"Back Yard Destinations" Show #1

"Back Yard Destinations" is moving right along. We're shooting two more segments this Friday and one on Saturday (Centre Market). We're planning to have all the post-production for the first show completed in a few weeks. The website is coming along. We're still designing the site and hope to have it up and running by the middle of this month.

"BYD" Production Starts Feb. 19th

Production for the first "Back Yard Destinations" show is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 19th at 9am. We're heading to Independence Hall in Wheeling and then heading to the Challenger Learning Center at Wheeling Jesuit University. We also have plans to tape at Kruger Toy and Train Museum in late February or early March.

"Back Yard Destinations"

With so many vacation choices changing because of the economy, local and regional getaway trips are becoming more popular. "Back Yard Destinations" will promote places where families can getaway for a day without spending a fortune. Why travel out of the area when you can have fun in your own back yard.

Prestige Video Productions is producing a new series of half-hour television shows called "Back Yard Destinations”. The objective of these programs is to promote regional travel destinations and increase tourism. These programs will be available on various media outlets (i.e. television, internet, DVDs, etc.).

2010 Video for Austin Lake Park and Campground

We have just completed editing the final version of Austin Lake Park and Campground's 2010 video. We have been producing Austin Lake's promotional video since 1999 and have been fortunate to work closely with Bill Cable, President of Austin Lake Park, Inc. and his wife, Marsha. Bill shows the promotional video at various boat and RV trade shows in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Austin Lake will also feature the video on their website, www.austinlakepark.com.

Top 10 Reasons to Use Online Video for Your Business

1. On-Demand Accessibility
   Widely available, low-cost, high-speed Internet connections are available almost anywhere these days. And, with the influx of portable, Internet-ready devices (cell phones, iPods, laptops, etc.) capable of streaming online video content, viewers will soon be able to access video from virtually every corner of the world.
2. Powerful Sales Tool
   According to comScore, the number of online shoppers who watch online retail product videos before buying a product grew 40% from January 2008 to January of 2009. According to Jeffrey Grau, senior analyst for eCommerce and author of “Video Usage in Ecommerce: The Best is Yet to Come,” the benefits of videos touted by Web retailers include a lower number of abandoned shopping carts, reduced return rates and higher sales.
3. Adding Video is Tops Among Retailers’ “To-Do Lists”
   Even in the current state of the economy, seeing the sales lift from video content on their websites, retailers are exerting pressure on their suppliers to create innovative, eye-catching video content. Even with tight budgets, retailers are reluctant to cut online video production spending. According to SLI Systems, only site search, email marketing, user-generated content and search engine marketing were found and considered less dispensable than online video.
4. Blogging, Video Sharing & Social Networking
   Once retailers and online marketers build up video content on their sites, they will then focus on turning their efforts and video assets into customer acquisition tools by pushing video to other sites, such as affiliates, social networking sites and video-sharing destinations, according to Jeffrey Grau of eCommerce.
5. Awareness
   Online videos can create awareness to the viewers on many levels. Video campaigns should create awareness to the type of company being represented, types of products offered, and any other products or services. Online video is interactive, measurable and cost less per eyeball than any form of print media.
6. Free Advertising
   Probably the best thing about online video is that everyone – retailers, marketers and even your average Joe – can upload any video, anytime, for free! With free uploading, and a down economy, we may begin to see the highest increase in video uploading and sharing than the Internet’s seen in its short history.
   
7. Demographics
   You may be asking yourself, “Why should I invest my time and efforts into online video to promote my product? Only college kids watch videos, right?” Wrong. According to a nationwide survey conducted by Burst Media, online users between the ages of 35 to 44, and 45 to 54, are just as likely to search and view online video content as online users ages 18-24.
8. Better-Educated Leads
   Users are more likely to watch a visually stimulating video about your products than they are to read a long and possibly boring text document. Online video can stimulate your potential customers or clients to learn more about your products and services before they buy. And, with the knowledge they’ll gain from their viewing experience, your life will become easier when you don’t have to explain what exactly it is that your company specializes in.
9. Results!
   By having an online video embedded within your site or on YouTube, you are more likely to rank within the top pages of Google search results. As a matter of fact, video is 53 TIMES more likely than text content to rank within the top of search engine results!
10. Your Own Personal FCC License
    When it comes to online video, you can throw away all of the traditional commercial advertising rule books! Having a domain name is like having your own personal FCC license. You can produce any type of multimedia content to broadcast your company’s products, offerings and services. You have the ability to produce as much, or as little, content as you deem necessary.

Should My Company Have a Video on Our Website? (Reasons 1-5)

1. Your competitor has one! People refer to the internet as the first source of information, so chances are, if you have a website new potential customers will find you.

2. Presence on the web. A website can reach millions of people that might otherwise not be available for you. Peoples' habits are changing. People move to a new area and very often rely solely on the Internet to learn about the new area, research and find out who to go to for what.

3. Selling tool. Customers can view products, services, or whatever you want to share from the comfort of their own home. No matter what type of business you are in, there are ways to grow and make money on the web for you.

4. Most people expect that any professionally run business will have a web site. With a well-designed site you can make an impressive first impression; thus potential new business.

5. Add your Web Address to your stationary; business cards, other advertisements and you'll have visitors knowing exactly where to go for answers to their questions and where to send their friends to for great service.

Next week, we'll give you reasons 6-11.

Andy Bowyer - Voice-Over Talent

Andy has been providing voice talent services for a number of years and has done everything from ten-second tags, all the way up to a 160,000+ word audio book. He has worked on multiple projects for American Greetings, and is currently "the voice" of their "record-a-card" line.

Andy has also been heard on e-training programs for Philips Lighting, Shindaiwa, Ferraz-Shawmut, 3M, and more. He has provided character voices for "Typing Instructor for Kids" through Individual Software, and his concepts, voices, and sound-design work has won awards from LucasFilm and Atomfilms, as well as The Utah Film Commission.

Click here to listen to Andy's demo.