Unless you’re completely disconnected, you have watched a video of some kind over the internet…even if it was just a cat. More likely you not only watch them every time you’re online, but also have some kind of streaming service like Netflix or Hulu that you subscribe to so you can watch when you want. The absolute access of video on the internet to our population is staggering.

Now flip that around. As a small-to-medium business owner and entrepreneur, a big pillar of growing your business is, of course, marketing. Digital marketing (which includes social media) is a growing portion of business focus and will only get bigger. It goes without saying that any business that needs to get found by customers (is there a business that DOESN’T need to be found by customers?) has a web site. A significant subset of these businesses have a social media presence of some sort.

Quality content drives much of digital marketing success, but without a strategy to reach those markets and customers that want to buy from you, the content may not even seem to exist. These subjects make up a lot of my previous articles, and comprise a large part of what I work with my clients to create and implement.

More and more video is becoming an essential part of the discussion. Most of the businesses I speak with at least recognize that video is a remarkably compelling way to get their story told in a method that most people can relate to. However, there is still a lot of “myth-busting” to do when it comes to the numbers around video online, the expectations of their audience as to what a video might be about and its quality, and just how hard, or easy, it is to ACTUALLY create and publish a video for their business. Misconceptions abound, from “all I need is my iPhone and a selfie-stick ” to “I can’t afford a studio and a videographer!!!”.

While piling on the numbers may not provide you with a tipping point to including video as some component of your digital marketing, take a few moments and go over this terrific infographic put together by Website Builder.org.uk called “127 Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Video Marketing“. This compilation covers a lot of ground, and gives you the background resources to do further research, if you like.  A few of my favorite facts include:

 Look this information over carefully and then ask yourself and your marketing team, “What can we do here?”

You can’t ignore video. The stories still need to be compelling, the visuals attractive and the format of good quality and engaging….but you can’t ignore it.

Drop me a line in the comments and share how you’re doing this today, and what your vision is for your business’s video future!