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10 P a r t I Marketing Your Business Online with YouTube

Attracting Eyeballs

But is video the right way to promote your business? If you’ve never produced a
video or television ad, you might not be sure. But in many cases, a short video can
have tremendous positive effect on your website’s traffic or in orders generated via
800-number.

Let’s face it: Consumers love to watch videos. We’re becoming less a society of read-
ers and more one of watchers; the average consumer would rather watch a video
than read a text-based advertisement. Like it or not, you need to be aware of and
adapt your marketing mix to this trend.

And here’s the thing: The more interesting the video, the bigger the audience it will
attract. You can include a lot of information in a short three-minute video, and you
can present that information in an entertaining and engaging fashion. People like to
be entertained, educated, and informed, and online video can do all three things—
and, in the process, provide a clear picture of the product or service you’re offering.

DoubleClick conducted a survey in 2006 that codified the benefits of online video
advertising. Here’s what it found:

• A high percentage of audiences interact with video ads, via mouseovers,
use of the video control buttons, and so forth.

• Viewers click the Play button in video ads twice as often as they click
traditional image ads. In addition, click-through rates are four to five
times higher than with traditional text or image ads.

• Viewers actually watch video ads. On average, video ads play two thirds
of the way through.

Here’s how Rick Bruner, research director at DoubleClick, assessed the results:

Online video ads are quickly becoming the medium of choice to drive both brand
awareness and sales. The results show that there are clear ROI advantages to placing
video ads. We expect to see strong growth in the number of companies reaping the
benefits of online video advertising in the coming months and years.

Done effectively, a YouTube video can add a viral component to your company’s
web marketing strategy. You see, when you post a video to YouTube, that video takes
on a life of its own. It will be viewed by thousands of YouTube users, posted to
numerous websites and blogs, emailed around the Internet—you name it. Just make
sure you tailor your message to the YouTube crowd and you can start generating
traffic from the millions of people who frequent YouTube each day. Any user
watching your video is now a potential customer—assuming that you include your
website’s address or other contact information in the video itself.