The Power of Video In Business Marketing

•What’s the fastest way to capture customer attention? Video.
•What’s a new powerful tool to arm your sales team with to help differentiate you from your competitors? Video.
•What can you do to reduce turnover, instill fun, and increase loyalty of your workers? Video.

Ready…Action!

You know by now that YouTube is one of the most visited Internet sites on planet Web. You can watch anything about any subject—FREE—and learn, laugh, scream, sing along, dance along, cook with, wince, or cry your way through videos 24/7. You already may be addicted.

Did you also know that creating and uploading a video highlighting your company on your Website or YouTube will help grow your business?

Every day, thousands of companies are upgrading their Websites and marketing campaigns and incorporating video to show their unique culture, fun manufacturing processes, ways to serve the customer, testimonials, examples of success stories or to promote an upcoming event. And by using your own employees (call them “actors” to get the energy level way up) in the videos, you’ll create instant stars of the stage. Most employees love being part of the filming and promoting of your business. They’ll share the videos and send links to everybody they know—and that drives future sales, reduces turnover, and gives your customers insight into your commitment to quality, service, and innovation that were lost in dull pictures and too much text that sounds like everybody else.

What does 1 million of something look like?

Through the power of video, you can create innovation and memorable videos that represent a strong image (funny, really large, really small, really loud) that will stay in your customers’ minds. For example: How many things do you make every year or every day? Things like chairs, screws, bolts, rubber ducks, pumps, shoes, grow trees, watches—whatever. If you make bubble gum, what does 3 million piece of bubble gum look like? How many stories high would the bubble gum mountain rise above your town? How big would the bubble be if all the pieces were blown up at once? Imagine the mess when it pops, too. Would the pieces circle the planet or go from New York to Los Angeles and back if lined up in a row? Would they fit inside Wrigley Field? See what we mean? Give a visual and fun context to what you build or what you service so customers won’t forget as fast. This gives your sales team time to ask more questions, retain the customer’s attention, and generate more sales.

Accept the fact, for a moment, that your competitive advantage or distinction between you and your competitors is very small or even unrecognizable to the customer. When you differentiate yourself with a video that shows the “obvious” (we make a lot of bubble gum) in a fun and visually powerful way, your competitors, meanwhile, are still trying to sell based on stock statements or cliché slogans (“We care about quality,” “Our customers are important to us,” “We won’t be undersold”). You will be seen as cutting-edge, fun, innovative, and personable because of your willingness to put faces behind what you build or serve.
Here are some key reasons to create corporate video to market your company:

•The cost to produce a five-minute video is comparable to print costs for brochures and other company literature. Video marketing is here to stay and is expected.
•Video testimonials from your customers build credibility and retain customers
•Boost employee morale and reduce turnover by creating a work team of “company celebrities.” Everybody wants to be a rock star.
•Create a unique calling card for the sales team to deliver and share your message.
•Professional services providers show a professional and confident presence and command of the subject matter.
•People are curious—we want to see things being built, going fast, demolished, working perfectly, burned up, etc.
•Value-add features of your product or service can be shown fast and effectively
•YouTube craze is here.
•You can track views.
•Video is inexpensive and longer lasting than pure print media. People throw away paper—not videos.
•Educate—video is worth a million words when showing how to use, assemble, or fix something.
•Tangible—make DVD copies to distribute on sales calls, direct mail, parties, events, trade shows.

Brainstorm with your sales and marketing team to uncover fun analogies to your product and examples of ways to show images that stand out. Then wow your customers and experience the rewards of video assets in your new marketing campaign.


Russ Riendeau, Ph.D. is an executive search professional and frequent speaker on talent management and sales strategies. For more information, visit www.eastwingsearchgroup.com.

Adrian Dinu is a co-founder of Post Meridian Productions, a video/audio company in Schaumburg, IL, specializing in corporate videos. Visit www.postmeridian.tv.