Online Video: Is it Right for You?
By: Raul Vazquez
|
|
It has been my experience that auto dealers are a little slow to embrace new technology. I also notice when they do embrace it and try it, there does not seem to be a plan as to why they are using it or how to make the technology work for them. They seem satisfied with just having done it. Now that online video is catching on, auto dealers are right there looking for ways to capitalize on the potential. The problem is that they do not know how to make it work, so their efforts are not good enough to create a successful experience.
I am sure that all of this sounds like a knock on auto dealers, but it is not. The fact is that this is true of any industry when it comes to new technology. For some reason, companies think if they do something that is the new "hot" thing, it is going to work just because they do it. This could not be further from the truth. Online video is an advertising medium. As you do with any medium, you need a plan, an ad that will generate a response, and a way to measure that response.
You are not entertaining or delivering the news. You are selling. This does not mean you cannot incorporate these elements into your message, but do not lose your focus. Your goal is to sell. It is a direct response medium. You want to elicit a response today, not next year. This means there has to be a call to action: a reason to respond now.
Setting goals and having an expectation of what you want your online video campaign to accomplish puts you far ahead of your competitors. Most companies would simply create a video, put it online and expect it to work. Online video is really no different than any other advertising medium. Whether it is television, newspaper, or radio advertising, simply placing an ad does not guarantee your success. Anybody can produce a video. Anybody can upload a video online. Very few people, and I do mean very few, can deliver measurable and profitable results with any advertising.
The first step to your success is to hire a company that knows how to deliver results. You certainly want to the video to look good. I agree that this is important but I have seen plenty of good-looking videos to which nobody responds. What about doing it yourself? Sure you can do it yourself. Many people have a video camera. It just will not work. Just like you probably would not want me servicing your car, I do not want you making my video. Step one: Hire somebody that knows how to sell with video.
Your next step is to establish your goals. More sales is not good enough. Your goals need to be much more defined. Do you want to make your online presence match your offline message? Do you want to drive traffic to your site? Is your purpose to be different and establish a unique marketing position? Establish a goal.
The third step is to create messages that make people respond in ways that you want them to respond. The single biggest problem that I see with advertisers is that they never tell the customer what to do. I relate it to the salespeople that go through their presentation and do not try to close the sale. We both know the deal is not going to close itself. That is common sense. Advertising messages are no different. If you do not tell the customer what to do, you are only ensuring that they do nothing. Step three: Create a good call to action.
Online video is like any other form of advertising in that in order for it to perform; you have to commit to it. You will make mistakes along the way. However, if you measure the results, you will eventually succeed because you will learn from your mistakes. Regardless of whether you incorporate online videos into your plan, and I firmly believe that you should, make sure that your agency can always answer the following question. How much response did I generate for the advertising dollars I spent? I don't mean overall. I mean they need to have this information available down to the individual ad. Dealers complain every day that advertising is too expensive. Is it really too expensive? My automatic response is, compared to what? The cost of advertising is directly proportional to the response you generate. An ad that cost you a dollar and generates no response is one dollar too expensive. Measure.
Raul Vazquez is the CEO of Focus, Inc, an advertising agency that specializes in direct response television advertising for auto dealerships.
This article originally appeared in World of Special Finance Magazine.
|
|
