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Video Marketing- Its Different Manifestations
By Punam Parab (c) 2007

Just go through these facts and figures:

· "This [online video ads] could very well become the dominant
form of online advertising... probably within the next 18 to 24
months" - Bob Hanna, senor vice president of sales with Burst
Media-a group that offers publisher sites to advertisers.

· Online video ad spend is to surge by 89% in 2007 and is
poised to grow and in 2010 will be worth around $2.9 billion.
- marketing vox.

· At some time early in 2010, one in 10 dollars devoted to
internet advertising will go for video placements - David
Hallerman, a senior analyst with eMarketer and author of the
report 'Internet Video: Advertising Experiments & Exploding
Content'

Well, if you have a sharp mind [and even if you don't], you
cannot but notice the rising fortunes of video marketing. Video
marketing is the next big thing in the world of Internet
marketing.

Video marketing entails the use of video for conveying your
message to the audience. Most experts believe that videos are
more effective when it boils down to establishing an engaging
and interactive platform to communicate with the target
audience.

If you too are interested in entering into the world of 'online
video marketing', then it will augur well if you are aware about
the various forms of video marketing.

Video advertising is one of the basic forms of video marketing.
In case of video advertising, the advertiser makes use of the
video that is already being run across TV channels. Usually, the
video is edited to shorten the duration. This also makes the
video more appealing to the online audience. At times, the video
might be stripped of its sound to fasten the downloading speed.

However, experts believe that running the same video for your
Internet marketing campaign as well as on TV channels is not a
good idea. According to Amit I. Budhrani of Alza Management
Institute, "Most advertisers feel that the content for a video
advert can be borrowed from their own TV commercials. However,
this is not the case. One needs to clearly differentiate between
a video advert and an advertisement made for the TV. Video made
for a TV can never replace video that is required for the
Internet. And it will not make a good impression about the
company in the eyes of the people since they can quickly make
out that the ad has been copied directly from the TV. If this
happens then one is likely to lose out on viewers since people
will not care to view the ad of the company ever again. Hence
the company will loose viewers instead of gaining them. And this
will be a very big loss of opportunity."

Budhrani also adds that, "People are not going to spend their
bandwidth on ads that can be seen on TV. In other words, if you
have to capture the attention of the online audience, then you
have to present them with fresh content that is creative as well
as engaging."

Ron Coomber of ITV agrees with the opinion put forward by Amit
I. Budhrani of Alza Management Institute. According to Coomber,
"The conventional 30 second television commercial will not be as
effective when presented on the Internet." According to Lanctot
of Avenue A/Razorfish, "It's easy to repurpose TV Ads, but it's
not a good idea. Everyone seems to agree, but they keep doing
it."

However, winds of change are slowly sweeping in. According to
Treffiletti of Carat, "We have some clients who have allowed us
to actually shoot video for [the Internet]. In addition, when
they're shooting a commercial and they have the A roll and the B
roll, the B roll has a lot more life now. We can actually use
that extra footage."

The other form of video marketing that has been attracting the
attention of business houses and corporate sector happens to be
in-text video advertising. In this particular form of video
marketing, a video gets uploaded and subsequently played
whenever a user scrolls over an underlined text.

Experts state that in-text video advertising is a highly
efficient method that can be precisely targeted towards a
particular segment of the online audience. This is because a
person will be induced to take his mouse over an underlined word
only if he can relate with that word. For instance, a young
mother might roll her mouse over words like 'bottle feeder',
'baby diapers', 'infant care' etc. This is because as a mother
of an infant, she can relate with these words.

In-text video advertising is a user-initiated form of
advertising. This means that the video will be played only when
the user opts to roll his mouse over a phrase or a word.

Advertisers also have the option of going in for 'product
placement in video'. This form of video marketing is similar to
'in-film' advertising wherein the product is placed in the
video. For instance, one can notice Omega watches in James Bond
movies. 'Product placement in video' works on the same line
except for the fact that the same is done in the virtual world
and through an online medium.

The products are integrated in the online video. At times, the
viewers are also allowed to interact with the product in
question. This increased interactivity enhances the engagement
quotient of the advertisement.

'Advertiser funded video' is one more manifestation of video
marketing. In this form of video marketing, the advertiser
creates the content of the video but the same is run on
third-party websites. The video seeks to entertain, inform or
educate the viewers as well as to convey the information of the
advertiser to the target audience.

One can also directly deliver the video to consumers via
email. This form of video marketing is known as 'direct video'.
However, this is a relatively new form of marketing and is yet
to be exploited in a big way. The rise of Web 2.0 has allowed
advertisers to deliver videos in HTML [Hyper Text Mark-Up
Language] and thus avoid languishing in the receiver's bulk or
spam folder.

Most experts believe that this form of video marketing has
good potential especially considering the fact that an
increasing number of netizens are now opting for hi-speed
broadband connections instead of the traditional dial-up
connections. This is good news for those opting for 'direct
video' as research has proven that those having broadband
connections are more receptive towards video.

The growing popularity of such sites as YouTube has opened up one
more avenue for advertisers, business houses and the corporate
sector. One can place videos in social network sites. According
to a report that appeared in Reuters, "YouTube, the leader in
Internet video search, said on Sunday viewers are now watching
more than 100 million videos per day on its site, marking the
surge in demand for its "snack-sized" video fare."

Experts state that this particular form of advertising has
great scope provided the videos feature original content [that
is the ideas for the video are not directly uplifted from the
ads that are run on television] and are high on creativity.

And, if you do not want your video to get featured in a social
networking site, then you can always have them displayed on
mobiles. Experts state that since the number of mobile users is
showing a tremendous increase, one can go in for mobile video
marketing. According to Jim Cook of MobiADNews.com, "there
are currently around 2.5 billion mobile handsets in the world,
roughly the same number as TVs and PC's combined."

Those conversant with Internet marketing dynamics state that
mobile users are showing a tremendous appetite for videos. As
MobiADNews.com puts it, "A number of recent studies have shown
that consumers are actually very willing to receive ads on their
phones as long as certain conditions are in place."

Most experts state that people are willing to see videos on
their mobiles as long as these videos are relevant to their
needs and desires. Similarly, viewers also expect something in
return from the advertiser after watching his/her advert.
Experts also believe that mobile video viewers want an assurance
that they can opt-in or opt-out of the video.

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, UK, "there are
already many types of mobile video ads available including
banner ads, text ads, search ads, short code response numbers in
print and TV and ads inserted between levels of a game.
Essentially, the choice available to advertisers is as large as
that of internet advertising and it is recommended that - in the
same way as internet – marketers select only the forms
beneficial to their brand and campaign."

Thus, there are various forms of video marketing. Advertisers,
wishing to use this form of Internet marketing, should carefully
weigh the pros and cons of each form of video marketing. They
should also weigh their intentions and objective campaigns of
their online marketing campaign against each form of video
marketing and select the one that will help them to gain maximum
mileage.

As Interactive Advertising Bureau, UK puts it; "online video
takes this to the next level by delivering the content we love
to other portable video players. This leads to accessing video
content in entirely new places; living rooms and cinemas are no
longer the only place to view video."
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Punam Parab is a freelance writer who takes an active interest
in the field of internet marketing and search engine optimization.
She regularly writes articles that deal with the various facets
of internet marketing and the developments taking place in the
field of internet marketing.(http://www.alzains.com)
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