Given these two facts alone, don’t you think it might be something that you should be using?

The first objection that most business owners have with regard to using video marketing as part of their marketing strategy is that they think it is too expensive. There is still this common misconception that it is something that can only be afforded by, used by or only applies to the ‘big boys’ in business.

Well, this is now not the case and in this article I am going to explain to you just how easy it is to create and produce a quality video for your business, and at a fraction of the price that you may think it would cost.

Some Basics For Creating A Great Video

First of all, I do think that it is advisable to choose a location where the lighting is good. If you’re planning on filming your video indoors then use a room that has either plenty of natural light coming in, or light coloured walls, or even better, both.

Sound is also something that you will need to consider when creating your video. Ideally you do not want any background noise if you can help it. So things such as loud traffic noise, particularly noisy machinery or over enthusiastic staff could drown out the audio on your video, and so this has to be assessed when choosing an appropriate location.

And that’s really it in all honesty. As you can see most (if not all) of it is plain common sense in reality. Choosing an appropriate and well lit area that has little or no background noise is the absolute minimum that you want to aim for.

You could also think about what it is in the background, to ensure that the viewer is getting a representative and professional image of what your company is about.

So as you can see, video marketing is not as difficult or troublesome as you may have initially thought, and the benefits of it can be enormous.

This May Surprise You

The great thing is that with just a little planning, as you’ve seen above, you can set the perfect scene for your video. Also, with the advent of High Definition (HD) camcorder technology, you can still produce excellent videos on a lot less than a Hollywood film budget, even with a tiny hand held device.

You certainly don’t need a film or television crew to create a great video for your business, you really don’t. You only need to look at the videos that you can see on You Tube the next time you’re on the internet to see what I mean, as the quality of most home-made films is now more than acceptable
for the purposes of marketing your business.

I can assure you that many of the videos that you will see posted on You Tube have been created with simple, hand held devices, and the majority of them will not even have been made with the use of a tripod or any professional lighting.

Why Video Marketing Works

I suppose the closest alternative to video marketing would have to be television advertising. The reality is however, that for the vast majority of small and medium sized business owners, the prospect of advertising on television is still pretty much financially out of reach.

Television advertising even today is still relatively expensive when compared to all other means of advertising, and there is no realistic way that many small business owners can possibly justify the cost of running a television advertisement.

Even a simple 30 second television advertisement could blow a company’s entire years marketing budget in one fell swoop. This factor alone perhaps demonstrates the lack of feasibility in a small business using television advertising, which is why video marketing is something that can serve as a very effective alternative.

Using Podcasts For Expert Status

One hugely advantageous aspect of using podcasting as part of your marketing strategy is what it can do for your positioning.

So what exactly do I mean by that?

Well, producing a podcast can allow your business to create a valuable identity as a leader in your field, whilst enhancing your credibility too. By doing this, you could quickly find yourself becoming an authority in your industry, which is no bad thing.

It is also extremely doubtful that any of your competitors will be doing podcasting, or any other significant marketing strategies for that matter and so straight away you’re more than a step ahead of them.

You Can This Guerrilla Marketing Strategy

Why not, as a way of adding more value for your listeners, interview some of your top customers and use these interviews as powerful marketing tools for your business?

By doing this, what you are doing is leveraging something called ’social proof’. Social proof is exactly what a testimonial is, and by having this in audio format this will be infinitely more powerful than a written testimonial.

This will help prospects to visualise exactly why they should be doing business with you, as opposed to your nearest competitors.

It also cements your authority in your given industry.

Of course it would also be wise to use these very same recordings as testimonials and have them put on your website, so ensure that you ask the customers that you’re interviewing to voice their opinion of your products or services.

Plus, you could create customer loyalty as most of us like to be asked our opinions on something, and this may demonstrate to your top customers that they are indeed valued, and that their views and opinions do count.

The Double Whammy Effect Takes Place

This could potentially have a double whammy effect on your business as well. To begin with, you could get some excellent publicity from doing this as you’re customers will love you for it, plus you’re able to showcase your expertise in your particular area of business.

The double whammy effect takes place because this will in turn enhance your credibility, and the way that you are perceived by your peers, competitors, prospective customers, and of course your current clients.

You’re competitors will also be both curious and worried as to what you are up to.

Why Not Use Your Competition To Your Advantage?

So in that case, why not interview your competitors? As long as you position it correctly, they will probably be more than happy to have you interview them as it will give them so notoriety and publicity, however as it is you interviewing them, you will be perceived as the expert, and not them.

So they’re getting what they want, which is some publicity, but you’re also getting what you want, which is enhanced credibility of your expert status.

And if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably know from your own experience that most people love to talk about their expertise, their family and just generally about themselves.

This means that you probably know several people that ramble on and on about what they’ve done this week, last week and last month. These could be prime candidates for interviewing and as you will be seen as the expert, the benefits to your business could be enormous.

I hope this article gives you some insight in to just how effective a podcast could be in enhancing your businesses reputation and standing. And as you will have read in Part One of this article, it really is not that difficult to produce a podcast, so what are you waiting for?

It is evident these days that with the continual advances in technology that we’re seeing, the ability to record and produce a podcast has now become a pretty simplistic task. You certainly no longer need radio station or studio-quality recording equipment in order to produce a good quality podcast for your audience.

But why do it in the first place?

What Is A Podcast?

Well, lets start by looking at exactly what a podcast is. To put it into its simplest terms, a podcast is essentially an audio clip (or audio file) that can be placed (often referred to as embedded) anywhere on your website, and can potentially be listened to by anyone who visits your site.

Podcasting first became popular in 2005 with the launch of iTunes. If the latest statistics are to be believed, and given the current trends in the sales of portable media devices, as many as 275 million people around the world will own a portable media player by the year 2011.

This fact alone clearly demonstrates the popularity of listening on the move, or at least listening when it is convenient.

So why is this important?

Well, for prospects or customers who are interested in the audio that you have produced, it can also be downloaded onto an mp3 media device or onto a computer. In addition, there is also the possibility that people may want to subscribe to your podcasts, and as you’ll find out in Part Two of this article, this is something that can provide huge potential success and opportunities for your business.

So one critical reason why podcasts offer such potential benefits for your business is by downloading it, your listener can digest your podcast at a convenient time to them.

This is an important distinction because it fits in perfectly within the new ‘permission marketing’ framework that I have mentioned in previous articles. If you can use a media (such as podcasting) that your target audience is using and is comfortable with, you have an opportunity to get your message across more effectively.

Providing Choice Is So Important

Having a choice of how and when to see or hear your company’s message fits in perfectly with the way that your potential customers live their lives today. It can also carry more weight and effectiveness, as you are not ramming your company’s message down the throat of every poor, unsuspecting person that walks by.

This is one of the reasons why podcasts are as popular as they are. We all have so little time on our hands these days and we are bombarded with literally hundreds upon hundreds of marketing messages each and every day. But with a podcast, it can be downloaded and listened to at home, at work, on the train, on the tube, in fact anywhere.

And by producing podcasts your business will be perceived as being different. This is also very important, and something that I will cover in Part Two of this article.

Part One of this article walked you through the basics of why social media can benefit your business’ marketing strategy. Part Two will now look at some specific reasons why, and explain how you can leave your competition trailing in your wake.

As consumers these days, we are all so busy with life. We work hard, we spend time with our children and our families and we do not have time to necessarily stop what we are doing in order to be ’sold to’, which is really how things used to work.

That has all changed now however.

The order of the day now is subtly dove-tailing your marketing message within a medium, a means of communication that your target audience is already using. This means that your company’s message will not feel like an interruption at all, merely another aspect of the social media environment that your target audience is engrossed in.

Why The Internet Is So Important

One of the reasons why the internet is now becoming increasingly popular, is because it can literally be accessed from anywhere on the planet.

The introduction and accessibility of laptop computers, palmtop computers and mobile phones with internet technology (WAP enabled phones) means that you can now be online ‘on the go’ in virtually any environment that you choose.

You may well already be benefiting from this, as you can be communicating with employees and work colleagues, clients and even family or friends from a train or a taxi cab. Suddenly journeys which would have previously been ‘dead’ time as little as 20 years ago, can now be used productively.

So the internet provides convenience in our lives. What it can also do is provide instant information, and in an age where we tend to like most things done yesterday, the internet is often the first thing someone uses in order to seek information.

Beware, Things Are Not What They Used To Be

And so integrating your marketing into media where people are more likely to see you, much the same as a billboard on a busy street, is why the internet is beneficial for your business. The one difference is however, that with marketing in general, the rules have now changed.

There is now a new term in marketing called ‘permission marketing’. This effectively means that the ‘old way of doing things’, so simply just barging in and advertising your businesses’ products and services to the world doesn’t work any more.

The way that these social media sites work could lend itself perfectly to your business. One of the main benefits is the sheer speed at which communication takes place using social media. This speed can be used to potentially see your company’s marketing message passed from person to person in double quick time.

In fact, your company’s message can spread just like a virus, hence the term ‘viral’ that is now common place in the marketing dictionary.

The fact is that we are more likely to trust a recommendation of a product or service from someone that we trust. And by it’s very nature, this is one thing that social media can provide for your business. This also makes for an extremely powerful tool and rewards the businesses who are able to provide a great product or service, backed up by fantastic customer service and after sales service.

If your business is able to deliver on all three fronts then you’re not only going to have many satisfied customers, but potentially many more prospects knocking at your door too.

In the social media arena, views and opinions can be shared between friends (or by you too), and photographs, audio and video can also be used. This is yet another reason why social media is so powerful.

So to bring this article to a close, I would also like to just suggest something to you that could quite possibly send your business global.

If this is something that appeals to you, is relevant to your business or is an option that you’ve been considering, then you’ll find this hugely important.

How To Reach A World Wide Audience – Fast

When I look at my Facebook profile at the time of writing this article, I see that roughly one sixth of my ‘friends’ are located overseas, so not in the UK. Do you think that this could open up some possibilities for you in getting your product or service international exposure? You bet it is.

Going global may not necessarily be on your business’ agenda. It might not be something that you think is right for your business at this moment in time, but the opportunity is most certainly there if you do want to branch out.

Potentially all it’s going to cost you to have your product or service seen by a world wide audience is a small investment of time and a well planned and executed strategy. Just imagine what the results could be.

Social media will not work for every business of course. Its just like any other means of marketing in that respect, however it may just be the medium that propels your business to the next level, and who knows where that could lead?

If you’re unfamiliar with the term social media, you’re possibly thinking social what? If this is the case, please allow me to explain in this article what social media is all about, and how it can be used to help your business.

What Exactly Is Social Media?

Social media in its basic sense refers to online media (websites) that enables (and also encourages) social interaction. This was something that until the dawn of what was termed by the internet fraternity as ‘Web 2.0′, was somewhat lacking from our online experience.

Previously, websites did not allow for much in the way of communication.

And yet now we are not only able to see and listen online, but we can also interact too, and I am going to tell you how this can be used to your advantage, and also the benefit of your business.

Our experiences online have very much changed in recent years, with the advent of sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter to name but a few. If you are unfamiliar with any of these sites then do have a look at them.

These interactive, social media sites have not only given individuals the opportunity to interact more and more with their friends, family and acquaintances online, but it has enabled businesses to reach their potential customers in new and exciting ways, and this is good news for your business.

Why Social Media Can Help Your Business

Perhaps most importantly, the whole concept of social media enables you and your business to market to potential customers on their terms. So what do I mean by that and why is it significant?

By marketing your business using the internet in general, but perhaps specifically by using a tool such as social media, your fitting your message in to a logical part of the daily activities for many of us these days.

So what do I mean by that?

Well this is because browsing and catching up with friends, family and colleagues online, rather than doing what we did ten years ago and picking the phone up and talking to them, is now normal practice. So this is good news for you and your business.

So the important point for you here is that you are not having to interrupt or stop people from doing what they would already be doing. This means that people are likely to stumble across your business almost without consciously thinking about it, and so you simply need to make your business more visible to them, and I am going to show you how to do exactly that.

Assembling Your Herd

One thing that participating in social media has enabled most individuals to do is to increase their own personal ‘database’ of contacts, such is the ease at which it can be done on many of these interactive social media sites.

For the users of these sites, the advantage is that they allow you, more than ever before, to keep in contact with friends, family, old school friends, whom ever you want to, and all at the click of a mouse.

This is not only convenient for the vast majority of us that lead increasingly busy lives, but it saves us time as well. Once again, this is great news for your business as time is a precious commodity.

Whether you have any experience of the many social media sites that are scattered across the internet or not, you will soon notice that mini communities begin to develop within an individual’s sphere of influence. This could be a community of friends, family or work colleagues, and all of these contacts will have their own different interests, tastes and opinions, and therein lies the potential opportunity for you.

This is how you can quickly build a database of hungry prospects and potential clients.

In Part Two of this article I will discuss why the use of social media can help you obliterate your competition, and how you can literally communicate your message to as many prospects as you want to both domestically as well as internationally.

Once upon a time, these social networking sites were used only as a platform for communication. This is why most of its members were young adults. However today, social networking sites have other benefits to the internet world, and one of them is with internet marketing.

Social networking sites are internet marketing platforms

Why I say that social networking sites help in internet marketing is because its consumers are mostly adults, and professionals, who have services, products and businesses that they want to offer to other interested people.

In fact, this is why its platform is not only used for communication purposes, but also in internet marketing. I say that this transformation of the use of social networking sites from communication to internet marketing a worthwhile swap as this enables a greater growth of the social sites and different businesses.

It is basically the large list of users found in different networking sites that has led to the growth of internet marketing through social networking sites. In addition to this, it is the features of these sites which are dynamic and have a wide reach that has induced internet marketing through social networking sites.

Blogs help in internet marketing

Moreover, social networking sites have blogs, discussion boards, forums, video and text chatting, content promotion and other services that have lead to the success of internet marketing. This is because it is thorough these blogs and discussion boards, that internet marketers can leave their links for other visitors to the blogs and boards to click on and visit.

In fact, if this liaison between social networking sites and internet marketing continues like this, one day, social networking sites will even be referred to as an internet marketing tool for all the online marketing help it carries out.

Search engine optimization techniques help improve social networking site rankings

Of course, I have to remind you that these social networking sites manage to work as internet marketing tools only because of the traditional marketing tips that have been used to bring these sites to their present position and search engine ranking.

What I mean to say that you still have to use search optimization techniques, exchange links and index these links in different sites to make a social networking site help in internet marketing. Once these tips are implemented in social networking sites, they prove to be as effective in internet marketing as any other internet marketing tool can be.

Want to learn more about internet marketing, following soon …….

A few are:

Benefit 1: A business can pick up thousands of website visitors- The amount of traffic on the social networking sites is unbelievable, capitalizing on the leads would be a very effective tool for any business new or established.

Benefit 2:The use of viral marketing is effective on the social networking sites- Viral marketing or word of mouth advertising is a big part of the social networking scene. Several members watch videos, read blogs, etc…and pass them on to their friends. This is a great way to expand your audience and reach beyond you local area.

Benefit 3:Low cost video creation- The social networking sites have features which allow you to upload your videos and share them free. The content ranges from advertising, training, how to’s, and much more. You simply upload it to your account. Visitors can make comments, give ratings, or pass it on to friends.

Myspace also has links such as:

edit profile-featuring your company, link, bio, etc..

Add/edit photos

Manage Calendar

Manage Blog

Account setting

Add/change Videos

The world of Social networking and Myspace has taken quite a turn in the world of Internet marketing. Take advantage of this great tool and start your campaign right away.

Let them Know You’re There

If you can attract customers – your business will do well.  The best way to do that is through word of mouth.  Ads certainly work, but people ignore them.  How many people do you know, watch a commercial, and then immediately go out and buy the product being advertised?  On the other hand, how many times have you seen friends talking – and when one friend mentions a particular problem they are having such as difficulty finding a good painter, the other friend will immediatly refer someone they know who does an excellent painting job.  Often the friend immediately wants to purchase the product or the service.  This is the magic and power of social networking.

Making Friends and Customers Online

While existing friends are a fantastic help when it comes to promoting your business – you will need to develop a way to develop a long list of friends who will quickly think of you when the topic of your expertise or product comes up.  You do this by building a reputation on the social networking webites as an expert in your field.  You will post to forums and discussion boards on the topic, and will subtly promote your product without doing it outright.  For the most part you want to have conversations with people and get to know them.  Eventually, the contacts that you make will start to mention your name to members within their social network.  And before long, your list of clients and customers will be exploding.

How to Make Friend’s Online

The secret to using these websites to grow your business is to make friends with the members of these sites who share an interest in the field where you are selling a product or a service.   Take the time to post in the forum or messaging system where people communicate with eachother on the website.  Discover which members potentially may need your product or service and get to know them.  Introduct yourself and start, or continue, a conversation by sharing your knowledge on the matter, or asking them for theirs.

Where do I Go?

There are a lot of social networking websites out there – and any of them will work.  But you want to focus on the social networking sites that are focused on the industry or product that you specialize in or sell.  There are also business-based social network sites that focus on making business to business contacts, such as linedin.com and ryze.com.  There are also the generic network sites that work as well – it will just take some more work to locate members and groups that share your interest. 

The reason Social Networking sites will help your business succeed is because they are the most effective way for you to introduce your product or service to people without having to be a “salesman”.  Instead, through simply collaborating and communicating with people – you will find that your own list of contacts and potential customers has begun to grow by leaps and bounds.