Lights, Camera, Success!! Are you ready for a Video Business Card

89 million people in the United States are going to watch over 1.2 Billion videos TODAY. Around the world, businesses large and small have realized that web video is becoming the most powerful and cost effective platform for communicating with customers and prospects.

Back in the mid 1980’s, sales and marketing leadership had limited but traditional options for lead generation and customer contact. Direct mail and postcards were the norm. The telephone was still king, and display advertising was the method of choice for promoting your brand and growing sales.

Several years later, electronic mail or email became commercially viable and the immediacy of online communications created a whole new culture. Fast forward to the present day and video is once again, changing the manner in which companies market and sell. In 2009, over two-thirds of marketers identified online video as a primary focus in their digital marketing campaigns. Today, web video marketing is a staple. It has become the primary element of Internet marketing that helps customers and prospects understand and connect with companies branding and products.

Video marketing is the most powerful and efficient marketing and communications tools that we can use online. A recent study suggested that we are bombarded with over 2000 messages every day, yet we only remember 65. Another completely independent survey confirms that very low rate of retention, but goes a step further in looking at the message retention for the various means of communication:

• Reading 10% retention
• Hearing 20% retention
• Seeing 30% retention
• Hearing and seeing 50% retention

Video is the most powerful attention getting medium with the highest rate of retention. Here are the stats that prove online video is without a doubt the way forward for business.

• A 60 second video is worth 1.8 million words - Forrester, January 09

• Video viewers converted at a 400% increase - Internet Retailer, December 2009

• Video increases the chance of a front-page Google result by 53 times - Forrester, January 2010

• Visitors who view video stay two minutes longer - Comscore, August 2010

• Video in email marketing can increase click-through rates by over 96% - Implix 2010

• Video views doubled to 33.2 billion from Jan 09' to Dec 09' - Comscore - February 2010

• 5 times more recall after watching video - Yahoo, March 2010

People buy from people they know, they like and trust. Web video is the perfect platform to build relationships with customers and prospects. As your social media marketing strategy evolves, consider the value that video can bring to your brand and your business.