Don’t Let Video Quality be the Barrier

Many marketers view video content as a barrier for not launching a web video marketing campaign.  The thing is – many companies actually have video content, but hesitation arises in the visual quality.  Don’t get me wrong – audiovisual content is at the heart of video communications efforts.  However, there is a big difference between viewing video on a personal computer compared to a state-of-the-art HD television set.
Video quality should not be the reason to avoid web video communications.   Over the past year, I’ve noticed a range of television shows – from Oprah to the Today Show and The Early Show – use Skype-video chats in lieu of broadcast roll filmed using a production-quality camera.  Though I’m not a fan of “Web-cams on TV” (mainly because, when I kick back to watch television, I want to see TV-quality film), the fact that broadcast outlets are willing to mitigate visual clarity from time-to-time does show that viewers are more tolerant of different experiences.
If I had to advise a prospective client between using audiovisual content that wasn’t HD quality or launching a digital direct marketing effort without video, my bet is to always use the video.  The visual nature, alone, pulls in a viewer in a way that static words and images sometimes cannot. 
Plus, audiovisual content need not always be actual video.  This flimp promoting the upcoming e-Patients Connections conference is a great example of how still images can be turned into moving content.  Even better – the “video” uses titles to further stress important facts .  The action links on this flash landing page generated a click through rate in excessive of 46%.