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A Viral Video is a tried and true method of creating awareness of your product or service. It can be extremely effective in generating traffic to your website. A Viral Video can also be the most cost-effective advertising you’ll ever use. But, it can also be a waste of time and money.

First, a quick definition: A Viral Video is simply any video that is remarkable enough to be spread on its own. It can be funny, cute, serious, professional, amateurish, etc. The content is NOT the most important factor. There’s really no definition or requirements for the CONTENT of a Viral Video, just that it be interesting enough to be shared repeatedly.

PRIMA just created a video that is intended to be shared by soccer coaches in the hope of generating awareness (and purchases) of a soccer coaching DVD.

There are two very important components, though, of a Viral Video that is intended to be used for advertising. First is the video itself, and second, is the plan for getting people to watch it. If you’re lucky, it will (and can) go viral all by itself, but that’s very unlikely. Making a concerted effort to get the “right” people to view your video can make all the difference in the success of your campaign.

And by success, you should decide upfront what that will look like for your project. If you have a consumer product it may be necessary to get thousands of views to meet your objectives (i.e., Blendtec) but, if you’re working to get a slightly obscure business-to-business product in front of interested buyers, you don’t necessarily need a ton of viewers. You just need the right viewers.

Another way to think about this Viral Video process is that it can be part of series of communications that leads your customer towards a purchase. You’re giving your potential customer something of value in the form of your Viral Video. Maybe it’s a laugh, something of interest, or perhaps a new way of looking at a topic. By giving, your hope is to create a sort of dialogue where your potential customer will form favorable impressions of your company and ultimately respond with a purchase… and then a referral… and then a repeat purchase.

Coming up with a clever idea for a funny video is great. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that once you have that, you’re done.

Let’s say you’re selling B2B and your product or service really needs to be approved, either directly or indirectly, by several functional groups within the organization. The folks in Sales, Accounting and IT are all impacted by the implementation of your product or service and need to understand that your product is a good thing.

As you’re no doubt already aware, to be effective, your marketing and sales efforts need to speak to each of these audiences. If you’re going to provide your Future Clients a video to check out, then you’re going to need to make your case to each of these groups individually in the video.

You can make your case in a single video or several and will depend on the complexity of what you need to convey as well as your budget and/or time constraints. It’s a bit more challenging to edit Your Story together in a single video, but if you use good segues and use music effectively to create chapters in your video, then it certainly can be done in a single video.

Just be certain to speak directly to these audiences in a way that they will understand and that they will find real and compelling. In a Testimonial Video, use real Clients that can give your audience details and important insights into the in and outs of your product or service. Be sure to let your Clients address the very real concerns that they had going into implementation. This will deepen the emotional connection between your Client and the Future Client that is watching. During the interview process try to get the Client to express their fears prior to implementation and how those fears were addressed and resolved to their satisfaction.

In his blog, Thomas Clifford ( http://www.directortom.com/ ) reminds us that there is only one person you need to keep in mind when creating your organization’s video and that is the single person that is watching at that moment. Put yourself in their shoes and you’ll give yourself the proper prospective for creating a video that has true meaning to them.

Over the last few days I’ve been jotting down ways that companies and non-profits can use video to expand their organizations. As is often the case I looked to the web for inspiration and came across an article on Technorati.com by Jimm Fox: “42 Ways to Use Video to Grow Your Business.”

Jimm owns his own video production company in Canada and has put together a very extensive list.

As the leader of an organization it’s possible to dismiss video as just another expense or cost. And yes, we’re all familiar with the “It’s not a cost, it’s an investment” argument but if you think about the use of video as either a business-builder or an expense-reducer you may have more luck convincing yourself that the little voice in your head that says “this video stuff is right on the mark” makes more and more sense all the time.

http://technorati.com/business/article/42-ways-to-use-video-to/

Can YOU make a video for your company? The answer is a resounding, “It depends.” Is it possible? Absolutely. Could it turn out pretty well? That’s up to you and depends on your interest and experience, your willingness, your ability and your equipment and software.

While many, many people now have a camcorder of some sort it’s tempting (and certainly possible!) to use a DIY approach.

I’ve found it helpful to use the analogy of cooking at home versus going to a restaurant; you can definitely do it yourself but when you want something done with higher quality (hopefully, right?) and you don’t have the time to either learn how to do it and then to actually shoot (easy to do) and edit (difficult to do well) the footage, maybe getting a pro to help you is the best way to move forward.

11 things to consider:

1.) Do you have any interest in doing it? I assume that you’d like to have a video for your organization, but do you want to get behind the camera and then dig into the editing? Does this hold your interest?

2.) Can you make the time? Everyone is crunched for time so you simply have to decide whether you’ll MAKE the time for this. And believe me when I tell you that most of your time will be spent doing things other than shooting with the camera. You’ll spend time downloading video onto your computer, converting the files and the big time sink is editing the footage into a cohesive story.

3.) Are you willing to FINISH the project? Many professionals don’t receive full payment for their work until the project is complete giving them tremendous incentive to deliver a finished product.

4.) Do you have or are willing to buy some decent VIDEO equipment? There are plenty of organizations with access to a good-enough video camera to capture the video portion of your film. Heck, a lot of consumer-grade camcorders shoot in HD (or at least a version of it).

5.) Do you have or are willing to buy some decent AUDIO equipment? While consumer-grade camcorders do have microphones, it’s not likely to give your company’s video a proper audio rendering because the quality of the mic is almost always poor. Get yourself a decent mic and it will make a world of difference. Really.

6.) Do you have an “eye” for video? If not, you can review films by other companies to see how they were shot and which sections you liked. Another good idea is to learn about the “Rule of Thirds” so that you’re able to better frame your shots.

7.) Can you tell a good story? The story of your company, that is. And while this may not be considered High Art, it’s really helpful to your Future Clients if the story can be presented in an engaging way that moves along without boring the viewer.

8.) Do you have a good feel for music? No need to write your own music but it’s better if you have a sense of the different styles and how those different styles can convey different moods. (Cue the Theme from “Jaws.”) Perhaps a more fundamental question is where or whether to use music in your company video.

9.) Are you a bit of a computer techie? File Formats, Codecs, Frame Rates, Pixel Aspect Ratios (not to be confused with Picture Aspect Ratios) and other technical info are part of the process with video. Then there’s the Editing Software where you’ll actually put together your video and audio clips into a video complete with transitions and graphics. Hopefully, you’re up for learning a new language or two.

10.) Are you able to be objective about your subject? You may think the technical specs of your company’s Flim-Flam Wabber-Jam are the best in the world, but you need to ask yourself, “Who’s going to watch this video?” on a regular basis throughout the project. If technical-types like engineers are your only audience, then they may find your specs interesting, but if it’s someone with a not-so-technical background, say the Owner of another business that is interested in the benefits (not the specs) of your product, then that’s what your video should focus on.

11.) Are you artistic? You don’t need to be able to paint masterpieces (On a good day, I can draw stick figures that are nearly recognizable!) but it really helps to bring an artistic sensibility to your film. The basics like a beginning, middle and end, understanding the concept of “Tension and Release” and an ability to see the beauty in seemingly ordinary things like, say, a bicycle tire, will help captivate your audience.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s definitely possible to fix yourself something to eat but if you’re trying to create a meal that your Clients will enjoy, then you’ll need to do a little extra work to make sure they will enjoy it.

A video can be an amazing intellectual feast where you’ll have the opportunity to tell the story about the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of your organization. If you do want to pursue making this video, just be sure that whoever is Directing your Film is giving your Clients and Future Clients the best impression possible.

Viral Video

Many Audiences? Then Many Videos.

How to Use Video to Grow Your Business

Company Video – Can I do it myself?