Video to Promote Your Creative Business: a few useful ideas

A quiet type, I don’t instinctively embrace video. Somewhere, early on, a bias settled in me. Video en masse was a time waster and a showman’s tool for people who craved attention and didn’t deserve it.

So, it surprised me when I changed my tune from “no, thanks” to advocate.

I think grazing Youtube definitely helps. You can see that there are a good many videos offering us something of value, whether it be an authentic/appreciated point of view, good information or a good laugh.  Sure, the inundation of videos lacking anything close to substance still proliferate, but you can get away fast.  No one’s made captive here.

And somehow, given the fact that videos are so much easier to make and upload, joining the mix of visuals and voices is an accessible challenge. Who hasn’t seen how easy it is to both search out a video (today, I can find a specific interest, like Photo Collage, for example through Youtube’s search on the word, collage) and make my own via a webcam or flip video and a mic. Speaking of which, if you’ve got the webcam setup going, perhaps you’d like to gather a few testimonials to give your business a plug?  Tokbox couldn’t be easier and you can send them via email!

What’s good about the easy entry is that your own creativity can open up from the exposure. You can now tell a story, putting to rest the tedium of talking heads. And no, you don’t even need to be in it to tell a tantalizing tale.  Check out You Suck at Photoshop for a clue to the art of story, e.g. the creative point of view. Funny and a little crass, this series of videos nevertheless heartily proves the point that less is more while also encouraging us to share something of value too.

But back to you and finding that video-angle, the value-proposition that can translate into a gain for your business. Here are some tips.

• By checking out channels on sites like YouTube, you can get a feel for what works and how.For example, do you want to engage executives in storytelling or show your product? How about making more vivid your nonprofit/cause challenge or illustrating in a series of educational webisodes what your community doesn’t quite understand. Take the lead by watching a few video categories listed at places like YouTube so you can pinpoint to yourself and others what you could see doing.  Send the best ones to yourself so you can get the dialogue going within your own group.
• Check out the comparative strengths of video sites.Did you know that while Youtube has a great reach (1 million users a day with a wide user base) while Google video showcases many excellent e-learning and training videos?  Or that Viddler offers a strong platform for testing since it integrates well with itunes and digg, and makes commenting and tagging easy?  Or that Hulu offers great targeting in the U.S. or that Metacafe attracts those marketing a new product and independent producers/artists as well.  You may not be a video producer yourself, but as a small business interested in getting the word out, these sites should be of interest, especially when companies like Mogreet report video views and click-through rates 15-25 times higher than other forms of advertising media.
• Consider mobile, often referred to as the third screen.Mobile video is increasing steadily as user experience improves on mobile devices and as 3G networks proliferate (4G is on the way), making video, the creation and dissemination through simple devices like the iphone, blackberry, android, etc. more and more common. Since both user-generated and premium content both add value to a network, it’s smart to begin thinking how your small business can use it to get people more connected to what you do.

More on those specifics next time.  Unless you’ve seen something recently, that you can’t wait to tell!