Why is Video So Important To Your Small Business:

"As a small business owner it can be difficult to compete with the larger companies. Larger companies often have lower prices and are more widely available. By no means does that mean your small business cannot be a success.
When you create a video and post it online, it gives you a voice. Anyone (and everyone) can throw words onto a page (or pay someone to do it for them). Simple articles can be effective for marketing. Those same articles can however have a greater impact. If you pair a useful, informative article with a great video, you can make a huge impact." Karriann Graf  Social Media Manager/Strategist for small businesses and real estate professionals. 


   The direction of new technology and the capabilities of the Internet demand that your company give potential customers a great visual. Video is one of the most effective ways to give the public the picture that you want to paint for your business. Stay ahead of the trends and contact us today to see how our experienced camera and production crew can bring your visual to life. (919) 861-4541

How Can Video Marketing and Smartphone Advertising Improve Your Business?

Video marketing can improve a business significantly through effective marketing. Ask yourself where you spend the majority of your day. Most of the work force spends their day on a computer or with some type of technology. With this given, the absolute best way to market a product is through the use of video marketing or through the use of Smart phones. By marketing to more people your business can hopefully expand through the addition of new customers.

Target Additional Customers

Because of the increasing integration of technology in our daily routine, video marketing and Smartphone advertising will allow your business to market to many more communities than traditional advertising. Conventional marketing, such as television ads, restrict the amount of people your advertisement can reach. However, video marketing can target everyone simply because more people are online than watch television.

When someone is checking email or surfing the internet, they retain more information than while they are watching television. This is simply because you are actively working while you are online as opposed to your relaxed state while watching television. A person who views a video online is much more likely to remember it later than someone watching an ad on television. By marketing your business to more people, you will hopefully retain more customers.

Smart Phones

Smartphone advertising can be equally effective in marketing a business or product. It seems that everyone has a Smart Phone today. By taking advantage of Smartphone advertising, businesses can market to essentially everyone. Also, much like video marketing, Smart Phone users are much more likely to remember the advertisement later. About 55% of Smart Phone users say they remember an advertisement they saw on their phone.

As you can see, taking advantage of video marketing and Smartphone advertising can significantly improve your businesses target market. Hopefully, you will retain more customers which results in higher profits.

5 Reasons Video Marketing is Effective

Video marketing is not really a new hot topic but it is a topic of importance to help you grow your business. Online video marketing has now been around for a number of years and it is an area that is still continuing to grow as time moves on. Technologies that allow businesses to apply videos to their business model are also growing, making it even more important to get involved in some way for any business.

Five reasons video marketing is very important:

People Like Watching Videos
Most people would rather watch a video than have to read. That is the truth and if your company, products, or service require any sort of explanation take the time and put it in a video because your audience will respond with much greater force.

Decrease Website Bounce Rate
Whether it is one video or ten, your website bounce rate will decrease with a video. Depending on how well the video is made and how long it is you could really hold a website visitor on your website that much longer.

Your Videos Will Rank
If you upload your videos into the video sharing websites and really optimize them with nice robust titles, descriptions, and the use of links where you can, chances are that specific video will become a great candidate to really increase in rankings.

Still An Early Technology
Like everything digital, online video sharing technology is relatively new compared to older forms of marketing which means that the process is only going to grow from here. Sites like YouTube are only growing in power and strength and many businesses are already leveraging the amazing technology for opportunities that exist in helping to grow their business.

Increases Branding & Credibility
When a business creates a new professional video they almost put themselves in a new type of bucket from the standpoint of their audience. Branding increase and credibility is often times instilled into your website visitors.

Online video marketing is a young approach but reaps many benefits if approached correctly. Take the time to figure out exactly how to incorporate a little bit of video into your business model.

Stamoulis, Nick. Search Engine Optimization Journal . 2 Feb 2011. <http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/2011/02/02/video-marketing-important/>.

Smartphone Advertising

Kantar Media's Compete, today released research showing that smartphone users have better recall of in-app ads than ads they view while browsing the web using their mobile browser. The findings, part of Compete's Q1 2011 Smartphone Intelligence survey, show that 52 percent of all smartphone owners recall ads they encounter in mobile apps. That number drops to 40 percent when asked about ads encountered while surfing the mobile web. And the disparity is even greater among iPhone users, with 65 percent recalling in-app ads and only 33 percent recalling mobile browser ads.

                Overall, considering both in-app and mobile browser ads, Android users have the highest mobile advertising recall, with 55 percent reporting they've seen some form of mobile advertising. For iPhone users, that number drops slightly to 51 percent. Only 22 percent of BlackBerry owners recall some form of mobile device advertising.

                Recall of text messaging/SMS ads is lower still among smartphone users. Just over one quarter (27 percent) of iPhone and Android users recall receiving a text message/SMS ad.

                "This data is important as advertisers and app developers, among others, contemplate the evolving mobile advertising opportunity," said Danielle Nohe, director, technology and entertainment for Compete. "If the behaviors of iPhone and Android users, who have more experience interacting with different forms of mobile advertising, are indicative of where the industry is headed, we're starting to see what forms of advertising could be most effective moving forward."

Compete. 16 June 2011. <http://www.competeinc.com/news_events/pressReleases/283/>.

Why Video Marketing Works

Internet approaches for marketers that worked in 2002 are badly out of date. Once, the best technologies for business communications of all kinds were for "later". Video and streaming audio was in the future, and you didn't need to worry about it yet.


That's over.


'The future' has been here for years. It is a foregone conclusion that video marketing works. The challenge is in figuring out how video marketing works… Has your own online presence kept up? Are you incorporating video and multimedia technologies for yourself or your clients, or have you just typed up a business opportunity and hoped visitors would read it?
The fact is, every reasonable barrier to using online video has been removed by the existence of massive and free video hosting sites such as YouTube. No longer is video an option to try to differentiate your product or services or identity. It's now the most cost-effective and outright effective option.
All of which means you can concentrate on communication. The fact is, "people buy from people" and now you have the means to personally connect with the people who land on your website, using video. Your website no longer resembles someone else's when it's your own face voice and words speaking to the viewer. Credibility builds as you talk about the value that you can provide. Only online video marketing works to make this possible.


Source: http://www.video1pro.com/article_videoworks.html

The Shift to Video Marketing

The world is changing, business is changing, and how you advertise your business is changing faster than ever before.  Social media, PPC, SEO, and blogging are all critical to the success of your business’ advertising efforts, but the biggest shift in the marketplace today is in online video marketing.

            You can dominate Google, Bing, and Yahoo quickly with video marketing if you know what you are doing. Anyone can create and upload a video, but the pros know how to dominate video marketing by:

§  Researching the market space

§  Analyzing Keywords and Phrases

§  Focus on a niche

§  Dominate a niche

§  Target specific video sites

§  Study customer trends

§  Strategically understand what your customers want to view

§  Be knowledgeable of your customers attention span

§  Build Consistency in your branding

§  Properly format videos

§  Submit meta content

§  Optimize videos for sites and search engines

§  Track, monitor, and improve results

§  Upload to hundreds of sites, personal blogs, social media sites, RSS Feeds, encourage organic syndication

§  And get your business ranked on PAGE 1 in 48 hours

What does video marketing syndication mean for your business?

§  More videos on more sites, which means more search results.

§  More search results will result in more clicks

§  More clicks will result in more sales

§  And more sales equals more money in your pocket!

Video marketing is not a fad, it’s a shift in the way the world is communicating.  You and your business deserve to be notice

Black Box Social Media. <http://blackboxsocialmedia.com/video-marketing/>.

Article About Video Production

In a lot of ways, corporate video production is an effective tool in presenting products and services to the largest possible number of potential and existing customers. It is likewise an efficient means in promoting a company, its mission and visions, its targeted goals as well as its list of achievements to its niche audience. The production of videos involves significant creative processes utilizing the latest in technology. Generally, corporate videos vary according to a company's particular requirements.

The benefits of a corporate video production are the following:

Corporate videos work well as an advertising material. It is a sure way of showcasing company products and services - its specifications, features, functions and even prices. The more unique and interesting that a video presents a product or service, the longer the brand impression will stay in the consciousness of targeted consumers and clients.

A company who aggressively engages in video production obviously believes in the power of viral marketing in the promotion of its products and services via videos. A communications manager who tries to post even a single video, one that is meticulously created and so totally unique and attractive, on YouTube, will be able to enjoy immense gains in terms of brand image retention and promotions, product popularity and eventually profits. Not like advertising and promotion in print, corporate videos are a much more effective means of engaging a company's niche audience. Messages in videos come across in a clearer, faster, more believable and better-understood way.

The utilization of corporate video production as an effective means of standing out in the areas of marketing and advertising is helpful in promoting not only the products and services but likewise the company that offers them. It effectively imprints a lasting image or series of images to the target audience with the intention of optimized brand familiarization. Ultimately, gains of whatever company goal are realized, but mostly on maximizing profits.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6379238

What is an Interactive Panorama?

Interactive 360°virtual reality panoramas allow your site visitors to view your business’s facilities as if they were standing in the room with the ability to look in any direction around them.  Panoramas can be a single environment, which would be multiple views of one area. Multiple panoramas can also be linked together to create a virtual tour of your entire facility; this allows your site visitors to go from location to location in a virtual self-guided tour. Descriptive audio can be added to each panorama to give the site visitor a greater understanding of what they are viewing. In addition to descriptive audio, the natural sounds of each environment can be added to enhance the site visitor’s virtual experience. Music can also be added as audio to enhance the experience. The site visitor can move to different location by the use of doorways throughout the tour, but if they have a specific destination in mind and do not want to follow the programmed path a floor plan can be added and will allow them to move directly to other panoramas at their convenience.  Interactive panoramas can be made unique and personalized by adding the company name and logo directly onto the images. The company brand will be seen in the same location on the image at all times, which will be helpful for site visitor.
                         Why Should Interactive Panoramas be Used?

·         60% of internet users take virtual tours online

·      Properties complete with virtual tours are, on average, clicked 10 times more than those that do not offer the service

·       On a typical day, more than six million people are taking virtual tours in cyberspace, up from roughly two million in 2004

·       80% of Internet shoppers say images are imperative when deciding to buy or use a company’s product or services

·       In cyberspace, a site with a virtual tour and interactive media will receive 38% more views than a competitor’s site that is lacking media

·       47% said virtual tours were very important to a listing

·      Statistics from realtor.com show that listings with virtual tours get clicked on 40% more than listings without virtual tours

                              

Look In Any Direction . <http://lookinanydirection.com/about_vr.html>.

"Property Week"

"ClickZ Stats"

Why Is Online Video Marketing Important?

       Having an impact that could be compared to the invention of television in 1928, the online video was one of the main components that differentiated the new media from the traditional one. It is the fastest and most powerful social media tool that companies should use while preparing their internet marketing and social media strategies, as it’s the fastest way one can convey a message that has feelings attached to it. Its effectiveness comes from the fact that the human brain employs 40% of the cortex to process video, meaning that humans are wired to scan the visual environment and are most attracted to visual stimulation. Due to its effectiveness, the online video marketing grew to become a ‘must’ for all social media strategies. Its importance first started being noticed through the huge popularity the worldwide known video sharing community: You Tube has achieved in such a short time span. Today, online video is integrated and widely used on all categories of online communities and company websites.

There are various benefits that are brought by videos to any social media strategy or viral campaign:

1. It brings a more personal interaction between a business and its audience. The mix of visual effects and sounds makes it an effective way of capturing an audience’s attention.

2. It gives the web-users new information delivered fast and made simple. As they say: a picture is worth a 1,000 words, but when you add sound to it …it’s worth millions for your business!

3. It is more cost-effective to produce.

4. It is viral.

5. It gives the chance of increasing your brands recognition. Whether it is used to describe and show the functions of a product, to introduce a company, for online seminars and conferences or for advertisements, videos can be effective ways to gain recognition of your brand.

6. It drives more traffic to your website. That is either by adding a link to a website or by placing the video on search engines along with well-chosen keywords and taglines. Google gives more importance to sites with videos then the sites without video, and increases chances of ranking higher by 50%.

The still growing importance of videos on the Internet is part of the digital revolution. It offers you a way to interact in a more efficient way with your audience as well as a method of keeping them engaged with you brand. Therefore, the use of videos should be part of any internet marketing strategy.

International, Sys Comm. Growing Importance of Online Video Marketing. 14 January 2010. <http://www.syscomminternational.com/blog/growing-importance-of-online-video/>.

Benefits of Video Production

It is always a good idea to make videos of special occasions as a way of watching them and reminiscing the good times. The videos also leave an impact and help us remember better than the photographs. The same rules apply when promoting a product or a service, or for that matter a company. The most effective way of promoting a company or a service is through the assistance of the media, and more than the audio the video format has more reach. This is probably why many corporations these days are creating videos with the help of media companies to promote their company. Videos are created keeping these things in mind, and the time frame matter a lot when trying to sell the company.
Corporate videos are all about giving the outside world a sneak peek into the company's operations, what they believe in and what their specialty or focus. If they are able to convey this message to the viewers in an interesting way, they can be sure that new business will come from doing so. The aim of the video is to promote the positive points of the organization while trying to add a bit of life and excitement to the campaign. During the initial stages right after the company has been launched, they normally have a press release when they officially tell the world they have arrived. The videos can be used at this juncture or during meetings with prospective clients to show them what is in store for them if they sign a business deal with the company.
For a corporate video to be effective and have maximum reach, it is best to seek out a Public Relations Company or an Ad Agency. They will bring in their creative expertise, gather information from the company and create a video that will grab the attention of the viewer and help them take back a few words or images that caught their eye. This would be the first step to launching one's services and products. Video promotion is used largely by Non profit organizations to spread word about their organization and the purpose behind their existence to invite sponsors and others to support their services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/810587

The Process of Video Production

Video production goes through three stages:

1. Pre-Production: The process of determining project objectives, requirements, schedule and production design.
2. Production: The process of capturing video footage outlined by the pre-production process, including interviews, presentations, planned or unplanned “cover” footage; this typically happens on location.
3. Post-Production: The process of logging, digitizing, editing, mixing and mastering the captured footage into a final master (DVD, tape or media file), which then can be duplicated and/or distributed.

I. Pre-Production

This is the most important stage for a successful video process and end product. If this stage is not done with thoroughness, care and attention, the whole process suffers, and the quality of the finished product will be compromised. We cannot emphasize enough the critical importance of the pre-production process, particularly planning.

II. Production

This stage is filled with capturing the content of the program. Time management is key. The focus is assisting the crew with the following:
• Photo releases and legal clearance to photograph and videotape both staff and clients;
• Arrival, accommodations (if overnight), transportation;
• Secured area at the site for storage of equipment;
• Someone familiar with building and people to accompany/facilitate crew and help maintain schedule;
• Misc.: Meals and rest periods.

III. Post-Production

The post-production is done by a professional video editor, with your input through the script and an approval/revision process, in which versions of the program (at various stages of completion) are sent to you for your approval and input before the final program is mastered.

http://www.seracomm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58

 

Animated Marketing Video Project

The animation video project allows your business to have virtual selling opportunities, which feature full marketing videos and interactive DVD-ROM's. The video projects will be available for the business’ websites, You Tube channels, sales center monitors and as a piece of the collateral Materials that are given to visitors in the form of a CD-ROM.  The home builder segment of our business will not only be offered animated marketing video and DVD-ROM products, but Mark Bray Enterprises will also produce individual exterior and interior Models for each plan offered.  This will allow sales to provide links to specific models that meet the needs of each potential buyer, and offers tremendous pre- sale opportunities prior to even breaking ground.

Annecy Video:
http://www.markbrayenterprises.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27&Itemid=25

Check out our Marketing Video for Rapid Results Fitness!

We specialize in video production for all types of industries!

5 Steps to Real Estate Video Marketing Success by Josh Schoenly

Video marketing is growing like wildfire and if you haven't already begun using it in your real estate practice you need to start now. Below you'll find a simple 5 step process you can use to get started or add to your repertoire in using video marketing for your business.


Step 1: Start With the End in Mind
I know that is a little cliché but it's critical when it comes to using video as part of your real estate marketing plan. There are really only about 4 different outcomes to try and accomplish. They are are as follows:

Lead Generation

Branding

Listing Plans

SEO

Once you have your desired outcome for your video it's time to move onto Step 2.

Step 2: Keyword Research
Regardless of your desired outcome, you'll need to do some keyword research to determine what keywords you want to go after with your video. This sounds complex - but really it's pretty simple. Go to Google and type in "google keyword tool" in the search box. It will return a result for Google AdWords: Key Word Tool. There you can simply enter keywords that you would want to target and Google's tool will tell you how much traffic those keywords are getting.

Here's a keyword example to try: foreclosure listings Harrisburg Pa. Did you notice that Google identified all of the key words assoicated and provided the total number of searchs as well as their respective local and global search strengths?

Once you have a list of potential keywords, go back to the Google search and enter in your keywords to see how many competing sites there are on Google. The best keywords to target are those that have high search volume and not that many competing pages.

This information is important- it will be used to sometimes determine the topic of your video, to title and to describe your video when it is time to release it to the public (see Step 5).

Step 3: What Type of Video Will You Use?
There are several video types you can use. For example you can create a video slide show, video property tour, neighborhood video tour, screen capture video and the list can go on and on. You just need to pick which type of video you are going to use and then move on to Step 4.

Step 4: Create or Render
Once you determine the type of video, you'll need to create it. How you create the video is going to depend on the type you choose in Step 3. You may need to go to an actual property and shoot the video tour or you may be able to simply create it on your computer with a slide show or screen capture. Once you have it created you will need to either upload it to a video sharing site or you may need to first render the video and then upload.

Step 5: Syndication & Distribute (The Fun Part)
So you have your video created, now what? It's time to get it up and out on the net. There are tons of video sharing sites out there, but definitely the best and most recognized is Youtube. So that is probably the best place to start. It's super easy to create an account and upload a video there. But if you really want to turbo charge your results you are going to want to syndicate your video on many different video sharing sites. I know this sounds like a big pain, but here's the cool thing, there are sites out there that will do it for you. The best free site to do this is tubemogul.com. The way it works is that you upload your video to tubemogul and then enter your title, description and tags and it will actually syndicate your video to a bunch of different sites all at the same time!

Source: http://www.reiclub.com/articles/5-steps-video-marketing-success

Check Out this Article: Real Estate Industry Capitilizes Online Video!

Real Estate Industry Finally Moves Beyond Standard Virtual Home Tour Videos

Online video has proven to be an effective tool for real estate agents. If pictures can show off an available home better than text alone, then imagine how powerful video can be to the prospective buyer. It gives them the feeling of actually touring the property–outside of them visiting the house in person, there’s no better way for them to truly experience it.
But for too long, real estate agents have been happy to shoot a virtual tour video and call it a day. And while that can help drive sales, it’s hardly tapping the power of online video’s ability to spread and have lasting impact on viewers.  As someone who recently went through the whole home-buying routine, I can’t tell you how boring those tour videos can be. They may have shown off the home, but they did little to excite me about the property. I’ve been waiting for a real estate company or agent to get way outside the box and create something with the ability to go viral.




Source: Real Estate Video Marketing: Industry Moves Beyond Virtual Home Tours http://www.reelseo.com/real-estate-industry-virtual-tour-videos/#ixzz1Mi2xiQ70
©2008-2011 ReelSEO Video Marketing

Mystery Shopping goes hand-in-hand with Market Research

Mystery Shopping goes hand in hand with market research. Market research as it applies to mystery shopping is defined as the examination of the whims and behavioral preferences of consumers and how these preferences affect business.

Mystery shopping reports offer comprehensive information on how consumers are reacting to different marketing campaigns, store designs, promotions, etc. Mystery shoppers are essentially the connector between consumers and business. They provide the client the ability to see the interaction through the “Customers Eyes”.  In reporting their experiences they help businesses understand how efficiently they are presenting themselves and their products to customers. Mystery shoppers thus, are an important market research tool and often spark changes from businesses when reports reflect negatively on a specific aspect of the customer-business relationship.

Google Loves Video

Posting video online has been extremely popular in recent years and is one of the most effective ways to get Google’s attention.
According to an article by Steve Baldwin in Media Post Publications, the newest tweaks in the algorithm gives even more emphasis to video in its search engine.
Steve tested this himself by comparing what Google calls its “next-generation infrastructure,” code-named Caffeine, against what is currently being used. Steve noticed that the single biggest difference in Caffeine seems to be that video now usurps still images in catapulting a webpage to the top.


For those of us that are less tech savvy....the MESSAGE: Use more video on your site to get more Google love.

Take full advantage of the Triangle Green Tour

The Green Home Builders of the Triangle introduces the new Triangle Green Home tour guides by MyHomeFound and Mark Bray Enterprises.  These tour guides will be available on a PC or smartphone and the iTunes App Store.

The new website and mobile tour guides provide outstanding new advertising opportunities:

• With added features, people will use the website more than ever
• Smartphone tour guides provide an exciting new way to tour the Parade
• 34% of smartphone users make over $100K annually

Reach Your Customers the Triangle Green Home Tour!

  More information posted now at  www.MyHomeFoundTourGuides.com.  Feel free to contact me via email at jenna@markbrayenterprises.com or by phone (919) 861-4541.

Check out a video model tour done for Lennar: Ellington Place

Welcome!

Hello,


Mark Bray Enterprises created this blog to share what is happening with our company. We hope to use this as a forum to keep you informed about all of our new projects and ventures.