How To Acquire Customers Through Video Promotions

Have you ever found yourself starting a Netflix series and suddenly realize 10 hours later that you’ve finished the entire thing? We’ve certainly all been in that situation. But what makes something like this so captivating? What makes television series, movies or even YouTube videos so eye-catching?

It all has to do with the power of digital media promotion, specifically videos, and these can be extremely useful tools for startups.

The Power of Videos

Who has the time of day to create videos from scratch? Personally, I look for specific footage to use in videos that I want to include in my channels. But before you go about digging through video clips, or recording your own, you need to be able to identify your target audience and their wants and needs. Ultimately, they’re the ones who will be watching your content, so it’s essential to know what they’re interested in. Otherwise, you’ll just lose their attention before your video even ends.

Additionally, you’ll need to have that “it” factor, and with some luck, you may be able to promote a viral video that engages people even outside of your target audience.

A great way to get started is to use tools that help you create simple, yet impactful, videos. I recently discovered a new tool called PosterMyWall. What I love most about it is the fact that it allows me to easily create videos on the fly, which is extremely helpful for the videos I make for startups. I’ll admit, I’m no director or producer, but with this tool, everything is done for me. All I need to do is choose from the library of templates and make any needed customizations, allowing me to create 6 to 7 videos each week without the hassle of searching for stock and editing. Quick, simple and efficient! Here's a quick look at some of their content:

Throughout my experiences, I’ve come up with the top three video converting strategies for startups (and I’ve seen them all work first hand).
 

1. Develop a Promotional Strategy

This is probably the toughest part. While we may live in an information-filled world, it can be tough to get people to take a look at what you have to offer. Instead of trying to get them to “check you out”, try getting them to “check in” to your offerings. Brand awareness only works when people are engaged with your content. Let me explain further.

Consider a unique hotel, for example. Many people may stop by, take a look around at the beautiful architecture, and then leave. The main goal is to get them to literally check-in to your hotel rather than to just check it out.

Similarly, your online communities are places where people can “check-in” and stay - even longer than the short of amount of time one might spend in a hotel room. Everyday, I work with startups that want to gain notoriety and build a robust audience from the ground up. The end goal is to build enough brand awareness that people actually notice and develop a relationship with the brand. From my experience, this only works for the bottom line when you’ve already established a community of people who love what you do and can’t stand to be without your product or service.

The beauty of building such a community is the effect it has on creating exponential growth of your efforts. Members willingly create value within the community and have the potential to spread the word outside of it. The end goal here shouldn’t be to get people to buy from you once or twice, but rather to get them to join your community, your movement, and ultimately take on your passion as if it’s their own. If you allow them to be involved (even without pay), then you’re offering a truly incredible value that they would be willing to stand behind, and that’s the true power of a promotional strategy
 

2. Acquiring Customers Through Video Promotion

I’ve seen countless times - people spending hours of their lives watching cute puppy videos, fitness gurus doing their thing, and fashion icons showing off their elaborate lifestyle. But what is the purpose of all of this? Where is all of this going? Content without substance is like a meal without proper seasoning. Everything is there, but it doesn’t leave you coming back for more.

So why are people so keen on creating content like this, and even further, why does it have the ability to generate such substantial engagement? Are people inherently bored and looking for videos to keep their minds occupied? While this may be likely, it could also mean that people are early in the buyer’s journey and haven’t yet decided to pull the trigger to purchase. Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that videos are high conversion mediums, as they’re able to capture interest quickly and easily.
 

3. Generate Engagement

When I started using PosterMyWall, I realized that I also had access to their most popular and high-converting templates, which had reputations of providing customers with high engagement and conversion rates. I decided to use this with my community efforts. I would send out a personalized direct message to at least 60 followers on my Instagram account each time I would publish a post. That way, they they would know when a new post is published and hopefully engage with my content as well. In fact, this is one of the easiest ways to increase engagement on almost any post and on any platform.

Think about it in terms of a musical band that plans to release their new album soon. As a teaser, a great way to spread awareness, and get people engaged with their new content, they can post a short clip of the new song or a music video. This way, the band is targeting their main audience and followers, but it also gives them the chance to be “picked up” by another news channel or media that can spread the release of their music to even more people. The impact can be big, and it often ends up as a win-win situation for the band, fans, and new followers as well!

Overall, creating an effective strategy for engagement may be daunting, but with the right strategies and mindset, you’re poised and ready to tackle your market. Not only are videos and other forms of digital media powerful tools to reach even broader audiences, but they’re also great to integrate into your overall startup marketing strategy. To get started, check out a few examples of effective video content used by businesses across the globe: