10 Reasons Not to Use Video Content to Promote Your Business

Every so often you meet someone who genuinely believes they don’t need video content for their business. Not because they’ve thought it through — because they haven’t. The reasons usually sound like this:

“Everyone’s doing it, so it’s crowded.” YouTube had over a billion mobile video views per day at the time this was written. Being in a crowded space is not the same as being invisible in it. Being bad is what makes you invisible.

“My audience doesn’t watch video.” Your audience has a smartphone. Everyone’s audience watches video.

“It’s too expensive.” The range of what video costs is enormous. A well-produced thirty-second spot is not the same budget conversation as a series of short social clips. Knowing what your goal is before the production conversation determines what you actually need to spend.

“I don’t know how to measure it.” View counts are a starting metric, not the only one. Completion rates, click-through from video to conversion, brand search lift after a campaign — these are all measurable. Not measuring doesn’t mean it’s not working.

“It won’t look professional.” If you hire the right people, it will. If you’re using your phone and a ring light with no production planning, this concern is valid and the solution is to hire someone who knows what they’re doing.

“We tried it and it didn’t work.” What was the content? Where did it run? What did it ask people to do? “We made a video once” is not the same as a video content strategy.

“We’ll do it next quarter.” You’ve been saying this.

“Our competitors aren’t doing it.” That’s not a reason not to — that’s a gap.

“We don’t have time.” Production is a managed process. You don’t have to run it yourself.

“I just don’t believe in it.” That’s not a strategy. That’s a preference.

The businesses that wait for certainty before investing in video are watching the businesses that didn’t wait build the audience they wanted.