You’ve spent years carefully developing your product and your image. Your product is perfect, the marketing materials are brilliant, the website is gorgeous, but yourmarketing video looks like you handed your forklift driver a Flip camera and set him loose. While your forklift driver may be handy with a video camera and have a creative streak, communicating a quality image with your potential customers requires as much care as your product’s development.

Video production values speak volumes about your product, service, and brand. Shaky camera work, boring segments, inaudible audio, and other undesirable factors relay a not-so-subtle message to your viewers. It’s a message about quality and since the quality is poor, it’s a message that says that you don’t care about quality.

Is that the message you want to send to your customers?

Unfortunately, in the digital age of YouTube and viral online videos, production values have taken a back seat to the immediate gratification of a few laughs. This doesn’t mean that poor quality videos have become a viable replacement for marketing videos. Video production values matter as much now as they ever did. Consumers are willing to watch amateur videos if the payoff is good enough. However, today’s television viewers are used to Hollywood effects, high definition video, crisp soundtracks, and realistic, fast-paced dialogue. If you’re going to develop a marketing video lacking a well-framed, crystal clear image and audible, easy-to-understand dialogue, your marketing message will be drowned out by the message the video screams out about quality.

Video Production Values – What are they?
Just as your company newsletter conforms to a set of predefined guidelines, so too do marketing videos. With your newsletter, you expect an attractive layout, a nice use of white space, well written and error-free text, and interesting content. You wouldn’t tolerate blank columns or pages, blurry photos, smudged ink, or ripped pages. With a video production, you expect a properly framed shot, clear focus, clear audio, attractive talent, and interesting content. You wouldn’t tolerate blurry images, a lack of audio, shaky cameras, unlit subjects, or “dead air.”

There’s more involved to video production values than these examples. For example, the quality of the camera, lighting, stage direction, set, editing, and other factors all work together to create a video with strong production values.

A marketing video with strong production values actually downplays those values because they’re expected while one with weak production values draws attention to itself. If you find yourself struggling to see a product or image, straining to hear, or simply bored out of your mind while the onscreen talent babbles nonsense, you can bet that video needs work. If you find yourself questioning the quality or credibility of a product, service, brand, or company, the marketing video likely lacks one or more production values.
Excellent video quality is a must; it shows you value quality. A lack of it shows the opposite. What do you think? Share your thoughts below.

Does the thought of appearing in your website’s online video give you stage fright? While you may have decided to launch a Web video, you may not have come to terms with the thought of appearing onscreen. Fortunately, you may not need to! Instead of appearing in your own online video, consider using actors and actresses.

Online Actors and Actresses Give You Greater Control over Your Image
One of the most immediate benefits of hiring an actor or actress is that doing so gives you greater control over the image you project. For example, if you’re a middle aged man running a company that caters to teenage girls, hiring a young actress to appear in your Web video could make much more sense than appearing yourself. Similarly, if you’re a twenty-something entrepreneur selling geriatric products to an older demographic, hiring a more mature actor or actress could be the right move. When considering who should appear in your Web video, think about your audience and the type of spokesperson that would lend the most credibility to your brand.

Online Actors and Actresses are Comfortable in Front of Cameras
Because actors and actresses are professionals, they tend to be extremely comfortable in front of cameras. This comfort level leads to several benefits: a more polished production, fewer mistakes, and faster production and post-production processes. Not only will your finished Web video look better with professional actors and actresses involved, the actual shooting and editing could go much smoother as well. For example, a well prepared actress requires fewer “takes” to deliver the message. Fewer takes translates into more efficient use of studio time and less time in the editing room piecing the final video together.

Online Actors and Actresses Allow You to Take Your Ideas Virtually Anywhere
Actors and actresses play roles – it’s what they do. Because of this, you can fill your Web video with virtually anyone from doctors and lawyers to cheerleaders and fairy godmothers. No matter what you’re imagining for your Web video, hiring professional actors and actresses to play the roles can bring your ideas to life.

If you’re suffering from stage fright at the thought of appearing in your company’s Web video, take a deep breath and consider the possibilities. Appearing in your own online video may not be the best choice. Many actors and actresses specialize in Web video and can deliver several important benefits. Not only can you avoid the stress, you can project the image you want to project, produce a polished Web video with fewer takes, and bring your ideas to life!

If you’re planning on having a video production companyproduce a short Web video for your website, be prepared for a flurry of behind-the-scenes activity. After all, there’s much more involved than lights, camera, and action. When you arrive at the studio, you may be surprised at the lack of a set. In its place, you may see a gaudy green screen.

What Video Green Screens Do
The green screen may be bright and unattractive, but it serves an important function. This green color can effectively be removed from the video and replaced with other images. For example, when you watch a television weather reporter standing in front of weather maps and radar images, the weather reporter is actually standing in front of a green screen. In the television control room, a technician uses a switcher equipped with what’s known as “chroma key” technology to replace the green with a computer generated image. If you’ve ever watched the Suze Orman Show on television, her entire set is chroma key green and computer generated.

Why Chroma Key Green?
Theoretically, you could use chroma key technology with other colors. However chroma key green and chroma key blue are the most popular. These garish colors aren’t commonly used in clothing and props, making them a good choice. Remember, the technology finds all instances of the selected color whether the color is painted on the set or worn as clothing. If the onscreen talent were to wear a chroma key green necktie, that necktie would be replaced with the video intended to appear on the screen behind the talent.

The Green Screen and Online Video
While green screens are commonly used in broadcasting, they’re also used for Web video. If you want a unique background or a polished “broadcast-like” look, shooting your Web video in front of a green screen and replacing the green background with a computer generated or b-roll video background can accomplish that.

Another use for chroma key in the Web video realm involves virtual spokespeople who are superimposed over the actual website. In this case, the chroma key technology doesn’t replace the green background with a new image; it removes the background completely. With a transparent background, only the actor or actress appears. This allows for frameless video overlays and creates the illusion of the actor being a part of the website itself.

When you head to the studio for your next video shoot, don’t be surprised if you’re placed in front of an ugly green screen. If you’re curious, ask the director to show you the composite picture before or after the shoot and enjoy your time behind the scenes!

Though Web video has become extremely popular, there are still many potential viewers who choose not to watch your videos. Not only do you have people hesitant to commit to watching a video online, those that do may have short attention spans. So, how do you convince viewers to watch your video and how to you keep them watching?

The reason many people hesitate to click a Web video’s play button is because they simply lack the time. Web surfers are accustomed to being able to quickly skim text to see if an article is relevant to them before committing to reading the article in depth. With Web videos, it’s harder to skim. If viewers perceive a large time commitment just to see if the video is worth watching, they may opt not to watch in the first place.

To overcome this initial objection, it’s important to make the following crystal clear:
•    What’s covered in the video
•    How the viewer will benefit from watching it
•    The Web video’s length

These three key points let viewers know if the video is relevant to them. Outlining the video’s content is a substitute for the skimming that many visitors need. By listing at least one benefit, you’re giving your viewers a compelling reason to click the play button. Telling viewers the time commitment lets them know just how long it will take to receive the information – and the benefits.

However, while these steps will help attract hesitant viewers, they won’t completely solve the problem of short attention spans. You can have viewers that want the information you’re delivering and completely willing to invest the time to watch the video, but if you don’t quickly capture their attention and then keep it, you could quickly lose them. People are simply too busy and pulled in too many different directions to put up with Web videos that do not engage them.

Remember when television shows and movies used to have long, creative title sequences? Think of the opening sequence of M*A*S*H as an example. The same opening song played each week while the same montage of helicopters and characters filled the screen. Each week, this opening sequence set the stage, introduced the characters, and got viewers in the mood for the story to come. Today, few television shows and movies have long opening sequences. Now, it’s not uncommon for the show to begin immediately with a brief, 10-second title sequence. Why the change? Attention spans.

What does this mean for your Web video? It means to forget the long introductions. It means get to the meat of the material quickly. It means you have to get the viewer’s attention in the first few seconds. So, forget the long fade up from black to a series of dissolving titles. Forget the “In this video we will tell you about. . .” monologue. If you can set expectations before viewers press the play button and then get your video off to an engaging start immediately after, you will have overcome the first two of many short attention span obstacles.

Web videos can be as long or as short as you need them to be. However, before you take on a two hour documentary detailing your product or service in depth, consider the advantages of shorter Web videos.

Web Video Usability
First, consider your audience: Web surfers. People watch Web videos differently than they watch DVDs and television programming. For some, download speed remains a real issue. For others, watching videos on a tiny screen is hard on the eyes. For many, time is in short supply and plenty of diversions compete for their attention. Even with broadband connections, HD videos, and larger computer screens, few Web surfers are ready to settle in for a long video viewing session. With short attention spans, short Web videos are a must. In fact, if a viewer perceives that your Web video requires a large time investment, that viewer may never click the play button.

Web Video Discovery
Web videos can provide websites with an immediate benefit: improved visibility. Search engines often list videos in their results pages. Not only that, some users specifically search for videos, not text. Where your website may have a difficult time ranking for a given keyword phrase, the addition of a Web video could vastly improve your site’s visibility.

By optimizing your videos with relevant keywords, your Web pages could attract a much wider audience than text alone. By splitting a larger video into a series of shorter Web videos, you can get much more exposure and optimize far more pages than sticking with the longer, uncut video. This strategy also overcomes the attention span problem.

The Power of Web Video Series
In addition to overcoming the problem of short attention spans and boosting SEO, having a series of short Web videos provides you with an opportunity to engage, convert, and nurture prospects and leads. You could also use a video series in multiple ways. For example, you could offer a series of Web videos via email as an incentive for users to subscribe to your newsletter. Doing so ensures that Web visitors return to your website instead of becoming one-time visitors never to be heard from again. Each Web video could be posted strategically in your website, taking viewers step-by-step through a process that culminates in a strong call to action.

From reaching viewers with short attention spans and enhancing your SEO efforts to creating a video-to-lead funnel strategy that allows you to engage, convert, and nurture prospects and leads, short Web videos deliver a powerful punch.

Do you have a longer Web video that could be made into a series of shorter ones? How have you used short Web videos to your advantage? Share your thoughts, experiences, and ideas with us in the comments section below.

While thousands of Web videos have made the world laugh with funny antics and viral concepts, many of today’s business owners are looking at video with fresh eyes. After all, Web video is a powerful platform that can help establish you or your company as an expert or industry leader. In short, Web videos are a terrific way to build credibility with new and existing customers.

Strong Production Values Build Credibility
In order to build credibility with viewers, Web videos must have strong production values. Today’s viewers may tolerate a guy with a webcam; however, the value of a well produced video with professional lighting, crystal clear sound, and excellent image quality cannot be stressed enough. Do this part well and your first impression will be a good one. Not only that, you won’t be giving your viewers any reason to doubt your professionalism because it will be readily apparent throughout the video.

Credible Content Builds Credibility
Next, a credible Web video should be filled with credible content, not opinion or sensational topics. Make sure that your script is well written with facts, supporting information, and useful information. Avoid “fluff” and give your audience relevant, useful information. Your viewers have limited time, so keep your Web video relatively short and tightly focused.

Credible People Build Credibility
In addition to strong production values and a well written script, the people featured throughout your video build credibility with online video audiences. This doesn’t mean you need to hire actors or pay big bucks for a celebrity endorsement. For example, a weight loss video could feature interviews with doctors and personal trainers while a do-it-yourself plumbing video could employ a plumber as the spokesperson. The presence of these professionals builds credibility.

Product Demonstrations Build Credibility
If you’re marketing a product, Web videos that show the product in action can build credibility. After all, a picture speaks a thousand words. . . In addition to demonstrating the product, consider “behind the scenes” videos that show the product in various stages of development. Your own research and development team brings its own layer of credibility to the process, so take advantage of it. As viewers see the behind-the-scenes commitment to quality, your product will become more credible to them.

Your Expertise Builds Credibility
Don’t overlook your own expertise and the events your company may be participating in, either. For example, have you recently participated in a seminar or conference as a speaker? Posting a Web video of your speech, or highlights from it, can immediately build credibility you’re your site’s visitors. You’re the expert, so show it with your online videos.

Well written, professionally produced videos that position you as an expert are an important part of the overall “video to lead funnel” strategy. Engage, convert, and nurture prospects and leads with credibility built into each video that you produce.

Video spokespeople can appear just about anywhere you want them to appear on your website. Some walk on the screen while others “drop in” from above. Others appear alongside graphics and begin to play either automatically or on demand (when the user clicks the play button). A common location is the webpage’s sidebar. However, the sidebar is not the only location for positioning your video spokesperson. Let’s take a look at the options.

Positioning the Video Spokesmodel in the Header
The header area of your website may be the perfect place to put a virtual spokesperson on your site. Eye tracking surveys reveal that the upper left corner of the screen is “hot.” Place a video spokesperson in the upper left corner of your screen and eyeballs will naturally gravitate to it.

Positioning the Video Spokesmodel in the Sidebar
Many video spokesmodels walk onto the screen and occupy the empty space of the right and left sidebars. This is an efficient use of space and appears made to order. However, not all websites are designed with empty space on each side of the page.

Positioning the Video Spokesmodel amongst Text and Graphics
Another option is to position the virtual spokesperson amongst text and graphics. In general, when using this technique, you’ll want to have the spokesperson appear “above the fold.” This is the area that is immediately visible upon visiting a webpage. The area “below the fold” is not visible until the user scrolls down.

Positioning the Video Spokesperson on Specific Pages
In addition to deciding on where the video spokesperson should appear on the screen, it’s also important to decide which pages should feature the video overlay. Because the video spokesperson reinforces calls to action, the video should be overlaid on pages featuring key calls to action.

Landing pages are also good candidates for featuring a video spokesperson. Because many of your site’s visitors will arrive to your site via landing pages, they may never see the official “home” page. Think of each of your landing pages as a mini home page and feature your video spokesperson on these pages, especially if these landing pages feature your key calls to action.

Since website design takes many forms, there’s no universal right or wrong answer as far as where to place your own video spokesperson. Your website’s header may be too cluttered for placing another element. Your site may not feature wide sidebars. A good video production company specializing in virtual spokespeople can evaluate your site’s design and recommend a suitable location.

Have you seen a particularly creative use of virtual spokespeople? Feel free to share your favorites in the comments section below.

Have you ever wished you could use a remote control to silence a loud talker in a crowded restaurant? How about when surfing the Web and landing on a webpage featuring a video spokesperson? While having a virtual spokesperson appear on your website offers numerous benefits and adds a personal touch, it also brings with it the potential for annoying some of your site’s visitors.

This is because people have different learning styles and preferences for receiving information. Where one visitor may love being able to see a video spokesperson and hear an oral presentation, another may learn better through reading and find the audio portion distracting. By having an on/off button, you are giving your site’s visitors the option to silence the video spokesperson.

A common categorization of learning styles is known as Fleming’s VARK Model with the following four types of learners:
1.    Visual preference – these learners prefer seeing information such as through visual aids and pictures
2.    Auditory preference – these learners prefer listening to information such as through lectures and speeches
3.    Reading and writing preference – these learners prefer reading and writing information
4.    Kinesthetic-tactile preference – these learners prefer learning through experience such as through hands-on experiments

Of these learning categories, visual and auditory learners may respond well to a virtual spokesperson on your website. Learners who prefer to learn by reading, will likely want the option to silence the spokesperson as the spoken text could be distracting or annoying to them. By providing an on/off button, you are able to reach most learners in a format that appeals to them without alienating those who don’t respond well to auditory delivery methods.

You may even want to take this one step further by configuring the virtual spokesperson video to play on demand rather than automatically. Why? Having the virtual spokesperson talk “uninvited” could chase off prospects. Rather than looking for the on/off or mute button, some visitors will simply click the button that they’re the most familiar with: the Back button.

While you can’t please all of the people all of the time, you can provide options. If you’re implementing a virtual spokesmodel on your website, speak with your video production company about configuring your virtual spokesperson for on demand playing or at the very least including an on/off button.

If you’re not sure, consider running a test. Keep an eye on the bounce rate for your page for both autoplay and on demand video options. If you see significant numbers of visitors exiting your site right away, it could be because of the autoplay option. Change the video to play on demand and see if you notice an improvement.

What have your experiences been with videos that autoplay? Do you tend to leave a site if sounds start playing without your explicit approval? Or do you find the automatic playback convenient? Share your thoughts below.

Considering adding a virtual spokesperson to your website? Adding a virtual spokesperson to your site can add a whole new level of interactivity and personalization. However, you may be wondering what’s involved or if your site meets the requirements for adding video overlays.

Shooting Video Overlays
If you’ve ever seen a video spokesperson walk onto a website, you’ll notice that only the actor appears; there’s no distracting background and the actor isn’t confined to a media player’s box. In fact, the actor looks as if he is part of the website. In order to create this effect, the original video must be shot in front of a “green screen.” This technology is the similar to the technology used by television stations. For example, when the weather forecaster appears in front of a weather map or satellite image, he is actually standing in front of a bright green wall. Inside the control room, a technician filters out the green color and replaces it with the background images.

When shooting a video spokesperson, the actor performs in front of a green screen just as television weather forecasters do. The green background is removed so that only the actor’s body appears. All background video is rendered transparent, giving the illusion that the video spokesperson is a part of the website’s overall design.

Because the background color, usually a bright green, are filtered out, it’s important that the actor does not wear clothes, jewelry, and other accessories featuring that same shade of green. Otherwise, those items will disappear along with the background. Professional actors and video studio staff members are well aware of this effect and know to avoid it. However, if you want to appear as your site’s own virtual spokesperson, it’s important to be aware of this before your scheduled video shoot date.

Hosting Video Overlays
Fortunately, the technology required to host a virtual spokesperson on your site doesn’t require much technical tweaking on your end. If you have a live website, chances are good that it is fully capable of hosting a virtual spokesperson. In fact, most virtual spokesmodel videos are hosted on the video production company’s website, not yours. All you need to do is enter a line or two of code into your website and the production company takes care of the rest.

Some video spokesperson production companies allow you to host the video overlays on your own or through a third party host. Before you opt to host the video elsewhere, make sure to find out about video streaming and bandwidth requirements because if the server doesn’t have enough bandwidth to support the video overlay, the streaming video could suffer through pauses and other interruptions.

All in all, if you want to incorporate a virtual spokesperson into your website, going with a professional video company from start to finish is the smart move. You’ll have few technical considerations and you’ll have a lively, interactive spokesperson working on your behalf 24/7.

Adding a video spokesperson to your website requires a basic understanding of the video production process. After all, a video spokesperson needs a script to follow and must be filmed and edited. In general video production is broken down into three stages: pre-production, production, and post-production.

Video Spokesperson Pre-Production Tasks
Think of pre-production as the planning stage of the video production process. During this time, you’ll need to: consider how you’ll use the video spokesperson throughout your website, write the script, cast the virtual spokesmodel, and schedule production.

• Planning the virtual spokesperson’s role – A successful video spokesperson implementation begins with a plan. Where will your virtual spokesperson appear on your site? What will she talk about? What type of person should play the role? Which demographic will you try to reach?

• Writing the script – Once you understand the video spokesperson’s role, it’s time to write the script. You’ll use a portion of the script during auditions and then later during filming.

• Casting the video spokesperson – If you are not planning on being on camera yourself, you’ll need to find an actor to fill the role. Many video production companies have demo reels of local video spokesmodels that you can view or you can hold open auditions.

Video Spokesperson Production Tasks
Once the plans have been made, the script written, and the talent hired, it’s time to move into the production stage of the process.

• Lighting, staging, and sound – Filming should take place in a video production studio where you’ll have full control over lighting, staging, and sound. Virtual spokesmodels are typically filmed in front of a green screen which is later filtered out of the shot, allowing the video spokesperson to appear as an overlay on your website without distracting backgrounds.

• Rehearsals – While many video spokespeople will prepare for the shoot on their own time, allow plenty of time before shooting begins to rehearse the script and fine-tune its delivery.

• Filming the video spokesperson – Finally, cameras roll and filming begins. It may take several takes before everyone is satisfied with the delivery. Even if the video spokesperson delivers a flawless delivery the first time, shoot several additional takes as a backup.

Video Spokesperson Post-Production Tasks
Now that filming is complete, it’s time to head into the editing room to select the best scenes and complete the production. If you’re paying for editing time by the hour, view the videos at your own location and take extensive notes so that you can limit the amount of time spent in the editing bay.

• Editing the video – You’ll work with a video editor to select the best scenes and piece them together.

• Overlaying the video onto the website – Once the video spokesperson’s scenes have been selected and edited, the video production company will package the video for your website. On your end, you’ll simply need to copy and paste a line or two of code into your website. Once the code is embedded, your virtual spokesmodel will appear on your website.

Like any video production, adding a virtual spokesperson to your website involves pre-production, production, and post-production tasks. Hiring a reliable, professional video production company ensures your success.