Young businesses with limited financial resources are always looking for low-cost, or even free, ways to advertise their products or brand while still achieving high results. Below are five ways to advertise products with free video that can bring many positive and promising results for small businesses on their startup journey.
Ways to advertise products with videos for free.
In recent years, video advertising has often attracted more viewers and customers than traditional image or text-based advertising. Combining it with other advertising platforms like Facebook Ads, Zalo Ads, TikTok Ads, Google Ads, YouTube Ads, or partnering with KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) allows for closer contact with potential customers, sparking curiosity and interaction from viewers interested in the product and the business.
Advertising videos on various platforms often comes with a significant cost.
However, all of the above methods require a significant investment to be effective. There are cases where large sums of money have been invested in marketing through running ads or collaborating with other companies. influencer However, this still fails to generate revenue or profit because it targets the wrong potential customer segment. These costs are a significant amount for new startup businesses.
However, businesses can still advertise product videos completely free of charge by leveraging the influence of other media channels. In fact, not only small businesses but even large corporations invest heavily in these free marketing channels because they can deliver high conversion rates, require minimal investment, and utilize readily available resources.
Specifically, some media channels that businesses often utilize as free product advertising tools include:
YouTube
When talking about video, it's impossible not to mention the "empire of the video world" – YouTube. You can find any interesting content with just a few simple keywords on this platform. Product videos are also often advertised on YouTube through channels with many followers and views to attract the curiosity of customers.
Small businesses can also create their own YouTube channels and upload product videos for free advertising. Creating YouTube accounts is extremely simple and quick, requiring only personal information such as email address, phone number, etc. Additionally, businesses can combine this with SEO to effectively push keywords related to their products or brand to the top of Google search results.
YouTube currently offers two video formats: short videos and long videos. Businesses can choose the appropriate format depending on their purpose. However, for new channels, the number of views and reach to new customers are often not very high, especially with long videos. Even so, businesses should aim for long-term YouTube strategy, with a consistent interface, logo, clear information, and product category to easily promote to potential customers.
TikTok
In recent years, the trend of free marketing via TikTok has yielded many positive results for numerous businesses. Every day, hundreds of thousands, even millions, of new videos are uploaded by both individuals and large and small businesses, demonstrating the platform's immense value and appeal. Therefore, startups looking for free video advertising for their products should definitely not overlook this lucrative opportunity.
TikTok is one of the most widely used free video advertising platforms today.
The popular format on TikTok is short videos, ranging from a few tens of seconds to a few minutes, which are easier to trend and reach customers. The more unique, interesting, distinctive, or trend-following a video is, the easier it is to go viral. Because TikTok encourages short videos, businesses need to make an impression on viewers within the first 3 seconds to attract them to watch the entire video.
It can be said that many businesses have truly been revived and saved a significant amount of marketing investment costs through these measures. Product advertising video on TikTok ShopJust one viral advertising video can help a business achieve dream revenue and attract a large number of potential new customers. In addition, other products, even those not featured in the trending video, benefit from the buzz, becoming more visible to customers and generating sales.
However, it's important to understand that while TikTok is a fertile ground for businesses, not everyone can thrive there. Many factors influence the virality of TikTok videos, including luck. Therefore, businesses should consider a multi-platform approach and avoid relying too heavily on TikTok alone to achieve desired results.
Before TikTok's massive expansion, Facebook was one of the platforms that businesses of all sizes invested heavily in for marketing. Facebook's strength lies in its ability to advertise products in all formats, from text and images to videos. Therefore, businesses could leverage these features to create Facebook accounts, both to build their brand image and to promote their products.
Keeping up with user trends, Facebook quickly integrated features like Facebook Video and Facebook Reel, offering powerful customer reach comparable to TikTok. Furthermore, Facebook allows businesses to upload videos up to several hours long to meet various promotional needs. Given that most Vietnamese people use Facebook for daily communication and work, it truly is a free product video advertising platform that cannot be overlooked.
For advertising purposes, it's necessary to combine both personal Facebook profiles and Fanpages to build a polished brand image for the business. Additionally, businesses that upload advertising videos to Facebook or Fanpages should pay attention to factors such as size, file size, and resolution to ensure sharp, high-quality videos that make a good impression on customers.
Instagram also offers businesses, especially those in the fashion or image-related industries, the opportunity to advertise their products with videos for free and effectively. Instagram's interface is incredibly user-friendly; however, it only allows posting images or videos, often with text captions. Therefore, brands that invest in visually appealing, colorful, and artistic products are well-suited for advertising on this platform.
Instagram is also a popular platform for advertising product videos, with high view counts.
Similar to Facebook, Instagram also has Reel features, allowing users who are not friends with or follow a profile to view videos or posts. Additionally, businesses can combine this with posting short video stories about their products, which is very effective in attracting new viewers.
Manual seeding
One free way to advertise product videos that most small and large businesses utilize is manual video link seeding on various platforms. Simply put, this involves commenting on video links in posts or groups with high engagement to proactively find and reach potential customers.
The advantage of this method is that it is inexpensive and does not require excessive investment of time or effort because it can utilize readily available resources. The click-through rate of customers to learn about the product is also quite high, potentially generating revenue and interaction from new viewers.
However, excessive commenting can lead to spamming flags on platforms, and can even annoy users if there are too many comments. You could also be blocked, or your profile reported, potentially restricting interaction with businesses or even resulting in account suspension if you receive too many violation notices.
Are free product video ads effective?
Marketing is an indispensable part of any business's journey in building a brand and reaching customers. Products made without advertising will almost certainly not generate revenue, even for large, established businesses. However, the cost of advertising and PR activities is considerable, and can be considered a significant burden, especially for new businesses.
Whether or not utilizing free product video advertising solutions is effective depends on many factors. Some businesses can generate hundreds or thousands of orders with just one short, trending clip, while others may post dozens or hundreds of clips but still receive no orders, have low view counts, and fail to attract new customers.
Whether using free product video advertising or paid advertising methods, businesses need to invest in the product, image quality, and choosing the right platform.
To effectively advertise products with free video, businesses need to combine it with appropriate and smart strategies. For example...
- Focus on content: One of the simplest ways to attract viewers is to create videos with engaging, interesting, and creative content. Viewers may not know about the business yet, but interesting content will certainly get high views, stimulating interaction, sharing, and subsequent learning about the product. Even if the video is an advertisement, avoid overly obvious product introductions or focus, as this can easily bore viewers. Instead, build videos in the form of short stories, naturally incorporating images or product features to gain viewer favor.
- Choose the right platform: TikTok is suitable for short video formats, while YouTube is better for longer videos… Each platform is compatible with different video format characteristics, so you need to research carefully to adjust your video content accordingly. Of course, original advertising videos can still be uploaded to many platforms, but you need to adjust the size, dimensions, and style to avoid copyright issues and ensure compatibility with each platform.
- Video quality: A video used for advertising and attracting customers needs to be sharp, clear, and polished. Especially on platforms with a large user base like YouTube or TikTok, using blurry videos will create a negative impression on viewers, making them want to quickly skip past the video. Furthermore, poor-quality videos fail to highlight the product effectively.
- Exciting programs: Instead of investing in advertising or hiring KOLs, you can use that money to create promotions, discounts, or giveaways. Incorporating this information into free product advertising videos is also a simple way to attract customers, increase engagement, and generate viewer interest.
- Commitment to quality: The primary purpose of product video advertising remains sales, revenue generation, and brand value. Therefore, focusing solely on advertising investment without prioritizing product quality will not lead to a sustainable customer base and will quickly result in being eliminated from the market. When a product is high-quality and reasonably priced, customers will seek it out even without extensive advertising.
In reality, the success of free product video advertising depends not only on the factors mentioned above but also on a bit of "luck" and timing. Many businesses only need one or two simple, trend-following "caption videos" to attract tens of thousands of views, while others invest in professional, high-quality videos over a long period but still don't see results.
In general, for free product video advertising to be effective, businesses must accept the fact that sales may not meet expectations in the beginning. Persistence, investment in creative content, ensuring product quality, and multi-platform marketing are the best ways for early-stage startups to save costs while still generating stable revenue. However, if this marketing approach doesn't yield positive results over the long term, businesses should still consider investing in advertising to reach customers and create other desired value propositions.
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