At Dubb, we spend a lot of time observing great (and not so great) marketing videos. That said, one of our favorite marketing videos comes from TOMS Shoes. As you likely know, TOMS Shoes is a shoe company known for its “One For One” model, where the company delivers one pair of shoes to a child in need for every sale of TOMS’ retail product. Ever since its founding in the mid-2000s, TOMS has been a force in combining both profits and purpose.

In this particular marketing video—which is titled Shoes for Tomorrow—TOMS takes viewers on an emotional journey. The audience sees how their purchase of TOMS Shoes leads to a real difference in communities around the world. The three-minute video includes smiling children receiving TOMS Shoes and a concise description of TOMS’ mission statement. Ultimately, it tugs on the heartstrings and beautifully leverages the power of video in building a genuine connection with the audience.

I am bringing up the Shoes for Tomorrow ad for another reason, however. This ad is a perfect example of how small business owners can use video to grow their businesses. By showing the work that they do, the effect they have on all of their customers, and the overarching values that guide their work, TOMS was able to use this ad to grow its business. Since its release in 2012, the company has generated hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue and has donated tens of millions of shoes all around the world.

You can similarly leverage video marketing to accomplish your business goals. Whether you have just started a new venture or are looking for a way to take your business to the next level, you can create business videos that deliver real results. All it requires is consistent, deliberate action, a willingness to learn from the most effective marketing videos, and constant experimentation and iteration.

Because of this, I am going to share one key framework that Dubb has developed to help business owners create successful business videos. Read on to learn more.

Why We Don’t Get Started

But let’s back up. It’s unfortunate to say, but a good number of business owners fail to leverage the significant power of video marketing.

Why is this?

While there are many reasons, most of it comes down to mental barriers that we impose on ourselves. Especially in the beginning, it is extremely easy to think of excuses for why you can’t—or shouldn’t—create video content. You’re too busy with your day-to-day tasks. You’re trying to launch a new product or service or you are trying to hire your next employee.

As a business founder myself, I get it. There are too many things to do and too little time. However, I have found that focusing on this busyness is a convenient way to procrastinate on some tasks that we are simply afraid of tackling. In other words, it helps us avoid things that we know we should be doing but that we don’t necessarily want to do.

Often, the failure to get started with video marketing starts with anxiety about ourselves or our competitors. For us, we worry about how we’ll look on camera or how our friends or family will judge our videos. It is also easy to be intimidated by your competitors—especially larger competitors—creating awesome marketing videos. You see your competitors releasing good content onto the internet and feel bad that you aren’t doing the same. And even if you were going to get started, you feel insecure because you think that your videos aren’t going to be as compelling or as polished.

All of these factors build up significant resistance, making it extremely difficult to get started. And if you can’t quickly overcome this resistance, inertia will prevent you from ever taking action.

An Easy Way to Get Started

Because video marketing can be so beneficial for your business, it is in your best interest to get started—no matter how much anxiety you feel. No one is an expert in the beginning. There isn’t going to be a “perfect” time to start, so it’s best to just bite the bullet and begin today.

At Dubb, we have designed a simple way for small businesses to start creating business videos that actually deliver results. We call it the Blueprint Method. We designed this method as an easy way for businesses to look at successful video content and replicate those elements in their marketing videos.

The first step is to find a piece of video content. You shouldn’t choose any type of video, however. Look for compelling pieces of video content that have high engagement. Specifically, see how many comments, likes, shares, and view that the video has. You are ultimately going to use a particular video as a model for some of your content, so make sure that it has gained some traction on YouTube, Facebook, or another video platform.

After you select your video, the next step is to dissect your video. In other words, you want to carefully analyze the video and hypothesize why it is so successful. And when I say dissect the video, I really want you to dig into the details here. Analyze the framing, lighting, and sound of the video. See how the speaker or speakers pitch the product. Keep a close eye on the call to action (if any) that is in the video. Essentially, do your best to understand the element or elements that made this video so compelling to the audience.

At the same time, however, you do not necessarily want to rip off the video. Your video certainly shouldn’t be a shot-by-shot replica. Rather, you should identify the elements that you would like to reproduce in your own way and other elements that you want to ignore.

From this step, you will want to develop a plan. Planning is always important in business, but it is especially important when creating business videos that produce results. Using the inspiration from your model video, develop an idea of what you would like to create. Focus on creating content that your audience will find extremely valuable. Importantly, value doesn’t necessarily mean functional value. Value could come from a humorous or entertaining video that is only tangentially related to your product. Think about what you want your audience to take away from your video and develop your plan around that objective.

As part of this planning process, you also want to receive feedback on your plan. Focus on receiving objective feedback. One great way to do this is to join a learning community. For instance, Dubb’s Facebook learning community is a great hub for mutual feedback on video content.

Step four is focused on execution. Follow through with your plan. This is where it is easy to make excuses or put off your video shoot until “another day.” Unfortunately, that day may never come. Once you overcome this mental barrier, however, I encourage you to stick with your plan and shoot as many takes as necessary.

One important note here. The video acting as your model may have been created by a company with significantly more resources than you. You may not be able to reproduce certain elements of a million-dollar production, for instance. Keep this in mind and don’t get discouraged. Do the best you can with the resources that you have.

The last step of the Blueprint Method is focused on reiteration. If you develop a piece of content that gets great engagement, you will want to post that content to other places. A highly-converting YouTube video, for instance, can be a great asset to one of your landing pages or a future email to your email list. We at Dubb tend to think of this as cloning ourselves. We want our best converting content on as many platforms as possible. Doing this will surely help you advance toward your business goals.

Ultimately, the Blueprint Method can help you see a true return on investment from your video marketing campaigns. It helps business owners effectively leverage video without needing significant capital or extensive knowledge of video marketing.

Once you get started, you will eventually develop your style and find your voice. In the long run, this will make your marketing videos even more effective. Armed with experience and audience feedback, you will be able to create more and more engaging video content that your audience will truly love.

Leveling the Playing Field

Video marketing allows small business owners to compete with companies that are ten or one hundred times their size. Better yet, due to their small size, they can more quickly produce great content and don’t have to wade through bureaucratic red tape.

Because of this, I highly encourage you to leverage video marketing in your business. Whether you use the Blueprint Method or not, video marketing is an extremely effective tool that can help you accomplish your business goals. All you need to do is break through inertia and get started today.

If you are looking for an all-in-one video marketing solution, consider getting a free trial on Dubb.