Marketing Tactics: Using Video
Posted: March 10, 2011
The impact of video is far beyond what you can do in a written blog. You can present things on so many different levels and illustrate examples in settings that people can visually understand, which can be challenging to do in a written blog.
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© Fotolia[/caption]For Marc Gordon, an author and speaker, and the owner of Fourword Marketing in Toronto, video has become an effective way to market himself and his company in way that he believes cannot be accomplished with words alone.
"The impact of video is far beyond what you can do in a written blog," Marc explains. "You can present things on so many different levels and illustrate examples in settings that people can visually understand, which can be challenging to do in a written blog."
Since March 2010, Marc has shot and produced MarcTV2, a bi-weekly six-minute program (he'd like it to be weekly, but his real job as a marketing consultant demands much of his time) that covers topics ranging from how to create a killer press release3 to good business networking practices4. Marc shoots the videos in his "studio" -- which is his office when filled with lights and backdrop -- and out and about in his native Canada. Once posted to his Vimeo account and embedded in a blog post, Marc promotes the videos across multiple channels, including his Constant Contact--based email list and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Marc uses a single camera and a wireless mic for each shoot. When on location, Marc has a colleague shoot the video, but in the office, a tripod acts as the lone cameraman. Editing is done in Apple iMovie. "A lot of people put in a lot of transitions and effects," says Marc, who does all the editing himself. "You don't need that. It's all about simple, clean transitions that keep the video nice and clean. Let the content be the draw."
For Marc, the message is important, but humor is a key aspect to his video effort. For instance, in a Halloween episode5, Marc went shopping dressed as Wonder Woman. He also likes to use edgier titles on his videos to draw attention to a clip, a tactic that seems to be working: Views of his videos have grown steadily over the past four months and his email list has grown 29% since he started MarcTV.
"My initial goal was use MarcTV as a marketing tool to promote myself as an expert and personality," Marc says. "But the popularity of the show has really given it a life of its own. People from all kinds of industries are now reaching out to me as a result of the videos."
Biz Tip Source: Constant Contact