Benefits of Video Marketing for SMEs

Right now, video marketing is the latest buzzword and is steering businesses across the globe. It has become one of the most effective ways for SMEs to connect with their customers. Latest marketing trends suggest that 66% of consumers prefer watching a video to reading about a product. Also, 77 % of the SMBs surveyed by Promo.com said that videos were an important part of their digital marketing.

There’s no getting around it- SMEs must create visual content if they want to scale their business faster than ever before. Whether they want to educate, enlighten or entertain, visual communication creates an immediate, real and authentic route of interaction and connectivity with audience.

So, how are SMEs integrating videos in their marketing strategy to increase their ROI? Let’s have a look!

1. User-generated content- Businesses are great storytellers but customers can outcompete them by weaving a more compelling narrative. Small and medium businesses can encourage their customers and audience to create user-generated content (UGC) by incentivising them through contests, giveaways and gifts. By showcasing how products can be used, user-generated content can be more convincing - and powerful - than traditional marketing videos.
    
2. Customer stories- Consumers trust the experiences of others and SMEs can build that trust from the start by creating customer success stories. When audience foresees similar success, it is more likely to purchase marketers’ products, leading to a spike in sales numbers through word-of-mouth publicity. SMEs can also share that content with prospects and leads in marketing emails and on their website to let their advocates (customers) speak for them.
    
3. Invite your audience to virtual events- SMEs cannot invite their entire customer community to live events given the financial and logistical constraints. In such a situation, live streaming through YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram can present a great opportunity to invite a broader audience to participate in an event - virtually.
    
4. Product explainer videos- Either SMEs can live broadcast ‘how-to-use’ their products’ videos or they can use pre-produced videos for the same. Videos that focus on something that audience may not know much about or explain a concept or define a term make for a great social media fodder and can help SMEs build rapport with leads and customers.
    
5. Thank-you video- Short videos thanking customers make them feel special, acknowledges their feedback and also serve as a mini-advertisement since the SMEs talk about happy customers. Such videos also make for a compelling content and can foster customer loyalty and build brand awareness.