How Video Content Helps SMEs Attract More Customers? – SMEs account for 61% of employment and 51% of overall annual turnover in the UK. SMEs are also struggling massively at the moment, as all kinds of fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, economic issues, political issues and other factors are causing insolvency to be commonplace in businesses of that size. Additionally, we have all seen the endless statistics about how quickly start-ups and SMEs are doomed to fail, and how common it is for a business to fall through at speed with just one mistake. Scary stuff,
To summarise, as an SME you have the world on your shoulders and it’s almost unthinkable to consider adding anything to your list that isn’t immediately targeted at staying afloat, and dealing with immediate opportunities for growth.
Interestingly, though, there is something you could and should add to your list of things to do because the benefits are probably much more substantial than you realise. That new addition to your list?
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Video Content
Video content will cost you time, money and resources to push what’s been made so that it really works for you and makes the most of the effort you have put in. In return, you get some pretty huge benefits, including a new way to attract new customers.
You can attract new customers with video content in so many different ways, hopefully boosting sales and maintaining customer loyalty, too. If you’re still not convinced, take a look at the following reasons that video content can help SMEs just like you attract more customers:
An Increase in Conversion Rates
Adding a video to your landing page can increase conversion rates by over 75%. So not only are your videos going to attract more customers (as we discuss more below) but they encourage the sales to go through, and make those website visits count. It doesn’t even have to be a complex video or a particularly amazing or unique video, either. Just have some nice visuals of your products and a high-quality voice over from a voice over service explaining what they are and what they do. It’s so simple, and yet, so effective.
Introducing Your Brand to the World
Your brand awareness is not high, because you are an SME. Unlike major brands, you don’t have giant billboard ads, advertising at football matches, giant social media accounts and similarly expensive forms of marketing. You don’t have the big brand way of getting new customers.
What video content does, is affordably allows you to introduce your brand to the world in a dynamic, professional way that is engaging and that grabs the attention of the viewer. With video, you can use your voice over company actor to be descriptive, to be emotive, to create waves and encourage conversations. You can tell a story – your story – and new customers will pay attention and hopefully want to be part of your story.
Down to the sales – customers are also six times more likely to buy from a company that is purpose-driven. So, by showing your purpose in your brand video, you actively increase your chance of getting more sales.
Building Trust
As an SME you don’t have the trust of your customers yet. A few may love what you do, but you aren’t big enough to have your brand images, colours or other marketing associated with a trusted message at a glance. What video content is able to do is engage your audience in full, so that they trust you more. One study showed that when people think of what it means to be human, they think of how we are able to feel and how we are able to think. Furthermore, the study showed that businesses are missing out on their products and product marketing connecting with consumers because they are not utilising the human experience as part of their campaigns.
A good example of this is where a company may put out a video of a product and a product alone. We don’t see that product changing the life of the person using it, we don’t even see a human interacting with it. That is why social influencers are so good at what they do – they show us that people we like use the product, and they show us the human behind the product use. Making videos, especially those with people in them, or ways of explaining the human side to your business, is essential for building trust between your customers and your brand.
Social Sharing
Social media posts with video content generate 1200% more shares than those with text and photo combined. As an SME you know social media is integral to your brand growth, and if you want to make your content work as hard as it possibly can, the way to do that is with videos rather than photos or blogs.
Do be careful not to rely on viral videos to suddenly create big traction and impact. Realistically, it is a consistent stream of well-made videos consumers will respond to long-term. Viral popularity doesn’t last, and doesn’t even necessarily convert to sales either. Think high quality, slow and steady and you will win the race to gaining more customers.
Social Proofing
Social proofing is essentially how we, as people, look to other people to show us that something is OK to buy or use. This includes their take on products in the form of reviews or forum discussions. As an SME, social proof is essential.
You might only have a small number of people who have used your product, so you are lacking in social proofing, which is why encouraging people to leave reviews and testimonials is essential. It is also why you should take that positive feedback and include it in a video.
You can also work with other brands and influencers who can create video content that provides product social proofing. Even if you do have good social proofing for your brand, video content showcasing it is a great way to draw attention to it, thus attracting more customers who may require that kind of psychological encouragement to approach your brand and buy from you.
Explainer Videos
As an SME you might need to go the extra mile to get people to understand your product or services. New customers might not be enthralled by the images of your products or your packaging (something to work on another day) but if you show the product in a video and explain how it should be used, they will have more chance to see how it can benefit them, and their lives. Importantly, they also retain more information about the product than they would from a written ad. Statistics say we take in 95% of a video’s message when we watch it, compared to just 10% of the message we get from text, such as a blog.
Becoming an Industry Leader
When brands repeatedly ask people to buy from them and they don’t offer much else, customers will not show intrest. New customers may not initially have a reason to pay attention to you, and constant messaging to buy from you could have even turned them off.
To refresh your image and engage new customers, and establish a stronger bond with current customers, you can offer video content that is shared just because it is relevant and useful for your target audience. It is how you become an industry leader. You create content your audience would find useful, without any expectation from them to buy from you. This information is shared and liked on its own merit, and you elevate your position in your industry.
The ideal scenario is that customers come across your content through general online sharing and then find out about your products, instantly giving them a positive impression of your brand and your knowledge as an industry leader. It’s a way to get brand trust before a customer has even found out about your products, improving your chance of a purchase when they do shop with you because they have already discovered that you know your stuff, and that you’re trustworthy.
Expansion Across the Globe
When you create content as an SME you target it to your audience in this country and you may also want to acquire customers from other countries as you test the market, and potentially expand into other areas of the globe.
Video content is very easy to translate with the help of a professional voice over company. That professional voice over company can offer you the chance to have German voice overs, Spanish voice overs, Japanese voice overs – any language you need. You could also add subtitling easily with a translation company providing accurate, localised subtitles. It’s a really great way to take one high quality video and stretch its use overseas, helping your SME expand further afield in an effective way that appeals to many people.
Additionally, your content is also accessible to people who may be hard of hearing, or who struggle with vision issues, as they can access subtitling and voice overs on your video and learn about your products, opening up even more buyer potential than you had before.
Why Not Make a Plan to Create Video Content Today?
Hopefully you can now see that video content is not just a good idea for you as an SME, but it is essential. You can attract so many more customers with high quality videos, especially if you include professional voice overs to add that extra finesse, premium feel and polish – everything you want to associate with your brand.
Why not make a plan to create video content today so your SME can soar above the competition and impress your target market? With video content your SME will not just survive these challenging economic times, but it can truly thrive and go from strength to strength.
