Why Video?
by Tim McManus
“A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time.” Henry Ford
Advertising is a dynamic and ever changing animal; what worked yesterday isn’t guaranteed to work today. This has never been more true than in the current media environment that is changing at a rapid pace. Print advertising is giving way to Web 2.0 and companies are adjusting their marketing plans and budgets accordingly.
As a result of this transition, the production of marketing videos as a promotional tool is drastically increasing. And with good reason.
Here are a few things to consider regarding producing a video as part of your advertising strategy:
Cost:
In the past an advertising budget had two phases: Production and Placement. In other words, first you pay to create the ad, then you pay to have it placed in targeted mediums frequented by your customer base.
When a company produces a quality internet video, it can remove cost of placement from its budget and still have a dramatic reach. Some strategies for the free distribution of internet videos include:
- Homepage Placement (video placed onto your website will give it search engine priority over those without)
- About Us Page Placement (this is a great place to tell the history and vision of your company)
- Social Networking Placement (Facebook, MySpace, Gather)
- YouTube Placement (including the creation of a YouTube Channel that your visitors can subscribe to)
- Podcast Creation (this option also allows for visitors to subscribe and also allows for new podcasts to be automatically uploaded to mobile devices)
- Google Video Placement (including both your standard Google listing and Google Local/Maps which will enhance your directory listings)
- Blog Placement
- Internet forum placement (by identifying forums that are like minded to your company message, you can reach hundred/thousands of customers in an unobtrusive way)
Longevity:
In a traditional advertising situation, the life of your ad is capped by the medium who is distributing it for you. For a magazine, your ad lasts a month. For your banner ad, your ad runs for one month or for a pre-set number of click-throughs. With an internet video, you can post and promote the video for as long as the messaging is relevant. A creative and cleverly promoted video can reach millions of viewers during its lifespan: all from the single placement.
Impact:
Customers remember what they hear more than what they read. They remember more of what they see than they hear. When you put out a message that your customers can see and hear, you attain maximum retention from your audience.
In fact, The Wharton School of Business showed that video boosts comprehension and retention by 50% over a live presentation. Other industry studies have shown that video expedites buying decisions by 72% versus print. And that six times as many people prefer a video to printed information. (vidpro.org)
Online video marketing is the key business differentiator for web companies wanting to communicate effectively their product profile and benefits within the shortest possible time. There is nothing else that comes close to the effectiveness and persuasion power of a well designed video message. (vidpro.org)
Trends:
Finally, the proof of the value of video marketing can be seen in the advertising trends in the current market.
The following information was made available from Reel SEO:
- Marketers will increase their use of online video in 2009, according to a new survey by PermissionTV and reported on eMarketer.
- In the online survey of 400 senior marketing and media executives, 67%, or 2/3rds, identified online video as a primary focus of their 2009 digital marketing campaigns and budgets. More than 50% planning the launch of an online video project by the second quarter.
- Brand awareness was cited by 71% of respondents as the foremost value of online video, followed by lead generation (47%, customer retention (44%), and customer conversion (41%).
- The survey also found that 33% of respondents expect that their 2009 digital marketing efforts will be the least affected by cuts to budgets, much less so than traditional marketing (24%), trade shows (21%) and guerrilla marketing (14%) efforts.
Contact Tim McManus, PDA Director of Business Development, Video Team: tim@pdastage.com
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