6 ways video can boost your business

According to a recent Aberdeen report, marketers who use video see much faster revenue growth (49 percent) than those who do not. However, video has become more than just a marketing tool. With their capability to visually explain and demonstrate things and concepts, videos can help businesses not only showcase their products and services, attracting new customers, but they can help companies attract new employees and even make workers more productive.

Here are six cases where video can be beneficial.

1. Explaining your value proposition/what you do

Why tell people what you do when you can show them?

“When trying to explain [your value proposition or] technology to nontechnical buyers, or a business process that has a lot of steps and interacting elements, you can combine audio and animation to help your audience understand what they need to know quickly and efficiently,” says Christopher G. Fox, managing partner, Syncresis, a healthcare marketing consultancy. “In three to five minutes, a good [explainer] video can do the work of a robust white paper that requires an hour of focused concentration from a reader.”

“For a small business in a new, emerging industry, ‘explainer’ videos can be a huge benefit,” says Nick Braun, founder & CEO, PetInsuranceQuotes.com, which created this explainer video. “They can help potential customers understand your product or service, which can drive sales.”

“Budget Dumpster utilizes video to educate and validate the dumpster rental process for our customers,” says Sean Nally, who manages public relations for Budget Dumpster. “There are several logistical concerns when delivering a large metal container to residential locations and with over 80 percent of our customers first time users, we find it essential to provide a brief, yet detailed, overview of renting a dumpster in the form of a video,” he explains. “Our video ‘How A Dumpster Rental Works’ delivers the same amount of information in a quarter of the time it would take a customer service representative.”

To get the widest audience for your explainer video, post it on your Home and/or About Us pages, as well as on YouTube and your Facebook page (if you have one).

2. Demonstrating a product

“Use videos to help shoppers navigate through your offerings and showcase product features, uses and tips,” says Dimitrios Kourtesis, CEO, Goodvidio. “Use product review, tutorials, unboxing or how-to videos to allow your customers to learn everything they need to know before deciding to purchase. Videos help engage visitors, answer their questions, strengthen their confidence in purchases and improve conversion rates up to 74 percent.”

“[Product] videos offer consumers the opportunity to engage with brands and products, anytime, anywhere,” says Brendan Sullivan, vice president, direct-to-consumer, VF Corporation, the parent company of more than 30 lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories brands. “For example, our brand The North Face offers consumers comprehensive item views, [which often include videos,] so they can see the product’s technical features and benefits in a succinct, visual way. These videos [such as this one for The North Face Access Pack] are effective. On some product pages, as many as 15 percent of customers view a video, and on average they spend about a minute watching the video.”

3. Social marketing

“The most effective testimonials are those that are videoed,” says Brian Gatti, partner & marketing consultant, Inspire Business Concepts, a marketing firm. “People inherently trust something they hear someone say over something they’ve read that someone has said. By providing testimonial videos [of satisfied customers], it gives prospective clients an opportunity to experience the emotional impact of working with your firm.”

“Video offers the most authentic and engaging way for people to see and hear how it feels to be your customer,” says Fox. “When people see the stories and smiling faces of other people who use your offerings, they can more easily picture themselves in those shoes.”

[ Related: How to Make Video Marketing Work for Your Business ]

Moreover, “people who have tried, tested and loved your products are far more effective in attracting new business than even the most elaborate marketing campaigns,” says Kourtesis. “The most effective way to deliver social proof is through videos featuring your regular customers. Reviews created by consumers are trusted 12 times more than scripted marketing material,” he notes. Moreover, “71 percent of consumers feel more comfortable buying a product if they can see reviews by regular people who have used it.”

4. Customer service & support

“Once a brand attains a desired customer, it’s just as important to continue to provide a positive experience to retain them,” says Jeffrey Hirsch, CMO, SundaySky, a personalized video engagement platform. One of the best ways to do this is to proactively answer their questions. For example, “AT&T offers new customers personalized videos to explain their bill according to their plan, preferences, payment due date, overages and more. [And] by being proactive about addressing an area of potential confusion with customers, AT&T increased customer satisfaction and reduced bill-related calls to its help center.”

5. Recruiting employees

“One of the coolest, most unique tools that employers are using today [to attract new employees] is to show the environment that they [would be] working in [via videos],” says Matthew Mercuri, digital marketing manager, Dupray, which sells steam cleaners and steam irons. “Whether it be [a video] on your careers page or a recruitment video advertised to a targeted audience on YouTube, the ability to showcase your business in a proper capacity goes a long way to attracting the type ofcandidatesthat you want.”

6. Training employees

“In today’s fast-paced, technology-focused world, employees’ skills [quickly] become outdated, and companies need to implement easy, meaningful training solutions in order to keep their employees up-to-date and stay competitive,” says Jeff Weber, senior vice president, People and Places, at Bridge, a mobile corporate training platform. “Video is [a] great, practical training tool that provides employees with an effective way to learn. Video can provide multiple types of training examples that are difficult to replicate otherwise, and employees can access these resources anytime and review them more than once to ensure they are able to retain the information.”

“Video-based learning provides an engaging format for on-demand training that increases retention, so new hires get ramped up faster,” says Brendan Cournoyer, vice president, corporate marketing,

Brainshark, a sales enablement solutions company. “It’s also a great way to keep sales [and customer service/support] people continuously prepared with quick-hit learning content. Sales reps are often on the go, so a short video that breaks down a new product offering is preferable to reading through a text-heavy tech document.”