Webcasting, also known as live video streaming, is one of the fastest growing video production services. Companies are increasingly using webcasting as a means of communicating that is more engaging than a conference call. The reason that webcasting is so much more effective as a communication tool, as compared to a phone call, is that part of all messages is delivered in non-verbal communication that isn’t transmitted using audio alone.

Webcasting also has the benefit of connecting groups that aren’t in the same physical location at the same time to the same presenter and is often used at conferences, both for incoming and outgoing video communications. Live video streaming saves both the time and expense of flying a speaker to several locations and is an effective way for companies to lower their carbon footprint.

Single camera webcasts can be very simple to produce but multi-camera webcasts require professional equipment and a technical director to perform the live switching. For the most basic webcast, a single camera transmits both the audio and video feeds to a computer that is connected to the Internet and the video is uploaded to a streaming server. The video is then embedded on a webpage for viewers to watch.

Adding additional camera angles requires much more planning, communication, and equipment. Each camera operator requires directions and the technical director communicates with them using intercommunication headsets. Tally lights are also helpful for the camera operators to know which camera is live but the technical director can also communicate this verbally.

The technical director operates a video switcher, which allows her to view each of the video inputs, and switch the output video back and forth between the different input signals. The video switcher is then connected to a specialized computer that encodes the video (and audio that is generally mastered on a sound board, independent of the video) and streams it to a streaming server. A streaming server is a server that is fast enough to deliver live video feeds – a standard server that is used for website hosting is not fast enough.

Many video production companies use streaming service providers instead of running their own servers. There are even some companies like Ustream and Livestream that offer free video streaming, but they interrupt the video stream with commercials so paid services are a better fit in the corporate market.

Top 5 tips for Producing Webcast Videos on the Internet

1) Don’t forget about the audio: Proper microphone placement is important and on-camera microphones are only useful for webcam-style presentations.

2) Avoid free streaming services: They interrupt the video stream regularly with commercials so your viewers will miss portions of your webcast.

3) Multiple camera angles are more engaging for your audience: Shot variety is one of the keys to retaining viewers and having multiple cameras means you can anticipate the next shot and not subject your viewer to pans back and forth searching for the next speaker.

4) Webcasting requires fast upload speed: Internet service providers brag about their download speed but don’t often advertise the upload speed, which is often a fraction of the download speed, but a fast upload speed is what is required to stream the video to the streaming server.

5) Plan your pre-roll: You should start your webcast well before the scheduled start time and provide a holding slide with audio so the viewer knows they are getting both an audio and video signal in advance of the start time.

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How to Webcast Videos on the Internet

The Web has spawned many great opportunities for people in general and businesses in particular. One of the byproducts of ubiquitous access and use is the ability of anyone with a Web-ready device and Internet connection to participate. Pardon me for being cynical, but maybe not everyone is capable of participating in a meaningful manner. What I’m saying is the Web has created a whole new venue for amateurism that has both positive and negative consequences.

The High Cost of Amateurism

On the positive side many creative and intelligent people are now able to present their talents and knowledge to a global audience whereas ‘Before The Web Era’ they had to settle for friends and family or at best a local audience. On the downside, just because everyone can do something doesn’t mean they should. I am not even talking about the silly, uninformed comments that appear everywhere, or even the dumb-and-dumber user-generated videos that highlight adolescent stunts and salacious exhibitionism. What I am talking about is how so many legitimate businesses opt for amateur video presentations without the slightest understanding of the damage they are doing to their
businesses.

To my mind, your image and message are far too important to leave up to amateurs who don’t understand how to develop and present a marketing message using the Web video medium, a medium that differs from television advertising and corporate presentations as much as it differs from print. For those who think that professional Web video is too expensive, I would advise the real cost of DIY and amateurism is lost sales and reputation.

It’s About Concept and Performance

The truth is you can get away with a lot of technical stuff on the Web but you can never get away with inferior messaging both in concept and performance. The true essence of Web video professionalism is how your business message is turned into a compelling brand story, a mission that should not be taken lightly. I have said it many times, but Web Video is an exercise in psychological persuasion not a display of technical wizardry. If you don’t understand how to convert your message into a meaningful brand story, it is best you find someone who does.

8 Brand Video Story Development Concepts

1. Story Form

Business people trained in number-centric management practices often reject, or at least bridle at the notion of storytelling as a legitimate business function, but unless you have a good story to tell no one is going to listen to what you have to say.

Within the movie business it is often said that there are only seven movies: these are the prototypical plots that can be presented in some compelling fashion over two hours. The difference between an award winning movie and a flop is how that story is told, a function of script and performance. Your marketing video must contain the same kind of conceptual reference in order to deliver the message quickly and effectively.

2. Transformation

There are many ways to present your story but every story needs a hero or heroine. He or she is your brand representative who is transformed from one condition or state-of-mind to another. This is the symbolic transformation that your audience vicariously goes through as they watch, a transformation that changes their attitudes, perceptions, and prejudices. It is the process of psychologically moving your viewer from prospect to client. It is the process of conversion.

3. Obstacles

No transformation is complete without overcoming some obstacle in the same way no sale is closed without overcoming some objection. The bigger the obstacle, the more powerful the message becomes.

Everyone instinctively understands their product or service must solve a problem, but the problem-solving nature of your solution may not be as apparent as first thought, and a poorly constructed video can actually negate what your trying to accomplish.

4. The Setup

Without a setup your message will fail to make an impact. This is one of the hardest things to get people to recognize. Like any memorable anecdote or magic trick, you cannot skip the setup; without a setup, a punch line (your tag line) will have no meaning.

5. Consistent Signature Patterns

Human beings learn through pattern recognition. If the audience can’t recognize the pattern, you don’t have a brand. Successful brand development uses consistent language, attitude, and point-of-view, supported by consistent image, color, and style, presented within a consistent contextual framework.

6. Campaigns

One-off presentations don’t result in long-term clients any more than a one-night stand results in a long-term relationship. You must continually support and enhance your identity and image with supportive content and material.

7. Emotional Value Proposition

There are only a handful of hardwired psychological needs that drive human motivation and therefore consumption. The universality of these desires is what makes us tick, it’s what makes us make the decisions we make, and to ultimately buy what we buy. It’s the Emotional Value Proposition you offer your audience that makes them a client. A reliance on fads and features might lead to short-term sales, but they’ll rarely lead to long-term customers.

8. Performance

Everyone has a friend who loves to tell jokes but can never quite get it right; either they screw-up the punch line or they butcher the timing, and the story falls flat. Your brand story videos are no different. Unless they are delivered with skill and professionalism they will fail and maybe even do more harm than good. It’s not just a question of hiring someone who can actually spit the words out without getting tongue-tied; it’s about knowing how to use performance techniques within the Web video medium to deliver a memorable marketing message. It’s about performance.

Final Thoughts

Everyone likes to save money, especially when the economy is not the best, but saving money at the cost of your company’s reputation and identity can be a costly mistake. Technology has provided the business executive and company owner with all kinds of benefits, but it would be a mistake to think technology solves psychological concerns; and sales and marketing are most definitely psychological issues.

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8 Brand Video Story Development Concepts

MRPwebmedia is pleased to announce that we have been awarded a SIA Summit International Award for the Video Microsite we created for one of our clients. The site can be seen at http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads/CallLimiter/.

Jerry Bader
MRPwebmedia
(905) 764-1246

Visit Our Sites

http://www.mrpwebmedia.com

http://www.136words.com

http://www.sonicpersonality.com

http://www.cacheclosed.com

About MRPwebmedia

People ask, “What do you do?” You could say we inform, enlighten, innovate, and create; you could also say we deliver our clients’ marketing messages in memorable ways using video, audio, webmedia campaigns and websites; all created in-house from concept to implementation, from graphic and motion design to Web-design, from script writing to video-production to post-production, from music composition to signature sound design.

What do we do? We motivate action by speaking to your audience’s real needs. We tell your story so your brand, your message, embeds in the minds of your clients. We are corporate storytellers; we turn advertising into content, and content into a memorable experience.

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MRPwebmedia Wins SIA Video Microsite Award

MRPwebmedia has relaunched a new version of its website jam-packed with new videos and blog entries on how to deliver your marketing message so people will remember you.
Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com.

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Relaunch of New MRPwebmedia Site

Those of us in the video production and marketing communication business have known for some time that the Web is positioned as the perfect platform for video marketing communication. Many companies, especially e-retailers have been slow to act instead focusing their budgets on e-commerce, social networking, and search engine optimizing. But times have changed and the Web audience has adopted video as their preferred method of receiving Web-based information. Those that find the decision to invest in Web video difficult and need a statistical push, read Paul Verna’s article “Companies Throw Their Weight Behind Online Video” published in ‘eMarketer, Digital Intellience’ at http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007821. Verna supplies enough statistical evidence and market intelligence to get the most reluctant marketing executive scurrying to develop a Web video marketing strategy and implementation program.

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. 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.

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Statistical Evidence Supports Online Video As The Web’s Preferred Marketing Communication Tool

Since Google’s integrating of universal search in 2007, that typically showcases mixed information via multiple databases, videos now appear plainly in regular Google searches. So ensure that you use a video site-map in your website’s HTML code and that you give your video an appealing, keyword rich title. Video marketing is becoming significantly more essential due to video viewership on line, on mobile device’s and laptops. If your corporation has not implemented a strategy then now is the time to do so while your competitors are still concentrating on yellow page ads.

YouTube & Various other Video-Sharing Sites – Even though YouTube remains to be the most famous video-sharing site on the Internet by billions of viewers, there is a huge selection of other increasingly popular video sites that include Vimeo and Daily Motion, so be certain you distribute your video to as many of these sites as possible. To help generate a buzz online, try to perform this at once and not over an prolonged phase of time.

It is equally very vital that you optimize your YouTube video efficiently. Provide an attention-snagging head line, include things like a description filled with suitable keywords and choose the most appropriate tags to your specific market.

An alluring thumbnail is definitely crucial! YouTube gives you the choice of a frame at , and all the way through the video, so select the most suitable one. Or why not make sure that your publisher places a photo you want make use of as a thumbnail at any one of these points?

Perhaps most notably, make certain you verify the videos options, so sharing, downloading and embedding are granted! The more convenient your video is to share, the more probable it will grow to be prominent. Sharing is precisely what viral promoting is all about. Insights show that 80% of the Fortune 500 companies include video on their web site, so why shouldn’t you? Everything you do to make that easier is going to improve your campaign.

Get People Talking About It – E-mail a link to your video to as many related websites and blogs as possible. Sometimes all it takes is a single blogger to get your video moving. We can also provide a steady flow of visitors to your video each day and by doing this your video will begin showing up in Google search results.

Never just upload your video and forget it about it either. Comment on it yourself and start a conversation or ask us how to get comments on your video from real viewers. Why not start new threads about the video on relevant forums as well? You could also post the URL of your video as a response to other relevant videos that will be there for all people to observe. Be as creative as you like with the association.

Grow to be part of the online community.

Promote, Promote and Promote Some More - Blast a good old-fashioned e-mail with a link to the video to every person in your address book and really encourage them to share it with their friends as well. Post a link to bookmarking sites like DIGG and promote it on your social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Twitter. If you don’t have profiles on these sites, then we can help you with that.

Even though there is no guarantees that your video will “go viral”, if you put in a bit of time and keep in mind these methods, you give your video the very best possibility probable.

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Video Marketing Techniques For Business

While you were social networking, Facebooking, and Twittering the most influential market demographic has moved on to the new Web. Call it Web 4.0 or whatever you like; the new Web is video-based. And we’re not talking about the homemade efforts you cranked out on your camcorder and laptop; we’re talking professional video. Yes, Martha, the bar has been raised, and if you want to compete you better get your act together. I’ve been preaching this sermon for years but it finally looks like the rest of the Web marketplace has finally caught up. If you don’t believe me, read Erick Hachenburg’s post ” Today’s Entertainment Drivers Are Watching Online Video” in MediaPost’s Blog ‘Online Video Insider” (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=133670&lfe=1).

Hachenburg writes:
” We are in the midst of a fundamental shift in which everything we know about content sites is changing. Just as television rose to rapid dominance in the traditional media world, online video is now rising to dominance in the digital media world. Increasingly, the Web is about video — not text, not pictures.

Video is an inherently powerful way to tell a story. This, of course, also makes it an effective way to communicate an advertising message. It’s about entertainment value and emotional appeal.

… The new 2010 Magid Media Futures study, conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates, reveals some important insights into today’s Entertainment Drivers, consumer behavior and preferences in online video, and the reasons brand marketers should consider online video an important part of their media mix.
… So what does this all add up to for today’s marketers? An important shift in the way they connect with the influential consumers who define pop culture, and impact media consumption patterns across demographic groups. Today’s Entertainment Drivers consider online video a primary form of entertainment, making it an integral part of the marketing mix for brand advertisers.”

If you’re serious about turning your website into a new media success then it’s time to get serious about Web video content. It’s better to be slightly ahead of the curve than me-toing your way to Chapter 11

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. 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.

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While You Were Social Networking…

While you were busy Twittering the Internet has evolved into a whole new marketing presentation environment with increased opportunities for those who understand the medium and how to use it to deliver entertaining content, particularly when that content is aimed at selling products, services, or even ideas. The Web, more specifically Web Video content, has invaded television, and the invasion has just begun.

‘StudioDaily blogs’ reports on the inevitability of Internet-enabled TVs (IETVs) reaching significant market penetration in a post by Debra Kaufman entitled “Internet-enabled TVs trump 3D sets. Kaufman highlights iSuppli’s report stating:

“IETV shipments will expand at rates of more than 50 percent for the next two years, and then continue to increase at double-digit rates until the end of 2014. By then, global IETV shipments are anticipated to reach 148.3 million units, accounting for 54 percent of the total flat-panel TV market.” The entire post can be read at http://www.studiodaily.com/blog/?p=3786.

As media moguls continue to stew about illegal downloads and look to technologies like 3D movies and television to save the day, consumers have moved on to what they want – more content. And since networks are unwilling to invest in what’s required to fill the content gap created by the 500-channel universe, the void will be filled by Web content with video programming positioned to capture major audience market share.

The market penetration of IETVs means the bar has been raised for webmedia content; amateur hour has past, and if companies want to continue to be competitive they will have to upgrade their content. IETVs provide a tremendous opportunity and a significant challenge for businesses that think in terms of conventional wisdom and outmoded presentation formats.

The next time budgets are discussed think about where your marketing dollars are going and where they can be used to create maximum benefit for your organization.

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. 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.

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Your Website’s Future is On Television

Two interesting articles crossed my desk this morning, articles that everyone interested in getting the most out of their marketing should read. The first was published in Media Post’s Media Creativity written by Ari Rosenberg, called “The Problem With Online Ad Creative No One Wants To Hear.” Rosenberg states “The Web is overwhelmingly experienced in silence…” a problem we’ve been talking about for years. I would add that the problem is not just a silent Web, it’s a Web where audio is miss used and abused by advertisers who don’t understand how to use sound design and music to motivate audience action. You can read the article at http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=132001&lfe=1.

The second item that should appeal to all those who pray to the god of media measurement; Abe Sauer writes “Media Too Quick To Label Old Spice Man a Failure.” Read the article in brandchannel at http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/07/23/Media-Quick-To-Label-OLd-Spice-A-Failure.aspx. In a nutshell the article uses the now famous Old Spice campaign to explain what we all know but just can’t accept and that is, there are “lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

So think twice the next time your video producer tells you he’s going to just slap on some royalty free music instead of creating a signature soundscape, or when you make a marketing campaign decision based on statistics and analytics that you really don’t fully understand.

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. 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.

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What’s Wrong With Web Advertising

It looks like branded video entertainment is the marketing battlefield for companies looking to engage their audiences. The recent success of Orbit Gum’s branded video entertainment campaign promoting their brand of chewing gum seems to have sparked some interest from other brands. It didn’t take long for the people at Dentyne to come up with a clever branded video of their own. This one combines a couple of geeks with a rap musical score in a very effective branded video campaign.

Check out the video for yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ov1DDjHt8c&feature=player_embedded#!.

We told you branded video entertainment was the perfect Web marketing vehicle. It’s here and it’s clear that it is what Web viewers want and what they will accept as a new form of Web advertising.

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. 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.

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Branded Video Entertainment – The Gum Wars Heat Up