You may have seen a commercial recently for Nationwide Insurance, where the female spokesperson does a short demo of the Nationwide iPhone app. It’s designed to be used in case of an accident, and according to the commercial, functions include:

-a flashlight

-a form for getting the other driver’s information

-a button that, when pressed, figures out the street address/location where the accident occurred

There were a few others, but those were the ones I remember. Taken individually, or even collectively, those features are cool, but aren’t game-changers. Nationwide has an iPhone app - and…?

This is a clear demonstration to their customers (and prospective customers) that they (a) are up-to-date with cool tech trends, and most importantly, (b) they use new technology in ways that BENEFIT THEIR CUSTOMERS.

This would work for any number of companies. Design an app that makes life easier for your customers. Whether it enhances a service you already provide through other channels (Nationwide, I’m assuming, already provides customer claims service via phone and maybe even online), or is a totally new offering, this is the type of effort that can pay huge dividends for your brand and your customers’ connection with it.

This is also why some companies are reaping such big rewards from social media. They don’t use Twitter or Facebook as tools to ram marketing messages down their customers throats; the best companies use it as a tool to enhance the customer’s experience with their brand.

On Friday we shot 24 videos about digital branding and online marketing. They are currently in the editing booth…

 

Here’s why we did it:

1. Video is a VERY good way to get high rankings on Google and other search engines.
2. Video is a very good way to promote your company… it’s interactive, it helps you connect with people on a personal level, it’s a better way to tell your story.
3. Video is hard to produce (or at least semi-difficult)… this means not EVERY company out there is going to have a bunch of videos - so, it’s a very good way to differentiate yourself.

Why 24 videos?

The first 20 videos will be distributed on various listing sites…i.e. youtube, podcast directories, vimeo, etc. They will be titled with different key words - so when someone looks for “digital branding” online, the appropriate video will come up and then direct them to our website. The 20 videos each highlights a caveat of our service so that people can learn more about what we do and more about online marketing in general.

 

The last 4 videos are for:

• Video 1: Goes on our landing page or squeeze page where we will be offering a free report about digital branding.
• Video 2: Is a “thank you” video that will pop up after they have signed up for our list.
• Video 3: Is a short video that asks them to go to our website to get the free report (this is tacked on to the end of each of the 20 videos).
• Video 4: Is a longer video that goes out in our email communications and is put on our site - detailing our story and how we can assist businesses with marketing.

 The whole point of all of this is to quickly build up our email list and to help people learn more about digital branding and online marketing.

 

We are going to launch the campaign in about a week - I’ll let you know how it goes!

 

Best,

 

Laura (laura@virtualmg.com)