Sunday, January 30, 2011

Traditional FAQs Page vs. Instructional Videos

Let's face it, even though how much we make our websites appear to answer every question a visitor could possibly ask, there will always be some information we fail to disclose. According to companies that offer website video Chicago, if business owners don't address the most common questions and concerns, than it is high time that you rework your site; but, there are always those questions that fall just below vital, and a bit above irrelevant. These are often issues that only affect a select group of prospects that you are attempting to reach. For these types of questions, the FAQ was born. Website video Chicago explains that FAQ is a section of your site where Frequently Asked Questions are acknowledged and addressed accordingly.These questions may even be answered in some other section of your site, but it never hurts to reiterate the important elements; and, some web visitors, not wanting to hunt throughout your entire web page, will go straight to the FAQ figuring that their question is important enough to show up there. 

Video Productions Chicago

Generally, FAQs are decidedly unappealing plain text affairs. They do the job they were born to do, answer questions, and nothing more. Why not customize and humanize this section of your site? Why not use internet video production to revolutionize your the idea of FAQs?

One major advantage of internet video production is that it actually allows you to show rather than just tell. If a customer is searching through your FAQ for an answer on how to replace the battery on an electric razor that they purchased from you, wouldn't it be far more helpful for you to actually show them how to install that battery, than to try and explain it in mere words? Chicago video production can help you create a motion video to provide your customers step by step tutorials in full-motion video rather than an instruction manual. Above all, companies that offer Chicago video production can develop multi-sensory videos to do an even better job of conveying information than pictures.

Beyond the benefit of showing, there is the emotional benefit of connecting. Showing someone, on video, how to solve a problem, allows you to present that information in the most effective format possible and you are driving home that you actually care about your customers' experience. You have taken the time to create very valuable supplementary materials for your customers. And why have you done this? Because you care. Why should a customer care about a company that doesn't care about them? Why should a customer put their trust and hard earned cash into an organization that doesn't do their best to prove worthy of those investments. Video FAQs are yet another chance to inspire those utterly important feelings of Know, Like, and Trust in your prospects. Use them.  

Friday, January 28, 2011

Ideas on How to Implement Effective Online Video Marketing

Creating a video for your business or even just a short clip showing what kind of products and services you offer can be quite difficult. However, today's technology allows business owners to utilize the power of online video marketing with more efficiency on both usage and cost. Corporate video Chicago for instance can enhance the productivity of your business by populating the internet with crisp, innovative and well produced videos. In fact, companies that provides corporate video Chicago creativity and visually stimulating materials for your online marketing campaign.

Video Marketing Chicago

Perhaps you don't want to outsource, and you don't even know the name of a single piece of motion graphics software, but still want to compose an exciting and super cool introductory sequence. Well, my friend, this is where pure creativity plays the largest role. There are plenty of effects that can be done in camera: meaning with little to no assistance from editing software during post production. Draw inspiration from everything around you, and see what you can come up with. Our chief suggestion would be to consider your subject, what is its core, and what are the elements that are a major part of it; what is the heart of your message, the feel you are seeking to convey. Now, answer these questions creatively and visually. Say you are creating a corporate video for a local trash collection agency; why not write statistics on battered cardboard and hold them in front of the camera? Or maybe you are producing a piece for a bakery; try getting them to decorate a cake with their logo in frosting. This sort of low-tech, creative approach can yield quite a bit of interest from viewers. 

Beyond flashy and quirky intros, you can try to apply the principle of suspense. This can be a bit more taxing in terms of planning, and demands somewhat more from your viewers, but we all know that nothing grabs interest like a good mystery. Perhaps you begin with a question, and then spend the rest of your website video gradually answering that question. If the viewer clicks away, they will never know the answer, and there is little that vexes us more than an unsolved puzzle. You could even start a website video with close-ups of your product, each revealing a different aspect of the whole. Then, you would roll into a final reveal, just before the content kicks in, where you would show the thing complete. Once you have stimulated that sense of mystery and intrigue within a viewer, you can usually count on them for the long haul. You have opened their mind up to a state of hunger for further details, and the way by which they obtain these details is watching your corporate video.

According to companies that offer website video Chicago there is another strategy that can be employed here, and that is to jump directly into content. The method above, utilizing the flashy, sleek, and cool; is certainly appealing and effective, but, other than aesthetic appreciation, the true reason for watching a video is its content. You may admire the pure, vivid beauty of an orange's rind, but it is the fruit inside that drew you to the experience of the orange in the first place. It is as true now, as it was however many entries ago: content is absolute king on the net. With this in mind, why not jump straight into the content? Videos are often burdened at the beginning with unnecessary explication and hype, and this is one of the major reasons that they are shut down before a full run. Your viewers are, ideally, relatively intelligent people and don't need every little detail explained to them. They have been educated, and are aware the world is round, so if you are selling them on a cruise don't begin by assuring them of their safety through this geographical fact. And, let's be real, no one really cares how awesome your company or cause is, they want to know how effective you are. If you are a software manufacturer utilizing website video Chicago, explain the benefits of your newest creation, don't waste time telling the viewers how your past releases have served so many around the world so well. There is a time and place for this, but it is generally not within the confines of a two minute web video. With video editing Chicago you can get into the features and benefits of this specific thing we are dealing with at this specific moment. It is like when you are trying to argue fairly with your significant other: it doesn't matter how many times in the past they committed this or that transgression, what matters and needs addressing is that the current annoyance they are providing.

If your video are not holding their viewership, it isn't necessary to summarily shelve them. Before you get drastic, attempt ammending them based upon some of the methods discussed by renowned companies for video editing Chicago. Perhaps your book is, at its heart, a bestseller; you have just employed the wrong cover. If you are gearing up to shoot your next masterpiece, keep these strategies in mind as well, for they will prove their worth time and time again. Start strong. 

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Video Marketing Chicago: Graphic Motion Designers And Their Role in Video Production

According to companies that offer internet video production or video marketing in Chicago there are two stats that need to be considered against one another, and never separately. These are how many people clicked on your video, and for how long those people remained audience members. Your video may receive ten thousand clicks, but don't break out into a fit of joy just yet. If your video has a three minute running time, and the majority of viewers are only sticking with it for 10 seconds, you have a problem... a very, very big problem.

Video Editing Chicago

Internet video production should produce materials to be watched, not sampled. This sharp drop off rate may have absolutely nothing to do with the quality and effectiveness of your video as a whole; rather, it may simply be a consequence of a bad start. The web is as fast paced as a speed reading tournament--such a situation frowns heavily upon slow build ups. 

In this particular scenario, video marketing in Chicago can provide two solutions to avoid losing viewership at the outset of your video: A.) Start with something that is sensorily intriguing and engaging, B.) Dive right into the content.

The first strategy involves creating an introductory sequence that gets people hooked. Video advertising Chicago will help clients employ a number of different techniques from a variety of story telling mediums; however, there are two strategies you should consider beyond all others. The first is to create a flashy, sleek, very, very cool opening to your video. This is going to require creativity or some nice technical chops--the most successful formula being a combination of both. Perhaps the most direct route to achieving something like this is through the use of editing software, specifically motion graphic software available on most companies that offer video advertising Chicago. These packages will allow you to manipulate your video and/or graphics in as many ways as your mind can move. You can create logos from out of a storm of particles, make your host look like a cartoon character, the list is exhaustive. Think of popular television show opening sequences, movie trailers, even news openers--these are often some of the best sources of quality motion graphics in action. Many of the examples you find will be obscenely complex, demanding an investment in time and money that is beyond what you wish to spend; however, something as simple as a logo animating on can go a long way. Get a feel for what is possible and what might be feasible from what you watch, get inspired, and consider implementing, on a reasonable scale, your vision.

Video marketing Chicago often included logo animations and reveals at the beginning of our client's videos. We have had a client's logo form from strands, while another's dropped into the scene connected to a crane hook. This immediate initial burst of activity and motion captures people's interest. Effective design, especially design in motion, can pique interest and persuade it to delve further into the piece. video marketing Chicago have motion graphics designers, as well as a video professional--this makes it relatively easy for them to create provocative openers. The bad news is, motion graphics is a very detailed and very technical skill, and is far more difficult to get into the swing of things with as opposed to straight editing; also, the software involved is usually quite pricey. The good news is, there are a lot of motion designers out there who are consistently seeking work. Visit job positing sites and make it known that you are searching for one of these talented professionals. Make sure you ask to see demonstrations of their work, and if you like what you see, why not give one a shot? 

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Chicago Video Production: Importance of Producing Alternate Versions

One of the chief reasons that made Chicago video production so exciting these days is that it is much easier to accomplish than in the past. The cost of video technology has gone down tremendously, and with a massive and committed community online, the information that you need to successfully navigate the realm of video is just a search away. This means that with a relatively inexpensive camera, some free editing software, and a few online tutorials, you can turn out a pretty decent product. All of these costs having gone down has another exciting ramification for you: many Chicago video production companies now charge less because they are no longer burdened with the overhead they were once responsible for. Having embraced and cultivated knowledge in the newest technologies ultimately allows video productions Chicago to remain on the cutting edge all the while charging our clients far less than the majority of the storied production companies out there today. And these savings are often dramatic: we can typically charge a client about a third of what our competitors are asking for the job in question.

This is not good news--it is great news. It translates into far more companies and organizations having the ability to harness the power of video for their needs. However, there is a further way to save money AND increase the reach and relevancy of your video marketing, and that is to produce alternate versions during a single session. Let me give you a recent example from video productions Chicago.

Video Marketing Chicago

A premier crane rental company  recently enlisted a video editing Chicago company to put together a video for their website. In this video, a representative succinctly informed prospects of the company's strong foundations, philosophies, and competitive edge. The crane company wanted to have this video on their homepage so as to educate and connect with potential customers; therefore, at the close of the piece the representative thanks the viewers for visiting the site, and encourages them to look around and to call for their next crane rental. She did a great job in the video, was very authentic and likable, and wrapped it all up with a very direct call to action. So the job was in the can right? Wrong. The video should grab this opportunity to access a much larger audience than solely those who visited their site. video editing Chicago should create a video that could be posted in relevant places all over the web so that they could further increase the visibility of their clients and tap the myriad resources out there for customer generation. They video editing Chicago had a fantastic video, but the ending just wouldn't work out in the wild, wild web--it was specific to viewers who had encountered the crane company video on their homepage. What to do? Well, during the shoot the correct thing to do is very simply request that representative record an alternate ending, wherein she's persuaded interested parties to visit the company's website. That's it! Now that crane company had two videos rather than one, by merely delivering a second call to action; costing all of five minutes of representative's time.

This is an extremely important principle that will further save you money, and drastically enhance your reach: one video, two alternate endings. It seems incredibly obvious, but oftentimes people are so taken up with the task at hand that they forget to broaden it a bit to great benefit. Every time you produce a video for the web for a specific purpose, you should spend a little extra time broadening it so that it can have a relevance beyond that purpose. If you are producing videos on your own, you have just saved yourself time, and potential continuity issues, by tackling it all at once. If, on the other hand, you are having a video produced for you; you are not only saving yourself time, but are, most importantly, saving yourself the costs associated with commissioning a second shoot. This technique is so simple, and, after you consider it, so painfully obvious; and it is going to prevent so much unnecessary heartache.

Remember: when applicable always, always, always produce alternate versions. This should be your mantra.

Video Production Chicago: The Essence of Experiential Videos

Just like most of the renowned video companies, video production Chicago always seek to provide the customers the opportunity to get the optimal usage our of their products or services: the way by which to reach this noble goal is education. It is imperative for companies that offer video production Chicago to educate potential and existing customers on the various functions and uses of online video marketing. This being said, who is best equipped to provide this education? A representative of the company selling the product or service? This is the traditional route; but there is no spokesperson more persuasive than a peer, and that is precisely why we recommend recruiting customers to take part in this undertaking.

Video marketing Chicago is familiar with the concept of a testimonial. A, supposedly, satisfied customer steps up to the plate to praise a product or service, and maybe even goes into a bit of detail on how it has served them so effectively. Testimonials are fantastic and necessary in many situations, but there is a breed of customer-based endorsement that, Chicago video production can provide: the experiential video. Within an experiential video a customer details how they have used, to their benefit, certain features and functions of your product. These are the stories and suggestions of people much like yourself--these are the elements that truly resonate with prospects.

Videography Chicago

Whereas Testimonials tend to applaud the whole of your product or service, Experiential Videos Chicago take a single piece and focus on how it can best be put to use. If you provide a series of these videos to your prospects, you are emphasizing the effectiveness of the whole through magnification of all its parts. Experiential Videos also allow for discovery, not just on the side of the prospects, but on your end as well. A customer may come up with a use for your product that you had never intended, but proves immensely beneficial. Have that customer tell the story. Not only will this render your product more useful, but it will accomplish this through engagement with the customer base. This signals to other prospects that you are not solely in the business of telling, but also of learning and sharing. You have worked to the best of your abilities to dispatch a valuable product, and are taking part in an exchange with a network of users, the goal of which is to increase the value already present.

On the airline JetBlue's website, a user can access a collection of Experiential Videos by clicking on the "Experience JetBlue" tab at the top. These videos consist of real people explaining the features of the airline that set it apart. In one, author Arianne Cohen, tells of the trials and tribulations that a tall person, such as herself, faces when flying. An important aspect of this video, along with the others, is that Cohen tells her story. She explains what it is like for someone of her verticality to fly, and the various issues that she is faced with. Along with this, Cohen explains why her experience of flying has been immensely enhanced by the layout of JetBlue's planes. She personalizes the video even further during a cut near the end wherein she explains the postures she adopts to sleep on a plane. This is a real person, with a real personality, sharing a real story about how a feature of the service in question has benefited her: this is her experience.

Have Experiential Videos rendered Testimonials a moot exercise? Obviously not, as the preceding entry addresses them. In all seriousness, Testimonials can be an extremely effective video strategy, and Experiential Videos Chicago are perhaps best seen as a subspecies of them that combines both increased content and trust capital.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Chicago Video Production: Effective Methods to Engage Potential Customers

The exposure of using video production in Chicago is remarkable. Its efficiency as an online marketing tool can extremely increase your products relevance and popularity all over the internet. Since most people today use the internet for streaming videos, the process of video production Chicago is very ideal to engage the online consumers. In fact, Youtube explained that 67% of people using the internet is based on videos and 70% of these users are drawn by watching videos. Furthermore, video production Chicago is your gateway to various consumers as more viewers respond better to video. This type of marketing can express your message even to people who can't read or write, which can leverage your ability to communicate to various access points.

Video Editing Chicago

Branding your company and your products is one of the top priorities of any business. Videography Chicago is an ideal way to acquire an effective tool to support your business campaign and to dominate local or even foreign audiences. Another method that reinforces the quality of videos is video editing Chicago. Video editing chicago provides exactly what the client desires by editing the raw footage into a educational tool. This method allows businesses to offer information about their products without having to take time out to explain your product multiple times by having your targeted customer view the finished Chicago video production.

Advantages of Chicago Video Production

1. Innovative Video Profiles and Internet Commercials - Chicago video production can give small and large scale businesses a unique and distinctive marketing edge. This innovative approach can increase their marketing and outreach materials which are more than viable alternative to traditional advertising.

2. Real Persons and Credibility - Chicago video productions involve real people with credible status on their own field of expertise. This solution offers more than just text or pictures but a real individual best suited to convey your message. When viewers hear something said by an expert or a satisfied buyer, they tend to believe it faster than they do after reading some information. This is a great opportunity for a business to gain more potential buyers and turn them into loyal customers.

3. Targets Larger Audiences - With video production Chicago, businesses are able to engage billions of viewers everyday just on Youtube while there are actually hundreds of other video sharing sites you can use to register and upload your video. If your clip impresses the audience, the number of views will likely increase tremendously and you will also get referrals and recommendations during the process.

4. Comments and Feedback - Uploading videos on video sharing sites exposes your company to various access points. This can actually benefit your company since the viewers may ask questions regarding your company and what it can offer to the consumer market by posting comments and feedback. Videography chicago plays a big role to make your company video stand out from the competition by providing crisp high quality videos.

Online video marketing is a powerful way to brand your business while at the same time increase the number of loyal customers that trust your product and are satisfied with your services.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Why Businesses Engage In Video Advertising in Chicago

Internet video production has undergone huge development in terms of technology, cost efficiency and has become a promising tool for both brand-savvy advertisers and information-seeking viewers. Despite the fastest growing advertising media, there are still marketers that can't grasp the importance of internet video production.


In Chicago, many companies started out offering services that provide various strategies that utilize the effectiveness of video marketing. Aside from creating professional, high-quality and cost effective videos that communicate with the viewers using a unique and authentic approach, video marketing Chicago also teaches their clients the basic principles on how to engage customers using internet video production. Some of these principles include - maximum video exposure, product or service credibility and a good call to action to encourage the viewers to purchase.

Video marketing Chicago incorporates the power of established internet marketing such as affiliate marketing, pay-per-click, social networking and article marketing with internet video production. This allows clients to receive full optimization from the internet, meeting the authentic, information-seeking needs of a typical selective and skeptical consumer.

At first, video advertising Chicago only became an ideal online marketing tool for clients who own large scale businesses.  This was clearly a misapprehension which may be due to the impact of the expenses of traditional broadcast advertising production. The truth is, video advertising Chicago can greatly increase the competency of lawyers, doctors, brokers and other professionals. If used efficiently, even business organizations can leverage corporate video Chicago as a dynamic research tool by providing the target market with authentic and narrative videos. Corporate video Chicago is also an excellent choice for business owners to create videos that are perfectly made for branding a business and develop a vital connection with their current and future customers.


Website video Chicago has many service providers for local and country-wide businesses. These companies ensure that high quality videos with inspiring content for viewers to have a positive brand experience. Lastly, Website video Chicago creates videos that can emotionally engage viewers while at the same time build trust which is the backbone of every successful business.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Chicago Video Production: The New Face of Internet Marketing

Taking your business online can dramatically increase your sales, while at the same time provide your business unparalleled exposure. In the United States, traditional advertising (TV, radio and print) is not nearly as effective as it was in bygone days. For business owners who are targeting a large scale market with these established tactics, online marketing offers a much less expensive and much more specific way to reach these audiences--not to mention its effects are generally felt much faster. There are many methods by which businesses can market themselves online, from social media outreach to pay-per-click campaigns, each having its own particular advantages. However, many savvy marketers are now turning to an entirely new strategy: video production, and its chief component, videography.

Video productions were, for the majority of advertising history, cost prohibitive for a large swathe of the business community. Then came the revolution. Spurred by fantastically rapid advances in technology, the tools of the video creation trade have plummeted in expense significantly over the past decade. This has birthed two very important, and industry altering, developments. The first, is that the necessary technologies for video productions have become more affordable to a wider range of incomes; the second, by default, being that many businesses who could not previously afford video production can now pair up with creatives who can provide them this service at an attractive and feasible cost. Due to these changes, hundreds of companies all over the United States have popped up that provide digital video solutions to a wide range of clientele. Aware of the supreme effectiveness of the web as a marketing medium, the majority of the fruits of this new media labor are finding their residences on websites and in search engines.

Videography Chicago

One market which has seen impressive growth in this trend is Video Production Chicago. As more and more of that blustery city's business owners experience the potent benefits of internet marketing, they often find themselves incorporating online video production and online video marketing into their advertising arsenal. Providers within the field of Video Production Chicago have met this demand, and are continually developing advanced tactics in both video creation, hosting, and exposure. One of the primary types of video that businesses find is paying off is Video Profiles. These videos offer a brief, but comprehensive, view into the business in question: educating as well as emoting. This mix of information and feeling succeeds particularly well, as it allows prospects the information they require to satisfy their logic, as well as the human dimension that they need to satisfy the social core of their nature.

Chicago's video producers are perpetually assisting employers, entrepreneurs and merchandisers in coping with the constantly changing markets that they are a part of. Not only do these producers offer video creation services, but include options for hosting and distribution as well. Many of these Chicago video production companies have full studio set-ups that allow their clients to come in for a few hours and casually complete their video effort, as well as full service units that can travel on location and produce the video there.

If you are a business owner within the Chicago land area, and are seeking a service that will offer you an enhanced image, a leg up on your competition, and a significant return on investment, video production Chicago is a solid solution.