Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking - "ANOTHER 'Best of' list to commemorate the new year?! You're timing is not even right - isn't it supposed to be unveiled at the end of the old year or at the very beginning of the new year?!" I realize you're probably experiencing "Best of 2011" list fatigue and that we're already halfway through January (Happy Friday the 13th!!!), but I swear, I was very busy getting engaged at the end of 2011, so please forgive me that my list is a week later than it should be.
Okay, onto the videos...
Given that the web video market is still in its toddler stage, some would even say its infancy, a common question we receive from clients for whom we produce a business video is - I made and love my new video (thanks Web Video Crew!!!), NOW WHAT, how do I get people to watch it?
For those small business owners who want to get maximum distribution and viewership of their business video, here are a few more tips. These suggestions are a bit more advanced ways of distributing your video, so you may need to enlist the services of your webmaster to help with these tasks.
Just as the theoretical tree that falls in the theoretical forest with no one around to theoretically hear it begs the theoretical question "did it ever really fall?", so too does an online video that gets filmed and edited but not advertised nor marketed beg the question - was the video really ever made? If no one ever watches it, if no one even knows it exists, does it really “exist”?
You would assume that if someone were to decide to spend money to get a web video produced, he/she would have an idea of how they want to use said video. You would assume... But the interesting thing about online video is that it’s kinda like social media (the two are really first cousins in Internet marketing and search engine optimization) - just as business owners hear the buzz about Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, etc., so too do they see and hear everyone mentioning online video as the next big marketing wave. They know they SHOULD be doing these things, but they don’t necessarily know the HOW or the WHY behind them.
This makes sense to some degree - both social media and online video are really new toys in the web marketing store. And both are dynamic, fluid, constantly-evolving mediums that are hard to keep up with. Given how fast the online video market is developing and changing, I can’t say the answers I provide them will always be the right ones. I’m 100% certain that I’ll constantly be adding and subtracting to this list of “How To Distribute Your Online Video” tips. But for the time being, the laundry list of tips and suggestions I provide our small business owner clients goes something like this.
"It’s been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you, without a strong rhyme to step to” (Shout out to all my hip-hop heads who know the song!)
As you’ve probably (hopefully? maybe? remote possibly?) noticed by now, we haven’t updated our blog in quite some time. You see, what had happened was...
No, no excuses, just an explanation - we’ve been REALLY busy rolling out a bunch of new features, setting up a whole new subsidiary, cranking out new videos, and honestly, not really having much of a summer vacation. But seriously, once you graduate from college, does anyone really have a “summer vacation”?!
So, if we didn’t go to summer camp, nor travel abroad, nor go camping or swimming in the lake or whatever else it is one is supposed to do during the Northern Hemisphere’s longest days of the year, how did we spend the summer of 2011?
As I detailed in my last post, the most effective way to sell something is to highlight the experience of enjoying it, whatever "it" is. If a potential customer can picture themselves having fun with your product or service, you've got a sale.
Another good example I had originally included in my previous post but decided to omit at the last minute but still really wanted to write about was the experience of going to Wet Willie’s and how it related to the Las Vegas and South Africa experiences, albeit on a much smaller scale.
For those of you who’ve visited Miami’s South Beach, you know the name, you know the drinks. For those of you who haven’t been, Wet Willie’s is famous for their frozen alcoholic concoctions – they’re fruity, chilled and sneakingly potent, like a boozed-up version of your favorite Slurpee.
I’m sure you’ve seen Las Vegas’ most recent TV campaign – there’s the guy who locks himself out of his hotel room, resulting in a wild journey through the casinos, restaurants and nightlife of the Strip, only to wind up right back in front of his hotel room door the next morning still without a key. Or the one with the guy being waited on and chauffeured around town, from the pool to the ice bar to the restaurant, only to switch roles with his “driver” for the night – okay, my turn. These commercials are effective because they transport you, the viewer, to a life you know you couldn’t, shouldn’t and wouldn’t live for a very long time, but one that you would definitely LOVE to assume for a few hours. You know that game we always play - if you could be anyone for the day, who would it be?
Las Vegas has reinvented itself and its image in a large part by answering that hypothetical question via its commercials. I mean c’mon, who wouldn’t want to be a rock star for the day?! The best part about these commercials: they show you that yes, you too can live that life, you can experience that feeling, you can be that rock star, even if only for one night, and here’s how – come to Vegas!
When we first launched Jippidy, we had nothing more than a catchy domain name and a mostly blank website. There was little content, and even less of a reason for people to visit our site. We were left with a typical Catch-22 dilemma – we didn’t have the content to attract users, but we couldn’t generate content without users visiting us and contributing to the site. We figured it would be easier to produce our own content rather than convince users to give us a try. So we decided we’d film free business videos for our favorite bars and restaurants, figuring we could leverage their popularity into a reason people would visit our site – to watch a video of their favorite establishment. We didn’t have to pay for a storefront or invest a ton of capital in equipment, so our sunk cost of starting a business took the form of us financing online videos for businesses that didn’t really know if they needed or even wanted one. Most business owners just figured it was free marketing, so there was no real gamble or potential for loss, so why not?
Dad – we love him, we respect him, we adore him, we are thankful for all that he’s done for us. Yes, at times he talks too much, he thinks he knows EVERYTHING, and he’s NEVER wrong about anything, but we love him just the same. And this Sunday, we take the time to show him that we appreciate him.
I've put together a list of ten businesses Jippidy has filmed that I think could serve as a good way to show your appreciation this Father’s Day. I’ve even included the videos and special discounts where applicable for your viewing convenience, so take a look. And no, none of them sell ties, so think outside the box!
As a burgeoning video production company, Jippidy has come into contact with all levels of videographer talent. We have watched, critiqued and ultimately embedded on our website all caliber of online video ads. Our very first video was actually filmed by our chief salesman@Jeffrey_jippidy on his 5-megapixel digital Sony STILL camera – not a camcorder, not a DSLR that shoots high definition (HD) video. No, he filmed his first video, Jippidy’s first business video EVER, using the movie mode on his little digital camera. He walked into the store, asked for the owner's permission to film, and proceeded to whip the camera out from his pocket! Watch that video here.
The biggest takeaway is that with online video, you don’t have to be a Hollywood director, you don’t even necessarily need a video camera per se (though it does make things easier, obviously). Online video experts, web personalities, YouTube celebrities, they all agree – when it comes to online video production, be like Nike and Just Do It!
Note: This is the second in a two-part series. Click here for part one.
"To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor."
Lesson 6: Animals are able to adapt to the most unique of surroundings. There’s a remote, uninhabited cay in the Exumas island chain, the Big Majors Cay, on which a family of resident wild pigs have lived for years. Over the years, the pigs have begun to associate the sound of arriving dinghies as the “dinner bell” and so will literally swim out into the ocean to greet the visiting “chefs”.
How this applies to business: like animals, we must learn to change and adapt to our surroundings in order to survive. If we stagnate and wait for our surroundings to change to our liking, we will starve from famine. Although sustenance may not be readily available at all times, when the sound of our “dinner bell” suddenly rings we must seize upon those opportunities to feast even if the situation is not natural to us. Success requires us to learn to deal with our environment even if we are not accustomed to the situation, we must learn new behaviors in order to capitalize when an opportunity presents itself.
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