Looking at Video on the Web with Ken McCarthy
Video, filmmaking, marketing and the web
"They laughed when I sat down at the piano,
but when I started to play…"
It’s one of the most famous direct response
headlines of all time.
Ad legend John Caples wrote it when he was
still in his twenties.
It was an ad for music lessons and not just
any music lessons, but a new-fangled, modern
age version: music lessons delivered by mail.
In 1994, I ended a talk I gave about the
future web with this statement:
"Someday we’re doing to look back and
wonder how we ever got a long with such
primitive technology."
As I looked at the videos on the Food Network’s
web site a similar thought ran through
my head. This time it sounded like this:
Is video magic?
Let me ask you a different question…
Is the Internet magic?
Not that long ago, some business people
actually thought that the Internet was magic.
They believed ANYTHING you put up on
the Internet would work.
Just a quick note…
You might find this interesting
It’s an article I posted to my blog.
It puts video on the Internet into
a historical perspective.
It’s called "Internet Version 4.0"
The blog is here:
http://www.kenmccarthy.com
The exact URL for the article is
here:
http://kenmccarthy.blogs.com/ken_mccarthy/2005/12/internet_versio.html#
Best,
Ken
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This issue is about how to find
great video people in your local
area and how to pick the one
that’s right for you.
In the last issue, I put a lot of focus
on an important business principle
– "make or buy" – as it applies to
to helping you decide on the best way
to get involved in video marketing on
the Internet.
Today, let’s focus on some ‘down and
dirty’ practical stuff.
Talking heads… No, not the rock group
from the 1980s, but the common video
presentation format.
Internet video can get confusing fast
As I’ve heard myself saying a lot lately
"It’s 1994 all over again."
1994 was the year the web really took
off.
It was a very exciting time, but it
was also incredibly challenging.
There were no clear pathways, but
there were thousands of voices screaming
"This is the way to go!"
The opportunity that Internet video
represents is going to be huge. There’s
no question about that.
If there is a question, it’s about how
you can take best advantage of it.
— The #1 most crucial question for you
to answer to insure success in this field
If you’re a serious direct marketer, you
probably already own a book written by
Dick Benson. He’s the guy who most people
agree was the world’s most successful direct
mail promoter.
In the last issue, I pointed you to an
Internet video web site that sells Halloween
costumes.
If you’re wondering about why anyone would
bother with video to sell such a seasonal
niche product consider this:
I hope you had a chance to check out the Macromedia site I pointed you to in the last issue.
It’s here in case you missed it:
www.macromedia.com/software/flash/flashpro/video/gallery
Here are some lessons I took away from my own
visit:
1. Flash video on web sites is growing at a much faster rate than Flash audio ever did and a lot of big players are already starting to use it.
2. Big companies and big media companies are well aware of the power of video and they’re going to be driving the growth of Internet video. The time is not far off when people will *expect* to see video on web sites.
3. Most of these companies are – predictably – using video for image and entertainment purposes only, not as an effective selling tool.
These three factors are going to create fantastic opportunities for fast moving entrepreneurs who
understand and know how to harness the power of direct response advertising.
Faster computers, bigger bandwidth, better compression, the emergence of universal video standards like Flash and QuickTime…
All these things add up to one thing:
Video on the Internet is on the verge of making the big breakout that so many of us have been waiting for.
What will this mean to you as a marketer?
Continue reading “Welcome to the Internet Video Marketing Newsletter”