Joint Venture Lightning

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As I have mentioned in earlier posts, web video is POWERFUL.

If you aren’t using it then you are missing out on one of the most powerful forms of media available. Imagine having your own global broadcast network. That is the power of web video. And best of all it’s free.

I have been working on an interesting project with a prolific writer named Geoffrey Zimmerman. He pours out his emotions with the written word in the form of novels, poetry, short stories, and screen plays. The challenge is how do you promote a text medium with video?

Can It Be So by Geoffrey Zimmerman from JointVentureLightning on Vimeo.

Here are several tactics that we are currently using on his site www.GeoffreyZimmerman.com:

• Interviews with the author revealing the background that inspired his work.
• Video chats where the author invites readers to comment and join in collaboration or contests.
• Behind the scenes videos on his creative process
• Converting some of his old films into video for web distribution

There are other tactics in the plans for later on when we kick promotion into high gear with press releases and begin offering interviews with the media.

A key component of the video strategy is to get each video well titled and tagged then distributed to the major video hosting providers to help drive targeted traffic to the site where readers are given the opportunity to subscribe to his romantic adventure novel “Love Never Dies.”

Getting subscribers is the primary purpose of the website. The secondary purpose is the showcase his work and third is to establish his online presence and brand. This will help him build credibility with publishers and the media so that one day he can get a major publishing contract.

Here is a secret marketing tip that you might not have thought of recently… try adding a beautiful photo gallery and slide show to your website.

TrainingMyHorse.com

How does this help you close more sales?

FitClub4.com

Simple. It helps the customer or prospect believe in you as a professional.

If your site is heavy on text then you really need actual photos depicting the work you do. Don’t be shy, either. Go ahead and show yourself actually working with your clients and doing your job.

This helps the prospect to imagine themselves working with you on their own projects. It also gives you the chance to visually SELL your services in a subtle but convincing way where text only sales messages or messages that use clip art or stock photos scream SALES BROCHURE or ADVERTISEMENT.

The human mind has a way of filtering this type of hype-filled “salesy” content from your prospects conscious thought.

Actual photos seem more “real” and therefore are more believable. Be sure to add captions to give your prospects a clearer understanding of what they are seeing in each photo.

You can see several examples of this at work in my client Photo Gallery section of this website.

Here’s another tip… be sure to use a high-end camera that will give you plenty of resolution. I recommend having a professional spend a day with you and some of your best clients to get really good images that can be used in print materials as well as on the web. This will help you maintain consistency in your marketing materials and brand identity.

Trust me. You do NOT want to skimp on the photography. It’s worth it get the good stuff.

We include professional level photography in our joint venture / strategic alliance work. The photos you see in these galleries were all taken with a Nikon D40-X digital camera with 10.6 megapixel resolution.

The camcorder you see me holding in some of the photos is a Sony DVD cam that shoots direct to mini DVD’s. The resolution for video on the web doesn’t need to be nearly as high quality as the photography because the video is being compressed for faster download speeds.

If you plan on doing broadcasting of your video work then you will need to use professional level video equipment as well.

Enjoy.

Have you ever noticed the logo in the corner of every single video on YouTube?

It’s called a watermark and is used to brand the content of the video. We’re seeing this more and more as businesses catch on to the power of using video in their online marketing.

We have started using custom watermarks on ALL of our clients’ videos to help build their brands. How do you put a watermark on a video?

Good question. You need a cool piece of software called Camtasia Studio. At the moment they are offering an older version as a FREE download. Keep in mind that this powerful software package retails for over $300, so go grab it quick before it’s gone. You’ll also need a key code to open the full version… this is not a 30 day demo but the whole deal of version 3.0. Here is the link to get your key code.

You can either create your videos in Camtasia or import your existing video files. Then on the left side of the screen under Tasks… scroll down to Produce and click the link that says Produce Video as… A window will pop-up giving you file formats to choose. I like to convert my video to Flash so that it’s streaming and not a download that others can take and then reproduce.

Once you choose the file format, there will be several steps along the way and one of them gives you the option to insert a watermark logo. Select this feature and upload your logo graphic. Set opacity to about 40%, adjust the size, choose which corner you want your logo to appear in, etc. You can even have it embossed or flat. Once you like your watermark, click next. Camtasia does the rest… converting the file to Flash and adding the watermark logo throughout. Then all you need to do is upload the files to your website where it can be viewed.

Here is a handy free keyword suggestion tool that I use to help develop my marketing strategy for each joint venture I work on. Feel free to use it or visit the web site where it originated at Digital Point Solutions. Simply enter the word or phrase and hit the enter button on your keyboard. The Digital Point Solutions web page will open with the list of suggestions and the number of daily searches on each variation.