Videos are a great way to get your newsletter readers to remember your message and put a face to your organization. Making a video for your small business or nonprofit is easy– most smartphones record video in High Definition, so you likely already have exactly what you need to get started already. This is great news for all small businesses and organizations, especially those who use email marketing to connect with their target audience online.

Here are 5 easy tips to help you a video in your next email:

Make it short and sweet

The shorter your video is the more effective it will be. Most people stop watching videos within the first minute. Unless you’re giving away a video podcast or a webinar, don’t make your video more than 90 seconds. If you have an idea that you know will take more than 1-2 minutes, consider turning it into a video series. Instead of using a 10-minute video in one email, create five 2-minute videos, and promote them over the course of a month.

Select the right host

You’ll likely need a place to host the videos you create. The best free site you can use to host videos is YouTube. YouTube gives you the opportunity to build an online channel that could prove to be a great asset for educating your audience and you’ll never have to spend a dime on storage. All you have to do to embed a YouTube hosted video in an email is click the “Share” button and copy and paste the embed code into your email.

Show off your best image

Embedding a thumbnail image that links to your video is pretty standard. Choose a clear image that is inspiring or funny — something that will make your audience want to click it. Technically, you could just provide the link to the video, but embedding the link in a clickable image will be more effective.

Set up your video

Don’t just throw a video into your email and expect people to want to click to watch it. Instead, take the time to effectively setup your video. Add a quick description about what people will find in the video and include a strong call to action to go along with it.

Analyze your numbers

After you’ve sent out your email, see who watched your video. YouTube offers free detailed analytics and reports you can download about the performance of your videos. YouTube also offers linkable text to overlay in your video to drive traffic wherever you want it to go. If you use Constant Contact, you can look at your reports to find out how many people clicked to watch your video.

Once you have that information, you’ll have a better idea of what’s working, what’s not, and how you can use video in the future to successfully engage your readers.

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Gina Watkins is a leading expert on e-marketing for small business – and has a real passion for helping businesses to succeed. Her ongoing series of dynamic lectures are filled with real-world examples, humor and results-driven wisdom garnered from more than two decades of sales, business development and marketing experience. In addition to owning her own business, she is an award-winning direct marketer, has been featured on WUSA Channel 9’s Mind Over Money show, Dr. Gayle Carson’s Women In Business radio show, Morgan State’s Briefcase Radio program, and in numerous other media. In her role as Constant Contact Regional Development Director, she’s presented to more than ten thousand seminar attendees about the keys to success with easy, affordable, highly effective technology tools that grow trusted business relationships.