Yes, it’s 2010. It’s time to implement those New Year’s resolutions that we all talked about.  Let’s see if your friends at VideoSomething can give a little guidance to some of your new goals for the year.

1. Spend More Time with Family and Friends

If you’re looking for some great activities in 2010, you’ll have plenty of excitement with the crew at Red Licorice Events.  They host a number of activities throughout the year to challenge and entertain any level of athlete.  Compete or just volunteer and have fun…it’s up to you!

2. Get in better shape!

Yes, that may be an ongoing challenge for many of us.  You can certainly gain an edge with Austin Nutrition.  They provide great tasting smoothies, and nutrition products to help you reach and maintain your fitness goals.  If you don’t want to get in shape, then just spend some time at Big Top Candy Shop downtown…enough said.

3. Reduce stress

Let’s keep it simple.  Take a drive…a short drive out to Fredericksburg.  Cameron Baird, the owner of Altdorf Biergarten will make sure you have a relaxing afternoon enjoying fine German beer and their famous sausage platter.

4. Save money

For those business owners looking to improve their technologies and potentially reduce costs, you can check out Doublehorn Communications.  Tab Schadt and his team can easily answer any questions regarding your phone and IT services.  These guys are THE experts in Texas.

5. Get organized

A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind.  How about making a change to your home office or overall interior?  Jeanine with Metamorphosis for Homes can do amazing improvements to any room.  Ask her about the custom poker room she designed!

If you’ve got some alternate New Year’s resolutions that we didn’t cover here, just take a look at our website and I’m sure something will get you motivated!

How to promote your video

• Place a link to your custom video on your website
• Place a link to your video in emails to prospects
• Reference your video with online platforms and other social networking sights (Facebook, blogs, networking forums, etc)
• Use the video at tradeshows or other presentation opportunities
• Cut your existing video or create a new 30 second video for use on select television spots

Web video statistics and trends

November 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that more than 170 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month. Online video viewing continued to reach record levels in November with nearly 31 billion videos viewed during the month.

More than 25% of small businesses are planning on some sort of spending for online video in 2010 according to a report released by Ad-ology Research. They say this also represents a 75% higher value than the year before.

By 2014 eMarketer believes that online video will reach $5.2 Billion (up from $734 million in 2008). Compare that growth rate with that of banner advertising ($5.8 billion in 2014, $4.88 billion in 2008), and the future for video looks very bright.

GroupM, a media buying agency, released a new study that projects online advertising to account for 15% of the global ad budget in 2010. That’s up from 13% in 2009, and from 3.1% in 2001.

Highlighting some recent great videos

Big Sky Pediatrics

Airport Share a Cab

Harrington Home Painting

Austin Radiological Association

Asia Food Festival

Hardest Half Marathon

Paseo Del Rio Associaion

ColdFire Signs

Closing comments

We’ve enjoyed working with some great businesses and events in 2009.  As marketing activity ramps up again for 2010, we look forward to creating new visual stories throughout Texas and now Southern California!

If you know anybody that can use some great quality video production, please steer them our direction!

For more updates and to stay connected, please join us on Twitter and Facebook.

Thank you!

Ah, summer in Texas.  Time to travel, enjoy the long days, and crank up the air conditioning!  If it’s too hot for you, then how about setting up some swim time with Mike and his team at Nitro Swimming.  Still too hot?  How about a call to Chad at Shelton’s Pride Air Conditioning to help cool things down better?  If that still doesn’t cut it, then you may want to reach Wade and Derek at Square Cow Moovers to take you to a cooler spot!

Once again we would like to take a moment to provide you with a short update on VideoSomething.com and some of the latest online marketing trends.  As our industry continues to grow, we see increased opportunities for business owners to expand their online presence, share their story, and reach new customers.

Success stories

• Local realtor, Elicia Rudberg recently had the opportunity to be featured in a program for HGTV.  The producers asked for her resume and photo in order to proceed with the competition.  Ultimately, she wowed them with her personal business video and became one of the finalists.

• Diana Cregan with Koala Kuddles has built a business around a specific product.  With the use of her new marketing video, she is now able to visually showcase her product and answer many questions that arise with new and potential customers.

• In an effort to assure potential clients and gain more business, Jason Crabtree with Premier Partners keeps his marketing video handy on his laptop during customer visits.  This helps him promote recent client testimonials and his company’s overall services.

• Randy with Mama Fu’s of Austin needed a marketing piece to highlight not only his restaurant to customers, but potential investors as well.  By targeting the key segments of his business, he now has a video that can cover multiple uses.

How to promote your video

• Place a link to your custom video on your website.  Here are some great examples:

www.tranquilitycs.com

www.youngcarpet.com

www.robinbondinteriors.com

www.sail-fish.com

• Place a link to your video in emails to prospects
• Reference your video with online platforms and other social networking sights (Facebook, blogs, networking forums, etc)
• Use the video at tradeshows or other presentation opportunities
• Cut your existing video or create a new 30 second video for use on select television spots

Web video statistics and trends

• Over 85% of central Texas residents search online first for information.  How many ways can a prospect find your business online?

• According to the Kelsey video panel – 30-50% of small business owners who have websites will use online video in the next three years.

• Cisco released their second annual visual networking index which predicts that by 2013, all forms of video will account for almost 90% of the total consumer traffic on the Internet.

• Metacafe asked Frank N. Magid Associates to do a new study on what kind of video people are watching online. A surprising 77% of U.S. Internet users are watching online video and 43% viewing something weekly.

Highlighting some recent great videos

We continue to help business owners share a story through video.  Through the talent of our editors and filmmakers, we have recently completed some truly unique projects:

How about a little comedy: Alphagraphics video

Some action footage: Villari’s Martial Arts video

Community events: Old Pecan Street Festival video

Something a little more personal: Suzanne Michaels video

Ok and maybe a little more comedy: Martin Braun Watch video

Closing comments

We are in the final production of our latest documentary film.  With the guidance from Nancy Glass and her team, we hope to bring more attention to their organization, Operation Honor our Heroes.  In honor of, and inspired by Master Sergeant Robert Mark Horrigan, their mission is to meet the unmet needs of our wounded veterans and their families.

With many options in marketing today, we would like to once again thank those that leverage and promote our industry, as well as VideoSomething.com directly.  We welcome any introductions to others you feel may benefit from our services.

Stay tuned for more enhancements to our main website and service offerings this summer.  Also watch out for our production teams at major local events in the coming months!

Thank you!

We hope everything is going well with you and your business.  Periodically we like to provide our customers with a short update on VideoSomething.com and some of the latest online marketing trends.  We’ve been able to help hundreds of Austin area businesses increase their online exposure through our informative and engaging short videos.  With our increased exposure, the amount of visitors searching for local businesses on VideoSomething.com has grown every month since the launch of our website.

Success stories

• Urban Painting Company.  Owner, Erick Gerdeman received a call from a local resident who had come across his video.  In her research she gathered information on four websites of different companies to handle her project.  She also came across one unique video.  In presenting this information to her husband, he took a look at her findings and replied…”let’s work with the guy in the video!”

• Local event coordinator, Dan Carroll with High Five Events wanted to spice up their tradeshow booth.  He asked us to put their videos on DVD in order to play on a flat screen monitor.  Ultimately, their videos attracted the attention of participants and allowed for easier discussions with the business owner.

• Marschall Irrigation.  Owner, Justin Marschall has decided to include a link to his video when responding to bids.  This separates him from his competition and allows his recipients to learn more about his company and specific services in more detail.

How to promote your video

• Place a link to your custom video on your website (some great examples: www.teaembassy.com, www.tranquilitycs.com, www.beecavedrilling.com)

• Place a link to your video in emails to prospects
• Reference your video with online platforms and other social networking sights (Facebook, blogs, networking forums, etc)
• Use the video at tradeshows or other presentation opportunities

Web video statistics and trends

• People are expected to spend more time watching online video as broadband access penetration increases, connections become faster, and more premium content becomes available.

• Internet advertising in the United States will grow eight times faster than the overall market, surpassing newspapers, cable TV, and broadcast TV by 2012.

• “Consumers are starting to realize that, as opposed to TV, Internet video lets them watch what they want, when they want, and increasingly also where they want,” Karsten Weide, program director for IDC’s digital media

• eMarketer estimates that online video ad spending in the US now represents less than 4% of all Internet advertising, and the equivalent of 1% of TV advertising. But the market is growing.  In the US, spending on online video ads is projected to more than triple by 2011.

• According to The Kelsey Group’s User View study (March 2008), 62 percent of consumers surveyed said they had seen an online video ad, up from 59 percent in 2007. Of those consumers who had seen an ad, 47.3 percent went to a Web site, 19.1 percent requested information about a product or service, 18.2 percent went to a store to check out a product, and 16.9 percent made a purchase.

Highlighting some recent great videos

We continue to help business owners share a story through video.  Through the talent of our editors and videographers, we have recently completed some truly unique projects:

Fion Wine Pub and Bistro

Nitro Swimming

Steiner Ranch Steakhouse

Big Chill Adventure Race

Closing comments

Within the coming weeks, you will see additional modifications to our main website.  With online search being of such high importance, we have committed to improve our site ranking as well as your video page ranking with further improvements to SEO.

Keep your ears open for upcoming VideoSomething.com radio spots on local stations, KVET and The River.  Also watch out for our production teams at major local events this spring and summer!

We truly appreciate those that use our website and welcome any introductions to others you feel may benefit from our service.

Thank you!