When you’ve got a million and one things to take care of, sometimes investing the time and money needed to adequately enhance your startups marketing efforts fall to the wayside. However, as a small startup or solo entrepreneur in Nottingham, engaging in the right type of video marketing could mean the difference between staying afloat or soaring to great heights long after you’ve pulled yourself up by your bootstraps. The great news is that you live in a thriving startup community, as Nottingham has consistently ranked as being one of the hottest places for entrepreneurs to head in the UK and has already seen the birth of almost 250 startups in recent years.
Invest in Quality Video Marketing
62% of consumers have said that they developed a negative opinion of a brand when they publish poor-quality video campaigns. So, if you’re going to invest the time and money into a good video marketing strategy as a startup, it’s important that you get it right from the beginning. This means investing in quality video, although that doesn’t necessarily mean it has to come with a high price tag. You can often find really great content creators who are also looking to break into the startup world and will strike a deal with you in exchange for credit or a long-term working relationship once you both take off. These types of relationships are crucial to form in the beginning stages of your startup and will allow you to develop consistent branding images and creative content that features sharp photography, even if you aren’t paying agency fees to do so. With two local universities right in the heart of Nottingham and a thriving startup culture that's home to over 19,000 digital jobs, you're never too far away from your next connection and possible content creator.
Let Your Customers Create Your Content
Not only is user-generated content highly-effective, but it’s also very cost-efficient. When you’re strapped for cash and a little low on the marketing budget, engage with your customer base or target audience and let them create your content for you. User-generated content has actually become one of the top video marketing strategies even for large companies, with 30% of videos on YouTube and 50% on Facebook being user-generated content. You can do this by asking your customers or followers to post a review in exchange for a discount on their next purchase, or by holding a contest to design the best trailer for your upcoming launch. There are many ways to engage in user-generated content that are practically free and will enhance your marketing efforts as people tend to be more inclined to purchase something if they see a peer reviewing it positively.
“62% of consumers have said that they developed a negative opinion of a brand when they publish poor-quality video campaigns.”
Engage with Your Community
As an entrepreneur or small startup, one of this best pieces of advice you could heed is to take advantage of your local community and all of the business advice, professional workshops, mentors and grants offered to you. Joining the Creative Community or simply engaging in conversations with other like-minded individuals in the Nottingham area and beyond is a great way to learn from what others are doing and maybe even make a few connections with people who can help you with your video marketing.
Great blog written by Jess Walter
