5 Super Easy Ways To Use Video To Promote Your Business

This post is republished from my original article on the Amex Open Forum website. It is part of "Small Business Friday" on this blog, where I share ideas and marketing techniques specifically to help small businesses stand out. To read more articles like this, visit the "Small Business Friday" category on this blog.

You may have heard the saying that content is king – but if you had to get specific about the online environment, the saying might go video content is king. The reason is simple – most people will respond much better to moving pictures and a story through video than any other type of content online.

If you are like most small businesses, though, video is likely the last type of content that you are actively using online to promote your business. After all, it seems much harder to produce than it really is. In fact, video can be the easiest type of content to create if you follow a few basic rules.

The 3 Basic Rules Of Using Online Video

1. Get an easy to upload camera (like a Flip Cam). This will make the process of getting your video online much easier and make it more likely you will actually follow through and do it.
2. Shoot exactly what you want so you don’t need to edit anything. The biggest time investment in using video is having to edit afterwards, so as much as possible, film things in one take and only get what you will use.
3. Make sure to get close enough for good sound. Video quality is no longer the major issue with online video as long as you are using a real camera and not a mobile device. The issue with quality usually comes from sound – so try to get close enough so everything you want to hear will be audible, or invest a bit of money and buy an external microphone.

Once you have these rules down, you are all set to create videos to promote your business. The first part of having everything ready to go is the easy part. The harder part is answering the question about what your content should be. Let’s look at a few examples of how to make this process easier.

5 Super Easy Ideas To Promote Your Business With Online Video

1. Answer your customer’s biggest questions. In any business, you likely field the same questions from customers or potential customers over and over. Whether your business has a product or service to sell, if you can use video to effectively answer those most common questions, then you can not only use video to promote your business but also as a way to field those questions in a more engaging and shareable way.
2. Creating an “unboxing” situation. The art of “unboxing” is becoming popular online as a way to experiencing a product without buying it. In an unboxing video, someone simply places a camera on a tripod and films themselves unpacking a product so you can see the packaging, what comes in the box and virtually watch the experience you might have if you did purchase the product. These types of videos help demonstrate to potential customers what their experience might be if they did purchase your product and though it is better suited to tangible products instead of services, the concept could be extended to services as well.
3. Do an office tour. This is exactly as simple as it sounds. While it may seem like a trivial exercise, simply letting potential customers have a virtual look around your office can do wonders for helping them to see you as a real business with real people instead of a yellow page ad or a static website.
4. Interview your best customer. Not everyone will be able to get their customers to talk on camera, but if you have a customer that you have a particularly good relationship with, ask them if they would be willing to talk with you in a short video to share what they like about your business and why they might recommend you.
5. Demonstrate your product or service in action. Think of this as a simple demo video, where you can show how your product works or demonstrate the thinking behind your services in action. Ideally, you can just capture something that you already do every day on video.

Using video online can help you bring your small business to life and it does not need to be a daunting task requiring a professional crew and big investment. So what are you waiting for?

Really interesting research // Business side

Our Channel ReadWriteBiz, sponsored by Yola.com, is a resource and guide for small businesses. Yola.com is an award winning website builder that makes it easy for small businesses to create a website. With Yola's professional templates and easy-to-use tools, you can make a website that helps you stand out from the competition.

A new infographic by Intuit looks at the cost of starting a new business in the United States as compared to other countries around the world. It notes that inflation and currency exchange rates play a large role in the costs of doing businesses in various countries.

The graphic gives information about start-up costs, time to launch, and success rates in different countries. New Zealand and Singapore are ranked numbers 1 and 2 in terms of the easy of doing business.

Some of the figures at the bottom are apples-to-oranges sorts of comparisons (success rates in the U.S. over the course of three years versus failure rates in France in a business's first year, for example) but the information draws an interesting picture of some of the places in the world where small businesses are thriving.

The next great education event is here... cont...

"Karen Hunter is the Owner of Karen Hunter Photography ( established in 2005 ) in Stonewall, Manitoba. She specializes in Newborn and Child Portrait Photography. Karen left her 10 year career as a flight attendant at Air Canada in 2008 and has been shooting full time ever since. Her formal training includes classes at Prairie View and various seminars in Canada and the United States, including one with Ann Monteith in 2010. Her newborn work is on display in the Labour and Delivery ward at St. Boniface hospital in Winnipeg Manitoba. To date, she has photographed over 200 newborns and nearly 600 children."



Carving Out Your Niche in a Saturated Market: Everyone and her grandmother has a digital camera and is a "Child Photographer" - how to set your self apart
Working with Newborns, Babies, Toddlers & Children - Putting the child, and parents, at ease while creating beautiful images
Creating a recognizable Brand - Marketing pieces and selling the "Experience"
Optimizing Online sales when projecting is not a possibility

The next great education event is here!

Marketing and Children

February 21st

At the Lab Works // Winnipeg

Start at 6:30pm

Marketing by Barry Cullen...

Barry is the founder of Keywest Photo, located in Brandon, Manitoba, which has been in operation for over 25 years. In 1995 he expanded his business by adding his marketing entity Image by Design. Over the past ten years the photography business has literally been transformed by the digital world and now Keywest Photo - Image by Design has emerged as a creative marketing solutions provider. His company’s portfolio of work includes such clients as MNP chartered accountants, Canexus Chemicals, and Maple Leaf Foods. For more information you can visit their website at www.keywestphoto.ca.

Barry is currently the President of the Manitoba Marketing Network Inc., Southwest Chapter, operating through Manitoba’s department of competitiveness, training & trade. Barry has developed a series of workshops to help large and small business’s, as well as young entrepreneurs throughout the province, focusing on building their brands and encouraging them to embrace change.

Barry is a motivational convention speaker and had recently spoken at the Manitoba Hydro management conference, and again in Gillam for their safety conference. Barry is known for his “no holds barred, no punches pulled” humorous speaking style. Barry invites people to look outside and inside the box. Happy, Creative, Fulfilling.

Barry has always been extremely involved in his community, including holding the position of President of the Brandon Chamber of Commerce, and most recently the Chairman of the United Way campaign where he and his team raised over 631,000.00 for 43 different charities.

Today’s presentation

“FEELING” MY WAY

FEELING MY WAY !!!!

If your not happy with the results you are getting, you must change what you do every day

You are what you think bout !

Activity breads activity.

Going to work “ WORK “

What do clients feel about you creations.

What do people feel about your brand

What do people feel about your value proposition

What do you want from your BUSSINESS ?

WHY are you here ???

MONEY ?

The goal is always HAPPY, LOVED , fulfilled, challenged, living your life to its fullest.

TIME , non of us gave make it out alive.

When I finally close my eyes, for the last time. I would hope that I would not have a single drop of talent left and could say “ I used every talent or gift that was given me. I crave the peace of mind to use all that has been given me. I seek to surround myself with people that compliment my talents. Success is valueless if we have on one else to share it with.

And the children side of things by the great Karen Hunter!

http://www.karenhunterphotography.com/

It's going to be grand!

Hope to see you all there!

The business of photography :: a fantastic experience

Why did Rita say "if your Accountant is using anything else you should run??"

Why is having a log book so darn important for your vehicle expenses?

What the heck did having kids have to do with the program?

The members who were not able to attend missed an AMAZING program that would of been beneficial for filing your taxes this year, but more importantly getting a head start on 2011!!

Check out some testimonials:

(For members who attended only, remember you can contact Rita on any questions you had about last nights program! If you would like to add to the testimonials below send them to ppoc@gmail.com )

A great seminar full of information that everyone needs to know. Rita did a wonderful job and left us with invaluable information. Thanks!

Shannon

Great ideas learned and shared; some of Rita’s advice will likely save me $100’s at tax time.

Drew

What a fantastic seminar! I am actually excited about starting my record keeping in a new, easy but organized fashion. Thank you Rita, for your tax enthusiasm and for taking the time in showing us how to better our business by being tax smart!

Greatly appreciated!

Jocelyne

For someone just starting out I found the information invaluable! The presentation was well-organized and for me not knowing about alot of these aspects I found it easy to follow the presentation.

Lesley

Over 30 years in business I have had about 1/2 dozen accountants but never anyone like Rita! She makes a 'dry' subject easy to understand and she cares to really save you money! No other accountant has ever done that - they've promised it - but haven't done that! This was a program that everyone should have been at. Thank you Rita!

Marlene

Why wouldn't any one want to learn the Business Side of Photography?? Rita knows her stuff, and now we do to! Don't worry, if you didn't make Rita's program, we plan to have her back next January! So mark it in your calendars now!

Mimi

Just a note to say thanks for the Monday evening program. It was excellent.Always nice to get more good tax info/ tips.
Regards, Tom

105 ways to make your BLOG rock!

So you want to start a blog or you already have one and no one is turning up to read it. Well it’s time to “Just Do It” and make the blog rock.

Below we will show you

• The importance of passion
• How to find your audience
• Help your audience find you
• How to write and develop content that your market cares about
• Find and use the right technology essential to build a blog with the right foundation
• Different techniques to write headlines that make people read your posts
• Simple ways to produce a video blog
• Secrets on how to use social media to spread your content
• Why you need to grow a substantial Twitter follower base
• Ways to use Facebook to market your blog
• 4 Different ways make money from your blog
• The essential elements to create a personal brand that will change your life and dramatically increase your income
• How to become an expert and thought leader in your industry

And much more. There may be one tip that you can action today

105 Tips To Make Your Blog Rock.

1. Be passionate!! Don’t start a blog if you are not passionate about your topic. Passion will give you the energy and the juice to make your blog and life a success, it is the elixir for being relentless. For more on this read “10 Secrets To Being Insanely Successful” or “How To Blog With Passion and Purpose

2. Read and develop content on industry Trends – where is the industry going, what are the emerging hot segments

3. Find out who your customers are and where they hang out and write and develop content that is then written in their language and publish it to those platforms. If you are writing for Gen Y then you will need to write in their language and publish to platforms like YouTube and Facebook. For more on this read ”9 Questions To Ask Your Customers When Creating Content”

4. Write about customers successes – Write up a case study about a clients successful project, they will often let you publish their name

5. Publish content on what not to do! – highlighting where something hasn’t worked (the names shall remain anonymous of course)

6. Create a video blog post by interviewing a successful client – this can a powerful providing authentic evidence of authority and credibility for both you and the client. On how to do this check out “How To Create And Promote Your YouTube Video In 8 Simple Steps”

7. Write articles for the different types of customers that are relevant for each of your vertical markets

8. Brainstorm blog post topics with colleagues and management and create a list for future reference and planning

9. Subscribe to the top industry blogs in your market, both company blogs and personal blogs for ideas

10. Look through your latest news releases for ideas

11. Sign up other staff to write on topics in your industry or market that they are passionate about

12. Video interview successful people in your industry. Check out ”Social Media and The CEO: Video Interview With Greg Savage Of Aquent”

13. Turn the “how to” blog posts into short videos

14. When you have a great idea, go straight to your “add new” button and write the headline and save it as a draft or write it down before you forget it. ( I also use my notes feature on my iPhone to catch those moments of inspired thought)

15. Include a great iconic image at the start of the blog that catches the eye

16. Case Studies are always popular to write about and not just your own

17. Place Powerpoint presentations on your blog by posting and then embedding links from Slideshare

18. Run polls and surveys on your blog

19. Create great headlines that catch people attention and makes them want to read the rest of the article

20. Add credbility banners such as how many subscribers, number of hits, blog grade and any awards

21. Provide “share this” buttons to Facebook and Twitter as a minimum

22. Implement “subscribe” buttons via RSS and Email

23. Write in bite size chunks and use bullet points so readers can quickly and easy consumption

24. Break up large blocks of text with iconic and interesting images

25. Take screen shots to place in your post using software like Snagit to highlight points .. a picture is worth a 1000 words

26. Be yourself even if it is a company blog.. be authentic.

27. Optimize your blog for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). For more on why this is important read. “10 facts Reveal The Importance Of Ranking High In Google”

28. Promote and distribute your posts on to other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

29. Make the blog easy to find on your company’s web page with a large bannner or button

30. Have fun, mix up the types of posts and add some humour occasionally.

(Gini Dietrich from Spinsucks.com contributed to the list with the following eleven additional tips)

31. Ask your readers what they want you to write about

32. Let your readers pimp their own blogs in your comments section

33. Ask questions

34. Create contests (which goes along with your poll/survey idea)

35. Install the SEO All In One pack on your WordPress blog

36. Use StumbleUpon to increase your readership

37. Create content for “Associated Content” by republishing your blog posts there (it helps with readership and news outlets will republish your content on their sites)

38. Comment on other blogs and news articles to show your thinking/expertise, but also link people back to your blog

39. Make sure, when you use Twitter to promote your blog post, tweet it more than once.

40. Subscribe to SmartBrief newsletters, RSS feeds, and Google alerts in order to find ideas for new content (that’s how I found this blog!)

41. Post and link your content on the Delicious social bookmarking site. (This will again help spread your content by placing it on a highly trafficked site)

42. Try your hat at a guest blogger or two, this could add credibility to your site , especially if the person is influential in his or her space. Courtney Wiley of iNgage Networks also made this suggestion

43.In the meta tags for your photos, make sure the labels/words are what you want them to be – search engines can’t “read” photos, only the labels/meta tags. Dave Heinrich from WebTechUniverse.com also contributed with this tip which is vital and I do this with every image in my posts

44. When people write a comment actually take the time to email them directly and thank them for the comment and if they ask a question, then answer it. You will find that this will create a WOW factor and spread the word about the blog. If you took 10-15 minutes a day to respond to 5 comments via email you would make great impact on over 1,500 people during a year who would each spread the word to potentially 1000′s more. This could be the making of a tribe!

45. Comment appropriately on the top blogs ranked by Google on the major key word or phrase you are trying to optimize for SEO. This will create a a link back to your site and linking is key to increasing your own rankings with search engines

46. Write a blog post listing some important bloggers in your industry (such as the top 5) and point out how they make their blogs successful and you might find they return the love!

47 Interlink to other posts in your blog when writing a post especially those that are relevant and have been successful (this again is great for SEO)

48. Outsource content development for sections of your blog that are appropriate such as ‘resource’ sections.

49. Update an original post that provides more value to your readers (this post is an example)

50. Take readers comments and include and promote them in your blog (like we have just done)

51. Take a selection of your best blog posts and make an ebook out of it. Then distribute the ebook on the Amazon Kindle Store and Apple iBookStore. This will find you new readers for your blog. And you can monetize it in a whole new way by charging a dollar or two for your ebook. (Thanks to Vikram Narayam )

52. Collaborate with other Twitter users within your niche to promote each others content

53. Make sure that everyone within your company has their own Twitter account and promotes the blog and company social media accounts on that account

54. When speaking or presenting, record it on video and upload it to company YouTube channel. It will be a constant resource for clients as well as adding to your websites SEO.

55. Make excerpts of key points on the video and turn them into short blog posts.

56. On your YouTube channel make sure you have optimized the video for search engines through tags, key phrase in the description as well as the link to your blog in the description section.

57. The SlideShare account where you have uploaded your PowerPoint presentation should also be optimized for search with your blog or website URL in your public profile

58. The Slideshare account should also have your top keywords and phrases in the ”Public Profile” about section so that search is optimized.

59. Keep most blogs short with no more than 400-500 words as most people don’t have much time and will be only spending a minute or two on your blog (average time on this site according to Google Analytics is 1 minute and 39 seconds)

60. If embedding a video in the post again brevity rules with the rule of thumb now at a 1-2 minute video

61. Take each post and post it on the New Digg (20 million visitors a month), it is quick and easy to do and will take you only a minute or two (it involves copying the URL and pasting it to Digg, add the headline and choose the section then hit

62. Take the results of your polls or survey and turn them into a blog post. A lot of people want know the results as over time the blog post is buried in the archives

63. Use a twitter app such as SocialOomph.com (Professional edition) to schedule tweets your posts on a regular basis. Another software application you can use is MarketMesuite.comwhich allows you to personally brand your scheduled tweets.

64. Collaborate and communicate with other successful bloggers in your niche especially those that enhance and add to your skill set (they will encourage and support you)

65. Implement an email acquisition strategy that includes a pop over form that hovers over the screen for first time visitors (offer free eBook or video tutorial as an incentive and a gift for people giving you their name and email address) . One platform that provides this is Aweber.

66. Another email subscriber tactic includes a suggestion to refer a friend to join the email list

67. Place a video on your Facebook fan page inviting visitors to subscribe.

68. Link to your blog on your Facebook fan page

69. On your email subscriber form don’t ask people for their life history keep it short and only ask for name and email address

70. On LinkedIn Make sure your Profile is public with Your Blog, Website and Facebook pages entered in your Settings (Profile Section) where you are allowed 3 website URLs

71. On LinkedIn make sure you have blog widget loaded (this is at the bottom of your LinkedIn Home page by clicking on the +Add an Application Button) this will then display your blog and the 3 latest posts in a window on your home page for all visitors to your profile

72. Add the Twitter feeds application using the Tweets add on in the same section this will promote your blog posts when you tweet them

73. Promote your Slideshare presentations on LinkedIn using the Slideshare Presentations again in the +Add an Application button (remember your optimized Slideshare account will have your blog URL which will drivetraffic to your blog)

74. Get the latest information and ideas by creating alerts using Google Alerts on your favourite topics. For me that might be something like “Social Media Case Studies” so that any new content on the Web that fits that phrase will be fed to you by Google, either as it happens or daily. (Suggestion maybe create a separate dedicated email account eg alert@jeffbullas.com so that it doesn’t overwhelm your personal or business account

75. Hire a copy writer to hone your content for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so that your key words and phrases that are important when potential readers and clients go looking online find “you” and not your competitor on Google’s search engine results page

76. Video interview successful people in your industry and then make it easy for them to share the interview with their network (this will surprise you as to how powerful this is in leveraging and spreading your content)

77. Run Ads in the sidebar such as Deck ads. ( you can make a few thousand a month off ”The Deck” ads.if the traffic volumes are significant)

78. Bundle up the best blog posts about about your niche and turn it into a PDF book. You could sell the PDF for lets say $19. (37signals who took its own experiences as a web startup and published them on their corporate blog and monetized that over 2 years into a $750,000 revenue stream by publishing and then repackaging it)

79. Take the PDF and turn it into a paperback at a print on demand publisher Lulu.com. You can sell the paperback for $25 and they make a few more thousand a month on royalties. (37 signals book “Getting Real” was published from the PDF source material and the paperback is currently ranked the 2nd best seller on Lulu)

80.Take the content from the book and produce a conference series. You could hold a few conferences a year and make about $50,000 per conference. (37signals has produced about 5 of these conferences) So if you add this all up:

• $100,000 on The Deck ads
• $350,000 on the “Getting Real” PDF
• $65,000 on the “Getting Real” paperback
• $250,000 on the “Getting Real” conferences (before that they were called Building of Basecamp).

Total $765,000 over a few years off the same content repackaged in a variety of ways.

This content was simply about insight and ideas about how they run their business.

So there it is, over $750,000 from Blog entries, PDF, paperback, and conferences.

To read more on this check out. “4 Ways To Make Money From Your Blog Content: A Case Study”

How could you adapt this model to your industry?

81. Take the content, expertise and network contacts that you have developed from your blog and produce a Webinar. Social Media Examiner have done this successfully twice and have registered up to 2,000 people online and made over $900,000

82. Mount a video camera in your car if you are in an industry that involves getting out and about such as real estate and make a video blog while you are “on the job” (but not driving of course). Ian Watt from Vancouver does this and creates short video blog posts talking about the industry he is obviously passionate about.

83. Turn your blog content into an online course and publish it and sell it using applications such as wiziq.com, odijoo.com, litmos.com

84. Offer a premium paid newsletter for a low cost of $1.99. An example here is that a restaurant could offer a monthly newsletter with recipes for seasonal foods or a Gym could offer a weekly newsletter with keeping fit and staying healthy.

85. Use Alltop to promote your content.

86. Put a big button on your blog that invites and makes it easier for people to do “business” with you such as investing in your blog or collaborating in joint ventures..

87. Join as many Facebook active Facebook fan pages or groups relating to your blog topic as possible

88. Monitor your brand with Google Alerts or Tweetdeck so that you can thank people that publish your content and protect your brand from misconceptions.

89. Offer consulting services in your area of expertise that are highlighted and prominent on your blog.

90. “Persist” and don’t give up and your blogging journey may surprise you!

91. Place a LinkedIn share button next to your retweet and Facebook share buttons as a lot of LinkedIn users now have 200-300 connections and a LinkedIn share can potentially have that many impressions per share

92. Consider having more perennial or evergreen content on your blog that doesn’t date and is timeless. The latest news posts are still useful but can quickly become out of date.

93. Write blog posts that answer the problems that your readers and viewers have in your industry niche. To read more on this check out “Why Solving Problems Beats Marketing

94. Write subtitles that keep people engaged with your content. If they just see a wall of text it is easy for readers to turn your blog off and go somewhere else. An example of this can be found at this article “”Why Social Media and Traditional Marketers Should Stop Bitching” – and the first sub title is “The Challenge For Social Media”

95. Write how to posts, that make your site a constant resource for people. This will achieve two things 1. It will bring them back time and time again 2. It will increase readership time on your blog

96. Improve your writing by subscribing to writing blogs or attending writing classes.

97. Obtain a great domain name. This applies if your own name is already taken as a domain name. A writer friend of mine Nicholas Brasch recently started a blog called writer.com.au. How cool is that!! Oh yes check him out he is an awesome writer.

98. Find your writing voice. This is the type and style of writing that suits you and is you. It might be idiosyncratic and you may get critics but it will be authentic and if you write and blog that is what you need to be..”Real”

99. Make it easy for people to view your blog on a mobile phone as more people are read from smart phones that are connected to the internet. There are simple plugins for WordPress that enable you to do this in about 10 minutes. I have just checked my Google analytics and nearly 5% of my readers have raed my blog from a mobile platform in the last week. This trend will continue and the percentage will go up.

100. Install Google analytics (this can only be done if it is a self hosted account) this will highlight things that you can fine tune and improve.

101. Have a “contact us” form on your blog that makes it easy for people to contact you for those speaking, consulting and business opportunities.

102. Continue to follow people on Twitter in your industry niche to build up your Twitter following. This gives you a larger audience to promote your blog to. For more on this read “Today’s Twitter Tip: How To Get Targeted Niche Followers”

103. Read all the time and different styles and types of writers. This will give you great ideas to write about and continue to position you as a thought leader as you continue to learn. Phillip Adams once said “Show me someone who reads a book a week and I’ll show you a good person” and also I will show you a better writer.

104. Write about industry News – whats happening this week, this month

105. Learn how to write awesome headlines for your blog articles. It’s been reported that up to 50% of all tweets that are retweeted are due to the headline only! For more on how to do this read “Have you Been Making This Huge Mistake On Your Blog”

If you find you are getting frustrated and the writing is hard and some days it isn’t happening then remember this quote from Tolstoy the famous Russian author who wrote “War and Peace” .

“I don’t like writing but I love having written”

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2011/01/25/105-tips-to-make-your-blog-rock/