The pivot to video that's powering small businesses

In a recent report, it was predicted that 26 percent of small businesses would shift their business entirely online within the next three years. But 2021 had other ideas. The pandemic rapidly accelerated this virtual transformation, with smaller businesses from fitness studios to foodmakers, wine tastings became virtual.

Where in the past, small businesses relied heavily on face-to-face engagement, video has replaced these traditional interactions, and small businesses are recognising the power of video for everything from live events, marketing and promotion, customer engagement and communications. BodyMindLife Yoga and pilates pivoted earlier this year to a fully online experience, and now run live stream and on-demand classes. The upside is the fact that video has allowed them to significantly expand their audience reach, as well as their virtual classes are now viewed in 38 countries.

For many small businesses, video is turning out to be big business, and here's why.

Increased reach and engagement

Many smaller businesses are finding that they are selling across state and international borders, some the very first time and through online channels. Live and on-demand video allows them to promote their products and services within an engaging visual way, across a variety of channels including their own websites and social media, giving them far wider reach and engagement with previously untapped audiences.

Converting browsers into buyers

Video lets small businesses bring their products and services to life. With more and more consumers attentiveness to live and on-demand video to gather information, research new solutions, and find out more about products and services, small businesses need to embrace video content to showcase their offerings. Video can be used to launch new products and services or host an active event, it can increase time online using video recommendations, demonstrations and reviews, as well as drive conversions using shoppable video.

Know your customer

Understanding your customers' needs and wants is critical to the success of smaller businesses. Using video, small businesses can gain deep insights into their customers by understanding how videos are being watched, preferred channels, video completion rates, and level of engagement. This information can be used to identify video that works the best for the purpose intended (sales, customer service, tips etc, as well as inform business decisions around all elements of the customer engagement

Cost savings

While most small businesses are cost-sensitive, video is among the most cost-effective ways of creating content you can use and repurposed across multiple channels. The rising trend of video content marketing means even the smallest of businesses can create their own content by simply shooting footage on a mobile phone and adding this content across their customer touchpoints.

Create customer experiences

Now more than ever, customers are looking to be educated, entertained, and engaged. In fact, 66 per cent of people would rather learn about products and services by watching a short video. Small businesses are discovering that video is a great way to cut through, communicate their brand, and give them a personal connection with their clients. Whether creating brand awareness video, managing a live product launch, creating how-to-use videos, and more, small businesses are finding that video helps them create more meaningful and engaging experiences for a much wider audience.

With people the world over adapting to a virtual environment, it has changed how we interact with products and services, and it is clear that video is here to stay. Small businesses that are not embracing video are truly missing out on an immediate opportunity to grow their brand, connect with audiences, increase conversions, and eventually build long-lasting relationships with their customers.