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YouTube A few days ago I asked readers to tell me the best ways they’ve seen people using video in marketing – see the post and comments.

I’m working on putting together some information to help small business marketers get beyond the “YouTube isn’t for business” thinking. Actually, YouTube may not be for your business, but online video has some great uses.

I offered 5 readers with the best comments tickets to the Future of Online Advertising conference in New York June 7-8.

Overwhelmingly, at least to me, the most intriquing ideas surround the notion of letting users create video content either in a contest to create commercials or to demonstrate your products and services.

Here are the winners and some of what they said.
1) Viewer’s Choice of Sponsor – I’ve said for years that one day I’ll be able to get online to watch David Letterman and have a choice to pay for the viewing (minimal… perhaps $.50 per show, or some kind of subscription) or have an advertiser of my choice pay for the episode. ~ Kirk Lancaster
2) I pay $10 in store credit per instructional video. (The instructions are simple, so these videos are not long or complex.) People love it that I am promoting their instructional videos because they get to be “famous experts.” ~ Lars H.
3) The best way for businesses to take advantage of video in marketing and advertising online is to educate. Nobody is going to watch a video ad. MySpace plays them all the time. Talking ads/moving ads – they’re still ads and they annoy people. Teach them something, make it cool and boom, now they’re talking about YOU. ~ Matt Antonino
4) In summary, its not the quality of the video, nor the amount of viewership, but getting the right eyes to view your video commercials online. ~ Sid
5) Allowing customers to create their own videos promoting your business or product. My favorite example right now is MyHeb.com. HEB is a growing grocery store chain in Texas, and they are currently holding a “Make Your Own Commercial”. ~ Debby M

Stay tuned on this one! And, keep those good ideas coming.

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Posted by: John Jantsch on Apr 24, 07 | 10:10 pm
Category: Web Marketing | Tags:

Comments

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Gary

Live Video Lessens Fear of Changing Your Fridge’s Water Filter
From our press release:

Callers see live video of products and who they are speaking to, on their personal computer
display, while shopping at FridgeFilters.com.

http://www.fridgefilters.com/garycam.html

for personalized pre-sale and post-sale
Customer support.

John Jantsch

Gary,

Video as a customer service tool - great use. Help people get more successful with your product, any product, faster and they will buy more and refer more.

Nick James

Just read your article on video and wanted to point you to our site – www.freshbusinesthinking.tv <http://www.freshbusinesthinking.tv/> I think the comments about advertising are just about right. We’re relatively new to this but find that ‘thought leadership’, information and education are the key ingredients. Happy to receive any videos from your side of the pond for consideration?

Scott Townsend

We are a linen supply company in Oklahoma. Our main source of business comes from supplying restaurants with tablecloths and napkins. We have been trying to figure out how to use YouTube also. We uploaded a video of our tradeshow booth, but that was pretty lame. Thinking about shooting some video of how to fold napkins so our customers can learn how. This has been done before, but I believe we can make this instructional video more appealing. Will let you kow what we come up with.

Lars H

Thanks for the offer John!

I'm glad to hear you found my comment about my experience with video helpful for your readers. I know it's working well for me!

I'm going to be at the Internet Retailer conference on the west coast though. Oh well!

Barbara Carey

I have been very successful using TV to advertise my products, and now I am working on ways to harness the power of the internet to do the same. I love the idea of letting users create their own commercials. Don't we all want that 5 minutes of fame? Thanks for the great ideas.

Mark O'reilly

I've played with the idea of creating commercials starring some of our customers and posting them on our webpage. The cost could be low, but the time it takes has always been prohibitive.

Perry Lawrence

AskMrVideo.com is holding a contest: "My Day in 60 Seconds" Users post their video on YouTube and tag with askmrvideo60.

Grand prize is $1000 in cash and prizes.

Even if only 10 submit and each video only gets 100 views that's still 1000 views or $1 a lead. I'm expecting 25 submissions and about 5000 total views or about $0.20 per lead.

Plus, after finalists are chosen, people come back to AskMrVideo.com to vote!

Perry

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