TV is only one channel to distribute your video message

Using video blogging, YouTube, and pre-roll video to expand your reach

Even in this digital age, television remains the number one option to deliver a consumer’s primary message. Broadcast television has the most efficient reach over other advertising on a cost per thousand basis, which is how many marketers determine media effectiveness. In a Nielson national survey, when consumers were asked about advertising sources from which they are most likely to learn about products or brands, over half the public cited television (52.2 %).

Television is only one channel in which to distribute your content. Other than delivering the message in person, video becomes the next best option. People respond to the audio and visual nature of video, and you can continue to define your brand and products to new audiences online.

Today, content marketing is key, and communicating with customers without appearing to be selling is essential. A great way to achieve this balance is with video blogging. By speaking about your expertise and sharing industry insights through video, you can make great strides in establishing yourself as a leading industry expert.

Your video content can be uploaded to YouTube and shared on Twitter, Facebook and other relevant channels. Content that generates shares and social interaction is one of the factors used to determine your website’s ranking during searches. Your video blog is easily shared on social media platforms and is vital for reaching customers using mobile devices, who are readily watching videos.

Video blogs are easily integrated into websites, which also helps keep your website content fresh and updated. I do not believe you can afford to be absent from YouTube today and its 1 billion unique user visits each month who are consuming 4 billion hours of video.

Video also makes your website more dynamic, and the majority of site visitors will watch a video if it is available. According to Forbes, an estimated 75% of executives watch videos while working, and 65% navigate over to a site after viewing a related YouTube video.

Keep in mind that you have about five seconds to engage a person in your video before they decide to turn you off, so get right to the point and present your major idea. This is equally important when you display your video in online advertising. Similar to traditional advertising, you need to grab the attention of consumers with an offer or information that will specifically benefit them.

Of the digital advertising options, pre-roll is my preferred option for online advertising. A video ad appears before the content that a consumer wants to watch on the Internet. Pre-roll ads are also highly targeted by geographical location, demographics or individual interests, which helps reduce marketing costs by not advertising to the wrong consumer. You also can judge the performance of a pre-roll advertising campaign in terms of user engagement and content interest by calculating the view- through-rate and click-through-rate. Your results can be analyzed to realign and optimize campaigns to improve ROI.

Producing your video message does not have to be expensive, but it needs to be professional. To minimize expense, we recommend that video blogs be taped when larger video productions such as TV and corporate video shoots are undertaken. If you already have budgeted to have a commercial or video produced, it is cost effective to keep the camera rolling and the lighting and microphones in place to record your video message. You can speak right into the camera and convey a personal story about why life insurance should be purchased or illustrate how affordable and necessary umbrella coverage is.

As a firm believer in perfect being the enemy of good, I balance this belief with understanding that amateur undertakings can be more harmful to your brand than the benefit of quickly distributing information. If you’re going to produce your own video, make sure the audio, lighting and video quality is right, and do not risk putting your good name and brand out there without the highest professionalism.