How to maximize your video's ROI? Let us count the ways!

John Hoeschele, Creative Director

You've doubtless heard, and by now, begun to appreciate that video is increasingly the way both B2C and B2B 'consumers' prefer to receive their content. Without getting too deep into why that is the case -- chief among the reasons is how strapped for time we've all become, followed closely and not coincidentally by the Internet's much-improved methods and speeds for delivering video content -- we thought we'd quickly rattle off ways that videos can and should be distributed and even 're-purposed' to help you squeeze every last drop of ROI out of them.

Recognizing you're short on time, yourself -- we'll start by directing you to a 1-page flyer you can download on the subject. While not 100% comprehensive, it can serve as a sort of checklist you can use in your company whenever a video asset becomes available. You can access/print/download it here.

For folks with time enough to hang with me for a couple more paragraphs, here are some real-world examples of what I'm talking about:

1. On a regular basis, we develop and place radio commercials in distinct, local markets for our client Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists. In a typically year, the spots run their course and are then essentially 'shelved' for occasional future use or, just as likely, for all time. Recently -- and, again, given the relatively low-cost of producing and streaming video on the web, we've begun to dual-purpose those radio-only commercials as VOs for short form videos. In turn, those videos are now being utilized on the Smith Allergy website, and both paid and unpaid social media. In other words: Radio ROI is extended by moving to video, and video ROI is extended into multiple vectors on the web. (Check out one such video right here.)
   
   
2. SMS is lucky enough to have been engaged as the marketing firm for the Railway Interchange 2017 tradeshow in Indianapolis, to be held Sept 17-20. (For those of you not immersed in the RR business, this is North America's largest rail show/conference.) As part of that gig, we've also been green-lighted to offer a booth-video package to exhibitors that embodies the same 'maximize your video's ROI' mentality outlined above. One way is the way we've baked use of the videos we produce at the show into post-show follow up e-mailings to all show attendees. (Check out our Booth Blast flyer for a sense of how the promotion looks and works.)
   
   
3. Finally, consider how a video we produced for our client New York Air Brake is being re-purposed. The projected started out life as a celebratory video shared internally as part of a company wide physical and electron-town-hall: At just over 9 minutes, the original video tells the story behind NYAB's 'win' of an innovation award from its Munich-based parent company, Knorr-Bremse. Since the video was a hit with employees, SMS suggested we develop a short-form version to post to the HR/recruitment portion of the company's website... Effectively making a one-time-only asset for current employees into a repeat-use asset that can help attract new hires. Here's the the original, long-form video -- and here's the short-form revision -- for comparison.
   
   Cheers! -- JH

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