MediaJoltz

Last night I had the privilege of presenting to one of Paul Allen’s classes over at the Provo Labs Academy Building. Lee Gibbons of Podango was there as well, presenting on using audio (podcasting) in your marketing. I wanted to write up here the things that I taught so that you might be able to start thinking this weekend what you might be able to do to put “more motion in your marketing.”

The Online Publisher’s Association released survey results about Online Video Viewing. Here are some points that hit home for me:

-123 million Americans will view online video at least once a month in 2007

-66% of video viewers have watched online video adds

-44% of those have taken an action on what they had seen (ie sent the video to a friend, went to website, etc)

LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD

The internet has leveled the playing field for small businesses. You no longer need to worry about buying ad space or airtime to get your video out into the world to be seen. You now have the chance to upload the video to the internet for little or no cost. This also means that you don’t have to worry about paying for airtime in several geographical locations because the only limit you have with the internet is if your target audience doesn’t have it. InternetWorldStats.com now reports 1,173,109,925 people use the internet in the world today.

OPPORTUNITY

When you look at successes like the Diet Coke and Mentos guys, or the Doritos User Generated Contest winners, these ads didn’t originate from an ad agency where they were thought of in a creative brief. These came from regular people who had an idea, a camera and a computer-things that are all accessible to you.

EXAMPLES

Dove Evolution Video

Blendtec Video

You have Dove, a household name getting millions of views for this awesome video they did. They have a huge marketing budget and are having great success. Then you have a local Orem, Utah company who doesn’t have the big budget Dove has, but they are experiencing the same amount of brand recognition and success Dove is. You can check out my post where I interview George Wright, Marketing Director of Blendtec to find out why he decided to do the WillitBlend campaign and why they chose video on the internet.

LEGITIMATE SOURCE

Online video, viral or not, has been proven to be a legitimate source for branded information when it is done right. The pipes are getting fatter and video online is becoming crisper and clearer every year. I once had someone ask me “why should we worry about shooting video that looks great to begin with, when internet is just going to destroy it?” To them I say, because in a very short while you won’t have the internet to blame for the crappy image you uploaded and you’ll have to shoot it all over again. Care about what your video looks like today, and it will last a lot longer and go further for you than if you didn’t.

QUALITY

If you recall the Dove and Blendtec examples you will notice the difference in quality of the video itself. Dove’s video looks smoother, crisper and more professional than Blendtec’s. You DO NOT have to spend thousands of dollars to get your video shot. I know you’re jumping up and down right now, but let me pull you back in for a second. This doesn’t mean that Uncle Bob is the best one to shoot your video either. You have to take into account the look and feel of your company, and what you want your video to portray. A video of a blender slicing and dicing up any kind of object is okay to look raw. A raw looking video from a soap and skin care company might not be so good. (I’m in the process of putting together a service sheet for you to fill out on this website if you need some costly videowork done. Doesn’t mean you’ll get the multi-award winning Businessweek Top 25 Entrepreneur Director of Photography, but the video will get done and look decent at the end of the day.)

SEO and ANALYTICS

Why should you care that Google bought Youtube, well because of Google Universe. Straight from their own press release:

“Beginning today (may 2007) the company will incorporate information from a variety of previously separate sources-including videos, images, news, maps, books and websites-into a single set of results.”

Google buying Youtube has reinforced the idea that video is now more than just your funny clip, but that it is fast becoming a serious source. Now when you search on Google, they will incorporate videos along with other sources into that search. If you are in multiple sources, ie the news, any audio files, video, images, you will be more findable to the people looking for you.

There are also alliances being made between video sites and analytic companies that will enable you to know who is watching the video, how long the stayed to watch it and if they shared it anywhere (by email, to a blog, to Facebook, etc) so that you can measure more easily how your video is working for you, or if there is something that isn’t working too.

CREATING RELATIONSHIPS

This is my pet peeve. I think that if you are going to be successful in life you create loyal clients, not customers who are just another transaction. We are far beyond push and interruptive advertising. Marketing is more than just advertising campaigns, its about creating real relevant relationships with your audience. Use video to develop those relationships, to provide a rich, engaging informational experience that they will WANT to share with others. We have all heard about the Tivo and DVR, please don’t assume that people online are different, that they want to watch a 30 second commercial about your business, give them something more-they are asking for more.

Posted in Blogging tips |