How to Create an Effective Video Ad for Your Small Business

Video marketing is a strategy that every small business owner should consider. Not only is it an extremely effective way of marketing in order to increase sales as well as brand recognition, but customers actually prefer it.

Nowadays, audiences are more willing to spend time watching an informative video about your company than scroll down a long page of text. In fact, reading takes much more time and can give less of a taste of what you are trying to offer to your audience.  Your small business can easily get involved today by creating a video and sharing it online.

Video ads can offer value to businesses of all sizes. Small businesses in particular have found that online video advertising is a great tool for boosting awareness, converting interest into sales and growing your brand online in a cost effective way.

As a business owner, you have a limited advertising budget so you want to be entirely sure that you’re using your money efficiently. A good video ad can be inexpensive to produce and can be used on social media sites, your webpage and in e-mails.

Creating an effective online video advertisement might not be as easy as it may seem. Here are some tips to help you create an effective video ad for your business.

Make the First Few Seconds Count

The beginning of your video is crucial. You need to grab the interest of your target market immediately if you want a chance at them watching the whole video and getting the full message. So a tip is to start the video with a statement that will get the attention of your audience within the first few second by telling them a common problem, and mentioning how your company can solve it.
Take into consideration that someone will start your video on mute, and the message can only be heard when the user clicks on the audio button.  Therefore it is also important to begin your ad with great and powerful visuals that encourage viewers to press the button and continue watching your video.

Highlight What Makes Your Brand Great

Why should your audience be interested in your brand? Answering this question in your video is critical!  Emphasize what makes your company great at what it offers. Tell viewers why your brand is unique and what makes it different from competitors. Share your achievements. You can even include customer testimonials and positive feedback. The more you highlight the benefits of your company, the more effective your video ad will be.

Keep it Brief

Don’t forget you are just creating an online video to grab the attention of the audience. Therefore, it’s fundamental to get rid of unnecessary content, and spread your message as quick as possible to keep viewers watching and engaged.
In fact, the shorter the video is, the less number of people will stop watching your video and are instead more likely to watch it until the end.

Try to make your video clear, concise and persuasive. Save more detailed information for your web page. A majority of the video ads online are 30 seconds or less. Keep this optimal length in mind as you create the script for the video.

Tell Viewers Why

Your video should tell viewers why they should choose your brand.
Why are you the right choice of your audience? Whether it’s of great value, a free trial, unlimited warranty, or patented technology for creating a unique product, you need to give viewers a reason to go with your company. It’s important to emphasize this when planning and filming your online video ad.

Use a Call to Action

The aim of every adverstisement is to support viewers to take an action. So don’t forget to add a call to action (CTA) in your video. It can either be filmed or added through graphics and text. The best would be to include it at the end of your ad. No ideas? Show your audience how they can visit your website to receive more info, sign up for a discount or buy your products and services!

Write a Script

It is fundamental to have a well prepared plan for the production and publishing of the video. It should describe every visual and audio element in detail. Great buildings, movies and videos are all made on paper first. So whether you hire a script writer or do it yourself, take the time to get the script right before you spend any time or money producing a video. After doing so, get it reviewed by friends, family, and those with a good understanding of your brand. Feedback is a great tool for making the necessary adjustments.

You don’t have time to write your own script? You can post an ad on a website such as Elance to find a good and cheap script writer!

Personalize Your Video

A simple to make your video look better is adding pictures of yourself, your employees and your customers, it makes it real. If you have customer testimonials, it could be nice to include them. If possible, show a customer using your product or service, your audience will greatly appreciate it! Just to save yourself possible future problems, have your “actors” sign a release granting you permission to use their names.

Find a Voice

Are you not comfortable speaking in front of a camera? Have someone else record your message for you! For example, this company, vADz, offers professional voice artists known as “vadzvoices” to do voiceover on your script, you can also check out Fiverr.

Check the Lighting

If you don’t have professional lighting, make sure your video is recorded during the day in front of a window, and turn on the overhead lights. If you’re making multiple videos, you can buy a video light kit online for about $100. It is usually better to film indoors where you can control the lighting and background noise.

Select an Appropriate Setting

If you have a restaurant, you might desire to capture your chef at work in the kitchen. If you own a beauty center, show your employee giving massages to your costumers. If you are a service business, like a mechanic for example, show one of your employees arriving at your customer’s door in a spotless uniform bearing your logo. Your video reflects your business so make sure to show the image that you want your audience to remember and look for.

Jokey Video? It Depends!

Many videos get spread very quickly due to a smart and well planned joke. However, this can be a smart strategy or a disastrous one. If humor comes natural and fits with what you are trying to say and sell, then consider the possibility of including it. If it doesn’t, don’t force yourself, you don’t want your brand to turn into a joke.

Make Viewers Envision Using Your Product

Allow your target user/customer to imagine him or herself using and experiencing the product and having a positive reaction. This leads him to think he should take the next step and buy it since positive feelings are associated to your product. It requires you to showcase your product’s benefits and ultimately the solution it provides but all in a natural way using creative language, visuals and tone.

Build Relations With Viewers

Trust and engagement are two essential elements in successful video marketing strategies.  A good tip for creators is to  focus on building relations with the people who view their videos. For example, think about creating a series of videos that follow each other, or even make a series of videos that drop once a week or once a month so your customers can anticipate and look forward to them.

Whether your goal is to increase sales, or brand recognition, you’ll find video ads to be an extremely effective strategy.

With the help of the tips mentioned above and a little luck, videos can quickly gain traction and become your number 1 sales driver!

Have you used video for your small business? Any tips we left out? Let us know in the comments!