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.
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