I was reading an online post today about how a company called Maps Alive are taking the interactive map thing a step further than google maps (which is also an amazing product, don’t get me wrong!) by allowing users to attach video to any map, floor plan, or diagram, with a video player popping up when users hover their cursor over certain designated points.  How cool is that? The company predicts the greatest demand will be coming from the real estate and travel industry sectors, and it’s not hard to guess why.

Can you imagine how useful mapping out exactly where all your available properties for sale are (or for travel agents, where all the Gold Coast holiday resorts you sell package tours for are) then adding the interactive capability for you clients to view videos of each property at the click of a button? It’s an amazingly clear and concise way of presenting the same information that would normally take up a lot of your potential customers precious time time viewing pages upon pages on your website to discover - that’s if they didn’t give up in frustration from searching long beforehand!

Although websites in the U.S.A. like Wellcomemat.com have already pushed the popularisation of web video in the real estate sector overseas, adding functionality for using online video tours on company websites (for example by using tools to embed video into maps) may just be the spark that really helps online video take off in other parts of the world. Here on the Gold Coast, like most parts of Australia, online video production in the real estate and holiday booking industries is only just starting to gain wider popularity - it’s still uncommon enough that any Gold Coast travel agents or property sales teams who incorporate video into their marketing mix stand out from the everyday Joes. But with more applications like this on the market? Web video will become compulsory if a company in those sectors doesn’t want to be left behind in the dust.  And aside from its obvious applications for real estate and travel professionals? Just about any company from any industry could use it to “put themselves on the map,” literally. Exciting stuff!

There’s a common saying that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. While this may be true for canines, it’s never too late for any human to adopt new practices or discover fresh innovations - no matter what age. Since companies are only clusters of humans (well, usually) it stands to reason they can adapt too. Then why, I hear you ask, are so many companies still caught up with traditional notions about advertising, marketing and PR? At Soul Arch Media and Marketing we love to show our clients great new ways to reach their niche target markets. But for small businesses of any description, here are just three things you should be integrating into your 2008 campaigns:

1. Get Visual with Video Content.

Create an instant connection with buyers via video served directly to their computer screens via your corporate website, in your company newsletter, via social media news releases, or load it and spread it across the web for free via websites with video sharing capabilities like YouTube, MySpace, FaceBook, MetaCafe, the list is endless. Can you think of a more cost-effective way to reach thousands of potential clients and make a great first impression? Didn’t think so!

2. Mine Your Databases.

Are you sending your clients prompt answers to enquiries? Or notifications about sales and specials? Sure you are. But did you know your best bet to retain repeat business is by making people feel like valued customers? So say you’ve done the groundwork and have their details in your database. How about notes to thank customers after purchases, or to extend birthday wishes or holiday greetings? It’s little touches like these that can really show your company’s dedication. Sure, this can be time consuming, but you can automate most of these processes (look into ‘autoresponders’ if you’d like to do much of this via email - and minus print stationary and postage costs!) for very minimal outlay.

3. Finally figure out what Web 2.0 means.

If you’ve really been snoozing, all the recent news references to web 2.0 marketing might really have you confused — especially if you’re not even really sure what web 2.0 means! Well relax, it’s really not that tricky. Web 2.0 is simply a catchphrase coined to describe the shift from information on the world wide web being displayed to viewers via web pages to being created or controlled by audiences thanks to technology breakthroughs allowing immediate reader interaction. The term has evolved and used loosely to refer to or describe modern interfaces like wikis (yep, like Wikipedia) right through to social networking sites (the most famous being MySpace or Facebook) and anywhere the end user gets to contribute. So where does marketing enter the web 2.0 equation? Well, pretty much everywhere. You could build a free profile on these popular social sites, raising your brand visibility and creating traffic by linking between your main website or online store. Or you can advertise on these sites ( be warned- the prices are staggering). There are also specific business networking sites (like LinkedIn). Or, for businesses in the practice of sending out press releases or trying to increase their website or blog’s visibility, take a look at social bookmarking or user-generated/user-voted news sites like Digg, Technorati, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, and Reddit. Some will let you submit your site or release, which can really spike interest if other users find it (ahem, and actually like it…). Other sites (like Technorati) can really raise the profile of your blog by automatically republishing your fresh content to it’s users. This is just a very simplified condensed list, but to start exploring web 2.0 opportunities take a look around these sites to see if they’d fit your business - they’re all incredibly useful, and they’re all free (that’s if you don’t count time as a commodity!)

If nothing else, at least build yourself a page on Squidoo.com ( it’s like the sites listed above in the fact it lets you create a free profile, but differs in that it intends to share knowledge on a subject - even if the subject is your business or field of expertise!)
Visit our brand new Squidoo page to promote our Gold Coast video production company. It’s still fresh off the press and very sorely in need of some extra content, but we’ll be adding new Squidoo pages on topics like How To Create Your Next Web Video Campaign and as well as a Gold Coast Video production page in coming weeks. Oh yeah, and while you’re there feel free to bookmark us on your brand spankin’ new Del.icio.us or StubleUpon account
http://www.squidoo.com/soularchmedia_marketing

Cheers from the crew at Soul Arch Media & Marketing! x

As part of Soul Arch Media & Marketing’s ongoing commitment to our local Gold Coast community (and not-for-profits from any region) we’ll be donating one marketing project per month to a worthy cause. It may be an online video production or a DVD project or a series of PR news releases, it all depends on the organisation’s needs. Since we’re not millionaires with money to burn, for us actions speak louder than cash donations and we’re happy to give our time.  But the best thing about donating resources? Seeing results firsthand.

A few weeks ago we created a short video for the Save Our Spit campaign, a group dedicated to keeping an area of the Gold Coast called The Spit free from further development that would infringe on public access areas. The group had successfully rallied thousands of supporters to stop a Cruiseship Terminal and a Super Boat marina from being built in an area popular for recreational boating, fishing and surfing. But to go the next step towards having the area gazetted by the local Queensland goverment, increasing support was needed.

We created a short video clip by combining vox pop interviews with people from all walks of life who frequent The Spit, some scenic shots, and some surf footage of 8-times world surfing champion Kelly Slater that Dave had already filmed for The Surfers Network (which they kindly donated to the cause). By formatting the production into a low resolution flash video we were able to place it onto the Save Our Spit site, and also share it with online surf media across the world.

Major Australian surf forecasting site CoastalWatch were given exclusive access to the video a weekend before it was released internationally. This link was insanely popular, creating massive amounts of traffic for the Save Our Spit website and raising awareness to their ongoing campaign in the process. Other surf media soon followed suit. With just one online video and a press release targeted towards appropriate niche media outlets, this small, grassroots Gold Coast campaign gathered international attention, more visitors to their site, and more signatures for their petition. Got to love that! Could a similarly simple video or PR campaign help your business?

Read some of the great Save Our Spit video coverage here:

http://www.coastalwatch.com/news/article.aspx?articleId=3483&display=0&cateId=3&title=SOS%20-%20Save%20Our%20Spit

Caz x