Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Online Multimedia Marketing: Play To the Strengths of the Medium

Steve Vonder Haar wrote an article that appears in the August/September edition of Streaming Media Magazine called "Eyes on the Enterprise - Can't Start a Fire." In it he discusses corporate uses of internet broadcasting technology for marketing and advertising.

He makes the extremely good point that the internet should not be treated like a "...poor man's answer to television..." where video ads interrupt other activity with no real measurable ROI. Instead, the strengths of the internet should be leveraged to create the most qualified leads.

Here is a direct quote from the article:

"It just so happens that businesses are looking to capitalize on the strengths of online multimedia as well. In a survey of 1,200 corporate executives conducted by Interactive Media Strategies in the first quarter of this year, 88% of respondents said that they view online multimedia as an effective marketing tool.

"But not any ol’ online multimedia marketing will do for Corporate America. Only 20% of overall respondents reported that they would believe any form of online multimedia—including television-style commercials—to be effective.

"Rather, the emphasis of respondents is clearly on driving results via the avenue of online multimedia. Of those surveyed by Interactive Media Strategies, 68% reported that they view online multimedia as effective only when it is used to reach registered users. Essentially, this is a fancy way of saying businesses want to use online multimedia to generate tangible, identifiable sales leads.

"You’re not going to do that by plastering brand-building snippets of 15- and 30-second promotional spots in-between YouTube clips. A better alternative is developing worthwhile informational content related to your product and/or industry sector that encourages would-be customers provide their registration information in exchange for access to a company’s online multimedia presentation. Think of it as the multimedia equivalent to the time-honored B2B marketing tradition of publishing and distributing white papers to a targeted audience willing to share their contact information."

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