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Scaling your business: Reviews and videos can help get commerce off the ground

How do business leaders know it’s time to take it to the next level? Which factors may indicate that you need to expand your current business operations, and what tools will help you reach new heights?

When you need to scale up your business

A company has to constantly move forward, or it fails. No business tolerates stagnation, especially a creative process. Doing business is being creative. You just need to know when it’s time to scale your business, and when it’s better to wait.

Let’s say you have opened a coffee shop. With your income roughly equal to your costs, it would probably be premature to consider a second outlet in a neighboring area. At this stage, you need to focus on building your customer base to increase revenue first. The state of your business actually offers cues that you’ve outgrown your current space and it is time to take your business to the next level:

  • You have more customers, and new ones keep coming;
  • Your staff’s productivity and skills have increased;
  • Your company is consistently making money;
  • You have the funds to grow;
  • You’re ready to change your policy: You begin to focus more on packaging, service or reputation, in addition to manufacturing proper.

Why do you need to scale your business?

It would seem that the answer is obvious: You scale your business to make it even more profitable. This is certainly right, but expansion brings more benefits than just the money. Growing can offer less obvious opportunities, including:

  • To explore new markets;
  • To increase the status with investors;
  • To become a leading brand;
  • To improve the company’s resilience to crises;
  • To expand your influence and attract more customers.

Ways to scale a company

Once you know that the factors that support a business expansion are in place, there are different ways to act. Namely, you can try one of the following strategies:

  • Open branches in other areas of the city or in other cities, to raise customer awareness of your products or services; that should boost your customer base.
  • Expand your inventory to offer additional goods or services.
  • Optimize your costs – reduce expenses without sacrificing quality.
  • Go online: launch a website and expand social media presence to attract more customers.
  • Host various events to enhance brand recognition. Consumers are more inclined to purchase from a familiar brand.
  • Cultivate a personal brand. Establishing trust with the audience is easier when there is a specific individual associated with the company. A personal brand also contributes to reinforcing business relationships.
  • Introduce a franchise model – grant the right to use the company name.
  • Implement diverse advertising and marketing strategies.

Most accomplished entrepreneurs have employed nearly all of these methods at some point. However, the last point frequently poses challenges and warrants a distinct explanation. It is common knowledge that advertising drives sales, and it is indispensable if one wants to expand a business successfully. Yet, not everyone is aware of the type of advertising and the opportune and advantageous moments to use it.

Video advertising for various stages of company development

Successful commerce in is currently inconceivable without a personal brand, and a personal brand thrives on effective video advertising. While text advertising has its place, video has the capacity to reach a significantly larger audience in the same time frame. However, for videos to be impactful and beneficial, consistency is key. A practical illustration is the YouTube channel that belongs to a doctor. The channel initially struggled for success until it adopted a consistent approach. In the first three years, the channel garnered only 1.5 million views and was eventually abandoned. Upon revival, it underwent a transformation: it diversified its themes for a broader audience, revamped the cover design, and altered script approaches. With regular updates featuring new videos, the channel amassed 2 million views in just six months. The consistent maintenance of the channel proved effective in attracting new customers. In a span of five months, over 40 people sought paid consultations with the doctor, all of whom discovered them through the videos. Presently, the channel boasts 300,000 daily views, a continuously growing subscriber base, and a clinic with a six-month waiting list for paid operations. These clients, too, were introduced to the clinic and the doctor through the videos.

At every phase of business development, it is recommended to employ various forms of video advertising, necessitating a well-thought-out strategy. A lack of expertise in this area can lead to the inefficient use of the advertising budget, resulting in losses. Business development can be broadly categorized into three stages, each demanding its own suitable and beneficial video advertising approach.

First stage. During the initial stages of company development, investing in an extensive and costly video may not be justified. Business inherently involves risks, and in its early phase, it is particularly vulnerable. With limited awareness, a small or nonexistent client base, and modest profits, there is a heightened risk that if the commercial idea falters, the funds spent on advertising cannot be recouped. These resources might be more beneficial for realizing another business concept. At the outset, it is more suitable and pragmatic to opt for the most economical or even free online advertising options such as videos on your company’s website, social media platforms, and video hosting sites. Even if these videos have a modest budget and lack expensive 3D graphics, ensuring coverage across various platforms can yield impressive content with a substantial viewership, potentially converting them into customers.

Second stage. Once the company has found its footing, consistently receiving orders for goods or services, establishing efficient logistics and supplies, and operating a functional sales department, it becomes feasible to allocate funds towards high-quality video advertising. This investment can facilitate the scaling of the business.

During this phase, opting for an expert interview and a presentation film about the company is appropriate. Rather than cutting costs, it is advisable to engage a skilled professional capable of producing quality videos. Such video ad formats do not provide large coverage as they rather designed for a narrow audience, exhibitions and conferences. And yet, the amount of viewers could be increased through word-of-mouth. In one case study, a company marketer noticed an influx of new customers that occurred mostly due to recommendations from the company’s regular clients. The company chose the popular word-of-mouth marketing method, making a brief presentation video that could be shared with other clients via messengers. It worked: customers began sending the video to each other, increasing the company’s client base by several times.

As the clientele grows, so does the company – and video advertising techniques have to keep up. In another case, a dealer company evolved into a manufacturer but was still viewed in the market exclusively as a dealer. No-one was aware of the scale-up, which prompted the company to make a new video and provide an update to regular clients while attracting new ones, who started ordering goods from the company as a manufacturer rather than a dealer.

However, it would be wrong to think that a single presentation video is enough. Life is ever-changing, as is business. Companies should stick to using video ads, an approach that proved useful for them at the initial stage; they should continue making short video ads for social media, as well as video reviews and product videos, to be posted on their websites and video hosting sites. All these formats constitute an overall advertising strategy aimed at your company’s recognition, development and scaleup. 

Third stage. With the business running and the market won, as has been customer trust, your company needs to gain ground. At this phase, video advertising should similarly include reviews and short videos to be posted on the company’s website and available online platforms. However, it is particularly important to develop and showcase a unified brand message, the company’s raison d’être, for the audience to see that your business not only produces and sells goods but also communicates everlasting values that everyone cherishes.

Such values could be best expressed through a corporate video. When made meticulously by professionals, it will bring together all of the company’s ads and reviews to share the core message that will enhance the company’s image.

A corporate video evokes emotions in viewers, creating a positive impression of the business and its owner, which makes it an efficient tool for scaling an already successful enterprise. Such videos are a pinnacle of the art of advertising; they can increase the company’s recognition in the market for years to come.

Which video ads should you invest in?

Regardless of the stage, any business owner is always striving for development. A business simply cannot stand still for a long time, with competitors always near and eager to overtake. For an enterprise, lack of progress almost always means its demise. At each stage of commercial development, you must know about scaling tools to use and video advertising methods to choose.

There’s no point in ordering a corporate video at the outset; the company has to evolve and go through all development stages. Yet, regardless of the phase, short videos for social media, product reviews and informational videos would be appropriate, with plenty of online platforms for placing such content. The more videos are offered about a company, executive, product or service, the faster the business will grow and evolve. These videos will help enhance the company’s image, providing the opportunity for quick scaleup. Such efforts should be taken daily to make your presence known to your potential clients.

Those who have gone through the two initial business development stages and achieved a certain success can opt for more expensive video advertising methods to promptly and exponentially boost the company’s recognition, with a commercial producer who creates commercials for advertising purposes to help choose the most effective ad format.

By Tatyana Rogachyova, General Producer, Co-Owner, Sales Video Production commercial ads studio

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