Following an excruciating 2009, everybody in business – and I do mean everybody – wants to closely manage their expenses vs. income.

The classic expense-busting method in marketing is to utilize the same advertising materials more than once. With the cost of video shrinking, and the avenues for distributing it expanding, video is a logical, practical, and cost-conserving method to promote your product or service.

1/8 the cost & 8X the power

It’s actually possible to make 1 video and use it in your marketing program 8 different ways. That amortizes your cost and increases your selling power: 1/8 the cost and 8X the viewership.

The formula’s the same no matter what kind of video your business uses: sales videos, customer testimonial videos, product demonstration videos, factory tours, and so on. You amortize your costs and maximize your exposure. Here’s how.

1. Mount ‘em on your home page.

It’s easy to place your videos front and center, right on your website’s home page where they get seen and viewed immediately. Here’s a site that that makes it easy to mount videos on your site yourself and avoid programmer fees: www.EZWebPlayer.com.

2. Mount videos deeper in your site, too.

As visitors drill deeper into your site, give them more videos along the way. More videos can mean longer visits…and longer visits can translate into more sales. Product page? Show a video of your products. About us page? Show a video of your facility. Selling a service? Show it in action.

3. Offer videos in your advertising.

Mention “Free Video” in your ads. That little extra gives people a reason to respond to your ad and has been proven to increase the number of responses to an ad.

4. Grabber at trade shows & conventions

Job 1 at a trade show is to draw traffic into your booth. A looping video is a great way to attract attention, instantly communicate what you’re selling, snag the passer-by, and bring him or her into your booth.

5. Babysitter in the showroom

If you’ve ever had two customers vying for your sales attention at the same time, you’ll appreciate how helpful video can be in the showroom. You can sit one customer down with your sales video while you work with the other.

6. Video shoot is perfect photo op

Here’s a high-efficiency trick I learned from www.IncreaseSalesWithVideo.com, a video company I’ve worked with quite a bit. While they’re shooting videotape, they also shoot still photos. Makes sense: if they’ve got the setup for video, they’ve got it for stills as well. That’s value added — you get great photos for very little extra.

7. Sell internally with video

You market your company to your customers, right? Don’t forget to market it to your shareholders, partners, and employees, too. The same videos you use in advertising can bring your core corporate values into sharp focus at company meetings, picnics, and in-house events.

8. Web 2.0

Don’t be shocked but the Web is changing before our eyes. “Web 2.0” is the new Web – not new technology, but new ways to make web browsing more interactive. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media give web users more access and more choices of what they view and how they view it. The bottom line for you: Web 2.0 allows easier, broader distribution of your video than ever before. More on Web 2.0 in my next blog entry!

Steve Edwards

Copywriter/Direct Marketer

www.EdwardsDirect.net

We’ve all heard the old saying, “A picture’s worth a thousand words.” So if a picture’s that powerful, how potent is a video? I’d say a sales video is worth a million pictures. That a whole lot of words-worth!

But the power and value of video is more than just in looking good. A video is pure communication at the most basic level. Observe a three-year old child watching TV. They’re absorbing and processing visual information a mile a minute.

And though we get older and more sophisticated, there’s no changing those neural pathways. Presenting information visually is a high-speed highway to fast, deep communication. And isn’t communication the key element of selling?

Increase sales with video

If you want to increase sales, especially in today’s online environment, use video. It’s a fact: online video increases sales. It’s pretty easy to see why. Video is a live demonstration of your product or service. Video breathes life into whatever your selling and shows it in its best light. You see it and hear it. It’s the old “Show and Tell” formula you learned in kindergarten!

Do you have a product to sell? Online video product demonstrations show your wares beautifully. If your product moves or performs a function — like a vacuum cleaner, tool, or toy for example — it’s easy to show how it works. Set up a simple before and after sequence that demonstrates your product’s advantages.

Video for services businesses

If you’re in a service business, there’s still plenty of opportunity to use the selling power of video. “But if there’s no product,” I can hear you saying, “what do I show in the video?” In the absence of a product to demonstrate, here’s a very effective technique: make a video of your customers talking about your service.

This is called a “customer testimonial video” – your customers talking about you, your service, and your company in their own words. Surveys by The Nielson Company, world leader in tracking consumer trends, document an interesting fact: almost three-quarters of consumers surveyed said they place great trust in purchase recommendations made by complete strangers!

30% sales increase

Please note: customer testimonial videos aren’t just for service businesses; they work great for selling products, too. One of my clients, www.SeaEagle.com, reports a 30% sales increase directly attributable to using online testimonial videos. See their report, (address).

In summary, whether you’re a manufacturer, distributor, dealer, retailer — even if you run a small home business — putting your selling story out there in video format is today’s most powerful way to increase sales.

Steve Edwards

Copywriter/Direct Marketer

www.EdwardsDirect.net

Ever see online customer testimonial videos? You know, videos of real people talking about a product or service they’ve used. Kind of a reality TV style commercial.

If you’ve gone online recently, I’m sure you’ve seen some. Here’s a great one. http://timberking.com/video.cfm?video=11 Credibility just pours off Bruce Baker. He’s a real customer, a real guy, telling of his real experience, in his own words. That’s good advertising.

The beauty of these online customer testimonials is that they aren’t beautiful. They aren’t Holllywood. They aren’t a fantasy like commercials that promise a better love life if only you had fresh breath…

Pay attention and you’ll see customer testimonials at work all over the place. Magazine ads, newspapers, brochures for all kinds of products and services.

But how do you get customer testimonials?

“Sure,” you say. “I get it: customer testimonials have selling power. But how do I get customer testimonials in the first place?”

You’ve got a business, right? You’ve got customers, right? Well, chances are you’re already receiving great customer testimonials but you’re just not collecting them.

Put your sales people on special alert: “Collect all customer feedback!” And don’t forget the clincher: “And get it to me immediately!”

If you use product registration forms or warranty cards, they’re rich sources of customer feedback. Your “contact us” form on your website is another one. And tell Sales and Customer Service to cc you on any and all e-mail that contains a customer’s opinion or comment – good or bad.

(And by the way, the only thing “bad” about a bad comment from a customer is you, if you don’t respond to it.)

Send an e-mail to your customers asking for feedback. Invite feedback on your website. Mail customers a letter. Talk to them in the showroom. Stop and chat with them in the parking lot.

After you’ve collected customer stories…

Build a library of customer comments then turn them into customer testimonials. Start with the short comments. You can run them as-is in an ad or brochure. “I love my new Mazda. You guys at Acme Motors are the best!”

Stack them up. Build a column of short testimonials in your sales brochures. Put them on your website under “Customer Testimonials.”

But you can do much more. A good short comment can turn into a great long story if you pursue it. Give the customer a call and ask them to elaborate. Tape record the conversation and transcribe it for later use – but ask them if it’s OK first, and get a signed release afterwards.

Harness the power of testimonial videos

A great customer endorsement becomes an extraordinary testimonial when you capture it on video. I video-document my clients’ testimonials with help from www.IncreaseSalesWithVideo.com, a Chicago-based video company that’ll go anywhere, any time to shoot video customer testimonials.

Once in video format, you can mount your testimonials on your website, put them on DVD, use them at trade shows, or loop them on a TV in your showroom.

It all starts with awareness: you’re already getting customer feedback. Launch programs to capture it and build the feedback into powerful, versatile customer testimonials.

Steve Edwards

Copywriter/Direct Marketer

www.EdwardsDirect.net