If you were able to read past our silly little headline, congratulations! You are certainly in for a treat! Just to be clear, this isn’t about that microscopic camera people take with them skydiving. “Going pro” is about leveraging professionals in a given field to accelerate your small business. Obviously, there are many facets to running a small business, but a few of those things should be left to professionals. Which things? Well, depending on your business that may vary. As a video production business, we understand marketing, so we wanted to focus on two areas of marketing that should be left to the pros.
Welcome to the wild, wild web.
If you own a small business and are currently without a website…what are you doing with your life!? In all seriousness, you absolutely need to have a website. To take it a step further, what you really need is a professionally crafted website. Regardless of what type of business you operate, a professional website legitimizes that business.
Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer. If your potential customer does an internet search for businesses in your field, whom do you think they’ll choose? A business that appears legitimate with a website or a business that has a social media link as the business card. People want to work with and buy from trusted sources.
Many times in business you get only one chance. Just one chance to put your best foot forward. Not only does a website legitimize your business, but it’s a visual representation of your business. Imagine walking into a brick-and-mortar shop that is a complete mess. Are you going to stay and shop? Of course not! In many ways, your website is very much the same. There are a multitude of reasons why your business needs a website, but this one may be the most compelling for why it needs to be done by a professional. Again, it’s about putting your best foot forward. A professional web design business is going to make that happen. Not only will they make it look great, but also fluent and functional. Being your one and only chance to impress a client, your website needs to work flawlessly. If anything is broken or doesn’t look right, your potential client is going to move on very quickly.
We cannot stress the importance of what it means to have a professional website and we’re not even web designers! If you are in need of a professional site we highly recommend working with a local business. Not only will you get individualized attention, but they’ll better understand the market in which you operate. Here in the Boston area, there are many great choices! One of our favorites is Mandile Web Design, based out of Waltham. They have an excellent eye for design and the customer service is top-notch. A professionally built website really is a game changer for your business and again, that’s why we highly recommend checking out your local area web design businesses. Once you’ve hired a pro web designer they’ll certainly take care of the nuts and bolts, but you’ll need to manage and decide what the content is that drives your business. What’s an example of that? Keep reading…
This is so shocking you may want to sit.
Video! Yeah, that’s right. The video production company is telling you to hire a professional for your video marketing. We get this doesn’t look great, but it is an undeniable fact! We could go on and on about the facts and figures proving the importance of video marketing, but…..we already sort of did that in our text v. video blog post. What we’re focusing on here is something that piggybacks off of why you need to hire a web design pro. It’s all about putting your best foot forward for that one opportunity. If you’ve had a beautiful website designed are you then going to post a video shot with your cell phone? That’s a complete credibility hit. By hiring professionals you’re taking control of your image. While it’s important to properly present your business through your website, the video portion of that site is a huge factor in showing who you are. Statistics show that when potential clients arrive on your site, one of the first things they’ll do is click that video. If that video isn’t at least up to par, you can almost guarantee they’ll be looking elsewhere. Now if you don’t even have a video on your website…well, let’s not even go there. Let’s just say, call us ASAP!
Having a pro website with pro video is obviously important, but there are so many other instances where having pro video is critical for your business. While having pro video on your website is a great start, it’s truly not enough. Your company image extends far beyond your site and that’s where social media comes into play. Let’s be honest, social media is full of garbage. You could scroll endlessly through a whole lot of bad video on social media. However, imagine your business being that one bright light in a dark void. Something that so clearly stands out of the crowd and above the rest. Social media has become a major player for business marketing and having pro video on your social media channels is paramount. Not only does pro video draw attention, but once again it projects that professional image.
To go pro or go home, that is the question.
Any business can generate its own marketing, but generating effective marketing is difficult. That’s the big difference between outsourcing and doing it on your own. The pros will know what to do to help accelerate your business. Inevitably there will be costs associated with outsourcing, but the ROI will almost always outweigh the cost. So should you always “Go pro?” Well, not necessarily. There are many types of businesses and the reality is that they are very case by case. When deciding on whether or not to hire an external vendor, the first thing to do is your homework. Pick up the phone and reach out to a local business. Most small marketing businesses would be more than happy to help determine what’s right for you. In addition, research businesses and make sure they’re reputable before hiring. Get the information you need to make an educated decision. Not every situation requires hiring a professional, but when it does you should always be prepared. If you feel your business is ready to take the leap and accelerate your marketing, give us a call. We’d be happy to help you decide if “Going pro” is right for you.