An astonishing 80% of online traffic is driven to the consumption of video content. That means almost every time someone gets online they are searching to watch videos. But it doesn’t stop there. As video traffic continues to outperform all other types of search, video conferencing continues to receive praise for productivity and overall meeting enjoyment when compared to legacy audio calls or email communication. 

video conferencing business growth woman on video

Now is the time to start using video for business growth, but just how do you go about doing it? Incorporating video marketing into your marketing strategy doesn’t have to be hard! In this post, we’ll cover the strategies for using video for business growth in 2020 and other marketing resources you can reference to build out your content.

Six Ways to Achieve Business Growth with Video

1. Offer Video Consulting/Coaching

Online learning is a $46-billion-a-year industry. While traditional college is still an amazing way to learn, few people are going to return for a degree that puts them in debt. 

Consulting and online coaching are gaining steam as part of the online learning industry. Commonly known as “lifestyle coaching,” consulting over video is one of the best ways to grow your business with video.

Consulting over video allows you to share valuable expertise and knowledge with businesses or freelancers in your niche that are looking to fine-tune their own skill sets. Even if this is not a current part of your strategy, it is very easy to incorporate into just about any business.

Have you grown your business quickly in your niche? Did you leverage social media? Were there key factors that contributed to your business success? Can you teach people to use your product or service for their benefit? 

All of these are potential opportunities for you to offer consulting and coaching, as they provide value to others looking to do the same. 

High quality free video conferencing solutions make it easy to connect face to face, share your screen and teach valuable strategies that your clients can use to grow their business. 

Looking for an extra revenue stream without spending thousands on video production? Use video consulting to expand your offering. 

2. Use Reliable Video Conferencing to Close Deals

Conversing via email can only get you so far when it comes to closing deals and making sales for your business — especially if your leads are high-value targets, like big businesses. HubSpot found this to be true in their State of Inbound study, in which sales professionals stated that getting people on the phone or a video conference call closed the most deals.

The average business professional gets 121 emails every day. C-suite executives aren’t going to respond to your email marketing/pitch. They only close deals in person or on video conference calls. They want a hands-on assessment of the product. They want to learn about your company, your brand, your track record and how you can help them. They want a personal connection and a business partner who can help them grow.

Accomplishing this without video conferencing is next to impossible. Video conferencing now is more than just a meeting. It’s a professional experience that reflects well on your brand

 

Take a hard look at your current close rates on big deals. Assess your current methodology and examine where you could be losing these leads. 

In-person meetings aren’t always possible. But studies prove time and time again that the impact of face-to-face communication is far superior when it comes to closing a sale. With a reliable, enterprise-grade video conferencing solution, you can grow your business and the business of your clients, keeping them loyal for years to come. 

3. Create Educational/Tutorial Content

One of the biggest pain points for consumers is not knowing how to utilize a tool or service to its full potential. And the problem often stems from a lack of tutorial and educational content. We often get so laser-focused on targeting new customers that we forget our existing base. 

Tutorial and educational content has a direct, two-fold benefit: 

  1. Improving the user experience and empowering your customers to use your product/software/service better, improving their results and keeping them loyal to your brand. 
  2. Showing potential customers how easy and effective your product/software/service is. 

One great example of educational content is from Mailshake, who shows their customers exactly how to use the tool to send a cold email.  

You can then use this type of content directly in your knowledge base to please current customers looking to hone their skills on your product/service. 

Organizing your video tutorials in a knowledge base will help you both rank in key search terms and be easy to locate when users conduct on-site searches for help. 

Start developing educational and tutorial content for your product and service to explain and showcase key functionality. Making product videos as tutorials or video marketing content can change the way you interact with your future customers!

4. Develop Testimonial Videos for Case Studies

Case studies work for one reason: people trust reviews (like case studies) as much as personal recommendations. 

Reviews from similar people with similar pain points act as positive social proof, increasing the chances of converting more users. 

But the truth is, reading a long case study isn’t that appealing. People barely read blog posts about topics they’ve searched for, let alone a case study they stumbled upon on your site. 

With case studies, you can draw more emotion using video, explaining a story in just minutes that people actually want to watch: 

 

Case studies like this showcase both social proof and further reinforce your product as a driving force of success behind the customer.

If you currently have case studies on your website, consider planning and drafting video ideas for them. Most online traffic is video-based, and people are just skimming over your written case studies.

5. Utilize Branded Video Shorts for Increased Authority

Brand authority is critical in 2019. In fact, 70% of consumers look for brands they are familiar with when searching on Google’s search engine. Brand power is everywhere, from social media to SEO to your website and every touchpoint in between. And branded shorts are a powerful way to increase your authority. 

Branded shorts are videos like Chipotle’s scarecrow. This short film created by Chipotle was developed to be both entertaining and to serve their brand image. 

That’s exactly what the most successful branded shorts do. 

While this type of video can be costly due to its length and animation quality, you don’t need to replicate it. In fact, many small businesses have created stunning shorts using just basic camera setups and the real people who make the company run. 

A prime example of this is from BambooHR: 

The video showcases their employees to help users connect with them and their mission. It touches on pain points and why BambooHR was created. It tells the company story and mission in a way that inspires the viewer. And it does all of this without spending millions on the production. 

6.Use Product Explainer Videos to Better Communicate Value

According to recent studies, the average person (55%) online will only read for 15 seconds on any given web page. 

People skim online. They always have and they always will.

This presents a big problem when it comes to describing your product or service: people are tuning you out, likely missing key value propositions that you worked so hard to craft.

If users miss key value points, they could decide your product or service isn’t worthwhile, even if it is. 

In other words, you need more than just text to communicate value now — to get users to understand what you offer and why it’s right for them.

That’s where product explainer videos come into play. Explainer videos are often short (60 seconds or less) video segments that showcase your product in action, explaining key value points. 

Essentially, they are elevator pitches in video format — the 60-second sell on why your brand is right for a given consumer. 

These are often animated but also come in multiple formats. For example, Lifesize recently launched our new free video conferencing service, Lifesize Go, with this quick 43-second explainer.

 

While explainer videos of this style will be more expensive to produce, animated options can still provide tons of value. Take Mint for example: 

Using a combination of animation and real screen captures from their software, they show users how the app can be used and the direct value you receive from it. 

If your homepage is only text, it’s time to branch out. Use explainer videos to communicate more value in less time. 

Wrapping Up

Video content has taken the internet by storm, both for entertainment and as a powerful tool for brands to increase awareness and improve sales.

If you haven’t invested in video for business yet, now is the time. 

  1. Try offering consulting or online coaching as an additional revenue stream. 
  2. Combine that with a reliable video conferencing service to close big deals. 
  3. Create educational and tutorial-based content to improve user experiences. 
  4. Develop testimonials that can have a powerful effect on closing leads. 
  5. Utilize branded video shorts. 
  6. Feature product explainers to increase authority and value. 

Video is dominating and it’s here to stay. What video content are you investing in this year?