Few marketing techniques give you more impact than video content. In the US 183 million people watched more than 37 billion online videos in September 2012 — and that’s just one of a host of compelling statistics about the power of video you can see here .
Most tellingly, B2B companies using video have experienced in annual sales increase of up to 36%, according to Brightcove.
Where do you start if you want to tell your story through video? In the Irish market here are the three main options to choose from, in increasing order of cost:
Option 1: Screen capture €
Screen capture is the most cost-effective way to get some video content onto your company’s YouTube channel. Using a free tool like www.screenr.com and a microphone-equipped headset, you can talk your way through a presentation on your desktop, recording your voice as if you were giving the presentation to a roomful of people. Your voice and what’s showing on your desktop will be recorded as video. Screenr allows you to resize the area of your desktop that is captured, letting you frame out anything you don’t want to show, like other open tabs on your browser or your bookmarks. Once you’ve finished, you can download the recording; or if you already have a YouTube account, click “publish to YouTube.” YouTube will then give you code to let you embed your video as a blog post on your website. While Screenr is free, your time is money, and it could take you one to two hours to create a finished product you are happy with.
Option 2: Customer success stories on video €€
You can have a finished corporate video for between €1500 and €5000, but filming your M.D. talking about your products isn’t the way to go. Instead, work with a video production company to capture your customer success stories. Video your happiest customers talking to camera about the problem you solved for them, and how you’re different from other providers they’ve worked with. A scriptwriter or director typically pre-interviews the person to be filmed, then pieces together a narrative and a rough shot list, for use on the day of filming.
Option 3: Animation €€
This is at the high end of budget, in the €5,000 to €10,000 range, but the impact can be impressive, at a price point not dissimilar to the cost of printing and distributing a traditional glossy brochure. If you have a complex product or service to explain, like the software that Drogheda-based Armac Systems sells to the global aviation sector, animation in particular does a great job at helping your target market grasp what you do. The usual process is to work with an agency or scriptwriter to develop the concept and the voiceover, and then move into production. A typical way to approach an explanatory animation is to show the old and problematic way of doing things, followed by the new way, ending with a clear call to action. Animations can easily be localised for international markets: when recording the voiceover artist’s script in studio, a second artist and translated script in your target market language can be recorded for a small incremental cost.
When you post your video onto YouTube, please don’t omit the essential step of writing relevant descriptive information — this is vital for helping your service to be found through YouTube search or another search engine. A detailed description of your video allows potential buyers to zero in on your video, no matter how niche your product or service. Hubspot has created a good guide to optimising your video descriptions on YouTube for search engine visibility.
If you have your eye on a range of international markets, it’s possible to set up a dedicated YouTube channel for each, as retail giant Lidl has done for territories like Spain, Poland, Germany and so on. YouTube is localised in 43 countries and available in 60 languages, so there is ample opportunity to reach the market you’re looking to penetrate.
What are your experiences of online video? Are there good examples of business-to-business video marketing you could share?
Sheila Averbuch is a former business journalist and managing director for the content services agency ENNclick .
Dublin GameCraft is a game-jam held in the city centre. What that means is that around one-hundred game developers (designers, writers, coders, artists, sound engineers and so on) come together in teams or as lone-wolves and try to make a game from scratch in twelve hours.
At the start of the day the judges announce a theme and then you’re let loose to make the most fun game you can think of based on that. Use any technology, any equipment and any number of people you want to squeeze onto your team; essentially do whatever it takes to turn that theme into a fun game inside of your twelve hours!
When is it?
The next GameCraft is being held on Saturday the 17th November from 9am to, well, to the end of the day (twelve hours of developing, followed by some mingle and judging time).
Nothing! Thanks to our kind sponsors, such as Digit Gaming, Microsoft, BatCat Games and BitSmith –Games, all you have to do is register (which you can do from the website) and bring along whatever gear you want to use on the day (laptop, desktop, whatever).
Why come along?
Well, you’ll get an intensive day of experience. You may even get a game out of it. You’ll be surrounded by folks from the industry (organisers, judges and other participants) with whom you can network. Heck, two companies formed because of last Gamecraft; you could be next! Also, while the judges judge you can mingle and show off your day’s work. And of course, prizes!
Due to cancellations, a few more places have become available. Worth noting that the workshop is open to games and animation companies. Signup here on the main EI site; Game Design MasterClass. It is scheduled to coincide with the Games Ireland Gathering on the 15th (also in the Gibson).
Great video from Armac explaining what they do. It has Airplanes. It has bundles of cash. It could save your holiday. And it’s a cartoon – what’s there not to like?
Are you a software company with a good video explaining what you do? Leave a comment, or contact me directly and we’ll try and feature you on Bestconnected.
This is a guest post from Amy Neale, Marketing and Programme Manager at the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC).
We at NDRC (National Digital Research Centre) have just announced that we are now open for applications to LaunchPad. This investment programme is open for applications from digital start-ups from Ireland and internationally, and 15 start-ups will be selected to work with us for a 3 month period starting 13th February 2012. During this time we provide these 2 or 3 man bands with a hands-on, intensive mentoring programme; weekly workshops and networking opportunities with experts; as well as the all important investment of up to €20,000 per project. The three months will culminate with NDRC’s ‘LiftOff’ competition, taking place in May 2012 where the start-ups will present to a room of investors and compete for access to a follow on investment prize fund.
We were delighted earlier in 2011 to be ranked in the ‘Top 10 EU Accelerators’ by the Kauffman Fellows, and – along with Enterprise Ireland’s iGap programme – we have been nominated for Best European Accelerator at The Europas 2011. NDRC LaunchPad is producing award winning startups such as Redeem&Get and Hit the Road, and developing technology entrepreneurs with early stage innovative digital start-ups. We invest in and collaborate with early stage start-ups to establish market focused, technically excellent and profitable ventures.
In 2010–2011 NDRC mentored, trained and developed 39 entrepreneurs, and has to date secured €4.8 million in commercial investment for technologies and start-ups. Just ten days ago, NDRC-backed start-up Redeem&Get won the Spark of Genius Award, giving them access to an ACT Venture Capital term sheet worth €100k. This year NDRC received a record 81 applications for 15 places on the current LaunchPad Programme, with Irish, European and North American start-ups participating.
If you are interested in NDRC LaunchPad, come along to our open evening to meet the team, ask questions and find out everything you need to know about the accelerator programme, before the application deadline of 16th December. This informal evening will be held on Thursday, the 1st of December, and will start at 6.30pm and will run to 8.30pm. It will take place in NDRC’s ‘Digital Exchange’ building on Crane Street, Dublin 8 – please register your details here.
To apply for a place on NDRC LaunchPad visit www.ndrc.ie/launchpad; deadline for receipt of applications is 5pm on the 16th December 2011.
NDRC LAUNCHPAD CLOSING DATE 5pm 16th December 2011
The theme for the upcoming IBEC Audiovisual Federation seminar in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland will provide an opportunity to discuss new emerging online business models linked to the content industry focusing on “Creating a market online”, “Growing online customer relations” and “online copyright protection”.
This is a guest post from Amy Neale, Programme Manager at National Digital Research Centre (NDRC).
The National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) team is seeking companies with a passion for innovation to work together on joint venture projects with research partners, through our Catalyser investment programme.
Do you know of companies with a great idea for innovative digital products? The NDRC team is looking to support and invest in strong research-led ideas to create digital products and services.
Through Catalyser, NDRC invests in good ideas, provides neutral spaces, and commits commercial expertise to create value from research. For details of what we offer, who we look for, what the program feels like, and how companies and researchers can join us, visit the website www.ndrc.ie/catalyser or email catalyser@ndrc.ie to make contact with one of the team.
An example of an NDRC Catalyser joint venture:
Sean O’Sullivan, CEO Rococo Software Ltd, worked with NDRC and UCD to develop the LocalSocial platform. Sean said “With NDRC’s investment and expertise we were able to combine our deep market knowledge with an R&D concept to create an original export-driven product. We are now marketing the LocalSocial proximity platform, and have been able to target this at an international market based on a unique approach that NDRC enabled us to develop”
LocalSocial is a Proximity Service that enables developers to quickly and easily add proximity functionality to their applications and services. LocalSocial also gives end users of applications a simple way to manage and control how they interact with proximity-enabled applications, and to control and share information about themselves when they come in to contact with other people and businesses.
