January 9, 2006

Tech changes are in the wind

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Until recently, advertisers used various media to reach potential buyers, and potential buyers typically got most of their purchasing ideas through television, and in lesser amounts by newspapers and radio.

That changed dramatically in the late 90s, as the Internet grew in popularity. And now it’s in the process of changing again, this time to streaming video.

Since television came alive in the 1950s, we’ve relied on commercials to provide information on new and improved products and services. TV has been our major pipeline for news, current events and information. It helps us find restaurants, learn how to cook, what products to use and what kinds of vehicles, clothes and electronics products are available.

Television makes decisions easier and more convenient. For example, many people have their TVs on when they are cooking dinner or doing laundry. It’s hard to read a newspaper or magazine while chopping onions or sorting clothes.

To go one step further, the vast majority of us now work with computers. Most computers allow multi-tasking. This means that a computer user can be using more than one program on their computer at the same time. In fact, many of us keep our Internet browser open while we work on other tasks.

If you are advertising, you know that television spots are quite expensive. Depending on the timing of the commercial, it could cost thousands of dollars for one, 30-second television commercial on local television and hundreds of thousands for a national spot.

That same commercial can be viewed on the Internet for less than $0.01 per viewing.

A good fit for buyers and sellers
Streaming video offers advertisers a chance to get their advantages out to a large customer base for a small amount of money. Potential consumers no longer need to sift through dozens of Web sites for doctors, dentists, realtors or other service providers finding that nearly all are using the same lines as others in their industry.

Streaming video allows advertisers to share their professional philosophies on line. The upshot is it also allows customers to gain information about these service providers—why they became doctors, how events helped them shape the way they treat clients and/or conduct their practices in a quick and timely manner.

“We base our decisions on what fits our needs,” says Mike Elias, president of Bridge Media. “We may be very tense when it comes to our health and require a doctor whose personality is all business in order to make us feel secure. We may realize that we are timid and non-confrontational and believe that only an absolute shark can represent our legal needs in court.

“Through a video introduction, whether via Web site or video e-mail, potential customers take the steps to enter an initial relationship with a provider. If the virtual-relationship doesn’t work, there’s no obligation to continue the relationship further, no hard sell, no awkward office visits, no hard feelings and no reason to spend more time or money on the relationship.

If the virtual relationship does fit with what you are looking for, clients can schedule a face-to-face meeting. The streaming video has allowed potential customers to eliminate several hours or even days of interviews and appointments for both you and the service provider.”

On-demand opinions
Streaming video allows customers the option to view numerous testimonials about products, services and service providers. Just click on an icon located below a video introduction to view video testimonials of people who seem most like you.

You’ll also find opinions from political candidates, nonprofit leaders and, of course, editorials from politicians, media executives and men on the street. You’ll be able to voice your own opinions about what’s in the news by sending video e-mail to news and magazine sites. The editors on the other side can choose which video e-mails they will view and respond to, just as they do at online bulletin boards, chat rooms and blogs.

Users can view scores of videos from people offering their ideas on subjects from putting a stop sign on the street corner, to building a new city hall, to the war in Iraq.

Eliminating e-mail misunderstandings
How many times have you sent a text e-mail and found out the recipient completely misunderstood the tone in which you were writing? That can be devastating for business and personal relationships. After one or two misunderstandings like that, you find yourself spending way too much time writing, proofreading and re-writing,
Streaming video allows users to say it exactly like you mean it, the first time. For those people whose writing and or typing skills are less than stellar, this is a great solution!

You can choose from a couple of free services, that are feature limited and can be stored for only a very short time, or you can choose from a small number of feature packed fee-based systems starting under $10 a month. These features include low price points, highly versatile brand interfacing to insert any number of graphics representing your business, non-profit organization, products, services and even family pictures.

If you’re a business, organization or even for holiday broadcasts, you can store these videos in a video vault and send the links automatically from that vault. You can also store professional and homemade videos in the vault.

Whether you’re receiving, or sending, video e-mail is light-years ahead of static e-mail when it comes to communicating on-demand messaging.

Video instant messaging
Over the past few years, people have rapidly increased their use of text instant messaging, at home and in the workplace, as well as through mobile telecommunication devices such as cellular phones, laptops and PDAs.

Unfortunately, text messaging can be slow on portable communication devices, and no matter how you send them, they are virtually void of the instant, non-verbal communication you experience with facial expression, as well as the tone and inflection of a traditional face-to-face conversation.

Video instant messaging, also known as Video IM, is the virtual equivalent to a traditional face-to-face conversation minus travel time.

While all the possible applications are too numerous to mention, a few include long-distance family and friends, study groups, school tutoring, nonprofit leadership meetings and training, corporate meetings and training, product and service sales and training. Customers can also use Video IM to replace everyday phone conversations.

Costs
Video instant messaging will save a lot of money for both sides. Currently, business lines are charged a per-minute-fee, so Video IM has the potential to eliminate billions of dollars in day-to-day metered fees globally. The amount saved in long-distance fees will decrease significantly, while the usage will increase for business and home users. Even though the cost is less, the experience is richer for home users, businesses and their consumers.

Just like video e-mail the cost of Video IM is available for free and for a fee. The free services tend to be limited in quality and features, while the fee services tend to be higher quality and packed with features.

One video e-mail service comes bundled with the video e-mail package described above, at no extra charge!

Depending on your needs, you can expect to pay nothing up to $6.99 for Video IM with limited video e-mail or start at $9.95 for a full-blown Video E-mail delivery system with built in, unlimited Video IM. Each requires a consumer Webcam (usually USB), and some may be used with a video capture card, enabling use of a handheld camcorder up to a broadcast television camera.

An older entry-level Webcam can be purchased for $12. A more commonly used camera will run $40-$50 and is of significantly better picture and sound quality. However, for $75 you can purchase a high-end USB Webcam with amazing picture quality and zoom features.

Live Web casting
Live Webcasting isn’t likely to catch on with day-to-day home users, but it’s perfect for business and non-profit organizations such as churches and schools.

With schedules getting more difficult to coordinate, finding ways to conduct live, training and presentations have and will continue to become more and more difficult to schedule. Live Webcasting eliminates the travel time by enabling the audience to participate from their homes, offices and mobile laptops.

A live Webcast is the virtual equivalent of conducting a live slide presentation online. Over the past seven to 10 years, live Webcasting has been conducted on small and large scales, but has been rather expensive. It has also required outside professionals to perform backend online services, as well as audiovisual production.

Though these services are still necessary in many larger cases, you can now Webcast from small studios and get better production quality at an hourly rate for a fraction of the cost. As for boutique businesses and nonprofit organizations, people now have an affordable means of producing highly effective, live interactive Webcasts right from their homes and offices.

These features come with a high-quality live video stream. It can be viewed in “Full-Screen Mode” at the click of a button. It also offers an intuitive slide presentation feature, custom-interchangeable branding, two-way text chatting and live polling questions complete with real-time statistic and multi-camera features, that allow users to switch between presenters located in different parts of the world.

Like Video IM and streaming e-mail, these Webcasting features can be accessed on a fee or free basis, with free being more limited than the fee-based. The latter offers higher quality and many features. These packages can be purchased online on an as needed basis, or on a month-to-month basis.

Pricing generally is based on the number of simultaneous viewers required, starting at under $40. One $40 package includes the full video e-mail delivery system and Video IM. So a business or non-profit organization can save money and relieve the burden of time for members by taking advantage of live video Webcasting.

Streaming video offers customers cheaper, better, faster, easier and more interpersonal features. This new service has all but replaced the print brochure, and is right now replacing many of the ways we communicate today. Streaming video is here … use it …expect it …demand it!

For more information, call Doug Thompson at (408) 494-7000, ext. 218.