Posts Tagged ‘viral marketing’

In case you have not noticed, video is exploding over the internet.  YouTube.com is one of many sources that have made video simple and affordable to produce.   We have all seen the skateboard accidents and other funny videos.  Have you also noticed the number of commercials and information videos?  Have you noticed how many video blogs are out there?  Yes, video is here and it is time for you to get in on the action.

Your First Video

Video is a big topic if you want it to be.  How do you reach your customers?  How do you make it interesting?  Should you hire a professional?  Can you do your own thing with a webcam?  These are all great questions and all have the same answer, "it depends".

If you are already accustomed to giving your "elevator pitch" about your company, that’s a great start.  You can also prepare a quick elevator pitch for each of your products or services.   If your business is centered around you and your personal credibility, then do your own videos.  If your business is built around the products and services, then at least consider using someone attractive with a captivating personality to represent your company.

For most companies, your video should be focused on marketing and not too educational.  No showing off!  Tell people that you can help them and focus on what they need and why they need it now.   No video resumes.  Focus on your client’s needs or on your differentiators.

Shoot several versions and change them up a bit.  Then ask your friends and colleagues to help you choose the videos that work the best for your business.  You can have several.

For web video, any camera will do.  Take the time and trouble to work on sound quality, lighting quality, etc.  You do not need special equipment, but you do want your video to look fairly well done.  It is not necessary to focus on high definition or tricky special effects.  Just get a video online and then upgrade it when you are ready.  It you want something really fancy or if you are producing a companion DVD, etc., then spend the money on professional help.

Publishing Your Video

Your video should be from 30 seconds to five minutes in duration.  These are easily hosted on YouTube.com.  Upload your video to YouTube.com and they will provide you with the codes to help put it on your website.  It is very simple.  Put a different video on each page of your website and make sure the YouTube.com descriptions include keywords, product names, or whatever else.  Google will read the YouTube.com descriptions and use those to drive traffic to your videos and to your website.

If you do not use YouTube.com for your video, there are easy ways to have your video placed on your website.  The important thing to do here is to create the XML required to teach Google.com what the video content is so Google.com can send you search engine traffic.  Google calls this XML file a "Google SiteMap".  To create a Google SiteMap, go here:

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=80472

I am sure that Google SiteMaps are generated by some video editing software.  There are probably other tools to help you do this as well.

Great Video Commercials

If you go to YouTube.com, you can search and find all sorts of videos.  One of my favorite examples are the videos from the BlendTec blender company.  These videos are built as a cross between a video blog and an infomercial. Search youTube.com for "Will it blend" and you will see well made videos of a guy grinding up all sorts of crazy things in his BlendTec blender.  These videos are designed to do several things:

Create a viral marketing buzz.

Demonstrate the quality of the product.

Sell blenders.

These commercials do all that well.  It is worth a look to get some ideas on how to do it right.

The most challenging part of having a website is getting quality traffic to your website.  You build it, and then nothing!   What does it take to get people to visit your website?  This challenge is further compounded by all the empty promises of the so-called experts out there.  There has got to be something you can do, but what?

Whether you are looking for random strangers or whether you are looking for more visits from your warmer local markets, there are things you can do that will help you build up your traffic.  There are no shortcuts.  No magical mystery techniques.

Choose one or two techniques and build it from there.  The more of these techniques you use, the more results you are likely to get.

Search Engine Optimization – Choose good keywords and incorporate them into your website.  This requires some expertise.  This will help the search engines learn how to prioritize your content into their search results.

Advertise – Promote your website in print and online advertisements.  Include magazines, radio, electronic newsletters, and other websites.  Be sure to use techniques that help you track the effectiveness of your various campaigns.

Publish – Write your own newsletters, produce your own podcasts, or write free articles for the various free article websites.  Put your expertise on paper and always include a link to your own website.  Press releases can be helpful for some companies.

Participate in the Community – Contribute comments into various other forums or blogs.  Anywhere you can embed a link to your own website is a potential place for you to contribute.  Many communities welcome your self-promotion as long as you also contribute valuable content.  Support the community and they will support you.  One great method is writing book reviews for books on Amazon.com.

Add Community Features to Your Website – Add a forum, a blog, surveys, or anything that adds enough fresh content that visitors can’t wait to return.  Consider how youtube.com works.  People go there every day to see all the new videos.  Do not host your blog on another website.  Configure their blog tools to publish into your website.

Viral Marketing – Create a system that encourages your customers to share some opportunity with their friends and family.  Offer invitation only benefits substantial enough to encourage current members to invite all their friends and family with urgency.  You could offer a limited time only free whatever to the first 100 people who register.   There are hundreds of variations to consider.   Or create a member feature that people want to share like video sharing or photo sharing.  Use a feature that pertains to your business.

Partnering Strategies – Join forces with other businesses.  You can advertise their products or services and they can advertise yours.  Create joint promotions.  Sponsor each other’s newsletters.   Form a mastermind team for creating promotions.  You can all help each other come up with powerful ideas to try.  Create an affiliate or referral bonus program and pay others to promote and sell your products.

There are so many great ways to promote your website.  Many of them work best when combined with others.   Hire a professional, form a mastermind group, or do it all yourself.  The sooner you get started the sooner you will have hundreds or even thousands of visitors on your website every month.