How to Create Better Promotional Videos for Your Small Business

Promotional videos have rapidly become one of the most essential marketing tools for modern businesses. With video poised to make up over 82% of total internet traffic by 2022 according to Cisco, having an intentional video strategy is now a make-or-break imperative for sales and growth.

However, conceptualizing, producing and optimizing effective marketing videos can still be an intimidating undertaking for small business owners with limited internal resources.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll closely examine pragmatic best practices across the video production workflow to help small business owners take their promotional video capabilities to the next level.

The Expanding Role of Video Across Industries

While video dominates marketing broadly, adoption and usage varies widely between business verticals. It’s important to contextualize video results specifically for your niche.

Below is a breakdown of video adoption insights across core industries:

Key Takeaways on Video Adoption By Sector:

• Education, tech, and media/publishing have seen some of the fastest growth in video production over the last 5 years.
• SaaS and software businesses also rely heavily on video for sales and support.
• Healthcare, financial services, construction, and B2B services significantly lag behind average adoption rates despite having profitable use cases.

For the majority of businesses, developing a sustainable video strategy tailored to your specific audience needs should be a priority for remaining competitive. In the rest of this guide, we will explore best practices and recommendations spanning conceptualization, production, distribution and analysis of small business video content.

Develop an Intentional Video Strategy

Like any effective marketing effort, creating continuously impactful promotional videos requires first laying the groundwork with strategy and planning. Before picking up a camera, dedicate time to:

Define Goals and Key Performance Indicators

• What specific purposes will your videos work towards? Common measurable goals include:

  • Increase website traffic
  • Generate more leads
  • Boost brand awareness
  • Grow engagement rates
  • Increase sales

• Define quantitative KPIs upfront that align to business objectives so you can accurately track performance later.

Identify Target Audiences

• Get very clear on who you need to reach and persuade with video content. Voice, framing and creative direction should directly map to audience interests and preferences.

Map Prospect Journey Touchpoints

• Plot what video formats and messaging align to target customer touchpoints across the purchase process.
  • For example, use awareness-building brand videos in upper funnel.
  • Promote product demo videos further down funnel to conversion stages.

Audit Competitors

• Analyze what video messaging resonates in your space and where gaps exist.

Doing diligent pre-planning gives direction and focus before filming ever starts. It also ensures time and money invested has the highest chance of tangible ROI.

Craft Strategic Messaging and Positioning

Even with great production polish, promotional videos ultimately depend on strategic messaging that persuades. Some principles for effective video positioning include:

• Lead with customer benefits. Demonstrate how you solve real needs better than alternatives. Avoid overly self-promotional claims without substance.
• Convey your competitive difference. Distill what makes you distinct in a crowded market. Infuse brand personality across positioning.
• Emphasize value over features. Communicate the “why” first before the “what” you offer.
• Reinforce positioning through demonstrative footage. Show rather than tell your difference when possible. For example, using b-roll sequences to illustrate strong support services.
• Structure engaging narrative arcs. Shape information into compelling story journeys. Guide viewers through educational touchpoints to drive conversions.

Investing heavily in nailing messaging provides substance over style and gives viewers reason to engage.

Streamline Production Workflows

Smooth video execution relies on reducing unnecessary complexity in the production process wherever possible. Below we explore core equipment, filming structure and collaborative approaches to enable consistency at small business scale.

Choose the Right Production Equipment

When equipping your video toolkit:

• Select user-friendly cameras
  • Mirrorless: Sony ZV-E10, Canon M50
  • Action: GoPro Hero 10
  • Smartphone: Apple iPhone 13 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S22
• Use lavalier microphone kits for interviews – Rode SmartLav+ Lavalier Microphone
• Invest in essential accessories.
  • Tripods – JOBY GorillaPod Tripod
  • Lighting – Lume Cube LED Lighting Kit
  • Gimbals – Zhiyun Smooth Q3 Gimbal
• Leverage easy-to-use editing software.
  • Mobile Apps: Adobe Premiere Rush, iMovie
  • Desktop Apps: DaVinci Resolve (Free), Final Cut Pro

This enables focusing efforts on production instead of technical hurdles.

Structure Organized Shoot Plans

Detailed pre-production can make a tangible difference in on-set efficiency and downstream editing workflow:

Shoot Prep Checklist:

• Equipment prep & testing
• Plan shooting agenda & schedule
• Review storyboards & scripts
• Set up and test lighting kit
• Pack backup batteries & media storage

On Set Shoot Checklist:

• Record video organized by scene
• Monitor playback to catch issues
• Take lots of b-roll footage
• Change angles and positions frequently
• Capture multiple coverage options of key moments

This level of intentional shoot structure means starting editing with ideal, versatile footage.

Guide Editing Workflow with Detailed Shot Logs

• Meticulously label all footage with scene & take info
• Identify “hero” clips to expedite editing
• Note timing of standout moments to easily locate

With shot logging best practices, editing moves faster and more focused.

Implementing these fundamentals enables smooth end-to-end video operations for small teams to regularly produce at scale.

Enhance Creative Impact With the Right Collaborators

Expanding creative capabilities often simply requires finding the right external partners. Consider pulling in:

• Creative agencies: Develop strategic concepts or narrative approaches through an outside creative team. Agencies also often handle end-to-end production.
• Freelance cinematographers: Recruit experienced camera operators if needing to elevate production quality.
• Voiceover artists: Hiring professional VO talent instantly enhances credibility versus using amateur internal narration.
• Original music composers: Commission a custom background score instead of stock music to make branding videos more distinctive.
• Animation studios: Combine budget-friendly live footage with selective 2D or 3D animated explainers.

Don‘t be afraid to hand off specialized creative roles beyond internal competencies. The creative enhancements justify the partnerships.

Optimize Distribution for Audience Reach

Getting the most value from high-quality video content requires expanding visibility beyond just your owned channels. Be sure to:

• Publish across social platforms. Repurpose shorter excerpt clips suitable for different platforms beyond YouTube. Insert captions to enable silent auto-play.
• Advertise through video ads. Use paid promotion to increase views of full videos on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
• Embed on website pages. Insert relevant videos into on-site pages and blogs to encourage engagement.
• Feature in email campaigns. Add clickable external video thumbnails into drip campaigns and email newsletters.
• Submit to industry publications. Seek inclusion in round-ups showcasing your video content within your vertical.
• Implement tracking. Use pixels, UTMs and analytics to monitor video completion rates, traffic sources and downstream conversions.

This expanded distribution strategy gives your high-quality video content the best chance to actually be seen by your audience.

Continual Testing and Optimization

Like any marketing function, the fundamentals of impactful video may start simply but mastery requires dedication to continual refinement and creativity.

Expand Production Capabilities

Some areas for ongoing development include:

• Enroll team members into online education platforms like Skillshare to expand skills across filming, editing, writing and animation.
• Stay on top of equipment upgrades as budget allows, investing in lighting and audio gear for exponentially better image and sound quality.
• Deconstruct what top brands do well, analyzing who executes top-tier video production in your space or related verticals.
• Continue testing new platform formats as they emerge, like YouTube Shorts, TikTok or Instagram Reels.

Optimize Based on Performance Data

You can optimize content itself based on analytics:

• Look at audience drop off points and playback heatmaps to shorten intros or tighten pacing where needed.
• Improve thumbnail images and titles based on real click-through-rate data.
• A/B test video cover images to improve impressions.
• Shift creative direction and topics based on viewer preferences.

Continuous improvement of both creative and analytical fluency will strengthen video impact over time.

Start Filming Today

For small business owners deciding where to begin, remember that done still outweighs perfect when budgets are limited. Build upon capabilities incrementally rather than getting paralyzed by the scope of mastering video outright.

Focus initial videos on addressing your audiences’ clearest content needs or questions. Then iterate upon those foundations with more ambitious efforts later as skills expand.

The dominance of video for customer engagement will only grow year over year. Use these best practices to begin honing an effective video approach right now. Be encouraged that elevating production polish and creativity happens in phases. So take it one video at a time and before you know it, you’ll have a winning video marketing engine for your small business.