Target Marketing

You will be automatically redirected to targetmarketingmag in 20 seconds.
Skip this advertisement.

Advertisement
Advertisement
 
 

The Emerging Importance of Online Video

July 29, 2009 By Joe Boland, Assistant Editor, Target Marketing
3

As incorporating video onto the Web becomes easier and the quality of video gets better and better, consumers are expecting its presence on Web sites more and more. Video offers so many opportunities for marketers to get their messages across in a more compelling, and more informative, way.

But what are consumers looking for in online marketing videos, and how do you go about implementing them for your online communications? Target Marketing spoke with three Web video experts, who offer their insights.

What Customers Look For
“First and foremost, consumers want to, absent of video, know as much about the product or service as they can,” says Matt DeLoca, senior vice president of sales and marketing for The FeedRoom, a New York-based online streaming video and digital asset management provider. “If they go to a Web site that’s very well-structured, has a logical flow, and they can easily search and find what they want, that’s a great starting point, but video is then a richer media type that is easier to comprehend and can go into more depth in terms of the individual nuance of who’s presenting the information.” Essentially, customers want video for its ease of use and ability to inform in a more hands-on matter than text or images can. But they aren’t just looking for a TV commercial plopped on your site.

“I can tell you from research that just posting a 30-second DRTV commercial online is nowhere near as effective as doing a custom video specifically about a subject matter,” says Frank Pournelle, president of Las Vegas-based direct marketing and media brokerage Last Second Media. “… [Consumers] want to see specialization.”

DeLoca explains that The FeedRoom asks its clients, “What do you find to be the hardest support topic you deal with on a regular basis?” That’s the content you should focus your video efforts on. “It could be as simple as a common question about a product, or it could be something as complicated as what the state and future of the financial health of the company is.”

Pippa Nutt, director of online at Northern Lights Direct Response, a direct response agency with offices in Toronto and Chicago, finds video content that walks viewers through a process, such as how to fill out a tax form, ideal for marketing applications. DeLoca and Pournelle agree, saying the more complex the process, the better-suited it is for video. Anything that is difficult to explain or demonstrate in text or images alone should be considered for video.

DeLoca also adds that the use of live video on a Web site offers tremendous opportunity for marketers to reach consumers, putting a spin on the traditional webcast. Instead of simply having webcast registrants viewing PowerPoint slides and listening to audio, adding live streaming video of the presenters enhances the user experience.

Note that video content can be obtained from the growing sector of custom publishing services, which includes companies like Pluck and MindBlazer.

How to Implement It
With sites like YouTube and many Web video companies out there, creating an online video strategy is a very doable proposition. The FeedRoom encourages its clients to use their Web sites as the central distribution hub, placing videos directly on the homepage and throughout the site that then can be disseminated around the Web from there. Nutt and Pournelle agree, and also suggest posting videos you own directly on YouTube or other social media sites can be effective as well. The key is to integrate video across all online communications.

When posting on a third-party site or blog, it’s crucial to have backlinks to your site and to make sure your video is keyword-targeted for the terms consumers search for. This ensures better rankings with search engines and drives browsers back to your site. And that’s increasingly important with unviersal seach, where videos seem to be getting better rankings and video thumbnails are showing up on the first page of search engine results. On your site itself, it’s important to not simply have a video section, but to embed single video clips throughout the site. For instance, on product pages, have video that shows the product in use with more information so consumers get a better understanding before making purchasing decisions.

DeLoca and Nutt stress that it’s important to track everything, using digital asset management and optimization strategies/tools to see what type of video is most effective—and what video can be added that consumers are searching for.

Who Does It Well
DeLoca says two standouts in online video are General Motors and Barnes & Noble. GM uses video for all its online communications: public relations, internal communications, marketing. The entire Web site leverages video, from the pressroom, where it has the latest news from new CEO Chris Henderson and updates on individual brands—such as the shuttering of Pontiac—to live video webcasts, sometimes open to the public, like when GM announced its re-emergence from bankruptcy.

Barnes & Noble, known primarily as a store retailer, has been using video to build a sense of community. Right on the homepage, there is a set of video clips browsers can watch. From there, Barnes & Noble creates product-specific video content, including video as part of the buying process. And it’s more than just reviews. The videos on the product pages often explain more about the selected book or DVD, even providing interviews with the author in some cases, giving the customer much more insight into the product.

What makes both companies so effective with Web video is the integration across their entire Web presence, giving consumers deeper and richer online experiences. The use of online video is quickly becoming an expected feature. Have a strategy in place to leverage this emerging technology to enhance your online marketing efforts.


 

Companies Mentioned:

3

SPONSORED CONTENT

MORE ON ONLINE MARKETING >>

FROM THE BOOKSTORE

Hitting the Email Inbox: Protect your sender rep, clean up your e-list and improve design to add dollars to your email marketing ROI

<i>Hitting the Email Inbox</i> covers all the bases of email deliverability, including everything from the very basics, to reputation management, as well as coding and design, and the connections between email deliverability and ROI. 

As any good email marketer today knows, there are a number of obstacles standing between you and your prospect’s inbox. With anti-spam technology becoming more and more powerful and prospects being blitzed by rapidly increasing email volume, an email marketer’s concern isn’t just open rate anymore; it’s getting the email successfully delivered in the first place. 

<i>Hitting the Email Inbox: Protect your sender rep, clean up your e-list and improve design to add dollars to your email marketing ROI </i> features five chapters full of industry-proven best practices to achieve maximum inbox delivery.

You’ll also get dozens of surefire tips and methods for improving your deliverability, including:

•	Developing a trigger email program
•	Segmenting and reviewing your results by service
•	Understanding the whitelist/blacklist process
•	Using different addresses for different segments of your file
•	Not falling into the whole openers/non-openers/clickers trap
•	Test mailing at different times of the day
•	Being smart about timing
•	Use an ECOA service
•	Looking into certification, and much more!

<b><u>The report also includes four detailed case studies</b></u>, providing practical examples of what email deliverability tactics did and didn’t work for four real-life companies. 

<b><u>100% Money-Back Guarantee</b></u>
Your order is risk-free. If you are not completely delighted with <i>Hitting the Email Inbox</i>, notify us within 30 days for a complete credit or refund, no questions asked.

<b><u>About DirectMarketingIQ</u></b>
The Research Division of the Target Marketing Group, DirectMarketingIQ (www.directmarketingiq.com) is the go-to resource for direct marketers. Publishing books, special reports, case study stockpiles and how-to guides, it opens up a new world for those who seek more information, more ideas and more success stories in order to boost their own marketing efforts. DirectMarketingIQ has unparalleled access to direct marketing data - including the world's most complete library of direct mail as well as a growing library of promotional emails across hundreds of categories - and proudly produces content from the most experienced editors and practitioners in the industry.

<b>Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read <i>Hitting the Email Inbox</i>, which is in PDF format. </b> Hitting the Email Inbox

Hitting the Email Inbox: Protect your sender rep, clean up your e-list and improve design to add dollars to your email marketing ROI Hitting the Email Inbox covers all the bases of email deliverability, including everything from the very basics, to reputation management, as well as coding and design, and...

ORDER NOW

PDF FORMAT

<i>"Despite news to the contrary — especially from the social media space — reports of the death of email are greatly exaggerated. In fact, as your inboxes most likely show, email is growing and becoming even more sophisticated."</i> -- from <i>The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing</i> 

It's true. Email marketing is still going strong, and continues to be one of the most important factors in any marketing campaign. 

From the first six months of 2010 to the first six months of 2011 alone, there was a nearly 21 percent increase in email volume! The average number of emails received per day in the first six months of 2010 was 472, and during the first six months of 2011, the daily average increased to 571. Marketers are having success with their email campaigns and using it more and more.

That being the case, your email marketing campaign needs all the attention it can get, and knowing what works and what doesn't is the best way to start. That's where "The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing" comes in. 

The Guide is brought to you by the email marketing experts at DMIQ and their extensive research into one of the largest email campaign archives in the industry. On top of latest trends, it features 19 best practice chapters from today's email marketing thought leaders. You will learn how to create a relevant email program to nurture leads and drive sales, how to best use call-to-action visuals in your emails, and how to use social email to improve marketing effectiveness.

You’ll also learn:

•	Email Marketing Trends in 2011
•	Best Practices in Writing Subject Lines
•	The Strategy (and Tricks) for Improving Open Rate and Response
•	6 Tests to Improve Email Program Results
•	5 Best Practices for the Gangbusting Email Campaign
•	Best Practices for Improving Email Performance
•	6 Ways to Make Your Emails Mobile-Ready
•	Email Branding — The 16 Most Effective Strategies
•	11 Best Creative Practices for B-to-B Email Marketing
•	The Keys to Developing a Successful E-newsletter
•	How to Determine Your Customers’ Email Content Tolerance
•	How Email Marketers Can Optimize the Social Media Opportunity
•	…Just to name a few!

This comprehensive report also offers three in-depth case studies, so you can see practical examples of how these methods worked for real-life businesses. "The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing" is an essential tool for any business that ever sends an email. 

<b><u>100% Money-Back Guarantee</b></u>

Your order is risk-free. If you are not completely delighted with “The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing,” notify us within 30 days for a complete credit or refund, no questions asked.

<u>About DirectMarketingIQ</u>
The Research Division of the Target Marketing Group, DirectMarketingIQ (www.directmarketingiq.com) is the go-to resource for direct marketers. Publishing books, special reports, case study stockpiles and how-to guides, it opens up a new world for those who seek more information, more ideas and more success stories in order to boost their own marketing efforts. DirectMarketingIQ has unparalleled access to direct marketing data - including the world's most complete library of direct mail as well as a growing library of promotional emails across hundreds of categories - and proudly produces content from the most experienced editors and practitioners in the industry.

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, which is in PDF format. The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing

PDF FORMAT "Despite news to the contrary — especially from the social media space — reports of the death of email are greatly exaggerated. In fact, as your inboxes most likely show, email is growing and becoming even more sophisticated." -- from The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing It's true....

ORDER NOW

 

COMMENTS

Click here to leave a comment...
Comment *
Most Recent Comments:
James Wood - Posted on August 07, 2009
The emerging importance of video for branding and audience/client engagement in relationship marketing and being able to connect instantly with brand, product, service or information.

Are some of key points we use in providing our web video marketing and productions to our clients.

Thanks for the article Joe Boland.

James Wood
HD Productions
Online Video Marketing and Production
http://www.hd-productions.biz
Ryan Lou - Posted on August 04, 2009
Video marketing is almost one of those things everyone wish they could do, but do not really have the time/money to build a strategy behind it.

Recently, we've launched our own educational marketing videos and have been seeing that it truly is worth the effort.

We've been integrating video with other marketing channels including email, blogs and print.

When done right, video is one of those marketing tools that your prospects appreciate your brand for.
Catie Foertsch - Posted on July 29, 2009
The cost of populating a site with video has been a barrier to smaller companies, especially in this economy. While GM has the budget to invest in complete video integration, smaller companies have hesitated to even populate their site with a few videos. But as a producer of video for small to medium-sized businesses, I'm seeing an end to that stage and the beginning of the light bulb going off. Smaller companies - even really small companies - are starting to understand that if they're not using video to market their business on the Internet and to interact with current and potential customers, they're missing the boat.
Click here to view archived comments...
Archived Comments:
James Wood - Posted on August 07, 2009
The emerging importance of video for branding and audience/client engagement in relationship marketing and being able to connect instantly with brand, product, service or information.

Are some of key points we use in providing our web video marketing and productions to our clients.

Thanks for the article Joe Boland.

James Wood
HD Productions
Online Video Marketing and Production
http://www.hd-productions.biz
Ryan Lou - Posted on August 04, 2009
Video marketing is almost one of those things everyone wish they could do, but do not really have the time/money to build a strategy behind it.

Recently, we've launched our own educational marketing videos and have been seeing that it truly is worth the effort.

We've been integrating video with other marketing channels including email, blogs and print.

When done right, video is one of those marketing tools that your prospects appreciate your brand for.
Catie Foertsch - Posted on July 29, 2009
The cost of populating a site with video has been a barrier to smaller companies, especially in this economy. While GM has the budget to invest in complete video integration, smaller companies have hesitated to even populate their site with a few videos. But as a producer of video for small to medium-sized businesses, I'm seeing an end to that stage and the beginning of the light bulb going off. Smaller companies - even really small companies - are starting to understand that if they're not using video to market their business on the Internet and to interact with current and potential customers, they're missing the boat.