FireStarter: Using Video To Build Your Business

Using Video To Build Your Business

Sharing Your Video online

Online video has been making a huge impact globally over the last 5 years and is becoming more accessible to everyday business. Adding video to your site has huge benefits that allow the viewer to really experience your business.

Making the use of video for marketing, promotion, news and PR online a true key strategic component of any new cutting-edge and effective communication campaign. Video search engines and directories, online video publishing and sharing sites are demonstrating that the power of moving images is finally free to break out from the mass television prison.

With literally thousands of small, unequipped and mostly unknown grassroots producers taking advantage of the video publishing and sharing sites. They are the ones making sense of the natural needs that video publishing and online distribution demands, while many of the big names/brands are still using the somewhat two dimensional communication aspect of the net analgeous to television and other traditional mass media. Unfortunately by taking this tack, the opportunity to use the most disruptive and powerful characteristics of the online video publishing revolution are missed, which is user-driven, targeted, personalised free viral distribution.

Set It Free

There is no benefit or advantage in keeping any of your video content (or any other type of content) within the confines of your web site. The real advantage of letting your video content be free is not only the fact that others can easily watch and discuss the content they can also freely distribute, download and even publish it directly on their own sites or blogs.

From companies like Google to Apple, large and small progressive businesses have realised the extent of the effectiveness of video content on site. Sadly the greatest potential value of these videos are never realised as this content is hard wired into the companies site. If Apple for instance make a great video for the new Touch version of their new iPod for instance, this is incredible content for individuals and companies to add to their own blogs and/or site, add to reviews and give comment and feedback on it while keeping the integrity of the video promotion and your branding constant.

Take Apple for instance if they make a new video about the latest iPod, operating system or iPhone, this is amazing content for online publishers, bloggers and reviewers to redistribute and syndicate this information. This extends the reach of this content by ensuring their content is transportable to, by and for, the very people this content was intended for and increasing exposure by huge orders of magnitude. It is inevitable that if you ensure that your content can be taken and reused you can ensure distribution to the specific audiences it was intended for on automatic

Think how it used to be and in some cases still is, in the world of mass media like television and radio, if you wanted to promote your next big service, product or idea you would have to buy selected titles, times or regions that is most appropriate to get front of your target audience. You may also have to engage an agency (paying extra) to locate who and where your audience is and which vehicles would be best to use to accomplish this when placing your ad.

Now once you had completed your campaign it will be aired via the most appropriate channels bought by the agency. Your collective goals in this would be to get as many ad runs as possible in order to get your message in front of as many of your target audience as possible with your video. Of course, the norm for exposure of this type of advertising is to interrupt or intrude on the enjoyment of watching a show while you sell your wares.

The right content for the right audience

TV networks are continuing to lose ground to a burgeoning mass of grass roots and up online content providers that provide news and entertainment that you search find and play and is by default more relevant to the viewer. No more waiting for the ads to finish or working to a schedule dictated by networks, its what you want, when you want it. Can you see why it is so popular? Add into the mix, time-shift recording and TiVo driven television content gaining popularity networks are seeing television advertising revenue being distributed across many more channels. Television advertisers should be asking themselves what the real value of wasting all that money to intrude and disrupt an individuals most private and personal leisure time really is.

Imagine for a moment that a television ad as an effort to build a relationship with new or existing customers via a visual, video message. Think of it in this context, would you socialise or go out with someone who repetitively vied for your attention by repetitively interrupting your dearest most private and personal time? Perhaps you learning something really interesting from a fantastic documentary, or riveted to the upcoming climax of the film you have been watching. Would you date someone that, arrived un-introduced by anyone you know, talks incessantly and listens very little, someone that despite looking beautiful claims that she/he is the best and is also the only one out there...

Not sure how you go on this but I wouldn't date or open any kind of relationship with anyone that annoying! Would you?

Now fast-forward to today and watch how video/television advertising has a completely different distribution paradigm.

6 Reasons To Do It NOW!

1) Online you have quite possibly unlimited number of distribution channels available to you. Literally tens of thousands of search engines, directories, web sites, blogs, forums, content distributors and tools are available to take your video (advert or not) and run this relevant content to their targeted audience.

2) Nothing to pay upfront? That's right! You'll find no middle men, agency, marketing research or expensive campaign to fund. No booking ad-space in programming slots or PR to source those who wish to know more about your product. Its all unnecessary.You still need to create your ad, information or documentary. To ensure engagement it is essential to create content with a little more art and entertainment, not at the expense of the message of course. Did I also mention you can forget about the expense of distribution?

3) You now have some of the best free marketing analysis and targeting available at your disposal. Who are they? Well it's us, online publishers from the great to the small that connect to niched blog sites, aggregate, wade, index, explore, pre-taste, filter and serve up the best video content available online. "Best" is only truly relative to the audience engaging it. The real beauty of this that we are collectively scouring the net for the most relevant video content and providing it specific places and giving it to the very individuals who really want to watch it. All you have to do is get it out there! The people going to these sites are looking for something specific and the increase of use for this in video is evident.Video blog sites, video search engines or video sharing enviroments are incredible resources for targetted content. Anything from grassroots video, a friends party, fun clips or learning about the latest email marketing technique. All of your viewers want to hear your message, they are receptive and open to you as you satisfy their interest.)

4) Getting personal. Due to the nature of the distribution via the thousands of various outlets available on the internet, but at an individual person level is has to become personal. Imagine it like a referral from a friend. Self-selected video by the many outlets is delivered directly to final viewers within context it should significantly help the viewer appreciate, understand and potentially even enter into an emotional relationship with your content.

5) Time to get Viral. Instead of restricting your (fantastic) content it is branded and opened up for downloading, sharing, syndication and republication. It doesn't matter wheither it promotes a service or not your content will be reproduced on any number of relevant sites and viewed. We always come across interesting video content and we will always link to and display it to our audience introduced by us and surrounded by relevant links, news and other information.

6) It never disapears, it's there forever. Remember when you bought your last TV or Radio slot, remember how the ad mysteriously stopped playing when you stopped paying? Online, your ad budget never runs out because you don't need one!

Think about this...

Remove your current definition of Television advertising from your brain for a moment and pretend an advert does not need to be 30 second slot that rams a jingle or products shots while throwing tag lines at you at every opportunity. Advertising is brain damage, its the noise in your head that will not go away and jams a mass of captivating images telling you what beauty, the good life and happiness look like.

Imagine providing something real, something that makes a difference in peoples lives, something that elevates your businesses reputation a notch in your clients estimations. This will deliver more for your bottom line time and time again...

Its a win-win situation

Your content gets to the exact people actually looking for it, pre-filtered and targeted like never before, and you're getting in peoples faces as you were previously. You are presented to an audience that is looking for and even willing to buy when they are at their most receptive to you. While you can't bullshit anymore, you CAN have their undivided attention for at least the time they are prepared to watch your video...

This is only part one! So now we have presented a compelling case to present online where do you start? This will be coming to you next month and if you can't wait until then make contact and we'll fast track your business into the world of online video straight away!

So what's stopping you now?

Interested in getting your content online, from production to online syndication contact us to start your journey on 1300 13 89 31.

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