AAM Summit Session Recap: Video Killed the Radio Star, Speaker: Joe Walsh
by Sara Robertson, Marketing Manager, GBQ

Joe is a lifelong professional services marketer, a principal and creative director with Greenfield Belser. He offers clients a wealth of sophisticated brand positioning, market research, creative development and media planning skills.

If video killed the radio star, online video will eventually beat down the slumbering mix of text and photos on most modern Web sites.

Video gives you a better medium for building relationships because your visitors can see and hear people they can relate to and connect with. The evidence is everywhere.

• Overall, growth in online video is robust, increasing 45 percent in 2008 from the year prior to 13.5 billion total monthly views. Thanks, YouTube!
• B2B and B2C marketers in the U.S. will take a closer look at online video in 2009, according to a survey conducted in December 2008 by PermissionTV. Most place it first on their digital marketing to-do list, topping social networking, podcasting and the like.
• More than two-thirds of respondents said they would focus their budgets on online video this year.
• More than one-half of respondents are also expected to be implementing or extending an online video project in Q2 2009. Less than one-third said they were doing so currently.
• Roughly one in four top 100 law and top 50 accounting/consulting firms use video on the Web today (mostly on career sections of firm Web sites or recruiting specific sub-sites).

Speaking of recruiting, it’s important to note that videos are not only for the young and young of heart. While Generation Y (ages 18–32) has the highest percentage of people using the Web for watching and downloading videos, Pew Research reports that nearly the same percentage of Generation Xers (ages 33–44) and almost half of Young Boomers (ages 45–54) watch online video.

More online video is inevitable. Getting yours watched and remembered is not.

Fundamentals:

1. Unearth a driving concept and a unique creative idea
2. Be authentic
3. Connect right brain to left.
4. Seek talented professionals who know video, people and good creative.
5. Brevity is a common courtesy

Examples of breakthrough videos:
www.born2consult.com
www.choate.com/careers
www.andrewskurth.com/recruiting

Don’t limit video to recruiting, try:

• Invest in video case studies
• Consider animation
• Turn professional bios into viewpoints
• Turn client testimonials into videos
• Put video on your homepage, practice pages and bios
• Video distribution of thought leadership, downloadable as podcasts

Also see Joe’s blog posting on the subject:

http://www.gbltd.com/blog/2009/02/video-killed-the-radio-star-the-sequel-using-video-on-your-web-site/