Jivox

Category archive: Success Stories

10 March 2010

Using online video ads to reach new customers

Featured on Fastcasual.com

By Diaz Nesamoney

The popularity of online video has caused a major shift in the way Americans consume media. Nielsen estimates that in December 2009, there were 137 million viewers of online video in the United States, watching an average of 193 minutes of video each.

With more people than ever watching video on their computers, does it really make sense to pour money into TV commercials rather than tap creative content for online distribution?

Online video ads offer premier engagement metrics, and offer one of the best ways to use your videos online. Many of today’s online video-ad platforms also enable you to pinpoint precisely which customers you want to reach by demographic, location and more.

Round Table Pizza, a restaurant chain from Menlo Park, Calif., with more than 500 locations, worked with its media agency to create and run a series of 30-second online video ads using their existing TV spot. They ran the spots on a network of local newspaper, radio and TV station Web sites as in-banner placements.

Taking advantage of the flexibility of the online medium, Round Table added custom interactivity in its ads to boost response rates. After viewers watch a Round Table commercial, they are given options such as finding a restaurant near them, accessing a coupon for that restaurant, or sharing the ad on Facebook. In fact, their video ad acts more like an interactive app than a traditional online video.

The in-banner video ads yielded strong results, performing nearly twice as well than typical online display ads both in terms of click-through rate and interaction rate.

Here are some tips for successfully making the leap from TV to online video ads:

Include calls to action in your ads: Unlike a TV commercial, where advertisers can only suggest that customers “come in today” or “visit our Web site,” the online video format allows you to add immediate calls-to-action. When transferring a commercial online, make sure you include a clickable link to your company’s Web site, as well as your phone number and address. Also consider including a printable coupon and maybe even a link to your local online directory listing using a teaser such as “Check out our great reviews on Yelp!”

Make your ads interactive: If you really want to increase the power of your marketing videos, consider turning your videos into interactive apps. Some online video ad companies now allow you to add custom Flash or HTML applets directly into your video ads — such as a store locator, interactive maps and menus — so viewers can interact with the ad without ever leaving the player. Interactive video ads instantly measure viewers’ responses by tracking their real-time interactions, instead of just measuring views or clicks.

Ensure your ads are reaching the right audience: Getting your ads onto premium local Web sites is critical for fast casual restaurants, because effective local targeting will ensure you’re hitting an audience that is most likely to take action. Whichever way you choose to distribute your ads, make sure you’re able to control which audience sees the ad and that you’re targeting within an appropriate geographic radius.

Measure results: One of the best things about online video ads is that they are instantly measurable: You should be able to see immediately whether your ad is actually working to bring new customers in the door. Make sure you review your results as often as possible to see what parts of your online video marketing campaign worked best and which were less successful, and then optimize your ads as needed. You can even carry these lessons into your next TV spot or use online video as a testing ground for more expensive TV campaigns.

TV spots may still be an important advertising medium for local and national businesses, but with the shift in people’s “screen time” rapidly moving from the TV to the Web, it makes sense to turn your TV commercials into online video ads. With just a little bit of work, you can reach both traditional TV audiences as well as highly targeted online audiences with essentially the same content.

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3 September 2009

Establish the Right Vibe: How to use video advertising to attract a crowd

By FuelNet

FuelNet presents a case study on how one smart owner of a growing business caught the attention of her target demographic through one of the Web’s creative advertising techniques: video.

PROBLEM: Alicia Petrakis, co-owner of Astaria Restaurant and Bar in San Mateo, Calif., was frustrated. The restaurant had inherited an older clientele from the previous owner, and Petrakis hoped to expand the customer base to a younger, late-evening crowd. But despite the restaurant’s new décor, concept, and updated seasonal menu, her target audience (ages 25 to 50) was not responding to Astaria’s newspaper ads.

SOLUTION: Petrakis worked with Jivox, a do-it-yourself online video ad service based in San Mateo, to serve up messaging targeted to a livelier, hipper crowd. The company created a pop-up ad with a video component and ran it only on Web sites in the San Mateo area. “We went where the people we wanted in here go for information,” Petrakis notes. “Jivox is like having your own media buyer. They created the online advertising campaign based on our target demographic.”

The ad’s visuals showed off Astaria’s sophisticated vibe and cozy space — complete with images of customers enjoying live music in the bar and, of course, the mouthwatering food. “With online video, people have the opportunity of being much more comfortable with their choice,” Petrakis points out. “It’s more effective than single-image ads on sites like Yelp. And it reaffirms the customer’s choices — you can’t do that in a print ad.”

Petrakis, who plans to update the video ad at least twice a year as part of her Internet advertising efforts, has seen significant business growth since the video launched. “Having a strong Web presence has changed our business dramatically,” she says. “We’ve had a 35 percent increase in sales at a time when other restaurants are struggling.”

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17 August 2009

I Love Beer! And Other Great Video Ad Promotions

by Jivox

Promotions also deliver another great benefit: the ultimate answer to the question “Is my video ad working?”. If a new customer walks in the door with a printable coupon, or calls into your call center citing a special promotional code, you’ll know they saw your video ad and found your offer compelling. It’s the ultimate measure of actual conversion. You can also test different coupons in different versions of your ads, to see which ones get the most response. 

Here are three great examples of Jivox customers who used promotional offers in their ads to great effect:

Faultline Brewing Company

This Bay-area restaurant used Jivox to create an artistic video ad that showcased a beer being poured very slowly into a frosty pilsner glass. Faultline also included a promotion in the ad: send an email to Faultline with the phrase “I Love Beer” to be entered into a drawing to win a $50 gift certificate. The video campaign with the “I Love Beer” contest promotion generated hundreds of responses, and ended up being the most successful online marketing effort for Faultline to date. What’s more, by tracking responses to the promotion, Faultline could measure with precision whether the ad reached the intended audience.

Princess Port Bed & Breakfast

Princess Port Bed and Breakfast created an online video ad that featured a couple holding hands and walking on a beach. The call-to-action featured a link to a promotional coupon that offered viewers a discount on their next reservation. Upon running its ad on the Jivox Network, Princess Port reported a tripling of its web traffic, with 85% of new guests redeeming the online coupon.  Princess Port was booked at full capacity for the summer (not to mention the many customers they had to turn away)!

Astaria Restaurant

Astaria used online video ads not only to bring in new diners, but also to drive a later-evening crowd to their new bar space featuring live jazz. Astaria’s ads featured a clickable button leading to a downloadable coupon for 20% off a meal after 8pm. The campaign was a huge success in getting people to visit later in the evening for a drink or to nibble on small plates. By tracking coupon redemptions, along with other Jivox tracking tools, owner Alicia Petrakis knew which versions of her ads were the most effective in attracting new diners.

Have a great story to tell us about a promotion that worked for you?  Please post a comment below!

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3 August 2009

Three Low-Cost Ways to Create Marketing Videos for your Business

by Jivox

Are you thinking about creating a marketing video, but wondering how you can afford to make one? or are you daunted by the prospect of picking up a camera?  The good news is that there are now a number of different options for getting videos made on a budget.

For high-impact, broadcast-quality video, you can use a video production company or freelance videographer.  There are quite a few cost-effective choices out there, and one of our favorites is Pixelfish.  PixelFish has built a global network of more than 1,500 professional videographers to capture and produce video content almost anywhere in the world. They also offer a library of customizable pre-produced video ads that provides high-quality video solutions at a low price.

Click here to see an example of an ad on the Jivox network produced by Pixelfish for MindBody Online, a software service provider for the wellness industry.

Of course, if you’re fairly handy, you can buy a high-quality video camera for about $400 and start filming your own customer testimonials and how-to product videos. You can even film a video using the ultra-low-cost Flip video camera, which cost as little as $149.

You can also use Jivox’s free DIY video creation tool that includes a step-by-step video ad builder and huge library of royalty-free video, images and music… or get on the fast track and use Jivox’s pre-built QuickStart video ad templates to create stylish ads.

A great example of an ad created using stock footage and Jivox’s ad creation tool is New Lifestyle Diet – click here to see the ad.

The bottom line is, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to create a compelling video to use in your advertising and marketing.

p.s. Check out the Jivox ad gallery for ideas for your next marketing video!

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