A webmercial is a 30 to 60 second commercial about your business or organization that appears on your website or somewhere else on the Internet. Like television advertisements, webmercials are predicated on the notion that, when millions of people regularly turn their attention to a particular information and entertainment medium, that medium becomes an optimal venue for promoting business interest. However, unlike television commercials, webmercials are supremely economical for three reasons: they require less production time, they run without end and they’re available to Internet users 24 hours a day.
From advertisements that contain hired actors to a short message from your company’s CEO, there are several forms of video webmercials. But all successful webmercials share four characteristics, beginning with focusing on what you’re promoting. Focusing on what you’re promoting has two basic aspects: choosing the right words and choosing the right images. For example, if you’d like to create a webmercial for your homepage that communicates your company’s dedication to the community, a webmercial that focuses on your products and services wouldn’t evince those values as clearly as a straightforward message from your CEO or a corporate spokesperson.
By the same token, talking about your company values to promote the value of your products or services is a poor substitute for actually talking about the value of your products and services. After you’ve chosen the appropriate words, choosing images that enhance the verbal aspects of your webmercial.
The second key to creating an effective webmercial is to arrive at the point of your webmercial as quickly as possible. A webmercial shouldn’t come off sounding like a tradeshow video; compaction should be favored to exposition. Choosing strong images and presenting a brief list of hard-hitting benefits will impact your viewers without challenging their attention span.
As you develop a compact approach, the third key to successful webmercials involves remembering that, like television commercials, webmercials should establish branding. Some companies develop different webmercials for the same product to appeal to more than one demographic. But in every case, ensuring that the style of a webmercial appeals to its target audience is the key to success. Take the wrong branding approach and you could end up alienating your demographic.
The fourth key to developing successful webmercials is the simplest of all: be sure to end a webmercial with a call to action. While following the first three steps creates webmercial that generates interest, ending with a call to action capitalizes on that interest. In addition to asking your viewers to take action, be sure to supply them information that makes their action as easy as possible, such as presenting your website address.
By following these steps, you can develop a webmercial that capitalizes on an ever-increasing Internet audience at an affordable price. To craft the ultimate webmercials, consulting with an Internet video marketing expert can be helpful.
