Online video rocks as a global marketing channel

I’m frequently asked about reaching international audiences. With language differences and widely varying social networking sites (such as Hyves in the Netherlands), how do marketers reach a global audience?

Huge brands should localize. But if you're a smaller organization, video works great. You can imbed a video in most Web platforms and social networking sites around the world.

Watch this short (1:16) video where I ask people in various countries if they watch video online. Show the video to your skeptical boss.

Direct link to Are you reaching buyers via online video?

I shot the clips during speaking gigs with my Flip Video camera. Sorry for shaking!

Thanks to my friends at VisibleGains for editing this video.

Disclosures: I am on the boards of advisors of Visible Gains (producer of the video) and Eloqua (the San Francisco clip was shot at the Eloqua Experience conference which I keynoted).

Comments

[Jake LaCaze]

David,

I love your videos like this, especially when you ask how many people looked up something in the Yellow Pages and then ask how many of them looked for something online. The difference between the two always makes the point.

And when I'm trying to make a point about marketing on the Internet, I reference these videos.

[David Siteman Garland]

David,

I've said this many a time (and of course I'm ridiculously biased...) there has never been a better opportunity for entrepreneurs to hop into video opportunities. Perhaps a web show. Or a tips & tricks series. Or interviews.

The technology is there. The eyeballs can be found. The opportunity is freaking golden.

(End rant)

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks Jake.

David - I totally agree. What an opportunity we all have right now!

[Dan Schawbel]

haha, it's a World Wide Rave..you should have used this video to launch that book :)

The Tokyo one is my favorite!

[Brownltd.wordpress.com]

David:

I've produced no-budget videos, to use in sales meetings and as examples to customers in the same industry, that have won small sales of a few thousand to a sale to the Vatican for $50 million.

They work locally and globally.

One video I produced for the presentation to the Premier of China when he visited the U.S. helped win a $1.2 billion order. Budget on that video: $15 thousand. Not a bad ROI.

Now some of those same videos are online on my blog and giving me Google juice and starting to move my very common name to the first page.

Web video is starting to be huge and production costs have gone through the floor. As George Lucas said to me in the 1990's, "Everybody is going to become a producer." He was right and it's happening.

My prototype multimedia studio at IBM in the 1980's was $300K - just for experimentation. My full-blown studio at Motorola in the 1990's was $5 million. Now, you can replace most of that with what amounts to tip money for a month in nice restaurants.

And most importantly, folks are watching and listening! Bottom line, even though I started out as a print guy, people would rather watch than read. That's why I started learning how to produce video. If you keep it simple, it's easy, cheap, and it sells!

[Go2Mach2]

David...Thanks

Online Marketing Video Production and effective Video utilization is still in the early stages. While this comment might seem surprising to some, the percentage of businesses using "Optimized Video" is still very small. Sure, most people are aware of You Tube and other video sites; however, how many mid zize companies are actually putting a video on these sites - especially with the right keyword optimization. Unless a video is properly optimized, it stands little chance of getting picked up as a seperate search result.

We ran a poll in one local business area and discovered less than 5% of the businesses even knew anything about optimized Marketing Videos. Look out for real growth in this area when they do!

Thanks Again...

[David Meerman Scott]

@Brownltd - Wow - that's a positive ROI for sure!! Thanks for sharing. That's the largest order by far from video I have ever heard of.

Go2Mach2 - the 5% doesn't surprise me. The number actually using would be even smaller.

Thanks
David

[Omar Ghanem]

hey i made a short film on youtube to raise awareness about protecting our environment!
here is the link to the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9_ZwNLAx94

[Shawn de souza]

David,

You're absolutely bang on! What's even more important is to consider where you're posting your videos.

We serve the travel industry and our common refrain is "wherever travel shoppers are"

Our customers have seen direct co-relation between rich media and bookings which makes video not just a marketing channel but a revenue generating channel.

Here's a link to one of our customer case studies: http://www.vfmleonardo.com/bf-saul-success-story

[Rsomers]

David,

You're absolutely right - adoption is huge. Everyone watches online video now.

As with any marketing tool, there are two key questions: "Who is my audience" and "what action would I like them to take after watching this video." That informs everything from how you script & shoot to where you post.

At Invodo (full disclosure: yep, I work there) we use video as a conversion-driving tool for online retailers. So it's important that the videos be product-specific and on the product page where the buying decision is made.

Another huge benefit for any type of business is the SEO impact. Forrester quantified a page with video as having a 53x greater probability of a front-page result, all other things being equal. Amazes me that more businesses aren't dressing their site with video for that reason alone.

[Brian Clark]

This has been a very interesting read, would love to read more on this. Thanks for sharing.

[Ik Sourav]

I am new to the boards and just wanted to say i am very very happy to read this blog.