Posts tagged International

The popularity of online video has been on the increase for several years, and there is no sign of it slowing down. In fact, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said today that advertisers spent 18.2% more in the first quarter of 2008 than they did the same time last year. And this is during a recession. During the same time, television advertisement have decreased by a little over 10%.

Why? Because the advertisers know that online advertising is getting to the target audience and people are watching.

For your international marketing plan, video is one of the best way to engage an audience in countries where you don’t have an office. The costs is low, the market penetration is targeted and if you are going to be using translations, there are ways to be sure that your viewers get to see your video in their native language.

How many time have you seen a television commercial and not understood it?

Online video lets you communicate with your client through different senses, emotions and on different levels.

The senses are obvious, sight and sound. The same senses that are touched as on TV, but your audience has usually selected to watch your video. On TV there is no choice.
The different emotions that you can touch with a video are limited only by your imagination.
Different levels images, music, text, speech and any combination of these that you create.

These different senses, emotions and levels are similar to how a child learns. Through the repetition of things they see, the spoken word, music and visual text. If you have seen a child watch the same video again and again (and again), you can begin to understand how video can become an important part of your international marketing mix.

With online video, your international clients can see your product or service again and again, until they understands exactly what you do, or what you sell. Since video is made to be replayed in work perfectly with the way people learn. Just like children.

Exciting Commercials?

Think about old fashioned print marketing and the standard text or banner internet advertisements. Can you remember the last time that you saw a print advertisement and it really got your blood pumping? It was such a great advertisement that you called a friend to tell them to look at that magazine page? On the other hand, when was the last time you sent someone a video link, or had one sent to you? If you have a computer, the video was probably sent more recently than the magazine page number.

Large Audience, Low Cost

With online video you can also reach a huge audience at a low cost. If you already have a web site or a blog you can advertise your own video for free. There are services online, like DailyMotion, that let you post videos for free. There are companies that let you upload a video at their site and they broadcast it to 20 or more video sites. The return on your investment for international video marketing can be astounding.

You can easily make a video clip and post it on video-sharing websites for free. All you need is a digital camera. There is free software that lets you play with special effects on your video. Your video can also be used exactly as it is, making it come across as more authentic.
According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau half the US population will watch video online next year, and those numbers are increasing. Also remember that the US is only a fraction of the international community. Again, just talking the US, it has been estimated that 20 billion videos will be watched online during the summer of 2008. 9 Billion!

Some Guidelines For International Acceptance

A video clip should not be more than three minutes long. This is a statistic often quoted, based on the length of time people will watch a video. If you must have a longer video, make sure that you tell your viewer in advance how long it will take to watch the video. Another option is to make a video series.

These four point are very important to getting your video seen when loaded on a public site:

Make the description of your video specific
Relate the title to your business
Use your keywords – in the title if you can
Load your video in correct category

An effective way to spread your videos is to have a contest where you invite your visitors to do something for a prize. The winners are awarded a prize or a reduction in price on a service that they have not taken yet. and their videos can be featured on your business website. This will have everyone talking about it and the relevant people linking to it!

Advertise your video in your other marketing material you send to your clients, for example by including a link in your email signature. Include links to your website and product pages in the video. Blog about the video and send other bloggers a link to the video. Google has a blog search service that allows you to select the language. Use these ideas to drive your video to international acceptance.

Engage your foreign audience using online video as part of your international marketing plan. The costs remains low and we are at the earliest point of this boom and innovation has just begun. It has been said that only 65 years after Gutenberg made the printing press did someone think about numbering pages. We are still before page numbering for the internet and international video marketing.

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