Are you curious about video marketing statistics that tout the importance of video’s role in growing your business? I was. So with my skeptic’s hat on, I reached out to small business owners who were initially resistant to using video, but who got incredibly better results than they ever expected.

I wanted to get some real-world intelligence about how effective video really is at attracting new customers and selling more products and services.

And I wanted it from folks who weren’t necessarily video experts or data compilers. My thought was that if they had initial resistance or indifference to video marketing, I’d get some honest feedback on their successes, without ulterior motives.

The Case for a Video Marketing Strategy from 7 Small Business Owners

Before we get to the case studies, some of the video marketing statistics I’m referring to are compelling, especially if you’re not already using video:

• 93% of marketers say they’ve landed a new customer because of a video posted on social media. (from video maker Animoto):

• 63% say video ranks #1 or #2 for best return on investment in social media marketing.

• More than 50% of shoppers say online video helped them decide which product to buy (Google research on YouTube viewership).

• 80% switch between online search and videos while researching products to buy. (Google)

Although it’s a small sampling, the owners I contacted confirm the statistics—video marketing is effective. It’s a very real trend reflecting real results in business.

The companies surveyed come from widely disparate industries, including dog training, hair care products, restaurant and hotel marketing, contact lenses, jewelry, printing, and e-commerce marketing.

Nearly all of them were resistant or indifferent to using video for various reasons, but decided to give it a try.

Here’s what happened when they did.

Video Marketing in the Pet Industry

After a successful career in the military, Enrique Marquez turned his passion for dogs into three profitable businesses including DogWorx, with multiple locations across the USA. His passion for business has been featured by Facebook and various magazines across the USA.

Says Marquez, “The biggest success in our advertising has been with video! As a pet industry business owner, the competition is hard, but video has set us apart from the rest - we are usually booked 3-4 months in advance (at $3k + per client!).

Every single client has told us they found one of our videos, which then had them check our social pages, where they saw more videos. By the time they reach out to us, they are excited to sign up, as they have seen our work and feel confident in what we can do for them.”

Marquez’s video marketing tips for small business

“My top tip: focus on providing value above making a sale!

For us, we focus on social media (Facebook / Instagram), where we use video to engage by sharing “pro tips” for pet owners (teach dog to not bark at mailman, sit politely, don’t run out the door) and showcasing our work with dogs (before & after video).

Sure, we’re “giving away” our knowledge, but it comes back 10 fold. People from all over the country have referred us to their friends when they are asked about a good dog trainer, all because we give massive value without expecting anything in return.”

Video Strategy in Ecommerce Marketing

Balazs Hajde is Content Manager at Authority Hacker, responsible for publishing content and maintaining quality standards throughout the company's portfolio of sites.

Authority Hacker is known for its in-depth testing of marketing techniques across various platforms. Their guiding principle is they share what they’ve done to let others benefit from what works and what doesn’t.

Says Hajde ,“As part of our marketing efforts, we recorded a course webinar that we utilize both through email and a landing page on our site. Bringing in new purchases on a daily basis and almost fully automated, it's proving to be our most consistent source of revenue.”

Hajde’s marketing video tips from ecommerce

“Good video content requires a large initial investment in terms of time and energy. Video is "static content," meaning you can't just simply rewrite parts of it. You need to plan well or expect cumbersome re-shoots and re-edits.

This is especially true for quickly evolving niches, like tech or website design. Our online marketing courses usually need major updates every year or two.

On the plus side, creating videos isn't as expensive as many would think, especially if you're using motion graphics or just record your desktop.

Video is also a great way to provide value in a compact, easily digestible format (think short how-to videos or user guides).

Finally, depending on your market, your efforts are rewarded in the form of a continuous stream of engagement. It takes hours to prepare a great TED Talk, but once it's uploaded, you're basically presenting to a new audience every time the video is viewed, into perpetuity.”

Video Marketing in the Jewelry Industry

Jeff Moriarty is Marketing Manager for Moriarty’s Gem Art, a small, family-owned custom jewelry design company.

Moriarty’s initial resistance to video is based on a common problem among small business owners.

Says Moriarty, “Being part of a small jewelry business means you just don't have a lot of time. And this is why we never did videos.

But we are sure glad we finally did. We started just doing videos for our online website's product pages. It was easy and they were short. The surprising thing was that we got an increase in our overall conversion rates from products that had videos, so we started doing this for all of them!”

The video below is from their Moriarty’s product page. As you can see, it’s only 49 seconds and is simply a video shot of the product rotating, without a voice-over or soundtrack. It doesn’t get much simpler than this. Yet it gives the viewer a good, clear 360 degree closeup view of the ring.

And as Moriarty says, it works. The results speak for themselves.

Moriarty’s video marketing tips from the jewelry industry

“We then moved to creating a YouTube channel and uploading more educational videos. It started to grow in followers as more and more people watched.

We then created a more in-depth educational video on a rare stone in the industry. At first it received the normal views, but then it was picked up on Reddit. Almost overnight, it shot up to over 1,000,000 views. And right now, we are sitting on over 3,000,000 views of our videos.

It's gotten us tons of exposure, more customers, and a huge following. After this experience, we realized niche videos which take a little more time to make, are the way to go.

And this is what I would recommend to anyone starting to do videos. Find a niche in your industry and spend the extra time it takes to create videos around it.”

Video in the Vision Care Industry

Stacy Caprio is owner of Colorful Eyes, a site designed to help people select the right color of contact lenses.

It includes a unique tool in which you can upload a photo of yourself to see what you look like in the various colors available.

Caprio’s video tip from the vision care industry

“I use video to show products in detail to potential customers. My videos have received over half a million views and been effective at driving traffic to my site.

It took me forever to get the courage to take the first video because I kept putting it off telling myself I didn't have enough time, when really the only thing I was lacking was motivation.”

Video Marketing in the Hair Care Industry

John Nikolaou, President of Nisim International, leads his company in product development, training and regulatory compliance. As owner of an online ecommerce store, Nikolaou felt it was important to use video to showcase their products.

“It took too long to get videos on our website because we were not sure how to make videos for hair loss products.

After researching videos on YouTube.com, the second largest search engine on the planet, we discovered that people were reviewing our products and saying really positive comments like their ‘hair grew so much faster’.

We were getting more and more referral visitors from YouTube, so we reached out to these people and then added their videos to our website, nisim.com. This dramatically increased our conversion rates and time spent per visit.”

Nikolaou’s video marketing tips from the hair care industry

1) Research your market using YouTube keywords. If you use Chrome download the "Keywords Everywhere" extension for data.

2) Make your own videos and/or utilize reviews of customers (as in the screenshot above).

Nikolaou urges, “Video has greatly impacted our business and I suggest you leverage it any way you can as soon as possible.”

Video Marketing in the Hotel and Restaurant Industry

Dawn Gribble is Founder & CEO of Virtual Solutions, specializing in digital marketing for the food and beverage business, hotels, and restaurants.

Says Gribble, “Video is an important medium to use when creating content to share – people often find it easier to understand a topic when it’s shown to them, rather than reading the same information as text.

We use video content to augment our content – often as a summation (providing the key takeaways) or an explainer (especially with more complex points that benefit from having graphics).

But we also use video to connect with others. Being able to use video to host live events means that we can engage with people directly when live, and then share it with others later.

It is an integral part of our marketing strategy, not only are we able to share this information – but we can create events around it – hosting a Live Stream gets our visitors involved and keeps us in touch with their needs, it helps us remain relevant and creating content that is actually useful to them."

Gribble’s marketing video tips from the restaurant industry

Create Different Types of Video

Different tools allow you to create different videos for different reasons. You can showcase your business and your staff with prerecorded pieces, highlight a particular event or celebration with Live Streaming, and get directly involved with your audience by hosting a webinar or interactive live.

Don’t Settle on Quality

Just as static content represents your brand, so too does video. You want people to see you at your best, so make sure that your script is created in your Brand Voice, your setup reflects your Brand Image, that your lighting is suitable, and that you’re creating something that you’d be happy to share with others.

Video in the Printing Industry

I'm Andre Palko, (your editor and author) and I used video extensively in the printing industry to serve a very tiny B2B niche. Our total universe of potential prospects in North America was probably around 30,000 or so businesses.

As you can see from the screenshot below of the Technifold USA YouTube channel, the videos we posted got some pretty good traction with up to 90,000 views.

The video channel overall has more than 330,000 total views in a relatively small, sedate market. One colleague jokingly referred to the products I sold as the “most boring product on earth.”

Say what they will, video traffic was an important element in turning our “snooze fest” industry into a great business.

Not only have the videos been a regular driver of traffic, they’re a significant aid in the sales process and are the basis in reducing demand for customer service assistance.

One note: I was never resistant to using videos. I’ve always believed in the power of images, including video, to convey messages fast and efficiently. However, I was surprised at the results it achieved, year after year, and wish I had used more video early on.

Palko's top tips for B2B video marketing

1) Create short videos that answer client’s questions.
If you sell products, show prospects how to use the products. Include before and after shots that demonstrate the benefits to them. Pay attention to lighting.

2) Always have your cell phone at the ready, especially at trade shows or on sales calls.
When they’re saying something nice about you or your product, get their permission to film them with your phone. If they’re not saying anything, ask them if they’d comment for you.

You’ll be surprised at how many people respond positively to a sincere request. In no time, you’ll have dozens of testimonial videos. It’s high-value content (with zero production costs) that will serve you for years.

3) Make a list of all the potential videos you want to create and produce in batches.
Write scripts for several at a time. Instead of filming one at a time, devote a day or two to shooting video and film several at a time. It saves having to re-do lighting, set, clothes, and background. You’ll create more video, faster.

4) Go native with your video marketing on social media.
In other words, don’t just post a link to a video that lives on your website or YouTube channel. In addition, upload the videos directly to all your social media platforms plus your website. Video posts typically get better traction and engagement than posts that link to outside content.

Final Thoughts on Video Marketing in the Real World

If you’re not using video in your marketing, it’s time.

One more video statistic to hammer home the point—an Aberdeen research report found that companies who use video see revenues grow 49% faster than non-users. 

Without exception, the small business owners above got positive revenue returns with minimal investment.

Some key takeaways from our real-world video creators:

• Start small with a simple customer-focused video strategy.

• "I don't have time" is no longer an excuse. As you saw above, the worst-case scenario is you can get your customers to make videos for you! If you can make time, create short 1 to 2-minute videos that answer customer questions or showcase a product or service.

• Think "value" instead of "sales" when creating your first videos. Value-oriented videos can be evergreen, delivering results for years to come.

• Plan your videos ahead of time.

• Speak to your niche.

• Don't procrastinate. You’ll kick yourself after you see the results.

• Answer client questions through video.

It’s easier than ever to get started with video today, and we have the tools to help.

Start by checking out our award-winning CareerBrandVideos™.