Why Video Marketing MUST Be Your #1 Marketing Weapon in 2009

Online video is having a profound affect on the way we distribute and consume information.

Do you remember this headline In October of 2006:

GOOGLE HAS ACQUIRED YOU TUBE. In their largest acquisition to date, for $1.65 billion in an all stock transaction.

Now the future is yesterday tomorrow is here! Video has open the door.

Video marketing is quickly becoming the advertising medium of choice for businesses of all kinds and sizes because of two things, affordability and effectiveness.

Today’s internet savvy consumers search the web for nearly everything and nothing attracts their attention like a video that contains the information they seek.

Check this out: 94% of Internet users now watch online video with some level of frequency, and people now spend a whopping 46% MORE time each DAY watching videos, compared to last year!

So if you haven’t dipped your toe into the online video world, you’d better get cracking! Video, like blogging, has multiple benefits for your business:

Several recent studies have revealed that a consumer is four times more likely to contact and do business with a company that they have viewed the company’s video introduction.

Video Marketing allows you access and reach to a mammoth audience, with little or no investment. Done correctly, the results are phenomenal! In Jan 2009, over 100 videos per U.S. Internet user were viewed.

Video Marketing Trends
1. Statistics indicate, according to comScore, that in July of 2007 Americans watched 9 billion online videos.

2. The Interactive Advertising Bureau indicated that more than 50%  (i.e., approx. 155.2 million people) of the US population would watch video online in 2008

3. More than 100 million Americans watched videos on Google’s video sharing site, YouTube, in January 2009, a month when Google-owned websites collectively served up more than 6.3 billion videos.

According to comScore, not only did Americans watch a lot of online videos in January, but they also spent more time watching them.

This is nuts,the average U.S. online video viewer saw 356 minutes, or about six hours, of video in January, up some 15 percent from December 2008.

Gopotato.TV a content partner of youtube (my sons company) has seen a tremendous jump in views in the last four months.There award wining series “Eli The Accountant’s Dirty Jokes” has over 2 million followers.

With the introduction of the iPhone 3G and the Flip Camera, digital video marketing is the wave of the future…I love my Mino flip

How to Use Video For Marketing Online

Creating a video is a composite function of four interrelated video marketing concepts.These parts are 50% Content, 35%  Promotion!,10% Meta-tags,5%Thumbnails and which add up to 100%.

Without these four parts, it will be virtually impossible to communicate your message so that is has reach.  Reach  basically refers to why some videos get passed around and others don’t. This is the essence of virology!

As with any piece of content created there are simple rules to keep in mind.  I commonly employ the 3 N’s and AIDA principles.

The 3 N’s
1.iNform your consumers about your services and products.So they can consume.
2.iNspire them to use your product or services ,so it will relieve the pain.
3.eNtertain Give them a laugh, fun is in, boring is out.

The AIDA
A: Grab Attention
I:  Get their Interest
D: Create Desire for what you have
A: Call to Action

The Key to creating killer video’s is to keep them short, sweet and simple 3-5 minutes is best. ALWAYS have a concept and outline.  Connect the concept to a metaphor or a lesson, then issue your call to action.

Be Bop!

Thom McFadden