Those who have recently started an online business are moving into one of the most crowded,
noisy, and interesting new areas of business ever created. The rules of business on the Internet are significantly different than in the physical world, especially when it comes to how you advertise and market yourself to your potential customers.
On the Internet, creating videos may be your single best all-around tool for getting the word out. However, a lot of new entrepreneurs, accustomed to how things work offline, don’t realize this. They still still that creating videos is a luxury for richer businesses.
Let’s look at why videos have become a great investment for pretty much any business online, not just those with the money for television ads.
Major Benefits From Creating Videos For Your Online Business
Money is, of course, one of the main factors that determines what mediums you use in your advertising. If someone tends to associate video with television, it would make sense that they’d be reticent to invest in online video.
However, there are several reasons why online video is a better investment than in offline video formats, such as television. For example:
- Hosting online videos is virtually free, meaning all the costs are production-related. You aren’t paying thousands (or millions) of dollars for TV ad buys.
- They can be seen by a wider audience. At best, the most premium TV ad can get you an audience of maybe 40-50 million people, and that’s pretty much just the Superbowl. On the other hand, online videos can receive over a billion views in the best cases.
- Online video advertising has a much lower Cost-Per-Impression than TV advertising, by a factor of five or ten.
- Production costs on Internet video can be lower as well, and don’t require the same amount of “polish” as a TV production.
- They can be more informative. Online video isn’t restricted to the 30-60 seconds of your standard advert; you can spend several minutes crafting your message and getting it across.
- Online videos are interactive. There’s no televised ad on the planet that viewers can poke to be given instant access to a store.
OK, so, creating videos online is cheap and has a lot of reach. But how does online video actually work? Basically, it leverages the size and scope of the Internet to your advantage. Here’s the basic outline:
- Craft a video designed to appeal specifically to your target market(s), while still having enough general appeal that folks who’ve never heard of your might be interested. Old standbys like sex appeal and humor work well. Also, having catchy music adds a lot of appeal to online videos.
- You release the video as a custom YouTube embed video on your website. You make sure to include plenty of social sharing buttons to encourage visitors to spread word.
- You announce the video through your own social accounts, such as on Facebook and Twitter.
- At this point, you wait to see who views it. Those who enjoy your video will share it with their friends. Friends who enjoy it spread it to their friends, and soforth. The more generally appealing it is, the more people will spread it.
- Those who watch your video then come to visit your website, where you snag them with your sales, customer support, or calls-to-action.
That’s what it all boils down to. Make videos that people want to see, and they’ll do your marketing work for you by voluntarily spreading the video around. Given how cheap creating videos is, compared to how widely they can spread, online video truly is one of the best marketing investments you can make online!
