Posts Tagged marketing video

The Effectiveness Of Repetitive Motions In A Website Video

Posted by SEO SERVICES in Video Production on June 29th, 2010

For the last three years, eLocal has been creating generic mini-website videos that can placed on the website of anyone in the profession for which the video was made. The videos are produced in quantity and are sold at whoelsale prices and have made website videos affordable for even the small businessman. This strategy has made the businessman feel good, but the question is whether these little mini website videos are drawing in the traffic.

If these videos are drawing traffic, which ones, or which type of content, in this new genre, are most effective at converting clicks to customers. In this article, I will be looking at the eLocal Garage door video # 2 found at: http://www.youtube.com/elocalvideoexamples#p/u/5/pd0xn7w5VD

This video might be aptly called the garage door dance video. In style, it is patterned after a number of videos, which use either repetitive sequences or motion graphics to display the product making a repetitive motion. If the motion is one that people enjoy doing or seeing, then they might become hypnotized by the video, as they gaze at the product dancing around the screen.

In this video, the repetitive motion is the electronically controlled garage door opening and closing. The direction of the moving door is controlled by a button being fingered by an off screen participant. The door moves up and down to the rhythm of a funky repetitive synthesizer tune which plays in the background. On close examination, it appears that the 20 second video was made by splicing 3 segments of the same segment together, with some added material. The video closes with a dark background on which the name and phone number of the company is displayed.

So is this video effective as a web video. It must be said in its favor, that pushing the button to control the movement of a garage door is a favorite motion for many people. People finger the button before leaving on a trip or vacation or a visit to a movie or restaurant. They finger it again to close the garage after returning satisfied from a dinner with friends or a movie. They finger it before going out to earn money. Admittedly, at times it can become a nuisance, and because of this we now have electronically controlled garage door buttons. But in general, the electric garage is one of the modern conveniences that people appreciate. And they part they like the most is when they hit the button and the door begins to move in the direction they want. This video decided to capitalize on human enjoyment of this motion, by presenting it in a video which repeatedly displays only that motion and almost nothing else.

One way this video might have increased its effectiveness is if they had presented a completed garage door move. People like the completion of the garage door close as well as the start. The part they hate is the long time it takes to get to the end. This video only shows a short segment of the move, albeit the exciting moment when the door curves around the guiding rails as its motion changes from horizontal to vertical or visa versa.

In addition to failure of the video to have presented a more complete move, the display on the screen is a little cramped. We see a finger pushing the button, we see a close up of the door rising up and down and its reverse and little else.

Assuming the cinematic effects were perfect, the central question is whether the idea of this video itself is a good one. Assuming the video was successful at displaying a fun aspect of operating a garage door, will it sell the garage door? Logically, it will. I conclude that the idea of this video has some merit, but the cinematic effects are incomplete and cramped.

What is the take home lesson from this video. Showing a fun aspect of owning or operating a product a company is trying to sell can be a good one. The display should be as more complete than this display both temporally and spatially.

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Deciding Who You Are Targeting When Producing A Landing Page Video.

Posted by SEO SERVICES in Video Production on June 23rd, 2010

eLocal can take credit for having invented the web video genre of the generic website videos. These little 10-20 seconds web videos are made for businessmen who want to place a video on their website, but can’t afford to spend $500 - $1,000 to get a personalized custom web video. To help them along, eLocal has created a series of generalized videos.

Each eLocal video targets one profession. Any business in that profession can place one of the eLocal videos on their website and the flick will speak to their customers, as if the video were personally made for them. The message is generalized enough that the video fits in, and according to testimonials from eLocal customers, is successfully attracting customers.

As the founder of this genre, eLocal has had to create their own style and approach to production of these videos, and make their own determination as to what does or does not work. Since the pioneer in any field is just that, and is only presenting the initial solutions to the challenges of the field, it is worthwhile reviewing these videos and considering what appears to work and what doesn’t.

The eLocal appliance repair video, found at http://www.youtube.com/elocalvideoexamples#p/u/3/qbvUMbtXfjE, is one of their 3D motion graphic videos. With the assistance of their 3D imagery, the dying appliance, breaks down in a way that real machines can’t. It’s lid pops open and closes, the machine leans forward, totters and then falls on its face, as a black dial pops off the control panel and rolls across the floor.

The surrealistic almost Salvidoor Dalian like video is set to an MP3 electronic excerpt from California Dreaming, by the Mamas and Papas.

The video is a mood piece, at best. The dying appliance is reminiscent of the brown dead winter leaves in “California Dreaming.” The mood of bleak despair, found in the text and sounds of the background music, colors the video’s presentation. The protagonist in the background song, is stuck in a town in winter. He has gone into a building seeking refuge from the cold. He would like to leave town, but has made a commitment to some girl, which requires him to stay. All the while he is dreaming about being back in warm California.

The appliance owner is told to regret the fact that he didn’t call a repairman earlier. As the machine collapses, the caption reads “this tragedy could have been avoided. ”

While the video does successfully create an artistic mood, one has to consider logically, how successful it is in attracting customers. People who might see this video are visiting a repair shop landing page because they’re looking for someone to do appliance repair work for them. Yet the video depicts an appliance beyond repair. If a homeowner owns a machine which is beyond repair then he will search for a new appliance, not for a repairman. The captioned message of the video also misses the point. The text implies that if the homeowner had sought repair help earlier, the death of the appliance could have been avoided. Such a caption is mean to encourage people to seek timely repair help for their home appliances. But people who would look at this video don’t need to see that message, as they’ve already become motivated and are in the process of searching for a repairman.

In my opinion, when making a generic repairman video it would make more sense to create a video showing a repairman at work. That type of image would build trust in the viewer and make him contact the company.

The take home message from this video is to determine two things before starting production. Who am I targeting, and what do they need to hear or see to convince them to contact me. The producers of this video did not correctly answer these questions before beginning production.

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The ELocal Auto Body Repair Video # 1

Posted by SEO SERVICES in Video Production on June 16th, 2010

eLocal, always a step ahead of the competition in the Local Search market, has pioneered the use of the generic mini web videos for business promotion. I call them generic, because each of the 10-15 second online videos can be used by any business in the profession for which the video is made. eLocal markets them as “custom” web videos because each one is made for one particular profession.

The mini videos are appropriate for mounting on a web page or landing page, and have adapted well to eLocal’s local search marketing strategies for the small businessman. It is interesting to examine the videos, and see what content eLocal is using to attract customers.

At http://www.youtube.com/elocalvideoexamples#p/u/1/HCbsWFgCPE0 you can see eLocals #1 auto body repair video. This 13 second video clip shows us cars riding down a country road on a bright sunny day. We see what looks like green pastures, and a country farmhouse in the background. Along comes a convertible sports car, with a driver in a driving cap, only one little detail is out of kilter. While sports cars are always small, this one is so small the driver can’t fit into the driver’s seat. So he sits on the back of the car, feet inside, and leans over to guide the steering wheel, as he plods along the road.

The scene is accompanied by modern jazz guitar music featuring chords with 6’s and 7ths. 6s and 7ths, especially 6’s are notes of the scale not usually found in a chord, and they amplify the theme of the video of something not quite fitting in. On a grander scale, the old open air sportscar riding down a country lane is reminiscent of earlier days in the automobile revolution, when cars still did not quite fit into roads meant for the horse and buggy. The video caption reads, “Having car troubles?” As the clip ends, the music fades out.

The caption and part of the scene are out of focus. This may have been deliberate. It might have been the intention of the videographer to liken the out of focus caption and out of focus video with the out of kilter car. [/spin Nevertheless, the lack of focus detracts from the professionalism of the video.
[spin]This video , which takes place in the bright of day, contrasts with eLocal’s other autobody repair video that shows a car breaking down on a dark deserted freeway, at night. While that video focuses on a common emotion of fear, which motorists can identify with, this video attempts to downplay the fear and panic element often associated with a car breakdown. The soothing music invites viewers to calm down and take a stoic look at their car troubles. It seeks to minister to the victim of a malfunctioning vehicle, and in this way to attract them to make contact and use the services of the advertising company.

While the two repair videos depict contrasting scenes, they both address emotions related to the event of a car break down. The first depicts the fear associated with breaking down on a deserted highway. The second attempts to soothe and make light of the emotional distress which often accompanies a car breakdown. In this way the online video attracts the customer, who can feel that this company understands how he feels.

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Example Of A Successful Trade Show Video

Posted by SEO SERVICES in Video Production on June 7th, 2010

The mark of a successful company is one that can be challenged with a project that takes them to a new level of excellence, and can successful meet the challenge and fulfill the expectations of their client. Diginovations, home of creative video solutions, was challenged to create a trade show video for Microwave Radio Communications for the 2007 NAB trade show. Microwave had rented prime space booth, and so their trade show video would be the first video seen by visitors to the 2007 NAB convention convention floor. By 2006, HD video was the accepted standard at NAD, so this added yet one more requirement to the exacting challenge.
Diginovations accepted the challenge, and created an exciting video, which drew myriads of spectators to the Microwave Booth.Their video was imagistic, it was a branding video, and it succeeded in capturing and conveying the excitement, which wireless radio communication has brought to broadcasting.

What is most spectacular about the Diginovations video is that is succeeds in the space of 4 compact minutes in presenting most of the exciting types of imagery that one would expect to be associated with the radio communications industry.We watch as television crews travel by helicopter to cover on the minute spots news events, accidents, sporting events, rescues, fires. We watch broadcasting crews setting up their equipment and dismantling it. We see several fast motion segments which transform the routine actions of the broadcast crew into rapid action scenes that serve to convey the sense of urgency and haste which we associate with on the spot broadcasting.
As the video progresses, we watch scenes of cameraman making the live shoots of skiing events, or winter Olympics. These scenes reflect strong editing inclusion choices because these are sports which connote speed, accuracy, action, all elements that enhance the image the video is creating about Microwave Radio Communications.

The visual story line is backed up by exciting synthesizer music, which presents an enlarged theme not unlike the short music spots we are used to hearing before live televised broadcasts. While the video presents occasional captions, which enhance the branding, they present some of the written material in a very creative way. The company name is blazoned on the inside of their large concave disc microwave broadcasting antennae, which appear in the video from time to time.

The Microwave Radio Communications %KLINK3% presents exciting ways in which branding can be conveyed through good choices of video footage, which convey the imagery that people expect and want to see, in the companies field of endeavor.

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