If a picture is worth a thousand words...

...then what is video worth? In the marketing world, $775 million a year and growing. Now, I'm not talking about commercial videos on TV which you purposely use the TiVO to avoid, I'm talking about internet video. Internet Videos have become THE new way of interacting and educating potential clients, and spreading a marketing message especially when you are trying to reach a targeted audience.

Here are a few reasons why so many marketers are putting more and more funds towards internet video.

1. Effective - video ads say more than a static or flash ad in a small amount of space, not to mention they catch your eye and make you jump if your speakers are turned up too loud. In a nutshell, they draw more attention and therefore make the end-user click.

2. On-Demand - internet videos are always there at the perfect time. Users can watch when they want to watch, and at the pace they want. Some videos even allow for jumping around to different subject material.

3. Viral - people are much more likely to pass around a cool video than a boring article. A couple perfect examples of this are the Mac vs PC videos and now the new Office 07 videos.

If you are interested in jumping on the bandwagon, the CompareNetworks production group currently offers several forms of online videos: Demo Videos, Audio/Video Slideshows, and Viral Videos. Just shoot me an email if you would like more information.

Interesting article on videos from BtoB, "Picture this: Online video generating excitement".

Pay per signup!

Google recently announced their new "pay-per-action" ads. A cross between Google's Adwords and Analytics programs, with these ads you only pay when a user follows through with an action you specify, for example, signing up for an email newsletter. These new ads ensure people clicking on your adwords are actually your targeted audience, AND you know exactly how much money you spent to acquire that new customer. Currently, Google is slowly rolling out the new ads over the next few months. To signup to receive an invitation and learn more about the program click here. Check back in the next couple months, I'll be sure to post on how the program is working for us.