actinic
online marketing blog
Friday, July 25, 2008
YouTube Levels The Playing Field For Video Marketing
Traditionally the use of video in marketing has been quite costly and beyond the range of most businesses. But YouTube and similar video-sharing sites have brought this medium within the reach of even the smallest.
Firstly, these sites impose very tight limits on file size, and therefore on quality. This levels the playing field technically for everyone. With a budget digital camcorder, a copy of Movie Maker (a free download from Microsoft, included with recent versions of Windows) and a bit of practice, almost anyone can produce a YouTube video that stands up alongside all but the very best.
Secondly, sites like Digg, Facebook and Myspace make it extremely easy for users to share videos, particularly from YouTube. This means that if your video is in any way interesting, amusing or fun, it can start circulating virally at no extra cost to your business. You don't even have to pay to stream the video - YouTube handles it all.
The hard thing is coming up with a creative idea that people are likely to circulate, and that subtly promotes your business and enhances your reputation. This is what companies pay ad agencies millions of pounds for. But you might actually achieve similar results using creative family members - or maybe by working with the creative department of a local college.
The cardinal rule is to be up-front and not pretend the movie is something it's not. Several companies have been burned when they tried to pass off their professional marketing videos as amateur, and got found out.
YouTube cross-promotes videos, and you can take advantage of this if your competitors advertise there too. See this excellent blog posting to find ou how to piggy back on your competitors videos - or how they could piggy back on yours! http://egil.biz/highjack-youtube-marketing-videos/
# posted by Actinic @ 7:08 AM 
