Video Marketing provides contractors an unique opportunity to stand out among their competitors since the majority simply do not create videos. It can be a video of a customer testimonial or an animated overview of different jobs. You simply need to incorporate videos as part of your marketing strategy.

Most important is to realize the importance of Video Marketing to help you create inbound lead generation opportunities. How important? Here is a recent Forbes article on Video Marketing statistical details.   We use a 2017 story since there continues to be positive momentum since then.  Putting all those details aside, there is a big difference in platforms that use Videos and that is the main focus of this post.

Which Platform is the best?

First, let’s take Vimeo out of the equation for your Video Marketing efforts since it doesn’t come close to that of YouTube and Facebook.

That leaves Facebook versus YouTube. Each has their own advantages as a platform but only one wins for Videos supporting inbound lead generation opportunities.

There are endless statistics about both. One platform has more views while the other has more quality view time. MyOnlineToolbox cares most about helping generate more organic (Free) inbound lead generation opportunities.

Loading videos directly onto Facebook will not help get organic traffic. It may help get exposure but it doesn’t help give a boost to Website SEO Marketing topics. Remember, Facebook and YouTube are in a battle for your videos, but Google is the king for Search and they own YouTube.

Benefit from both platforms.  Plan to use one to help with SEO, and the other one should plan to help videos be shared among friends.

Post your videos onto YouTube with a strategic title with description, link to the webpage it references best on your site and tag it correctly. This helps with the goal of boosting organic leads to your website. Maybe create a custom thumbnail to replace the image YouTube randomly selects for the video.

Even MyOnlineToolbox has many Free YouTube Videos to help educate our potential customers while also enhancing our image and SEO objectives too.

Then reference the video on Facebook (and maybe include the custom thumbnail) as part of a status post including a link to the video. This will help the goal of getting your video shared among friends.

When it comes to Video Marketing and generating leads, the MyOnlineToolbox vote is YouTube first, Facebook second.  Forget about Vimeo.

Which Video Format is the Best?

What about the Video Format? There are many options available and MyOnlineToolbox prefers MP4.

Some Great Examples of Videos And How To Use Them

Following are some great ideas to help you get videos.   Creating Videos is the most important aspect of Video Marketing. Then strategically placing them for leads is the next most important.  We offer short explanations of what we like about them so you can see the differences and you can decide how best to create permutations of your own.

Here is a fantastic video of a Whole Home Renovation with a client review.  Notice how the video moves through the job.  Watch and listen how the customer is brought back and forth into the discussion points.  And the subtle background music adds class.  We would have created a custom thumbnail for this video.  The video is done so well starting with a picture of the homeowner so we can live without the thumbnail. This client is on a roll and is doing the same for a new East Greenbush Kitchen Remodel and a new Colonie Kitchen Remodel.  Something very cool in this Colonie Kitchen Remodel is to listen how she learned of the client.  Listen carefully.

Here is a great set of videos for a New Home Construction Builder who is creating a comfort level to a consumer.  Select the one that says “Your Home The Way You Want It”.  Notice the custom thumbnails making the entire web page look professional (as opposed to using random images selected by YouTube).  The owner of this construction company has a natural comfort talking about the issue.  The video flows well and is short and sweet.

Here is a basic video for a specific service, namely Kitchen Remodeling in Eugene & Springfield.  Why do we say a Basic Video?  That is because it just uses a combination of text, music and existing portfolio pictures.  But it does the job when it comes to helping have something indexed for the video SEO to compliment the webpage SEO and image SEO.  Of course we can add a more quality oriented video in the future, but this does the trick to help build the marketing image.

A Great Way to Stimulate Search Engines with a New Website

Here is a simple video using nothing other than a smart phone to capture a customer review.  The customer is in front of the job which is great since you can always visualize the work.  You can hear his passion and simplicity in explaining the job and his relationship with the contractor.  And he is passionate making for a great review.  The audio could have been a little better but that is hard when using a smart phone outside.  Notice the phone being stationary during the recording as opposed to moving if someone was holding it.

Are you comfortable speaking to the camera?  Check out all these In The Field Videos created that help stimulate the Search Engines when we released a new website.  Look carefully and you will also see their first professional video with a customer too.

Traditionally you will need to find a local video production person and it can really help you since these videos (and the associated SEO Marketing aspects) live for a long time.  It is a great investment with usually a reasonable production cost.   But even without a video production person, videos can be created as shown in the Basic Video using pictures or even your smart phone as shown in the customer review shown last above.