Archive

Archive for the ‘General Marketing’ Category

Main Street Marketing Machines – Reviewed

April 23rd, 2010 Rob No comments

I don’t usually write reviews of video marketing products, but this one is exceptional. The folks at Traffic Geyser have created a complete package, business in a box called Main Street Marketing Machines .

It’s reasonably priced, fully supported and very lucrative. You’ve seen me discuss local video marketing before, and you know I am a big believer in it. You can really help your community and yourself by applying your video marketing know-how to brick and mortar businesses, mom and pops all over your town or city.

This system gives you everything you need to hit the ground running; marketing brochures and postcards, techniques to find businesses that are already spending marketing money on the internet and are not seeing the results they should, everything you need to make a difference in your community and have a thriving business. If you have ever thought about doing video marketing at all I encourage you to check this amazing business opportunity out today.

Watch this video and make up your own mind. I have decided to become an affiliate of Traffic Geyser just for this one reason. I believe in the product and I believe that this is the way that America is going to recover from the economic disaster it has experienced.  Small businesses that help other small businesses by leveraging the power and the reach of the internet to grow and prosper. Connect searchers with businesses that are meeting their needs.  Click here to check this opportunity out for yourself.

Main Street Marketing Machines

Now go make a difference.

Video Marketing: A Remembered History

January 16th, 2010 Rob No comments

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.

Categories: General Marketing, Video Content Tags:

How to Create Web Videos Without a Video Camera

January 15th, 2010 Rob No comments

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.

5 Random Amazing Facts About Youtube

January 14th, 2010 Rob No comments

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.

Categories: General Marketing, Youtube Tags:

10 Recommendations for Your Video Marketing Content.

January 13th, 2010 Rob No comments

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.
Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes