The hardest part of marketing is standing out from the competition. In today’s information-saturated world, customers find plenty of choices just by typing into a search engine.

If you’re a contractor who wants to differentiate your brand, one of the best strategies is video marketing.  A video enables the capture of a huge range of messages and information in a short, easily absorbed format.  No matter what type of online (or offline) presence your business has, good use of videos is going to add value to almost every aspect of your marketing.

Read on to discover what types of video marketing for contractors are out there, as well as details of how to build a video strategy that will work for you and your business. We also consider the advantages that video marketing can bring, laying out the details of the benefits companies enjoy when they decide to make video a part of their brand.

What is Video Content?

At its most basic, video content is the use of moving visual imagery to convey your message. Within this definition, there is an enormous amount of variety. Videos may be anything from a few seconds long through to several minutes. Instructional (how-to) videos may be even longer. Videos may be silent, use speech, or feature background music. You may find black-and-white videos, animated videos, cartoon videos, or abstract imagery.

Ultimately, the style, content, and format of your video content is determined by the message you wish to convey. There’s no need to stick with a single style for all the videos that your company uses – some contractors decide to have a number of videos created, each of which showcases a particular facet of their organization. This allows significant variety, enabling each video to be specifically tailored to meet its unique objectives.

What are the Various Types of Video Content That Contractors use?

There are several different types of videos available. Depending on your video strategy, some of the options that you may wish to utilize include:

• A corporate introduction (for example introducing senior team members and defining the organization’s mission statement).
• Content from users (which works particularly well on social media).
• A “how-to” or instructional video, perhaps showing how your products work.
• An animated product description. This might use animation to detail the unique selling points of your product, show the location of key features, or otherwise demonstrate why what you create is worth having.
• A presentation or video of an event.
• An interview, perhaps with a company representative, or a satisfied customer (who might provide a video testimonial).
• A virtual tour of your company.
• Webinar material.
• A customized video that’s created to your specifications.

One piece of video marketing may cover several different functions. The final format of your video material depends on what you, as a contractor, feel to be the elements of your organization that are most appropriately presented in a video format.

Using a skilled, experienced marketing company to create your videos can also be valuable. Their representative will usually go through the various options with you, providing advice and guidance on what might work well for your business.

What Objectives can Video Marketing Achieve?

There are a number of advantages that are specific to video marketing, and there are also several marketing objectives that a video is best placed to meet. Below are details of five objectives that a well-made video can achieve.

1. Enhance Brand Awareness

There’s been plenty of research to show that people retain visual imagery more easily and reliably than they do the written word. It’s little surprise that some of the most iconic brands are instantly recognizable from their logo or color scheme, with no reference to the written word.

The same is true of a video – watchers will watch only a few seconds of footage, but in that time, your logo and branding could be displayed dozens of times. Research shows that the average person will look at an online advert for somewhere between one to two seconds. Imagine how much more of an impression you’re going to create if your audience is watching a video that lasts fifteen or twenty seconds.

2. Market Your Organization and Your Product Effectively

Videos are a fantastic marketing tool. A video allows you to showcase your products: not only can users see what the product looks like and get a good sense of its size, a short video that can demonstrate its potential is going to enable a fast appreciation of its unique selling points.

It’s possible to pack an enormous amount of information into a video, at the same time making it entertaining and appealing to watch. Note that videos aren’t just matter-of-fact product listings or documentary-style pieces of film. A skilled video creator will use artistry and proven camera techniques to capture the impression you wish to convey.

A well-chosen backdrop or backing track can evoke an emotion in the watcher that copy alone just can’t match.

3. Novelty Value

It’s not just consumers who value something a little different when it comes to gaining fresh knowledge about products and services – business decision-makers also value an approach that’s fresh and different. Every video created is a unique piece of footage, designed to create the type of content your audience wants to see more of.

Advanced technology gives access to a wide range of different visual effects and options to create videos that are compelling viewing. If you want to grab your audience’s attention, video is the perfect solution.

4. Improve Audience Engagement

Research shows that people of all ages prefer visual content to the written word. The aim of any marketing is to make engagement with content as straightforward and effortless as possible. Developing a video strategy that aims to provide the type of content your audience can’t get enough of can be a key driver of marketing success.

5. Educate Your Audience

Whether you want to show how your products work, demonstrate their benefits, tell your audience more about your organization or deliver messages about your ethics and methods of trading, a video is an effective educational tool.

Not only does video enable new visitors to your site to learn more about you and your products, but a series of educational videos also provides an evergreen resource that users will come back to and share repeatedly.

The Benefits of Video Marketing for Contractors

It’s little surprise that videos are a key part of successful marketing strategies. Not only do they require very little maintenance once uploaded, but a well-made video can also stay current and relevant for years.

If you’re still not sure that video marketing is going to be right for you, take a look at six amazing benefits that contractors can enjoy when they opt for video content.

1. Google Favors Video Content

If you’re wanting to rank highly in search returns (and who doesn’t?), video content could help. Google algorithms pick up relevant video content. It can also carry more weight than text alone, helping your site to gain a more prominent profile.

2. Videos Offer Value-for-Money

Unlike written content, which requires frequent updating to retain relevancy, a video can stay current for months or even years. Given the high levels of engagement and potential conversions that video can generate, its ROI is high compared with other content options.

3. Video Works for Mobile Users

The small screen doesn’t adapt well to vast quantities of written data. In comparison, a video is easy to view, like, and share. In a world where the Internet is accessed from cell phones more frequently than desktops or laptops, a video is potentially a profitable option.

4. Videos Build Trust

Trust is an essential part of any sales transaction. If, as a contractor, you can demonstrate your credentials and trustworthiness to your client base, you’re already well on the way to securing a sale.

Videos make a strong visual statement – creators can build in dialogue, body language, associations, backdrops, and sound that all work together to enhance the trustworthy image you need to convey.

5. Accessing Video is Easy

The easier you can make it for your audience to access information about you and your products, the more likely they are to purchase from you. Consumers are busy people: as such, they crave low-effort solutions to the problems they face. A video provides instant gratification, enabling your audience to find the solutions they seek simply by clicking on an icon.

The effortless nature of video viewing is one of the key reasons it’s such a successful marketing medium.

6. Fast, Simple Explanations

One of the major benefits of a video is that it enables complex concepts and lengthy pieces of information to be rapidly conveyed in seconds. This makes it highly versatile – whether you sell heavy plant, legal services, technical manuals, or any other sophisticated product, video allows you to convey what it is and how it can work for users in a rapid, accessible manner.

With so many benefits, it’s clear why a growing number of contractors include videos in their advertising, on their websites, and as part of their social media presence.

Ready to enjoy the added revenue a video can bring? Get in touch for further information?