More and more online businesses and internet marketers are
recognizing the tremendous benefits and responsiveness that
multimedia generates when used as an advertising medium and
marketing strategy.
For those that utilize multimedia effectively, significant
increases in buy rates, conversion rates and subscription
rates have been experienced and all within a very short period
of time. However, many believe that just adding any old media
content, such as video and audio onto their website will generate
significant increases in visitor responsiveness regardless of
content presentation, quality, and other attributes that
contribute to a positive experience for the website visitor.
Just so that we are clear, this assertion is very wrong and can
have potentially negative consequences from a marketing and/or
advertising standpoint.
My philosophy is quite simple. Using multimedia to advertise
your product or service needs to follow the same basic rules and
principles as would apply to any other strategy or medium that can
be used to convert prospects into subscribers and buyers. Yes,
multimedia does improve conversion rates but it has to be done right
and convey professionalism. This is absolutely essential.
When it comes to video and audio content online, what's often been
the case is that those who have tried to add this type of media
content to their websites have unfortunately had disastrous results.
For example, with video content, many have added videos to their
webpages that are of extremely poor quality, small and ugly. The
overall experience for the viewer - Poor. One of the biggest
problems has been the fact that the videos load very slowly.
Visitors are turned off completely by the fact that they have to
wait for minutes, even longer sometimes in order for the video or
audio file to start playing. This, unfortunately, is a result of
these “webmasters” using cookie-cutter solutions to add video or
audio content to their site without really knowing the implications
and limitations. As I said, with multimedia...either do it right
or don't do it at all. For those who do their research and take a
little time to produce video and audio content that is of good
quality, the results have been tremendous.
Bottom Line: If you want to capture the attention of your visitors,
you need to use top notch technology to bring your message to that
person and provides the viewer with a positive experience.
If you do plan on adding video and audio content to your website,
here are a few simple guidelines to follow when determining what
the best multimedia solution is for you:
1. Cost Effective: You need a solution that doesn't cost an arm
and a leg and leaves you with great video and/or audio content
on your website but flat broke.
2. Fast loading Media Content (Video/Audio) that can play almost
immediately. Website visitors are fickle and inpatient so its
not wise to keep them waiting when trying to view your video
advertisement or listen to your audio message.
3. Superior Website Integration: Video and Audio Content that
can appear to be seamlessly Integrated into your websites and
emails. Viewers don't have to view video and audio ads with
media player's that annoyingly pop-up on top of their internet
browsers and distract them from the rest of your website.
4. Superior Customization: Video and Audio Advertisements that
can be customized for your websites and emails based on your
specific requirements.
5. The ability to handle a large volume of simultaneous
visitors.
6. Large-Scale Playability: Viewing/Listening DOES NOT require the
download of additional plug-ins. Don't make your visitors have to
download any special software to view or listen to the video and
audio content on your website.
7. The media content needs to be of reasonably good quality and
resolution. Don't worry, you don't need Lord of the Rings quality
to provide your website visitors with a positive experience. They
won't expect perfect quality but you need to make sure that the
content is of good quality.
Of course, we can get into specific details about each one of
these things but we won't get into that in this article. These
are just high-level, general guidelines that you can follow
when shopping around for a good multimedia solution for your
business.
Multimedia does have impressive results from a marketing
perspective. That's why the big companies and brand names are
utilizing multimedia content to sell their products and services.
However, not everyone has the exact same budget and requirements
and if you are looking for a multimedia solution you need to
spend some time shopping around to find a solution that offers
the best bang for the buck.
