Acting Responsibly With Your Video Testimonials and Endorsements

How, when, and where to disclose; these are the questions many online bloggers, reviewers, and testimonial writers alike are asking. The concept of "full disclosure" is a confusing one for many people. In December of 2009, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) revised its rules and regulations about endorsements and testimonials in advertising. The old rules, more than thirty years old, were in place before the Internet and no longer applied to today's vast arena of advertising. Since the new rules took effect there is much discussion and confusion amongst endorsers and advertisers, whether receiving compensation for a product or service or not.

The idea behind the FTC's rules and regulations is to make it easier for the reader/consumer to decide if they should trust the opinion of the person endorsing the product or service. If the endorser is honest and up-front about his or her compensation for a testimonial or review, the reader is more likely to trust the opinion and even more likely to purchase said product or service. This works well for people who are paid or compensated in some way for their opinions.

The problem comes in when determining when a review or testimonial is considered an endorsement. To determine whether a full disclosure statement should be present when giving testimonials or reviews, the FTC says there has to be a connection between the endorser and the company providing the product or service. Many examples are given on the FTC.gov website, most having to do with television advertising. The following example from the FTC.gov website illustrates how full disclosure should be handled when endorsing a product or service online.

A consumer who regularly purchases a particular brand of dog food decides

one day to purchase a new, more expensive brand made by the same manufacturer. She writes in her personal blog that the change in diet has made her dog's fur noticeably softer and shinier, and that in her opinion, the new food definitely is worth the extra money. This posting would not be deemed an endorsement under the Guides.

Assume that rather than purchase the dog food with her own money, the consumer gets it for free because the store routinely tracks her purchases and its computer has generated a coupon for a free trial bag of this new brand. Again, her posting would not be deemed an endorsement under the Guides.

Assume now that the consumer joins a network-marketing program under which she periodically receives various products about which she can write reviews if she wants to do so. If she receives a free bag of the new dog food through this program, her positive review would be considered an endorsement under the Guides.

There are a couple different ways to address full disclosure online. One way is to provide somewhere on your website a separate posting or page with a disclosure statement. The posting or page should be visible on your HOME page as a link so anyone interested in reading it can get to it easily. Another way is to make your disclosure in each review or testimonial you write. This way, the reader does not have to wonder if you are being compensated in some way, and does not have to go looking for the answer. Either way is sufficient and meets the guidelines set forth by the FTC.

If you are unsure whether you should provide a full disclosure statement in your review or Video Testimonial, the best practice is to be honest. Provide that disclosure if you are at all confused. Let your readers know that you have nothing to hide and are being honest and up-front about any compensation you might be receiving for your opinions. The FTC is not going to come after you if you neglect to provide full disclosure, but your readers will appreciate your honesty.

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Delivering Highly Successful Online Video and Viral Campaigns

There are many that say that the creation of high traffic viral campaigns is a science and not an art and that luck has little to do with it. There are arguments for and against, although there are some expert providers in this space who may ether agree or disagree with this argument and there are some that actually it is both a science and an art.

Recent examples of online videos going viral include:

Konyvideo- This video was clearly designed to go viral, but it is unlikely that the author thought that it would attract an audience of over 75 million viewers across the planet however was this because that it ticked the "Social Controversy" box?

Anfield Cat - This is a more uplifting online video clip, but I ask myself was the cat let out of the bag by accident or was it a cleverly designed video campaign by an animal lover who knew how to create and design a viral campaign.

1. Capture the Moment

There are several events that enable us to Capture the Moment and companies are using these events to project their brands onto the consumer. One example would be Paddy Power's video campaign "Chav Tranquilizer's". This clearly combines humour with the traditional, more commonly viewed stiff upper lip event of the Cheltenham Festival.

Paddy Power has clearly captured the moment and integrated the content and the Cheltenham event with the brand making use of laughter and light humour.

2. High Quality and Relevant Content

Using the same Paddy Power example, the content and setting was clearly relevant in terms of the brand and capturing the audience in a funny way. This campaign was genuinely creative and the content was highly relevant to the target audience. This was clearly meant to be controversial which typically engenders "Social Sharing";

3. Social Sharing

The Paddy Power campaign was clearly designed as a viral marketing tool; hence it was designed with Social Sharing in mind. People use all types of social sharing mechanisms, such as traditional email.

If you Google Chav Tranquilizer's", you will see comments about this campaign being banned on TV. This brings into play the "Social Controversy" approach, which has clearly been integrated into this video ad with a view to creating Social Conversations on a grand scale;

4. Brands and Products

It is vital that the content, the campaign theme and the setting are clearly identifiable and relevant to the brand and to the product. This is to ensure the brand and ultimately the end product engages with the target audience. Remember, not to be too commercial, this is generally a consumer put-off and will not engender "Social Sharing". Viral campaigns are largely used to engender brand awareness; however brands are also now using online video advertising to launch products and services.

5. Consumer Attention Span

Content length is vital to get right. Too short and you can lose the message, too long and you can lose the audience. Therefore, it is important to ensure the first ten to fifteen seconds really captivate the viewer and at all costs avoid long load times for videos and games. Rememberevery consumer is just one click away from your competitor. With technology, consumers are becoming increasing impatient; hence their attention span is reducing.

capture your consumer, draw them into your world and make your message stick in their mind;

6. Viral Video Seeding

Unless the content is exposed to high numbers of users it is unlikely that the video advertisement will become a truly viral campaign.

To improve the likelihood of a truly viral campaign, it is vital that the video ad is properly seeded (geography / brand / product / context / relevance) with relevant distributors as well as with the highly known video viewing sites and blogs.

Once seeding is properly undertaken the content should take care of itself via "Social Sharing" hence on the basis that that the content works this will lead to a successful viral campaign;

7. Technical issues and bandwidth

Bandwidth has been an issue in the past but most providers have overcome this with much more robust technical solutions.

High volume viral campaigns would usually be viewed from sites like YouTube or similar video sharing sites; once the word spreads you then need to ensure that:

(i) other distributors have similar levels of bandwidth capabilities and that the quality of the content is not spoiled by bandwidth viewing issues;

(ii) the video ad formats you provide are used by the large majority of consumers and have minimum resistance to viewing; hence be wary of video formats that require special plug-ins or software upgrades. Use a few of the most common formats and ensure that consumer compatibility remains in the high ninety-nine percentile;

8. What's in it for the Consumer?

The reason commercial radio and TV advertising has been and continues to successful is due to the fact that there is something in it for the consumer.

Radio stations generally play the latest and most popular music whereas commercial TV content is generally of a high-quality to attract a certain audience, with TV commercials being shown in between TV advertisement breaks. Therefore there is clearly something in it for the consumer with commercial radio and TV media.

However in the online world this is sometimes amiss as brands prefer their online video ads to be free of "Rewarded Media".

Rewarded media has its place and can play an important part in terms of "Social Sharing" (everyone likes to receive and share a bargain with their friends). Whilst Rewarded Media seems to be a taboo in this segment it could play an important part for product launches and film releases especially if "Social Sharing" can be integrated someway with "Rewarded Media";

9. Analytics and key metrics

All viral campaigns should have a campaign distribution plan. This is vital to ensure that the video ad achieves all of the targets and metrics that were initially set-out with the brand.

To ensure that all viral campaigns stay on plan, they should be properly tracked with continual analytics and using key performance metrics. This will help the advertiser to better understand the consumer audiences, who have interacted with the content, providing data such as times of use, places of use etc. Be wary of gathering too much information on potential consumers (for example email addresses) as this can turn-off your audience and create a barrier for the online video advertisement.

10. Continual Improvement

Post campaign evaluation is essential for continued improvement. This will enable you to ascertain important data such as: what has worked and what hasn't, traffic sources, what consumers were saying in forums and social networking sites.

Try to understand why the video ad generated the level of traffic it did and this should enable you to identify key tools that can be replicated for a future viral campaign.

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The Growing Trend of Online Video Marketing - Part 2

Having a strategy in place that will make your online video marketing campaign stand-out is vitally important to its success and its longevity. Here are some tactics that will help to give your online marketing video that added 'wow' factor when it comes to drawing in audiences:

#1 - Establish a campaign: Some of the most successful online video marketing campaigns have been campaigns that feature more than 'one' video. Many businesses have gone on to generate a series of videos that tell a story that keep audiences captivated, but more importantly it brings them back to a website as they are intrigued to find out how the 'story' will conclude. For wider reach and exposure you can quite easily create a series of videos that are published frequently. This will allow you to establish brand awareness that will only increase with every video that is posted.

#2 - Don't underestimate the importance of a Call-to-Action: You would be astounded by the number of online marketing campaigns that fail to use call-to-actions and get customers interacting and involved. Instead, too many businesses focus attention on promoting themselves and essentially miss the point of giving customers an incentive to explore what's on offer.

When it comes to online video marketing, don't pass up the opportunity to encourage your audience to take some form of action, whether it is within the video or right at the end. Be specific, for example, ask them to sign up to a newsletter, visit your website or ask them to tell you what they thought about your video by leaving a comments box. If your video is of a high standard, chances are you will have their undivided attention, so be sure to use that to your advantage.

#3 - Don't get drawn into making a sales pitch: Try to avoid selling your business all the way through your online marketing video. Much of the web is littered with 'sales' and most audiences are bored of it, so you need to make your video unique by subtly selling your business, but keeping the audience interested. Your video should identify what your audience wants or needs, offer solutions to that want or need and then should tell them how your business is the answer.

It is important to promote your business, but it is essential that you remember that the customer is the most important factor of your business. Without them you have no business anyway. So avoid online marketing videos that spend the duration telling everyone how great the company is and remember to engage the audience. If they have no incentive to buy your products or use your service, they WILL look elsewhere.

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Video Advertising For Your Small Business

Why are videos a good option for small businesses? Creating a video is a great way to tell the story of your business through a more personable medium than written text. Advertising your small business with videos is not only a great way to share your story, but a well-executed video can also set a professional tone for your business.

Videos are a great way to gain exposure through a variety of marketing channels. Some of the most popular channels are uploading the video to YouTube, displaying the video on your website, and sharing it on social media accounts. Now there is a new channel available with the recent release of Google's new AdWords for video. You can now create paid advertising campaigns with your videos to gain more exposure and get more leads. Continue reading for more information about using the new video advertising platform.

About AdWords for Video

This new advertising platform is very similar to the existing Google AdWords tool, making it easy to use for those of you that are already familiar with AdWords. Here are a few of the top reasons why you should consider using this paid advertising platform to market your small business:

Geography - you can choose the audience you want to target by city, state, zip, or country. This can be a great advantage to a small business that wants to tailor the campaign to a specific target market. Budget - you can set your own budget and there is no minimum spend limit. With no minimum spend limit it is a great option for small businesses that want to test the paid advertising space and not spend their whole marketing budget. Reach - you have the option to advertise your video on YouTube and tens of thousands of other websites. Return On Investment (ROI) - since you only pay when someone chooses to play your video you can rest assured that you are getting value out of your marketing dollars.

Creating a Video Campaign

You can easily select one of your previously recorded videos straight from YouTube by choosing to search your existing channel. If you don't already have a YouTube video to submit, then you will first need to work on creating a video. There are many options available to you when creating a video. The primary options are choosing to work with a professional videographer or recording your own live video and using video editing software to put together a finished product. Before you decide on a traditional option we suggest checking out Animoto (www.animoto.com). This new online software is a good alternative option for small businesses because it can all be done in-house by any staff member. Animoto lets you easily combine your existing photos, video clips, words and music. All it takes is a little time and creativity to put together a great video.

Video Campaign Set -Up

Now that you have your video selected in Google AdWords for Video, the next step is to create your ad attributes. The ad attributes is the text that will be displayed for your video. You will want to make this enticing to people so they will want to click and watch your video. Not only can you create your own text but you also get to choose a screenshot, or thumbnail image, from your video to display. Be sure to choose a screenshot from the video that will capture people's attention and preferably one with little text. In addition, you get to choose the destination url for where these viewers will be taken after watching your video. Sending people to your homepage after finishing the video will not help get conversions from the campaign, instead we recommend choosing a landing page on your website that is related to your video.

In this section, you also have the option for the networks to run your new video campaign. To remove your ad from any of the pre-selected networks simply click "Let me choose" and then edit your display network options. We recommend taking a minute to preview the formatting of your ads in each of the networks before scheduling the campaign to run.

Your last required step in this section is schedule a start date for the campaign. You can also select an end date for the campaign, but it isn't required.

Reporting

The extensive reporting options are very similar to Google AdWords and make it easy to track your marketing ROI on your video campaigns. One thing that is different that you should investigate in your campaign is that you can track how long people are watching your videos and what actions they might be taking on the video.

In summary, even if you decide to not do paid video advertising you should still invest in developing a well-executed video to share your story on social media and your website. Don't let large businesses be the only one's taking advantage of the millions of people watching online videos a day.

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How to Customize Your YouTube Channel

The video sharing channel owned by Google is trying to align more with social media in general and Google+ in particular. It is now more important than ever to customize your YouTube Channel and make the most of the SEO benefits from the site.

YouTube's recent redesign has caused headlines such as "The Death of YouTube", however I would say that reports of the demise of the third most visited site on the planet are extremely premature! YouTube's redesign has created a cleaner look.

How to customize the new look YouTube Channel

In order to customise the channel you need to click one or other of the two Edit buttons you will see on your channel page. The top button "Edit Channel" will allow you to pick an Avatar and background image. The Avatar just needs to be a square image of yourself looking beautiful.

Apart from the Appearance tab in the Edit Channel settings, you also have another two tabs called "Info and Settings" and "Featured Tab".

In the "Featured Tab" I chose the "Blogger" layout as it shows the most.

In the "Info and Settings" tab I chose Featured Tab as my Default Tab, making sure that my favorite video takes pride of place when someone comes to my channel page. Check "Always take subscribed users to the feed tab" and "Make my channel visible on YouTube". Make sure you enter keywords into the Title, Description and Tags fields.

When you are finished, click "Done Editing".

How to customize the new YouTube Channel sidebar

The other area of the channel page that you can edit is the new sidebar. And now there's a lot of opportunity to add links in there with anchor text (although they're "nofollow" links).

Click the second "Edit" button to edit this. Write a short channel synopsis under the "About... " headline. Stick as many links as you can think of here (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, your blog, etc.)

Here you can also add any other YouTube channels you may own or decide to leave out other information, such as your age!

Connect your YouTube channel with your Google+ profile

YouTube is owned by Google, in case you didn't know, and Google is at pains to harmonize their services as much as possible. And for this reason it is an excellent idea to set up an account with Google (if you don't have one already).

If you have an account with Google this is the same as having a Google+ account. So, make sure your Google+ Profile is nicely filled out.

Be sure to link your YouTube channel to your Google+ profile by pasting the link when editing the channel sidebar. Once done Google will know your YouTube channel is allied to your blog and therefore attach the same authority to both. This is very handy if you have had a website for years but haven't done much with your YouTube channel.

What do you think?

What do you think of the new YouTube? Have you customized your channel yet? Are you getting more traffic from YouTube these days?

Whether or not you decide to use my background image you must head over to YouTube and edit your channel page to put more links in and make sure the keywords are in the right areas: in the Title, Description, Tags and, under the "About... " headline.

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Do-It-Yourself Web Videos Are a Waste of Time

Every site absolutely needs a web video. Whether it is on the homepage, on other pages of the site, or on all pages it is a necessity to bring in a strong client base. A web video conveys a message about the company that needs to be seen. It needs to be able to capture the attention of the viewer, hold their attention, and educate the viewer about the company and their services. Implementing a visually appealing and effective video to the site is paramount. Utilizing production companies can assist a company in producing a great online video. Trying to produce a video without the use of a professional production company can end in a disaster leaving the viewer uninterested and bored.

Without the proper use of production equipment, the video will be low quality and will be seen that way by the audience. No company wants to have their viewer thinking how unprofessional the video is and associating that with their services. From the initial need to produce a video, use the right equipment. Video production companies have all their own equipment which helps the company save money and time searching for the right tools if choosing to do it themselves. The set up, positioning, and utilization will all be completed by the company. Not only that facet, but the video production company will also handle the entire production of the video from script to screen. Instead of a low quality online video apply a high quality video by hiring the right video production company. Think about how you want people to view your company and what kind of video you want to represent the company. More often than not, a professionally produced video is much more welcomed then an amateur video. A low quality video correlates with boredom and ineffectiveness.

A video should only be a few minutes long, but if it does not grab the viewers' attention immediately they will leave the page. The audience base will not be broadened and might even decrease due to the lack of spark. Video production companies know how to add the right amount of humor and spunk to it without it being cheesy and slapstick. With an initial presence of humor upon entering the site, the viewer will be engaged and their attention will be held by the company. An individual who is inexperienced with video production will not be able to capture humor that correlates with the company's ideals and goals. After using the right equipment and adding the right of amount of humor to produce a high quality video, the message will be conveyed.

The whole purpose of a web video is to inform the viewer about the company and their services in a unique, interesting, and professional manner. Without the use of a video production company, there is not a chance that the video will be high quality and effective. In order to get to message across, the company needs to hire a video production company that will satisfy their viewer's ultimately helping their sales.

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How a Video Production Company Can Create a Lasting Image of Your Business

Technology has really turned up a notch these days. Almost everything a person does involves the use of the different inventions and innovations brought about by technology. When you call your loved ones you use mobile phones to do it; when you are doing the laundry, you need the assistance of the washing machine and so forth.

Now you already know that advertising plays a big part in a business. Also, you know how common business advertisements are on the web. You have probably seen countless video's about guides, tips, tutorials and the like. Well these videos are made to show people that such product or service is indeed effective. Yes articles are known to be good tools but believe it or not, video productions are even more effective.

Informative Videos

There is no doubt that people are more inclined to view videos than to read articles. However, doubt is created when the informative part of the video ceases. If you fill your videos with fluff, people will not like what they are seeing. Thus, it is but safe to say that video productions must be informative.

When you keep your video informative, people will surely love to view them over and over again. As a consequence, the business establishment or product that is being advertised by the video will be imprinted on the mind of the viewer., video can last a lifetime and bring in such a huge amount of business if done correctly and precisely.

Testimonials and Comments from Previous Clients

Now this is likewise an important element if you want your video productions to improve your business. Here, you will have to ask for a favour from your previous clients. Shoot a video where the person is talking about his delight at dealing with your business. However, you have to make sure that the video is not too long because it might bore your viewer. Ask your client about the advantages that the business offers.

These two factors in video productions are indispensable because they can surely boost your business if it is done right. When your viewers love your videos then the word of mouth shall take its toll. In other words, your videos as well as your business will be mentioned to the friends and relatives of your viewers. Hence, you will have more clients to deal with. Remember, keep your videos short, informative and simple so that you may attract attention from people.

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Web Video: The Proof Is in The Numbers

One of the most established ways to generate buzz about your business or brand online today is through online videos. This form of promotion, labeled online video marketing, illustrates your business data to probable clients in an exhilarating and dynamic manner.

With the boom of technology today, web users are capable of uploading and watching a video in almost the same amount of time it takes them to simply access a web page. The most distributed type of media on the web today is videos. This means web users are not only watching these videos but posting them on their own social networking sites or webpage as well.

Recent studies by CNN Money show that over 53% of Internet substances are videos. What does this mean for your business? If done properly, your company's videos can reach billions of web visitors daily. With the remarkable growth of YouTube, putting it right behind Google as the second leading search engine, confirms just how much web users really value online videos. With the expectations for online videos to rise greatly, possibly by 78% in 2012 according to recent reports, now is the time to make the most of this medium. While YouTube is gaining approximately 3 billion hits per day, your company can also become apart of the practice.

Not only can web videos improve your conversion rates, but it can also increase profits. Ordinarily, there is about a 400% increase in conversion of webpage viewers to actual customers when compared to consumers who viewed company videos and those who did not. Meaning, with a video on your website (depending on the quality), potential customers are 4 times more likely to become actual customers.

Studies done on various websites, such as Golf.com, establish that 85% of visitors who could access and watch a web video were more motivated to buy something than those who saw text alone. A comparable study done by ComScore demonstrates that 64% of web users who observe a video were also more likely to pay money for the goods or services compared to other visitors who were not shown a video. In conclusion, it is clear that using a high quality, professional video can increase your sales as well as customer interest.

Various other studies have illustrated that a viewer will spend on average, 10 minutes longer on your site when there is a video present compared the few seconds they spend when it is solely text. When every second counts, it is essential to capture your target audience's attention and hold onto it long enough to give them a call to action. With the use of online video marketing, your company's potential is infinite. You can improve conversions, increase sales, boost your client base, and engage your customers for longer with professional quality web videos. The statistics do not lie, if done properly, you could be on the fast track to dominating your field and reaching more customers than you previously imagined.

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How to Write a Video Script

Two of the first (and easiest) videos you should create for your business are a "welcome" video and an "about me" video. A welcome video, as the name implies, is a short video on your home page welcoming visitors to your website. An about video is similar, but is usually more of a personal "bio" video with additional details about your background and experience. Here is a sample outline for each.

WELCOME VIDEO OUTLINE

Purpose: To give your web visitors a positive first impression, introduce them to you, and offer them a brief message about what they can expect to find on your website. Be sure to end with a strong call to action!

Open with a short, branded intro (such as a logo reveal or title card) if you have one Introduce yourself to your web visitors as if you're welcoming someone into your home Briefly tell them who you are, who you serve, and the key result people get from working with (or buying from) you - Focus on the benefit to the viewer - think, what's in it for them? Give them a very succinct overview of what they can expect to find on your website End with one, direct Call to Action, such as an offer for them to opt-in (sign up) to receive your free report, video series, checklist, or whatever it is you are offering as your opt-in freebie

ABOUT ME VIDEO OUTLINE

Purpose: To give your web visitors additional details about your background, experience and special skills or talents that could benefit the viewer/visitor. This video can appear on your "About" page, but you can also use it on other platforms, i.e. YouTube, as well.

If you have a branded video intro, start with that... Introduce yourself and thank the visitor for taking the time to visit your site Provide some basic background info about you, as it pertains to your prospect Remember to keep your focus on the viewer, who is always thinking "what's in it for me?" Even though this is an "about me" video, the truth is you still have to make it "about them!" Talk a bit about your target market, and how you help them. Focus on the solutions you provide and the benefits your clients or customers receive. Close with an invitation to learn more by giving your email address or a way for prospects to "continue the conversation." Ways to Make Money Online on YouTube   Website Building - Get Videos To Promote Your Business   Why Web Videos Are More Effective   Business Blogging and Lead Generation   How To Do Videos - For Local Business Owners   

The Web's Epic Marketing Battle: Analytics Versus Creativity

There is an epic battle being fought on the Internet between the mighty forces of the left-brain 'analytarians' (those who worship at the feet of the almighty Google analytics) and the upstart underdog right-brain creatives. Lines have been drawn in all out trench warfare leaving the under-manned creatives scrambling for evidence to back their claims of superior marketing influence and impact.

Woe is the plight of the poor creative who dares to challenge the influence of the Great & Powerful Google and its vast cadre of graduate math majors armed to the teeth with a dizzying array of numbers and statistics, all presented in pretty, colorful charts and graphs. Which side are you on: the left-brainers with their B52 size statistical bombs filled with numbers that can be interpreted in any way that suits their purpose like your morning astrological advice, or the lowly right-brainers only equipped with research papers from neurobiologists, psychologists, and various other social scientist types who actually study human behavior? This is war, and it's a dirty business to be sure.

To The Victor Go The Spoils

Business is often described in terms of war strategy and to be sure the spoils do go to the winner, but like war, the winner is not always on the side of right, and by right I mean correct. But first a cautionary note: if you are looking for "The Seven Immutable Bulleted Points Guaranteed To Help You Find Your Marketing G-Spot," you can forget it, that's a secret I'm not prepared to divulge; however what I am prepared to do is tell you a story about a monkey, a monkey that will tell you more about the influence and impact of experiential Web video marketing than any reading of the analytic tea-leaves.

Jacob Braude, in an expert blog post on the 'Fast Company' website entitled "Mirror Neurons And Their Role In Marketing" writes about researchers who "implanted electrodes in the brain of a monkey in order to map which neurons controlled the monkey's movements." And like many important discoveries, serendipity followed, another argument for following the creative forces, but that's a discussion for another time.

Ice Cream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream

Numbers are merely data, not information, they can only tell you part of the story, so to quote the famous Paul Harvey, 'here's the rest of the story." One of the researchers decided to get an ice cream and when the monkey spotted the researcher eating his ice cream the electrodes lit-up like the giant Times Square Ball on New Years Eve. Eureka!

What the researchers discovered was something called "simulation," a process where "mirror neurons... mirror in your brain an experience you see, hear, or read." In other words, the monkey vicariously experienced eating an ice cream just by watching the researcher enjoying his ice cream - Holy Baskin Robbins - this is important stuff, at least if you want to learn what makes an effective marketing or advertising presentation. The conclusion: "your unconscious uses physical experiences to make sense of abstract ideas - even when you are only looking at the experience." So here's the secret marketing g-spot, I swore not to divulge: if your marketing initiatives, including Web videos, display ads, text content, etc. don't provide a shared brain experience with your audience, you are not going to win the marketing battle no matter what the high priests of algorithmic scriptures divine to be gospel.

The Battle Continues

One of the major battlegrounds in marketing today is "engagement" how do you get your audience to connect with your company? It's the basis for all the buzz (you say buzz, I say bunkum) surrounding social media. Every month a new tech-based social media solution emerges spawned by a group of math geeks and touted by the media as the next killer app destined to change the world. Few business people take the time to investigate fundamental science research into human nature but instead rely on rip and read journalism taken from the latest company press releases.

There's a reason why people like to watch sports and porn (not you of course), it's because the viewer is participating in the activity just by watching. Martin Lindstrom, author and marketing expert writes in a 'Fast Company' blog "Are You A Victim of Phantom Vibration Syndrome?" about his study on smoking: "Using fMRI we learned that something called Mirror Neurons are activated the moment a smoker sees another smoker lighting up. Mirror Neurons give credence to the old saying "Monkey See, Monkey Do." It's a built-in mechanism connected to the empathy emotion, and it partly explains the popularity of sports and pornography. Both activities take us beyond observation, because in our brains we're actually participating."

Excite The Brain

Your marketing should excite the brain; if your Web video gets those mirror neurons popping then it's done its job. It really doesn't matter if they watch or read everything, what matters is that you made an impact, that they felt something, and whether they act right away or some time down the road is not the point. What matters is did they get it, did the video make an impression, did it engage their senses, because that is the goal.

Marketing Is Contextual Storytelling

Your marketing has to spin a yarn, create a fable, a legend. Apple Computer tells a fabulous story, much better than its competitors, and that's why its customers are so loyal and why it's the biggest market cap company on Wall Street. Facts are only tools designed to help you tell a story, and as the experts often repeat 'a good story is a fact wrapped in an emotion.' A good story provides context, it paints a picture that your audience can relate to and participate in. It's what separates the marketing winners from the losers. It's an approach that takes courage, patient and consistency; characteristics that are in short supply, leaving the field wide-open for those who dare to be creative.

The vast majority of business people will pick the number crunchers every time; it's seemingly safe and has the appearance of logic backed by arithmetic, even if those numbers are misleading, and in truth tell a vastly different story than what appears on the surface. Only the forces of creativity can develop a marketing story that produces the kind of shared experience needed to motivate people to act.

Business Has Lost Its Mojo

The financial and personal pressure downloaded onto today's entrepreneur combined with an exhausting continuous flow of misleading and contrary advice creates a business climate of fear and timidity. If success on the Web is based on anything, it's the ability to be bold and creative in telling a story that makes your audience feel. It's time to get your mojo back.

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The Primary Benefits Of Video Marketing

Video marketing has been classified by many businesses and employers as one of their ways and techniques in reaching out to their clients. In the past few years, the use of videos has been very efficient in promoting and advertising the services and products of different companies. Because of this video, marketing has been very popular among many business owners.

Definition of Video Marketing

Video marketing can be described as the creation of different videos for the purpose of promoting the company's services and products. Once these videos are developed, it is important for owner to distribute them effectively in order for potential clients to see what these videos have to say about the offers and services of the business. One of the most effective ways in doing this is to upload the videos in different social sites such as YouTube or DailyMotion. Although uploading the video on the business' official website will get the attention of old clients, owners can also try using other social sites such as YouTube in order to promote the products to a newer or fresher audience.

What are the Benefits of Video Marketing?

1. Get the Attention of Larger Audiences

Nowadays, many people spend a lot of their time watching different videos online. Because of this, using promotional videos can definitely help in getting the attention of potential clients. These videos can help entice interested customers to visit the site and check the different services offered by the business.

2. Videos are SEO Friendly

It is true that most search engines, such as Google, are fond of videos. Because of this, it will be a lot easier for owners to draw the attention of clients to their site with the use of video marketing.

3. Videos are Easily Accessible

Because of the advent of technology, videos are no longer confined in laptops of PCs. In fact, these videos can be easily downloaded in cell phones and other portable gadgets. This makes videos very accessible and easy to spread to people.

4. Makes the Owner the Expert in the Industry

It is necessary for a marketer to establish or develop authority in the industry in order to get the trust and reliability of the clients. With the help of video marketing, it will allow owners to achieve their goals while letting thousands of viewers watch the promotional clips of the business.

What are the Latest Video Marketing Trends?

It is important for businessmen to know the different video marketing trends that are used by many marketers in order to ensure that the success of the promotional videos. Here are some of the most common and effective trends of video marketing.

1. Screen Capture Video

This works by capturing and recording all the things that are visible to the computer screen prior to adding voiceovers to the clips. Owners can always rely on PowerPoint in order to enhance the creativeness of the presentations.

2. Viral Video Marketing

Viral marketing allows the owner to encourage the viewers to share the videos with other users. This is popular for its marketing potential that aims in building the growth in audience.

3. Video Streaming Sites

This is considered to be one of the most popular trends since it makes use of social networking sites in order to promote the videos. Twitter and Facebook already has millions of users all over the globe. This makes it easy for owners to target large audiences and gain potential clients.

Some of the video marketing tips that businessmen can apply in order to become successful in promoting their business include the following:

1. Provide attractive and attention-grabbing titles for videos

2. Provide high quality of video content

3. Place the URL of the business in the video

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Video SEO and Web Video Promotion

What is SEO exactly? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is a tool that most businesses and companies use in order to promote their products throughout the internet. It is inexpensive and effective when used correctly. It was originally developed for written material on the web such as blogs, articles and web pages that were created by businesses. This material contains keywords that search engines use in order to determine the content and then match them with keywords that someone has entered in the search box. This is to ensure that pertinent information shows up when someone is searching for it. SEO also grabs the content and pools the keywords together and then ranks the information based on relevancy. This is still highly affective and actively used today. With the emergence of web video, video SEO has been formed.

Video SEO is virtually the same thing as written SEO in the ways of marketability except it is applied to all the web videos release on the internet. Video SEO is important because it allows your video to be uploaded to your site, shared through social media outlets such as YouTube in order to gain the maximum amount of exposure possible. A successful web video will be under five minutes so that you will not lose your audience's attention. Anything longer and you risk the person clicking away before the call to action. The video needs to be tailored to what your audience needs and be relatable to your products and services. You need to pique their interest if you want them to further explore what you have to offer. This will help not only increase the traffic to your website but also turn your visitors into buyers.

There are a couple of ways to ensure that your video gets proper viewing on the internet. First you will need to come up with a headline. Your headline should contain the most efficient keyword that relates to your video and then it needs to be placed as close to the beginning as possible. Doing so helps your audience quickly discern what information they need and what they don't. Brainstorm about 15 more of these keywords and tag them with your video, be creative with your combinations. Don't be overlooked because you failed to include a combination of keywords that someone could be potentially looking for. Saturate the content around the video with these same keywords and include it in the URL of your video. A professional video production company understands this and can help with your SEO marketing.

Assign an embedded code to your video and invite your audience to share it. This is an important form of advertising because the more views and relevance, the higher ratings it will get from search engines. When your audience shares your videos to others online, your company essentially broadens its reach and is able to draw in more traffic to your website.

In the end, SEO is mainly just comprised of keywords that help your company find its niche on the internet. Once you have found this slot with your keywords, you can expect the traffic to your site to increase through video SEO.

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Compelling Marketing Video Scripting

Congratulations! You've decided to create a marketing video, and you're the one who is in charge of getting it done. You're pumped up and ready to go. Just one thing - do you know how to actually go about "getting it done?"

Relax. It's not as hard as it sounds. There are some basic things to remember and several key steps to take when putting together a video. First, keep in mind that you're telling a story with your video. People will be willing to invest their time watching your video - and in return all they ask is that they be entertained. Don't bore them to death with a bunch of facts that drone on and on. Give people a bit of the "what"- just do it in small doses. It's far more important to tell people that your product or service is designed to solve a problem than how long it is or what color it is. People want to know about solutions!

The most important thing is to be sure to have a "hook." This is critical! People like to be engaged in what they're watching. It doesn't matter if your video is about a production process or a new computer system technology; you still have to engage your audience. Think about television commercials - something has to grab your attention and get you engaged, or you're going to start pushing buttons on your remote faster than you can say, "boring."

Next, remember that the people watching your video are going to ask themselves, "what's in it for me?' It's human nature. So be preemptive. Tell them why they should care! Use quantifiable numbers like, "This will help reduce your sales cost by 50%." Or, "By using our new software, you'll only have to reorder every three months instead of every two." Whatever benefit you have to sell, tell it directly and whenever possible use numbers to support your statements.

Think about exciting visuals to go with your story. Remember, video is a visual medium - sights and sounds. So you have to think visually as well. Show viewers how to solve problems as well as tell them. Retention of important points will be much higher, and they'll remember your video long after they've watched it.

Finally, think about the call to action you desire. Do you want people to visit your website? Do you want them to call for more information? Tell them! And don't be shy about asking for the order. As much as you're hoping to solve a problem and tell a story, you're there for one reason: to sell. Never lose sight of that fact.

Producing an effective video that engages your audience and actually does what you'd like it to do takes time and a good deal of effort. If it all sounds too complicated, don't despair. Just bring in a good video production company to work with you and let them guide you every step of the way. After all, that's what they do best!

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5 Reasons to Use Web Video in Your Business

The internet represents a powerful tool for large and small business alike to reach new and old customers. Connecting with your clientele has never been easier, and as the internet continues to grow business owners look for more and more ways to expand their online profile. Today, most major companies have a varied online presence that includes their website, a site optimized for mobile devices, online advertisements, and even we videos. Not only can video enhance your website, but video hosting sites like YouTube can even draw business. So without further ado, here are 5 reasons to use web video in your business.

1. Enhances your site. Not only do videos make your site appear more advanced, but you can actually use these videos for promotional videos. You can give tours of your site, or post advertisements for your company. Video can quickly turn a static website into a much more exciting website that promotes interactivity with your customer.

2. Can demonstrate your product or service. Whether you post on your own site or video hosting sites, web video can be an excellent medium for educating your customers. "How-to" videos are commonplace online, and if you demonstrate a specific product, these videos can help your customers and potentially draw new customers to your business. These videos may show installation instructions, guides for using your product, or even just show your product in use.

3. Can be used for promotion. Obviously, videos can be used for advertisement purposes as well. Some of the most interesting websites will use video to promote special events or sales. You can show new products available in your stores or online, you can reward customers with special 'promo codes' for watching your videos, and you can even use video to tell customers about upcoming specials.

4. Can personalize your business. In a highly competitive marketplace, it only helps to give your customers a more personal view of your business. Corporate websites are often lacking that human element, but video can help you bridge the gap that remote customers are likely to feel when visiting your website. The video can welcome customers to your site or give profiles about executives and employees. Videos are also a great way to share customer testimonials.

5. Reinforce your brand. Because videos are a more interactive media, they can be highly effective for promoting your brand. Whatever ultimate reason you have for utilizing web videos, the offer an excellent opportunity to reinforce your brand and brand values. Brand images throughout the video allow customers to make a more meaningful connection with your company.

As you can see, there are many great reasons to use web video for your business. Not only do they help you create a dynamic website, but they can be used for demonstrating your product/service, promotional purposes, and even personalization and branding.

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Your Finest Video Sales Letter Service Review

Most people are driven by their false belief thinking that in order to get attention from online visitors, they need to spend long hours and pay huge amount to video creators to produce enticing videos with special effects. Some people have even availed to several services only to increase sales conversion without knowing that the services they have used have long been outdated.

This is not what people need and special effects are the least of the things that you would likely include on your online video creation. As a matter of fact, you only need to avail on one simple service to get started.

Let me introduce video sales letter service that has helped successful Internet marketers' drive figures on their bank accounts.

What is a video sales letter?

Video sales letter is your video with plain text, images and background music or a voice-over to inform the viewers about your products or services. This online video strategy normally lasts from 30 sec. to 10 min. depending on the amount of information that you want your viewers to know. In short, it has a call to action where in you are attempting to educate the viewers as well as to sell.

What is a video sales letter service?

Simply put, a video sales letter service is when a company does all the video sales letter job for you - no need to pay for expensive video creator's service and useless special effects. This service includes the following:

1. A direct to the point video content.

The content mainly includes readable text, voice and simple graphics. The content will provide details about your services with all the list of benefits. In this way, the point is directly delivered to anyone who views the video. This strategy will likely benefit you from hiring an expensive sales copy writer.

2. A voice over video.

Voice over will not only spice up your video but, it will add credibility and clarity to your content. In this way, anyone (regardless of educational attainment or profession) will likely understand your message. The key is to educate your viewers to guide them to your services and products.

3. It hosts and redirects for your video.

A company that offers the said service can do professional hosting solution to your video sales and even include buy-buttons that redirects your viewers to your sales page or order page. This is how this service has got its title as one of the best strategy to increase sales conversion in minutes.

4. This service will syndicate your video.

Instead of visiting all video sites on the web and manually creating profiles on them, video syndication service will distribute your videos to different video sites on the web without consuming much of your time. Your one video will get distributed to numerous sites in a scheduled manner. In this way, you can generate more traffic and capture most possible viewers in a short period of time.

However, this service has limitation - it does not add fancy tools and complicated applications. So, the next time you plan on having your online video creation, take time to consider the needs of your prospects.

Website Building - Get Videos To Promote Your Business   Why Web Videos Are More Effective   Business Blogging and Lead Generation   How To Do Videos - For Local Business Owners   8 Ways To Socialize Your Video Marketing Strategy