Ever since the advent of fast Internet connections and Youtube, videos became popular due to the relatively low production costs and the fact that any topic can be visualized with an online video.

However, the marketing benefits can only be achieved if certain rules are taken into consideration:

The message has to be right: If you want to get your marketing going with an online video, you should, of course, be able to show something that will help convert your web visitors to buyers or at least potential buyers. You can get attention, for instance, with solutions that your company has to offer to resolve certain problems. Don‘t just present subjectively colored commercials, but rather provide evidence that your product or service actually works, or simply emphasize what sets you apart from your competition!

Don’t be overwhelming: No one will listen voluntarily to a more or less boring presentation for half an hour, therefore limit the duration of the video to a maximum of two minutes. And avoid scenes which are shorter than around five seconds as well as, hectic scene changes are typically associated to music videos. Details should alternate harmoniously with medium and long shots, since fast pans and fierce zooms are particularly stressful for the viewer. Should you plan to add spoken comment to the video, try paying attention to an accent-free and easily comprehensible pronunciation.

Make your video findable: What's the best online video good for if nobody sees it? Therefore, place the film on your home page first of all, framed by a brief statement and a reference to the run length. Since Google and other search engines usually index online videos in Flash format, the video should be extended implicitly with tags, which are keywords that describe the content and form part of the film. Video titles and file names should be the same for a good ranking. And if you do not present your video directly from the server of your provider, but via a link to Youtube, there are even 1000 characters for your content description at your disposal.

The video market is continuing to grow at astonishing rates, so please take advantage of all the opportunity out there to push your brand forward!

By Daniela La Marca