It’s funny how many business professionals I have talked to that might subscribe to this theory. “The customer is almost always right.” And as a business professional that prides myself on a good work ethic and a give and take style with my clients – I really think I will go with the second theory. And that is because bad customers can ruin your business! They can suck the life out of you in a way that no revenue or referral can ever replace. And believe me they exist and just like germs invading your personal space – they need to be extinguished from your business life.

As a new business trying to establish its place in the business community almost every business you will be dealing with is larger and more successful than you. They may have won awards and have egos bigger than the office space they utilize. It is only human nature and honestly a driving force in what makes so many successful. Nothing wrong with that. What you need to realize is that some of these businesses will treat the new guy like a legitimate business connection and others will try and take advantage of you – every way they can. Usually they will try and do just about everything to compensate you, in just about every way conceivable, other than pay you money. They change the context of your agreement in mid stream to get more out of you and most importantly love to pay you with “what ifs”. “Well I have referred you to so many people, knock down my price” sounds so good when you are starting out but “what if” this new connection decides to change their mind. What is that worth?

I just recently said good bye to a business just like this. Sure I will more than likely lose some business, but I have my integrity in place and I don’t have to spend time looking for places that will take my overflowing bag of “what ifs” – and it feels real good!

And wouldn’t you know – what I do for a living – turned out to make my life so much easier. My youngest son got a 7 piece drum set without directions of any kind. Years ago, I might have spent hours figuring out how exactly to put it together or I might have wasted lots of time on the phone. But what did my wandering eyes see on this business’s website? Online video! It was like I had someone right in front of me putting the drum together. I now had the control. I could watch the online video over and over. I could watch it in the middle of the night. Whatever worked for me. How convenient! Wow. Who would have thought?

So as small businesses look to 2011 – don’t you think it is time to make life easier for you and your customers. Be it a “how to” video, a video FAQ or just finally taking control of your message – your customers want information from you in an easy and eye catching package that only online video can deliver. Re-establish your message – your brand and stand out from the crowd with online video from VidYourBiz.com in 2011.

I recently put together a great online video with Arabesque Academy of Dancing of Moscow, PA. I was told one of the highlights for their students has always been their participation in the Greater Scranton Jaycees Santa parade. Sounds like fun, I thought. I could just imagine what it must be like and I am sure potential customers of the dance studio must have had the same thoughts floating in their heads.

I may be biased but I don’t believe there is a tool, other than actually being at an event, to show people (potential customers and otherwise) what an event is actually like – other than video. And I am not talking about pictures put into a video player. That’s not video! It’s the best way – to create a level of excitement and truly show someone what it is like to be at an event such as the Santa parade. You can feel the energy, the crowd, the pure enthusiasm of the participants. Online video makes you a part of the action in a way that no other medium can. And to think about the possibilities of this tool on your business website and social media doing the work all year long 24/7 – you can see how this can be a very powerful tool for our small business community.

This video is already creating quite a buzz for Arabesque and it is just the start. They are establishing themselves as a business with information that their customers can use. It will only serve them well in a digital age that is moving full steam ahead.

http://www.clipartguide.com

An effective online video marketing campaign needs to be consistent and it needs to be fresh. Our approach is different from the uses of video on television commercials over the years. In NEPA for example, there is a bowling and a carpet cleaning commercial on the air right now. This same exact commercial has been on the air for at least TEN years. I cringe when I see these and other ancient messages taken out of the mothballs every so often. Is this the best these companies can give their customers? The internet wasn’t even a factor in marketing circles when these commercials were produced. Do you think anything has changed since then? Evidently, the decision makers of these crusty businesses live in some sort of vacuum. Tell Bill Clinton I said Hi.

There is no way archaic approaches like this will continue to work going forward. The fact that this mindset even exists should give everyone a glimpse at a somewhat difficult path we have at VidYourBiz.com in showing these businesses the light. Quite honestly, I don’t have enough hours in the day to light enough candles. However, for those of you with your own light source, and I have been fortunate enough to find many of you – I offer you this. The VidYourBiz.com Top 25. A consistent message is a conversation that is ongoing with information that your customers can use. They build on it to become better consumers and better customers for your business for the long term. A fresh message keeps them coming back for more. And that’s what you want, isn’t it.

Our Top 25 businesses, who produce ten videos with VidYourBiz.com in a one year time frame, not only save money per video, but they can block our services from three competitors. You see, we want business, but even more – we want your online marketing campaign to succeed. You should be rewarded for seeing the light, beating your competition to the online video area. As a member of the Top 25, your messages will flow. We will understand your business better and that in turn will produce more effective messages in front of an attentive audience. For more details on how your business can join the VidYourBiz.com Top 25, you can contact us anytime at info@vidyourbiz.com.

There are plenty of video production companies out there. I am guessing they are doing quite well and I certainly hope they continue to prosper. If you want a television commercial, I will be more than happy to help you find one of these prosperous companies. That’s because at VidYourBiz.com, we don’t do television production.

Not that it wouldn’t be nice to charge what that kind of production costs. But in this world of marketing your message in an instant, I would hate to see a company I produced a video for – still using it in 2020. I don’t think any business will make it to 2020, if they take that approach, but there are still businesses using commercials produced in the 1990s today. Don’t these businesses see what’s going on around them?

In a world where the customer is getting very skilled at avoiding marketing messages on traditional platforms, how can you dismiss the facts surrounding online video and internet marketing? When one sits down at the computer, one is open to receiving information. What wouldn’t traditional platforms do to be able to claim this fact? Online video is fresh, it’s affordable, it is placed in front of an audience that is prepared to receive information. At VidYourBiz.com – online video is all we do and for good reason.

I can’t think of any advice more important to small business development than keeping your focus on what you do. As soon as you deviate from that focus, you’re asking for trouble. The business owner or management team should be the only one that dictates the products or services your company takes on. Having a business is difficult and not being focused on what product or service you produce is a good way to fail.

VidYourBiz.com produces online video for small businesses using our unique journalistic style. We are not a DVD duplication company. We don’t take video from YouTube and put it on a disc for your use. (OK – this is how I wasted an entire morning only to find out the business that needs this done in two days isn’t interested in paying what it costs) From now on, aside from a wedding production or two, we will be only producing online video. We love it! We love our clients! We love producing the best marketing tool your business ever had! If this is something you are not interested in – we are sorry we don’t offer what you are looking for but Have a Great Day!

If you were looking for a business model, that best represented a printing press for unlimited profits, you didn’t need to look any further than broadcast television. From its inception, this platform had the undivided attention of millions of bedazzled eyeballs. And what a great place for advertisers to place their message! More than a few businesses can attribute their growth and success in seeing the power of the broadcast signal into millions of homes.

The value of the broadcast signal has been chipped away over the past twenty years and especially since the inception of the internet. My life is living proof of that fact. As the industry continues to adapt – some businesses are starting to see what is happening around them – and some just don’t. It really isn’t any different than the many trends and changes that have occurred to our economic realities over our history. Our world changed, as we transitioned from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy. Some businesses understood how these changes needed to be integrated into their business model, and some didn’t. As the information age we are now in becomes more diverse and centered on the internet and a more personalized media – the strong will survive, as they always have throughout our history.

More and more businesses are starting to notice the changing times we are all working in. VidYourBiz.com is producing more and more online videos for businesses that realize that the “status quo” is another way of saying “slowly dying”. If you have anything to do with the health and well being of your business – the time is now to take a good look at your future game plan in the information age.

It was a dream trip. Taking my family to our first post season baseball game for my favorite team – the Cincinnati Reds. Cincinnati is the hometown of both my parents. I have always felt a very strong connection with this easygoing Midwest city and to see my kids walk the same streets as my parents and grandparents was exciting. And although the game didn’t go our way – the experience was amazing.

Visiting a major league stadium today is much different than days gone by. It has always been a good way for businesses to get messages out in front of an attentive audience. The messages at games in 2010 are all around you. They aren’t just placed in front of your eyes. They jump out at you with high definition video and amazing sound. They move – they change – they are constantly after your attention. The information pie is cut up in so many ways at these games just as they are in real life. There are so many more messages out there. They might not jump out at you as they might during a major league playoff game – but they are there.

Think about it. How many messages were put in front of your face, just in your trip to work, for example? The messages are all around you, every day in this crazy world of 2010. So as a small business – how can you be sure your message has any chance of ever being seen in this world of communication inundation?

Online video is the great equalizer for small business. With a constant and growing audience on your website or social media – your business’s message can get out. It can highlight what your business is doing now – what your business will be doing in the future. VidYourBiz.com can insulate your message from this crazy world flooded with messages at the Ball Park or in everyday life. If your small business has a chance to be heard, it will have a chance to get customers and prosper.

I suppose you can look at business history throughout the years and find many examples of businesses neglecting reality and subsequently fading out of existence. In the 1980s and 1990s, no one could have imagined Blockbuster© Video, filing for chapter 11 bankruptcies, as they just did recently. It was a business awash in cash with nowhere to go but up. However, their troubles did not just appear out of thin air. The writing as been on the wall for years and instead of adapting to the changes we all have seen in media delivery – Blockbuster© has been very late to the game. Perhaps, too late to save what was once an American business icon.

Businesses come and go – that will never change. The strongest will survive – not because of luck but because of strong business plans and an ability to adapt to changing conditions. That’s the one thing you can count on – change.

As small business owners – are you ready and willing to change the way you do business? The business environment is not going to wait until you are ready – it never has. If your game plan is the same as it was in 2000 or 1990 or even earlier, why do you think your business will be the first to disregard reality and come up a winner. The game of today is online. Your message needs to be there. Are they? Don’t wait to get into the game. It will be too late. Don’t risk all of your, or even previous generations, hard work. Because, when it is too late – you will know it. Your competition will have won the game and your business will be just another footnote in history.

However, let’s face it – people interact with people and business people interact with people. Marketing messages on traditional platforms don’t tend to be as interactive. They are usually messages sent out in a variety of ways that don’t require or even seek reciprocation from the audience. There may be a catchy slogan or attractive spokesperson and these campaigns can be very effective within a well thought out and financed comprehensive marketing strategy – but they are NOT conversations! And they are not intended to be. I honestly see the same messages that are ten – fifteen years old just recycled and put out for the public to see again and again. These forms of marketing offer no give and take between the message creator and the message recipient. In your everyday life as a business person, you can’t take “Mr. Voice” or “Miss Spokes model” and use them for your everyday interactions. You do it! And do a great job every day.

All of this leads me to the fact that most businesses I create online video for have great people or staff that project a professional sound and look either on camera or in a voice over. I’m telling you – some of these people are just as professional as many of the people I have worked with over the years that do this for a living. But most importantly, these are the same people that do the interacting for the business every day. These are the people customers will grow to know – grow to trust. These are the people that are the ones building relationships that need to happen between your business and your customers. With your “talented” people increasing their interactions and creating conversations that work as a 2010 marketing strategy – your business will build a strong foundation for unlimited future growth.