If you are a local business owner who is looking to leverage video in order to gain new leads in your area, then you may not necessarily yet be aware of the various options you have. Just one video, if it resonates with your desired audience, can be used in at least a dozen ways online to help you grow your business.

Please note that in the current era, the videos must connect with your audience(s). This requires authenticity. The days of the older, overly-scripted, “inauthentic” (perhaps even considered to be “cheesy” by a younger audience) video just won’t do much for you. Most people now are turned off by video which looks like an advertisement or heavily-scripted content. They may even consider it that you are trying to be “fake” or otherwise defraud them, even if that is not your intent at all.

There are many types of videos which can be used to help your business. Here are just a few examples of ones which have helped to generate sales in the current time period, in this case the end of 2024 and first half of 2025.

• Testimonials and reviews from actual customers/clients

• Before/after video footage, such as with a luxury landscaper or home remodeling contractor

• Showing little-known features about your business or actual establishment, such as a restaurant which has a private room for parties - yet isn’t known by most of the restaurant’s repeat patrons

• Customer appreciation footage showing real people having a good time

• Leveraging other people’s videos enjoying your business, such as including them in a playlist or otherwise getting the rights to use the video footage

• Product demonstration, including helping people with common problems

• Screen recording videos

• Converting audio-based content, such as a podcast or local radio station interview, into a video which offers benefits

• Problem-solving video footage which can range from helping people find something locally, all the way dealing with commonly-accepted problems such as how to deal with record heat or cold weather in your area

• If you can get the rights to use the video footage for marketing purposes, any local media outlet which has featured you favorably

• Many other types of videos for local purposes

While you may have your preferred online platforms to share video content, let’s go through a few examples of local businesses which leveraged their video content to help generate new sales or long-term clients. Hopefully you discover new possibilities for your existing, and future, videos which offer value to your prospective customers or clients.

In no particular order:

1. Combing your own videos and other people’s videos into YouTube playlists, targeting your specific geographic area. This example features multiple YouTube playlists, targeting the company’s multiple locations, having fun at bars where guests can sing and dance to live music:

2. This playlist takes videos from the business as well as authoritative statewide news stations’ YouTube channels, and combines them to offer value to both local and statewide audiences. Texas allows for parent taught driver education to be taken online for teens ages 14 to 17, so this playlist addresses the statewide audience - and it has some additional local benefit as well:

3. This local HVAC company offers residential service across several counties. It is in an area known to have extreme weather swings during the year, as low as below zero degrees in winter to over 105 degrees in the summer. It is a tips-based, explanation “short” video which is less than 90 seconds. It also is in the vertical orientation, and this allows for uploading to YouTube Shorts, Instagram, Facebook Reels, and TikTok.

It can be shared easily on the company’s Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) in order to give the company’s “Maps profile” more content and helping prospective customers discover the company:

4. Some videos combine music, excitement, and technology such as some drone footage. One example is a local luxury used auto dealer who made this video for Instagram & Facebook to reach desired audiences, but it also was able to have benefit inside YouTube as well:

5. One way to show authenticity and longevity for a local business is to have video footage combining real testimonials plus customer appreciation. Such a video from a local chiropractic clinic’s 20th anniversary patient appreciation event can be seen here:

6. An example of a video targeting a nationwide audience still can be used for local purposes, such as a local dog appreciation event in a big city where the company either sponsors the local event and/or has a booth at the local event. The video, showing the product’s benefits & features, can be used in a local ad campaign (YouTube or Facebook) such as targeting dog owners wanting to protect their car seats who live in/near the city:

7. Most local business owners aren’t aware of the latest cybersecurity and malware threats. It takes a dedicated business, dedicated to serving a growing area, a willingness to share latest threats to a business owner especially in smaller towns. Here is one such video about the new “deepfake” threats to business owners:

8. Even a traditional scripted video production effort for a local business, such as a local plumbing company serving towns just outside a major U.S. city, need to be good for branding purposes. This kind of video even can be optimized for ranking well inside YouTube and possibly the search engines, such as when you see a video ranking in the search engines for a local search or a “near me” search you may make. This particular example emphasizes lots of happy customer reviews on Google, a BBB favorable rating, and you get to see the actual person who may be coming to your home to perform the service -- thereby increasing the trust factor. This is a big issue especially for those concerned about home/personal security.

9. A “faceless” music video can work at the local level if it shows how the local company can prevent problems. In this case, you get to see a local pest control company and how it addresses the solution of preventing rodents from getting into one’s home. It has basic branding, music which is appropriate for all audiences, and shows real (on-location) video of the technician addressing the problem:

10. This example of a stationary video camera capturing footage birds attempting to access one’s home, which is a major problem in the local area, is a great example of a local pest control company having the actual solution to a known problem -- yet the homeowner typically never sees the problem happening:

11. This video, from a local Certified Public Accountant serving several nearby cities - each with 100,000 or greater population, addresses a specific niche. In this case it is for business owners who wish to form new entities, local taxes, deductions and more. It is designed to add value with a very basic video - focusing mainly on the content and building trust in his practice.

12. Screen recording videos of local web3 metaverses - or even relevant video game or other fictional platforms which represent the local market (this includes Google Earth & similar online platforms) - can be used to market locally, statewide, nationwide and even internationally.

Here is one such video of a metaverse church located at a specific spot where you can see the nearby neighborhood in order to combine a “local” feel as well as convey the benefits to the nationwide & international audiences

13. Instructional videos, with edits to local video footage, can be helpful in reaching statewide audiences. This example is from another online driver education course, targeting the older audience (ages 18 to 24) which is looking to get a learner’s permit in Texas. Local video footage was edited to provide content which meets state regulatory board requirements:

You also can use your local video footage in unique ways to attract new business from the local area. Some methods include:

• Using QR codes in the real world, where the scanner will be taken to a web page where the video(s) can be watched

• Including the QR code to difficult-to-type links, such as a YouTube video link, on the back of your business cards

• Embedding the video inside a local metaverse’s 3D building or virtual land map at a specific geographic location (learn more here)

• Including links to your video platform(s) in your email signature file, done to get natural-looking traffic to the video content

• Embedding the videos on blog posts either on your website or third-party blogs which then link back to your website

• Using various Google Maps features to embed your video content on specific map pins (markers) relevant to your desired audience

• Much more

If you have any questions about how you can use video footage to attract more local customers then you are welcome to learn more at this link: More Here