Lower Cost or Free
Human to Human Contact
Much Longer Interest Level

When both large and small businesses are struggling, one thing is for sure, we are all looking for better or more efficient ways to bring in more revenue. Certainly, now is not the time to cut back on advertising. But, it certainly is the time to be smarter with our advertising dollars.

I have been involved in virtually every type of advertising venue from newspapers and direct mail flyers, to radio and TV furniture spots. And my opinion is that video on the web is absolutely THE BEST way to utilize an advertising budget in today’s economy. As a matter of fact, I’ll even say that there has never been a better time for video on the web, like product demonstration videos, customer satisfaction testimonials, and product or service videos than now.

LOWER COST or FREE Cost per unit can’t be beat by any other graphic advertising medium. The numbers of folks to see a video ad on a busy web site can be counted in the millions if you are actively managing your web site (If you aren’t shooting for millions, then only a few tens of thousands saw the video: a win/win situation). Imagine getting the same number of views on your video that a Super Bowl placed ad did! And you didn’t have to pay the millions to be seen. The cost per view is so low, that it can’t even be expressed in any demonization that The US coins. It’s lower than a penny!

HUMAN to HUMAN CONTACT I used to think that direct marketing through the mail was the best way to get responses, and most will agree. But, since the advent of web based videos, all of the old stand-bys are stepping aside for the new king of advertising. I’m not saying stop printing your color brochures, or sending out direct mail flyers, or buying local spots on the radio. I’m saying, get a video on your web site, and like FAST dudes and dudettes! Your brochures, flyers, radio ads, TV ads and all other forms of advertising should be able to point to your web site where the viewer is met with an eye to eye contact human being telling them how great your product was when they bought it, or tried it out. Nothing is more powerful than hearing stories being told from a fellow buyer’s point of view, eye to eye, and mouth to ear. It’s like a warm hand shake and arm over the shoulder, welcoming your potential customer into a greater fold of other buyers who have already stepped into the water and found everything just fine there.

“Yep, no sharks in here. The water’s fine. Jump on in, friend.”

MUCH LONGER INTEREST LEVEL = MORE POWERFUL IMPACT It’s a proven fact that the more time an individual invests in your advertising message, the more likely they are to either search out even more info about your company and product, or buy outright right then. And the good news is that video done right maintains viewers longer than any other media. Color brochures get put down or tossed before being completely read way more often than a good video fails to get finished from start to finish. The same is true for flyers, email campaigns, phone calls and pretty much anything else we can think of.

In going through one’s possible advertising mediums, I was reminded of the few times I’ve seen airplane flying banners dragged behind small craft over large cities and heavily populated county fairs and summer beaches. How many reading this right now saw flying banners behind airplanes AND WEREN’T ABLE TO READ THE BANNERS? Show of hands? Yeah, that’s what I thought. The only thing I can remember reading from one is something about a Ford. And that’s only because the famous Ford logo was part of the banner.

Each advertising medium carries its own set of rules and specific conundrums through which it must leap in order to get viewers. And video is the absolute shortest distance between your message and your potential clients.

For the last several decades, humans in the western world, and now the entire industrialized world, have been more and more drawn to visual mediums like TV and video. And, with the advent of so many viewers on high speed Internet, it’s no wonder that companies as large as E-Trade have spent big bucks (something most businesses don’t need to do) getting into the online video game. The hits on those baby commercials are huge. You gotta’ know that when big name Hollywood directors and writers are taking time out from TV scripts and Hollywood movies to produce web videos, that something is there.

So, you want an edge over your competition? You want to increase service sales, increase retail sales or increase product sales? You want to get some massive traction from those web testimonials? Then, you need to add a web video or better yet, a web video series to your company web site. Check out this page of testimonials.

Here’s how many businesses of all sizes are implementing video in their lead generation cycles:

-An Online Video Product Demonstration will not only increase inbound leads to your web site, it is also the single most powerful and convenient sales tool for your inhouse and outside sales forces. And, the video can be easily published to DVD and play in trade shows or be carried around by outside sales persons and played on a portable DVD player: right in the car or in the office.

-Your web testimonials can be turned into Customer Testimonial Videos and also play online and from a DVD. Make sure you contact a company that specializes in Testimonial Video Production.

-Some of the best Sales Videos are no longer just at trade shows. They can be found on the web. Handing your sales force an online sales video is like handing them a raise and a guaranteed increase in your bottom line as well.

Here are some more reference articles on succeeding with video:
The Perfect Product Demonstration Video
How to Increase Sales With Video — Hands-On Tips
Quick Quiz: How to Tell if Your Business is a Video Candidate

Anything that gets sales moving is worth checking out these days, and a 30% lift is cause for a full-blown investigation.

I asked John for the back-story. “Today, marketers have the huge advantage of being able to use online videos with broadband access,” Hoge told me. “Thanks to online video, our new FoldCat went from nothing to being our best selling boat in just 1 year.”

John credits IncreaseSalesWithVideo.com, a Chicago-based video company, with the success. I visited their blog and got some handy advice that helps take video from “I wish we could do that,” to “Hey, check out our new online video!”

How to post videos online
Their post, http://blog.increasesaleswithvideo.com/index.php/2009/12/growing-your-small-business-using-video-2/  points out that TV was once the only video venue, and cost made TV the exclusive domain of mega-corporations. Then, the post gives the good news: today’s online environment makes video possible — and a significant selling tool — for even the smallest business.

Stu Marks, Media Designer/Video Producer for IncreaseSalesWithVideo.com, lays out a simple marketing plan for broadcasting video. “Simply go to www.facebook.com and sign up for a free account,” writes Stu. Then, step by step, Stu tells you exactly how to upload your videos to your Facebook page.

If you’re 15 or younger, you probably already know how to do all this. But if you’re like the rest of us, the post gives you enough info so that you can tell your kids, “Look, I posted my video myself!”

How to leverage 1 video 8 ways
OK, you’ve got your video on Facebook. Now what? IncreaseSalesWithVideo.com has another post, http://blog.increasesaleswithvideo.com/index.php/2010/02/how-to-sell-8-ways-with-1-video/  that shows you how to leverage 1 video 8 different ways, turning your 1-time investment into a 24/7 salesman.

For example…..mount your videos on your home page. Mount them deeper in your site, too. Offer free videos in your advertising. Use them to increase retail sales: loop them in your showroom. Or use them in business-to-business selling environments — trade shows, sales presentations, or conferences.

And, lest you forget your own troops, the post advises you use your video internally to train new employees, and at company meetings to focus everyone on your core selling story.

Like any other new sales tool, putting video to work to increase your sales may seem beyond your reach. But with good advice and hands-on tips from experts like Stu and others at IncreaseSalesWithVideo.com, you’ll be running with the big dogs in no time.

Steve Edwards
Copywriter/Direct Marketer
www.EdwardsDirect.net

Some more references on Succeeding with Video:
Quick Quiz: How to Tell if Your Business is a Video Candidate
How to Get Customer Testimonials
Hiring a Video Producer: Why a Pro?

ISWV president, Clint Pollock, explains, “ISWV produces online testimonial videos for our clients — videos featuring our clients’ real customers talking about their experiences with our clients’ products and services.”

Classic selling technique brought to today’s web venue

Customer endorsements have long been recognized as a powerful way to increase sales. Happy customers put would-be customers at ease because they’re highly credible. ISWV’s breakthrough is successfully importing this time-proven marketing technique into today’s most active and powerful marketing venue: the worldwide web. “We videotape our client’s customers speaking candidly about or using our clients’ products or services and load the videos onto our clients’ websites,” says Pollock. “Our clients’ customers get instant access to see and hear what their peers have to say.”

John Hoge, Vice President of Sea Eagle inflatable boats, says, “Thanks to ISWV’s online video testimonials, our newest boat went from nothing to our best-selling boat in just one year, a 30% increase in our business overall.”

$1 a day

Hoge emphasizes “the low cost to show our testimonial videos to thousands, if not millions, of customers — hosting fees are less than a dollar a day.”

See full story, ONLINE VIDEO TESTIMONIALS BOOST SALES 30%

Sea Eagle is one of many companies that has harnessed the power of online testimonial videos with help from ISWV. Will Johnson, President of TimberKing Sawmills, says, “Having testimonial videos on our site just reaches out and grabs our web visitors in a way that nothing else can.” Johnson explains further, “Nothing can match the ‘hook’ a testimonial video provides. It’s almost irresistible, and our web traffic analysis confirms it.”

Marketing pros agree. Steve Edwards, President of Direct Response Advertising, says, ISWV’s customer testimonial videos are the best-of-breed. Their videos have huge marketing power because of their candid authenticity. Their videos feature real people expressing their real thoughts in real language. There’s no ‘Hollywood’ artifice, no paid actors, no glamorizing — just the real facts delivered by real people.”

ISWV goes on location to videotape its clients’ customers. And, depending on what their clients sell, ISWV cameramen have shot footage in offices, moving vehicles, wood shops, even kayaks zooming down Class III rapids.

But much goes on behind the camera in ISWV’s PerfectTestimonial™ process: a sleek, streamlined, efficient, proprietary testimonial-generating system. ISWV does an extensive marketing review of its clients’ product/service and its unique selling points then contacts testimonial candidates within their clients’ customer base; screening, interviewing, and preparing  them prior to shooting and subsequently editing  and refining  the interview to create the perfect video testimonial. 

Videos run on any website

What’s the future of online selling? Cameraman and ISWV technician, Mike Pudlo, says, “Selling on the web has come into its own. Older forms of marketing are dwindling and the web is booming.” Pudlo adds, “It’s easy to add our testimonial videos to any website and our clients say they’re supercharging their sales.”

Visit www.IncreaseSalesWithVideo.com.

The ISWV team includes videographers, post-production engineers, marketing people, graphic designers, copywriters, and researchers. For more information on ISWV, examples of online testimonials, and articles on the selling power of online video testimonials, visit www.IncreaseSalesWithVideo.com.

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