Many small to mid-sized business owners here the term “video marketing” and think two things- no time to do it along with giant dollar signs. It’s just too intimidating. Well, this post is designed to debunk that myth because that’s what we do here at Make It Loud- debunk.

First, some businesses need to be convinced that video marketing is worth the time and energy. Here’s some of the data we found:

• 100 million people a day watch at least one video
• 90% of online shoppers say a video helps them decide to buy
• Better retention- 80% of browsers recall watching a video on a site they visited
• 46% of that 80% took action-looked for more info, visited the website or purchased
• 64% of browsers are more likely to buy after watching a video
• 403% Austrailian realtors reported listings with videos received that many more inquiries
• Forbes reports 59% of executives would rather watch a video than read
  • 65% go to vendors website
  • 45% contact the vendor
  • 50% purchase
• Videos on email marketing campaigns have been shown to increase click through rate (2-3x)
• Reduces opt out rates (~75%)
• Has been shown to increase subscriber to lead rates by about 50%

What have videos been shown to accomplish? That’s simple. Videos can help you demonstrate your product or service faster and more clearly than written text. It’s a great way to introduce you or your business, and it keeps browsers on your site longer which contributes to better search rankings. Plus, when you have a video in the search results, we know that improves click through rates and helps drive people to your business. Some experts even predict that in less than 3 years, almost 75% of all traffic online will be video!

The point of all this is simple- your competitors are most likely using videos, and if you’re not, you could be missing very important leads.

We outlined three ways to create a business video. First, there’s the old school way of getting a video camera, shooting and uploading that video to your computer where you’ll need to edit what’s there. This is effective, but can be time intensive. Next, grab your cell phone and shoot what you need to. Upload, edit and share. Easier, but still can cost you some time. Last, there are image based videos where you take 10+ images and use software like Animoto to build a video for your business. This is the least time intensive approach and can lead to beautiful results.

Plan out what you want to accomplish with the video- demonstration, brand awareness, etc. This will help you decide what images and text to use, but with some software, you can have a video in as little as 10-15 minutes!

Let the staff at Make It Loud show you how. Call us today and ask for Make It Loud Academy session on video marketing!

(See the full boot camp notes on our website at http://makeitloud.net/boot_camp_notes)