TurnHere Blog

This guest post was written by Brian O'Connell who is President of CPA Site Solutions, a web design firm providing websites for accountants and other marketing services to accountants, CPAs, bookkeepers, and tax preparers nationwide.

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You bought a website, and now you're hoping it draws in new customers. You've invested both money and time into building it, so for that to pay off, you need your site to generate at least 5 new clients per month.

But the more you check out the competition, the more you see a lot of professional websites out there. Although you're glad to be counted among those businesses with appealing websites, you realize you need to stand out.

Having a professional website is sort of like meeting the minimum requirements: without it, a lot of potential clients won't even consider you; but just having it is not necessarily enough to get you the job.

So, what does make the difference?

Showing your prospects that you're a real person with real clients.

And the best way to show them this is with a one-minute video.

Why Video Is So Effective

Video is simply the best way to reach out to new clients with your website. This is because clients want a personal connection to their service provider before making that initial call.

"Personal connection" doesn't mean sharing intimate details about your personal life, or even demonstrating shared traits or interests with your prospects. It simply means the prospect needs a sense of who you are as a person - how you dress, what you look like, how much you smile, even how you decorate your office.

You might think that a one-minute video isn't long enough to make an impact on a prospect. But humans have the ability to make snap judgments. A few seconds is really all it takes. (This is the premise of the best-selling book by Malcolm Gladwell, Blink.)

Video is so successful that a recent study showed it raises response rates by 4 to 7 times over landing pages with text and images alone (SearchEngineWatch, February 2010).

"Behind the Scenes" Works

Another reason video is successful in engaging your leads is that it shows them what your office is like "behind the scenes."

People love having inside knowledge. It actually makes them feel closer to a person or company. It gives them an immediate "buy-in" to see the staff working at their desks, dealing with clients, and talking to each other in the break room.

Although folks want to know you're professional, they also respond on an emotional level to seeing you doing real things at the office.

Incidentally, this tendency in people is one reason why social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are so successful. These days, we're oversaturated with advertising and promotional messages. Facebook, Twitter, and video put the human touch back in to business - which is a big relief to consumers.

Bonus: Generate Loyalty Right Away

If you're looking for at least 5 new clients per month as your ROI, adding a video is the smart way to go.

In fact, you may get more than you bargained for. Another recent study by BIA/Kelsey found that 1 in 5 people who view your video will give you a call.

If you get 20 views per week (which is conservative), that's 4 extra calls per week, or 16 per month. If you convert even half those prospects to new clients, you've got more than 5.

Even better, folks who do call you already have a measure of loyalty. They've seen your video, they know what your office looks like and who works there - they may even recognize a staff member from around town. Your video has done the hard work (and arguably the hardest job) of convincing folks to trust you.

Making the Most of Your Website

If you've gone so far as to get a professional website, don't waste it. Consider adding a short video to your home page. It provides that personal connection prospects need to take the leap into contacting you - making it the smart way to outpace your competition.

Connecting over the internet can have endless benefits for business growth. From blogging to tweeting to Facebook updates, having a personal connection with your customers can have immediate and long-term benefits.

Here are five reasons how your business can have measureable results from having a video in your social media efforts:

1. YouTube is the Second Largest Search Engine

People are using YouTube as a visual search engine. In the last year alone YouTube had over 700 BILLON views. It would take almost 37 years to watch 1 billion videos if one watched a video every second.

YouTube is not just for big brands. Did you know there are over 586,000 searches for restaurants on YouTube? Local businesses are missing a huge opportunity if they don’t have a presence on YouTube.

2. Increase Exposure

Get your business out to the public! Once you have a great video it can be published on various social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook and reach a wider audience. Video has proven to be a successful way to get your word out there.

3. Personalize Your Brand

Make your business stand out! Video lets customers identify with the business. It lets you tell your story about what’s important to the business and gives customers a inside look at what you do and why you do it so well.

4. Create a Community

Not only does video change the way you express yourself, it also changes how your audience responds to you. When someone can hear your words and look into your eyes while you’re speaking, it creates a much more personal connection than simply publishing words on a page.

Video makes your business personable on the internet. Viewers see what your company is really about and get to know your business on an intimate level. When people hear your words it creates a much more personal connection.

5. Increase Conversion Rate

Consumers make informed purchases when they see a video. For the online shoe store Zappos, not only did purchases increase by 10% when a product included a video description, but returns for the product also decreased.

Video is the ultimate communication tool and allows your customers to engage with your brand, make informed purchase decisions and maximize your exposure on the web.

Pat from Café Aquarius tells us why he decided to use video and why it's important that restaurants have a way to virtually let customers come into the restaurant.

This guest post was written by Craig Anderson from CM Copywriters, the copywriting agency. They offer copywriting and scriptwriting services.

By introducing your company with video, your audience will build a deeper connection with your brand — and consumers will buy more of your products and services. In this article, you'll learn how to write a script that will engage your audience and increase sales.

More and more companies are using web video to introduce themselves and their products. Google recently launched One Pass, a new payment system for publishers. Instead of relying on copy alone, the product's landing page includes an embedded video.

The video covers a lot of benefits in 60 seconds. We learn that Google One Pass is a simple way for readers to access paid content, users only need one login to access news anywhere and it's easy to set up for publishers. They could say more, but instead they introduce the product and draw the reader into the copy.

Less is more

When writing a script to introduce your company, keep it as short as possible and resist the urge to be comprehensive.

If your law firm provides services across a range of disciplines — M&A, insurance, tax, litigation and employment — you might feel tempted to touch upon all these areas. If your service has five main benefits, you might assume that only mentioning three will be 60% as effective. This is wrong for a few reasons:

• When a script is too structured — service X, service Y, service Z — it sounds stilted
• Each additional point has declining marginal benefit
• People should still feel hungry when the video ends — leave them wanting more

Tell a story

The most effective brands don't just sell great products; they also tell great stories, and San Francisco-based DODOcase is no different. The company uses traditional bookbinding methods to create covers for the iPad and Kindle. Their video opens with the quote, "people are willing to wait a little bit longer to get a product that they know where it comes from and they know how it was made." Then, the video explains how their company helps people practice an old art form in the days of digital readers and iPads.

When using their product, the company wants you to "feel the history of what went into it." This is made much easier by the narrative of the video and the way that ties into the company's name and slogan (Protects from Extinction). Think about the story your company can tell.

At around 50 seconds, Mark Manning makes a lighthearted joke that sounds natural and unscripted. Without actors, it's usually much easier to achieve this degree of authenticity by simply asking your staff questions and letting them ad lib. Of course, you can still provide some direction on what they should say.

The video above lasts around two minutes, but they also have a longer version that lasts nearly four. If you're ever in doubt about the benefits of brevity, look at how much sharper the shorter version is.

Conversational language

Don't talk about how you "take a holistic view of a company's HR strategy to deliver out of the box thinking." It sounds ridiculous and makes it impossible to tell an engaging story. Instead, write your script in clear, accessible language and always speak in the active voice. The active voice is where you lead with the noun that is doing the action: Will eats food instead of food is eaten by Will.

Change the pace

For a corporate video introducing your company, don't spend more than 20 seconds on the same thing. Mix up the music, the background, the subject and the pace. And you should avoid making the changes appear formulaic. For an example of how this is done, watch Innis & Gunn's video:

Speak with a unified voice

Your website design, copy and video should all have a unified tone. One company that pulls this off is Buy Ugly Sweaters. "Look for a sweater so hideous and unattractive that no one else would be caught dead wearing something so silly", advises sweater agent Daniel Redman.

On their site, the sales copy is equally helpful: "unless otherwise stated, all of our sweaters are gently worn and are processed to be suitable for immediate wear."

By combining the same tone across their video and sales copy, you can't help but feel immersed in the brand. So much so, you're probably tempted to buy an ugly sweater of your own.

Conclusion

When you're writing your company's script, avoid the temptation to cover everything. Tell a story that makes your audience connect with your brand. Speak in clear, accessible language and ensure your video, copy and design all share the same tone. Above all, think creatively and be different.

Using video is a fantastic way to introduce your business, showcase your products and build trust with your viewers, but what it's really great at is something that we're all looking for - generating a sale. According to a study by the small business experts at The Kelsey Group, 21% of all video viewers make a purchase. Great stat, but what does it really mean? It means that video is great for converting online visitors to customers. Whether it's a visit to your store, filling out a form or buying a product, you should make it easy for your video viewers to do exactly what you want them to do. Below are three ways to increase sales from your video.

Buy/Learn More Links

Make your "buy more" and "learn now" buttons big and visible and put them right next to your video. Using 99designs as an example, you can see that they have a nice big button that says "Get started now" right next to their video.

Another great way to use a "learn more" link is for restaurants to include a link to the menu close by.

Phone Number/Contact Form

Here's another stat for you, according to the same Kelsey Group study, 21% of all video viewers request more information, so make it easy for them by putting a phone number or contact form in close vicinity of the video. This is especially important if most of your sales involve a phone call or other direct contact.

Business Directions

Going off the same Kelsey Group study (I love stats), 26% of all video viewers visit a store. A great way to get them into the store is by including a link to an online map next to your video. In addition, within the video itself you can invite your viewers to come visit you.