By Amir Shahzeidi February 17, 2022
Learn how you can use a video strategy to increase your business’s revenue.
Video has become the focus of the internet and there’s no better time for small businesses and growing brands to get in on the trend.
Adapting your content to work through video means that you can get visibility on high-growth channels like TikTok – with more than 1 billion monthly active users – and Instagram that pivoted to video in late 2021.
Video can be used throughout your whole customer journey, from generating interest in your brand and driving customer conversions to keeping them on board and engaging with them.
Want to know how?
We’ve got 6 tried and true ways you can use video to boost the revenue for your online business, including:
- Getting your brand story out there
- Showing everything your product or service offers
- Using video to monetize your expertise
Plus, inspiring examples so you can see our tips in action.
Let’s jump right into it.
Table of Contents
1. Tell your brand story using video
2. Retain your customers with video content
5. Create a video membership site
6. Promote your products and services using video
1. Tell your brand story using video
Telling the story of your brand and your products is an effective way to let your audience know who you are and what you’re about.
Think about some of the biggest brands you know – most people know Facebook started in a college dorm or that Bill Gates started in his parents’ garage.
It’s not just billion-dollar companies that can use this tactic to generate more customers and income.
According to storytelling statistics done by headstream, if people love a brand story, 55% are more likely to buy the product, 44% will share the story, and 15% will immediately buy the product.
In addition, Research by Stackla shows that 79% of people say user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions.
You’ll increase brand awareness when you start to tell your brand and product story, developing a deeper connection with your audience.
As with any strong branding and marketing exercise, your business should see an increase in leads, customers, and income when you start to put out videos about your story.
Example: Glossier
Glossier is a beauty brand founded in 2014 with a mission to put customers at the heart of the product creation process.
To get the message across, the brand uses TikTok videos that explain how some of its most popular products have been developed.
You can see in the screenshot, this video shows the feedback that the company received and showcases the product that was developed from it.
This puts the customer at the center of the product and shows them what sets the brand apart, encouraging more viewers to buy the products and increase sales.
2. Retain your customers with video
Video is a super popular content type, so if you want to put your customer at the heart of your marketing strategy, it makes sense to give them what they want.
How-to videos are the third most popular video type – and probably the easiest for your small business to create.
Using this video format, you can educate your customers about your product so they can both understand why to use it in the first place, and then give them a reason to keep buying from you.
Here’s how one brand is using video to educate customers and keep them coming back for more.
Example: Califia Farms
Califia Farms is a dairy alternatives brand based in California and is one of many businesses using Instagram videos to promote products.
It regularly shares new and inventive recipes that use the flavored drinks it offers, as you can see in the screenshot above.
Videos are a perfect way to give new recipes, show product hacks, or showcase lesser-known features of your product because you can get the information across clearly and succinctly.
It’s a great way to increase your customer lifetime value (CLV) and build loyal customers who love everything your product does.
3. Sell online courses
There are plenty of people who want to learn from experts; as a successful business founder, coach, consultant, or solopreneur, you have in-demand skills.
If creating a course hadn’t crossed your mind yet, it’s worth knowing that the eLearning industry is set to grow 21% per year up to 2027.
To get a slice of that market doesn’t require a whole new business – you can create an online course to teach people your business or professional expertise with a one-off investment of time and money and a little bit of marketing along the way.
Once your video course is created, you can upload it to a video hosting platform and sell your course for a one-time fee.
Here’s someone who’s done just that.
Example: Rachel Pedersen
Rachel Pedersen found success with her own social media management agency.
Taking advantage of everything she had learned navigating social media, Rachel created a course to help other people find success.
She’s capitalized on the success of her online course and created more which has opened up even more revenue streams for her.
Whatever your business field is or what you’ve learned over the years, there will be people who want to know your secrets.
4. Host webinars
When you want to build your brand on the fact that you’re an industry leader or you have a product with lots of use cases. Hosting webinars can be a great way to boost your revenue.
You can use webinars to grow your business in two ways:
- Free webinars that engage with your audience, teach them about what you know, and get feedback on your product or services.
- Paid-for webinars where you sell tickets to attend and you offer learning or training that can add serious value to your audience.
Whichever you choose, you’ll need to choose the right platform to host live-stream content and that gives you the option to sell access if you want.
Your webinars can help generate leads by showing people that you really know your industry and that they should trust you and your product.
5. Create a video membership site
Maybe creating an online course isn’t for you but you’re still an avid blogger or feel like you have content to share.
Lots of businesses have gone online since the pandemic and video can be a great medium for:
- Personal trainers
- Yoga teachers
- Tutors
- Coaches
- Musicians
Or anyone else with a service that translates well into visual form.
To build a new revenue stream, you can either create a new video membership site from scratch or use your existing website and integrate your video hosting solution.
On your video site, you can charge a subscription to access your videos, offering your business a recurring income.
Let’s check out another example.
Example: Max Maxwell
Successful investor Max Maxwell shares the secrets to his business growth through his website and video app for mobile and TV.
He posts regular content for his followers about how to be an investor and real estate entrepreneur, making content about the work he’s doing.
Part of the package he offers to his subscribers is access to his podcast, adding even more value for the fee they pay.
Your customers love to see your product in use, whether you sell something tangible like food or a service like career coaching.
Promote your business by showing people exactly what they’ll get. You need to appeal to their emotions with video content to convert them from watchers into buyers.
Show your audience the pain points you solve or the lifestyle they’re buying into when they do business with you. Videos make this type of connection really easy because you can show what you mean rather than tell.
Our final example is next.
Example: Blue Banana
Blue Banana is an adventure clothing brand that’s all about a lifestyle and doing what you enjoy.
The reels it posts on Instagram sell that lifestyle perfectly, showing the clothing in a whole bunch of adventurous settings.
Its audience gets to see the products in use – skydiving, snowboarding, freediving…
It’s all about the lifestyle with the videos it uses, which is part of the whole brand identity.
By using smart marketing in this developing medium, the brand is sure to be increasing sales and generating more revenue.
That’s all our top tactics, so let’s wrap this up.
Ready to generate revenue for your business using video?
Have you found inspiration to start using video in your business?
Whether you use video for marketing like telling your story or demonstrating your products, or you generate revenue from selling video content like an online course or a subscription site, you can definitely boost your business.
Video content will be worth the investment as you see long-term growth in your business.
