Newhomesource.com, a site for home builders and owners, uses video to educate viewers and sell building products. User interaction time has increased by over one minute per screen since including video. This is about 30 percent longer than traditional websites. In general, original video with very direct messaging and training videos have greater impact than repurposed commercials.

If you are an expert in your industry, a video podcast provides an interesting venue for your message. Subjects you can talk about include industry trends and forecasts, industry news, new methods, etc. This works especially well in commoditized businesses in which it’s difficult to create brand awareness without spending a fortune.

For example, a mortgage broker (definitely a commoditized business) can break apart from the competition and not compete on price by creating a podcast that gives helpful information about home buying and selling. If he’s good, he might attract advertisers in non-competing businesses that want to advertise on the podcast.

Finally, video can play an important role in one-to-one, private communications to clients and employees. Robert Morris College in Chicago follows up with prospective students using a video postcard that humanizes the college and keeps the relationship alive during the long process of searching for a school.

How to Get Started

Here are some tips for getting started:

State your message. Outline your entire message—words and images. Decide which visuals will illustrate your message points.

Decide how you will present your message. You can use a person to narrate your video or actually “star” in it. Be clear about the tone and feeling you are trying to convey.

Develop a call to action. Like other marketing tactics, a call to action is important. This is what drives someone to act on your offer. Do you want the recipient to call for more information, buy your product, email you? What is the time frame in which you want them to act?

Record and produce the video. You can do this yourself or hire an expert to help you. For professional-looking video, it’s best to hire a specialist. If you decide to do it yourself, you’ll need to record your video with a camcorder, digital camera or your computer’s camera. It is important to pay close attention to auxiliary factors such as ancillary sound, unflattering lighting, irregular volume levels, etc. Manual video editing can be accomplished with software available for both PCs (Windows Movie Maker) and Macs (iMovie or Final Cut). Automated video production can be done on sites such as www.isatvideo.com.

Create a step-down strategy. Make sure your recipients can view your video. Since many people disable images in email, including video, make sure you have an alternative way for them to access your video. This can be accomplished using a live link to a microsite or hiring an expert who understands online marketing.

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