Using Video to boost your business marketing efforts is becoming more and more important – with online ads likely to achieve greater results when they are associated with video. Just think about the large number of websites that more like televisions that newspapers.

Many of the major news websites, such as CNN and Wall Street Journal are making much greater use of video; and so too are large corporate and small businesses around the world.

Some key factors that are contributing to the increased use video on the web include:

• Consumers are certainly using the web in a different way now – no longer just being satisfied with reading script on websites, but now almost expecting to see video (which is a media that is easier for most to consume, compared with reading).
• Broadband penetration has become more extensive in the last year or 2, and will only continue to become more pervasive as we enter the second decade of the twenty first century.

In the five-year outlook it released in January 2010, eMarketer mentioned that video ads would be the “main channel” for major advertisers seeking to increase their online spending. This should be very exciting news for businesses of all kinds, as creating web video is no longer the expensive task of a few years ago.

The created videos can be used in multiples ways, aside from profiling on the business website. One the key other activities include submitting the videos to video search engines such as YouTube, Viddler, Vimeo and multiple other sites. Oftentimes, a company’s marketing video may go viral from these websites, which adds favorably to the profiling, branding and business development results.

So don’t get left behind, and be sure to start using (online) video to promote your business! Aside from being more interactive, the actual video creation process can be very enjoyable.

• Provides the solutions to a particular problem being faced by your target market.

• Provide insights on trends in your industry.

• Details the results of market surveys you may have performed.

• Cover other specific matters of interest to your target market.

The report need not be a long one. 8-10 page reports will serve the purpose accordingly as long as it is jam packed with great content for your target market.

You could distribute this report in a variety of ways, including the following:

• Make it downloadable from your website.

• Include a link to it in the signature to your email.

• Create an AdWords campaign which promotes/encourages you target market to download and read your special report.

Be sure to include your website details and your contact information within the report. Preferably include your web-address in the footer of every page of contact and at the back. Your contact details (i.e. phone number, email etc) could be included on the last page.

Also be sure to include hyperlinked words within your special report. (Hyperlink simply means that when one clicks on the word (when viewing it on screen), it diverts to a web page. This diverting could you direct to your home page or a particular page on your website that is relevant to the special report. Once the reader is on your website they may continue to spend time there and familiarize themselves with you and your service(s) and/or service(s).

Another useful form of lead generation is to print hard copies of the report and mail it to your targets, with an appropriately addressed covering letter stating the purpose of the special report and how it will benefit your target.

Special reports can also be used for further eminence building, by putting out a press release locally, nationally or internationally, and highlighting the key newsworthy items within the special report. The key word here is “newsworthy”, as the media are not going include an article in their publication if all that you are doing is promoting your company. Providing useful, usable content to the journalists will get you on the road to where you want to be.

So the bottom line is write special reports on specific aspects of matters of interest to your target market, whether it be specific challenges they are facing or simply news about the industry (e.g. trends) or survey results.

Your clients and prospects that spend a lot of time online are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their online habits and can spot a weakly designed website in a flash. So if your website looks like it needs a face lift, you should not waste any more time in getting this rectified.  
  
Spend some money and create a website that you can be proud of, as this is the online face of your business. In addition, a good-looking website fosters trust with your site visitors, clients and prospects, which adds to your eminence-building process for your business. 
  
Having a professional looking website will also enable the following for your business:

• Professional representation of your service.
• Profiling articles which you may write and include on your site.
• Increase the likelihood that your target market will download lead-generation (special) reports from your website as they believe at face value (based on your website) that the content provided will be relevant.

This is a big one so pay attention – a good looking website provides you with immense credibility when the media view your website, thereby making more appealing when they are looking for specialists in certain areas. (If you are putting out media releases and the release contains a link to your website, you have to ensure that your site looks professional – there is no excuse for anything less!) 
  
So if your website leaves you embarrassed then do something about it – fast!

A great way to get good leads for your business is by performing surveys of your target market (including your current clients). Survey results, when presented properly, can provide phenomenal exposure for your business, especially if you are successful in getting the survey results profiled in the media. There are many ways to perform your survey. To gain excellent benefits for your business development efforts, it pays to perform the surveys one on one i.e. you or your sales team manually performing the survey with your prospect or client. This way you will be in an immediate position to identify areas where you could be of service. However, this may not be the most practical way of performing the surveys, as you may not have the manpower to perform the number of surveys required to make the results statistically valid.

Saying that though, you could cherry pick the clients or prospects that you would like to perform the survey manually with. This way you could still derive the benefit of direct interaction with them and identify business development opportunities more promptly. Back to the survey process – the most practical means of doing a survey is online. There are numerous tools available to do this. These tools, when used correctly, provide a far wider and more immediate outreach for your survey. The key challenge will be to get people to complete the survey. One of the best ways of getting them to complete the survey promising the respondents that they will be getting a copy of the survey report. This may not always be a compelling enough reason for them to complete the survey, but it should help. The ideal persuasion tool is when you can promise the respondents that they will be provided with the comparative information on how they fair against the overall results on each question.

However, this latter process could become a logistical challenge if you do not have the software tools or the manpower to be able to provide this level of detailed information to all your respondents. When the results of the survey have been collated and the report written, then be sure to package the report in a well-presented document (whether online, offline, or both). Use charts/graphics wherever possible to showcase the results, and keep the commentary succinct and to the point. Draw attention to the main trends or interesting/unexpected trends. When completed and appropriately reviewed and edited, then you can start preparing the press release and cover letter. The cover letter is to accompany all reports that are sent to clients and prospects via email or hard copy. In conclusion, surveys provide a phenomenal vehicle for you to generate additional business, whether it’s through identifying business development opportunities during the survey process or whether these materialize after the release of the survey results to the market place.

Refer to Marketing Tools to find out how you can survey your clients and prospects.