Relationship

Video and your marketing strategy: a match made in online heaven.

What was the last video you watched on YouTube? Perhaps it was highlights from the EPL soccer game you missed on the weekend. Maybe it was the film clip for Rihanna’s latest chart topping/scandal inducing hit. Maybe it was even that massively cute video of the emotional baby. Whatever it was, you’re now a member of the ever-increasing online community which is embracing video as a quick, simple and massively effective means of communication. So good on you!

So why is it important to know what YouTube video you watched last? Well I want to explain to you how simple it is to use video as part of your successful marketing campaign.

Let’s have a little look at Pepsi.

Pepsi is a multi-billion dollar company which relies heavily on celebrity endorsement of its product but they’re also fairly cluey about this whole online video thing. In 2012, Pepsi released the first of their Uncle Drew videos. In the video the character of Uncle Drew, an older gentleman, heads down to his local basketball court and joins in a game when someone gets injured. The real kicker? Uncle Drew is actually NBA superstar Kyrie Irving. Uncle Drew’s unwitting opponents are dumbfounded when he absolutely wipes the floor with them. Big deal right? Well the first Uncle Drew video has notched 28 million views. That’s 28 million potential consumers who’ve seen Pepsi’s logo associated with a video they like. When the latest Uncle Drew video was released social media was abuzz with excitement. The video started appearing on Facebook feeds, Twitter feeds, on reddit, everywhere!Uncle Drew

What’s my point? Well rather than spending millions of dollars on paying for advertising that only a determined number of people will see, Pepsi have managed to capatalise on the effectiveness of having your consumers sharing your advertisements for you. Having a consumer share your video adds credibility to it and now 28 million people have cemented Pepsi’s position as a leader in online marketing.

It’s not just corporations jumping on this train. Degage Ministries is an American not-for-profit organisation which aims to help homeless and disadvantaged individuals. They recently engaged the services of filmmaker Rob Bliss to make a video about the transformation of a homeless veteran into a well-presented go-getter aiming to get his life on track. The simple video has now racked up 12 million YouTube views and is making headlines on news websites across the internet. 12 million people now know who Degage Ministries are and Rob Bliss Creative have exposed themselves to an incredibly large audience.

The beauty of video as a marketing tool lies in its simplicity as a medium and its sharability. A viewer only has to move their mouse mere centimetres and click a few buttons to share it with their online network and the credibility this can add to your business is close to priceless. In terms of content, video is a marketer’s dream because it can say so much in such a short time.

So what does that mean for you? Well making videos might not be as simple as sharing them. And that’s where you have to start trusting other people.

Here at Messages On Hold we’re tremendously excited about a new venture we’ve launched called VideoUpdate.me.  We’ve been on this video train for a few years now and we want other businesses to start enjoying the benefits of adding video to their marketing strategies.

Our On The Money series of videos which focus on accounting and finance are already being sent out from accounting firms across Australia, helping these businesses tell their clients the latest news in the industry and actually engaging them at a more sophisticated level.

Every business should have something to say about itself and if you can tell that to potential clients through video you never know just how many people might end up seeing it.

– Sophie

Likes: Good Sense of Humour

Picture yourself at a party. You’re talking to a member of the opposite sex; they look great and appear to be quite interesting.  In the middle of conversation they accidently use the word ‘suppository’ instead of ‘depository’ (imagine that!) You laugh, understandably. They duly acknowledge the mistake was made, and ensure they will do all they can to ensure the rest of the conversation will be free of errors. Stunned by the sterile response, you take an awkward sip of your drink and hope to be bailed out as soon as possible. From the other side of the party, you hear chuckles from a conversation you’d much rather be part of.

Now, not all business-client relationships can be represented in the above analogy. But some can. Too often many businesses will avoid showing a sense of humour out of fear of appearing ‘unprofessional’ when in reality it can be taken as a profound display of respect for your customer.

People are savvy. They know (and are likely weary of) ‘corporate’ and ‘marketing’ speak. Addressing them in this tone may make them feel like they’re being talked down to. But engage with your customers on their level, and you’re not only checkmating their cynicism and respecting their intelligence, you’re also demonstrating you understand them.

Famous news-parody publication The Onion boasts an enviable readership demographic – 18 to 44, 26% with an income over 100k and 35% with an advanced degree. This hip parody paper has started producing ads.  Only these ads feature The Onion’s biting satirical approach. So what brave company would pay to be publicly mocked by the world’s most renowned satirists?

You might have heard of them – a company called Microsoft. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was famous for being terrible. If you weren’t aware of that and the armies of keyboard warriors that perpetuated this opinion, let me get you up to speed with this ad for the latest version of Internet Explorer. With almost 3 million views at the time of writing this and an overwhelmingly positive response – this just shows how beneficial being self-deprecating can be.

This approach isn’t limited to mass-advertising. It can be applied to day-to-day transactions.  Displaying a sense of humour demonstrates intelligence and confidence – give your customers the credit they deserve and you might be surprised by what it does for your brand.

– Jakub