It’s Not Too Late to Profit from This Hot Marketing Trend
October 14th, 2008 by Bob Bly
Normally, by the time you read about a new idea in marketing, it’s too late for you to stand out as an early adopter, because the early adopters are all already using it.
But online video is a growing trend, and it’s NOT too late for you to boost your online conversions, sales, and traffic with it!
According to an article in NJ Biz (10/6/08, p. 5), video sent as data over the Internet will grow from 10% of all video this year to 35% by 2013.
Yet right now, most Internet marketers are not taking advantage of the selling power of online video: most landing pages and web sites you see are text and graphics, with little or no streaming audio or video.
Have you tested adding online audio or video (or both) to your web sites, landing pages, and micro sites? What lift have you seen in conversion? Or (heaven forbid) did the online video actually DEPRESS response?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 9:18 am and is filed under Online Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:01 am
I have not tested audio or video on the web sites I have built, so I cannot quantitatively address the question of conversion.
However, as a consumer…in most cases, I shun online audio and video. I strongly prefer text because I can get more information more quickly. Text can easily be skimmed and is easily searched. The same cannot be said for audio and video. Tagging audio and video with keywords helps to some extent with the search problem, but ideally, audio and video would be linked to complete transcripts. Unfortunately, this rarely seems to be implemented.
As an example (and a pet peeve)…some news sites have selected headlines that link only to a video feed with no accompanying story. If the video is used to supplement a story, that is fine…but I don’t want to waste my time listening to several minutes of video when I could get the information more rapidly elsewhere.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:20 am
I’ve been following marketing trends when I can, and I realize that there really is profitability in using video marketing. No, I haven’t used it myself yet, but I do plan to.
But I also agree totally with Anne. Her comments sound like my own. One reason it’s so intrusive is because our house is smaller and I work from a dining-room-made-into-office that’s next to the living room, where the family’s hanging while I’m online. While we have used headsets, they gave out and I need to get new ones. In the meantime, video and audio is intrusive.
Plus, I do prefer to read over listen to someone or watch video when checking out the news reports online too.
There’s two rules I’m going to use when I start using video marketing …
1. The video does not start immediately upon the page loading. I will allow the visitor to decide when it should start. The page will be designed to guide the reader to want to watch it.
2. And the video introduction will be sent to my email lists, making it clear that it is a video - so that the person can be prepared for it. I love it when marketers do this for me, because it gives me the chance to do something else first and come back to the video when the environment is right for watching it. (I watch a lot of videos this way.)
I know that tests show that having the video or audio start immediately when the page loads does increase sales. But it’s never impressed me - in fact, I immediately leave more pages that use that method than stay on them - and I believe in the motto “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you”, so…
October 14th, 2008 at 10:55 am
I also immediately leave pages where something starts talking to me or video is loading without me clicking on anything. I, too, am irritated by news feeds that are video only. It takes too long, you have to sit through a commercial of some kind first, and it takes a long time to get the information. (I suspect we are all visual learners too, which probably makes a difference. Audio learners might feel just the opposite.)
Kristi Holl
Writer’s First Aid blog
October 14th, 2008 at 11:28 am
I agree video is going to be golden. Its also a lot of work, even for a ‘YouTube quality’ production. Talent, scripting, and tone/style are issues each on their own before you even get to the technical aspects of production.
This should be a real moneymaker for agencies, as doing it inhouse is likely to be too hard.
October 14th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Oh yeah! I’ve heard about this ‘online video’ technology. I had a very innovative idea of a website that had videos showing some ‘natural, instinctual, and near reproductory functions’ between males and females that tend to produce arousing sensations in most human males. I don’t even need a product to sell, I think the videos could be interesting enough to people so they can pay a monthly fee in exchange for access. I think Bob is unto something here.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
@Dave J. - To produce a video is not too difficult, if one does not think of entertainment but education. I made a so called whiteboard-video with easy to use movie-maker (comes free with Windows OS) a headset-microphone and a standard (free) graphics-program. Even if you do not understand german, you will get what it is here: http://www.vimeo.com/1476779?pg=embed&sec=1476779
This video, my first but not last, is a success. Since some other bloggers and a newsletter editor linked to it, the number of the subscribers to my newsletter doubled from normally 15-20 a month to almost 40.
I gave it a try, although i myself am more like Anne: If i can choose between read info and look info-video, i will choose read. But there a lot out there who will choose video (or audio).
October 14th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Video.
It is something I have considered using on my re-furbished web site as part of a growing re-design. But as it stands it is still only a consideration.
Sure, I have left space for it, within articles, and within the web site page latout.
I am going to try my hand at adding audio first, and will spend the time providing transcripts (for my visitors and for Googlebots).
And sticking to web design best practice, nothing will show or play without it being asked for by my visitors. (Thats why PLAY buttons exist)
Listening and watching,
Fiona Fell
www.FionaFell.com.au
October 15th, 2008 at 9:25 am
[…] It’s Not Too Late to Profit from This Hot Marketing Trend… […]
October 15th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
This site for Active Health Management features a video with audio on the home page which beautifully explains a complex service that the company is selling. I found the opening audio for the web site a bit scary, almost like there was something wrong with my computer! But I think if a company has a product or service to sell that is complicated OR warrants demonstration, an online video is definitely the way to go, and I would add it as an enhancement to an existing web site or landing page on a microsite where people have the option to view it or not. It’s good to present a marketing message in various ways because some people respond better to certain stimuli over other types of media. I have a client who is selling audio as an enhancement to email marketing messages, but I have yet to hear of the results. I guess it might be good for some DMers to let the other guys test it and prove it works THEN get in on the good thing! And save some marketing dollars.