabilization

No Yes

Recording Quality

Records in near HD at 1280/720 which in my opinion is noticeable when compared side by side with the Zi8. Images can be a little fuzzy

1920 by 1080 ( Full HD) and 1920 by 720 in both 30 and 60 frames per second. The 720/60i is recommend the most because it produces a less jumpy movement while in the hands and performs better in low light situations.

Zoom 2x digital 4x digital zoom – the images gets a little pixilated when you zoom

Microphone 1/8 inch microphone input jack. This is going to be necessary for trade shows where a lot of noise is in the back round

Camera 5 megapixel

Memory 8GB internal 128mb internal Must purchase SD with more memory - max 32GB 32GB = $60

Price $180 $160

Uploading Easily uploads to YouTube Software takes time to learn and longer to upload

HDMI/ USB Yes Yes

Recording Limit

1.5 hours 1.5 hours

Battery AA battery Rechargeable



Online Video Editing Tools Deliver Professional Results

There are plenty of video editing tools out there that will make even the most technically challenged video producer create fairly professional looking results on a budget.

You can purchase video editing software, but there are several outstanding online options that will offer you function and flexibility at a great price.

- YouTube Editor (http://www.youtube.com/editor ) is the simplest with just the most basic functions. It lets you create videos using excerpts from the videos you've already uploaded. You can also add a music file from the AudioSwap library, but YouTube mentions that it might display ads if you use some of the audio files.

- JayCut (http://jaycut.com/) is an online video editor that is almost like Windows Movie Maker. It does not offer enough juice for a professional who requires Adobe Premier Pro or Final Cut, but an amateur looking to quickly edit a video and post it on YouTube should find it works fine.

- SpotMixer (http://www.spotmixer.com ) – Allows you to create video slide shows with still pictures and turn them into an advertisement! They even have some templates



made up that will get you a video commercial in under 10 minutes! - Movie Masher (http://www.moviemasher.com ) – This is a free open source online video

editor that has more punch than the JayCut or YouTube. It’s an open source application which means that you can download it to your computer for FREE. It is the ONLY downloadable software I’m featuring because it’s FREE. You’ll be able to do much more technically challenging things such as colorize and do fancy effects.

Editing Tips

- Keep it short! Your video shouldn’t be longer than 5 minutes. If it’s longer than that – break it up into parts i.e. Part 1, Part 2, etc. Take your cue from YouTube. YouTube will not allow you to upload videos that are longer than 15 minutes. There are a couple reasons for that; bandwidth (space and speed) and the MOST important reason is that people have short attention spans and don’t want to watch anything longer than that. In fact, an ideal length for video is under 3 minutes.

What Will You Make Your Video About?

Now you can see how easy it is to make and edit a video – so what will your video be about? There are really only about 4 basic categories of videos on the web. And this is a great place to start.

o Promotional – These are the advertising videos we’re used to. They are basically ads you might see on TV – posted up on the web. Their purpose is to promote or build the brand of a product or service.

o Selling – Think of an info-mercial on the web. What sets these videos apart is that their focus is on the call to action – to get the audience to visit a web site or call your office.

o Demo – These videos do nothing more than show the audience how something works. The idea is to WOW them.

o Training – Perhaps the most useful way to use video is to literally train or educate your audience on how to use your product or service.

There is one other attribute that ALL videos share and that is to be entertaining. What makes video on the web so appealing is it’s viral value. The more engaging and entertaining you video is – the more people will want to pass it around to their friends and family. Few videos really hit it that big because the intersection of creating a video that’s entertaining AND viral AND brand memorable is extremely challenging and unpredictable.



How to Put Together a Great Demo

1. Make sure that it’s “demo-worthy”. A demo isn’t right for everyone. Demonstrations are ideal for products that have experiential and visible features; where the FEATURE is the BENEFIT. In the BlendTec video, the blades are the feature and the fact that they decimate an iPod is proof.

2. Do it alone. You want your product, its features and benefits to be the star.

3. Be prepared for the worst. Equipment breaks down, so you want to be prepared for the worst.

4. Set yourself up for success. Think about cooking shows. They have all the ingredients prepped and they are prepared for every step. Again, this puts the focus on the features and the benefits of the product.

5. Start immediately. Don’t waste time talking – start your demo within the first minute

6. Begin with the end. Show them the power immediately – then go back and explain how it happens.



7. Speak plainly. No jargon. Speak in a language that an 8 year-old will understand.

8. Don't take any questions until the end. Don’t let the audience derail you. Run the demo, wow them, explain and then you can take questions.

9. End with something REALLY BIG. But wait – there’s more! This is why so many infomercials add on extra accessories and gifts because the goal is to get your audience to think they absolutely can’t pass this opportunity up.



Ideas for Videos Think about what your customers or prospects are most likely to be doing online: purchasing, reading, researching or buying…this will help you decide which videos will work best. If your customers are browsing the internet for entertainment – then a “selling” video will not be successful. A selling video will work best when your customers are looking to purchase. For example, if you sell your product via e-bay or Amazon, it’s a great idea to include a link to a selling video there because your customers are in purchasing mode. Whereas if your customers are chatting in Facebook or Twitter and they see a selling video, they may be feel pushed to purchase because they are in “fun” mode. A better choice would be an entertaining video for Facebook or Twitter.

1. Answer your customer’s biggest questions. Think of 5 – 7 biggest frustrations or questions that your customers have about your product or service – then make a video featuring each of those.

2. Create an “unboxing” situation. This means to video tape something in real time. Say you decide to review a product that your customers are considering buying. Show yourself with the unopened package and then open the package, set the product up and show your audience how it’s used. This will probably require some editing so that the video doesn’t last longer than 5 minutes, but people LOVE these kinds of videos because it combines, training, education and demonstration all at once.

3. Do an office tour. Anything that educates and entertains your audience will be a hit online. Audiences love the idea of experiencing something in real time and an office tour accomplishes this. WARNING: Office tours are best when your audience will be interacting with your facility. If you’re operating a gym or a restaurant for example where seeing the facility will help your customer choose you. DO NOT do office tours just to show off a building. Remember to focus on the distinguishing features of your facility. If you operate a spa, your customers would love to see the massage rooms and hear soft music.

4. Interview your best customer. This is a very powerful kind of video because it allows prospects to see your customer’s body language. It’s even MORE powerful if you invite your customers to send in their own videos because they can often be more creative than you could have hoped for.

5. Demonstrate your product or service in action. The key to success with this kind of video is truly understanding what competitive advantage or distinguishing features your product has over other alternatives. Then focus on THAT aspect or feature in your demonstration. Notice that the “Will it Blend” videos are focused on the competitive advantage that the Blendtec blades are so strong that they can blend anything. In that case watching the blender blend pieces of wood or iPods is both fun to watch and proves their point.



How to “Set “Yourself Up for Success

To make your video the best that it can be, you will have to make sure that you pay attention to some basic details: Content: Make sure to write out and rehearse what you are going to say. Don’t just ramble on. Give clear, organized information and concise points. Any time you are going to speak in front of a camera it really helps to rehearse in front of a mirror. Background and set: You do not need to set up an elaborate set but do make sure your surroundings make sense for your message and are not distracting. If you are going to be at your desk, clean it up. If you are shooting toward your work shop or workers, make sure that area is tidy and that everyone knows they are in the background of your video. If you are shooting in front of a wall, make sure you don’t blend in with it. You could shine a little light on it or add a nice neutral picture. Stay away from family photos. Make sure the area is nice a bright. Pay attention to the audio! Whether it's wind blowing into the microphone or too much background noise, bad audio can ruin a good video. If your camera has a headphone jack, plug in and do some sound checks. Make sure you can clearly hear what you want your audience to hear. Watch what you're filming Beginner videographers should never shoot with a window in the background. The camera, other people and objects could reflect off the glass, making for an awkward video. Light may also come through the window causing your subject to be backlit – meaning that the object or person you're shooting will look like they have a shadow cast over them. Lighting is important, but it doesn't have to be perfect. Just make sure your subject isn't backlit or so bright that they're reflecting light back to the camera. You: Wear clothing in bright, solid colors and stay away from distracting jewelry. Stripes, plaid and hounds tooth general wreak havoc with cameras. You don’t have to dress up in a suit or something you wouldn’t wear in your business day, but look professional and put together. Remember, you are representing your business and you want to appear knowledgeable, professional and trustworthy.



Promote Your Videos – Tell your Friends.

Your video will not attract prospects or customers if you don’t tell everyone that it’s there. The first thing to do is to upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo – an external video hosting site. This is critical because these sites are indexed by Google very frequently. That means that when someone is searching on an industry keyword – your video will pop up at the top.

o SBTV.com: Create a profile on the SBTV.com community. You can easily upload your video to your profile and then post a link to your video on your website or in your marketing materials including social media sites. When you upload a video to the SBTV.com community it is automatically featured on the homepage of the community site. This is an ideal way to promote your content to a specifically small business audience and community. Be sure to fill out your profile completely and include links to your web site and blog.

o YouTube: Create a YouTube Channel and upload EVERY video there. Now you can use share features (found in the lower right hand corner of each video or just below the video) and share via email, blog and link.

o Vimeo: Vimeo is also a terrific resource. The one restriction Vimeo has in order to post for free is that you don’t sell. So no sales videos, infomercials, or demos that actively sells or

http://cs.sbtv.com



promote. Another differentiator is that Vimeo will NOT feature other people’s videos with similar content. This means that your prospect will only be looking at your video and not have their attention stray to another.

o Blog: Always upload your video to YouTube and/or Vimeo and then grab the embed code and put it on your blog and web site. When people read your blog, they will have the option to pull the code or link and link to the videos on YouTube or Vimeo.

o LinkedIn Profile and Groups: LinkedIn doesn’t currently support putting videos directly into the profile, so the easy thing to do is simply post a link to the video on YouTube or Vimeo. Another way to post video on LinkedIn is to insert the video into a PowerPoint slide and then post that slide on www.slideshare.com. You will then be able to post the slideshare link and slide into your profile.

o iTunes: This is another way to post your video or audio. Millions of people are now viewing video on their mobile devices and iPads. Don’t forget to post your video on iTunes so that they can download them on their iPhones and iPads.



Coordinate and Use ALL Your Social Media Communities

Don’t forget to tell everyone that you have a new video.

1. First, post it on your YouTube Channel, then 2. Post it on your blog and web site, next 3. Go over to your LinkedIn and Facebook pages and post there. 4. Go to relevant groups that you belong to and post a link there. 5. If you have a Twitter account, tweet the link to your video AND also ask close

colleagues and friends who are on Twitter and who have larger relevant communities to post a link as well.

Our Online Resources for Tips

5 Super Easy Ideas To Promote Your Business With Online Video

5 Basic Tips to Make Professional Looking Video

Tips for Marketing on YouTube

5 Tips for Making Great Video for the Web

https://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/5-super-easy-ways-to-use-video-to-promote-your-business-john-jantsch

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/5-basic-tips-to-make-a-professional-looking-video-william-wei

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/guide-to-video-marketing-on-youtube/6381/

http://www.nfib.com/business-resources/business-resources-item?cmsid=48944

Quick Start Guide to Using Video to Market Your Business â€“ By NFIB

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