Web Video
Do You Need a Web Video on Your Site?Unless you have been holed up in a cave for the past several years, you might have heard of a little internet marketing revolution called web video. Once considered purely a form of world wide web entertainment on such sites as YouTube, marketing firms quickly realized the potential of video content as a promotional tool and now consider it de rigueur for any ecommerce site.
While the technology has been in place for many years, only in the last few have web videos really taken off and become popular in a variety of industries and for numerous applications. You may wonder why such content is suddenly so popular or if you really need to add it to your website. Here are some key concepts behind this marketing trend that anyone in business needs to know.
Advertising: Content is King
We have all heard this catchphrase before. But as technology advances and the way we do business changes, so should the form of content. Consider the recent woes experienced by the publishing industry, from traditional hardbound book publishers to newspapers. Once printed publications were nearly the only way to spread news or read any type of subject matter. Today they are, for all intents and purposes, just about obsolete.
The same holds true for marketing and advertising. Where once a company could merely buy an ad in the yellow pages and perhaps run an occasional radio spot, today these promotional methods simply do not reach the greatest number of potential customers.
A Standard Website Is No Longer Good Enough
But I have a website, you might respond.
In the current marketplace, a website with static content is one that will be ignored. People who surf the internet expect more than a page full of text and maybe an image or two. They want interactive content, and they want to be entertained.
This is becoming increasingly difficult to do. Today's consumers are inundated with options for entertainment - on their PDA or cell phone, through their laptop, on their iPod, in the shopping mall or in a restaurant or at the airport. In order to compete, businesses must offer something that will capture the eye of potential customers, and then keep that attention.
Video Content Advantages
The good news is that it is neither difficult nor expensive to produce good quality video content. In terms of ROI, there are very little methods of marketing which can compete with web videos.
Video content can create buzz surrounding a new release, promote new ways to use existing products, provide a virtual 'salesperson' tailored to be accepted by your target audience, or simply offer useful information. No matter the form or purpose, videos are a great way to entice internet surfers to visit your website and then urge them to stay for a while and be entertained. This is an excellent way to build a relationship with your customers.
Video production can be as professional and extensive as your budget allows, or it can simply use content provided by someone else (with permission, of course). The sky is virtually the limit when it comes to what you film, how you produce it, and what the end result looks and sounds like.
It simply does not make sense to ignore the escalating trend of using web video content on any ecommerce site. It is highly effective, very affordable, and quite easy to produce, especially by using the service of an online production facility.