Do I Really Need Custom Video?
If you’re not already using custom video as one of your content marketing outlets, you’re selling yourself and your company short. The fact is, people love video. Just take a look at the statistics on YouTube, the custom internet video juggernaut—this site had over 1 trillion views in 2011 alone. Here are the top reasons that you should be using custom video to grow your business.

It’s Easy

When it comes to churning out fresh and engaging content to draw visitors to your site, most people that find writing a blog gets tiresome. It’s much easier to get in front of the camera and speak than it is to write. Just image that you’re chatting to a friend, and the words will flow. Although shooting video is very easy, you should still take care to approach it with a professional attitude. An amateurish video will reflect poorly on your company.

It Puts a Face on Your Company

Custom video can be very helpful when you are trying to develop long-term relationships with your customers. By enabling them to see your face (or your employee’s faces) as you share useful content with them, you are preparing your customers to develop a personal relationship with you, which hopefully will translate into many years of loyal patronage.

It’s Cheap

We’re not talking about cinematic masterpieces here. You can make a basic web video that will look great online with any digital video camera. You can even use your phone or the built-in webcam on your computer. Posting the videos you create to YouTube is free, and gets your content in front of a ready-made audience of viewers all around the world. Of course you can also post your videos to your own webpages, though you may need your web designer’s help to do that. Just don’t get so excited about saving money that you let the quality of the video suffer. The images and audio need to be clear, and the video itself needs to be engaging and entertaining. If editing your video is beyond your skills, get professional help.

It Builds Credibility

When it comes to building credibility, showing is often better than telling. For example, rather than just saying on your website that you’ve helped hundreds of clients, show exactly how you helped them by providing video, either of the work that you did or of those clients providing testimonials for your company. You can also build credibility using how-to videos. These types of videos are extremely popular, and, again, by showing that you know how to complete a task perfectly from start to finish, you convince potential customers that you are reliable source for information and services in your niche.

It Provides Nuance

Using humor or sarcasm in writing can be tricky. You might risk readers misunderstanding your intention and getting offended. But with video, you can communicate using all the nuances of inflection, facial expression, and body language. This enables you to take more risks in your communication style, ultimately creating more fun and engaging content that will be more appealing to consumers. For a great example of an off the wall marketing video, check out the video for Dollar Shave Club. Imagine how awkward this script would have read in text form! But it works as a video.
If you need help brainstorming ideas for custom video content marketing or creating the videos themselves, just look to your favorite internet marketing company.