Branding with Online Video

The term “branding” is popular jargon in the marketing, advertising, and public relations industries. People talk about “brand equity” and “brand awareness” as if “branding” is something quantifiable. Here’s what I think “branding” really means:

1. Whether or not people can recall your business name.
2. What people think about your business if and/or when they remember you.

Therefore, “branding” encompasses every aspect of your business. Everything – from the signs on your company vehicles to the advertising catch phrases you use to each and every individual customer interaction you have – falls under “branding” in one way or another.

If you read my post about small business branding ideas, you know that I like to focus on the practical aspects of “branding.” I’ve been talking about the sales and marketing benefits of online video for the last couple of weeks. Today, I’d like to touch on the branding aspects of online video.

Here are the main branding benefits of online video:

1. Video helps you stand out from the crowd. Despite the popularity of video sharing sites, very few businesses are marketing with online video – especially small businesses. Creating an online video, even a simple video like one of our Running Stills productions, is a great way to stand out from your competitors. Stand out, and you’re more memorable.

2. Video is inherently memorable. While the mere presence of video is enough to make you stand out, it’s important to remember that consumers are inundated with marketing messages. I can print my company catch phrase in bold blue letters on this web page, but I’ve got a much better chance of you remembering my catch phrase if you hear someone speak it. Video is more memorable than words and pictures because that’s how the human brain is wired.

3. Video can impress. What’s more impressive – a story about mixing Mentos and Coke or a video where you actually get to see what happens?

Clearly, a properly crafted video can leave the viewer favorably impressed.

While there are a lot of branding benefits with online video, there are some concerns as well:

1. Authenticity is paramount. Good internet videos are authentic. Bad internet videos are slick, over-produced, and leave the customer with the impression that they’re being “sold.”

2. Quality counts. If you’re a faithful reader of my blog, you’ve seen this video of a terrible commercial I found on late night television:

The production quality is terrible – so bad that it overwhelms the entire video. To make matters worse, the “give-away” (free buffalo jerky) seems completely and totally unrelated to both the video concept and the business being promoted. Why is a casino giving away jerky? Why are they using a cartoon pig to promote the giveaway? Now I can’t say for sure, but my guess is that this ad wasn’t too successful.

So there you have it. If you create an authentic video of reasonable quality, you can expect a boost for your brand.