CEO GUIDE TO ONLINE VIDEO: TIP SHEET
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Tell a story
From viral-marketing videos to customer testimonials, good corporate videos tell a story to keep viewers engaged. |
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Keep it short
The best recruiting and marketing videos are anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes. If you've got an hour's worth of content, break it up into small chunks so that viewers can easily find the topics most interesting to them. |
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Learn to let go With marketing, if you're going to run contests that ask consumers to create videos, you need to be prepared for honest feedback. Some of it will be negative.
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Do your homework There is no guarantee that a video-marketing campaign will become a viral success. Still, you can improve your chances by doing research on what customers want, just as you would with traditional marketing.
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Measure carefully While some viral videos become extremely popular, it doesn't mean those viewers are in your target audience. Request reports of viewer demographics and be sure to find out how many of those viewers actually become customers.
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Fake it
Big corporate marketers who pretend to be gritty bloggers really risk alienating consumers if the truth comes to light. Experts say it's best to be honest about who you are, as authenticity is highly valued on the Web.
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Script it
The best recruiting videos let employees tell their own stories in their own words. |
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Be too slick Corporate video blogs don't need to have a high production quality to be successful. In fact, experts say highly produced video blogs that are too slick are easily mistaken for advertising.
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Cater only to youth Viewers in the 35 to 54 age range are just as likely as 18- to 24-year-olds to watch online video, according to a recent survey. If you target ads only to younger viewers, you'll miss a sizable audience.
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Forget about your brand Marketing videos that are edgy and funny works well on the Web. But if the video doesn't reinforce your brand, you'll wind up with lots of viewers, few buyers, and confused consumers.
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Online Video Dos and Don'ts
How to adopt online video as an effective corporate marketing tool -- without falling prey to the booby traps
By Rachael King
If you thought online video was just a good way to waste an hour or two on YouTube, think again. Companies are putting online video to work, using it for everything from marketing to recruiting. Want to know what it's like to work at Enterprise Rent-A-Car? Watch CEO Andy Taylor talk about how he started out behind a rental car counter, or check out one of the 12 other videos posted on the Enterprise site that cover everything from company culture to employee diversity. On the marketing front, the viral effect of the Internet makes it possible for a company to post a low-budget video on the Web and reach millions of viewers in a short time.
Still, video is a new medium for many companies, and there is plenty of room for error. For example, customer testimonials require proper lighting and sound, but that's not the case for corporate video blogs where a highly produced video could lead viewers to believe it's advertising. The good news is that a good marketing campaign can live on almost indefinitely. But make a mistake, and a video can stick around to haunt you long after you're ready to move on. Here's a guide to help get you started and to avoid the pitfalls.
