<![CDATA[Sneaky Owl Media - The Ten Two]]>

Why Video?

You want more customers for your business and you want to know how video marketing can help you do that. That makes sense because video marketing can help you grow your revenue up to 50% faster than marketing without video content (Wordstream).

I’m going to show you the top five videos to grow your revenue and business this year and where they can fit in your marketing and sales process. I’ll even show you one extra at the end that you may not be thinking about.

Let’s look at a typical marketing and sales funnel and start talking about where videos can help, but a quick disclaimer first. There’s no one size fits all marketing or sales plan. This will not be a silver bullet for your sales process because we all know that a silver bullet doesn’t exist.

However, this should give you some ideas that you can start implementing as soon as today and at least get your creative juices flowing. If you want a more specific plan for your business we do free video consultations where we can identify the exact problems in your sales process and come up with a custom video strategy to help you solve those problems. If you're interested in that, click the link to schedule a meeting with us.

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Awareness & Interest

Now let’s take a look at the first step in the sales process and for my example today I am just going to use a house painting company. This first step is Awareness and Interest.

In this step, you’re trying to get your potential customers both aware that you exist and interested enough in what you offer to click through or go on to whatever the next step in your sales process is. Visit your store, call you, go to your website, etc. There are many different types of videos that can work in this step but a couple of the most common are product demo/explainer videos or narrative ad work.

A product demo video is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. This video presents your product or service and how it works. So, if you owned a painting company for our example this could be a video about the steps in your painting process and why they are important. It can include other company information like what the estimate and buying process is like or the warranty you offer.

There are a few common mistakes in these videos. Oftentimes they are boring, they don’t focus on how the solution solves a pain point for the customer, and they lack a strong CTA or call to action. Using the painting example, it is usually not enough or effective in this step to have a video listing the steps to prep and paint a room. Your potential customer wants you to solve a problem for them so... don’t forget this focus.

Maybe for painting they don’t have time to do it themselves so you are saving them time. Maybe they really care about the look and feel so you are solving some sort of emotional desire for them revolving around the comfort and look of their space. Maybe they are worried about some cracks in the walls or have some damage and they are worried about the quality they are receiving and you need to give them that peace of mind. Whatever it is for your industry don’t forget that customers want to know how your product or service is going to solve their problems.

And absolutely don’t forget that at the end of gaining their interest and desire in the ad that we need them to take action. So the video must direct them to the next step and push them there.

Now another type of video that can be really effective in this step is narrative ads. Instead of this being a straightforward value proposition ad like the product demo this is a video that tells a story. These ads are typically trying to evoke an emotion from your viewer and that can mean they are humorous or sentimental or scary or really any emotion that you want the audience to feel and associate your brand with. You know what I am talking about here. You've seen commercials.

In the painting example you could show a homeowner moving into a new home with completely blank walls and they are excited to make the house feel like a home. They start putting up paint samples on the wall to bring life to them but quickly they are overwhelmed with everything life has to present and months go by maybe through some sort of time lapse or something and the boxes remain unpacked. The color swatches continue to dangle on the blank empty walls and the homeowner grows more frustrated and sad that her home isn’t finished. Then we cut to her scrolling across a social ad for ABC Painting Company. Her face lights up. The next thing we know she is in a beautiful space painted, decorated, and fitting her personality to a T. Then on screen we see ABC Painting Company. Make your House a Home. Call us to change your space today and share contact info yada yada. You get the point.

Here is an example of a narrative ad that we recently completed for an apartment advertising service.

I do want to draw focus to the fact that this was NOT some random entertainment piece. I see this mistake all the time. People think they can post some sketch, some joke, or completely unrelated content and as long as it is funny then it’s good because it got views. By all means if you want to start a comedy YouTube channel then you can post completely random funny content. Otherwise, you should probably still focus on having that content related to how your product is solving a problem for the customer. It is also important to remember there are a lot of problems that products or services fix and they aren’t always as straightforward as some of the painting examples.

Nike doesn’t often talk about the quality of the product in their ads. Their products aren’t always the highest quality. We know this. We know that people often buy larger brands because of the status it gives them. The look of being athletic in the case of Nike maybe. The problem they have is their look and what they think it says about them. People buy Patagonia or Priuses for a lot of reasons but one is because it makes them look like they care about the world and environment. They want that reputation and look and those products solve that problem.

There are many other videos that can fit into this area of awareness. Honestly, all of the rest of the videos we are about to talk about can fit in this category especially if they are structured properly. You are only limited here by your creativity and we can certainly help figure that out in a consultation together. But now here is the next problem.

Let’s say you put out this killer narrative video ad and people are aware and they move onto the next step in the funnel. How do you close them now and make them buy the product or service and how can video help with that part to grow your revenue?

VIDEOS FOR CONVERSION

Many business owners think that all they need is awareness and then once people call it's a done deal. But that simply isn’t true is it? In the painting example, maybe you made them aware and feel interested in painting their house but then maybe they take to Google and search for companies in the area and start looking at a few of your competitors too. How can you use video here to help your customers see that you are the perfect fit here and not someone else?

This comes down to them fully being educated on your company, and your service/product and the other part of it is trust. In order to educate your customers about your company and product/service more fully you could do an About Us video or some FAQ videos.

About Us videos are a business staple for a reason. This is your chance to talk about what your company does and what it stands for. What are your values? What are your differentiating factors? Why choose you? If you are reading this and you are a business owner you have to remember that no one is going to talk about your business like you do.

They won’t have the same passion and they won’t have the same knowledge. This is your chance to get in front of every prospect and show them what you are all about. Again, for the painting company example this is where you could talk about how much you care about prep work because it will make the job last longer. How you don’t water down your materials and only use the highest end paints. You can talk about your warranty or service guarantees.

Here is an example of an About Us video we did for a custom computer store.

Now the potential customers also want to know that you are an expert in your field and this is where FAQ videos or other product knowledge videos can help out a lot. You can have videos talking about how to pick out colors that work together, what sheens work best for what areas, how to fix a crack or peeling paint or whatever makes sense.

You can literally give away the farm here in terms of knowledge depending on the industry. Even if you have a step by step guide of how to paint an entire home, that isn’t going to make you lose business. It will make you gain more business because people will trust that you are the expert with all of the knowledge and in reality... they still don’t want to paint their own house. They don’t have the time and even though you just showed them how to, they don’t have the experience. They aren’t likely watching the video for that reason. They want to see you in action. They want to be able to trust you.

One more video type that is one of the Top 5 videos and the top one to build trust in my opinion, is Customer Testimonials. People want to buy from people with a good reputation or good reviews. They can’t just take your word for it. We know this too. We look at the reviews on Amazon or wherever before we add to the cart.

We even know that a ton of the reviews on sites like that are garbage and even paid for. I just got an "award" for $50 if I leave a review on something I just bought the other day. We know some of them are fake but we still care a lot about those reviews. Most people love the video reviews and testimonials because we get more info, it’s easier to digest, and easier to trust. If you are looking to grow your revenue- which of course you are- then you can’t just focus on making videos for the awareness and interest part of the funnel. You can grow your revenue a ton by making sure you have assets ready that help convert and close the deal as well.

Bonus Ideas

So what is the last part of the funnel here? You got the awareness and interest. They moved over and you closed them out in your sales process. It’s done right. They purchased it. It’s over!

No.

You have to put them back in your funnel as an existing customer. There is now the retention and growth part of the funnel.

Like the first part of the funnel there are many videos that can help grow revenue from your existing customer base but I find a lot of businesses that treat this like an after thought. They might send an email once in a while or post to their channels, but they put most of their time and attention on new customers forgetting that these ones are already bought in.

Don’t slack here. Some examples of videos that help a lot here are videos for a new product or service offer and any sales/promotions that may be going on. If your painting company focuses on interior work but you are going to start offering exterior painting, garage floor coatings, or whatever, don't forget to let your past customers know.

Don’t slack off and just post about it on social. A ton of people aren’t going to see that. You can run targeted ads for people who have already bought from you or interacted with your page. You can send videos to your subscription list through providers like Vidyard. You have a lot of opportunity to go back and tap into that existing well for more revenue growth, but it won’t happen unless it is a focus and you treat them just like a new customer. Of course you can do the same sale/promotional videos for new and existing customers but you may have those special offers for that existing base since they are your VIPs. Maybe you are running a contest for them specifically. These are all ideas that can be easily communicated through video and grow your revenue.

All of these ideas are great but they only work if you implement them and we can help with that so don’t forget to schedule your free video consultation through the link below. Also, feel free to leave a comment down below. Did I miss any videos that you think should be in the Top 5? Thanks for reading and we will see you soon!

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