Business Video on an SMB Budget

Note from Kelly Curnow, Small Business Community Manager: These days, videos are a lot easier and more affordable to produce. And by uploading videos to video sharing sites like YouTube, you create a great opportunity to engage and connect with customers around the world. The following is a guest post from David H. Deans, Principal Consultant at GeoActive Group USA. David provides great advice on how easy it is to create business videos.

When most people think of business video they assume that it’s a “talking heads” presenter or other mundane content that lacks originality. There’s an alternative, and it’s within the budget of most small business owners.

Here are some practical suggestions you can apply today.

Combine royalty free stock video clips to create one or two minute mash-ups that include short text titles. The finished production is far more engaging than most typical PowerPoint presentations.

As an example, I wanted to share statistics about the growth of the online video market, and armed with some stock footage of nature scenes, plus a little imagination — I created a video vignette — in this case using volcano eruption imagery.

While you can easily upload your video creations to sites like YouTube, there are other creative applications to consider. Case in point, when I go to a lunch meeting, I sometimes show people my videos on my handheld display.

If I’m presenting at a seminar of conference, I often include one of my videos that’s stored on a USB flash drive – this enables easy access to my multimedia content when I’m traveling without my notebook computer.

Last, but not least, I’ve used my videos at trade show booths to engage attendees that pass by. Armed with only my Dell notebook computer and a secondary 15 inch flat panel display, I’ve looped my video playback to create an inexpensive digital signage solution.

Now, I know that you may be thinking that this is all easier said than done. Well, consider this fact. I’ve had no formal video production training – I’m self-taught. That said, I encourage you to start experimenting with Windows Movie Maker immediately.

For those who are ready to spice up your video arrangements, then I recommend the affordable Sony Vegas software product family.