Consumers Who View Product Videos 64% More Likely To Complete Purchase

August 23, 2010

Brands are increasingly incorporating online video marketing to their multichannel brand campaigns, and with good reason. Shoppers who view online videos are more likely to make purchases, indicates a new report from comScore.

• Consumers who view videos on websites are 64 percent more likely to buy something from the site
• Consumers also tend to spend more time (up to two minutes) on webpages per visit.
• 96 percent of shoppers who make online purchases have watched online video before.

For advertisers, online video is also able to influence shoppers' buying decisions. According to comScore, 63 percent of total U.S. internet users are reached by video advertising. These consumers account for 83 percent of online sales, making them highly valuable targets.

Many marketers are increasingly incorporating online video solutions into their digital marketing campaigns - a trend that is sure to continue as brand marketers and online retailers wake up to the revolutionary shift in content production and content consuption happening with on-demand video.  The key is still creating a clear and unique message that resonates with the customer, but approaching the distribution of that message in a radically different way.  Instead of broadcasting or instead of "hoping" a piece of creative will go viral focus on the eliminating wasted time and money from the content engine and prime the pump with dynamic, relevant, exciting content optimiaed for search and interactively designed for sharing. Get the workflow down and crank it out based on leveraging your product portfolio digital assets and existing content rather than buying someone else's content or borrowing from ad networks.

Tags: web 2.0 , web video

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Social Media and Inbound Marketing Impact on Business Strategy

August 23, 2010

The video above can appear overwelming and scary due to the rapid pace.  Change can be difficult and business is tight, but your instincts and mounting evidence tell you that figuring out the right programs for social media and web 2.0 needs to be a top priority. Forget the buzzwords and the latest tools; for many companies, sustainable competitive advantage or extinction hangs in the balance. Something is dying - traditional media and something is being born - new media.

Executives today are realizing that social media is not a fad or yet another marketing channel, but a new inbound marketing and public relations approach to filling the top of the sales funnel with new customers and responding to those customers faster, with greater transparency, and garnering greater loyalty en route.

Social media marketing is just that: marketing. Social media online communities such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube are merely "touch-points" whereby you can effectively convert conversations into leads, sales and quality improvements with remarkable content and compelling calls to action.

Forget the tools and tactics for a second and take a fresh look at the strategy as part of an integrated strategic marketing plan.  Content development costs and time are the main bottleneck to finding ROI from social media campaigns.  This is where workflow automation and internet tech. are so key to business.  Overstock.com and Zappos.com understand this which is why they are winning.  Search engine marketing and social media are merging.  This is why Activate has focused on the most powerful content - video and the most scalable technology to eliminate the content bottleneck. Activate Media Group is an innovative digital media company specializing in strategic video marketing solutions. Activate’s turnkey, automated solution produces premium quality, custom product videos, manages the content delivery platform, and syndicates videos to social media video portals at the highest scale and lowest cost in history.

The unique advantage of Activate's video marketing solutions is the quality, scalability and cost efficiency of our video content coupled with its search and social media optimized workflow. Activate creates strategic advantage for clients in sales effectiveness and marketing efficiency by flipping the digital marketing advantage from media buying power to the power of the existing product portfolio.


When we truly grasp the ability to define action and measure it, we can expand the impact of new media beyond the P&L. We can adapt business processes, inspire ingenuity, and more effectively compete for the future of the fashion and apparel business.

Tags: inbound marketing , social media , social video portals , video social media

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Online Video Advertising Reaching 'Frenzy Point'

August 20, 2010

With the flood, comes the feast. Advertising dollars are pouring into online video. Some of the largest online video ad networks are seeing revenue growth accelerating this quarter, and expect the fourth quarter to be even bigger. “Last year we grew 40%, this year we are growing 90%,” says Keith Richman, CEO of Break Media. He expects Break’s total revenues in the third quarter, which include more than just video advertising, to be well above $10 million for the first time.

Tremor Media, which is one of the largest video ad networks and second only to Hulu in the number of video ads it serves, is also seeing a doubling of ad revenues. “It has reached a frenzy point over last three quarters.” CEO Jason Glickman tells me. “We see television dollars moving to online video,” he declares. The fourth quarter “is lining up to be a monster,” and next year Tremor’s revenues are on track to top $100 million for the year.

TV advertising still dwarfs online video, with about $70 billion spent on there in the U.S. Online video advertising is estimated to reach $1.5 billion this year, up from $1 billion last year, according to eMarketer. “Our share of the $1 billion or $2 billion pie for online video is insignificant compared to the budgets that are coming over,” says Glickman.

Relatively small shifts in advertising budgets from TV to online can create huge swings in growth for online video. eMarketer estimates that online video advertising will grow 48 percent in 2010, accelerating from 39 percent growth last year (which was a weak year compared to the 127 percent hypergrowth in 2008). But judging by what Tremor and Break are seeing that $1.5 billion estimate might prove to be conservative. Glickman expects revenues next year to top $100 million. Caveat: treat their experience as anecdotal snapshots of the industry which happen to match.

It very well may just be the big ad networks and properties like Hulu that are seeing the vast majority of new ad dollars. “If you are not in the top 10 on comScore you will have a tough time, notes” Richman, “money goes to the guys who are big.” TV advertisers want to match their reach on TV, and online video that is deemed to be safe, professional content is starting to get to those levels. It is not American Idol,” says Glickman, “but it is like a large cable network.” Advertisers can’t yet reach 30 million people in an hour with a single media buy online, but they can reach that many people over the course of a week, and they can target to specific demographics and get some feedback on how the ads are performing, which TV advertising still can’t do very well.

Advertisers are becoming increasingly comfortable with putting their video ads online. Hulu, which may be filing for an IPO, is the largest beneficiary of this trend. If an advertiser already puts ads against House or The Office on TV, it is a no-brainer to match that online on Hulu. But they are also beginning to trust the larger video ad networks like Tremor and Break, which put ads against a wider range of professionally-produced video from guy videos to sports clips and movie trailers.

“I have never seen test budgets that start at half a million dollars,” says Glickman. Usually ad agencies start testing with one tenth as much. Also, he is seeing about a dozen larger commitments in the double-digit millions over the course of the year, deals he calls “online video upfronts” because they are negotiated in advance like regular TV upfronts. According to comScore, Hulu showed the most video ads in July with 783 million, but Tremor came in second with 452 million video ad views.

Video is definitely shaping up to be a large and growing business for the bigger players and ad networks, but will those advertising dollars trickle down to the smaller guys as well?

One strategy not covered by big media or video ad networks that will have a major impact on online video is automated video production and ecommerce video marketing from companies like Activate Media Group . These companies leverage existing web content to create and syndicate video organically shifting the power from the size of the ad network to the size of the product catalog and creating huge sales conversion and organic SEO lift in the process.

About the author: Erick Schonfeld

Erick, Co-Editor of TechCrunch (www.techcrunch.com), has been covering startups and technology news for 14 years. At Business 2.0 he wrote feature stories and ran their main blog, Next Net, which has nearly 50,000 RSS subscribers.

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Best Practices in eCommerce Product Video: Top 5 Sales Conversion Boosters

August 09, 2010

Research shows that when product videos are featured, visitors are 85% more likely to convert. The evidence is overwelming that product videos really work. 

However, as any experienced online marketer knows, optimizing conversion rates is never an automatic achievement, no matter how good the approach and tools. Focusing on the details and being consistent in your approach to online video is key. 

Split testing is also an essential component of a good program and should not be done as an afterthought. Tactics like adding appropriate background music, voice-overs, and text can all generate more clicks to purchase among visitors to your web site. The key to knowing what’s appropriate and what enhancements drive desired responses.

Testing your creative and your messaging has long been a standard practice for brand marketers.  Large companies have been built focusing on research, focus groups, polls, etc.  With online video systems like Activate's can bring this power to your online portfolio without the guesswork, the additional time or the agency expenses.

We recommend pilot testing and split testing for each custom video solution developed for our clients. However, here are some general best practices for your consideration that may apply to existing or new videos you are currently working on.

 

Top 5 Sales Conversion Boosters for Online Video Production

 

• Adding voice-overs often results in higher conversions (see example video here using our automated natural voice database).
• With female fashion, a male voice-over might actually REDUCE sales, while a female voice-over can double sales.
• A call to action at the end of the video can increase purchasing activity by more than 20%.
• Adding text almost always increases conversions. Color of the text is significant as well, and we have found that red works better for some products.
• The size and placement of the video player is important – using an actual player embed rather than a video icon or button is best

 

Tags: video seo , viral videos , web video

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Activate Founder, Bill Palmer, to Speak on Marketing Trends at MAGIC Convention in Las Vegas 8/18

August 03, 2010

Please join us at The Las Vegas Convention Center at Sourcing at Magic on Wednesday, July 18th at 1pm.  Founder & President of Activate Media Group Bill Palmer will be speaking at the  Key Business Trends for a New Decade Seminar on leveraging internet technologies for the future of the apparel business.  You can find us  at  North Hall, 2nd Floor, room #N259.  

 

Immediately following the keynote he will be available for a one on one Q&A in the side room.    If you are not able to make this presentation or if you are not registered, we can still arrange a meeting at the convention center or at the conference.  Please advise us on your availability.

 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2010

1:00 PM I LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER – NORTH HALL 2ND FLOOR, N259

FASHION FORWARD: KEY BUSINESS TRENDS FOR A NEW DECADE
From the impact of globalization, social media marketing, new technologies impacting product development, supply chain and sales to sustainable/green initiatives. What will your fashion business need to implement to succeed?
MODERATOR: Walter Wilhelm President/Chief Executive Officer of Walter Wilhelm Associates LLC
SPEAKERS:
Carlos Arias, President – Denimatrix, Guatemala, a division of PlainsCotton Cooperative Association (PCCA)
Bill Palmer, President – Activate Media Group
Jennifer Pritchard, VP Sourcing – Chico’s

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