This week’s “web video focus” is on the seven types of online video marketing. I’m dishing them out, one per post, over the next week or so. Hopefully this will help you see the potential of video as an online marketing conversation tool.

1. Introductions: Online video introductions are a powerful tool to help you introduce yourself to your customers. People like to do business with people they know and trust… what better way to kick start a new relationship than to tell people who you are and show them what makes you special!

A video introduction should be short. I would recommend keeping it around one minute — two minutes max! People won’t commit to viewing too much at once, so keep it as short as you can while still being effective. (See snack-sized messages).

Some planning up front would be very beneficial! Think about what your customers want to know about you — what they need to know to be able to trust you, how do you do things differently that makes you better than your competition, where they can learn more… etc. It’s going to be a challenge to keep it short, so if it looks like it’s going to get too long than you should cut out the things that you can talk about later in follow-up videos. You may want to include some shots of your product, your services, the people you work with, or the activities in the “back room” that people don’t usually get to see.

Also, I cannot stress enough, your introduction video should represent you well. It’s bound to be the first video people see when they arrive at your site, so you need to make sure it’s polished. You may want to consider hiring a professional to help you. (I’ll avoid any shameless plugs. *wink*wink*) Seriously, you want your introduction to reflect very well on you and your business. If your image is professional, make sure your video reflects that. If your business is fun or edgy, you should try to capture that in your video as well

So, introduce yourself, show what makes you special, keep it short, and make sure it represents you well!!

Next time: presentations