Online Video Ads: More bang for your buck in a recession

December 2008 | Posted by Carolyn Pikoulas
In a downturned economy, businesses are taking a careful look at their marketing budgets. Dollars must be spent with the greatest ROI in mind. Here are three good reasons why online video advertising may come out ahead during an economic downturn.

Lower risk
During economic setbacks, experimental advertising is too financially risky. But since online video has established itself as a successful brand-building medium (not to mention its ability to measure its effectiveness), it adds another dimension to a complete marketing package for the consumer.

Affordable
With TiVo and click-happy remotes these days, TV commercials are becoming less effective and less measurable. Online video, however, can virtually guarantee measurable, detailed and optimized results, while engaging your customer. There is no real optimization with TV advertising (well, none that comes cheap). With online video advertising, optimization is possible and affordable.

Businesses can instantly learn from these results and improve the video or optimize the content which creates the most views. This test-and-learn method generates more creativity, while leaving businesses with enough money to take more action in their marketing plan.

Connecting
Just because there's less money around doesn't mean there's less time. In fact, there's even more time available for people to connect with your business. Being economical means spending much more time gathering information about companies and products before making a purchase. Nowadays this happens almost entirely online through forums, blogs, social networking sites, Google searches, etc. Businesses more than ever have the opportunity to join these discussions and help customers make smart choices. This sets up a position for companies to create online video content that is useful, informative, and above all, relevant to their target audience. Not utilizing all of the various marketing tools available and relying only on familiar traditional media outlets, sets a dangerous situation for marketers, especially when marketing is so vital in this economy.

Source: The ClickZ Network