By Jerry Bader (c) 2009
Everybody wants to do more business. Everybody occasionally runs a promo, a new marketing initiative, a product launch, or a new seasonal lineup. Everybody has a website stuffed with all kinds of content ranging from the important to the useless. But only the truly smart business minds understand that campaigns require their own space and identity if they are to succeed. And when it comes to using the Web as your vehicle for such a campaign, the obvious solution is a Video Campaign Microsite.
What's A Video Campaign Microsite?
Video Campaign Microsites are websites that employ a series of highly focused video presentations designed specifically for the purpose of promoting a single marketing initiative aimed at a highly targeted audience. Video Campaign Microsites are dedicated to delivering an engaging online experience that compels an audience to act by taking advantage of the marketing initiative's pitch. These sites benefit from removing all the corporate clutter and irrelevant information that inhabits most business websites and generally gets in the way of an effective marketing presentation. Video Microsites are often implemented by means of a direct emaíl campaign or depending on the budget, magazine, television, or radio advertising. You can also channel corporate site traffic by means of a graphical home page link.
1. New Product Launch Video Microsites
The launch of a new product or a seasonal line should be an event, and there is no better way to attract attention and generate public and media interest than to create a brand new website environment dedicated to that launch.
2. Promotional Campaign Video Microsites
A sale is just a sale, and today's sophisticated buyers have seen it all before, so unless you make a big event out of your promotion, all you'll end up doing is selling your regular customers the products they would have bought anyway but at a lower markup. A big media splash attracts new customers, new media attention, and old customers you've lost.
3. How-To Video Microsites
There is nothing more damaging to your brand or your bottom line than customers who hate you, and who tell their friends and colleagues. A surefire way to make people angry is to sell them something they can't figure out how to use properly, and a buried FAQ, or a complicated list of instructions in twelve languages and 9 point Times Roman is just not going to cut it. A how-to video site can show people how to use and get the most out of your products or services in a way they will understand and appreciate.
4. Video Mocusites
There is one thing that you definitely cannot be on the Web, and that is boring. Boring websites are the kiss of death. The Web is a crowded place and no matter what you're looking for, there are probably dozens if not hundreds or thousands of other companies doing the exact same thing, the same way, and probably for less money. You may think you're different but your Web audience won't, unless you present yourself in a whole new differentiating way; and one way to do that is with a Video Mocusite. A great example of a Video Mocusite was the Chili's restaurant chain's PJ Bland's campaign.
5. Video Docusites
Where the Video Mocusite takes an entertaining, humorous, and satirical approach to communicating your marketing message, Video Docusites takes a look at the history, longevity, innovation, and success of a company in order to build confidence, loyalty, and brand identity. Ford's Bold Moves Docusite was a good example of this kind of campaign.
A Concept Video Microsite is about presenting an idea. Some products and services are so innovative or different that they can only be sold if you communicate the concept behind them. Other products may be similar to competitors but the way they are sold is different and creative. In these types of instances the Concept Video Microsite is the answer. The SonicPersonality and 136Words sites are examples of Concept Video Microsites.
7. Sponsored Video Webisode Microsites
Sponsored Video Webisode Microsites are a great marketing vehicle for those companies with the guts and foresight to recognize what the Web is all about. These types of campaigns attract an ongoing loyal audience because they are bite-sized mini programs or episodes designed to entertain and/or educate without an overt sales pitch. If conceived and designed properly your program content delivers your emotional and psychological value proposition while the accompanying pre- and post-commercials deliver your direct pitch. Think of it as sponsoring your personal private online mini television series.
When a company has different campaigns for different demographic markets, it should present them separately to avoid confusion, mixed messages, and a dilution of the brand identity, image, and personality.
Microsites Help You Avoid Information Overload
Fashion and apparel companies, for example, all have seasonal product lines that need to be promoted in a current, if not trendy, manner. Dumping such a campaign into your regular corporate Web environment gets in the way of achieving the campaign's marketing goals: the audience looking for new products and promotions is not interested in your Investor Relations or Career Opportunities, and likewise, the people looking for jobs and investment information aren't interested in your holiday specials. It doesn't matter how good your presentation is if you bury it so no one ever sees it. If website visitors can't find what they're looking for fairly quickly, they're gone.
And why should a fashion or apparel company use video at all? The answer is simple: there is just no better way to present how a garment looks on a real person from all sides and angles, and when they move. Add a little voice-over description and you've got your little fashion show designed to move product whether online or in-store. Too many companies, especially e-commerce companies, still 'think print' even when they are using the Web as their main marketing communication vehicle.
Microsites Help You Avoid The Confusion of Mixed Messages
If there is one thing that will kill your marketing, branding, and positioning faster than anything else it's sending mixed messages to multiple audiences using the same venue or vehicle. Fast food companies are continuously running promotions and they use television as their primary marketing communication vehicle. The problem is television commercials are a shotgun approach: you broadcast a commercial and whoever sees it, sees it. Sure there are sophisticated demographic analyses of those who watch what and when, but even with that knowledge the perception-leakage is substantial.
"Video Microsites - The Brand Story Campaign Solution"
About The Author
Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit www.mrpwebmedia.com, www.136words.com, and www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.
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