Worth more than a thousand words: Tips for video marketing

Here are some quick tips for small business marketing through video.

Given the affordability and ease of recording and sharing high-quality videos nowadays, even busy small business owners can get involved with video marketing.

As viral campaigns such as the recent Ice Bucket Challenge demonstrate, videos are a powerful promotional medium, offering much greater engagement than text, graphics or images. Statistics collected by Digital Sherpa show that three-quarters (75 per cent) of consumers visit a company's website after viewing one of their videos, and website visitors are 64 per cent more likely to purchase from a site after watching a video.

Producing simple but effective marketing videos is easier than ever, so grab your camcorder and follow these helpful tips.

Keep it short and sweet!

With so many social media platforms and mobile devices to keep track of, today's consumers simply don't have a lot of time.

Add to that our ever-shortening attention spans, and it's easy to see the importance of keeping your videos short and punchy. Aim for no more than around 30 seconds of content, keep your message succinct and hard-hitting, and don't say anything you don't need to.

Add a bit of humour 

Letting your small business's brand personality shine through is essential no matter which marketing platform you use.

Wherever appropriate, use a bit of humour to show the fun side of your business and make the message stick in viewers' minds. Having a nice element of surprise can help to engage audiences and keep your brand image favourable.

Include a call to action

In the excitement of producing your own videos, it can be easy to forget to include the most important details.

Make sure you include next steps and contact details at the end, such as your business's phone number, email and website URL.

Get social

Now it's time to share your video with the world! Harness the affordable but powerful potential of social media and tweet and share your video through a range of platforms to maximise reach.