Glad I asked.

Let’s start by clarifying this.  When referring to “video,” I’m referring to well thought-out, relevant, results-driven video. Marketing video.  I’ve seen in my years of experience with video marketing Austin businesses:  video that accomplishes nothing is art…. and most of us don’t have room in the marketing budget for art.

Ok, now that we’ve got that out of the way…  here we go.

Usually we evaluate all line items in the budget by the return it can bring.  And returns are made possible by opportunities.  So, what’s the opportunity for video production in Austin?

Here’s a couple of fun stats from Forbes to get us started:

• 80% of Senior Executives are watching more video than they did last year.
• 59% of Senior Executives prefer to watch video instead of reading text.

Ok, Execs are looking for video.  They’re clicking the “play” button.  This is good news for B2B companies for sure.

More stats about those of us who don’t wear suits every day:

• 80% of us make online video part of their daily internet regimen.
• The average internet user watches more than 186 videos a month.

So, all of this begs the question… Are you using video?  Actually it’s too late for that question.  The real question?  HOW are you using video?

Here are some use scenarios for online marketing video:

Website conversion–when it comes to ROI, this is usually the easiest to justify.  Its purpose is to convert web traffic into real business.  It’s trackable.  This is almost a no-brainer.  The catch?  You need to have incoming web traffic to capitalize.  If you do have a decent amount of incoming web traffic, just think what a 5% bump would mean to the bottom line.

Here’s an example from an attorney’s website.  This video helped drive the conversion rate to 17% in a special pay-per-click landing page campaign.

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Resource video–this is more of a soft sell.  The call-to-action isn’t overt.  The resource video’s role is two-fold.  1)  build the website’s profile as a place that your targeted prospects or demo can come to find answers to their problems.  2)  cut down on overhead by answering those “FAQ’s” that your staff spends time on every day.  If you spend 2 hours/week on a certain reoccurring client issue, what would it mean to your bottom line to have it handled by website video?  2hours/week = 96 hours/year.  Here’s an example from a Austin Telecommunications company that sells phone systems.

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Proof of Performance–this is what it sounds like.  After a trade show, public event, charity race, etc., this video will serve to inform and engage targets with the message behind the event.  Not all of us can go out to every event we want.  Like me.  I just had a baby, so I’m not leaving the house for about 5 years.  It’d be great to see how it went.  This video will take me there.  Plus, the video can also serve to stroke the egos of sponsors and partners.  This video concept works best when incorporating it into your eNewsletter and Social Media tactics.  Also, people who attended will LOVE to see themselves on the video.  This is where sharing online will be key.

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Hopefully you now know more about online video marketing that you did before you started reading this.  If not, drop me a line and let the criticism rip.  In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting the 2nd in this series.  It will cover what makes for effective online video.  This will include format, length, web page placement, etc.

Cheers.

This is the 1st in a series of 3 blog posts on the general benefit and applications of quality online video.