Washed It!

Fort Myers Video Production

It came from out of nowhere. One minute, basic websites were the norm, with blogs and a bit of audio at the most. Now we have interaction, videos, podcasts and all sorts of rich media filling them.

Most of us will have heard of YouTube, the viral video phenomenon and the effects it has on a company profile. To keep up with the trends, and make the most of the advantages video marketing offers, you need to know a bit about video production. To be able to produce good quality video that could just thrust your company into the limelight you need to either contract a professional or learn to make it yourself.

The attraction of many of the viral videos so far is that they have been made in bedrooms, basements or wherever, on a shoestring budget, but have the imagination, values or sheer appeal that captures our imagination. YouTube has become a Mecca for many web users of all ages and types who want to see what the world is up to.

Utilizing this attraction for the benefit of your business is a great concept, but you need an idea, a hook to capture that audience. The best way to use this guerilla marketing technique is to entertain. People don’t mind seeing promotions or advertising if they are entertaining. It also needs to be well made and adhere to video production values. There was a time when poorly produced videos were acceptable, no longer. With the advent of broadband, live streaming and decent compressed video formats, poor production is no longer tolerated.

One of the most effective viral marketing campaigns was for Blendtec. They posted videos of their blender destroying various items that wouldn’t normally be put in a blender like cell phones, marbles and magnets. Even though it was a marketing campaign, it was so entertaining that nobody minded. It raised the profile of the company and its products beyond their wildest dreams. That’s the power of internet video if you get it right.

The most difficult part of creating a guerilla campaign like this is coming up with an idea. If you can come up with something unique and entertaining you’re halfway there. Making the actual video should be quite straightforward, especially if you followed our blog on the three stages of video production.

Video can also be used for informational purposes. Instructional videos on a company website demonstrating products, showing how to assemble or use it, how to repair it and the uses it can be put to helps a potential customer visualize how they would use it. That removes a big barrier from selling over the internet, because it almost lets them touch it, which is the main disadvantage of distance selling.

Whatever you want a video to achieve, adding them to a website is a good idea. It shows you’re in touch, keeping up with technology and offering value-add services to your customers. They might not become the most viewed video in the world, but it will engage your audience, which is what every business wants.

As NewsBusters reported Saturday, President Obama caused a bit of an international incident this weekend when he bowed before Japanese emperor Akihito.

Not surprisingly, his adoring fans in the media have done everything in their power to cover for this peculiar demonstration by the most powerful man in the world.

With this in mind, the College Republicans at the University of Connecticut have put together a marvelous video to demonstrate how world leaders across the globe have addressed the emperor recently without bowing (video embedded below the fold, h/t Andrew Malcolm):

Now THAT’S entertainment!