The fastest way to earn a customer is to be useful before you ask for anything. Educational video does that better than any other format available to a small business right now, and it is being ignored by most of them because they are still waiting until they can afford to look like a television advert.
The buying decision happens before you meet them
Google’s research into what it calls the Zero Moment of Truth made the underlying point several years ago: people do their research long before they ever contact a business. By the time someone calls you, they have already read, watched, and compared. The only question worth asking is whether the material they learned from was yours or a competitor’s.
This is why teaching outperforms selling at this stage. A polished commercial interrupts someone who was not asking. A two minute tutorial answers a question they typed in themselves, which means you arrive as help rather than as an interruption.
Formats that work, roughly in order of effort
| Format | Effort | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| Single-question how-to | Low. One take, one topic, ten minutes to film. | Capturing search demand. This is where most small businesses should start. |
| Explainer | Medium. Needs a script and usually some graphics. | Making a complicated product or service understandable enough to be considered. |
| Short tip clips | Low. Can be cut from longer footage you already have. | Social distribution and staying visible between bigger pieces. |
| Behind the scenes | Low, but needs a genuine willingness to be seen. | Trust and differentiation. Hardest for a competitor to copy. |
| Customer walkthrough | High. Requires coordination and consent. | Late stage, when someone is deciding between you and one other option. |
The pattern worth noticing is that the cheapest formats are the ones that map most directly to search demand. A how-to video answering one specific question is both the easiest thing to make and the most likely to be found by someone who needs it.
Answer the questions you are already being asked
You do not need keyword research to start. Whoever answers the phone at your business is repeating the same five explanations every week. Those are your first five videos. They are pre-validated by real customers, you already know the words people use to ask them, and you will never run out because the questions keep arriving.
Keep a running list for a fortnight before filming anything. The list is more valuable than the camera.
You do not need a film crew
Clear audio, decent light, and a genuine answer beat expensive production with nothing to say. If you spend money on one thing, spend it on a microphone rather than a camera. Viewers forgive imperfect footage and abandon bad sound within seconds.
- Film facing a window rather than with your back to one.
- Get the microphone close to the speaker, which matters more than what the microphone cost.
- Say what the video covers in the first ten seconds so people know they are in the right place.
- End with one specific next step, not a general invitation to get in touch.
- Write a real description and title using the words customers actually use, since that is what makes the video findable.
Related reading
Key takeaways
- People research before they contact you, so the question is only whose material taught them.
- Start with the five questions your team answers on the phone every week.
- Spend on audio before video. Bad sound loses viewers faster than bad footage.
- Titles and descriptions decide whether the video is ever found.
- Close with one specific next step rather than a general invitation.
Sources
- ZMOT: Winning the Zero Moment of Truth, Think with Google (2011)
- Video Marketing
- Content Marketing
Written by
Valon BadivukuDigital Strategist
Valon Badivuku is a Digital Strategist at ThisCom, helping brands get seen and become visible online through strategies that turn attention into lasting growth.
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