Cape Town - The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday said it is rolling out a new initiative to help businesses market themselves at a fraction of the normal cost.
“New businesses have to explain themselves and show what they can do and the best way to do that is with a professional video and then use YouTube and websites to spread the message,” said Chamber president Janine Myburgh.
“Using YouTube costs nothing but the problem is that unless the video meets professional standards, it is likely to underwhelm your potential customers and it may even be a turn-off. Unfortunately, professional videos can be expensive.”
Myburgh said the Chamber had set out to solve this problem and was now able to offer its members a huge discount, from the usual cost of R15 000 for a three-minute video, by bringing the cost down to just R6 500. This included a professional script, voiceover and a day of filming.
“So much is changing and the new technologies create opportunities for new products, services, and businesses, but marketing is expensive, especially for small firms. At the Chamber, we saw the need to help our members get started or grow their existing businesses so we looked for better, more effective ways of marketing.”
To do this, the Chamber negotiated a special deal with Renegade Films to put promotional videos within the reach of even the smallest businesses.
“There is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. We believe a moving picture, in this case, a three-minute video, could be worth a thousand customers,” Myburgh said.