Small Business Commando News

I just finished presenting a breakout session at the International Franchise Association convention in Orlando. I shared the stage with the amazing Gregg Stewart of TMP Directional Media and highly creative, Mark Ludwig of Hot Dish Advertising.

We each covered our areas of specialties, and I did a segment on using video and video sharing to market your business.

It really struck a nerve, and the questions would still be coming if we hadn’t run out of time.

One of the simple tips is to break videos down into easily digestible segments.

You’re far better off producing 15 videos that are each 1 minute in length than using one video that is 15 minutes in length.

When you submit the videos to the video sharing network sites (such as YouTube, Veoh, and AOL Videos), use a very simple phrase to title and tag each video so that Google will know how to categorize it.

A few notes on franchising. . .
Franchising is hot.  There were over 3,000 total attendees at the show representing over $16 trillion of economic impact in the US.  This is an industry that thrives when the economy slows because talented employees lose their jobs and purchase franchises.  These are some very sophisticated and dynamic companies that attract entrepreneurial managers.

Kelsey Group Blogs » Universal Search Paves the Way for Local Video

Michael Boland of the Kelsey Group has a point on post discussing the impact of video syndication and universal search.

The point he makes is that some companies (usually traditional publishing companies) are fighting against publishing video through syndication.

Syndication means uploading the videos on YouTube, MySpace, DailyMotion and other video sharing sites.

On the one hand, you lose control when you syndicate the video.  It resides on someone else’s servers, and they control the surrounding page.

On the other hand, the video will be seen by many more potential customers.

At Weblistic, I’m thrilled to have played a part in the development of local video saturation.  We regularly push local videos to dozens of sites in an effort to generate leads for our clients.  Our clients relish the leads they receive because the customers have a better understanding of the products and services being offered.

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We’ve been testing various video services, and it struck me that the value to the local business is the credibility that is created by using a video as opposed to simply looking at a website.

For example, Scott Fence is a well established, full-service fence company in San Diego. I’ve seen their signs on fences of all sorts. I’ve looked at their website.

But it wasn’t until I watched the video we made for them that I truly felt a connection.

When I see this, I get the impression that Kent Scott is a true blue fence expert.

People talk about video, but how many small businesses are actually using it in their marketing?

In my experience, not very many.

Here’s an example of a video we produced for a local chiropractor. We have a local videographer go shoot a short (about 1 minute) video.

We load it onto 35 different video sharing sites and tag the video with his key words and phrases so that it will be seen.

Result: in less than a week, it’s been viewed OVER 200 times across the various video sharing channels.

You can be sure that targeted video that is intelligently distributed is highly effective in local online marketing.

Several publishers are waking up to the video movement, but it is still in its infancy among small local businesses

This is a classic example of demand outpacing supply. Those companies who regularly post video have an unbelievable advantage over those who do not.