Video clip Exercise
Some people called my production “infantile,” but I found the process of producing video clips to be one of the better ways of delivering a marketing message to the masses.
It was a fun and effective exercise. And no, we haven’t seen any real results yet in terms of growth of traffic and sales (I posted it two days ago and it’s already #1 for relevant searches!), but it made us take a fresh look and ask hard questions about the promise of the product.
Today, producing your own streaming presentation in the form of a video clip and uploading it to the Internet is easier than ever. But while the actual production took only 4 hours of work, we spent almost two days brainstorming about the concept and the messaging approach we should take. We needed to focus on the most relevant features of the product and highlight the most important benefits. In the case of Optenet PC, the parental control software we market, it wasn’t easy. After all, it has lots of useful benefits: it blocks and filters porn, gambling and other inappropriate content available online; it helps you control your child’s time spent online; it empowers parents with a sense of responsibility and installs trust in both teens and young children; it helps porn addicts and compulsive gamblers overcome their problem.
After two days, we narrowed it down to the following message:
The Internet is a scary place for kids – responsible parents install Optenet PC.
Now, how about delivering the message? Should the clip be funny? If it’s funny enough, it might even become viral and carry the message to far away places. Should it be scary with a hard message pounding on your heads like a hammer? Educational, PowerPoint presentation style?Which approach will be the most effective?
One day later we had our concept:
Lets tell the real and personal story about why and how we got involved in kids’ Internet safety.
Three hours of learning and struggling with the clipmaking software, two hours building it and voila — available in your local Blockbuster video store (well, not exactly, but you get the picture).
