If you run a services business, you’ll know all about the significant challenges of marketing to the public. However, many of these issues can be solved by promoting business services with video.
Here’s why you should be using video to promote the services you offer.
Service marketing is different to product marketing
Many businesses providing services don’t realise that this requires a special type of marketing. You can’t market a service in the same way that you would market a product as they’re not the same thing.
There are some similarities between the two – for example, both can be marketed, either B2C or B2B. But it’s important to be aware of the significant differences between products and services so you can tailor your marketing accordingly. Understanding these differences will make it evident why video is the ideal medium for marketing services.
1. Services are intangible
Unlike products, you can’t see, touch or smell a service. It has to be experienced by the consumer. This makes marketing services a challenge as you have to find ways to bring your service to life and make it easy for consumers to understand and relate to.
Video is perfect for this as it is such an engaging form of communication. You can use live action, animation, music and graphics to set a mood and tell a story. You can also use video to give viewers an insight into your business with an overview or behind-the-scenes footage. Here is an example promotional video for a Pilot Training College.
Oxford Aviation Academy Web Video by Rockmans Creative Media Melbourne from Rockmans Creative Media on Vimeo.
Video has been proven to work – 97 percent of businesses who use video in their marketing say that it has helped audiences to understand their services better. It’s also worth noting that audiences remember 95 percent of the information they watch in a video, compared to just 10 percent of the information they read in written text.
2. Services are harder to rate
It’s harder to determine the quality of a service than a product. Either your television works or it doesn’t, but how good is your gardener compared to others? The subjectivity of services makes it harder for consumers to choose one provider over the others offering the same service.
This is why, for service providers, it’s essential to keep your brand top of mind and create a professional image that convinces people of your expertise.
Student Pilots on training computers
Content marketing plays an important part in this as it offers consumers something for nothing, providing them with advice, tips and news about the industry you work in and the service you provide. Video marketing is recognised by 51 percent of marketing professionals as the content type which offers the best ROI, so it should be an integral part of your content marketing mix if you’re a service provider.
3. Service marketing is about building trust
A product is something people can own and use until it has outlived its purpose. Services are very different. Nobody can own a service and it can’t be resold or returned. You’re also unlikely to need a service all the time – it’s something you need on certain occasions, like hairdressing or plumbing, for example. The service you provide will also have to be different for each client, depending on their individual needs and circumstances.
This means service marketing needs a more personal, tailored approach. It’s about creating trust and building a relationship with your audience so they’ll continue to choose you every time they need the service you provide.
Video can help to build the trust you need. Video testimonials are ideal for this as they show customers who have already used your service and are satisfied with it. Consumers can see real people talking about your service, hear their voices and watch their body language, making video testimonials more trustworthy than written ones.
Pilot in training gives testimonial for College
Social media also plays an important part here as people are more likely to trust a service that their friends recommend. Video gives you the best chance of having your service promoted on social media as video content is shared 1,200 percent more than text and images combined. 76 percent of users say that if they find a branded video entertaining, they will share it with their friends.
4. Service marketing needs to stand out from the crowd
Products come in a wide variety of choices – think of all the different flavours of ice-cream. Then think about all the different ice-cream varieties sold by different brands. It’s easy for people to tell the difference between them. But if you’re a cleaner, for example, you probably find it hard to explain how what you offer is different from your competitors.
This means your marketing has to reach more people than the competition if you want to get ahead in services. Video provides an ideal way of doing this as it helps people to discover your website – it has been shown to increase your organic traffic from search engines by 157 percent. People are also likely to spend twice as long on your site if it includes video, giving your brand message longer to sink in.
Flight teacher and students in class
Marketing services isn’t easy but video can give it a massive boost. If you would like more information about using high-quality, professionally produced videos in your marketing, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help. You can see more posts on video marketing and profit-making ideas here.