Using Online Video to Sell

by Ken Price  at shopwatchbuy.com


September 30, 2009

One might be surprised by how much the average person takes for granted, especially as it pertains to the constant worldwide exchange of information, also known as telecommunications. Easily accessible from almost any location on earth, many experts have even considered branding our age the Information Age.

It’s time to activate the turn signal. Ready or not, it’s time to enter the information highway--only it should now probably be deemed the information superhighway. What began as a simple link between computers in some research laboratory has now taken the world by storm.

The Internet has grown exponentially (doubled, tripled, etc.), but so has the infrastructure to support it. There are now more Internet Service Providers (ISPs), boasting more servers to accommodate transfer of gigabytes (a gigabyte is 1 billion bytes), or even terabytes (1 trillion bytes) of information yearly. Incessant demand has spoken, and both hardware and software developers have responded with surprising speed.

Exploding almost as quickly as the Internet, savvy marketers have kicked their efforts into overdrive and sought to develop new and innovative ways to advertise products and services online. The world has witnessed the birth of entire online market places, like Amazon and E-bay. Companies like these have forged a path in the market and created excitement in the general public.

Once again, the heavy demand for more and more online services and products, in more and more places worldwide, has driven businesses to constantly seek better ways to put their products in the minds, and eventually the hands, of consumers.

The point here is that the seemingly unlimited growth of both the Internet and online marketing have pushed the phenomenon of online shopping to the brink of an entirely unforeseen stage, except by the visionary of course. The build up of software, hardware and of ever faster servers, which have facilitated faster and faster connection speeds leading to advances in wireless providers, have made it so that it’s never been easier to upload personal video to the Internet. It seems like it is the latest craze; everyone is doing it now. In fact many of the latest computers and laptops are routinely equipped with video technology.

Such technological growth has spilled over into other fields as well. More varieties of digital cameras are offering more memory storage, and longer video recording intervals. Too, most of the latest cell phones are equipped both with digital cameras and video capabilities. Indeed, it is almost impossible to not end up starring in someone’s personal video log, friend or foe.

Consequently, most people encountered on a daily basis are more technologically savvy than ever before. Gone are the days of being considered daring, or “progressive“, for dabbling with cell phones or iPhones. More average people everywhere are snapping and sharing digital photos, text messaging, and sending favorite video clips.

Additionally, more people are relying on mobile and wireless technology for both work and play. Hence, the world of information and communication has been scaled down to now fit directly into the average person’s hip pocket, or pocketbook; such communication devices are now more affordable than they have ever been. Competition has been fierce. The stage has now been set, and the advertisement world is now ready to embrace online video advertisement, where yet again demand will warrant a rush of businesses to capitalize on the market.

ShopWatchBuy.com is launching into relatively uncharted territory, and the possibilities are endless.

Advertising Products with Online Video is Beneficial to All

Online video advertisement bumps online shopping up to an entirely new level. Shopping is transformed from the mundane chore of clicking through endless images on a flat monitor into an engaging and fulfilling experience. It turns a tedious process into a business interaction between the product’s seller and its purchaser.

One may even see the basic science behind the difference. Traditionally, it is hard to see the overall quality of a product online, especially when its images are posted in snapshots. This stationary (immoveable) effect is a major limitation of the typical jpeg format, leaving the product to appear lifeless on the screen.

On the other hand, an online video allows a customer to see a product more like it appears in reality; it allows one to get a more 3-dimensional sense of the product than is presented in otherwise static images. A customer is permitted to get an idea of a product‘s actual size and appearance, not to mention that he or she may even be treated to a dynamic demonstration of the product at work. This is clearly something that is impossible to determine merely by clicking through images. This latter has been sufficient in the past, but more is required to seal the deal.

The dynamic experience an online video advertisement creates leaves the potential buyer with a lasting impression in more ways than one. It allows the potential buyer to interact with the product, but it also allows the buyer to meet the seller, even if in a limited capacity. Shoppers can now do from home, in a few minutes, what he or she used to have to devote a day driving around to do. Shopping with online videos saves them precious time, money, and gas.

On the other end, a seller has the unique opportunity to not only be a sales person, but to also be a teacher and a friend, to discuss his or her product’s history, current condition, features, limitations, etc. A seller can make eye contact via the computer monitor. In one sense, online video advertisement resurrects the old direct barter days, a time when a person’s character meant just as much as the product he or she was selling. Thanks to this innovative approach, buyers are afforded a greater confidence about a product before they even pay a cent.

Yet another fact that makes online video advertisement so appealing is that, thanks to advances in technology, society is becoming increasingly more visually oriented. Kids these days grow up with video games, email, and cell phones equipped with features that their parents could only have dreamed of. The result has been a countless number of people that rely on visually interacting with whatever they encounter. Hence, advertising with online videos increases the chance that a customer will remember the products and/or services they view online.

Still, videos are not necessary for every stage of the selling process. Ultimately, clicking through images is easier than waiting for a video to load and play. What this means is that by the time a customer chooses to view a product’s accompanying video, he or she has already narrowed down the search quite a bit. He or she may be teetering on the brink of the sale, and the video could be the tool that convinces him/her to close the sale.

Concluding Remarks

Clearly the world is ready to move online advertisement to the next level. The information superhighway is in place, as is the technological infrastructure to support it. ShopWatchBuy.com offers online video advertisement to everyone. And advertising with online videos provides customers with one on one encounters both with merchandise and with merchants, leaving them with lasting impressions when it matters most: when they are in the crucial decision-making process.

Why use online video for products? The answer is simple: seeing is believing!

by Ken Price at shopwatchbuy.com