STELLAR STREAMING VIDEO CAN DRIVE SALES
Al Galbraith and Associates, a real estate marketer who turns
dying industry towns into thriving recreational and retirement
communities, commissioned a promotional video as an added
feature for his company's website. The video has been down
loaded 30,000 times by Internet users. In fact, Galbraith's
Internet campaigns to sell homes from Tumbler Ridge, British
Columbia to Plattsburgh, New York are so successful, the company
has cut back its traditional advertising. Here's how streaming
video promotes your organization online.
IT IS A GREAT USE OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGY. Greater numbers of web
users have the capability of downloading video and find it a
novelty. Short videos of less than five minutes can be
downloaded in a short time, depending on bandwidth.
YOU CAN TRANSPORT POTENTIAL CLIENTS TO YOUR PRODUCT. As a
customers, you don't need to fly across the country to see real
estate when you can get a 3-D perspective on the homes, the
community and the geography as well as meeting residents and
buyers from an online video.
VIDEO IS PERSUASIVE. Because video can incorporate the spoken
word, music, maps, digital effects and moving images, the user
experience is much more intense and when, well designed, very
compelling. Testimonials have more punch when spoken by the
happy customers.
THE COST OF DISTRIBUTION IS NEGLIGIBLE. In contrast, imagine the
cost of producing and delivering 30,000 videotapes around the
world.
STREAMING VIDEO POSITIONS YOU AS LEADING EDGE. Many customers
see a company's innovation as evidence of its ability to be
creative and effective. Taking the technological lead in your
sector may give a lead in sales.
>From a public relations perspective, however, there are a few
things to remember to ensure your video does what you want it to.
THE HEAVY SELL MUST BE KEPT TO A MINIMUM. Despite appearances,
your streaming video is not a commercial. At least it shouldn't
be a hard- selling pitch for business. The Internet is still an
environment where overt commercialism is frowned upon. Take a
journalistic approach and create a video in the style of a news
or documentary item that might play on the six o'clock news.
Users want information and won't take kindly to downloading hype.
THE PRODUCTION QUALITY MUST BE HIGH. This not the time to bring
out the family video cam and become a filmmaker. Hire video
producers who know what they are doing. And a word about budget.
You need not spend tens of thousands of dollars for the finished
product especially if you take the journalistic approach
mentioned above.
Through streaming video, Galbraith reaches customers he might
not through traditional advertising and he touches them in ways
a brochure could never do. His streaming videos do all the
talking and, for the price of a single full-page ad in the local
daily paper, he has produced a tool that can close the sale all
by itself.
If you want to see it in action, check out
http://www.selectpropertygroup.com.