Video Marketing In 2008

On the ever changing landscape of Internet marketing, one thing is

for sure in today?s market: video is the medium of choice. If you

are not using video, you might as well ?hang it up.? Video is being

used for every conceivable purpose.

Today we all see the videos of eyewitness news accounts recorded by

a passer-by on his cell phone and posted to You Tube. TV stations

pick them up and include some of those clips as part of their news

broadcasts.

Even churches are keeping their parishioners, and many

others posted on what happens at their worship services and special

events.(Talk about a great marketing?errr– excuse me–evangelism

Young people video almost everything that goes on with their friends

and post those videos on My Space and You Tube, saying, ?Look at us!?

Because of the high cost of fuel and travel, video marketing is being

used by corporations on their websites to demonstrate (say ?market?) their

products. Live sales calls, meetings and seminars have gone the way of the

horse and buggy in favor of the ?webinar,? a combination of web-based video

and telephone conferencing.

It is only natural, then, that internet marketers, being extremely

innovative, would use video for everything from email to squeeze (opt-in)

pages. It is not uncommon to get an email with a link to a video telling us

that we simply must have a certain product.

It is even more common to find

the video telling us they?ll give us everything we ever wanted if we will but

enter our first name and email address. Some are even asking for a phone number

so they can contact us if they have any questions about our email address.

All kinds of ?gurus? are employing web-based video for instructing their

students. They are marketing themselves via video posts to Facebook, My Space,

Linked-In and other social media.

They are using webinars to market products as part of their latest ?launch.?

Even the affiliate marketers are using video to tell you about someone

else?s latest, greatest thing they have ever seen, and you must buy it

from them. Bloggers are employing video as opposed to the written word

to market their ideas.

We?re not talking about epic films here. We?re talking the kind of video

anybody can put together. With web cams, digital photos, cell phone clips

and software such as Power Point, Microsoft Movie Maker (standard on XP and Vista)

or Camtasia (a free download on the net) even an 8 year old can make a pretty

decent video. It takes only about 5 minutes for a 10 year old to learn, 20

minutes for a fifty year old.

The fact is that video marketing works. It works well. If anyone expects

to compete in today?s fast-paced, 30 second sound-bite world, then they must

learn to employ video in all aspects of their marketing.

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