Anyone who has ever tried to launch a startup can relate to the simple truth: growing it is difficult. Startups cannot settle for anything but massive growth. Their survival depends on fast, revenue-generating actions. Without results, funding will simply dry up, as investors want big returns on their money.
In addition to a great product, you’ll need a stellar marketing strategy. And there’s one component that you definitely don’t want to miss out on — video marketing.
Why Do Startups Need to Leverage the Power of Video Marketing?
Video has proven to be one of the most powerful marketing instruments, for good reason. Most of us are visual learners because our brains have evolved to prefer imagery over other sensations. Which means it’s easier for your potential customers to perceive the information visually rather than in the text form.
Marketers have realized this trend and started incorporating video into their marketing strategy early on. In the ‘results-or-die’ situation that many startups find themselves to be, a video is a tool that no startup can afford to overlook.
Despite common belief, a video for startup might be relatively cheap to produce, while generating impressive ROI. Here are five of our favorite tactics that can help you boost your startup right off the beat without draining your wallet.
1. Create a How-To Series on YouTube
If there is anything that you are an expert on, that must be your own product. But think about why you launched it in the first place. What was the pain point or major problem that you wanted to solve with it? How does your product help your customers in their daily work and life?
And most importantly: what are other ways you can provide value to your customers?
This is where how-to videos step in. They are a perfect way to show your expertise on the subject and build trust with your audience without being too promotional.
The easiest and most obvious place to start posting your videos is YouTube. After all, it’s the largest video platform in the world, and the second largest search engine (after Google).
How to Choose What Video to Make?
There’s probably a bucketload of topics you can talk about in your how-to series. However, to start building your audience quicker, you might want to begin with the hottest topics first. Here are three approaches that you can take when deciding what to make your how-to video about.
1. Check Your Blog
If you run a blog for your startup, dig into your Google Analytics or other analytical tools to see what blog posts perform best. For instance, when we decide on the topic for our next talking head video, normally, I would check our GA account and AddThis (a social sharing tool we use on our blog) to see what blog posts have been seen, liked and shared the most by the audience.
Check your Google Analytics to see what blog posts perform best
After that, I write a short script based on the blog post and shoot a video. The video doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Even your phone can do the trick. The best practice here, though, is to use a tripod to stabilize the video and an external mic.
This tactic helped us get over 1,000 views on our how-to videos in a short period of time. People come to our blog post organically and watch the video, helping us grow engagement on our YouTube channel. They also find the video on YouTube itself and head over to the blog post to read more on the topic. Pure win-win.
2. Dig into Your Support
Your support team is a goldmine when it comes to choosing a topic for your next video. Ask them to provide you with a list of questions that users regularly ask and make a video series with answers.
The guys at Filmora took it one step further and combined a talking head video with tutorials. The result: almost 7K views and 300 comments so far.
3. Check External Resources
Another great way to decide what videos to make first is to check what people are searching for. There are a bunch of tools out there that can help you do keyword research. Some of my favorites are Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Answer the Public.
Use this data to come up with some solid keywords and phrases that people search for and that your product can help out with. Tools like Camtasia or Loom can help you to make a simple screencast
2. Promote Your Content on Social Media with Videos
Social media is a cluttered space. Social platforms make it harder than ever to reach the audience organically.
If you want your startup to achieve exponential growth on social, a video is what you want to be doing. As Mari Smith, the top Facebook marketing expert, explains, ‘You will get much, much more organic reach on your Facebook business page posts if you favor video over all other types of content’.
When your next blog post is out, create a short teaser video with the main points from the blog post. Make sure to include a link to the original post to drive traffic back to your website.
Example of a short blog post video on Facebook
3. Conduct Product Demos and Webinars on Facebook Live
There is something to the short-lasting and ephemeral content that live videos are. Whether it has to do with FOMO (fear of missing out) or something else, the reality is that users enjoy watching live videos.
Live videos work great for startups as they help you show the backstage of what your brand is about. When going live on Facebook or any other social platform, you can reveal the human side of the story. It’s important as customers tend to trust people more than brands or companies.
Besides, live videos are very easy to produce. Thanks to facebook (and similar platforms), a huge segment of users actively watch live videos shot from a phone or a webcam. So there is no need to worry much about costly equipment.
You can conduct a short product demo or tutorial on Facebook, answering the users’ questions in real time. This is another benefit of live videos: they generate a ton of likes and comments, boosting your engagement rates.
4. Cooperate with Influencers
Influencer marketing is more popular than ever. Brands reach out to influencers in the hope to promote their products and reach out to new audiences.
In fact, influencer marketing is a powerful instrument that can help exponentially boost your startup. But just like with anything else, it’s necessary to use it wisely. After all, there are tons of pitches influencers get daily, and most of them go t unnoticed. How do you make sure your startup gets the attention it deserves?
One of the subtle ways to reach out to and cooperate with influencers is to make a short startup video with them. Industry conferences and shows might work perfectly for that.
Allen Gannett of TrackMaven does it particularly well with his short LinkedIn videos. Allen just asks people one simple question that he records on his phone and posts on LinkedIn.
While people might find it difficult to commit to a full-fledged interview, answering just one question seems like an easy task.
The result? Over 11K views, 264 likes, and 46 comments.
The benefits of cooperating with influencers in such a way are numerous. First, you get to connect with the person in real life. Second, you can tag them in the post and ask them to share the video with their audience. Most people will be happy to do that, as it gives them more exposure and engagement, too.
5. Add Video to Your Email Marketing
Another video tactic that your startup can benefit from is including video to your email marketing strategy.
The only problem with video and email marketing is that you can’t embed an actual video in the email. Most email clients simply won’t interpret the embed code. But fret not!
Here are a few ways how you can still leverage the power of video in your startup email marketing:
- Include the word “Video” in the email subject. This will help you boost open rates.
- Insert an image that looks like a video in your email. In order to do that, put a play button on top of the image. Here’s a good example from Wistia.
- Include a GIF with your email. While technically GIFs are images, people see them as mini-videos that are often so enticing that users often click or tap them (making them a great linking opportunity!).
Example of a GIF in a Wave.video email
- Embed videos from YouTube. If most of your audience reads their emails in Gmail, you might consider adding a link to a YouTube video with your next email. Since the two services are connected, your readers will be able to watch the video right in their inbox.
Final Words
For a growing startup, it’s important to build the corresponding marketing strategy. You need to come up with some great content in order to win over the competitors.
In this regard, a video for startup is a must-have format that adds value to your strategy early on. Have you tried any of the video marketing tips to boost your startup? Share in the comments below!
Disclaimer: This is a guest post by Olga Bedrina, Director of Content Marketing at Wave.video. The opinions and ideas expressed herein are author’s own, and in no way reflect Cloudways position.
Olga Bedrina
Olga Bedrina is the Director of Content Marketing at Wave.video, an online video maker. She is excited about video marketing, social media, and new technologies. When she is not planning content activities or writing, you can find her at record stores hunting for rare vinyl records or swimming at the pool.
