subject: Online Video For Small Businesses? - 3 Key Elements for Success [print this page] Online Video For Small Businesses? - 3 Key Elements for Success
From its very infancy, the internet has evolved from a simple and standard text-only medium of communication, raced through the revolution of email and has now progressed to be a highly influential and interactive personal, social and commercial experience expanding, according to official 2010 statistics, to over 1.9 billion world wide users, which equates to 28.7% of the global population. A figure that has expanded 444.8% in the period from 2000.
Whilst websites started including pictures, navigation, music, and other enhancements to appeal to the ever expanding number of viewers, by the end of the 1990s, Internet sites still relied, almost exclusively on innovative navigation to appeal to users. However, as globally recognised sites, and indeed brands such as YouTube have entered the arena and continue to expand in popularity almost exponentially, the integration of online video to personal and professional websites has become more common place. Indeed, simply offering a Website today with only pictures and text is like running a DVD rental store that only has silent VHS movies to offer.
It is clearly the case, now, in the second decade of the 21st century that the global population of online users seeking access to information sources, product and service expect a more engaging and interactive experience. And websites that integrate video, offering those users more detailed information about the products and services they seek, give businesses of all sizes the opportunity to control the way the information is delivered, and increase the conversion rate of visitors to customers.
So, with this in mind, it is now necessary to progress from simply identifying the advantages that come from integrating video marketing into your business and focus more on the key elements that should be implemented within your strategy once the decision to capitalise on the opportunity has been taken.
Element One Engage, Captivate and Retain your Customer
The most engaging and captivating asset of those websites that include videos is the ability of the prospective customer to see the product or service being promoted in greater detail before the actual purchase. This can be likened to the opportunity to test drive a car or watching the trailer to a new film, therefore giving your customer the very real chance to experience their chosen interest visually.
And in practical business terms, consider an apartment complex or hotel. Rather than just seeing lifeless still photographs and text, the presence of an engaging and dynamic video experience allows the customer not only to see the essence and quality of the facilities in greater detail but also in the exact order and manner that the proprietor feels best accentuates those facilities. By engaging the customer with the dynamic visual experience the proprietor is vastly more capable of capturing the human element, evoking positive emotional interfaces and most importantly retaining those elements through to the point of purchase.
Another great example is the ability to promote your products and services by way of a demonstration video about "how it actually works". A step by step guide, leading the potential customer in exactly the right direction to ensure that your message delivery is clearly understood and can be translated into how easy it is to use, and allay fears about it being overly complicated or too technical to setup for example. The method of video presentation is clearly more captivating than a long and detailed text explanation which incorporates a few pictures or diagrams relating to how the product works.
Element Two - Maintain Control of Your Business Message From The Outset
Within a traditional website, the only way to display the information about your product or service has been in a logical fashion where it is hoped that the visitor navigates through the site in some sort of sequential order. If, however, that prospective customer clicks immediately to the pricing section, as I know I certainly tend to do, without first seeing what your products or services have to offer, it is a real and tangible risk that they may just move on and go elsewhere. But, of course, if they are immediately presented with a video on the home page detailing the benefits of the product or service the business is offering, they will be less surprised or adversely influenced when they eventually see the price.
In essence, unlike a traditional website with numerous navigational sections, pictures, and text, your video integration allows you to control the way your products and services are presented to potential customers before any navigation is required and ensure that the most important engaging and captivating selling points are detailed and presented within seconds of their arrival at your website in exactly the way you choose.
Element Three - Improve Sales Conversions
It has been widely reported and published that integration of video advertising and promotions within a business website home page converts visitors to paying customers at a far higher rate than those sites that adopt traditional methods of just text, photographs and diagrams alone.
One particular well-published study, by FindLaw , concluded that visitors search on average 4.8 websites before actually appointing a legal representative, but when law practices integrated video into their sites, that number dropped significantly to 1.8. In other words, the inclusion of the video, which detailed the main points the practice wished to immediately convey to its potential clients made that visitor significantly more likely to select that law practice in the first place.
There is no question that the success of any business is fundamentally attributed to the quality and delivery of the products and services that they provide and that this will always remain the case. However, by ensuring that customers are engaged, immediately upon arrival to your business website, that the detail and flow of your message is immediately captivating and that, as such, visitors are retained as paying customers the power of video integration will prove key to your business undertakings and long term growth, stability and success for many years to come.
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