Professional video for small businesses can make a complicated service easier to understand and give potential customers a clearer reason to enquire.
Explaining what your business does should be straightforward. But if your service involves several steps, your product needs demonstrating or your personality is a big part of why people book, a few paragraphs can only do so much.
Video gives people a chance to see your business in action. They can watch how you work, hear from the person behind it and get a clearer idea of what to expect before making an enquiry.
Make your service easier to understand
Think about the questions you answer most often. What does a treatment involve? What happens during an appointment? What is included in your service?
A short video can walk someone through those questions using real footage. A car detailer could show the preparation and finishing stages. A fitness instructor could introduce a class and demonstrate the setup. A trades business could explain a process that customers rarely get to see.
The point is to help the viewer understand something useful. A visually impressive video still needs a clear message.
Give customers a sense of who you are
People often want reassurance before contacting a business they have never used. Seeing the team, premises and everyday work can help them judge whether you feel like the right fit.
You do not need to deliver a perfect speech to camera. A short interview, natural interaction with your team or footage of you doing your job can all introduce your business in a more personal way.
Customer testimonials can also be useful when they are authentic, specific and shared with the customer's permission. A real explanation of someone's experience is more useful than a vague claim about being the best.
Create content with a clear purpose
Before arranging a shoot, decide where the video will appear and what you want someone to do after watching it.
A homepage introduction might help visitors understand your offer. A short social clip might introduce one service. A demonstration might answer a question that regularly comes up during sales conversations.
Planning those uses together can help you capture footage for several pieces of content during the same session. The final edits should suit their individual placements, rather than using exactly the same video everywhere.
Start with one useful message
Your first business video does not need to cover everything. Choose one audience, one message and one next step. That gives the filming and editing a clear direction and makes it easier to decide whether the finished piece does its job.
If you are considering video for your business, get in touch with Ashmedia. I can help you work out what to show, how to explain it and where the finished content could be used.
When planning the finished video, include accessibility in the brief. The W3C guide to planning accessible audio and video covers captions, transcripts and other options to consider before production.
Based in Derbyshire, Ashmedia works with small businesses across the UK. Explore videography services, see examples in the Ashmedia portfolio or get in touch about your project.