Adding video to your website used to be time consuming and expensive. Now it’s simple and cost effective. Let’s look at some of the ways you can use video on your website to promote your brand. Our clients are providing the examples.
Commercials
AdWeek recently reported that online video is more effective than TV advertising. People are more likely to watch ads on their computers than on TV, and they’re more likely to remember the message and even the brand.
You can also upload ads to YouTube for people to watch by choice, and embed them on your website.
The most popular ads on YouTube are expensively produced miniature dramas and comedies with catchy music and great production values, but visitors to your website are likely to be interested enough in what you have to offer to watch your ad even if it’s not that fancy.
Customer testimonials
Consumers trust testimonials and reviews from other consumers more than they do advertising. United-Bilt Homes has a series of interviews with happy homeowners — and they have more views than the professionally-produced commercials which are also on their website and YouTube channel.
Since a large part of the appeal of customer reviews is that they are authentic, production values can be fairly low, so these can be relatively inexpensive and simple to produce. However — as with any interview — good editing is required to keep them interesting.
Company stories
The Natural Fruit Corporation was the subject of a documentary on the Food Channel, so they have a professionally-produced video showing their factory and the process they use to make their natural frozen fruit bars. It gives an inside look into their manufacturing — something that appeals to kids and adults.
What’s the interesting part about your business? Your travels? Your factory? The surprising raw materials you work with? Your charity fundraisers? Your Friday Bring Your Dog to Work Day policy?
Whatever your business, there’s something people would like to know about you.
How to
You might think that funny cat videos are the backbone of YouTube, but how-to videos are actually the most popular genre.
8th & Walton is a training company, so their training videos (like this sample of their Retail Math course) provide viewers with a sample of their wares. However, you can get just as much mileage with videos that show how to use your products, how to make recipes or craft projects involving your products or services, or how to do things that your target market happens to enjoy.
Clear instructions matter more than production values for this type of video, unless you’re in a competitive niche. For make up tutorials, for example, there are so many choices that professional quality is required to make a video stand out from the crowd.
Expert advice
At Haden Interactive, one of the main things we sell is our expertise — we know how to do things like SEO and content marketing, which not everyone knows. Sharing some of that knowledge in our videos demonstrates that expertise and also provides helpful information for people interested in the subject.
You have special knowledge about your business. Share it generously, and you’ll be adding value to your website while building trust with your prospective patients, clients, and customers.
Sometimes people who sell their expertise worry that sharing too much of their knowledge will keep people from coming to them as paying clients. We don’t think this is something to worry about. There is so much information available now that your customers probably aren’t paying you for the information per se, but for your ability to apply it to their needs.
Demos
If you sell a product, you can assume that the vast majority of the people who buy your product will research it online first, so it’s worth your while to show what it can do.
Here, a car dealership shows how well their product drives in the snow. With a subject like this, production quality doesn’t matter at all. If you make perfume, it matters enormously — it takes artistry to convey anything about a scent on video.
If your product lends itself to video, you need video on your website. If still photos really work better for your product, go with a gallery instead. For example, we build websites. Our products are better served by a gallery with links than they would be by videos.
Performances
If you’re a performer, you need videos. Trout Fishing in America has several.
For musicians, the quality of the sound is generally more important than the visuals, but high quality music videos will get more play and be shared more than lower quality videos. People often share music videos with friends and on their social media pages, so making your videos readily shareable and making sure your name and web address are included can really help spread the word.
For theater company Pushcart Players, we included lots of videos in the website and made up for the relatively poor production quality (videos of live performances taken from the audience usually suffer from this) by including plenty of their high quality photos. The combination gives a good idea of the experience of seeing the troupe.
If you’re not a professional performer, you can still benefit from the shareability of performance videos — Coke and Pepsi do. Can you sponsor a local band in exchange for permission to post their music video on your website? Maybe the halftime show at your local high school football game? For a local business, the local connection can be very beneficial.
Has this list given you some ideas about how you could use video on your website? Here are some more blog posts that will help you get from the idea to the reality:
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