5 Video Marketing Hacks for Small Business Owners

Did you know that by 2021, consumers are going to be watching around a hundred minutes of video online each and every day?

This is pretty amazing and tells us we’re at the place where not using video content for our businesses is almost a marketing sin.

In fact, I'm just gonna say it outright…if you’re not using video content for your business yet, there’s a good chance you’ll be left behind…and ain't nobody got time for that!

If you have doubts or simply don’t know how to use video in your business, you’ll want to keep reading.

In this post, we’re going to talk not only about how to use video in your business but how to do so in a way that drives traffic, leads and ultimately, sales.

This blog post is based on a Live I did recently with Owen Video – that’s right, Video – that’s the very first episode of a new show called Marketing that Grows Your Business.

Before we dive in, I want to share a few fun facts about video to get us started…

Did you know that according to research done by the folks at Promo.com:

• YouTube is the #1 place people consume video content (not Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.)
• Video is the preferred medium by which consumers want to learn about products and services (as opposed to blog posts, social media posts, etc.)
• 85% of people say they read the caption on videos. 85%!! So if you’re creating videos without captions, you need to seriously re-think your strategy!

Now, I mentioned that this post is based on a LIVE I did recently with Owen Video. Owen is a highly sought-after expert and live stream host with a reputation for creating TV-quality live streams for brands. He not only understands the mechanics of creating videos but knows exactly how to use video as part of a marketing funnel – meaning, his videos drive real results for your business.

So, our focus in this post isn’t to just tell you to create video content for content’s sake. Rather, we’re going to show you how to create a video as part of a strategy that will boost traffic, leads, and sales.

The following Are 5 Video Marketing Hacks You’ll Want to Implement in Your Small Business…Pronto!

Video Marketing Hack #1:

Programming – You’re Making Videos for The Wrong People

According to Owen, one of the biggest things business owners struggle with when creating video content is understanding their WHO.

They think their services or products are for everyone, and so they create video content meant to target…well, everyone. But if this was true, these business owners would have a 100% closing rate; which of course, they don’t.

So, the key is going to be to use video to sell products and services to people who are actually in the market for them.

It’s also important to understand that your goal with creating video content isn’t to constantly sell your products.

If this is all you’re doing, you’re going to lose! That is NOT what video is about. Video is about engaging an audience of people who enjoy watching you and learning from you.

You’ll definitely still want to create content for the larger, mainstream culture on YouTube.

Those videos will attract a large number of views, and those views will act as a sort of “social proof” to your prospective customers. So basically: attract the whole community, get lots of views.

Now, it’s critical to understand that only a portion of that wide community will actually be your target customers or clients. So, you’ll be making a second set of videos specifically designed for that core audience.

This second set of videos isn’t going to get nearly the number of views as your initial set…and that’s perfectly okay. Because remember, this subset of videos will be the ones designed to actually convert your target prospects into customers.

If you look at Owen’s YouTube, you’ll see this same strategy in play.

He has videos that attract hundreds of thousands of views, then others that only have 500 views. The top-performing videos are his “wide-angle” videos, whereas the ones that only have a few hundred views are the ones designed to convert his target audience.

And when clients see he has millions of views on his videos, this is his social proof – “This guy’s got hundreds of thousands of views on his videos…I’m going to do business with him!”. The views are actually what sells his clients to working with him.

Pretty brilliant, right?

In case you’re having a hard time visualizing the strategy above, here are a few examples.

If you’re an insurance salesperson: You could create a video called, “Real insurance salesperson reviews Super Bowl ad for MetLife”. This is one of those “wide-net” videos where you’re working off a trend and applying it to your business.

If you’re a lawyer: Create a video called, “Real lawyer reacts to House of Cards”.

If you’re a marketer: You could create, “Real marketers react to Super Bowl ads”.

You get the point!

These are the “wide-net” appeals, meant to generate as many views as possible.

But, now you’ll also need to create some videos specifically meant to attract your target audience.

So, using the first example above, I might create a video called, “Real insurance person reviews State Farm plans”.

Now, this video is actually where I’ll review my plans, and talk about how great they are. And at the end of the video, I’ll use a call to action to download something or get in touch with me.

Now, some of you might be wondering why you can’t just include this call to action in your “wide-net” video. According to Owen, YouTube knows when your videos are all about getting your viewers to take action (download something, buy something, etc.), and they will KILL your video.

This is why you need to use the 2-step process above. Bring people in to watch your wide-net videos, then get your target audience to watch your smaller, more targeted videos.

Video Marketing Hack #2:

Production – You’re Spending too Much Time Making Videos

Many business owners I work with assume they need a fancy set up or even a full production team.

But according to Owen, all you really need is what he calls a video creation station. All you need is a desk, a camera, and a lapel mic. It’s always connected, and all you have to do is press go and you can be recording.

Now if you get an email or see something online and think, “Oh my gosh, I get this question all the time!”, you can immediately go to your station and give an answer on video.

Upload it to Vimeo, put it in Dropbox, and now you have a standard answer ready to go the next time you’re asked that question.

This is a great way to systemize your video production. Owen does this through using the GREaT video formula:

Gravitation

Relate to their problem

Explain your solution (Provide actual proof)

Tell them what to do

Once you’ve got your station set up, and have a formula you can use to create your videos (GREaT), you can crank out videos.

This is definitely Owen’s preferred method, rather than putting all your energy into creating one video. That video will probably go nowhere, you’ll be burnt out within a week, and all your efforts will be for nothing,

So, make sure you systemize using the strategy above!

Fun fact: Owen told me his entire studio is connected with Alexa plugs. All he has to do is step into his home office, say “Turn studio on”, and he’s ready to record a video or go live. His backdrop, Costco TV, curtains and lights are all there, so there’s never any setup.

THIS is how you systemize your video creation!

In the words of Owen: If you try to reinvent the wheel or produce an Academy Award-winning piece every time you produce a video…you’re going to lose. Systemize your process, create a product that looks the same every single time, and you’ll win the video game.

Video Marketing Hack #3:

Promotion – Ditch the Hollywood Model and Think Like a YouTuber!

First of all, let’s get something out the way. There are two sets of people who make videos for YouTube: There are YouTubers and there are marketers/business owners.

YouTubers are people who create content in order to earn revenue through AdSense. The more views they get, the more money they make.

Video marketers, on the other hand, have a product or service and use YouTube as a marketing channel to promote their goods.

So here’s the thing: we often hear from business owners who say they just don’t have the time to create videos.

But Owen’s perspective on that is this: As a CEO or business owner, how do you NOT have time to get more customers, cheaper?

Here’s a great example of one of his customers, who is a wholesale seedling distributor.

Not exactly the most exciting niche, right?

Last year he grew his business by 41% using the strategies he learned from Owen. Using video, this client was able to acquire the millennial customer cheaper than the baby boomer customer.

Video content helps you get customers cheaper…period. As a business owner, you NEED to have time for video.

If you really don’t have time for everything, outsource other areas of your business – like fulfillment, for instance – so you can be the spokesperson for your company.

According to Owen, we lose so much time going half-way into video, then half-way into Twitter, then half-way into Instagram…and quite frankly, this is just confusing your audience.

You could be posting great content, but you’re just kind of all over the place.

Instead, Owen suggests using the multi-platform model. Here’s how it works.

Make one YouTube video that’s 5-7 minutes long (it shouldn’t be shorter than that). Take the best 3 minutes of that video and turn it into a square video meme. Add some text to the top and some captions to the bottom. Now you have a square video meme you can put on Facebook, LinkedIn, and possibly even Twitter.

Next, take that square meme and put it on a vertical canvas, which you can put into IGTV where it will show up on the Instagram newsfeed. The newsfeed will play one minute of it, then ask the viewer to keep watching. And then from that video, you share it with your Instagram stories.

So, from one piece of content, you’ve created four total video edits…without putting in a ton of extra work.

You can even use this model with podcasts. Owen has done hour-long podcasts, then turned those into 5-minute long videos, 3-minute square videos, and a 1-minute Instagram video.

You’re taking one piece of content, and putting it up everywhere. It doesn’t get much easier than this!

One of the strategies I like to suggest is to simply sit down in front of a video camera, and talk about your topic for 5, 7 or 10 minutes, max. Now you’ve got a video.

Transcribe it, and now you’ve got a blog post. Then take one small piece of that post, and create a quote tile.

You could literally turn one piece of content into 100-200 pieces of content, and they would convey a seamless message.

My team and I have a very robust re-purposing plan, and we’re not just doing it for my business – we’re doing it for our clients too.

One thing I think is broken right now in the social environment is push marketing. Businesses are constantly pushing out a ton of unrelated content, and it just doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t represent their voice.

Instead, it’s far preferable to create a 20-minute piece of content…and then use the repurposing model to create reams of other, related content!

Video Marketing Hack #4:

Progress – You Gotta’ Read Your Analytics and Make Improvements

So, you’re doing all this work creating videos and re-purposing.

But, how do you know if it’s working?

This is where analytics come in. YouTube has a very robust studio model called YouTube Studio.

One of the most important metrics Owen recommends monitoring is your average view duration (AVD), which is how long someone watches until they x out of the video.

If you can get someone to watch 50% of a 5-minute video, that works out to 2.5 minutes.

If you upload a 3-minute video and get people to watch 50%, that’s 1.5 minutes.

Now, YouTube’s goal is to keep people on the platform as long as possible. So, which video do you think they’re more likely to promote?

This is why you need to be making videos that are at least 5-7 minutes long. Then, as you move on and start to reach a goal of, say, a 60-65% AVD, you can try and make 10-minute-long videos. Now you have what I would call a show – a show that people are actually regularly tuning into.

Now, as another example of the importance of checking your analytics: Owen used to do these really fun openings on his videos. He would do homages to retro content like Who’s the Boss, Alf, Denny’s ladies, etc.

But, what he noticed in his analytics was that there was a bit of a drop off during the intro, and then views would pick up again when the actual content started. As much as he loved doing the intros, he was losing 50% of his audience right at the beginning of his videos.

While it’s normal and expected to see a steady drop-off throughout your video, you don’t want to see big spikes or drop-offs – this tells you something is wrong.

This is why watching your average view duration is much more important than view counts. Even when you’re just starting out and are getting 5, 6 or 7 views, make sure to check how long those people are watching for. If you can get to 50%, YouTube will promote your video to more people.

Another super-important metric Owen recommends tracking is your clickthrough rate (CTR).

This is going to blow your mind!

As you likely know, every video on YouTube is watched after clicking a thumbnail image. You see the thumbnail and then mouse over it to click it.

And, did you know YouTube will tell you how many times your thumbnail appeared on a screen, and how many times it was clicked?

For your “wide-net” videos (the ones you create to attract as many views as possible), you’ll obviously expect a lower clickthrough rate. If you can get 3-4% of those, you’re doing okay.

But for your smaller, more targeted videos, you should expect around a 7% CTR – because it’s showing up on fewer screens, but these are more targeted people who are more likely to click through.

Knowing these numbers will make a huge difference, especially in the first 90 days after you post a video.

Remember: When people on YouTube are searching and come across your content, you have to hook them right away. You’ve got to get into the heart of your content right away – you can’t ramble or dilly dally. Tell them why it’s important that they watch your video, and then get right to business!

Video Marketing Hack #5:

Profit – Know How to Make Money Without Making Enemies

Are you making money from your videos?

If not, Owen will be the first one to let you off the hook! He recognizes that some people (himself included) just love making videos, and for some people, it isn’t about profit.

For instance, Owen uses TikTok without any intention of making money off it. He’s using it to be able to relate to the younger generation: to people who will be in his target market in the future.

So, there’s value in simply trying things out.

Do you want to profit from your videos? Here’s an important tip for you: mention a link in your video that isn’t mentioned anywhere else. This is how you’ll track the traffic and conversions that are coming from your video.

Owen also recommends not having a ton of different offers and only using one offer per video. He typically has one offer that he promotes for an entire year, then builds that out.

He also stresses the importance of using unique links in your smaller videos, to make sure you know where your traffic and sales are coming from. Owen uses Bitly to shorten his URLs, but another one you can try that I personally use is Pretty Links.

So, we just talked about the importance of using conversion metrics.

But, another important factor when it comes to profiting from your videos is that some people are going to be watching actively, and some are going to be watching passively – maybe having the video open in their browser while they get ready in the morning while working on something else, etc. And these people aren’t going to click on a “Visit my website button” or website link right now. They’re going to go later, so it has to be something they’ll remember.

One creative way to make it as easy as possible for people to quickly access your call to action is to use a QR code. Pretty much any mobile device can now access these, making it a super-quick way for people to take that next step.

It's important to make sure your call to action is built into your video rather passively. You don’t want to be saying, “If you like my video, go buy my product today”. Instead, you want to say, “If you like my video, then watch this video next”.

Do this again for your third video – and in that video, you can casually drop a link to a related product. Don’t make a big deal of it – just sort of dropping it there so they know there’s more help available.

Now the viewer will have heard that you sell this thing, but they’re not likely going to go buy from you now. That’s not how sales funnels work!

In fact, here’s an example from one of Owen’s clients who made close to a quarter of a million dollars in sales with his YouTube channel.

He sells insurance to seniors (again, not a super exciting niche). He called Owen up to tell him he’d been watching his videos all weekend, and wanted to join his intensive. There was no selling involved on Owen's part at all – he simply explained what the intensive was all about, and then gave Owen his credit card.

It wasn’t one video that converted him…it was the library of content Owen had built around one offer.

If you hate the traditional sales process, you’ve got to make a video. If you want to be in this place by summer, you have to start making a video, now. It takes a while to get into a groove, to get your message out there, and to build that “know, list, trust” factor.

Final Thoughts

I trust you got some great ideas from this post, and are ready to take your video marketing to the next level!

Check out the first episode of Marketing That Grows Your Business Live Show below:

If you’re ready to use video in your business, but just don’t have the technical or design skills to create your own videos from scratch – no worries. InVideo is the #1 video tool you should be using…and they are offering huge discount for my blog readers!

As a friend of InVideo, they gave me a super-duper deal for ya! You can grab 50% off for life! Snap it up HERE!.

Which strategy above are you going to implement first? Let us know in the comments below!

About Author

Kim Garst

Kim Garst is a renowned marketing strategist and speaker who is trailblazing the use of artificial intelligence in digital marketing. With over 30 years of experience as an online entrepreneur, Kim helps entrepreneurs grow their business and authority online by using AI technology. She is leading the way with proven AI frameworks that help entrepreneurs build authority in their space.

She is keynote speaker and an international best-selling author of Will The Real You Please Stand Up, Show Up, Be Authentic and Prosper in Social Media.

Named by Forbes as a Top 10 Social Media Power Influencer, Kim is well-known for her skill to simplify complex technology and make the use of AI understandable for business growth. Her relatable, actionable advice helps guide new entrepreneurs to harness the power of AI to succeed in digital marketing. Kim is leading the way in combining human and technological skills to create a new model for AI-powered marketing.

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