Al Galbraith and Associates, a real estate marketer who turns dying
industry towns into thriving recreational and retirement communities,
commissioned a promotional video as an added feature for his
company's website. The video has been down loaded 30,000 times by
Internet users. In fact, Galbraith's Internet campaigns to sell homes
from Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia to Plattsburgh, New York are so
successful, the company has cut back its traditional advertising.
Here's how streaming video promotes your organization online.

IT IS A GREAT USE OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGY. Greater numbers of web
users have the capability of downloading video and find it a novelty.
Short videos of less than five minutes can be downloaded in a short
time, depending on bandwidth.

YOU CAN TRANSPORT POTENTIAL CLIENTS TO YOUR PRODUCT. As a customers,
you don't need to fly across the country to see real estate when you
can get a 3-D perspective on the homes, the community and the
geography as well as meeting residents and buyers from an online
video.

VIDEO IS PERSUASIVE. Because video can incorporate the spoken word,
music, maps, digital effects and moving images, the user experience
is much more intense and when, well designed, very compelling.
Testimonials have more punch when spoken by the happy customers.

THE COST OF DISTRIBUTION IS NEGLIGIBLE. In contrast, imagine the cost
of producing and delivering 30,000 videotapes around the world.

STREAMING VIDEO POSITIONS YOU AS LEADING EDGE. Many customers see a
company's innovation as evidence of its ability to be creative and
effective. Taking the technological lead in your sector may give a
lead in sales.

>From a public relations perspective, however, there are a few things
to remember to ensure your video does what you want it to.

THE HEAVY SELL MUST BE KEPT TO A MINIMUM. Despite appearances, your
streaming video is not a commercial. At least it shouldn't be a hard-
selling pitch for business. The Internet is still an environment
where overt commercialism is frowned upon. Take a journalistic
approach and create a video in the style of a news or documentary
item that might play on the six o'clock news. Users want information
and won't take kindly to downloading hype.

THE PRODUCTION QUALITY MUST BE HIGH. This not the time to bring out
the family video cam and become a filmmaker. Hire video producers who
know what they are doing. And a word about budget. You need not spend
tens of thousands of dollars for the finished product especially if
you take the journalistic approach mentioned above.

Through streaming video, Galbraith reaches customers he might not
through traditional advertising and he touches them in ways a
brochure could never do. His streaming videos do all the talking and,
for the price of a single full-page ad in the local daily paper, he
has produced a tool that can close the sale all by itself.

If you want to see it in action, check out
http://www.selectpropertygroup.com.

About the Author

Alyn Edwards is VP and news director at Verus Public Relations
(http://www.verus.com). A 30-year veteran of print and broadcast
newsrooms, he heads up the in-house production team. He has a special
summer PR package to introduce organizations to the promotional power
of the media and the Internet.