5 Things Holding You Back From Creating Videos For Your Business and How To Overcome Them

What’s stopping you from starting video marketing for your business?

Whenever I start working with a new business I always hear the same 5 reasons and the funny thing is, most of them aren’t really valid. 

So today I wanted to run through the 5 things holding you back from creating videos for your business and most importantly how to overcome them. Watch the video below or scroll down for the text version.

1. You aren’t good on camera

You have no idea how many people stop themselves from creating videos because they believe they are rubbish in front of the camera.  I’m going to let you in on a little secret, pretty much everyone is awful when they first try it.  I mean just look at my first video for my YouTube channel below. 

This is an example of a bad video.

Stiff, wooden and painful, I hope you agree that I have improved since then.

Presenting, whether it is in front of a few people, a large crowd or in a video is a skill and just like any skill, it can be learnt, how do you learn?  Practise!

An easy way to start is by filming yourself for 1 minute every day, you don’t have to talk about anything in particular, your breakfast, your plans for the day, it doesn’t matter as you can delete it straight after.  It's getting you used to the weird feeling of talking to a lens.

After doing this for a few days, pick a topic that you are passionate about, maybe your favourite band or movie and try and talk about it for at least a minute if not more.  It’s a lot easier to talk about a subject that you are naturally passionate about.  

Now it’s time to watch your video back.  Prepare yourself, you are probably going to cringe BUT by watching the video you are starting to pick up the things that you do and don’t like in your delivery such as smiling too much or not enough, your vocal range isn’t varied and you sound a bit monotonous or you struggle to keep your eyes on the lens and you are looking around too much.

Just remember, the only way we learn is by making mistakes and correcting them in the future.  

Another thing to keep in mind is that we are always our own worst critics.  This is why it’s important, when you are confident enough, to show someone who will give you honest feedback.  If they say you look great, trust them.

2. You don’t have the right equipment

We all want to make top quality videos for our businesses but you probably don’t have the 10,000 hours of learning and practise to become a master. 

This is why I always say for your important videos like on your website homepage or adverts you should pay for a professional BUT affording a production company for all your social video might be out of your price range.

Why should that hold you back?

Do you have a phone?  Is it newer than 5 years old?  Then it’s good enough to make videos with.

The phone by itself is a powerful tool but there are some cheap bits of equipment you can buy to make your videos look even better like a tripod to get steady shots and stop all of that horrible shake that makes the viewers keep scrolling in their timelines.  Lights to instantly improve the look of your video and control what your viewers pay attention to in your video.  And a microphone so that your audience can clearly hear your message.

You can easily get a microphone, light and tripod for under £100.  If that is too much just buy it piece by piece, starting with the microphone.

3. You don’t have the time

If I were to ask you what’s the one thing you are lacking in your business you would probably say time.  I know it’s always a struggle for me to find the balance between working in my business and on my business.

But I bet there are things that you do in your business which don’t actually push your company forward!  For me, it’s overusing social media.  

Now, I know the power of social media and what it can bring to my business but is the one hour I am spending every day really giving a return?

Instead, now I plan 30 minutes of social media into my day and then close the tab after.  This also helps keep my mind focused on the task at hand by removing distractions.

What can you limit in your business that will give you the time to focus on creating videos?  Could you add an extra 20 minutes at the end of your day as video time?

I know you might be saying, ‘but videos take so long to make!’  Yes, they do but the more you do it the quicker you get at it.  Not only that but you can also repurpose your videos into more content.

Take the above video as an example. 

I have the full video on YouTube but I will then cut the big video up into 5 shorter videos which I will post on social media, linking back to the main video.  I will also pull out some quotes which I will write on images and use them as separate posts.  Lastly, I will turn this video into the blog post you are reading now as well as a LinkedIn article with the YouTube video embedded at the top.  As I have already written a script for this video it will take me no time at all.

4. You don’t know what to make videos about

This is definitely a common concern but I wonder if it’s actually option paralysis. 

Think of all the questions that you get asked by your new and existing customers all the time.  If people are asking you then you know they are going to be searching for it online.

Just off the top of my head, a few examples for me could be:

• What’s better an animated or real video? 

• Do I need to appear in my business videos? 

• Can I make my own business videos? 

• How much does business video production cost?’  

Once you start creating videos like these you will start noticing the questions you get asked that you can turn into future videos.

Want to take it a step further?  Why not use the videos in your sales process? 

If you know that you get asked the same 5 questions by every new customer why don’t you make 1 video addressing these points?  You can then ask your customer to watch the video before your meeting meaning they are more informed and ready to talk about the things that really matter.

5. You are worried that no-one will watch your videos

What if I put my video out there and it gets 0 views?  I’m not going to lie, it is a possibility…  If you do nothing to promote your video!

When you are starting out don’t expect to be getting 1000 views on your videos straight away. 

Video marketing, especially on YouTube is a long term game so you may not see results for months.  You are building up a bank of content for YouTube to suggest to its users meaning you will get a snowball effect. 

Someone likes your video and they then watch another 5 of your videos meaning that YouTube will then suggest those 6 videos to more of its users and so on.  If you don’t have any content then YouTube will suggest someone else’s video, see how it works?

But what if your business is just too boring.  I don’t think you realise just how weird people are.  Whatever you make videos about, there’s an audience for it. 

Ask a mortician? 1.3 million subscribers. 

A guy sitting and smiling for 4 hours a day, 25 million views. 

A guy licking stuff?  230k subscribers.

There’s an audience for your content and it doesn’t just have to be your customers.  But the only way to find that audience is to actually put your stuff out there.

I’d like to finish by saying done is better than perfect.  We are all looking for perfection when it comes to our business and this is a noble goal but it does mean that you will never put anything out there.  Especially because as we get better, our idea of perfection changes.  

Instead, release your content, learn what works and what doesn’t and make better videos in the future.

So what are you waiting for? Get started today!