How to create video content for your business on a shoestring budget
Video marketing has played an increased role in small businesses over the last few years as it’s becoming easier to create professional videos on a budget. That wasn’t always the case as short videos could cost a few thousand for less than a minute of screen time.
Small business owners couldn’t usually afford the fees involved with creating videos but that has changed with technology. Today it is easier to get your hands on affordable equipment and record video for your business.
In this article, we will take a look at some of the ways how you can create video for your content marketing campaigns on a budget.
What you need
You are going to need something to capture your videos. You could hire an agency or freelancer to do this for you but this can be expensive so the cheaper option is to either buy or hire equipment.
Here’s one reasonably priced Miami video production company. They can really make your business videos professional in appearance, so it’s something to consider.
Hiring equipment is great when you need some sort of speciality lens or lighting but when starting I would advise against it. What you should do is either buy and write your purchase off as a tax expense or buy second hand and do the same.
If you are buying your equipment second hand be sure to get it from a reputable dealer or source. Websites such as eBay or Gumtree offer little to no protection so with that said you should exercise caution when purchasing from either place.
Another option is to join your local camera club which will help you learn skills to record your videos and making contacts there will allow you to get better deals on your camera equipment. Quite often members will sell their cameras under market value.
Whichever option you choose you will need either a professional cinematography camera or a DSLR camera with video capabilities. If you can’t afford either of those another option is to use your camera on your mobile phone.
How to do create movies
Firstly decide what your goal is for each video you are making and then stick to that goal. Don’t over complicate it and then create a rough script that you can follow. Next, do some dry runs and then finally record your video, don’t worry if you mess up because you will edit your video.
When your video is created you will want to edit it. You can edit your videos to take out any pauses or mistakes. To get started editing your videos there are many videography tutorial websites out there.
If you are taking too long when creating videos you may want to use something called a lookup table or LUTS for short which is a preset digital asset that can be applied to your movie to give it a uniform look. You can get free LUTS online which help cut down on your editing time and can make your movies look more professional.
Why use video?
Video can help your business stand out from the crowd. It can help with gaining more followers and shares on social media and it can help you build trust with potential customers that you have never even spoken to before.
Firewall Technical an IT support company used video on their website to explain their technical subjects in more detail and saw a 46% increase in sales. The Dollar Shave Club used video in their social media marketing campaigns and grew its business to over a billion.
As you can see video is a powerful tool when used right.
Where to put video
If you use video in the correct place you can grow your business. Video can be used on your website for testimonials and that same content can then be spliced up and shared on your social media. Creating video content will allow you to make the most out of your content because you can use little sections of it across your social accounts.
You can also have your videos transcribed and create blog posts out of them, doing so will stretch your content further and will allow you to gain more readers from the search engines.
Hubspot did a survey and found that adding video content to your website can help increase your sales by 80% and it’s clear to see why. Complex subjects or products can be explained in seconds whereas it would take minutes to read a full blog post on the same subject.
Bottom line is if you aren’t using video in your marketing you are missing out on many potential benefits and with the cost of video coming down and the skill level needed to create video coming down you should be creating it for your business.