High-quality video becomes affordable

Leverage this virtual network to produce videos that reduce your costs and increase sales

Suppose you’re a small business owner with a new product or service that would be best sold by “bringing it to life” on the Web. You instantly begin dreaming of having a short online video that could show off your product and be easily shared with prospective customers. If only you could afford and find the time to locate a video producer who’d take your project seriously.

Now you can, with the help of StudioNow, a web-based, virtual community of freelance video editors and directors around the country. The company has done all the hard work for us: it has selected and aggregated thousands of freelance editors, videographers, and creative individuals who make themselves available around the clock to businesses in need of custom videos. Services range from nationwide on-location shooting to post-production services like editing, animation, and voiceover. What’s more, the StudioNow platform provides an easy content management system that reduces the back-and-forth communication hassle between the video professional and the client. Their

The set of industries that could benefit from affordable online video is endless. As one example, Good Morning America featured a segment, “Open House Video Tours Online,” about how online video can be used to successfully promote a house for sale.

I discovered StudioNow though a friend and was introduced to the CEO, David Mason. Below he answers my questions about the barriers, benefits, and simplified process to creating professional online video.

Watson: In today’s new media age, it seems every type of industry could use video to better sell its products and services. Which industries are already taking advantage of online video and which ones are missing this opportunity?

Mason: Yes, we are big believers that every industry will at some point incorporate online video and it is interesting to see which ones are starting now and why. At this time, the large IYPs (Internet YellowPages/City Guides) are probably leading the pack when it comes to pure volume of online videos being created. These companies use their existing sales force and marketing reach to pitch one minute merchant profile videos to the 20 million small business market (restaurants, hair/nail salons, etc.).   Here are some links to watch a bunch of examples:

Some other groups that are starting to ramp up are what I would describe as niche media. For example, Ford Models and Simon & Schuster are taking existing assets (model talent, authors/books) and adding video as a product or new way of marketing. Here’s a video using Sports Illustrated Red Carpet.

The industries that are proving to be laggards are real estate (commercial and residential), professional service firms (doctors, lawyers, accountants), big media (most are only transitioning existing TV content onto the Web and are just trickling out original or Web only video content at this time), newspaper/local TV stations, and radio. I would say that the Wall Street Journal is one of the only exceptions as they have a decent amount of regular and fresh video content for their readers. One of the reasons for slow adoption is that they have not developed the proper model to make online video profitable and viable.

Watson: What are some of the barriers preventing small businesses from creating high-quality videos? How does StudioNow eliminate these barriers?

Mason: The main barrier is the perception that video is expensive, laborious, and only meant for big brands that can afford to hire an ad agency and buy TV spots. StudioNow blows away that barrier by reducing the cost and time to create great promotional video content while not sacrificing on quality. We like to say that by using StudioNow you get the equivalent of buying a Porsche for the cost of buying a Hyundai. The other big benefit that StudioNow provides is to host and stream the video for the small business so that the company can post/embed their video on their website without having to understand HTML or setup a hosting agreement with a service provider (we will also distribute the video to popular video sites so that potential customers can watch them and learn about the company or the product).  So, we serve as a complete end-to-end solution for small businesses to have great videos made and then to use those videos on their website or have them watched across the Web.

Watson: How does a large client, like CitySearch, benefit when its customers—venues and restaurants for example—upload videos for consumers to view?

Mason: We implemented a StudioNow custom production platform for CitySearch that allows their sales reps and merchants to schedule, upload media, select music, interact with the StudioNow Creative Professional, preview their video and make revisions online. This type of custom production platform creates a very efficient and scalable process for creating thousands of videos. Due to our efficient workflow and process, the merchant’s time requirement or involvement is greatly reduced. Once the video is posted on the CitySearch site, great things start to happen: a drastically longer viewing session per page, a much higher action rate (more calls, emails, etc. to the merchant), a higher share rate as users send the video link to their friends, and a much better user experience for understanding and really seeing the business in action.

Watson: Can you quantify the sales increase that some of your clients have seen after distributing videos about their business?

Mason: There are some great statistics available that illustrate the benefits of small businesses incorporating online video. Here are some of the highlights from a recent study:

80% of online viewers have seen an Internet video ad

52% took action after viewing

31% visited the website

16% made a purchase

Watson: Tell us how your online system simplifies the process for both the customer and the video editor/director.

Mason: We pride ourselves on the fact that we have extensive experience in the technical, UI and distributed/cloud computing/processing component of the online video market. We use this technology and expertise to build custom production platforms for our customers and to also create great workflows and applications for our Creative Professional Network. All of this boils down to creating some super efficiencies and a highly scalable platform that results in lowering the cost to create great video content and decreasing the time and headache factor in creating professional video content. We have been told numerous times by customers that our pricing, process and technology are “too good to be true” and then they try us out and come back saying, “Wow, we believe you now.”  We also spend a lot of time thinking about how we can make the entire process easier for our creative professionals.