Guest Post: by Jerry Bader

Everyone wants to do more business. Everyone occasionally runs a promotion, a new marketing initiative, a product launch, or a new seasonal lineup. Everyone has a website stuffed with all kinds of content ranging from the important to the useless. But only the truly smart business minds understand that campaigns require their own space and identity if they are to succeed. And when it comes to using the Web as your vehicle for such a campaign, the obvious solution is a Video Campaign Microsite.

What’s A Video Campaign Microsite?

Video Campaign Microsites are websites that employ a series of highly focused video presentations designed specifically for the purpose of promoting a single marketing initiative aimed at a highly targeted audience. Video Campaign Microsites are dedicated to delivering an engaging online experience that compels an audience to act by taking advantage of the marketing initiative’s offer. These sites benefit from removing all the corporate clutter and irrelevant information that inhabits most business websites and generally gets in the way of an effective marketing presentation. Video Microsites are often implemented by means of a direct email campaign or depending on the budget, magazine, television, or radio advertising. You can also channel corporate site traffic by means of a graphical home page link.

There are different styles of video Microsites that you can employ depending on your brand personality and the goals of the campaign.

1. New Product Launch Video Microsites
The launch of a new product or a seasonal line should be an event, and there is no better way to attract attention and generate public and media interest than to create a brand new website environment dedicated to that launch.

2. Promotional Campaign Video Microsites
A sale is just a sale, and today’s sophisticated buyers have seen it all before, so unless you make a big event out of your promotion, all you’ll end up doing is selling your regular customers the products they would have bought anyway but at a lower markup. A big media splash attracts new customers, new media attention, and old customers you’ve lost.

3. How-To Video Microsites
There is nothing more damaging to your brand or your bottom line than customers who hate you, and who tell their friends and colleagues. A surefire way to make people angry is to sell them something they can’t figure out how to use properly, and a buried FAQ, or a complicated list of instructions in twelve languages and 9 point Times Roman is just not going to cut it. A how-to video site can show people how to use and get the most out of your products or services in a way they will understand and appreciate.

4. Video Mocusites
There is one thing that you definitely cannot be on the Web, and that is boring. Boring websites are the kiss of death. The Web is a crowded place and no matter what you’re looking for, there are probably dozens if not hundreds or thousands of other companies doing the exact same thing, the same way, and probably for less money. You may think you’re different but your Web audience won’t, unless you present yourself in a whole new differentiating way; and one way to do that is with a Video Mocusite. A great example of a Video Mocusite was the Chili’s restaurant chain’s PJ Bland’s campaign.

5. Video Docusites
Where the Video Mocusite takes an entertaining, humorous, and satirical approach to communicating your marketing message, Video Docusites takes a look at the history, longevity, innovation, and success of a company in order to build confidence, loyalty, and brand identity. Ford’s Bold Moves Docusite was a good example of this kind of campaign.

6. Concept Video Microsites
A Concept Video Microsite is about presenting an idea. Some products and services are so innovative or different that they can only be sold if you communicate the concept behind them. Other products may be similar to competitors but the way they are sold is different and creative. In these types of instances the Concept Video Microsite is the answer. The SonicPersonality and 136Words sites are examples of Concept Video Microsites.

7. Sponsored Video Webisode Microsites
Sponsored Video Webisode Microsites are a great marketing vehicle for those companies with the guts and foresight to recognize what the Web is all about. These types of campaigns attract an ongoing loyal audience because they are bite-sized mini programs or episodes designed to entertain and/or educate without an overt sales pitch. If conceived and designed properly your program content delivers your emotional and psychological value proposition while the accompanying pre- and post-commercials deliver your direct pitch. Think of it as sponsoring your own private online mini television series.

8. Demographic Video Microsites
When a company has different campaigns for different demographic markets, it should present them separately to avoid confusion, mixed messages, and a dilution of the brand identity, image, and personality.

Microsites Help You Avoid Information Overload

Fashion and apparel companies, for example, all have seasonal product lines that need to be promoted in a current, if not trendy, manner. Dumping such a campaign into your regular corporate Web environment gets in the way of achieving the campaign’s marketing goals: the audience looking for new products and promotions is not interested in your Investor Relations or Career Opportunities, and likewise, the people looking for jobs and investment information aren’t interested in your holiday specials. It doesn’t matter how good your presentation is if you bury it so nobody ever sees its. If website visitors can’t find what they’re looking for fairly quickly, they’re gone.

And why should a fashion or apparel company use video at all? The answer is simple: there is just no better way to present how a garment looks on a real person from all sides and angles, and when they move. Add a little voice-over description and you’ve got your own little fashion show designed to move product whether online or in-store. Too many companies, especially e-commerce companies, still ‘think print’ even when they are using the Web as their main marketing communication vehicle.

Microsites Help You Avoid The Confusion of Mixed Messages

If there is one thing that will kill your marketing, branding, and positioning faster than anything else it’s sending mixed messages to multiple audiences using the same venue or vehicle. Fast food companies are continuously running promotions and they use television as their primary marketing communication vehicle. The problem is television commercials are a shotgun approach: you broadcast a commercial and whoever sees it, sees it. Sure there are sophisticated demographic analyses of those who watch what and when, but even with that knowledge the perception-leakage is substantial.

Just because it’s a football game doesn’t mean there isn’t a substantial female audience, and just because it’s a chick-flick program doesn’t mean some guys aren’t watching whether they want to or not. Television viewing is a shared family experience resulting from direct and indirect group negotiations. As a consequence, if a fast food company runs multiple ads aimed at different audiences, children, parents, and teenagers, all viewed by a demographically diverse audience, the result is a confused mixed message, and a deterioration of the brand personality.

Different Strokes For Different Folks

The Web is a whole different animal. Where television is a negotiated group viewing experience, enjoyed or at least tolerated by different family members, the Web is an individual viewing experience, not usually shared with others. That means different messages can be delivered to different audiences without the concern that each message is polluting the others or the overall brand image.

So What’s The Big Deal With Video?

Why do we stress video so much, well that’s what we do, so what do you expect, but more importantly we do it because it is the most effective and efficient tool you have to communicate your marketing message to your audience. The thing you have to remember about video is that it’s easy to do, but hard to do right.

Delivering Meaningful Content: It’s About Context and Subtext

Nothing exists in a vacuum, especially when it comes to marketing and advertising. The direct marketing message you deliver must exist within a physical and cultural framework, while the indirect marketing message you present must resonate within the mind of the viewer. A properly conceived video microsite takes these things into consideration and communicates a memorable concept informed by them

Web Video Context is the emotionally relevant scenario created for the purpose of delivering your marketing message, while Web Video Subtext is the subconscious psychological message that strikes a nerve, triggers desire, and motivates action. Together context and subtext create a meaningful, relatable experience that defines your brand personality and leaves a lasting memorable impression.

It all starts with a relatable scenario that draws upon an audience’s life experiences, preconceptions, and attitudes. Done correctly, an audience will relate and identify with the characters presented, the language used, and the performance delivered, with each element enhanced and embedded in memory by visual and non-verbal cues combined with sophisticated sound and music design.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads , http://www.136words.com< , and http://www.sonicpersonality.com . Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Advertising, Opt-in Leads, Email Marketing service helps small businesses market their products more effectively. We provide everything you need, http://www.madviral.com Phone: 256-778-8350 (9am-5pm CST M-F) MadViral Enterprises, LLC 171 Early Rd. Hartselle, Al. 35640

Guest Post: by Donna Gunter

Every day, my inbox is filled with emails promoting yet another new marketing strategy or promising results that will cure all of my marketing ills. Most of the strategies are flash-in-the-pan — here today and gone tomorrow because the next new strategy has been discovered. A few newer strategies have proven to have staying power over time, like social networking, which took a long time to grow on me. I’ve learned the hard way not to be an early adopter of new marketing strategies — I tend to sit back and watch the fallout to see if something is worth my time and energy.

As I reflect back on my early years in business, I often felt like a dog chasing my tail. I used to run and run quickly in one direction chasing one marketing idea, and then reverse course, chasing my tail in another direction when hearing about the next “greatest thing.” What resulted from my helter-skelter marketing? Not much. I was going in too many directions at once and trying to keep too many balls in the air to create a truly successful marketing plan that really helped promote my business.

Here’s the marketing secret I wished I’d learned early on: Adopt the marketing strategy that best fits with your gifts, talents, and interests, or in other words: Do what you’re good at. Yep, it’s that simple. I knew that this was good advice for pursuing a career or starting a business, but I never realized how well it applied to marketing my company.

Roughly 4 years into my business it suddenly dawned on me that I had always been a good writer. Supervisors, teachers, friends, and colleagues had often complimented me on my writing, but I dismissed the praise because I found writing to be a taxing chore that gave me a massive headache. It wasn’t until I learned how to write for myself in my own voice, rather than structuring my writing to meet the criteria of others, that I truly began to enjoy putting pen to paper (or, words on a screen, if you will).

This love for writing made me a natural for my now-favorite marketing strategy, article marketing. Why do I love it? Because it’s easy for me — sometimes scarily easy. However, I discovered that having a skill for a strategy isn’t enough to be successful. Even at this point my marketing continued to be hit-or-miss. There was still something missing from the mix.

After hearing a great talk by a coaching colleague about how he structured his time, I finally realized what was the key compoent missing from my marketing strategy — and the missing component was the same for the bulk of the other entrepreneurs sitting in the room with me. The #1 marketing mistake made by the majority of online business owners is: Lack of consistency. Once you determine where your talent lies and how you can integrate that into a workable marketing plan, then you need to commit to implementing that plan consistently over time.

Could it possibly be that simple? In a nutshell, yes. I committed to publishing my ezine every Thursday morning. I committed to writing one new article each week for the ezine. I committed to syndicating one new article each week through my article submission service. I committed to repurposing my ezine content to my blog. I committed to making 1-2 new posts on my blog each week. This is only the tip of the iceburg describing what I do for marketing, but consistency was the catalyst that propelled me to a successful online marketing strategy that I’ve been implementing now for 5 years.

My results? I no longer chase after clients — they find me online. 100% of my business comes from my web site, internet marketing, or word-of-mouth referrals — I do no in-person networking at all any longer. My web site screens out those clients who aren’t a good fit and invites those who are. I enjoy running a thriving business from my home office with only a 5-second commute. I create a work schedule that works best for me and my husband, which gives me the flexibility to leave my office early if I want and catch a matinee with him without having to submit a vacation request form to my supervisor. I am happy and healthy and no longer have recurring bouts of colitis and depression from working in a miserable situation. I make more money now than I ever made by working for someone else.

Take inventory of your skills and abilities, and see how you can easily integrate those into a marketing strategy that will be easy for you to implement. Once you decide on your strategy, commit to implementing it consistently over time, and enjoy your results!

Online Business Coach and Internet Marketing Strategist Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online businesses that they love. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com
Copyright (c) 2009 OnlineBizU.com