Home – New › Forums › Marketing mastery › Video to be the next big thing. Oh, really?
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August 28, 2015 at 9:19 am #992700Up::0
Hi again all,
Of course my disappointment is close to my heart and I bet you guys will be able to shine some light on this for me
Being a producer of fine videos for over 20 years, the latest talk about video being the next big thing for Social Media has got me somewhat excited. But in practice, I am not so sure.
Over the last couple of weeks I have approached many small businesses in a bid to get my service known. I have offered some of them a free 90 second video that they can use on their website or in their social media presence in an attempt to get some clips that I can show off to potential clients. I even ran a competition where a video could be won.
I have had one business take me up on my “free” video and I got only 1 business so far entering the competition that ends next week. I even had one of my good friends tell a friend of his who is CEO of a club about what I am doing and my free offer just to get some runs on the board and he wasn’t interested.
I have two friends that own a pub locally and offered them the video as a free trial and even they said no.
I’m confused. If video is supposed to be the next big thing, why aren’t small businesses excited by this and jumping at the chance to get on board for no risk apart from some time?
My thoughts are:
1) Video is still seen as “too hard to think about” by most small businesses
2) Small business can’t see how it would fit into their model
3) People aren’t confident enough to have them and their business on video
4) Video is still seen as an unnecessary luxury
5) If things are already working, video seems too hard to get involved in
6) Older business owners are slow to take up on the new ways of marketing
7) Perhaps I need to fine tune my approach
Not sure.
Any thoughts?
All the best,
David
August 29, 2015 at 5:26 am #1187611Up::0Hi David. That’s disappointing to hear. Normally freebies fly out and then everyone runs. It’s a great offer. If someone offered me an animated explainer video to use on social media and they were genuine that it was a mutual thing just for feedback, I would jump at it. My partner had a similar thing on Udemy with video hypnotherapy courses. Offered free and in her case quite a bit of take-up but then she’s had to chase and chase just to get feedback – on a freebie for goodness sake!
Number (3) is a biggie. You might – if you haven’t already – consider creating a short, useful info pack on coming across well. Reassure them that lighting will be professional and flattering. When you have your first great video, show them and example to demonstrate the value of your offer (crazy, but even freebies need ‘selling’). Perhaps even show ‘the making of’ video of people having fun while setting up mics and lighting and a relaxed atmosphere.
I’ll add some possibilities to your list for consideration. They might believe:
- It will be technical to install on a website.
- Don’t know how to upload to social media. You might offer a help file on what to do with it.
- Work involved. Everything we do in business leads to more unexpected work, especially technology.
- Endebtedness.
- They might feel bad taking from you, not really understanding how important feedback and social proof is to you.
- They’re worried that if the feedback is not good, it would be damaging but you might pester for a response putting them in an awkward position. Perhaps make it clear that feedback is not an obligation, painful though it may be after all the investment.
- Get some metrics from your early adopters. Saying their orders went up by 20% while no other changes were implemented in their marketing would be great proof of value.
Hope there’s some ideas there.
Kind regards, PaulAugust 29, 2015 at 5:57 am #1187612Up::0Just some thoughts on possible reluctance.
- Time taken to create, sure its a 90 second video, but it will most likely take much longer to script, filming time, involvement in the editing process, etc. To small business their time is valuable, time taken to be involved in a video, takes them away from their core business.
- Like Paul mentioned the technical side of uploading and implementing.
- Is it really the next thing or is it the video people saying that to make it the big thing.
- Something that every marketing person says you need to grab your potential clients in the first 6 seconds (or was that 9), how many people really want to watch a video, what will compel me to go and watch the video.
- Must say I don’t know about number 6, from what I have seen often the older ones are more likely to try something, but that’s just my opinion
August 29, 2015 at 10:04 am #1187613Up::0Hi David. It kinda already is the next big thing. You Tube is the 2nd largest search engine. Video doesn’t just mean explainer videos or the like, it has a lot to do with user generated content (video), think Vine, Dubsmash, Periscope. Look a little closer to home and there are businesses like Big Review TV breaking ground with video. You obviously have great skills with video, but it’s also important to understand how people are consuming content.
September 4, 2015 at 3:06 pm #1187614Up::0I second Paul’s approach – offer to help them with the tech parts of uploading/sticking a video. And give them statistics why they should use video as a marketing tool. And you can use Daniel’s comment as copy -> “YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine”, you need to put their benefits across
And what Bert said – it may be a freebie, but if they have to invest their time into it – time is money for them. So it’s not free. Adding up, there’s a lot of planning they need to do before the video production, non-video related – more marketing related, what’s the audience, what they want to achieve, etc.
I like videos, if they’re done with quality. They’re engaging and it’s a different way of putting the information across from reading text. Now, I also think it depends on an industry. Fitness, sports, clubbing, etc favour videos for example. I love them with SaaS, as it’s easier to see features. I’m not sure though if small businesses are a good audience for videos though, at least a vast majority of them aren’t. Guess it depends on the industry
September 4, 2015 at 9:11 pm #1187615Up::0Hi DigitalMediaMan,
Even though the quality is likely to be nowhere near what you can provide, I also wonder if the popularity of platforms like Periscope has resulted in people simply thinking they can do it themselves? I could be wrong, but just a thought?
September 5, 2015 at 8:14 am #1187616Up::0Hi David,
I think it’s the audience you’re targeting. Who IS doing explainer videos? Tech startups, software companies, app companies.
Don’t fight with people who aren’t interested. A lot of startup entrepreneurs go giddy over explainer vids. Part of the reason is that they are new products – their CRM software will probably need some explaining, for example, more than established services like pubs and plumbers.
Good luck!
Dave
September 5, 2015 at 8:24 am #1187617Up::0I don’t tend to consider video simply because I don’t have the internet that can handle it, and a very small download limit. I can’t watch videos so I don’t think about them as a good tool for me.
September 18, 2015 at 12:23 am #1187618Up::0Much better advice above than I can offer – but I have heard some debate about whether Free is really attractive. Do customers see the true value in Free that they would if there was a price?
This may be a factor – although I reckon it is more likely the lack of comprehension around the time cost and the how to use that puts people off. Solve that for them and you are awaySeptember 18, 2015 at 6:07 am #1187619Up::0Hi David,
Video certainly is the next big thing for business. Read KPI, we are out of the information age and into the knowledge age.
Customers need 11 touch points or 7 hours of time spent with you and your company before they will make a decision to purchase. Only 3% of people on the web are ready to purchase the other 97% you need to build a relationship with.
I have just invested a significant amount of money in learning how to present in front of the camera.
I also agree with FS Forum Support, you need to know your target market. Not just your target market but the target market of the person you are shooting the video for, plus help them script a meaningful 90 sec video that will get the potential client to opt in for a free ‘something’. There are not that many people out there doing this for the solo entrepreneur perhaps this is a market for you.
All the best Jacinta
September 22, 2015 at 2:39 am #1187620Up::0Hi David,
Have you thought about creating a 90 second video that explains the 90 second freebie video for the business owners to watch? Sometimes the best way of learning is by seeing – if you can sell to them using the format that you’re “selling” (freebie) to them then that might help your conversion rate.
Vanessa
September 22, 2015 at 3:03 am #1187621Up::0MPoweringYou, post: 221035, member: 69492 wrote:Customers need 11 touch points or 7 hours of time spent with you and your company before they will make a decision to purchase. Only 3% of people on the web are ready to purchase the other 97% you need to build a relationship with.I would be interested in knowing where these numbers come from, really 11 touch points or 7 hours. That’s a lot of time and or effort just to make a purchase. Just thinking out aloud if I had to spend that much time or effort with any prospective client or when making a purchase myself, the system would grind to a halt.
Sorry have a misunderstood what you are suggesting.
September 28, 2015 at 8:57 am #1187622Up::0Hi David,
In a way all the reasons you have stated are relevant as to why business might not be interested in videos. I am starting business venture based around video production and digital marketing. These are the top three reasons why business’s are hesitant to get into video.
1. Marketing plan – most business’s either don’t have a marketing plan or have it and don’t use it. The plan isnt that important point, but without an online set up video is useless to them. Video only works well with the support of digital marketing like social media and websites, if these foundations are not there your customers dont know the importance of video and dont have the foundations make it work for them.
2. Content and context
Alot of owners I talk to don’t have any ideas for content, most of the time it’s because they are not sure what the customers would want to see and that all comes down to what the purpose of the video is, in order to sell the service you need to show them how displaying that sort of information through video will benefit their business.3. Know how
This is by far the most common issue that business owners are aware of, they know they should be using digital media but they don’t know how to and they don’t have the time to learn.These are just some common points but each client you have will have different hurdles to overcome, it’s good to keep in mind that there is a big difference in providing a quality service and being able to sell that service. You need to find a way to package it with all the bits and pieces so business owners see value instead of alot of extra work.
Cheers,
SebSeptember 28, 2015 at 10:52 pm #1187623Up::0My sales pitch wouldn’t be a nice looking video but how you can use it as a sales tool, linking it to KPIs. I would show examples of a call to action in the video, how it is used with email marketing to drive sales etc.
Video really is a great tool to use if you have a marketing and sales system that is working for you, but many small businesses don’t so they don’t see the results they are after.
September 28, 2015 at 10:53 pm #1187624Up::0bb1, post: 221212, member: 53375 wrote:I would be interested in knowing where these numbers come from, really 11 touch points or 7 hours. That’s a lot of time and or effort just to make a purchase. Just thinking out aloud if I had to spend that much time or effort with any prospective client or when making a purchase myself, the system would grind to a halt.Sorry have a misunderstood what you are suggesting.
A touch point can be as small as a website click or opening an email. -
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