Fifteen Reasons To Use Video For Your Business

1. According to a study by the (University of Pennsylvania) Wharton school of Business, prospects are 72% more likely to purchase a product or service when video is used and they make their buying decisions faster. After seeing a video, most prospects will have a greater understanding of the subject or product.
89 percent of consumers will review a video the same day it is received, and about 94 percent of those people will share it with a friend or relative. Industry reports suggest the response rates for video promotions are six times greater than those for printed direct mail pieces.

2. “Video brochures” have a high-perceived value so they rarely get tossed like a lot of junk mail. People also tend to keep them and pass them along to friends. Most people will watch a marketing video in its entirety – out of curiosity, if nothing else.

3. Video can help present a consistent message every time for every viewer. Put forward a consistent orientation, training, sales, or marketing message to enable wider audiences and on demand viewing.

4. Video is affordable. It’s no longer just for large corporations. A carefully scripted 3-5 minute video can be more effective and convey as much information as a stack of printed materials.

5. Video can help you reach markets that live training or sales people can’t reach. Video helps you deliver your message to smaller market segments that may never be able to afford your live training services or markets to far away to reach.

6. Filmmaking and its offspring, video, has become the most powerful communications tool of the last 100 years. Video on the Internet is growing quickly, and viewing content online has actually surpassed traditional TV viewing.

7. Some videos are powerful sales devices in themselves. You’ve probably seen the exercise machine commercials that offer a free video. Bowflex sells a $2,000 exercise system. The free video they send to prospective customers cost $6.50 each, but nearly half of those who view the DVD order a system.

8. Video can show your product or service in action, something brochures can’t do. You could have one or more actual customers being filmed using your product or even stage a re-creation. In either case you want to show the real benefits of using your product.

9. Even though your video may be produced for one or two primary uses, you’re likely to find many other uses for this same video. Your video can be used in trade shows, one-on-one sales calls, shown to groups, or streamed over the Internet from your website. It can be used to attract investors and for other uses. Have the video designed so it can be easily updated to include new products, services and people without redoing the entire video.

10. Video can help a relatively small company look like a much larger national or international firm. You could film some of your suppliers or customer’s businesses. You could show your products (or services) being manufactured and used.

11. Video can be a perfect way to explain a complex process or technical product where the inner workings are hidden from view. Using computer generated graphics or an animation can clearly explain how a product or process works.

12. Video is a cost-effective way to sell or train people on products that require a demonstration in order to be sold or serviced, especially for products that are expensive to move or demonstrate.

13. Video is an ideal way to give â€œvirtual toursâ€ of your organization. By using close-ups and careful lighting you can put your best foot forward, and the viewer doesn’t have to see anything you don’t want them to see. Highlight those aspects of your organization that are most important to your customers such as quality control or pride of workmanship.

14. One reason video is such a powerful medium is because it involves the viewer’s emotions. The ability to reach an audience with images and sound can be incredibly persuasive. The combination of sights and sounds appeals both to those who learn visually and to those who respond more to auditory learning styles.

15. “Before and after” shots are another way to use video. For example, a company that restores water wells used “before and after” video shots that dramatically demonstrate how their patented system improved the clarity of the water. These “before and after” shots can be the most effective way to concisely express the benefits of your product or service.

Does your business use video? If not, what has prevented you from doing so.

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Written by Dave Wowchuk

Dave Wowchuk is the owner & president of Artisan Media: a leading full-service production company in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Dave has over 15 years of experience in graphic design, video production and live-event production. Dave also freelances in the film & television industry as a camera operator & Steadicam operator, and has worked on feature films, short films, documentaries, concerts, and television specials.