How to Use Video for Business

This viral ad was shared worldwide on social media and became an overnight hit.
In the first 48 hours after the video debuted on YouTube, over 12,000 people signed up for their service. At the time of writing this article, the advert is on over 27 million views and still growing. This means this YouTube video has reached more people than the most-watched programme in the United Kingdom of the 2000s (2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony – 24.46million).

With the right video, message and promotion, you can reach a bigger audience than any television network.

 

 

Why should I make video for my business?

Great question, I’m glad you asked.
Adding a video on the homepage of your website or social media can increase sales by 70%. Simply, video engages even the laziest of customers. As we’ve said many times before, people are lazy and busy. You can write the most beautiful, well-crafted opening paragraph to your page but people being people, sometimes they just don’t want to read it. A video could essentially read the article aloud for them whilst showing off your product and yourself at the same time.

 

Video Builds Trust.

Show off yourself; this is the key to an engaging video. You hear a lot in the media about “online influencers”, this is because people trust them, people listen to them. People buy from people. If your customers trust you, they are much more likely to buy from you. This is why companies are eager to sponsor these online influencers; if they recommend a product, then the audience is much more likely to buy as it’s like being told by a friend you trust. As a bonus extra, if you’re looking to boost your website’s S.E.O, you’re 53 times more likely to be higher in the Google results if you have a video embedded on your website. Since Google owns YouTube, there has been a significant increase on how much affect video have on your search engine rank.

 

What equipment do I need?

Do you need a thousand-pound camera, nice microphone, tripod, SD Card, studio lighting to create your video?
NO.
When you’re starting out, all you need is your phone. It doesn’t even have to be relatively new, phones for years have been able to film in HD and that’s all you need to start out. No one is great when they’re starting out, practice makes perfect and it’s the only way to improve and to find out what you are good and what you are bad at. By recording test videos on your phone, you’re not spending any money and you can see if there is an audience for your work. If it comes to nothing, all you’ve used is your time.

 

 

Fail Fast, Fail Cheap.

So, you’ve decided you want to make video for your business?
Where do you start?

 

Filming The Video

If you already have a camera, use that, and film with what you have. If you don’t, use a phone. Don’t go out and buy a fancy camera with all the bells and whistles before you’ve made video 1. You might find that video isn’t for you, or maybe you don’t want to focus on it right now, or maybe it just didn’t work out. If you’ve already bought the camera, you’ve failed expensively.
What is the most important aspect of video? Audio. 

Surprisingly, yes. If you are watching a low-quality film but the audio syncs up, your brain forgives it. If you’re watching the latest high-end blockbuster in HD, but the audio sync is out and the speech doesn’t match the mouths, you immediately know something is up. Here’s how to get around it:
Record in a quiet environment – simple.

Try not to film outside; even if you film on a still day, the weather is out of your control (especially in the UK).
Use a microphone. The microphones on phones are usually pretty good because (would you believe it), once upon a time, phones were just used for making calls… !
If you want to make a small investment, a simple clip-on lapel microphone that plugs straight into your phone costs around £10. They tend to pick up sound much clearer and are cheap, but remember they are NOT ESSENTIAL.

 

How do you hold the camera?
If you were filming a video on your phone, how would you hold it?
If you answered portrait, you are wrong.
If you answered landscape, you are correct.
If you take away one single thing from this article, let it be that.

Film yourself talking to the camera about your product or service, film some of what you do, and make sure there is a ‘call to action’ at the end. After talking about your product or service, make sure people know where they can buy it, and link back to your website.

 

 

Editing The Video

When it comes to editing video, these are some of the industry standards:

• Final Cut Pro – £229
• Adobe Premiere Pro – £205/per year

Do you need these?
No of course not. There are free alternatives that work just as well. Obviously, the pricey ones have more features, but it’s the same as free web builders like Weebly. All the basic parts you will need to create a professional-looking video, you can get for free.

• On PC, you have Windows Movie Maker / Video Editor – FREE (Usually pre-installed)
• On Mac, you have iMovie – FREE (Usually pre-installed)

• On iPhone/iPad, you have iMovie – FREE
• On Android (and iPhone), you have Adobe Premiere Clip – FREE

All of these programs are made for beginners and are very simple to use. Good software is what you need to use when setting up and figuring out if it is for you.

Is anyone a bit overwhelmed? Is it all looking a bit confusing? I don’t blame you.

Watch tutorials online and learn basic editing skills on other software kits like, how to add text, music and multiple clips.

Or if you’re a one-take wonder, record yourself pitching your business and upload the raw footage. Any video is better than no video. Just remember, people buy from people.

 

 

Uploading The Video