Archive for video on the web

Just Because You Don’t Get It, Doesn’t Mean You Shouldn’t Get It.

I admit it. Despite being an early adopter of the web (I’ve had the same url’s since the mid-90′s) I misread a couple of things.

I didn’t think information could come in spurts as short as a tweet. I forgot about something called telegrams.

I didn’t think about the web as a social place. Yet I’m as old as Walt Mossberg and used to hang out in the same “forums” on Compuserve and The Source.

And I didn’t see it as the ultimate distribution tool for video…. well, I did, but I didn’t expect it to kill off DVD’s and cd-roms. Now we urge our clients to create video just for the web– video that doesn’t even have to go “viral” to do the job. Just find your niche.

A lot of potential users of video on the web don’t get it, so they don’t use it.  They can’t understand the technology, or can’t envision a world beyond cable TV, DVD, or even giant sales meetings. And a good video might cost the same as a basic website, so they put the horse before the cart. These days, you need both– they are synergistic beyond belief.

So you’ve got to believe in the potential of what you don’t know– even if you can’t see what’s in front of your nose.

You can’t be aware of everything. But you can rely on the expertise and experience of good consultants to help point you in the right direction.

Brien Lee (that’s Brien with an “e”, in case you want to call or write. Really, we can see the future– we think.)

Which Comes First, The Video or the Website?

I don’t know, but I do know you need both. There are good marketing reasons for this, and good search engine visibility reasons as well.

Search engines love video. And search engines love links. If your video is on YouTube or another free video hosting site, and you embed the video in your website or blog, Google likes that.

The web loves video. There is video everywhere. Most of it I wouldn’t dream of watching on a large flat panel display; but one out of ten is very good indeed and works to sell the concept or product the website is selling.

So a great video gets you a lot of mileage– on the web, on the flat panel display, on the big screen in a big meeting, or on your iPhone for a quick sales pitch on the 8:15 from New Haven.

So which comes first? Well, they both take time to do right. (Exception: webcam updates are allowed, but NOT as your main video.)

In fact, consider how they will work together. Where will video do a better job than words? Where will words and art prevail?

It’s a planning phase you can’t ignore– we call it Strategic Digital Marketing.