Silver Back Muzik

Each day I talk to small business owners and marketing managers about the advantages of video marketing and what it can do for their businesses. Most of the time they associate video production with the cost, not the benefits. Big mistake. One video can be reused for numerous marketing channels. It is a cost effective method to generate more leads. Here are 11 reasons why you should produce an online video and successfully use it for various marketing channels.

- Higher Return On Investment potential. Early video adopters found out that video is very cost effective since increased sales outweigh the production cost and bring higher ROI. Businesses hesitate to add video to their marketing mix due to a high video production cost, which remains an obstacle to greater video adaptation. Animated video can be a solution to that since it doesn't require live action video shooting, extensive equipment and onscreen talent.

- Improve SEO ranking. Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL Search Engines give priority listings to websites that host video content. Research shows that webpages with engagement objects such as video, enhance the user experience and therefore rank higher in search results. Uploading Online Video to the second largest search engine - YouTube, and linking back to your website will add even more weight to your Google search results.

- Increase profile views within business directories. Create a short introductory video about your company, products and their benefits. Post video on business directories - Yellow pages, Google places, Yahoo! Local, Bing Local, Yelp and others and drive more traffic to your websites, get more calls, and increase store visits.

- Improve email marketing. Are you constantly looking for new ideas to improve response rates? Consider including video in your email marketing campaign. Integrating video can increase click-through rates and lift conversion by 50% (source: Constant Contact).

- Track results. The success of a video campaign can be measured accurately in real time. Detailed analysis of how many people viewed the video, who watched it, what behaviors the video generated, and more can be displayed. When you post videos on other websites, you can keep track of the number of visitors it brings to your website.

- Enjoy Viral Effects. Online video has a great potential to become viral and be seen by the masses, creating an online word of mouth effect. Viral video became popular through the process of Internet sharing through YouTube, Facebook, blogs and email. Video is a great way to encourage interaction, fun and enjoyment amongst the online community.

- Support sales. More companies incorporate videos into their sales presentations that can help sales people to more effectively deliver their marketing messages and sell products. These introductory videos demonstrate how products work, dissolve common objections and show the testimonials of satisfied customers.

- Utilize Mobile channels. As many users are switching to smart phones, online marketers are looking for ways to be able to reach them through their handsets. However, not all videos can be played on mobile. E.g. Flash videos cannot play on Apple products such as the iPhone and iPad. The problem can be solved by uploading Flash video to YouTube, which uses HTML5 technology to display various formats of video and then embed YouTube video on your website.

- Motivate viewers. Great stories combined with music create a powerful emotional overtone, capture and motivate audiences. Rich content and entertaining stories give consumers editorial reasons to return more frequently to website or blog. Made-for-web video is the most effective online format to positively influence purchase decisions.

- Educate and build trust. Video is suited for many forms of presentations to inform and instruct customers about your products, their features and benefits. Audio and visual presentations can accelerate learning by 78% and increase comprehension (source: S. Cartwright, Preproduction planning for video, film and multimedia). Focus your script around the most important points you want your viewers to remember and do.

- Reach your audience in any language. Video helps you tell your story in any language and motivate viewers to take action across all time zones and borders. Either record voice over talent in different languages or add translated subtitles to your video to reach broader audiences.

Online Video is a no brainer for any business. Start with one video, upload it to various channels and get results.