Video Marketing – The Do’s and Don’ts
If you are selling cars for a living, you may have noticed that your competitors have adopted video marketing as their complementary advertising medium. Video marketing lends itself well to marketing vehicles because the best way to appreciate the looks of a car is by viewing it. Video marketing allows your potential customers to see what you are offering before they head to your showroom which is great for them because they save on effort going from showroom to showroom in their quest to buy a new car. If you have not yet adopted video marketing, perhaps now is the time to do so.
Video marketing, like other forms of marketing, does have its strengths and weaknesses when it comes to auto dealership promotion. Naturally you need a laptop or a desktop (or maybe even mobile gadgets) to be able to view a video online – so if your customers are not really the type to surf online regularly your video might get ignored by the community you are marketing to. The strength of video marketing is that even one video posted online has the potential to be viewed by a multitude of potential customers who do surf online a lot. To make our point clearer, below are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to video marketing:
Do plan the video in advance. Some may choose to make a slapdash video fast but in video marketing you will want to make a video that is of top quality. And that means sitting down with pen and paper to map out the content, layout and progression of the video.
Do get help making the video. You probably have salesmen in your Dealership whom you could recruit to become your cameraman, scriptwriter, and even host in the video. Some Dealership owners may prefer to be the sole scriptwriter and the only person starring in the video. That’s okay but you may find it easier to make your video if you ask your employees to help out. You just need to pay them something for helping.
Do screen your video before you post it. Quality is very important when you make a video so you will want to cut out certain scenes or takes that don’t work. You might even have to do several versions of the same theme before you can really say you are satisfied with the results.
Do get a focus group to critique your video for you. You don’t have to spend much for this – you can just bring in friends and relatives to watch the finished video and then to tell you what they liked and didn’t like in the video. If you like, you can treat them to a free lunch if they agree to be your focus group. (This is certainly less expensive than hiring people elsewhere plus you can trust the opinions of friends and family because they have your best interests at heart).
Don’t copy the videos of other Dealerships. Yes, copying may allow you to make a marketing video faster but if you copy other videos how will people distinguish the original from your version? Be sure to create an original video that speaks volumes about the advantages of buying from your Dealership even if the video is rather short.
Don’t be satisfied with mediocrity. Today’s customers are very savvy and like marketing videos that are well made and informative at the same time. Even if you do make a low budget video you will want one that you will love to be identified with. This means raising your standards because this video represents the essence of your Dealership.
Don’t release unfinished videos to anyone. Remember, your videos are your property and thus are valuable to you. Even unfinished versions may become valuable someday as spare material to include in future videos. Also, you don’t want other Dealerships to see in advance what you are making so it is best to keep unfinished videos under lock and key indefinitely.
Don’t badmouth anyone in your video, especially competitors that run their own Dealerships. You might think you are getting the upper hand when you badmouth someone in film but actually it just leaves your audience with a bitter taste in their mouth. Stay positive and highlight the advantages if consumers choose your Dealership to buy vehicles from.
Video marketing is not that hard to do, once you know what to say and how to say it. It is just another form of advertising that allows you to communicate to customers what you believe is noteworthy about the vehicles you sell (especially when they buy the cars from your Dealership).
Written By: Daryl Diemer – Founder of Diemer Corp
www.diemercorp.com
September 5, 2014