A Website without Video???
Websites without Video? It just doesn’t make sense…
Ever so often I carry out an audit of a business website and tell the owners why they’re not getting the results they want. Some of these sites are simple ‘corporate presence’ sites, others are e-commerce sites with shopping carts, and some are straightforward sales pitches with ‘free offers’. Very few have used some rudimentary, do-it-yourself audio and video and even fewer have had their media professionally produced; And they wonder why they have not achieved the desired result…
Very few of these site owners have ever bothered to to reflect on why they have a website and what purpose it serves.
Part of the problem stems from a very narrow definition of what a website is: by thinking of your site as a brochure, a catalog or an e-commerce-site, they have fallen into the trap of being fixated on the ‘What’ rather than focusing on the ‘Why’ – Features instead of Benefits!
This focus on the ‘What’ is a detriment, worsened by SEO (search engine optimization) techniques which are only designed to drive traffic, without bothering to convert visitors into customers. Don’t get me wrong, traffic is important, but converting that traffic into paying customers is so much more important. Even the best and brightest search engine optimizers will tell you that their job is to deliver volume not sales – closing the deal is your job, and anybody who tells you that closing can be done by means of some automated machine, is doing you a huge disservice.
You want to guard against search engine tactics and second rate content that gets in the way of effectively delivering your marketing message, of telling your business story, of creating a memorable brand image, and above all of generating profitable business clients.
Web-Video is a Presentation Marketing Strategy you just cannot afford to ignore…
If you’ve been following marketing trends in general, you should be aware of the shift in thinking that has gripped the online world – the acceptance of Web-video as a one of the core Web-marketing tools. But like most things, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.
The strength of Web-video as a presentation marketing strategy lies in its ability to transcend the Web’s naturally bland (and even dull) environment, by incorporating verbal and non-verbal elements that deliver well-crafted, compact and memorable messages far more effectively than any other medium in use today.
Can a Web-video campaign solve every sales-related problem for your company? Of course not! But it can deliver the right message based on the ‘Why’ using cost effective, presentation techniques that position your business, brand your product, and generate more sales leads.
Don’t kid yourself: you still have to close the sale. Don’t expect to sit back and count your profíts while your website runs your business automatically. Automated sales may work for sites that sell commodity items and recognizable brands of merchandise backed by millions invested in advertising, but unless you fall into that category, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.
Businesses who want to use their websites as a marketing vehicle have to get past thinking of them in terms of merely digital print media.
Just as damaging is the over-reliance on search engine optimization or cute techie gimmicks that have little or no relationship to your primary goal of delivering a memorable message that sticks in the mind and stimulates your audience to take action.
A New Way of Thinking…
Start thinking of your website as a stage, a presentation and performance platform that allows your company to present your message to your audience in an entertaining, informative, and memorable manner.
Knowing the age, sex and hat size of the last ten thousand visitors to your site may impress some, but reams of statistical information on your visitors doesn’t necessarily mean you know what that data means or how to use it effectively. In the same vein, tons of traffic generated by the latest SEO manipulation doesn’t necessarily translate into business.
Tell Your Story In A Memorable Way that produces results…
There are many ways to present what you do and why your audience should care, but the most effective way is to deliver that information in person and in a story format. When people come to your website they are putting you on trial, judging everything thing you present to see if it is relevant, convincing, and if it resonates with their needs.
There is an article, in the ‘Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, “Evidence Evaluation in complex decision making” which explains that when prosecutors tell their version of events to a jury in story-format they are able to elicit a 78% conviction rate, as compared to just 31% by lawyers who do not.
Make no mistake – when visitors arrive ato your website, you are on trial!
Effective Communication is All About the Performance…
Your message must be brief, powerfully delivered and to the point – a single point. Don’t mix too many ideas and muddy the waters. Remember, you have 6 seconds to capture the viewer’s attention and just about another 16 seconds to give them the information they are looking for.
Effective communication begins with a clear concept. If you don’t have a well-defined, focused concept that deals with ‘the why anybody should care factor’, your communication will be irrelevant. Unfortunately, all you’ll end up doing is confusing people and your message never gets heard, let alone understood, remembered or acted upon.
A professional presenter can do wonders for your message and of course a well thought out script that is well written, entertaining, and informative is a must.
All these requirements can be met with the use of Web Video…
An expensive, movie-style production is not necessary, especially considering the relatively small, Web-friendly format.
All you need is 60-90 seconds of a well-crafted message on your home page that tells the story quickly and efficiently.
The short, compact and powerful video ‘presentation’ fulfills the conditions that make it easier to convert your visitor into a customer. It gets the entire point across in the short time span at our disposal, making sure that the viewer gets all the information they need.
Video engages, entertains, informs, motivates and finally, it persuades – and that’s the power of video!
And last but not least – the Internet has opened up this huge opportunity to display our powerful video marketing messages in a way that is easily distributed, available to audiences anytime and anywhere – and which just by the way, is FREE!
Any business or professional not making full use of the incredible opportunity that the Internet presents… is just plain Nuts and deserves to lose!
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