6 top local business video tips for your 2020 marketing strategy

If you had told me two years ago that, one day, I would be gung-ho about being on camera and helming a video marketing strategy, I would have called you a complete lunatic.

As one of IMPACT's resident word nerds, I feel most at home under my headphones, eyeing everyone around me with great suspicion from behind my monitor. 

But, even though I've approached video with great trepidation, I've been making intentional strides toward adopting video for myself, in addition to helping shape and execute our video strategy here at IMPACT.

In fact, I'd consider myself downright pro-video now.

Why? 

It's what our buyers want from us — and the numbers don't lie. Video is proven to help companies build trust faster than any other content medium, and helps sales teams close more deals faster:

Long story short, video is a must for your digital marketing strategy, if you want your local business to succeed in 2020. It's how you'll grow your business. It's how you'll rise above your competitors. 

To help you get started, I've curated the following list of essential local business video tips that are guaranteed to set you up for success in the coming year.

1. Focus on creating The Selling 7 marketing and sales videos guaranteed to drive results

There are seven different types of sales and marketing videos — which we call The Selling 7 — we highly recommend you focus on instead, as they are proven to drive traffic, leads, and sales. 

They are:

• 80% videos
• Employee bio videos
• Product and service page videos (example)
• Landing page videos
• "Bad fit" videos (example)
• Customer journey videos (examples)
• "Claims we make" videos

By embracing The Selling 7 as the core of your video marketing strategy, your local business will attract more qualified leads and close more deals faster.

2. Think twice before making an 'about us' video for your company

"About us" videos are probably one of the most popular types of company videos out there in the wild today. Unfortunately, they're not the most effective use of your video marketing strategy, and here's why:

Storytelling about your brand is absolutely essential in video marketing, but you will better communicate who you are, the values of your company, and how you can genuinely help people by focusing on The Selling 7, rather than a more generalized "about us" video.

Learn more about why "about us" videos may be a waste of your strategy.

3. Give your YouTube channel a makeover

(If you don't have one, now's the time to set one up.)

There are five easy ways for you to level-up your YouTube game:

• Start using YouTube's interactive overlays, such as info cards and end screen overlays. 
• Optimize your playlists for search engines — because YouTube is, whether you realize it or not, the second largest search engine in the world.
• Use sections on your channel page.
• Upload a channel trailer. (Example)
• Design a custom channel banner. 

Learn more about how to implement these five strategies on your YouTube channel.

4. Use personalized 1-to-1 video in your sales process

Using personalized video for sales is an exceptionally powerful way to start seeing immediate ROI on video for your company. Not only that, tools like Vidyard's Chrome Extension (which we reviewed previously), make it so you can start implementing personalized video in your sales process right now.

Your sales team can use personalized video for:

• Prospecting
• Connect and discovery call phases (and follow-ups)
• Playlists of relevant The Selling 7 videos
• Proposals (reviews and questions)
• Sales-to-service hand-off videos

Here's a great example of a video IMPACT Demand Generation Manager Myriah Anderson that she created to help encourage folks to complete the call booking process:

Since making the creation of this video part of her process, Myriah has seen exponential increases in the number of folks who book with her, which means a happier, healthier, fuller sales pipeline for our sales team.

Yes, a simple video instead of a ho-hum email really does make a difference.

Learn more about how to implement video in the sales process — including tips on how to be comfortable on camera and more — in our completely ungated Ultimate Guide to Video for Sales, no form-fill required.

5. Hire a videographer for your team

This one is simple.

How did Mazzella increase their revenue by $20 million in 18 months? They hired a videographer, because you need someone to own your video efforts at your company if you want to see results.

So, get started by reviewing our tips on how to hire the best videographer — and here's our videographer job description template to help you get started.

6. Choose the right video hosting for your marketing and sales videos

Your videos shouldn't only live on YouTube. In fact, choosing the right business video hosting solution is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make. 

Truth be told, we are close partners with our friends at Vidyard, an absolutely killer video hosting solution for businesses.

But since we know no single solution is the right fit for everyone, here is how Vidyard stacks up against the top video solutions around, from IMPACT Director of Video Zach Basner...

YouTube vs. Vidyard

Wistia vs. Vidyard

Vimeo vs. Vidyard

Just the tip of the video marketing iceberg

As I said at the start of this, it still boggles my mind that I'm sitting here as an avid supporter of video. Do I still get uncomfortable at times in front of the camera? Absolutely. 

But the results of embracing video marketing as a local business are undeniable, to the point where my excitement over what's possible with video trumps my fear every time. 

In fact, we recently hired our own dedicated in-house videographer for IMPACT:

And in the first few weeks alone that Mariah Soto has been here, we're already rockin' and rollin', creating videos that will improve how we market ourselves, engage with our audience, and deliver results. (I even recorded my own employee bio video just a couple of weeks ago, as well as new landing page video for THE LATEST.)

Yes, video is an investment of your time and resources, and it requires a cultural shift within your organization. But it's worth it.

🔥 Related: Learn how to build trust and generate revenue with video in 2 days or less with a Video Marketing Workshop from IMPACT