Viral videos the new way to make sales

Motion and sound gives you an advantage over business cards, flyers etc. It makes your story stand out.Moving pictures and sound can tell your business story better than flyers and business cards, but the key is to keep promotional videos short and snappy.
At Rotorua X networking group's first event of 2011, held at Seismic Gastro Bar on Wednesday, Shout Marketing director Linda Macpherson spoke about how a promotional video helped sell one of her clients in overseas markets.
"You need to make sure your company's message gets across quickly and better and the key is new technology."
Macpherson explained how Blue Sky Meats, of Southland, found traditional customers questioning why they should continue buying lamb from them after viewing a viral video extolling the virtues of Welsh lamb.
Clients suddenly wanted to see and hear more about where the product was coming from.
They needed an image in their heads to rival that used to market the Welsh product.
"Their clients wanted to know more about what lamb coming from New Zealand should mean to them. They needed a story."
Shout created a 3-minute video introducing the people and visiting the farm and processing plant the meat comes from and succeeded in cementing relationships and creating new ones.
"Motion and sound gives you an advantage over business cards, flyers etc. It makes your story stand out."
Macpherson said promotional videos did not have to be expensive, but it paid to bring experts on board to ensure they were done properly and conveyed the right messages.
Careful planning around what those messages are and how to best get them across to the target audience was also vital.
"Where will you shoot? What style will you use - short, sharp interview or more of a television commercial style?"
Length was also important and Macpherson said four minutes was considered long.
"If you can get your message across in 60 seconds, that's really powerful."
The Blue Sky Meats video is being pared down to a 30-second clip suitable for uploading onto YouTube and similar sites.
She said this was the new way to get a story out into the community as it was much cheaper than buying television time. If it was picked up and spread "virally" by members of the public sending it to friends and colleagues, it could reach a much wider audience.
Macpherson pointed to Air New Zealand as a business successfully using this format with its Nothing to Hide campaign and, more recently, with its controversial "Rico" ads.
"No matter what your business is or what type of person you are, the key is to find your story and tell it."