"CREATE STICKINESS WITH STREAMING MEDIA"
Okay!! You've finally gotten them to your web site after a large
investment in time and effort, not to mention money. What??
They're not staying long enough to buy anything or to fill out
those profile forms that you stayed up until 3:00AM to create?
Why?? The site navigation is good; you have a secured order form;
the site loads quickly without too many annoying graphics, and
you even have a return and privacy policy! What's going on here?
You may have 10,000 subscribers or 40,000 visitors, but are they
really seeing and reading what you have to offer? What good is it
if they delete your ezine without reading it and surf right on
through your web site without "seeing" it?
Those of us trying to do business on the Internet are constantly
bombarded with information, statistics, and marketing advice.
Go to your target market. Claim your niche with your "unique
selling position." Promote your brand. Develop a web "community."
Publish a Zine. Provide worthwhile content. All of it, good
advice. But these marketing gurus leave out a very important and
indisputable fact. People want to be entertained! And they don't
want to have to work to enjoy their web experience. The success
of television, a completely passive activity, attests to that.
So, what should be done? How do we keep our audience long
enough so that we can tell our story and promote our product?
Streaming media provides a vital answer. It has a 70 percent
click-through rate for content, a 60 percent click-through rate
for advertiser information, and a 49 percent "buy" rate for online
merchandise. Those statistics, provided by Carton-Donofrio
Interactive, are proof of the success of streaming media when it is
used in a creative and content rich environment.
What is streaming exactly? Streaming promises quick access to
crucial audio and video content without the aggravating wait for
files to download. Downloading requires that files be sent to the
user's PC in their entirety before they can be played; MP3 audio
is a perfect example of this. The files then remain on the user's
machine until they are deleted. Streaming continuously sends these
same files, which have already been digitized, to the user's PC
while the user is listening or watching. When the stream is ended,
no data is left behind on the user's machine.
How can we use this exciting technology to create "stickiness?"
The possibilities are endless:
- Coaches and motivational speakers can utilize it for
instruction and team building.
- Lawyers, CPA's, and other professionals can enhance their
sites with timely client messages.
- The intricate product features of machines and "widgets" can
be demonstrated.
- Resorts can showcase their most desirable features.
- Realtors can market multiple properties efficiently and at
reasonable cost.
- Clothing retailers can have fashion "events" and showoff new
items and services.
- Furniture and antique dealers can highlight unique product
details.
- Human Resource professionals can use it to enhance corporate
sales sites for remote sales forces and clients.
- Non-profit organizations can use it to explain their
missions.
- Charities can use it for soliciting donations.
The quality of your streaming presentation will only be as good as the
quality of the source material for which it was originally created.
This is extremely important! (You can't expect a videotape with bad
color and contrast to look better in a stream than it did when you
played it on your home VHS machine.) The company that you select to
do the encoding and compression of your media should be able to
provide you with good guidelines for your original production.
For example, we always tell our clients that too much movement on a
videotape will cause blurring and "smeariness" when the video is
streamed. (As bandwidth continues to improve, many restrictions that
exist today will disappear.) Your streaming vendor is the best source
of information regarding tape formats and the equipment required to
create the original production.
Streaming media is already being used effectively by a number of
industries and organizations that are striving to stand out in the
crowded Internet business world. Streaming media still has its
limitations especially in the area of delivering full- screen,
full-quality video. But most of the big players on the Internet,
even those in head-to-head competition for the fast-growing streaming
audience, know that as bandwidth continues to improve, streaming is
inevitable.
Streaming media advertising substantially increases brand recall,
brand awareness, and positive brand perception. This really gives you
the opportunity to deliver a powerful message about your products or
services. It is affordable, exciting, and inviting. It creates the
"stickiness" that keeps your web visitors at your site and gives them
that extra incentive to click on the "Order Now" icon.
