Post Graduate Musings: Why Video Landing Pages Just Make Sense

As a member of the graduating class of 2009, I was tossed into the working world while the recession was in full-force. Most of my friends were still figuring out what to do with their lives, and pretty much on a whim I decided to jump feet first into the e-mail marketing world courtesy of a Marketing Associate position at Flimp Media. I finally had an answer to family and friend’s questions of “So what are you doing after graduation?” The next problem came when I was asked what exactly Flimp provided to their customers. I ended up just telling people Flimp offered services that were “kind of like YouTube, only with more information on the page”. Pretty quickly, I learned that video landing pages were much more than just YouTube 2.0.
Flimp Media’s landing pages enable users to drag and drop content, and provide tracking and analytics without any web programming or coding required. Programming and coding costs money and lots of it. One thing that I learned from business courses was that in the downturned economy, companies have to cut expenses. Pretty obvious, I know; that’s just simple economics. What I don’t understand is why companies would spend millions of dollars a year on expensive newspaper and television ads when they aren’t even guaranteed to reach your target audience. It really doesn’t make sense. And you should trust me on this; I have a college degree.
In all seriousness though, the great thing about these landing pages is that they can be used for anything your company needs; from informing clients about a new system update to providing employee training and orientation without having to resort to the sexual harassment tapes from 1986. The landing pages are able to engage, inform, and keep the attention of potential or current customers. You are able to SHOW, not tell, potential customers why they should be using your service. Best of all, call to action buttons make sure they know where to go to get more information about pricing, demos, or accounts they offer.
I know this sounds a bit cliché, but I can definitely see the value in all this, especially when thinking about my experience in college. At freshmen orientation, I was handed a number of packets that may or may not have had the information I needed to, well, function on campus. The problem was that I ended up immediately throwing out most of those packets because I didn’t feel like holding them (when you’re getting handed free key chains and pens, papers are the first to go). If I had been sent an informative landing page with video or video email message by my school during orientation, I probably wouldn’t have had to bother the very nice people at Res Life during the course of the semester asking them how to get to the Science building. The simple answer to the final exam in Business Smarts 101 is that you can get your message to your clients quickly, efficiently, and effectively using rich media marketing. Best of all, you can save some trees.
The hippies at my alma mater will thank you. It’s a win-win.