Videos are gaining more and more popularity in the world of online marketing. After all, they improve engagement, search engine ranking, brand loyalty, and so much more. So while it may seem like a no-brainer to start implementing a video marketing strategy, it's not easy, especially for small businesses.

Enterprises and big brands can easily afford to make fascinating, high quality videos, but as a small business, budgets are tighter, and time may be harder to come by with employees wearing multiple hats. However, you can change that without settling for poor quality videos. Here is a comprehensive guide to video marketing for small businesses.

Why You Should Start Using Video

Maybe you’ve debated using video within your marketing strategy but decided not to go through the trouble since you lacked the proper equipment, production experience, time and money. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that difficult. In fact, all you need are a few inexpensive tools. But before we dive into the best tools to use, you should understand the importance of investing in video marketing.

• It provides easy-to-understand data and information that can help bring you greater insight into your reach and how successful your messaging is. 87% of online marketers use video content precisely because of this.
• Video helps give a face to your brand and presents your brand personality to your audience – viewers retain 95% of the message when they watch a video and only 10% if they read a text.
• Videos can significantly boost your traffic if you publish them on your website, and can improve your search engine ranking — driving 157% increase in organic traffic from SERPs
• Videos result in more engagement from your audience as they’re simple to consume and respond to. They generate 12 times more shares than other mediums.
• Videos are great for generating leads – on a landing page, video can increase conversions by 80%
• You can use videos to get more conversions on your website. As much as 64% of consumers make a purchase after watching a branded video.

All in all, people are turning to video more and more. Heather Harding, a video marketer at LastMinuteWriting and Writinity, said, “Getting your message across is easy with video. It's also easy for your audience to get the message when it's in a simple, watchable form that doesn't require much effort on their part.”

Tools That Will Help You Make Videos on a Budget

One of the biggest issues that small businesses have with videos is that making them is expensive and takes skilled people. However, it's not as hard as you think. Here are some tools that can help you kick your video marketing strategy into gear:

• You can easily set up your own office space to look like a professional studio with some basic supplies. Look into lighting kits on a budget and simply film videos with your smart phone. Smartphones now have an impressive picture quality, often rivaling other video recorders. You can also get a mic for under $100 to ensure great sound quality.
• Are you — or is someone on your team — a skilled writer? Make sure a script is written out for your videos to make sure you don’t ramble and that content is comprehensible and engaging.  If you can’t find a great writer, consider hiring someone from Upwork or Fiverr at an affordable price.
• “Be passionate and show it to your audience. Relax and don't take yourself too seriously. Just be yourself,” says Owen Lee, a tech expert at DraftBeyond and Researchpapersuk.
• For editing, you can use iMovie, Windows Movie Maker or ScreenFlow. Just do some basic editing in the beginning and then you can invest more as you move on. The point is to tell a good story so the video doesn't have to be too edited.
• As far as video hosting, you can go upload videos to YouTube in addition to posting on your social channels, website and email campaigns. If you plan on hosting videos on your own website, consider using Wistia as it’s a great, easy tool.

Best Video Marketing Ideas

Coming up with creative ideas is perhaps the hardest part of video marketing. To help you out, here are some great ideas for your videos that are evergreen and can help garner the attention you desire.

• Make an announcement with your video – Post a short video introducing the next big thing in your company. It can be a new product, service, or something as small as an update to your mission statement.
• Parody something – This is your chance to be funny and show off your brand personality. Consider making a parody video of a movie clip, music video or a new trending dance or challenge. This shows that there are live, interesting people behind your brand.
• Film testimonials – Gather some of your biggest fans and best customers and allow them to tell their tale for the camera. This is social proof for your brand and can instantly boost your credibility and value.
• How to – No one understands your products and services like you do. Look at frequently asked questions and create a “how to” video showing your customers how your product or service works, and how it can help them.
• Have a Q&A – Your audience is bound to have some questions related to your company and your products or services. This is an excellent opportunity to show them that you care.
• Behind-The-Scenes – Give your audience a sneak peek of your offices, processes and so on. It will make them feel like they get to see something exclusive and feel like a part of your community.
• Creation process – This is similar to the previous point, but goes a little more in depth. Show off all of the steps you usually take in creating an excellent product. This can be really inspiring too.
• Make a stop-motion video – Stop-motion videos aren't as hard to make as you may think. Just take a series of photos of something in action and then make a video out of it. This can be as simple as shooting several images on your phone and then letting Google Photos do the rest.
• Show mistakes – Show your audience what not to do as it relates to an area of your business. People enjoy these honest, relatable videos, especially when humor is incorporated.
• Introduce your team – People like seeing who is behind your brand and who's making all of the products they love.

How To Measure The Success of Your Videos

Finally, here are some tips to measure the success of your videos:

• The play count – This is the most basic tracking point. It shows you the total number of views in a video. This is important, but the play rate is even more crucial to your success.
• Play rate – This is another important factor that you should track. This shows you how many people clicked on your video and whether you should place it somewhere more effective.
• Engagement rate – This is the most important point because it shows you the percent of the video that your viewer has seen. It shows you how it actually affected them and if they were really interested.