ImageBeam September Blog: Top 5 Reasons to use Video on your website

Top 5 Reasons to use Video on your website

Making the case for B2B and B2C companies to use Video on your home page.

1. Your Customer Expects It

Just like with other sales and marketing channels, your website visitor is savvy and has high expectations for what they will find on your website. eMarketer shows that Online Users continue to watch more videos and spend over 42% more time watching videos online.

Today's internet user is trained to expect impeccable layout and design for your website and expects to engage in content that is the focal point of your home page. A compelling testimonial or marketing video is a match for what your customers expect.

eMarketer July 2009*

2. Rich Video Communicates effectively in complicated, high trust sales

Whether you're a B2B or B2C company, your customer has a lot of hurdles to overcome in doing business with you. And that's the way it should be. Many of us sell and market complex products or services and our customer is making both a financial and emotional investment when they are considering doing business with you. A rich video is the bridge to your customer's emotional connection to your product or service. The bottom line is that you can communicate the impact that your product or service can have on your customer's success and satisfaction through high quality videos.

3. Your Customer see's you as the Expert and their Resource

Spend enough time in any Industry and what seems like "thebasics" to you makes all the difference in someone's perception of your product or service. Your customers or clients have questions running through their head, not just about your services but about your industry. While they may have some sense of your offerings and the expected benefits to them, you have the opportunity to act as the liaison between them and your entire industry, a powerful position to be in. How? Create a compelling video that engages with those "running questions". Watch your potential customers flock to your video and, moreover, start to take the next step in doing business with you.

4. Users spend more time on your Home Page, resulting in Higher Penetration Rate

What is the point of laying out all of your service offerings, testimonials, resources, and contact information on your website if your users don't go beyond the home page? Web designers are constantly working on making their clients' home page (or entry page) more engaging so that users 'penetrate' to interior pages. An effective way of achieving a high penetration rate is to embed a video into your home page and have it grab the attention of your user.

In 2007 ImageBeam completed and launched Stemedica.com, a San Diego based Stem Cell Research company, website. ImageBeam produced four 'client impact' video's that were embedded into the home page navigation. These videos were designed to capture the attention and emotion of the visitors to the site.

ImageBeam also designed and launched the current Stemedica family of websites www.stemedica.com

5. Higher Conversion with Calls to Action

During and after the video is complete, you can layout calls to action (links to interior pages) that will allow you to convert visitors in to customers. Once you have wowed them with your video you can invite them to take the next step. For Example...

• Contact Us
• Schedule an Appointment
• Request a Quote
• Shop Online
• Watch another Video
• Read our Case Study
• Follow our Blog
• Meet the Owner

These are all relevant "calls to action" for your business that could be presented around and embedded into your video. There are many more that fit for your specific industry, business and way of communicating with your customer.

We hope these reason's give you an insight into why video is becoming a standard practice in Web Presence of any company.

For questions on how video can impact your company's web presence, sales or marketing efforts, Contact ImageBeam for a free consultation & strategy session.(see contact information below)

For samples of ImageBeam's past video projects, visit our Video Sample Page

Downloadable .PDF

ed.kennedy@imagebeam.com | 949.228.8657

www.imagebeam.com | 17961 Cowan Street | Irvine, CA 92613

ImageBeam August Blog: Corporations Could Learn a Thing or Two from Non-Profits with Respect to Video Production

If you've been thinking about how to use video in your company, take a look at how non-profits approach using video. Since 2003 ImageBeam has produced over a dozen event based or fundraising videos for Non-Profit Organizations. In this time we've come across many inspiring organizations and projects. Non-Profits leverage video (Rich Media) to get their message out about their organization to their potential donors, sponsors and volunteers.

In spending time in this industry, we have noticed that there are key elements of Non-Profit videos that apply to the use of Video for Marketing and Visibility purposes for Companies and Corporations. Here are some best practices for producing an effective Corporate Video through the eyes of a Non-Profit.

Introduce the impact of the program, and then introduce the organization.

Too many times have I seen companies create videos that tell the audience all about the company and how great their services are and how wonderful it is to work with them, however, those videos don't show the audience these things, in action.

Before you toot your company's horn on your corporate video, introduce individuals your audience relates to. Your audience wants to see themselves in your video, through somebody else's testimonial or interview. For example, if your company is in the professional services industry, interview one of your best clients and have that be one of the FIRST things your audience is introduced to.

Then, once you've established the impact of your service or product, then introduce your company through an interview or voice over from one of the leaders in your company or department.

Highlight all the Players in the Game

One of the most effective practices that Non Profits take on in producing a fundraising or "Mission Statement" video is to interview and hear from each category of people involved with the organization. For example, a Non Profit that serves young children would interview and show footage of the young children at the organization's events or programs. In addition, they would interview staff and program coordinators of the Organization; finally, rounding those interviews out with recipients of any awards or the community "power partners" they work closely with. All of this would be tied together with a powerful voice over script that leaves the audience with the Organization's message.

Don't leave out key people that would round out your video. If you are using voice over, use footage of each type of person involved in your project, company or service. In addition to video of your best clients and the leader of your company, interview some of your employees, or a local business leader in the community that is affiliated with your organization.

When producing your next Corporate Video think of how a Non-Profit would communicate with their Donors or Volunteers. Here is a link to an sample Nonprofit video project ImageBeam completed using the best practices mentioned above, Project Tomorrow.