By now you realize just how much videos added to your website can do to not only improve your website, but generate leads and sales. The type of video that you use will have to depend on the type of business you have. You can use video in many different ways. The examples given of Henry's bed and breakfast and the shower filter company both used humor in a positive way to attract customers.



There are other ways that you can use video as well without having to pay any fees to producers who may own the video. Remember in the last chapter how we talked about coupons? People like to save money. They like to feel that they are getting a deal.

Observe commercials on television. They will often say that if you call within a certain amount of minutes you will get an extra product or discount. You can do this as well, either on your own website, through e-mail or even on a free video site, such as You Tube.

For example suppose you have an excess of a certain product you would really like to move. One way to do it is to introduce the product in your own home made video. Tell people how wonderful this product is, and that it is now available at a special rate. And if they call or order right away, they can get free shipping. Make sure that this is cost effective to you. If you have your own business, you probably already know about different ways to market certain products. One method includes marking the product up a bit to cover the “free shipping.” You do not want to lose money on this promotion. However, this will only work if it is a new product that you have not previously advertised on your website. If you have this product on the website for $24.99 and suddenly you are sending out a video that it is now “marked down” to $29.99 including free shipping, your customers will feel cheated and you will lose your credibility. This method only works with overstock that you cannot move or a brand new product that has not yet been advertised.

So you make your video and put it on your website. Is that good enough? No. You want to make sure that you send your video to all of your customers through e-mail, particularly those who have purchased the product in the past. E-mail is free advertising, it doesn't get any better than that.

You can also advertise your product on You Tube or other free avenues. This is not going to cost you a dime and may generate much income, as well as rid you of some products that you are dying to get rid of. www.TubeMogul.com is a site where you can upload your video and send to many video sharing sites, all very quickly and easily. Best of all it's a free service.

Another way to use video to market your product would be if you had a restaurant of some sort. Again, you advertise a “special” on your site that will be good on only a particular day. For example on Tuesdays during this month pizza will be 20 percent off. Restaurants often get business through word of mouth but if one person sees the ad they will tell others. Be prepared for an onslaught of customers on Tuesdays and make sure you have plenty of ingredients to make a lot of pizza.

If you sell strictly over the internet, you should have a database of all of your customer's e-mails. If you have not done this begin doing so immediately. You can easily send them a video advertisement each time you have a special. Make it short and sweet and give them an incentive to ‘act right away.” People often purchase on impulse. One example would be to simply advertise that you are giving free shipping on all orders that are placed on the website within 24 hours. See how well that does for you. It will give the customer an incentive to act quickly and you will make a sale. The longer you give them to act the better the chances are that they will not act at all and talk themselves out of making the purchase.

If you have a car dealership, you can take tremendous advantage of such a video ad. “From now until Friday, prices on all new models have been slashed!” You can even offer a free gift for those who visit the showroom before the deadline. Car dealers often do this just to get the customer in the door. Once the customer is inside the door, the objective is to not let them leave until they buy a car. Some dealerships take this approach a little too far, such as the example of the car salesman who threw my father's keys to his old car on the roof of the showroom. This was not good salesmanship and car dealers seldom behave this way anymore. But they still want to get you into the store so they can use every tactic, short of kidnapping, to get you to purchase a car. Because they know once you walk out of that showroom they have lost a sale. People seldom come back.

Another way to keep people interested in your website and keep them coming back is to use the “progressive” ad. Do you remember the old “Folger's” coffee commercials? They were popular on television in the 1990s. It featured a man and a woman who were flirting with each other throughout the commercial. Each commercial became a bit more progressive, it was like watching a soap opera. People enjoyed seeing these commercials because they wanted to see if the man and woman would ever get together. This advertising campaign was very popular not only in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom, where it was first conceived. The same actors were used and they used different accents in the different series of ads. The Folger's progressive commercial was one of the most successful marketing campaigns of its time.

Why not do that on your website? It doesn't have to be a soap opera format but as videos are easy to continue to create, upload and delete, you can keep changing your video from time to time and make it a progressive commercial. The soap opera theme always works. A murder theme, while macabre, may work on certain websites, depending upon what you are selling. People will continue visiting your website to see if the love affair works out or if the murder is solved. And if you can manage this yourself, it won't cost you anything. Much less expensive as the Folger's coffee ad, but just as effective.

No matter what type of business you own, use marketing techniques combined with video in your sales. Sure, the videos on your website can be entertaining and make your site more attractive. These alone will generate more sales. But when you combine them with old fashioned marketing techniques, you've really got is a winner.