Here's an idea for all of you who want to promote your business....why not get a DVD made?! You might want to showcase your services to people on your website or through YouTube or you may want to have a physical DVD that you can sell or give out to people as a promotional tool.
Here are my TOP TEN IDEAS for what to do with your DVD
1. Make a 'How To' guide for your target market
Do you make cakes? Do a short cookery programme! Do you sell property? Do a short programme on how to get your property ready for sale! Maybe you are a fitness instructor...do a short instructional DVD to sell to your customers so they can do the routine at home when they aren't at a class! There are so many possibilities here!
2. Make a training DVD
If you employ staff, if you sell to schools, if you run a franchise and need to train up new recruits, a training DVD can be the perfect way of introducing your business to new staff or to further train people that buy your services.
3. Showcase yourself
If you are your business you will need to create a brand that centres around you. If you are a public speaker, a healer, an actor, a writer, an artist or anything that involves selling yourself then use a DVD to show the world who you are and talk about what you do. Introduce yourself on a personal level to many more people than you can meet in person by creating a personal message that you communicate through the medium of a short film. You can then direct your customers to your film so that they can learn more about you and your style of communication.
4. Explain what you do
Perhaps you want to back up your marketing materials with something that is more immediate and easy to digest? Why not explain your services through a advertorial type of DVD? You can tell and show at the same time. One big advantage of this is that you are creating an intimacy with potential customers, they will have met you on screen, seen your premises on screen and perhaps met some of your staff - this can make a customer feel much more comfortable contacting you because they feel like they already know you on a different level to just having read about you on a screen.
5. Make a fictional film or a documentary to show your work in action
Sometimes the best way to show what you do is to document it in action. Maybe you want to create a metaphor that people can relate to and a fictional film can create this for you. If you work with young people you might want to create a fictional tale that relates to the work that you do and explains more about what the outcomes might be and how your services can be transformative. McDonalds made a very successful documentary showing how their burgers are made and why they look different in the pictures than they do in real life. This was a great way of engaging customers and giving them an insight into the business that made them feel like they had a special 'behind the scenes' tour. Or what about making a comedy version of what poor customer service looks like and compare it to the customer service people will receive if they choose your business?
6. Make a video diary
This is similar to a documentary but more of a 'day in the life' idea that can help customers understand the way you approach business. You could follow one of your staff for the day and do a warts-n-all type of film, or you could do a short daily snippet of your thoughts or activities over a month and edit it all together so that people can see what a month is like in terms of all the different things that you do.
7. Create a campaign
This is a fun one to get your teeth into if your business is in a position to support it. Why don't you start a fun campaign and film it? Perhaps you could campaign for people to love their teeth more (if you are a dentist for example), or create a campaign for people to make their grass greener (if you are a landscaper), make their fridays a family day (to promote your destination or restaurant etc), there are a million ideas! By creating a fun campaign you are promoting yourself and your services, giving valuable information out to people (you will need the campaign to be educational in some way for this to work), showing your business as caring and approachable and as the leader of the pack who thought of the campaign in the first place!
8. Raise money
If you run a charity or a social enterprise you can use a DVD to raise money. You could make a heartwarming film, a hard hitting film, a funny film etc and sell it to raise some cash. This can just be within your organisation or can be part of a wider community offering. Show you and your colleagues doing something unexpected - a dance, a song, a play and then sell it to their family and friends to raise some funds.
9. Show the success stories
If you are a hairdresser, why not do a whole lot of before and after stories? Get customers (with their permission of course) to tell you how they feel about the new hairstyle. Maybe you specialise in therapies such as acupuncture and can interview those customers who have had a particularly successful treatment and would love to be an advocate for what you do. If you run a mobile disco business, create a set-up where you can show everyone having a wonderful time (again, with permission). Virtually every business can create a film with satisfied customers to help promote what you do.
10. Introduce a new idea
Do you run workshops? Do you have a new idea that you want to promote? Why not film the workshop and share it with people via a DVD that they can purchase? If you have a new idea that is not well known yet then make a DVD so that people can learn more about it and start talking about it. If you are up for showing yourself as an authority on a certain subject then make a DVD and start selling your expertise to others who might need it. It can be an add on to an existing business or it could be the basis of the business itself - sell your expertise as a course available on a series of DVD's.
But how much will that cost??!
No comments:
Post a Comment