Using Video as a Marketing Tool

If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is worth a million. I know that sounds corny, but I have found video to be a very effective marketing tool for many of my clients…and not just Realtors. Most of the video tour and “video from stills” services focus on the real estate markets, but I think you should take a look at these tools for your marketing.

I have used a service called Real Estate Shows for showcasing properties for Realtor clients, but it also an excellent tool for retailers, manufacturers and distributors to showcase their store, services and products. You can upload 9 still photos and in less than 15 minutes have what appears to the viewer to be a 60 second video showcasing your business or product. You can have music, still photos, titles and external links. Then you embed it in your website, email a link to your customers or send the video embedded in your email. Everyone can spare a minute to watch an informative video.

Here is a link to Real Estate Shows website with a sample of a video featuring a golf course. It gives you an idea of how you could use it in your business.

By the way there is a new virtual tour company called OnTour Virtual Tours based in California that has come to my attention that is worth a look at even if you are from outside their service area. They offer a wide range of services and their brochures and flyers are really impressive. In a previous post I wrote a post about the importance of Feature Sheets and in another post I provided samples I have created for clients.

Top 6 Reasons to Use Email Stationery

As the co-founder of inboxFX Communications, a leading email stationery provider I am totally biased towards our product, but nonetheless I think it is important to keep sending the message that sending boring, plain text emails means you are missing out on a great marketing opportunity. The two images on the left are examples of a plain text and a professional email stationery template. There are many more examples at our website.

Here are 6 great reasons to invest $ 149* in your marketing.

1. Spread Your Branding - You wouldn’t send a letter on plain paper so why do you send an email as plain text? Email stationery communicates your brand values and corporate identity. Transform every email you send into an attractive marketing tool.

2. Wow Factor - Enhance the professional appearance of your company or service in every email and stand out from the competition.

3. Interactivity - Recipients can click on links to your website.

4. Results - By driving qualified visitors to the right page on your website you can create more sales opportunities. Offer readers one-click access to key pages of your website where they can take the next step towards doing business with you.

5. Easy To Use - Just type your email and hit Send and your emails are automatically branded.

6. Perception - Email stationery leaves the impression you are forward thinking, professional, understand technoology and are innovative. It differentiates you from the competition.

Perception is Reality

In advertising, perception is reality. Trying to attract new clients via bland, ordinary, text email, you are telling the recipient that you, too, are bland and ordinary. These text emails are considered the equivalent of junk mail, or “spamming” in Internet jargon.

The alternative is high-quality, full-color photo-enhanced email to create a perception of professionalism, success and cutting-edge technology. Your clients perceive the message as valuable information and consider themselves an important part of your business.

Imagine the impact branded email marketing would have on your business if you start sending hundreds or even thousands of personal email messages with no printing or postage costs.

* Click here to go to the inboxFX website and complete a short inquiry form and someone will contact you at your convenience.

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Creating the Perfect Tagline

I wrote a post a while back about writing taglines that has been very popular so I decided to call on my copywriting resource, Allison Nazarian, founder of Get It In Writing for a few more hints about this important marketing tool.

While I regularily develop taglines for my clients, Allison makes a living from writing copy and taglines so I thought it would be useful to draw on her experience.

Why are taglines so important Allison?
“Because taglines capture a company’s spirit in one clever little phrase. They’ve become an invaluable tool for briefly communicating critical business information and developing brand and name recognition.”

I asked Allison how does one dream up these little ditties that stay with us so long?

Here are the four steps Allison recommends.

Step 1 - Know your target audience

• Understand various benefits your target audience is looking for and rank them in order of importance to begin developing your tagline.

Step 2 - Define your target response

• What outcome do you want to create … what do you want your audience to think or say?
• Brainstorm… brainstorm… brainstorm
• Write a list of words or phrases that communicate your idea and that also tie to your logo or a visual you’re using.
• Look up the words in a dictionary and write down different uses of the word and cross-references to other words.
• Use that list to generate new ideas.
• Cut the list to your top few favorites.
• Then “play” with the words by using tools like rhyming or alliteration.

Step 3 - Simplify… Simplify… Simplify…

• Simplicity adds power. People tend to remember the simplest slogans. Communicate your message quickly, using active verbs.

Step 4 - Rewrite… Rewrite… Rewrite…

• Once you complete your initial drafts, set them aside. Come back later and review them. You’ll probably want to make changes. Keep the process going. When you’ve got it, you’ll know it!

Finally … a few quick DOs and DON’Ts from Allison to keep in mind when creating a winning tagline:

• DO collect other company’s taglines and analyze what works and what doesn’t work.
• DO start by developing a list of what’s unique to what you do and your way of doing it.
• DON’T use hip or esoteric taglines. (You want lots of people to understand it … not just a few.)
• DON’T make your tagline too general.
• DO your own mini-market research. Ask strangers (and acquaintances) if they understand your business after seeing and hearing your tagline.
• DO use your specific target audience in your tagline, if possible.
• DO keep it short.
• DO turn the phrase around. If you can’t say it without skipping a step, then rephrase it.

You can learn more about copywriting and Allison at her website Get It In Writing or her excellent blog.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

Napkin Advertising

In the latest edition of Springwise, a venture with a network of 8,000 spotters scanning the globe for smart new business ideas comes a great marketing idea…advertising on napkins. While this is not revolutionary it got me thinking about approaching restaurants and coffee shops and offering free napkins with advertising on them. Almost any service would benefit from being in front of a targeted audience every day. The coffee shop saves money and the advertisers wipes up!

The new marketing venture in Australia that Springwise uncovered promises to capture the attention of consumers—and hold onto it for more than 15 minutes—when they’re out and about and in the mood to shop. This idea takes napkin distribution one step further by providing the branded dispensers too.

NapkinAd features advertising promotions printed on napkins and napkin dispensers in high-traffic shopping mall food courts, where there’s a constant flow of traffic during business hours, with consumers stopping to chat, rest, grab a cup of coffee or bite to eat—and may even shove a few free napkins in their pockets before heading off to their next destinations.

Similar to tissue pack advertising in Japan, the idea is to get an advertisement directly into consumers’ hands—and for longer than one might look at a leaflet before tossing it into the nearest trash can. Like other give-to-get ventures, it works because it offers customers something useful and relevant at no charge—not only do most people not mind the ads, but many feel a fleeting sense of gratitude towards whoever offered them the freebie.
Tissue Pack Advertising

Following is an excerpt from Japan Times Online:

“Four billion packets of free tissues are distributed every year in Japan, a large proportion of which end up in my apartment. I just went through the places they collect, including a kitchen drawer and a basket just inside our entranceway, and found give-away tissues from travel agencies, consumer finance companies, fitness clubs, optical chains, banks and a fair number of drinking establishments. The most interesting find, if I exclude the one with an offer for a “massage” by a beautiful foreign blonde, was a pack with recruiting information for Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.

Survey Shows Email is Top Digital Marketing Tool

More popular than search, display or online video.

In an article published in eMarketer, major marketers worldwide use email in their campaigns, according to The McKinsey Quarterly.

In a survey of 311 marketing executives, McKinsey found that 83% used email, ahead of display ads, paid search and online video.

McKinsey also asked about the future of online marketing. By 2010, respondents generally thought the Web would be part of the first two stages of the buyer decision-making process — product awareness and information gathering — for a majority of all consumers.

Over one-half of respondents said they planned to increase their email spending in the next three years, but plans to increase spending could mean that e-mail would lose some budget to paid search and other tactics.

Open House Tip # 3 - Staging the Home

Marketing a home takes place externally and internally. External marketing includes the MLS listing, website listing, newspaper advertising, classified ads and Just Listed postcards to name a few.

Marketing a home internally is equally important as you have spent all this time and money getting them to come to the home and now you want to impress them. In an earlier post called Open House Tip # 2 - Sell the House to Buyers I discussed the importance of setting up small signs and notes around the home highlighting features that buyers might not notice.

An equally important internal marketing tool is “Staging the Home” . Almost without exception you cannot put a home on the market “as-is” without alienating at least 60% of the people who see it and cannot get past the clutter, untidiness or the “lived-in” look. Whether you hire a professional or do it yourself, if you expect to get top dollar you will have to invest at least as much time as you did when you sold your last car. Remember vacuuming, shampooing the rugs, changing the oil and cut-polishing it until it looked like new? Why? Because you want ed people to think it was newer than it was to get more money for it. It is no different than your home.

Staging defined - “the preparation of a home to sell by a professional who specializes in this form of decorating.” Staging can occur on two different levels:

1. Basic Staging
• Removing clutter in the home.
• Placing only attractive, basic furniture in each room.
• Keeping walls, trim, and carpet in neutral colors.
• Removing personal items including pictures, hobby items, etc.
• Taking care of any deferred maintenance items.
• Cutting the grass, trimming the bushes and taking care of the landscaping.
etc

2. Emotional Staging
Emotional staging goes a little further trying to get the buyers to picture themselves living in your home by creating a specific ambience. Examples of this are:
• Putting pillows and two wine glasses in front of the fireplace to create a romantic evening in front of the fireplace.

So while I agree that Staging is an important marketing tool you might find the view from the other side interesting.

The National Association of Exclusive Buyer’s Agents recently published a report entitled “How not to get tricked by staging and potentially save $ 5,645 when you buy your home” which I found enlightening.

The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (naeba.org) conducted a survey in the summer of 2007 of their broker & agent members about the practice of home staging. The survey focused on the impact on home buyers of the practice. The report outlines the results of the survey.

According to a 2003 survey by HomeGain (Emeryville CA) of 2,000 real estate agents Nationwide, a small investment by a home seller on cleaning & decluttering, lightening and brightening, and home staging, produced an average increase in sales price of $5,645.

So while staging is supposed to be helping market a home the buyer’s agents have found two interesting outcomes.

• 82% of home buyers are likely to be distracted from important issues when they go through a staged home.
• 51% of the respondents noted that staged homes often cover up real defects including structural damage.

Whether you are a home buyer, selling agent or buyer’s agent there is something to be learned from this. When viewing a “staged” home you need to look beyond the staging. You may love the colors but it is the structure of the house, the layout, how the property fits your needs, etc. that is really important. Don’t get fooled by small furniture making a room look larger. Measure it and make sure your sofa will fit.

Here are a few resources for you to learn more about staging.

Staged Homes website
Recreating Interiors website
Home Staging Resource website
Decorated to Sell website
20 Staging Tricks to Sell Your Home

Business and Client Appreciation Event Planning

This blog receives a lot of visits from people looking for client appreciation event ideas. I have written a number of posts such as:

Client Appreciation Events - “Friend-Raising, not Fund-Raising”
Client Appreciation Versus Client Referral Events
Take A Client to Dinner - Doggy Bag Included

There are a few more if you click on the “Client Appreciation” menu to the right.

Through my research on the internet I discovered a great website called Mashable that provides a comprehensive list of online tools that might assist you in planning your event.

Activeciti.com - Plan your personal events and invite all your friends in just a few easy steps.

Confabb.com - Search for all sorts of businesses conferences around the country, even read and post your own reviews to show useful they are.

Eventbrite.com - Publish an event, spread the word, and collect money all in one easy app.

EventSpace.com - Locate venues to hold your events, invite guests, locate vendors.

EventWax.com - Organize special events, conferences, workshops, parties, gigs, and receptions. Set up event-specific web pages and invite guests.

Loopnote.com - The perfect way for bands to let people know of changes in their schedule by delivering notices via email, text and more.

MyPunchBowl.com - Plan an event/party, get help with every step, even announce it on their Google Mashup.

Planzo.com - Plan events with friends & send out reminders, have everyone collaborate on a calendar to find the time that works best for everyone.

Setdot.com - Organize events and handle all the details from one easy location. Let others see who’s attending.

Spogecell.com - Plan your event and quickly spread it by blogs, email, cell phones and more.

TicketLeap.com - Planning an event that you need tickets for? TicketLeap can handle the ticketing for you.

Trumba.com - Helps you with promotion of your event through online and print.

VivaPop.com - Tailored to distributing information on business conferences and non-profit events.

These resources can help you plan your event and invite guests online.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

Clarity in Your Message

How many times have you written a letter, proposal or brochure only to forget your audience may not have the same level of understanding as you have? A little further down I provide a good example of clarity. Clarity in your writing is crtical to the success of your piece. Here are five tips to consider:

1. Use as few words as possible.
2. Limit superfluous banter.
3. Stay away from jargon.
4. Keep paragraphs short.
5. Have someone proofread your writing.

I subscribe to Bankrate.com’s newsletter as a source of new ideas, but also to educate me on the industry. Yesterday’s article on the Feds Cutting Short Term Interest Rates was a case in point. When you read the original text and the translation it makes you wonder why something so important to consumers could not be packaged in a way that is easer to understand.

What the Fed said:
“The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate 50 basis points to 4-3/4 percent. “

The translation:
“The Federal Reserve’s rate-setting Open Market Committee cut the target for the federal funds rate half a percentage point, to 4.75 percent. “

What the Fed said:
“Developments in financial markets since the Committee’s last regular meeting have increased the uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook. The Committee will continue to assess the effects of these and other developments on economic prospects and will act as needed to foster price stability and sustainable economic growth.”

The translation:
“It’s not only harder for consumers to get jumbo and subprime mortgages, corporations are having to work harder to find short-term debt. Hedge funds and other money managers are afraid to buy and sell mortgage debt, because if they do so, their theoretical losses will become actual losses. In short, credit is harder to come by, and that makes the economic outlook uncertain. The Fed will keep an eye on that, too.”

What the Fed said:
“Economic growth was moderate during the first half of the year, but the tightening of credit conditions has the potential to intensify the housing correction and to restrain economic growth more generally. Today’s action is intended to help forestall some of the adverse effects on the broader economy that might otherwise arise from the disruptions in financial markets and to promote moderate growth over time.”

The translation:
“Economic growth was moderate during the first half of the year. But it’s harder for consumers and corporations to get credit now, and that could intensify the slowdown in home sales and the slide in housing costs. Cutting rates is intended to keep the credit crunch from spilling over into the broader economy and to goose the overall economy.”

Online Video Tools & Resources

I recently created a short video for a birthday party that people want copies of emailed to them; I was filmed bungee jumping and people have asked where they can see it on the internet and I was trying to send parts of another video to a family member and realized there was a broad gap in my knowledge of video.

As a marketer I am also acutely aware of the impact video is having on consumers. comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, released its comScore Video Metrix report for May 2007, revealing that nearly 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched an average of 158 minutes of online video per user during the month. Google Sites topped the monthly rankings with both the most unique video streamers and most videos streamed.

“May saw Americans view more than 8.3 billion video streams online, and Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. streaming video property with 1.8 billion videos streamed (21.5 percent share of streams), 1.7 billion of which occurred at YouTube.com. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 680 million streams (8.1 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 387 million (4.6 percent) and Viacom Digital with 237 million (2.8 percent).”

So now we agree that video is a growing part of marketing you may want to know about a great resource on the internet for all of your Video needs on Mashable Social Networking News. It has sources for virtually everything video. The topics covered and some sample site to orient you are:

Live Video Communications
Stickam - The best site for live video communications with multiple people. There is no major competition for Stickam just yet.
Blogtv - Blogtv is a recent discovery to the public. It allows you to do a live video show, and you can stream it live, as well as archive it for later use.
ooVoo - This allows you to carry on video conversations with live video through a Skype-like program.

Online Video Editors
Eyespot - add effects and transitions to the videos you upload, or use some of the large amount of free video clips and music from Eyespot’s media partners.
MuveeMix - Upload your movie, mix it with music, add cool effects and share it on MySpace, Friendster, Blogger, and other networks.
Motionbox - This service features the ability to link to a very specific point or “segment” within the clip itself.
Cuts - Insert sound effects in your videos, add captions, loop the best parts and in minutes you can share your creation with the world.

Online Video Converters
Zamzar - converts all sorts of file formats, including several video formats.
Media Convert - a media converter with a huge amount of options; resulting videos can sometimes be out of sync with audio.
Vixy - a simple converter that can only convert Flash apps from the web to several other video formats.
Hey Watch! - an online video converter focusing on file formats that works on portable multimedia devices, like the iPod.
MediaConverter - a video converter that can be slow and needs polishing, but can sometimes yield really good results.

Video sharing
YouTube - YouTube is the king of the video sharing sites, it has more users and videos than the others. Any video you can think of it probably already on YouTube.
Google Video - Since Google bought YouTube, Google’s Video player is mainly used for for-pay content like TV shows. Also there is a search here that indexes all of the video sharing sites on the internet (well, most of them).
Blip.tv - Blip.tv is the perfect video sharing site for video podcast makers. It’s designed to let them easily upload all types and qualities of media and then send them to their feed for the users. They also let you add ads to you video so you can make some money.
Ourmedia - A great site where you can upload audio, video, images, and text and share them with the world. The OurMedia community contains over 100,000 members.

Video hosting
TinyPic - Host videos and images for free; it is possible to upload videos in the most popular formats and link videos on MySpace, eBay, blogs and message boards
Vidilife - Upload videos and store them online. There is no limit in terms of length of the files you can upload.
Dropshots - Good site that lets you upload videos, share them and embed them on other sites.
ZippyVideos - Upload and store video files (maximum 20 MB) in the most popular video formats.

Video organization and management
Aggrega - create and organize your own music video channels and share them with others.
Feedbeat - a fantastic service that lets you create playlists with videos from different sources - YouTube, Google Video and others. Each playlist gets its own subdomain on feedbeat.net.
Ajaxilicious - an online movie catalogue which enables you to manage your movies and share them with others via RSS.

Vidcasts & vlogging
BlogCheese - a simple way to create and share a video blog - all you need is a webcam.
Revision3 - A video podcasting network that’s home to many well made video podcasts, including Diggnation, which is Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht’s video podcast about the top stories on Digg.
Jabbits - Social video blogging: Use your webcam to record your Post or Jab with an easy-to-use recorder.
Ask a Ninja - got questions? Ask a ninja! One of the most popular vidcasts in the world, and definitely the funniest.

Video mashups
Virtual Video Map - YouTube videos on a Google map. Find out where do all those cool videos come from.
RealPeopleStuff - a site that combines CraigsList and YouTube, offering video clips related to ads.
TagTV - enter a tag and get results from Flickr and YouTube. Clean and simple design makes TagTV a very neat way to browse photos and videos.

Mobile video apps
Youtube mobile - a stripped down version of YouTube tailored for use on mobile phones.
Shozu - a free service for your phone that makes it easy to send and receive photos, videos and music
Abazab - a universal video player that also works on your mobile phone.

Video search
Blinkx - Perform searches within the most popular video networks, such as CBS, Reuters and CNN. Users can search for content and create TV channels that splice relevant content together.
PureVideo - Search within the most popular video directories and video sharing sites. PureVideo features up to six channels and each channel contains about six source sites.
SearchVideo - Search engine and directory created by AOL. Users can also search within specific video channels like MySpace and YouTube.

Online video downloading services
VideoRonk - Search and download your favorite videos from YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe, DailyMotion, iFilm, MySpace, Vimeo, Blip.tv, Revver and more.
VideoDL - Download online videos available on YouTube, Google Video and Break.com stright to your computer.
Vixy - Grab videos from popular sites and convert them into various video formats (including iPod and PSP).

Miscellaneous tools
Hellodeo - Record videos from your webcam and post them on any web page.
Flikzor - Send and receive video comments on your profile, blog and more.
Flixn - Record a video message right in the web browser and share anywhere including MySpace and eBay.
GabMail - Service that enable users to send unlimited numbers of free video email messages.
Bubble Guru - A site for recording webcam video messages and getting them onto your website or sending to others.

You should go to the article to get all of the sites, but this gives you an idea of what to expect.

Great Marketing Idea For Halloween

Halloween is one of the bigger holiday events of the year and a great time to take treats to clients and prospects. If you want to make a great, lasting impression you need to deliver treats in a customized donut, candy or cookie box. (Click here for more information or to place your order.)

Talk about a great Halloween marketing tool…this Jack O Lantern branding tool has everything you’d expect for Halloween. There is also a Trick Or Treat and Dancing Skeleton design. More than enough room for your logo, location information and slogan. The are three different sizes to choose from; Donut Box, Cookie Box or Candy Box. (see dimensions below)

Best of all you can add your contact information and marketing message to the white oval and on the donut and cookie box attach a card to the roof.

Choose from Trick Or Treat, Jack O’Lantern or Skeleton Web Designs (click on thumbnail for full size)

Donut Boxes - Qty 25 - $ 3.79 each “Oval” imprint area is 3 3/4″ by 2 1/4″
Donut Boxes - Qty 50 - $ 3.39 each “Oval” imprint area is 3 3/4″ by 2 1/4″
Donut Boxes - Qty 100 - $ 3.09 each “Oval” imprint area is 3 3/4″ by 2 1/4″
Dimensions:10″ x 4 3/8″ x 5 7/8″ plus roof - does include business card slot.

Cookie Boxes - Qty 50 - $ 2.09 each “Oval” imprint area is 3″ by 1 3/4″
Cookie Boxes -Qty 100 - $ 1.99 each “Oval” imprint area is 3″ by 1 3/4″
Dimensions: 6 3/8″ x 3 3/8″ x 3 7/8″ plus roof - does include business card slot.

Candy Boxes - Qty 50 - $ 1.49 each “oval” imprint area is 2″ by 1 1/4″
Candy Boxes - Qty 100 - $ 0.99 each “oval” imprint area is 2″ by 1 1/4″
Dimensions: 4 3/8″ x 1 7/8″ x 2 1/2″ plus roof - does not include business card slot.

Orders must be placed by October 12th to ensure delivery. Call for pricing larger quantities. Click here to place your order, email me at marketingguy@shaw.ca or call Mike Blaney at 800-568-8338 for more information.