Video Rules the Roost
By: Dave Ficere
Good business begins with good marketing because even the best product or service won’t sell itself if no one knows about it. Thankfully, there are some things businesses can do to give themselves an edge over the competition. But what are some of the top small business marketing trends that will continue for the rest of this year and into 2015?
John Follis, writing in Small Business Trends, says Social Media, Mobile Devices and Online Video will remain hot, even though Social Media has fallen from the top spot to number three.
Social Media has lost some of its luster because it is becoming less attractive for small businesses. In an article last year entitled, “Why Small Businesses Are Losing On Social Media,” Forbes Magazine reported on research showing that no matter how much time small business owners spent on social media, more than 60 percent said they simply were not seeing a return on that investment.
So, while social media isn’t going away and will continue to be an important element of a business marketing plan, it just doesn’t have the attraction and “freshness” that it has enjoyed in the past.
Which brings the conversation to cell phones, where nearly everyone has one, but not everyone has a Smartphone or tablet. But as more people enter the Smartphone and tablet market, the savvy business owner will utilize responsive web design, meaning the website looks just as good on a mobile device as it does on a desktop or laptop computer.
The number one, hot trend in marketing is online video, fueled by a surge in video-friendly mobile devices and the fact the Google has made video much more search friendly. And, video is at the top of the list because it is the most engaging of all media.
“We live in a visual age and the best marketing helps people think in terms of pictures or video,” says Melih Oztalay, CEO of SmartFinds Internet Marketing. “Infographics will dominate not only for social media marketing, but support graphics for editorial articles and press releases,” she adds. “These visual representations of knowledge present complex information [that can] be easily consumed by the reader.”
This rapid expansion of Web video has given birth to new phrases, such as “Explainer Video,” a term that didn’t even exist a few years ago, but is now one of the fastest growing Google searches. Such videos abound on YouTube.
No matter what type of marketing you do, Dave Wakeman, from the Wakeman Consulting Group, recommends getting back to your roots. “Do what best fits your brand,” he says. “Your marketing needs to reflect who you are and not what some ‘ninja’ or ‘guru’ is telling you that you have to do.”
