In October 2011, I came across a simple promotional video that one of my customers created for their event. It was a simple, beautifully executed recap video of an electronic music festival that they had produced. The video was so good that even though I don't even like electronic music, I wanted to attend this festival after watching it. This got me thinking, "why aren't more conference and festival marketers using video to help promote their events?"
Why Is No One Else Doing This?
All of this was even more perplexing because I knew, based on some earlier marketing research, that online videos are incredibly effective at increasing engagement and response rates. After talking with several dozen event organizers, the reason became very clear as to why video is not more widely used. The general perception is that video is expensive and time consuming.
Professional Video Production = Expensive
After some additional research and conversations, I quickly came to concur with what many of the conference and meeting planners had been telling me. The cost of hiring a professional video producer to create a 30 second to one minute video could reach in the thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars.
Software = Time Consuming
The software solutions available were generally less expensive - usually costing less than $1,000. However, it would take an extensive amount of time to master the software in order to produce professional quality videos that were worthy of being included in the promotional materials, and did not degrade the image of the organization or the event.
There Has To Be A Better Way
Both of these options seemed ludicrous to me. Simply put, most planners don't have tens of thousands of extra dollars laying around, or dozens of free man hours to incorporate video, regardless of how effective it may be for them or their organization. This led me to the realization that there has to be a better way to help event organizers and marketers incorporate online video into the promotion of their event.
A Solution: High-Quality, Free Promotional Videos
That's when I began toying around with the idea of creating promotional videos for events. My first version of this video was a total and abject failure. The feedback I received was that it wasn't professional enough. That's when I decided to enlist the help of one of my good friends who happened to be a professional video producer and editor. His first version of the promotional video was a gazillion times better than any effort I could produce, even on my best day.
Drop Dead Simple & Easy To Use
It wasn't enough for us to be able to produce professional commercials for event organizers. We had to do something about the time element as well. Event organizers simply do not have a ton of time to learn a ton of new things or navigate new systems. I wanted to make this as easy as possible for them to incorporate video into their existing event marketing. This meant leveraging the hard work already put in to building their existing event website, as well as making sure that their video was syndicated to YouTube, making it easy to share everywhere on the web.
Tailored To Your Event
Due to this, our service goes to your website and makes the right decisions for you based on your event. For example, if your event is a personality-driven event, we produce a commercial highlighting your keynote speakers in order to emphasize the keynote's brand and image. If your event is more topic driven, we create a commercial highlighting the biggest subjects that will be discussed at your event.
Engage Your Audience & Increase Registration
The videos that we create are not only useful at summarizing your event's unique value proposition, but are also incredibly effective at increasing the number of attendees at your event. In fact, one of our customers determined that their event had 50% more attendees than originally expected due to their use of video marketing, including their free commercial from Event Commercials.
I Need Your Help
Every organization and every event should be able to present itself in a professional manner, regardless of your budgetary constraints. Online video is an almost perfect way to do this. In order to be able to provide these solutions, we need you. If you have an upcoming event, you should sign up for a free YouTube video, or consider an upgraded package for further customization of your video. In addition, if you know of any upcoming events, please let them know about our services.