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Online video becomes the hot ticket to increase customers in tough economic times.
 Extracted from IFA Franchising World Magazine , April 2009

With the economic crisis continuing to cripple Wall Street as well as Main Street, small business owners are now forced to develop new ways to grow their businesses and attract customers. As consumer spending and confidence plummet, people will buy products and services with more discretion and in a more competitive business environment.

For small businesses, the fundamental dilemma has become: “How can I adjust to the current economic conditions, reduce my advertising budget, yet still maintain a competitive edge?”

For many, the answer had been search engine marketing. This form of advertising has historically been an extremely effective, measurable and affordable way to generate leads and sales. But with the cost of effective keywords on the rise, and more competitors jumping into the fray, differentiating one’s business online has become much more challenging.

That’s where online video comes in. This relatively new way of marketing is helping businesses drive leads and cut through the clutter. Increasingly, local businesses are extending their brand out to Internet users who watch online videos relevant to their cities and towns who could ultimately become customers.

Research indicates that Internet users have a strong affinity for online video and are spending more time watching it. Video is more engaging than text, as it incorporates sight, sound and motion to convey a message. Additionally, video can help establish trust, and allows users to connect with your brand, your product, your people, or your location, on a more personal level than text or graphical ads.

The statistics bear out this trend. According to a June 2008 study by market intelligence firm IDC, Internet advertising will grow eight times faster than other forms of advertising over the next five years, doubling in revenue from $25.5 billion in 2007 to $51.1 billion in 2012.

The forerunner of growth in Internet advertising will be video advertising, whose revenue is forecast to grow sevenfold from $500 million in 2007 to $3.8 billion during the same period, according to the study.

And the reason for the influx of dollars online? That’s where the customers are going. Roughly 129.5 million people watch online video ads at least once a month, notes an August 2008 study by eMarketer, a market research/trends analysis publication (see below). That figure is estimated to increase more than 40 percent to 183.3 million in 2013. In addition, according to a March 2008 study by the Kelsey Group, of online video ad viewers, nearly 50 percent clicked through to a Web site, about 19 percent requested information about a product or service, 18 percent visited a store to check out a specific product and almost 17 percent made a purchase. This huge growth in online video viewership can mean new leads and sales for franchisees.

Further, search engines like Google, MSN, AOL and Yahoo! have begun indexing video more highly in search results. So, if you use video for a product or service online, you have a greater chance at showing up in the prized first or second page of results. And, ideally, that video should be distributed broadly across the Web onto a number of different sites. This creates a sort of multiplier effect as the search engines see that the video exists in multiple places. Of course, the videos should be professionally shot, locally relevant, and tagged properly. This is all crucial to proper “VSEO,” or video search engine optimization, a nascent subset of the SEO industry.

Now is the time to jump on the online video “brandwagon.” Indeed, more and more businesses are recognizing the power of online video ads, but many still aren’t sure where to start. It’s estimated that only a small number of businesses nationwide use online video ads.

Here are six simple tips to eliminate some of the mystery from online video, and help you capitalize on this growing opportunity.

Rule One: Ensure the content resonates with your target audience. Unlike TV viewers who are primarily watching for general entertainment or news in a passive way, Internet users are usually task-driven and actively looking for very specific content.

Determining what type of content resonates with your target may seem like a daunting task, but there are a few simple things to keep in mind that will help navigate these waters. First, find out how Internet users originally got to your company’s home page. Capture the keywords they used, the pages they visited once they got to your site and, if you have search functionality built into your site, what keywords visitors typed in while there. Next, create a video that speaks to those keywords and phrases. If customers are looking for an introduction, put together a video showcasing your store and its employees.

If you’re selling an unfamiliar, different or new product, create a how-to video or a demo highlighting your product’s benefits.

Also, consider shooting video testimonials from customers who love working with your firm. This can be a good way to convey the benefits of your service and create trust with consumers you’re trying to target. Consider featuring “average Joe” customers or even local celebrities or community leaders that agree to be in your video. Providing a discount on their next service is a good incentive if they’re leery of participating, but if they’re truly fans of your company, it shouldn’t take much convincing.

While they are looking for quality content, people who watch online video don’t usually demand the highest production values or high-definition quality, so don’t worry if your video doesn’t look like a Hollywood blockbuster. The important thing is to have relevant content that resonates with your target customer.

Rule Two: Place your video on your Web site and across multiple sharing sites. Now that you know what the video should include, find a place on your company’s Web site to host these videos. Choose a noticeable, but unobtrusive place on your site’s first page or “home” page, and make sure the video doesn’t launch as soon as someone accesses the page. When a viewer first visits your site, they typically want to ascertain that it’s what they’re looking for and that yours is a legitimate business; they don’t want to be bombarded by information they didn’t request. Again, this is a big difference between TV and the Internet. Here, you have to allow the visitor to have control.

In addition to hosting your video on your own Web site, distribute it across the major video destinations, like YouTube, MySpace TV, Metacafe, and others. This is commonly referred to as “viral video,” as the distribution is free or of nominal cost and its impact is based largely on people seeing it and sharing it with others. Your industry may also have other Web sites or online communities that allow video. If that’s the case, be sure to upload them there as well. Your goal is to be anywhere your target customer may be, and ensure they are able to find your company when they’re looking for the products or services you offer.

Rule Three: Make sure people find your videos. The next step after creating the content is to make sure that people find your videos among the millions of others on the Web. The key here is putting in the right “metadata,” or keywords in the title fields, description and “tags” which search engines and video sites use to match search queries.

Most headlines should be less than a dozen words to be recognized by the search engines. Always be sure to include your company name, basic product description and brand names associated with your franchise. Also, include the city in which you’re located. When conducting basic searches for specific brands, most clients in your city will include their location to narrow the results to just those companies that service their area.

Rule Four: Keep it short. While more and more people have broadband connections and fast computers, online videos may still take some time to download and slow down other applications. In addition, people are used to skipping around to other sites and activities while online, so keep your video short. Think about conveying your message in videos that last 30 seconds to a couple of minutes max. Anything beyond that risks losing the attention of your target customer or taking so long to stream or download that the viewer gets bored or distracted, and therefore navigates away from your video.

Rule Five: Track your viewers and measure response. The goal of tracking your viewers is to understand them better, thereby giving you a better chance of turning them into customers. Know where they’re from, when they’re watching the video, how many times they’re watching it and how many times they’ve e-mailed it to friends. This information proves valuable when developing other video ads.

Insert special phone numbers into your ads that are different from your main company number that’s published in other media. Setting up a call-tracking service that identifies which numbers are being dialed will help you understand which media are doing the best at driving leads to you.

Make sure your video has a call to action at the end, like “Call this number now,” or “Click here to sign up or have more information sent to you.” Videos now can even embed “actionable” buttons that allow viewers to click and have the business’s location saved in their address book, or a map and directions sent to their mobile phone.

Finally, track how interested your viewers are in your videos. One obvious way is by seeing the number of views your video is receiving, a function which is almost always included on the main video sharing sites. Another way is measuring how many times they e-mailed the video link to their friends and by reading the “comments” that most sites allow. Video hosting sites like YouTube now provide sophisticated reporting tools that yield deeper insight into the origin, geography, demographic and viewing behavior of your video. This type of data can help you determine what types of videos to produce in the future, which takes us to the next rule.

Rule Six: Refresh your videos. Most people get bored watching the same thing over and over again, so keep the videos fresh. Many of the sharing sites allow users to subscribe to your videos, so updating them is a good way to keep your company top-of-mind for customers that follow you. Don’t have a new product or service? Not a problem. Use different testimonials, or show how your company is connected or relevant to news trends. And again, using the feedback you get from customers can help trigger new thoughts around the types of videos your target customer is interested in seeing.

Sound like a daunting task? Actually, developing and launching an online video ad campaign can be fairly painless and very affordable. An effective video campaign can be launched in a matter of weeks and for less than you think. The result not only provides a higher level of engagement and connection with your core customers, but can also lead to a wave of new business. Jumping on the online video “brandwagon” could give you the competitive edge you need for survival during these tough economic times.

Roger