How to Give Your Small Business a Competitive Advantage

By: Jenni Baty
Submitted: 2007-01-17 15:42:55
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Today’s small businesses face an uphill struggle. In addition to being in an intensely competitive marketplace, businesses must confront obstacles that larger firms don’t face, including a lack of financial resources, an increased need for visibility, a lack of brand recognition, and a shortage of qualified sales people. To compensate, small businesses must find a way to ratchet up their marketing communications programs.

What small businesses need is a dynamic, cost-effective way of marketing products and services, one that helps them battle competitors and capture market share. Enter the new contender in the marketing arena - video communications. Simple and easy to use, video communications, which includes video email, video on demand and video broadcasting, is helping to level the playing field for a growing number of small businesses. In fact businesses that have integrated video into their marketing strategies have reported a 300%-400% increase in responsiveness to their marketing message.

Video communications represents the next wave of marketing communications. It’s so powerful it’s revamping the way businesses communicate with customers and each other. With video communications, buyers can see that you stand behind your product and/or service. They also can relate to you as a person. And because they can SEE and HEAR you, they can connect with you on more than one level, creating credibility, excitement, and most importantly of all, trust.

Video communications also helps small business challenge companies with bigger marketing budgets, large sales forces, or better brand recognition, without the need for a large financial investment and it helps businesses distinguish themselves from the competition by promoting their unique selling proposition through a medium with the impact of television

Video communications is Ideal for both on and off line businesses, consultants, and professional services. Simple and easy to use, video communications puts a human touch back into the process of communicating with consumers, enabling sales reps, consultants, and professionals to generate “face time” with consumers, clients, and businesses without spending a great deal of time and money. In fact from just a few dollars a week businesses can integrate the power of video technology into their current marketing strategies.

Video communications offers numerous advantages over main stream marketing. In addition to increasing visibility and adding a personal touch to your e-mails and Web sites, video communications:

• generates qualified sales leads
• increases brand recognition
• provides uniformity of messages
• establishes credibility with customers
• generates higher retention rates
• shortens sales cycles
• increases click-through rates
• improves sales conversion figures

Video communications super-charges sales and profits with minimal cost and effort. And thanks to its effectiveness it’s growing increasingly popular with small businesses that are looking for a marketing edge. More important, it’s ideal for today’s time conscious and tech savvy consumers, whose interest in electronic devices, like ipods and mobile phones, continues to grow. As personal rich media goes mainstream, consumers will expect businesses to communicate this way. Those companies that don’t will struggle to remain competative.

Copyright 2006 Jenni BATY

Article by Jenni Baty, author of "Boost Profits with Innovative Marketing – 10 ways Video Communications can drive your marketing" - pick-up your Free Video Marketing Report from http://www.communicatingsuccess.com

Article source: Expert Articles