An online presence is critical to business in this day and age. In the online realm businesses want to attract a larger portion of their target market. But that often translates into a lot of money spent for their online efforts. This isn’t difficult for a large corporation. However most small businesses cannot afford to spend a great deal for online marketing. So how can a small business compete against the large corporations in the online battle? What can they do to boost their presence?

The answer will surprise few—video. According to Christian Vedder of Viral Video Marketing, “video content is the number one way to achieve your goals to inflate your presence, stretch your reach, increase visibility, and open the door to connect with your target audience.”

In order to increase your visibility online you need engaging content. As I’ve mentioned before, the written word can educate your customer but video makes your business more real. It builds connection. It allows your customer a glimpse inside your business. Many companies use personal touch with their clients such as personal phone calls or handwritten notes. A video can go beyond this. Because of the depth of the medium you can express a full range of emotions, explain things in much great detail and emotionally connect with your audience. And best of all one video can speak to literally thousands of your customers.

A personal video on your website can help remind customers why they came to you in the first place. It’s not all about price or what features or products you have to offer. It’s about the personal connection they feel when they think of your company. And isn’t that really what your brand should be all about?

Additionally video allows you to promote your business across various platforms—your website, social media like LinkedIn or your company FaceBook page, blog etc. And videos can go viral. What’s not to like about your potential customers sharing your company video on their social media channels.

And speaking of sharing, your company should have a Youtube channel. This allows a great place for you to add videos relevant to your business. Now I recommend that the videos you place on your website be hosted in a way that no ads or pop ups occur during viewing. All videos we produce for customers are hosted by a corporate video host that has no ads or pop ups and allows for smooth replay on various devices. However by then placing your company videos on your Youtube channel you are reaching a greater audience as well as helping your SEO.

The bottom line is that videos online can assist a small business in reaching a much larger audience. People want to see not read so think how to reach more customers with a video for your company.