With the huge success of YouTube – purchased by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion- and faster internet connections, consumers are beginning to expect more than just a website. They expect you to show them why they should do business with you and what sets you apart from your competitors.
This is where ‘show n’ tell’ really comes to the harvest. Words are no longer as effective as they once were… no matter how skilled the ‘Wordsmith’ is; people remember what they see far longer and with more accuracy than they recall what they hear.
If you can create a ‘catchy’ enough message so that it becomes contagious as in ‘viral video’ then you have just launched a lean machine in a marketing tool.It’s cute, it’s catchy, and it’s got a message that everyone can get. That’s today’s marketing method. You catch a condition like an engaging video and you just have to send it to your email friends! That’s how it works, you’ve had dozens of those sent to you. Think about the ones you liked and why when you plan your own.
If you’ve ever gone to one of the WebPortals, like YouTube or MetaCafe to view just one video and then disappeared down a rabbit hole… you’ll know what I mean here. It is best to have the video on your website and drive the traffic to your website by creating an irresistible trailer that lures the viewer to see the rest of it on your own website.
Video if it’s to be successful should be conceived, scripted, shot, edited, and posted out to the world wide web as a ‘trailer’… much like Hollywood creates commercial trailers to attract attention to their next movie. It should not ‘give’ the product away… it should entice the audience to follow the scent trail to the product so that they purchase it… or buy the ‘idea’, get involved in the plan or whatever it’s selling.
What is so exciting and inviting about this opportunity is that it is so cost effective and affordable. Think how much it costs to broadcast a TV commercial, not to mention the production costs; now lay this budget alongside the cost of some creative thinking required to come up with a viral concept, some basic camera work, the use of a simple editing bay to cut it, and you’ll understand why so many results have been harvested from viral video.
It entertains while it informs; the most successful promotional concept on the planet. We learn by this method, we teach our children with this method, and we grow our business enterprise by employing this method in marketing.
Just remember these simple guidelines when you create your own Video4Web;
-give them something worth learning about;
-make it entertaining; some of this entertainment is in the crafting of the shoot, the camera angles, the length of those holds, the sound quality and the layering of that sound design or the tune which has been chosen for the backdrop. This helps in the edit..whether it’s cut ‘on the nose’ , that is, to the beat, or off of it. These two methods communicate something entirely different.
-Finally, reward them with a product or service that they wonder whatever they did without it. If you have a unique product or a simple, everyday service that is delivered in the way that the consumer of today wants it delivered, this project will not be difficult for you to execute. You may not be a professional film maker, but you are a consumer and you know what turned you on to a product or service and why. Besides, the ‘hand-held’ look is very in now. No spit shine required…it should not be sloppily shot and cut, but it could look handmade rather than the traditional ‘canned’ TV commercial production.
Here are a few basic production guidelines:
Strategise the type of online videos you need to succeed; don’t give it away, ‘bait the hook’; step it out… a serialized viral video will always score high with the end viewer…especially if it tips the ends of either comedy or thriller.. you know those ‘cliff hanger’ cut 0ffs!
Plan the production of your web video; think of location and budget while creating this plan… then
Shoot your plan; you can creatively deviate all around the world but you will still need that simple product in the end.
and finally, carefully plan where and why this video is to be posted. Once videos are internet launched, have someone manage and maintain it.
This is so exciting as a venture for us all… the internet is controlled by no one and created by everyone…. it’s a world wide hay day… or gold rush. If you really get together with a few creative people, spend some time thinking creatively then set out a simple plan to shoot those concepts… when you get this out onto the internet, you’ll be rewarded by the attention it attracts.