Today we will be breaking down a brand story released by Starbucks to promote its new Veranda (blonde) Roast.

First, Watch the Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtBtHxSDpa0

This is a great example of brand storytelling. Let’s take it beat by beat.

The Aesthetics

The very first image is a high-contrast black-and-white photograph of a hip twentysomething Starbucks barista at work. Immediately the audience knows what this video is selling, and they are either drawn in by the aesthetic of the black-and-white stills or they aren’t. The chosen style of the photographs over motion video is not for everyone, and Starbucks understands that. This video is not trying to please everybody, and that is one of its strongest assets.

Also, all of the voice-over used in this video is unscripted. As a result, the piece feels authentic, real, and touchable. When you’re dealing with non-professional actors, it is almost always better to go unscripted. Actors are paid lots of money to make scripted words sound off-the-cuff because it is a difficult thing to do, so don’t put that burden on the untrained.

It would seem, based on these aesthetics, that Starbucks saw their audience as somewhat corporate-resistant young people (not just millennials) who see themselves as appreciating the boutique, the specialty, and the hand-crafted product.

Inciting Incident: Starbucks Customers Are Unsatisfied

The first line of voice-over is: “A lot of customers come in and say, you know, I love Starbucks, but your coffee’s too strong for me.”

In the very first line, they are presenting a problem — Starbucks has left “a lot” of customers unfulfilled in the past. This statement is a disarmer for the audience and builds trust. The audience thinks, “Well, if Starbucks is willing to say they haven’t satisfied ‘a lot’ of their customers, they must be telling me the truth, because why would a business make up a negative?” It earns the video a lot of credibility. It also implies a personal, local touch from a major national brand.

Object of Desire: Starbucks Wants to Satisfy These Unsatisfied Customers

After that line of voice-over, the video cuts to a title card that reads: “So we wanted to create a lighter roast for them.”

The main character is identified as “we,” or the Starbucks brand, and the character’s object of desire is stated plainly: “to satisfy customers who want a lighter roast.” The major dramatic question has been presented: “Will Starbucks please its customers?” We, the audience, intrinsically know that this story will end with an answer to that question.

This title card also follows the storytelling principle of “Buts and Therefores”. The sentence only makes sense when taken in context with what came before it. All stories are a series of actions and reactions, causes and effects. It’s what creates the push-pull of story. Where people get into trouble is when they start writing “and then, and then, and then,” instead of “but,” “therefore,” or in this case, “so.”

Presenting the idea of brewing a lighter roast as a reaction to customer complaints (instead of a disconnected thought) tells the audience that a) Starbucks listens to its customers’ criticisms, and b) Starbucks is inclusive and wants everyone to be happy with their product, not just the customers that “get it.” Remember, it is in the main character’s reaction to obstacles that tells us the most about him/her.

Obstacle: The Challenge of Craftsmanship

The next line of voice-over is “Light roast? I mean, this is something that we had never done before.”

Everyone can relate to the fear of the unknown and the struggle to accomplish something new you’ve never done before. In order for our main character (Starbucks) to get its object of desire (satisfy the unsatisfied customers), they will have to jump into the deep end of the pool and sink or swim.

Progressive Complication: 80 Tries

Immediately following the voice-over, we are presented with a montage of title cards that read, “Ver. 1,” “Ver. 2,” “Ver. 3,” and so on.

Seeing these titles intercut with more photographs of coffee roasting tells us that Starbucks has begun the process of crafting the lighter roast. This is the most cinematic aspect of the video in that it plays on the montage theory pioneered by Russian filmmakers Lev Kuleshov and V.I. Pudovkin in the 1920s — two unrelated images (a photograph of a man sipping coffee and a title card that reads “Ver. 1”), when cut together, create a third idea in the mind of the audience (“They are testing new product”).

Film is psychological magic.

The next line of voice-over: “When we were developing blonde roast, it was crazy. It was the whole coffee team in there roasting different kinds of coffees. Tasting all the flavors again and again.”

So, our main character’s effort to satisfy the unsatisfied customers is not easy. This is where what’s good for business storytelling and what’s good for business in real life diverge a bit. No doubt, Starbucks would’ve loved to nail it on their first try — it would’ve saved them time and money. But the fact that it didn’t come easy is fantastic for the story. In storytelling, everything moves forward through conflict.

More title cards flash across the screen: “Ver. 47,” “Ver. 48,”…

More voice-over: “One minute we knew we had it, or we thought we had it, then the next minute were like, ‘Ah… I don’t know if this is actually right.’ We had to make sure it was perfect.”

I’m impressed that Starbucks was willing to imply so much struggle in their story, because this is not a comfortable thing for a business to do. Most companies are afraid to show challenges, problems or struggles because they perceive it as a risk to their brand image. But Starbucks, with guidance from the agency that produced this video, understood that every story needs an underdog. The end product may be “perfect,” but nobody relates to easily-acquired perfection.

With each new version of the roast, “Ver. 50,” “Ver. 51,” the dramatic stakes are rising. More money is being spent. More time is being invested. The audience interprets, “Boy, Starbucks must really care about this thing they’re making!”

Voice-over: “… and that took 80 tries.”

Turning Point: Success

The final bit of voice-over “Holy cow. This is really light. This is really good! With blonde roast, we have something for everybody.”

The initial setup of the object of desire, “we wanted to create a lighter roast for them,” is paid off directly with “we have something for everybody.” The major dramatic question has been answered, the narrative arc has been closed. Our main character (the Starbucks brand) has achieved success.

If StoryFirst Media had produced this spot, here is where we might have made one adjustment.

Instead of just cutting from “that took 80 tries” to the success of developing the perfect light roast, it may have been better to include the final dramatic decision that brought about the success. After 79 versions of the roast, what was the last thing that pushed it over the edge from good to great? What was the dilemma? Were they about to give up until someone had the perfect idea? Were there two (or more) perfect ideas that had to be pit against each other?

Including a final dramatic decision or action is what really creates the turning point. As it stands in the finished video, the decision to develop 80 different roasts effectively doubles as the progressive complication and final dramatic action, so it certainly works. The choice to not include a final dramatic action may have been made in the interest of time (the video’s total run time is 1 minute, 2 seconds), and that would be understandable. It would be difficult for every business story to include every storytelling element, and this one certainly does more than the vast majority.

The Lasting Impact on the Audience

Now that Starbucks has told a complete brand story to promote its Veranda (blonde) Roast, the audience can now see themselves in the story and tell their own version to others. With this story, Starbucks has fostered an environment for customer loyalty and word-of-mouth. One can easily imagine the conversation among friends.

“I can’t drink Starbucks. Too strong for me.”

“Yeah? Have you tried their new blonde roast? I heard it took them 80 tries to get it right.”

In an age of increased digital connectedness at the expense of real-world interaction, people everywhere are drawn to the specialty, hand-made product — a product that was made with all the care and humanity of the development team. Just like the pleasure of a handwritten letter, Starbucks Veranda Roast took time, thought, and effort to craft.

Starbucks was smart enough to mold that message into a story instead of just a “video,” and their audience will carry the story with them.

The post Great Brand Stories, Vol. I : Starbucks appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

In 1994, astrophysicist Kip Thorne wrote the book “Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy”.

The title of the book sounds daunting. One would assume it to be filled with scientific theories and language that would surely alienate any readers without a degree in astronomy or cosmology. So Mr. Thorne opened his first chapter with a story.

The story put the reader in the role of captain of a spacecraft commissioned with exploring the black hole called “Hades”. Your mission: study the black hole and radio back your findings.

As your spacecraft approaches the black hole, your sensors detect evidence of the hole’s presence. “The atoms of gas that sparsely populate interstellar space, approximately one in each cubic centimeter, are being pulled by the hole’s gravity. If something isn’t done, your starship too will be sucked in.”

Kip Thorne didn’t decide to open his book with a story just because it’s fun (though it is!). There is very deliberate purpose behind this. By opening with a story where the “reader as spaceship captain” is teetering on the brink of a black hole, he has put the audience in the position of needing to know how the story ends – how the captain maneuvers around the black hole. In essence, the reader is now asking for the science of black holes.

This is the essence of purposeful storytelling. By telling stories, we create a gap – a void – that the audience desperately wants to fill in, and the answer to their call – the thing that will satiate their desperation – is your data, features, messaging, facts, etc.

In Thorne’s book, the power of drama compels the audience to seek out how black holes work in order to find out how the story ends. Without the story, many readers would have a hard time just dryly learning the facts. The story gives the facts meaning – a place of momentary priority in their lives.

As brand storytellers, we spend a lot of time talking about the differences between traditional advertising and storytelling. Sometimes it’s easier to articulate what storytelling is not.

Storytelling is not:

–       a list of features and benefits

–       product specs

–       data

–       a mood

–       a style

–       a sequence of events

–       a slice of life

–       your brand messaging

In business, storytelling is the art of making your data, features, benefits and messaging vital to the lives of your audience. This is not a foofy, soft, or intangible thing. It’s grounded in a series of straightforward, practical principles and human psychology.

You want your audience to care about your message, your product specs, or your data. Fair enough. Ask yourself, “When in my day-to-day life do I crave information?”

Human beings seek out information when there is a gap of understanding, resources, or knowledge that they need to fill. So as storytellers, our job is to create that need – a carefully crafted absence of information that begs a solution.

In storytelling, you craft a narrative with a turning point that causes the audience to subconsciously ask for your information. So what is a turning point?

World-renowned storytelling guru Robert McKee believes there are four components to a turning point:

–       Surprise (“Wow! I didn’t expect that to happen!”)

–       Curiosity (“Wait… why did that happen?”)

–       Insight (“Ahh… that is why it happened. And here is how I can avoid this obstacle in the future.”)

–       New Direction (“With this new information, I will take this new action moving forward to make sure I avoid this obstacle in the future.”)

If we revisit Kip Thorne’s short story, what if in the next moment, the starship is sucked into the black hole and everybody on board dies? The reader would first experience surprise. “Whoa! I didn’t expect that to happen!” The very next thought would be, “Why did that happen?”

And with that question the reader is right where Mr. Thorne wanted them. They are now asking for his scientific theory.

This is the major boon of brand storytelling, for how else do you get your audience to consciously ask for your data?

The post How Storytelling Creates a Need for Your Data appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

Back in 2011 when I was deep in editing for my documentary Last Day at Lambeau, I realized the movie didn’t work and I was mere weeks away from film festival submission deadlines.

The movie was about the relationship between sports fans and their heroes through the prism of Brett Favre’s separation from the Green Bay Packers. Through the telling of that story, I was hoping to reveal something about the human condition and what it means to devote yourself to an activity that you have zero control over.

At that time, the movie opened with a 5-minute or so history of Brett Favre’s time in Green Bay and establishing why he meant so much to the state of Wisconsin. But when I screened the film to trusted colleagues and friends, it just didn’t feel like the opening was strong enough.

To a certain extent, who cares why Favre meant what he meant to Wisconsin? All that mattered (from a storytelling perspective) was that Wisconsin loved him. That’s it. Every member of the audience had had an idol at some time in their lives and they could easily recognize themselves in that concept. The facts that he threw so many touchdowns or started so many consecutive games weren’t as compelling as the relationship itself.

But my movie was still missing a human touch. A soul. A voice the audience could connect with.

I had not wanted to include myself in the film. Not because I was shy (I’m not) or because I’m not good enough (I am), but because I felt it would be distracting. I thought it would come across as me forcing my way into a story I wasn’t a part of. This was about fans and their team, not about me making the movie.

But what I was failing to see in that moment was that I was the fan. By attaching my own personal experiences growing up in a Packers fan household, going to Packers training camp and idolizing my heroes, that was a more specific and more human way to approach the film’s soul than any list of dates on a timeline.

So I read my own voiceover and I spoke in the first person. I made sure the audience knew that I was a fan, and as such, I was a part of this story, and by extension so were all of them. Whether you were a fan of the Packers, Yankees, Longhorns, Muhammad Ali or Barack Obama, you could identify to the concept of being passionate about something.

And that opened my film to a much wider audience than it ever would’ve had.

Don’t be afraid to be a central figure in your story. It is your story, after all.

The post You Are Your Story’s Hero appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

On January 24, 1978, Steven Spielberg was sitting in a writers’ room with George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. They were hard at work structuring a story about a pseudo grave-robber in the 1930s who searches for the Lost Ark of the Covenant.

That story would eventually become the first Indiana Jones film.

At one point in the conversation, the three filmmakers were struggling to craft a simple communication of an important plot point. The point they had to get across to the audience was how multiple broken pieces of ancient metal Indy finds could fit together to form a staff.

“One of the things is to demonstrate, not talk about it,” Spielberg remarked.

What did he mean?

Well, one way to communicate a complex idea to an audience is to literally talk about it, or have a character explain the thing in explicit terms. But Spielberg is a brilliant visual storyteller, so he knows that cold exposition is never very engaging.

So he proposed an example of how they could communicate this idea.

“Like a beautiful vase on a table, that is worth a complete fortune, and they’re all looking at this, and a man carefully puts his glasses on, looks at the vase, takes a hammer and breaks the thing. He divides the pieces up to be shipped all over the world, and sold. ‘I hate doing this. I hate destroying great art, but it’s a living.’ Bam. Crash. You realize this is what happens to all great works of art to make more money for the greedy bastards. And the audience realizes that is why the staff is in several pieces.”

Audiences will always respond better to demonstrations of your idea as opposed to explanations of your idea.

So, how does this figure into brand storytelling?

We encounter this all the time at StoryFirst Media. In an interview for a brand in the sales industry, the interview subject will complement his colleague with the following line:

“She’s great. If someone asks her a question and she doesn’t know the answer, she’ll find the answer.”

That’s all well and good as a complement, but it’s incredibly boring for an audience who very likely does not personally know the “great” colleague in question.

Instead of talking about the colleague in a positive way, what if the interview subject had given a positive demonstration of her efforts? What if he’d told a story?

“I remember this one time my colleague we presented with a very challenging question that she did not have an answer for. This question came from a client that needed an answer by the end of the day, and my colleague’s calendar was booked for the rest of the afternoon. By five o’clock, she had managed to clear her schedule just enough to find some extra time to investigate the issue and get the client what they needed on time. Also, the meetings she had to reschedule to make time ended up working better for those other clients than the originally scheduled time, so everyone was happy.”

While this is a vague hypothetical, you get the point. A story like this presents the audience with the dilemma the colleague was facing and forces them to acknowledge the professional manner with which she navigated her way through it.

Your audience will thank you for allowing them to make up their own damn minds about what your point is, and if you tell the story right, they will commit your message to memory far more frequently than a cold statement.

Don’t talk about things. Demonstrate them.

The post Demonstrate. Don’t Explain. appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

When was the last time you actually enjoyed watching a traditional corporate video? If you’re like me, it’s been a damn long time (if ever). So why do we keep making them?

I’ll define what I mean by ‘corporate video’. A corporate video (in the traditional sense) is a piece of video that forgoes an authentic, emotional connection with the audience so that a company can squeeze in as many message statements, facts and data as they can.

Brands have messages that need communicating. There’s no doubt about that. The thought of communicating these messages through video sounds like a fun alternative to a white paper or memo – and it is! When you make a video for your company, you’re thinking your audience will enjoy receiving your message this way because it’s like a little movie — and who doesn’t love movies?

But people love movies when the filmmakers’ goal is to connect with and move the audience. The goal of traditional corporate videos is to dress up and stylize a brand message. See the difference?

Video alone won’t do the trick. As we all know, there are plenty of booooring videos out there. Video is not inherently “fun.”

Boring corporate videos are typically made when brands take their white paper copy and dryly put the words into the mouths of on-screen faces. For example, if your brand message is “We Value Our Clients,” it is a boring decision to put your company’s president in front of a camera and have him utter the words, “we value our clients.”

Instead, show your audience that your company values its clients. Make me care about what you do.

Anything you can capture visually through action will speak a thousand times louder than the words “we value our clients.” Did you have your clients to the office holiday party? Did you join hands with your clients at a recent charity event? Even better – is there a specific problem you solved for your client that reflects the core values of your brand?

Now, if you stopped here you would be fine. You will have taken your brand messaging out of the black abyss that is traditional corporate video. But if you want to add that little extra sauce to make your communication even more authentic and impactful, resist the urge to say “we value our clients” after showing that you do.

I know it’s hard. You want to make it explicitly clear how awesome your company is. But it’s good to let the actions on the screen speak for themselves. Your audience will appreciate it. Why?

What if every time your friend did something nice for you he then said, “I value my friends”? It’s like patting yourself on the back, and nobody likes someone who only does things for the recognition.

This is all about respecting your audience. While every brand has something to communicate, the method of communication must start with listening to your audience. How can your video actively contribute to your audience’s lives? How can you show them you understand them? How can you overcome the natural human resistance to “being sold” so that your audience will listen to your message?

Take a cue from Hollywood and make the goal of your video connecting with and moving your audience.

If you truly listen to your audience with an open heart and mind (don’t just wait for your turn to deliver ‘the message’), finding the best way to connect with them in a relevant way becomes clear. Traditional corporate video will never be the most effective approach.

And then we can all live in a world without traditional corporate videos. I’ll drink to that.

The post Stop Making Corporate Videos! appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

It may be a surprise to realize that people can have trust in someone who is unethical or even criminal. Having trust is more about believing in another person. However, the degree to which one person trusts another is a reflection of belief in the other person’s honesty, fairness, and benevolence. Important for establishing initial trust in business is that fact that a failure in trust is more easily forgiven if it is due to a failure in competence rather than a lack of benevolence or honesty. As a result, sometimes a business providing inferior services may fare better with their customers than a company providing superior services – at least temporarily – if people feel the first company is honest and means well.

The phenomenon of trust is summed up in the following definition. It is described as a “heuristic decision rule, allowing the human to deal with complexities that would require unrealistic effort in rational reasoning.” Lets break this definition down. Heuristic processes are trial and error approaches to problem solving which begin with the most accessible solution and go on to another solution, only if the first solution doesn’t solve the problem. In terms of business, if a customer finds himself interacting with a business owner that he intrinsically wishes to trust because the owner appears benevolent, good-natured, and well meaning – then the customer will prefer to trust the owner and do business rather than get involved into complex rational thought about what might go wrong in the business relationship.

So, what does this have to do with putting a video on page ONE of your website have to do with trust?. When a surfer goes onto your website and thinks about doing business with you – someone he’s never met – he can rapidly be won over by a short online video of you talking with him. If he is engaged by your story and connects with your personality then he will immediately wish to trust you and do business you – because that will be the easiest solution for him to take.

And this leaves us with one more important take-away lesson. A front page video needn’t trouble itself with a description of company features and benefits. It simply needs to provide a relevant reason for the user to trust the owner / business. A short 1 to 2 minute story, passionately told by the owner saying that he established the family potato chip business 30 years ago because he wanted to provide people with a crispy chip that wouldn’t lose its favor in the package is a fine example that will win trust right away.

The post Establish Trust With A Front Page Web Video appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

There’s no doubt that online video marketing is on the rise. Numerous studies and statistics prove that video works. In fact, Forrester Research found that videos were 50 times more likely to receive an organic first page ranking than traditional text pages. That’s a pretty impressive stat!

Online video marketing is attractive to many businesses today for numerous reasons. Making videos and posting them online is fairly inexpensive. Plus, online videos stay online forever. If you spend the money to record once, your video could still be getting views a year from now.

In addition, social media sites and video go hand in hand and most sites encourage video posting and sharing. The viral video opportunities are endless when you use the right strategies to create and post your videos online.

If you’re new to video, or have been thinking about flipping on your camera for the first time, here are some tips and strategies to get you going.
Six Quick Tips to Optimize Your Videos

Once you record your video, follow these tips to make sure it reaches your core audience and gets the views it deserves.

#1: Make your title count

Just like a headline to a blog post, video titles can pull powerful traffic. There are two main reasons why the title is so important. One, a great title can instantly grab a viewer’s attention. Two, when you use the appropriate keywords in your title, you are more likely to show up on search engines when people are searching for your topic. And remember Google owns YouTube, so there’s a story connection between video and searching.

#2: Provide excellent content

Take some time to think about your ideal viewer. What do you know that they’ll find valuable? What can you teach them? “How-to” videos are extremely successful because not only do they offer great value to your viewer, but also you’re able to showcase your knowledge and skill, thus positioning yourself as an expert. This is key as you continue to grow your brand.

Also, no matter how good your content is, it won’t matter if your video is too long and you lose your viewer’s attention. Try to keep them short.

In late 2009, ComScore reported that the average video was 3.8 minutes in length.

#3: Include your URL in your video

When you edit your video, take advantage of the different editing features. One easy feature is to add a text box to your video. This is where you can display your website address and it’s a great way to get exposure.

Here’s a screen shot of Mari Smith’s YouTube channel. Notice how she used a text box in her video to display key information, including her website URL at the end of her video. Smart move!

For the remainder of the article click here.

The post 16 Tips for Successful Online Video Marketing appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

Making and distributing good B2B video content takes time. It isn’t a quick process to arrange a video shoot, edit video and then upload it to the social web. This work though can come with a substantial pay-off if as a B2B company you understand how to do the little things to maximize the effectiveness of online video.

When it comes to online video several issues exist. Search engines don’t index the content of video well. People can’t always watch video at work because of firewall issues and out of date software. Today’s tips are to help fix some of these issues and to make sure that ROI of online video is maximized.

7 Online Video Tips Every B2B Marketer Should Know

1. Always Include URL In A Video Description – This first tip is so simple but so many businesses don’t do it. Most video sharing sites including YouTube, allow the first 30 characters of a video description to be an active URL. Not only does it make it easy to generate leads back to your site from videos, but this links also count in Google’s PageRank system. Meaning if you publish a lot of video and put links in each of them your organic search ranking in Google will be improved.

2. When Blogging A Video Include A Text Summary – This is a tactic that may add a little more time to getting your video published, but is completely worth it. A good example of this is what the folks at HubSpot TV are doing. Under each of the video is a series a bullet points that summarize what the video covers. While this is great for people who can’t watch the video it also provides text for search engines to better index your video blog posts. Adding text with video is a valuable inbound marketing opportunity.

3. Three Short Videos Are Better Than one Long Video – People have short attention spans when it comes to the web. As marketers providing content it is important that we understand this. Online videos should be short, ideally around 3 minutes, or even shorter. If you have a 10 minute interview, then break it up into smaller interviews. Besides improving the chances that more people will watch it, it also provides the opportunity to focus headlines that fit with different messages within the video.

See the remaining tips at: Social Media B2B

The post 7 Online Video Tips Every B2B Marketer Should Know appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

Successful online advertising isn’t just about the channel — from search to display to video — it’s about storytelling. When ads incorporate narrative elements, they increase interaction rates and the audience’s willingness to consider the product, react, or even move towards a purchase. Savvy advertisers know that nothing tells a story better than video. I would propose that the power of storytelling through sight, sound and motion is the reason why video is the fastest growing form of online advertising. eMarketer estimates that online video ad spending will grow 48% to $1.5 billion this year and hit $5.5 billion by 2014.

It’s now easier than ever for advertisers to choose online video, whether they’re national retailers or political candidates at the local level just beginning these efforts. The issue isn’t why use online video to tell your story, but how online video should tell your story. Even more important, how do you use online video to further your marketing strategy, tell a great story and generate concrete results? Let’s start by agreeing that not all online video advertising is created equal — or equal to every task — and start to build a holistic online video advertising strategy. Storytelling should move your audience emotionally and logically through the purchase funnel. Understanding how video works across that funnel and where to apply your resources at each stage is the key to unlocking that value.

Introduction – Create Awareness. The beginning of a story should grab viewers’ attention and introduce them to new places, characters, and concepts. At this stage, your video advertising must be disruptive and impactful. In-stream video is most effective in this case because it takes a short time to introduce and create awareness of your product or service. Much like television, the ad is presented in the course of viewing. So, if you are introducing a new product, then focus on driving awareness via broad in-stream buys. The goal is to disrupt, be brief, and be broad-based. And how do you know if you were successful? Research can clearly show when audiences exposed to your advertising have a higher awareness of your product than those who saw nothing.

For the rest of this article, click HERE.

The post Tell Me A Story: How Video Ads Can Drive The Best Results Online appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.

As of the beginning of 2010, do you know how many websites are live on the internet? The figure has now surpassed one hundred million. If you have a small business that operates on the internet then it is fundamental to keep ahead of the competition. The potential to make money online is vast, but not without keeping up to date with the newest trends in marketing.

The following tips are vital if you are going to maximize the number of hits your site receives:

1. Now some of the most popular sites on the internet are video sharing portals. There isn’t a net user in the world that has never visited You Tube. To increase your traffic you will need to enhance your visibility. If the customers aren’t coming to you then you need to go to them. By putting together a fun and interesting clip for You Tube you will be able to reach a wider audience.

2. Understand the target audience. If you are offering a service or selling products online then you should identify the market demographic in which you expect to receive the greatest number of sales. When designing the video be sure to cater to their specific tastes.

3. Grab attention. Today with so much choice when it comes to browsing the net it is important to be able to keep the attention of surfers. Any video you make needs to be short and snappy. Do not make it overly promotional; if possible try to advertise your message subliminally.

4. Put together informative videos such as guides. Many people use the net to look up information. For example if you have a website selling cookery products you could put together a short step by step video of how to bake a cake or make a pizza. This will attract visitors who then may be interested in your products. Also, such pages will stand a better chance of receiving high search engine placement.

To be sure to maintain a strong foothold in the online world in these times of increased competition and economic uncertainty then video marketing is a must. Please take action now and implement these tips I just gave you. The life of you business may depend on it.

The post 4 Online Video Marketing Survial Tactics For Your Small Business appeared first on StoryFirst Media Website.