Online video as lead generation

Video has been available on the Web for years and with YouTube it is simple for anyone to create and post a video online.

However, a legitimate criticism of video (especially from B2B marketers) has been that it is tough to do lead generation. Sure you can have a URL mention at the end of a video or you can embed a video within a landing page with some lead offers, but that's not fully integrated.

My friends at VisibleGains have developed a video application that solves this problem. Here is an example program we created from the four videos I shot at GM a few weeks ago.

The VisibleGains application makes it easy to include links and offers as part of the video experience. Best of all, the links at the bottom of the video player to the Twitter feeds and blogs of me and the GM people speaking in the interviews are non-intrusive and can be ignored if you're not interested.

Did you notice the link near the end that points you to see the complete footage of the interview I had with Fritz Henderson, CEO of GM? These are welcome and valuable ways to offer additional content yet not in any way annoying. And notice how the video pauses when you click on a link.

Of course, these links could easily have gone to offers for lead generation purposes (such as to sign up for a Webinar). Also notice the simple form at the end of the video for people interested in learning more (in this case about VisibleGains services.

Brand Journalism becomes lead generation

I've frequently said how great online video interviews are as brand journalism. They are so darned easy to do. Any organization can shoot an interview with a customer or partner or analyst or author or someone else within a market space and become a thought leader. I use my Flip video to shoot interviews nearly every week and it’s so easy!

Now you can make those videos interactive and use them to generate leads. How cool is that?

Imagine your organization producing a regular interview show that combines brand journalism with lead generation. I'm sure you can think of subjects for shows.

Thanks to VisibleGains for turning nearly an hour of video I shot at General Motors into a compelling 4 minute video and then putting it into their player so I can share it with you.

What do you think?

Are you a marketer using video as brand journalism?

Do you have other ways of generating leads from those videos?

Please share your thoughts.

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UPDATE: Shortly after I posted this, Matt Shaw tweeted and commented that video players similar to the one from VisibleGains have been around for years. I commented back to Matt. I also removed the word "Finally" from the posts title. The original post was called "Finally! Online video as lead generation." Thanks Matt.

Comments

[twitter.com/vkippes]

Thanks for this post David. Very cool application.

[twitter.com/kienan]

Incredibly insightful video into GM's marketing, David. I think if they just made a few commercials that went down this road rather just showing their vehicles, it would build the companies brand and spread over all the future vehicles they produce. After seeing this video, I went from a 2% chance of buying a GM car up to 15%. Imagine what it would do for people that were on the fence already or, god forbid, actual fans of GM!

@kienan

[Ryan Barton]

I agree that the concept of interactive video elements are a great addition.

But I found myself actually ignoring those elements as they're very similar to the advertisements used by YouTube-like applications.

My immediate thought is to get rid of all graphics that are making it more difficult for me to actually view the video. It's like the cable watermarks and tickers that block up to 1/3 of the television screen.

I'd almost prefer a sidebar of interactive elements rather than laying them on top of the footage. The footage is the real content. The interactive elements are extras.

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks, all, for your comments.

@kienan - wow. I'll pass this on to GM. I am flattered of course, but they will be intrigued, I'm sure!

Thanks, David

[Marta]

David,

great that it is possible now to follow your video posts! I can't wait to see next videos of yours. From my own experience too, as a PR person, the videos really do make a huge difference!

Good job, GM for showing your human face!

[twitter.com/MattAtFlimp]

You know, David, I'm surprised a bit by your endorsement here. Overlay ads are interruptive by nature, aren't they? Isn't that exactly the kind of thing we New Rulesians are against?

For the record -- and at the risk of being dubbed a shameless self-promoter -- there is a better technology out there, and it has existed for more than three years. It allows users to generate leads with video without overlays, registration forms, or really anything more than a click of the "Play" arrow. Lead gen with video, WITHOUT interruption.

Don't get me wrong - VisibleGains is a really cool product. I'm just surprised by the plug, that's all.

(And for those who would like to learn more, don't clog up this board -- DM me @mattatflimp.)

[Rick Braddy]

Thanks for the post - wasn't aware of VisibleGains. Good to see someone trying to make video more of a direct response vehicle.

[David Meerman Scott]

@Matt Shaw -

Sorry, maybe it's just my ignorance or stupidity. But I have not seen any applications that do what VisibleGains does -- both the player and the services that the company provides.

If I am mistaken, it is my fault. And if so, I would like to know more. Feel free to post other options for the technology here.

I don't see the links embedded in my video as "ads." While the technical term may be "overlay ads" as you say, I do not see them as interruption when used as I have to provide additional valuable information that viewers can go to (such as the GM FastLane blog or Christopher Barger's twitter feed or the full video of my conversation with Fritz Henderson, GMs CEO). I don't think of those links as "ads".

Based on your comment and your tweet and recognizing my potential error based on ignorance, I am removing the word "Finally" from the post's title.

Thanks for jumping in.

David

[John Assalian]

We have seen great results (over 7%) by simply displaying a URL on the lower third of the social video - and then tracking that URL. Nice thing: if someone goes to the trouble to type in the URL and get to the content/landing page, we know they are engaged prospects. Because what we are offering (free implementation and training videos targeted to B2B customers) is HIGH VALUE content, we get great results. In the end, the quality of your content is the most critical part. Users are attracted to quality content and will find you. The solution here is nice, though seems like just a flash video with embedded links.

[Adam Wood]

I love the unobtrusive, contextual overlay. It's only interruptive if it isn't related (here's an ad for Viagra while you're watching that wedding dance video).

What I think is funny, though, is that a lead gen. company with such a cool product seems to do such a bad job at lead generation. I went to their site, and the only thing I can do is watch videos and engage them in "conversation." What if I wanted to buy something?

Nothing like pricing, demos, options...

[David Meerman Scott]

John and Adam - both great points. Many thanks for jumping in.

Adam - I know that the people from VisibleGains are watching so they will see the suggestions.

David

[twitter.com/marketingfails]

I do agree with some of the comments here David. I think the technology is not new but what they're trying to do (bundle up video WITH other platforms to produce data) is probably new. Links are found anywhere, now you'll be able to find out who's linking and decipher the flow to a sale. Adam makes a good point: why would you create such a product and not be open about its pricing? That's always the make or break for a venture like this. --Paul

[Paul Baiguerra]

Found this interesting article at Search Marketing Sage - they did a landing page test with video and whitepapers to determine which generated more leads. Video generated 373% more leads but the things that really stunned me was when they looked at cost per conversion - video was 35% LESS than the whitepaper.
Have a look: http://blog.search-mojo.com/2009/09/30/video-landing-pages-and-cost-per-conversion/

The lead generation result kind of feels obvious but interesting to see some measurement around it

[Analisa]

David, I wish I knew more about how I can get this product/service into my hands! Just visiting the Visible Gains website did not tell me how much their service costs or how to go about purchasing.

I can understand that a company may want to force me, the potential consumer, to call and be given a sales pitch, but I don't necessarily want to spend the time to make that call.

I feel like you of all people would encourage a company to make it easy for potential customers to find out how to buy their product!

[Harriet Meth]

David, First of all, having seen all of your GM videos, you did an excellent job of re-editing the interviews into a compelling storyline. I saw all of your GM videos and you captured the essence and re-packaged them quite well.

As a former network news and documentary producer, I'm usually annoyed by screen "bugs" and other online "signage" that detracts from the viewing experience. So, to my surprise, I didn't find any of the links obtrusive in the least. The Visible Gains video app is a great advantage to any marketer who needs to convince management that there is indeed ROI to be had from running more videos. Kudos.

[Bob Williams]

Thanks for sharing David. I know your post was about video use and ideas on how to use video for lead generation. However, I couldn't help but keep thinking how how impressive it was for a gigantic corporation to have so many executives who were versed in the importance of social media. Not only that, but they were willing to go on camera with someone who had previously written negative comments about them. While I'm not an owner of a GM product, this definitely impresses me and will certainly be something I remember.

[Gary Ambrosino]

Yes, there's plenty of this video technology around. BUT, Visible Gains seems to have packaged their system for this specific task - - which in turn now makes it damn easy to think creatively about applications. We experimented with this concept in 1988 using some prehistoric equipment from IBM and an installation at Logan Airport. The intercept and uptake rates were unbelievable.

[twitter.com/MattAtFlimp]

David,

Thanks for taking the time to respond, and I appreciate the title modification.

Sure, maybe the term "ads" is a bit of a semantics debate, and I understand your point there. But isn't the term "unobtrusive" subjective to a certain extent? And if so, wouldn't the only way to ensure that a call to action remains unobtrusive be to keep it out of the video entirely?

I agree that the way you've used overlay buttons is better than most. But overlay buttons come with their own set of "Old Rules" drawbacks, which are too numerous to list here. I've posted some of my thoughts on http://blog.flimp.net -- I invite you and my fellow W.I.N. readers to read and join in the debate.

[twitter.com/mpkaplan]

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful comments about the VisibleGains application on this blog and the feedback about our website. I’ve been with the company since 2004, when we first created the core technology to enable interactive or non-linear video. But in the past six months we’ve gone through a major transformation from a video technology platform (previously called PermissionTV) to a B2B marketing and sales solution. While the enabling technology has been around for some time, we realized that the core challenges faced by B2B marketers and sellers could only partially be solved by technology. We needed to rethink the way video content was conceived, produced, assembled, and delivered for the new “buyer-led” world that social media has empowered.

We built new tools to enable rapid construction of “video apps” to enhance prospect interaction throughout the entire sales funnel from lead generation to lead qualification, nurturing and sales enablement. We focused on integrations with key CRM and marketing automation systems like Salesforce.com, Hubspot, and Eloqua and integrated Omniture’s analytics engine to provide insights into user behavior and needs. The ROI numbers quoted in this thread are similar to what we’ve experienced with our clients to date, but in true agile fashion it’s critical to gather specific metrics on engagement time, click thrus and lead capture in order to tell what works and what doesn’t. On the surface it may look like a technology that’s been around for a while, but underneath it all is a well thought out solution purpose-built for today’s marketing and sales challenges.

Based on the comments, we know we have much more work to do on the marketing end, no doubt. Since we provide video content strategy and production as part of our solution, prices can vary greatly depending upon the amount of content required. I’d like to make myself personally available to anyone interested in exploring our solutions in greater detail and can be reached via Twitter at @mpkaplan.

[David Meerman Scott]

Matt (Shaw) and Matt (Kaplan) - thanks to you both for being here. It would be fun for me to moderate an online video conversation between you two at some point...

Harriett and Bob - thanks for noticing and commenting on the video itself. Working with the production staff at VisibleGains, we were able to come up with a compelling short video story. And yes, it is rather amazing that I was given the access that I was to GM executives.

Best, David

[Dale Berkebile]

Great article. Thanks for the tip. I am going to check out VisibleGains and maybe start using them in the very near future. This looks like an excellent tool!

[Russ Henneberry]

Visible Gains looks powerful David, thanks. And good stuff from GM as well. Loved the reference to "humanizing" the company --- couldn't agree more.

[John Beckley]

What a great application, the only downside I see is that we can't embed the videos.

[Josh Chandler]

I think, if you're a smart marketer you should be investing your time into the niche sites such as Viddler.com which allows you to add tags to website URL's directly underneath the video rather then overlaying.

I don't think it's a matter of including "disruptive" links on the video itself, it's about complimenting the viewing experience and Viddler can allow you to do this much more effectively then your custom built solution from Visible Gains!

[twitter.com/maryhenige]

David, thank you for selecting your GM visit as your VisibleGains application test case. It was a great editing job and a tight four-minute story – if that’s okay for me to say ( :

@kienan – wow and thank you! I started following you yesterday as soon as I saw your comment. I don’t think we’ve posted this to our GM Facebook fan page yet, but we will – good idea. I hate it when we overlook the obvious. I’m thrilled your perception of our company has changed a bit. All we ask is that consumers give us a shot. So, Kienan, when you’re in the market for a new vehicle, let us know and please put us in your test drive consideration set. We’d be grateful for the opportunity.

Bob Williams – same is true for you let us know when you’re in the market. I’m glad you liked the videos. We’re fortunate our leaders embrace the opportunities on the social web and are active participants. In fact, we encourage our employees to become our ambassadors and offer both online and in person training sessions. There’s no better way to engage with both fans and critics, and to become part of the conversation.

Inviting David to Detroit seemed like the right thing to do. He’s clearly a talented opinion leader and we were eager for him to get to know us and to hear what he had to say. I finished reading his World Wide Rave book last week and loved it – more on that later.

Regards,

Mary Henige, GM
Director, Social Media & Broadcast Communications
@maryhenige