One of the largest challenges a business owner faces is capturing the attention of a customer or viewer long enough to tell your story and make them understand what your business is about. Video allows you to do this in a limited space and time. You can tell a lengthy story in a condensed and appealing manner. Video is often seen as a costly endeavor, but short, well planned videos can be put together professionally for under $5000. As business owners, you must always remember the quality of the video and website should be on par with the quality of the brand and the product or services you offer. Here we highlight a few reasons why you should use video as a strategy in your online presence.

Telling your story before viewers navigate away. With the ever decreasing average time spent on a site, a visitor may not have the patience for the 3 minute elevator pitch which should only be 30 seconds. So many are challenged in conveying their story to their visitors in the online world. Sometimes your story is a bit more involved than words can easily convey. Many fill their webpage with copy, but visitors tend to have a short attention span. On average viewers spend under 2.5 minutes viewing a website. If the website does not grab the attention of the user and a message is not conveyed, the user may navigate away from your site. Where large bodies of copy fail, video can be the ideal medium, perfect for the longer elevator pitch. Pictures tell a thousand words and video can triple the effort. With a 30 to 90 second video you can tell a story and a viewer can relate to the imagery and message faster. Especially when sharing an emotional experience words cannot compete with video.

Increasing your brands SEO ranking. YouTube is the second largest search engine utilized on internet worldwide. YouTube is also highly indexed by Google, which happens to be the largest utilized search engine. Coincidence? I think not. YouTube is owned by Google. Allowing your brand to be found within a search pool which encompasses more than 50% of the searches worldwide is a huge opportunity for your business from an SEO perspective.

Increase your websites interactivity. From a usability standpoint embedded video can make a website more engaging and interactive. Graphically video breaks up copy with imagery and video can be a great addition to any layout. A video series for educational content, tasting notes from a winemaker or a promotional video of products or service, video can add great value in delivering a message. Utilizing these videos in a vlog (video blog) can be a great point of interaction for a visitor.

Promtional efforts. Whether you are a product or service based business, promotions are a part of the marketing budget. Getting an ROI on your efforts is paramount and aiming to have your brand become a house hold name would be a great achievement. With the viral nature of humor and video, small business owners can reach wide and far with video as a messaging medium. Everyone remembers the Old Spice Commercials. Need we say more? Promotional videos done right can leave a lasting impression of a brand and go viral within the internet. “I’m on a horse!”

Overall, video can be an added benefit to any online presence, whether it is through extending your story, leaving a visual mark, or brightening up the visuals on your website. Enjoy the process and embrace this new form of Viral Marketing.