Tag Archive for 'web video'

7 reasons why web video should be a top marketing priority for 2010.

The majority of the content, information and entertainment that we consume in the future will be delivered on a wirelessly (or wired) connected screen. Television networks won’t tell us when we have to consume content and we won’t have to cut down trees in order to be able to read our favorite publications. Even billboards and posters will be connected to the internet. And all of these screens will be smart devices that deliver contextually relevant content when and where you want it. The Internet will be everywhere and video and video marketing will play a dominant role in the next phase of its evolution.

So how do you convince your boss or CEO to consider using web video to promote your company? You first have to consider different use cases for video and decide which one best suits your business objectives. Here are 42 possibilities to get you started. The next step is to develop the business case as to how one of these video formats can help you improve your bottom line. To help you in that process I offer the following seven reasons to suggest to your boss why video should be a top marketing priority for 2010:

1. BETTER ROI
Adding video to your online marketing campaign can significantly improve your results.  In a recent study by Eyeblaster of online advertising campaigns, video increased dwell rate on ads by 20% and dwell time by %100.  Another study by dynamic logic also indicated significant improvements in brand favorability, aided brand awareness and purchase intent of rich media ads with video compared to traditional static display ads.

2. TRACTION
comScore
released  web video consumption results in September, 09 which indicated that 85% of people online consumed an average of 10 hours of video a month online. That number continues to grow every month. 26 Billion videos were consumed in September in the US. Video has taken root on the internet to the point where visitors to websites are now looking for video content first.

3. ENGAGEMENT
Video is the best way to keep visitors to your site engaged and the best way to engage people with your brand. Time-on-page and time-on-site numbers increase when you add video. Images, podcasts, polls, charts and graphics are all great but nothing engages a website visitor more effectively than video. There are hundreds of blog posts and articles like this one where Patrick Moran explains how his sales team improved their close rates by 20% and online registrations by over 25% using web based video.

4. VIDEO IS A TOP PRIORITY FOR MARKETERS
According to a recent survey by Marketing Sherpa, for the second year in a row Video Marketing is the top priority for marketers surveyed, ahead of SEO, PPC, social media, email marketing and all other online marketing tactics. Turnhere has also released a study in the fall which revealed the same results – “When asked to rank various online marketing priorities for 2010, video was ranked as the top priority”

5. UBIQUITY
In a recent post conference interview Jeremey Allaire, CEO of Brightcove summarized the outlook for web based video this way:“Video will become as ubiquitous as text on the web.” He went on to say that “what we’ve seen happening over the last year is this incredible growth in the number of organizations and corporations, of all types, of all industries, of all sectors of societies, embracing video to enhance what they are doing on the web.”

6. 2010 MARKETING PREDICTIONS
A year-end article by Junta 42 reviewed hundreds of blogs and articles to summarize the predictions of leading marketing experts for 2010. Topping the list – The growth and dominance of video.

7. SEO
Type in ‘Video’ and ‘SEO’ in Google and you will discover many articles explaining how video can improve your SEO results. With the launch of Universal Search from Google, you should expect to see more and more video results occupying the search engine results that are served up by Google. That means Google is prioritizing video in it’s search algorithm. Not only will video help promote your products and services online it can also help those products and services get found online.

So what are you waiting for?

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The client-vendor relationship

Anyone working in the creative services industry will relate to this video. Hopefully those who don’t will appreciate the satire and irony.

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“This ain’t Flint” – When new media campaigns go horribly wrong.

 this-aint-flint1
This ain’t Calcutta or Abuja or Port-au-Prince either. So what.
This Ain’t Flint is a campaign developed by Alphabet Creative for Newcap Radio ostensibly to remind the good folks of Ottawa, Canada to stop whining because things are really not that bad – compared to the economic hardship that Flint, Michigan has had to face. The Newcap radio group has put a lot of money and effort into a campaign that includes video, a website, transit ads, and other promotional activities. 
We live in one of the best cities in one of the best countries in the world. We are privileged beyond any reasonable measure.  I wish this campaign would go away. I’ve tried to ignore it and the discussion around it for the last couple of weeks. Problem is, it’s hard to ignore. I keep driving by “This Ain’t Flint” transit ads every day. So if I can’t will it away… the next best thing to do is to rate it. Here is how I would score this campaign:
Embarrassment.  10/10 They knocked it out of the park with embarrassment. I have friends and relatives in Michigan and I am ashamed to be associated (geographically) with this campaign. Read a couple US blogs to get a sense for how this campaign is been perceived south of the border. Ouch.
Harmfullness  8/10 . A bit more planning could have given the campaign a higher harm score. This campaign will probably affect tourism, trade or anything else with the good folks in Flint / Michigan / US … frankly anyone who needs a reason to dislike our Nation’s Capital. “Hey honey come here, Ottawa looks real nice compared to Flint… let’s go there this summer.” (Of course this isn’t the intent of the video and campaign… just the outcome.)
Confusion 5/10. Hard to rate this one. The message is absolutely clear (Ottawa isn’t as hard done by as Flint )- so I’d give this part a fail.  But the purpose of the video is a mystery so I’d give the campaign folks full marks for confusion here. What’s the point? I don’t get it. The demonic baby, the strange video, the lack of an obvious audience, or purpose. They didn’t make it to get people to buy more radio ads so what was the purpose?
Creepiness. 10 / 10. The freaky doll was a masterstroke! Nothing picks up the spirits each day like the bus shelter image of a horror movie doll. Bravo!
Lack of Originality. 8  /10. Everyone knows that viral video is all about copying something that has already been done. Kudo’s to the ‘Roger and Me’ treatment in the first half of the video and the shockingly disjoint Ottawa Tourism video in the second half. Although ‘Freaky Doll’ has been done many times before (still a huge ‘Chucky’ fan),  it hasn’t been done in conjunction with an ‘economic optimism’ video before so I had to knock a few marks off  here.
Ballsiness. 9/10. You have to have Kahunas to launch this campaign knowing that uncreative, tree-hugging, left-wing sensitive types will find something to dislike about it. A change of heart – putting the video up on YouTube and then quickly removing it – cost the campaign a perfect score. (Why purposely avoid using the best free social media channel on the  planet?) All comments are good comments right!
 
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