July 6, 2011

Demand for information is high, especially among online consumers. The format may vary by demographics, but content is one of the best ways to share your business message.

Twitter or YouTube may appeal to digital natives, where a baby boomer would read a white paper or attend a webinar to gather information. The one common theme: everyone wants their content online.

Screencasting is an underutilized tool and presents special opportunities for small business owners. It is relatively easy to find the right tools, in fact I’ve written about dozens of presentation tools you can try out for free or low cost. But the big question I get from small business owners is: what is screencasting and why do it?

First, screencasting is a digital recording of your screen. You can record a slide presentation or narrate as you click through a series of websites. You use video screen capture tools like Camtasia or Adobe Captivate, and then the recording gets produced into a video format and is easily shared at popular sites like YouTube and Vimeo. It is a great way to get your ideas and thoughts into a video format.

To answer why you should do it, here are three reasons.

1. You need content in a variety of formats

The tried and true content methods work, but video seems to be rising to the top. It is easy to consume. You can download it to an iPod, iPad or Android tablet. It isn’t superior to the normal stable of marketing materials such as, blogs, white papers, e-books, press releases, information guides, SlideShare presentations, Twitter tweets or Facebook updates. But a screencast does help you to create a video without the usual production costs. You don’t even have to buy software, Camtasia offers Jing Project for free via the Web.

In my own conversations with lots of business owners, video is the most intimidating to people who have to wear many hats, including marketing. A screencast is the easiest way to produce a video. Plus, video is frequently shared when it is funny, motivational, or just exceptionally well done.

2. Video is valuable for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

You can get very specific with your content and provide answers to questions your prospects frequently ask either online or in your sales calls. If you break up your content into short, education-focused pieces, then you can optimize each video segment to appeal to a market pain point. In other words, you create the video for popular search queries based on problems people are trying to solve via search engines.

Finding the market pain point is easy to figure out using Google’s Adwords tools. Many browsers are set to reveal a universal search result, which often includes a separate, specific video result appearing high on the first results page. Type in a keyword using the Adwords tool and you’ll see additional keywords you might consider along with how many people search that term each month. There is your market research.

3. Screencasting ups your game

Screencasting forces you to think differently because you cannot just toss words and pictures on a slide and read them aloud. You have to script out the verbal portion and then make sure your visual matches. In some ways, it is a mandatory practice session.

You might rehearse a slide presentation, but I haven’t met many people who record their presentation and then listen and improve it. The simple act of listening to yourself has a dramatic effect on the content you share. It ups your game. I’m not suggesting that slide presentations are dead, but screencasting allows a far more dynamic presentation.

If you’ve been thinking about video as a marketing tool, take a closer look at screencasting as a way to immerse yourself in it. Remember, people don’t want a hard sales pitch; they want to be informed, educated and entertained.

Image credit: Some rights reserved by chriscoyier

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