The potential for instructional videos distributed online to improve brand awareness and customer service efficiency is significant. The growing popularity of Youtube as a search engine and the general trend towards ‘asking the internet’ when a problem is encountered in daily life create growing opportunities for online video responses to the world’s problems. Using combinations of video-blogging, presenter demonstrations and screen-casting techniques (capturing a desktop’s display in real-time) video presents itself as an engaging, flexible and increasingly attractive value proposition for business. Not only can your videos answer your customers’ frequently asked questions concisely and clearly, your staff can spend less time taking disruptive help-desk phone calls. A good, honest product or service demonstration can also help drive sales and build consumer confidence. Take a look at our first danimations’ Digital Media Tips episode below and consider the value instructional video could bring to your business’ website. As always, your inquiries are always welcome.

At danimations, we often encounter the misconception that business success via online video is all about chasing ‘viral’ video hysteria. While the ‘viral’ video admittedly has the potential to explode your brand into public awareness, internet audiences craving ‘the next wierd thing’ are fickle and unpredictable. Most attempts at striking the magic formula fail, and often burn tens of thousands of dollars in the process. For business clients considering commissioning online video, we generally encourage a more conservative communications goal for a cost-effective first step. We turn our clients’ focus to communicating to their existing customer-base first, by designing a video to be placed prominently on the landing page of their existing website. A video in this context has the opportunity to provide an overview of the business, its staff, its mission, its products… to an already engaged audience. Using the power of sound, imagery and storytelling it can serve to build customer confidence, reinforce perceptions of a business or brand and encourage or prompt immediate action. It needn’t need to shout to be heard over the noise of adjacent advertising, and honesty and integrity can be powerful assets. We recently completed such a video for NatureScope Photography which you can see below, or on their website. While you take your well earned New Year’s break, take a look at the NatureScope video, and consider the value of investing in an introductory online video for your business in 2011. Your enquiries are always welcome.

Since moving into our new premises at Flinder Partners, Bedford Park, danimations has been furiously focussed on completing a variety of commercial video works, launching NatureScope‘s line of gift cards and calendars and teeing up some new and exciting projects for 2011. It’s holiday season now though, and it’s time for everyone to kick back and relax, us included. For those of you we’ve worked with during the year, you’ll know that the spirit of collaboration is a core value of our service business. It was that spirit, along with the nature of Flinders Partners’ activities in commericalising research projects which inspired our 2010 animated Christmas greeting card video. danimations & Flinders Partners would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas, happy new year and rejuvenating holiday season! We will be resuming regular business on January 7th, 2011.