Video Marketing Report

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Main Street Marketing Machines

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For the most part the story of video marketing on the internet , as I recall it, is one of trial and error. A story full of players late to the game and small upstart giant slayers.

I like to think of the great football movie Rudy when I think of video marketing.

Let me explain. Not unlike the hero of the movie (Rudy) not many folks took video seriously when it first came to the web.  A scrawny rag tag video technology that was really the realm of the uberdorks. (Video Toaster, anyone?)

Early on, there wasn’t much content to watch, at least not at work or with your family. As usual, the adult industry pushed for better online video technology and got it. Gamers wanted better video cards and they got them.  As the price for both plummeted, there was a vacuum created and into that, folks started dumping their quirky homemade videos, like Global Funniest Home Videos on crack, and they suddenly flew to the furthest corners of the internet.  Some waited days to download the first viral videos over dial-up connections.

There were hits in this new form of entertainment, the “viral video stars” that saw millions of views and little else except notoriety and thousands of parodies.  And there were misses, big misses, usually by big companies trying to leverage the popularity of viral videos to sell products.A great deal of money was wasted before someone figured out that online, there was no captive audience. No rapt masses waiting to be fed over the top advertisements in 30 second bites. Viewers on the internet discovered, watched and shared the videos they wanted to, not the ones Madison Avenue had lovingly concocted from some mutant form of television spot.  No one could predict or prepare for the viral phenomenon. And it still defies understanding. Why do videos go viral? Because like the old Fabrege shampoo commercial, (the one with Heather Locklear) they told two friends, and they told two friends, and they told two friends, etc.

Something really clicked with the public, after all we are the video generation. Before 1980 you would have been hard pressed to name one music video, let alone a whole music video network, now there are thousands.  Same way with online videos, video portals, video software, etc.

And marketing? Where do we stand? Well, some are figuring out that, much like the plain text web, the video web needs quality content.  As we have discussed, quality is a relative judgment. And one not easily rendered by those who have a vested interest in it. Companies continue to struggle and fight with consumers, throw tantrums, and fall by the side of the road like weary travelers who’ve lost their will to keep going. And consumers keep surprising themselves by demanding transparency and respect, quality and relevance. How can you market to that?

Anyway, I have rambled enough. I am sure you remember it much differently, and we are each one entitled to our own version.  Share yours if you have a moment. I’d love to compare notes.

Summary: Create or buy images and record audio then use software to assemble a narrative slideshow that plays like a video.

1 — Use still images.

Use a digital camera to capture photos or acquire stock images that are appropriate for your slideshow.

2 — Write a script.

Write out the narration and describe the images you want to use for your video. Be as descriptive as possible. This will help when you create your shotlist.

3 — Create a Shotlist

A shotlist is all the shots you need to get to create your video. You can group images according to the ease of shooting, which does not necessarily follow the story. This is often done in films to maximize time on location.

4 — Record Audio

To make it easy to edit and synchronize to the images, consider recording each line individually. Although it creates more files, they can be manipulated individually, adjusting timing to images as necessary. If the audio is on long file, the timing will be impossible to adjust without editing.

5  — Optimize Images for Youtube Videos

Now that you’re ready to put your video slideshow together, make sure the images you’re using are sized for the video player. Your original images should be shot at the maximum resolution for highest quality.  You will need to resize those large images prior to importing them to your video timeline. You can use your favorite image editing software to batch resize all of your images at once.

6  — Use Software to Create Your Slideshow.

If you have PowerPoint or Windows Movie Maker you can use them. If you don’t, use a freeware program like Memories on the Web (available here) to assemble your video.

1. Youtube is now the #2 search engine after Google.
2. The  5 most popular Youtube categories are:

• Entertainment
• Sports
• Music
• Comedy
• News and Politics

3. The best time to upload a video to Youtube is between 12pm and 1pm on Wednesday or Thursday.
4. YouTube gets 107 Million unique visitors a month, with an average of 65 views per visitor each month.
5. There are 20 hours of new video content being uploaded to Youtube each minute of the day.

Here are some good general guidelines to follow when creating marketing videos for your business.

1. Keep it simple and concise. Simple, concise videos just work best. The most popular videos on Youtube are between 3 and 5 minutes long and are no more than 20 megabytes in size, on average.  Also, the page your video will appear on will probably have a lot going on visually, already, so your ad needs to be clean and concise in order to stand out.
2. Tell a story with the video. A businesses story is one of its most valuable marketing assets.  A good video captures and communicates the passion and commitment that a business has for its work and its customers.
3. Educate and inform with your videos. Educational video can help establish trust and foster loyalty. To be perceived as a leader in your field of business, providing high value educational content, relevant to your business is highly effective.
4. Create how-to  videos. How-to videos are perhaps the most valuable in an overall strategy for SEO and viral marketing. An effective way to leverage this value is to build out a how-to YouTube channel filled with valuable how-to content.
5. Provide answers to your audience’s questions. Most people searching on the internet are looking for the answer to a specific question.  Understand the questions your viewers are asking, and make sure that you provide answers to those questions in your videos.
6. Always include a call-to-action. Video content should be optimized not only for the search but also for response.  Including a call to action within the video, like a special viewer discount, a coupon code, or a special telephone number,  can help to track response rate from your video.
7. Leverage other popular videos. Create a video related to popular content and use a similar, but not identical, keyword rich title and description to increase odds of it appearing on the popular video’s page as a related video.
8. Forget about traditional television ads. TV commercials do not make the most successful online videos. Authentic and candid videos that don’t feature actors or extravagant productions are far superior as search and directory material.
9. Don’t try to do too much. Save your George Lucas ambitions for the home movies. Remember who and what the video is for.  Your videos need to answer your viewer’s questions, and then offer them a strong call to action.
10. Test and re-test your content. Video is such an inexpensive and adaptable medium that it makes sense to experiment with different formats and a message, to find the combination that works best. Test several different approaches to see how views and click through rates fluctuate when you change the visuals, the call-to-action or the promotional offer.