Video marketing - would you use it?

I keep bouncing this one around. We all know the power of You Tube, but do videos really work on your actual website?

Every few months we get approached by media and video companies telling us its time for us to embrace video, as users want more sophistication and features on things like business directories.

But do they really? I read an interesting reply on another forum.

"Ask yourself when was the last time you watched a video on a website, and this led to a buying decision.. answers prob zero"

Which is where I am now, I don't think there is currently a market for video on general eccommerce sites, can users really be bothered to watch a video of a builder or a plumber telling the world how good he is? Lets see a couple of pics of your recent work, and that will do me nicely

Maybe a cookery website, and you follow the video tutorial, or an education site, but other than that, I'm currently stuggling to see any genuine applications for my own business.

Whats does anyone else think? Am I out of touch, and video is the way forward? If so, any examples?

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Interesting one. Must admit I can't think of a situation where it's converted me into a buying customer.

I think it could help in some circumstances. I believe if you're going to go ahead and do it in a "homemade" style (e.g. own camera, and embed the video on your website from say, You Tube) you need to be careful and ensure it is kept professional. I've seen some video's on websites, only to look at others that the same person has done and are nothing related to the website and are clearly personal videos. Nothing wrong with that I guess but if it's an image you're trying to portray you need to ask yourself what image is it you want.

I guess this example is something you could do on your business directory. I suspect it's an option which some people would take up. It would be interesting to know if they get more business since they've added a video?

One area that I've seen increasing is testimonials on website by video - these can be very persuasive. I believe they can be more powerful than words though I guess it depends on how the person comes across as to whether it works better or not.

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I reckon you're probably right - it can be very effective for some businesses (eg "here's some video footage of Bonzo, an incredibly cute puppy who came to the shelter six months ago after nearly being drowned in a sack with a brick. Help save puppies like Bonzo. Give us money.") but for enterprises that are, um, less visually appealing, it's less relevant.

The tutorial aspect depends on whether your customers really need tutoring. Google use tutorial videos quite effectively, but then, you do need to learn how to use a Google product and lots of people still aren't confident to learn by trial and error.

And a rubbish video is almost definitely worse than no video at all. Does everyone remember WebCameron?

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ahh yes spectacuarly bad!


Video Testimonals is a good point and something we have thought of in the past and stuffed into the "maybe one day" pile, but Martins right, they are a powerful marketing tool. Maybe one to reconsider...

But the Touch Local example sums up what I already thought, its a gizmo, which I suspect the majority of visitors will ignore. All they want are the contact details, or a link to the tradesmens website so they can do a little research.

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I agree with you but if you have some good video having good no of visitors than you can ern money from ad sense and i have noticed in serch engine result page some the site comes with video .

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Interesting thread Steve

The comment you saw and mentioned was from a thread i started a while ago on another forum, when i was considering about video myself. I was asking the very same question, as to whether it is a viable option for marketing and exposure as well as serps. The thread was started to see if it was worth offering affordable professional video presentations as another service to the anchortext service, since my background is in graphic design and i have used the Adobe range of products for years and utilise the same CS range for the complete video production.

The thread itself went on to get numerous posts, with the general consensus being, including the member who posted the comment you mentioned, that it can be effective in the right way, as an effective means of bringing visitors to your website. Its the same as most things, if it is done in the right way, it will work, if not it won't.

The key as to all forms of marketing is to make it interesting, captivating and usually short and succinct, with the aim of getting visitors to the website.

for an example of a simple video with sound, you can review the sample i have on my website, this relates to the mobile phone industry, and is short but sweet

Google Nexus One

One of the things i noticed when looking into videos, is the cost. Some companies charging horrendously large amounts, which i think, as most on here seem to think, would be unjustified.

I would suggest that videos work for a wide range of products, however how it is put across is the key to its success as well as it being eminently affordable

Apologies if this comes across as a shameless plug

At some stage in the next few months I will be adding a couple of videos to my site (new site coming). These won't be on the front page, but will be in a hints and tips section.

I could just write out the hints and tips but I am hoping to get across some human side to them.

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lol we'll let you off. Good example of a vid though.

I guess its down to the way the videos applied. Seans idea of doing hints and tips I can see working, maybe even I could video-ise (thats a new word) our "about us" page, and give a human feel, and wave the cam corder round the office.

Areas where people want more information are ripe for video.

But for our core site, a business directory, and adding videos for customers into the business listings, I personally still think its a waste of time, and is still very gimicky.

People are busy, and want to scan read/glance at info, before deciding to click through to a customers site, or pick the phone up. I can't see them waiting for a video to cache and kick in about Harry the builder and his wonderful brickwork.

Maybe I'll be proved wrong, in this one I think I'll follow the pack

It is an interesting debate, and as technology gets better, and video easier to manage, I've no doubt the pro's and cons will bounce back and forth!

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Very interesting stuff.
I've been thinking a lot about getting a video made for our site.

My idea was to have 2 cars exactly the same, but one had the ECU remapped and the other was bog standard. The cars would be taken through tests to show the extra power, and also fuel economy you would get.

The trouble is the money. I had thought about bribing some media study students into doing it for their practical course work??

I do agree that with some companies it would be a complete waste of time though.

What does everyone think to my hair brained idea then? lol

Your ideas that video marketing can be a waste of time have made good points, however, there are also advantages in this strategy that we may oversee.

The main advantage of internet video marketing over other text format approach is that videos can get to the point much faster and waste less of the precious time of prospective customers. Videos can have you deliver your message to customers in a small amount of time in an more attractive way,plus, and it saves them from having to go over some pages of the text instead.

Furthermore, a video ad can contain a demonstration of a product's use and usability. By using these techniques, the prospective customer can relate more to your company and to what you're promoting.