Monday, February 05, 2007
Seeing Is Believing
As printed at Smart Biz
Adding video to a website isn't too expensive or complex. It can be a big hit, however: Some companies see a ten-fold increase in responses once they visualize their message.
Seeing Is Believing
Have you tried all the traditional marketing avenues and been disappointed by the return on investment? Maybe your marketing program was successful out of the gate but has stalled lately? Perhaps, you need a novel way to reach your audience that conveys emotion better than current direct marketing strategies.
Internet Video may be your answer. Adding video content to your online marketing mix delivers two to 10 times better response for sign ups and purchases than traditional online marketing efforts. It's also both easier and cheaper than you might think.
New Orleans-based Tulane University is a great example of how video can be used to reach your audience in a memorable and captivating way.
Four months after Hurricane Katrina hit, forcing Tulane to close and its students to flee the area, Tulane needed to tell students, faculty and staff when it was time to return to class. Unfortunately, many no longer were reachable at the postal address the university had on file. Some lost their homes in the storm and were living with friends and relatives; others had just moved on.
Tulane decided to use its e-zine (online magazine delivered via email) to reach students and faculty, figuring that most people hang onto their email address even if they’ve moved locations. A video message from Tulane President Scott Cowen was included to make the e-zine more captivating.
The placement of the video player in the upper right of the e-zine allowed recipients to read a welcome message, view a calendar and post comments while a heartfelt video was playing. In addition, buttons under the video enabled recipients to contribute to the Tulane rebuilding fund and read about the rebuilding progress.
The newsletter can be viewed at tulane.isatnewsletters.com
The e-zine worked: the average viewer read 75 percent of the pages, watched the video at least once for nearly 20,000 total minutes of video and caused one in three viewers to click to the Tulane online donation area.
In addition to using video in e-zines and email, think about using video on websites, in banner ads and in podcasting (a multimedia file that viewers download to their computer or iPod).
Big Impact, Small Cost
Incorporating video on your website and in banner ads is an inexpensive way to compete with larger companies with bigger budgets.
Newhomesource.com, a site for home builders and owners, uses video to educate viewers and sell building products. User interaction time has increased by over one minute per screen since including video. This is about 30 percent longer than traditional websites. In general, original video with very direct messaging and training videos have greater impact than repurposed commercials.
If you are an expert in your industry, a video podcast provides an interesting venue for your message. Subjects you can talk about include industry trends and forecasts, industry news, new methods, etc. This works especially well in commoditized businesses in which it’s difficult to create brand awareness without spending a fortune.
For example, a mortgage broker (definitely a commoditized business) can break apart from the competition and not compete on price by creating a podcast that gives helpful information about home buying and selling. If he’s good, he might attract advertisers in non-competing businesses that want to advertise on the podcast.
Finally, video can play an important role in one-to-one, private communications to clients and employees. Robert Morris College in Chicago follows up with prospective students using a video postcard that humanizes the college and keeps the relationship alive during the long process of searching for a school.
How to Get Started
Here are some tips for getting started:
State your message. Outline your entire message—words and images. Decide which visuals will illustrate your message points.
Decide how you will present your message. You can use a person to narrate your video or actually “star” in it. Be clear about the tone and feeling you are trying to convey.
Develop a call to action. Like other marketing tactics, a call to action is important. This is what drives someone to act on your offer. Do you want the recipient to call for more information, buy your product, email you? What is the time frame in which you want them to act?
Record and produce the video. You can do this yourself or hire an expert to help you. For professional-looking video, it’s best to hire a specialist. If you decide to do it yourself, you’ll need to record your video with a camcorder, digital camera or your computer’s camera. It is important to pay close attention to auxiliary factors such as ancillary sound, unflattering lighting, irregular volume levels, etc. Manual video editing can be accomplished with software available for both PCs (Windows Movie Maker) and Macs (iMovie or Final Cut). Automated video production can be done on sites such as www.isatvideo.com.
Create a step-down strategy. Make sure your recipients can view your video. Since many people disable images in email, including video, make sure you have an alternative way for them to access your video. This can be accomplished using a live link to a microsite or hiring an expert who understands online marketing.
For more information visit www.performcom.com
Adding video to a website isn't too expensive or complex. It can be a big hit, however: Some companies see a ten-fold increase in responses once they visualize their message.
Seeing Is Believing
Have you tried all the traditional marketing avenues and been disappointed by the return on investment? Maybe your marketing program was successful out of the gate but has stalled lately? Perhaps, you need a novel way to reach your audience that conveys emotion better than current direct marketing strategies.
Internet Video may be your answer. Adding video content to your online marketing mix delivers two to 10 times better response for sign ups and purchases than traditional online marketing efforts. It's also both easier and cheaper than you might think.
New Orleans-based Tulane University is a great example of how video can be used to reach your audience in a memorable and captivating way.
Four months after Hurricane Katrina hit, forcing Tulane to close and its students to flee the area, Tulane needed to tell students, faculty and staff when it was time to return to class. Unfortunately, many no longer were reachable at the postal address the university had on file. Some lost their homes in the storm and were living with friends and relatives; others had just moved on.
Tulane decided to use its e-zine (online magazine delivered via email) to reach students and faculty, figuring that most people hang onto their email address even if they’ve moved locations. A video message from Tulane President Scott Cowen was included to make the e-zine more captivating.
The placement of the video player in the upper right of the e-zine allowed recipients to read a welcome message, view a calendar and post comments while a heartfelt video was playing. In addition, buttons under the video enabled recipients to contribute to the Tulane rebuilding fund and read about the rebuilding progress.
The newsletter can be viewed at tulane.isatnewsletters.com
The e-zine worked: the average viewer read 75 percent of the pages, watched the video at least once for nearly 20,000 total minutes of video and caused one in three viewers to click to the Tulane online donation area.
In addition to using video in e-zines and email, think about using video on websites, in banner ads and in podcasting (a multimedia file that viewers download to their computer or iPod).
Big Impact, Small Cost
Incorporating video on your website and in banner ads is an inexpensive way to compete with larger companies with bigger budgets.
Newhomesource.com, a site for home builders and owners, uses video to educate viewers and sell building products. User interaction time has increased by over one minute per screen since including video. This is about 30 percent longer than traditional websites. In general, original video with very direct messaging and training videos have greater impact than repurposed commercials.
If you are an expert in your industry, a video podcast provides an interesting venue for your message. Subjects you can talk about include industry trends and forecasts, industry news, new methods, etc. This works especially well in commoditized businesses in which it’s difficult to create brand awareness without spending a fortune.
For example, a mortgage broker (definitely a commoditized business) can break apart from the competition and not compete on price by creating a podcast that gives helpful information about home buying and selling. If he’s good, he might attract advertisers in non-competing businesses that want to advertise on the podcast.
Finally, video can play an important role in one-to-one, private communications to clients and employees. Robert Morris College in Chicago follows up with prospective students using a video postcard that humanizes the college and keeps the relationship alive during the long process of searching for a school.
How to Get Started
Here are some tips for getting started:
State your message. Outline your entire message—words and images. Decide which visuals will illustrate your message points.
Decide how you will present your message. You can use a person to narrate your video or actually “star” in it. Be clear about the tone and feeling you are trying to convey.
Develop a call to action. Like other marketing tactics, a call to action is important. This is what drives someone to act on your offer. Do you want the recipient to call for more information, buy your product, email you? What is the time frame in which you want them to act?
Record and produce the video. You can do this yourself or hire an expert to help you. For professional-looking video, it’s best to hire a specialist. If you decide to do it yourself, you’ll need to record your video with a camcorder, digital camera or your computer’s camera. It is important to pay close attention to auxiliary factors such as ancillary sound, unflattering lighting, irregular volume levels, etc. Manual video editing can be accomplished with software available for both PCs (Windows Movie Maker) and Macs (iMovie or Final Cut). Automated video production can be done on sites such as www.isatvideo.com.
Create a step-down strategy. Make sure your recipients can view your video. Since many people disable images in email, including video, make sure you have an alternative way for them to access your video. This can be accomplished using a live link to a microsite or hiring an expert who understands online marketing.
For more information visit www.performcom.com
Comments:
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I deal with many small businesses on the web side. As video production costs decrease, one would expect to see more smaller firms using videos on their web sites.
That's not happening. Most business owners have difficulty imagining how to use video effectively. Even when adding a video is a small incremental cost, it's usually given the cold shoulder.
There are some exceptions, however. Public speakers trying to book engagements, for example. But many customers spending thousands annually on web site maintenance never latch on to spending a few hundred for a video.
Any ideas on how to infuse the imagination of the site owners?
--
Jason Paul Kazarian
http://leftbrainedgeeks.com/vidgroup.htm
That's not happening. Most business owners have difficulty imagining how to use video effectively. Even when adding a video is a small incremental cost, it's usually given the cold shoulder.
There are some exceptions, however. Public speakers trying to book engagements, for example. But many customers spending thousands annually on web site maintenance never latch on to spending a few hundred for a video.
Any ideas on how to infuse the imagination of the site owners?
--
Jason Paul Kazarian
http://leftbrainedgeeks.com/vidgroup.htm
Video for big companies is hard to come by too. What I suggest is a simple talking head to start. Like www.BuyaPuttingGreen.com. Then track the 'time on' results and compare.
If no one at the company can be the talking head, you can write a script and have an image animation with voice over or hire talent for a 1/2 day shoot as the talking head.
Once you have a video, its good on the site but also can be used for Google keywords and the launch of a podcast.
Start small and build by justifing with other uses and higher results.
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If no one at the company can be the talking head, you can write a script and have an image animation with voice over or hire talent for a 1/2 day shoot as the talking head.
Once you have a video, its good on the site but also can be used for Google keywords and the launch of a podcast.
Start small and build by justifing with other uses and higher results.
<< Home