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Marketers Narrowcast Low-Budget Video Ads

AdAge reports that as more of the U.S. population moves online, B-to-B industries that previously thought they were immune to the migration have had to begin figuring out their web strategies. And increasingly, those strategies are involving video.

I agree, and I'd also add that any small and medium size business (SMB) can now apply a similar approach to streaming brief video presentations -- it's more engaging than a typical online slide presentation. Examples of my own prototype video experiments are available on our GeoActive Group USA website.

In contrast, Caterpillar has launched what are essentially long-form commercials -- or infomercials -- via ForConstructionPros.com, a division of Cygnus. Such online video plays are letting marketers previously relegated to print media take advantage of the 'sight, sound and motion' of TV, said Starlink's Vickie Szombathy, who chairs the American Association of Advertising Agencies' B-to-B committee.

Caterpillar already had a great deal of video assets: training videos and the promotional videos their dealers would use to sell the company's products. Much of the content on the video site will be re-purposed, said Carr Davis, Cygnus Business Media's co-CEO.

In the case of SMBs, or any company that doesn't have an existing library of available video, I recommend supplementing your own limited content by incorporating 'stock video clips' from one of the available commercial online sources. Low-cost digital media authoring and editing software is readily available, and it's relatively easy to use if you have previously been exposed to multimedia composition applications.

In the event that an SMB doesn't have the creative talent in-house to produce their own video compilations, then there's always the option of hiring a marketing firm with promotional multimedia content expertise. In 2007, I anticipate that we'll see more professional service providers enter the 'low-budget video promo' production and market development arena.

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