Step-by-Step Video Making Guide for Small Business

“A picture is worth a thousand words”.

Anything complex can be easily explained through a picture to people. This is also the reason why people always want a picture for understanding complex things. Nowadays, people are moving from pictures to videos to understand complex things. Even to understand the working of a new smart appliance, we hit YouTube instead of user manual which we have at our hands. Just think how powerful videos are. YouTube videos have made our lives simple. This is the reason why most of us prefer videos as it is simple, easy to watch from anywhere and also conveys the information in an interesting way.

Videos are changing the way we access the information. It is also changing the game of small businesses. Many of us would prefer to watch product demo videos before hitting “Buy Now” to understand the product better. Well, if videos are important for small business, then what are you waiting for?

Here is a step-by-step guide for making professional videos that can be a part of your marketing strategy.

1. Video Content

As you always hear, CONTENT IS THE KING. A video with good quality retains your potential customers, attracts new customers to trust and buy your products, also transforms your leads into your customers. This is possible only if your video has a good content. Content should be interesting, simple and crisp for the audience such that it reaches maximum number of customers in a short span.

Writing an effective content is one of the important yet hectic task. So, how to come up with a good content? Here are some tips for writing good content:

• Identify your customer base – This is the key factor for your content. This gives you clear picture about how to come up with the idea for your video.
• Form the topic – Select a title for your video. Make sure to frame the title in such a way that the keywords are familiar to everyone.
• Write a script – Write content based on your topic in such a way that it is simple and in conversational language. Avoid deviating from your topic and also do not use words that are complex to understand.
• Decide your timing – Make sure to keep the timings short – Not more than 5 minutes
• Practice – Before finalizing, go through the written script and timings taken to speak the script

2. Select the type of Video

If you are ready with your script, next step is to decide the type of video in which you are planning to present your content. Though there are many types of videos, the most preferred form of video in small business is either animated video or live video. This differs from business to business. You can prefer Live videos when you want to speak about your company story, sales, any technical concepts related to your business, or while explaining your services to the audience. On the other hand, you can prefer animation video while promoting brands, explaining your product features, apps that you develop etc.

Depending on the type of video you decide, follow the below things:

• If you have an idea of making live video, then make sure to include relevant and interesting pictures besides the speaker in the video. This kind of mixing speaker’s image and pictures will break the monotony of constantly looking at an object. This also gives good and quick understanding about what you are speaking.
• If you have preferred an animation video, then make sure to include interesting images to explain your products, screen shots for explaining features etc. You can either give voice over whenever explaining features. You can also try adding pleasant music if you have explained everything using images.

3. Video Recording

Live videos will attract more audience as it creates lively experience. If you have selected your video type and prepared your script, then next step is to record the video. Make sure the arrangements in your recording room have proper settings such as perfect background, clean environment, no sound reflection, proper camera settings (smartphone camera is also fine), mic etc. If these arrangements are ready, then the speaker needs to speak with clarity, confidence, use good modulation and give expressions whenever required.

On the other hand, for animation video, first record the images. After recording, play the animation such that the speaker can speak / explain about the content in the animated video.

4. Video Editing

After recording the video, the next part is editing the recorded video. This part is very important as the quality of your entire video depends on the way you have edited your video. There are many video editing tools that are available for editing your video. Some of the tools which are preferred include Adobe Premier Pro, Adobe Premiere Elements, Lumen 5 etc. You can select any tool and carry out the editing carefully such that your video is of best quality.

When you are involved in editing, you need to take care of certain factors which has an impact in the quality of your video. These factors include colour, voice of speaker, background adjustments etc. You can also add relevant images whenever the speaker speaks about something difficult to understand, add screenshots of apps, add pleasant music etc. By doing this you can make your video with good quality which will help customers understand your apps / products / services with clarity.

5. Launching your video

Now, you have completed your video. But, is it good to launch your video immediately in YouTube? Actually No. Before launching your video in YouTube, it is better to have a review with your team members, sales & marketing team to know the quality of your video. Once you get the comments from your team members, make sure to modify the video and then you can check with the revised video. If everything is fine, then you can launch your video in YouTube.

Once you have launched your video, it’s not over. You have to constantly check for the number of views, note down the comments, queries that are mentioned in the comments etc. You have to respond to queries, check for new persons who have showed interest for your products / services, feedbacks of your customers to bring changes in your product etc. In this way, videos will definitely play a crucial role in improving your marketing strategy thereby improving your company sales.

“The beauty of developing a video marketing plan is that you are making it easier for the viewer to be exposed to the information you are trying to communicate.”
Chris Sandoval