Looking at Video on the Web with Ken McCarthy
Video, filmmaking, marketing and the web
You read it on this blog first (over the past twelve months), but the industry magazines are starting to catch on.
Here’s an excellent article on video and eCommerce in "Internet Retailing."
Click here for the article: Blending Video and eCommerce.
Enjoy!
Ken
A year and a half ago, Mike Stewart and I were on the phone talking about possible business uses for Internet video.
He pointed out that by simply using an online video to demonstrate how to set up a phone-recording unit he sells, he got a huge boost in his conversion rates.
Makes sense, right?
How many times have you shied away from a purchase, especially in the realm of consumer electronics, where you had the money and the desire, but just couldn’t figure out which model to buy?
I don’t know about you, but it happens to me all the time.
"Why don’t the consumer electronics companies train prospects to use their products with Internet video? Talk about a slam dunk and a massive ROI," I blurted out.
Well, either they were listening in on our conversation or great minds think alike.
Sony tried it (with help from a Austin-based company called Powered.) The result? Visitors to Sony’s online customer training site convert to buyers at the rate of 25%.
Now Sony is starting to syndicate this content to its retail partners like Circuit City.
Not all multi-billion dollar ideas need to be rocket science.
Hwo can YOU use this?
Google’s got video, Yahoo’s got video, eBay users are starting to use video – and now Amazon is entering the game.
They signed humorist Bill Maher to host a soon-to-be launched Internet TV program called "Amazon Fishbowl."
The launch date is still several weeks away, but you can take a sneak peak here:
Let me know what you think…
In 1994, when I lived in San Francisco, I published a little
eight-page newspaper called the Internet Gazette.
My friend Jim Warren, founder of the Computer Faire,
the original consumer PC show, gave me the idea
and it worked like crazy for my then-fledgling Internet
consulting business.
I had two stories on the front page of the first issue…