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If you didn’t catch the article, “Do People Read Your Site Information?” you should give it a read, but, as it explains, people will rarely read more than 60% of an entire article. So, how do you market your business if you can’t have the information in written form? The easy answer is to give people what they want. According to many sources, consumers want video clips and by 2015, the most effective form of marketing will be videos via YouTube and Vimeo.

If you doubt the marketing power of video, just look at how fast the short looping video app, Vine has taken hold with businesses. From quick video greeting cards, to instructional tips, to videos of company culture that humanize a business, Vine has become an important marketing tool.

Video, of course, has a long history of being an important marketing and educational tool. In the 1950s and 1960s, schools knew the best way to grab the attention of students was via instructional films. Here’s an example, entitled, “Are You Popular?”

Whew! Glad we could all learn about girls like Ginny before it was too late!

TV commercials are certainly the best example of video marketing and the annual buzz of what new commercials will air on the Superbowl is always newsworthy and lasts for weeks. Unfortunately, at a million dollars for 30 seconds of advertising, TV was out of reach for most businesses. Cable TV offered lower rate, localized commercials, but even that became an expense many couldn’t cover. Some businesses shaved costs by cutting production values and owners acted as the on-air talent.

One famous west coast car dealership owner was famous for his late night (lower advertising costs) TV ads. Take a look…

On the east coast as early as the 1970s, a local ice cream store did the same…

Unfortunately, Mr. Carvel switched his ads to interviews of local store owners and when one was recognized as a former death camp guard, he was deported and imprisoned. Sometimes you need to check the backgrounds of your on-air talent!

Bigger advertisers saw the popularity of these “homey” pitchmen and soon they became mainstream…

Although these Bartel and James commercials ran for years, it was discovered that the men many came to love were not actually Bartel and James, but two actors. The commercials ceased and the company took a big financial hit because consumers felt slighted. While Mr. Worthington and Mr. Carvel had a certain charm, some people, as I suppose in the case of Mr. Bartel and/or Mr. James, just shouldn’t be on-air talent.

YouTube Gets Some Play

One of the early pioneers of “Vlogging,” completely by accident, was a creative man named Ze Frank. Having made a short video for someone’s birthday and posting it to YouTube, which allowed him to just send the link over the still young internet, he gained almost overnight celebrity (did you know that two unknown animators were paid to create a video Christmas card for $ 500, and using construction paper cutout characters, the video went viral, they were able to sell the idea of South Park, and the rest is history!).

See more of his early work HERE or subscribe to his YouTube Channel HERE.

How Do YOU Use Video Marketing to Succeed?

In the article, “How the Top 100 Brands Use YouTube for Marketing,” the author refers to a recent study from the marketing firm, Pixability. The article includes stats and charts that prove the effectiveness of YouTube marketing used by top brands, but the one hour webinar video by Pixability, but that all falls short when the video breaks most of the basic rules of creating a successful video. Watch at least three minutes of the video and decide if you want to spend an hour watching the moderators or listening to the poor sound quality.

A sharper video that gets down and dirty about YouTube video marketing has some blunt tips that get right to the point…

Another video tutorial with bad production values but great tips is well worth a viewing…

Watch part 2 HERE.

Gleaning the Important Stuff

With all of this information, what are the winning tips you can use for your own video marketing? There is some argument about how “polished” a video should be, and I stick by my assertion that the Pixability video is not attractive enough to draw in the viewer. The content will surely engage those who get past the hosts’ lackluster performance and droning way of speaking, but how many viewers will get to that point?

An example of lower production quality but entertaining and engaging material is the successful series of 5 Second Films…

The makers of these short films were careful to keep producing the films on a regular basis, keeping the simple “quality” and, if you watch other examples, you will see that several mainstream celebrities are now part of these videos, drawn into them, undoubtedly, by the viral popularity and fun aspect of these films (and not having to memorize long scripts).

One thing that all of the better videos share is proper lighting and sound quality. There is nothing worse than sitting through a video that is hard to see or hear.

A Checklist for Success

• Plan your video as if it was a Hollywood film.
• Make sure you have the proper lighting, background (no one wants to see your dirty laundry piled up on the bed behind you or piles of paper on your desk), and sound quality.
• The spokesperson or actors need to know their script! “Ums,” and “uhs” should be edited out.
• One long medium, head on shot for the entire video gets visually boring. Switch shots often — you are shooting a movie!
• Don’t be afraid of yelling “CUT!” and starting over again. Get it right!
• “Good enough” won’t do it when it has to be great. You will be known by the last video you do.
• Script and storyboard every video. How will it run, when will a point be made and is the point easy to get? The reason the 5 Second Films work is they tell a story and do it in basic and quick terms.
• Don’t push a bad idea. If no one on your staff gets the point, neither will your customer. You may get it in your mind, but you have to play to a wide audience and they are the target who have to get it.
• Be consistent as you would with any content. Keep the videos coming on a regular basis.
• Always keep the end consumer in mind!
• Use other social media channels to spread your videos. Twitter, Facebook, etc. are your billboards for your video, Use them to drive traffic to the videos.

Whether using a short looping Vine video or a long webinar, keep the entire package in mind and how it works to send your message. If customers get it, then you are bound for success!

Top image ©GL Stock Images

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