In business, you not only have to be an expert on the products you are selling, you also have to know what your customers are looking for. You have to keep a constant eye on what your competition is doing, and, ideally, you should closely monitor trends to try and guess where the future of products in your industry is headed, so you can be known as a leader instead of a follower. However, a business will never succeed if it gets a poor reputation, and by “poor” we do not necessarily mean just dissatisfied customers. Through the use of the Internet, today’s consumers have become smarter than ever, and they can catch on when it looks like a business is making exaggerated claims about their products.
With that being said, the good news is that you also have access to the same internet-based technology that your customers do, but you have to know which technologies to use and how to properly leverage them to your advantage. One of the best internet technologies you can use is video marketing, which is essentially creating videos that help to boost the reputation of your company.
Rather than putting all of your emphasis on trying to force products on customers, you could post weekly video tips talking about something that relates to the industry your business is in without hammering on the features and benefits of your products. For example, if you are selling youth baseball equipment, you could post an interview between a representative from your company and a sports-medicine doctor talking about why coaches need to monitor the number of pitches their young pitchers are throwing in a game. This would make customers see your company as one that actually cares about their well being instead of just making more profits each quarter.
Of course, you could also post a video talking about different foundations that your company supports. Perhaps, you could have an employee talk about how they had a family member suffer from a certain disease, which is why they convinced you, as the owner, to start a foundation to raise money for the cause or to donate to a foundation that is already in existence for this cause. This would create an emotional tie between you and the customer, and you might even get quite a few of them to donate to the cause, which would make your company stand out even better with the foundation. It truly is a deal that may seem like excessive work at first, but you will receive a huge pay off if you do this properly.
Many business owners make the mistake of putting all of their emphasis on making as much profit as possible and keeping employees happy. While both of these are obviously key factors in running a successful business, there comes a point in time where it also starts to project a selfish image for your company. Video marketing and online reputation management really do create the perfect marriage.
