Advertising Or Engagement?

Last week I was talking with a small business owner when the subject of videos for websites came up.
“We’ve talked about doing some videos, but we don’t need to do any advertising”, she said.

Website visitors and customers already understand what advertising is and what it isn’t. Unfortunately, most businesses do not. For example: some fervently believe that their website is advertising, and they pay for it out of their advertising budget. But even Amazon – one of the largest e-commerce websites isn’t advertising, for they also inform and entertain as well as sell. This is engagement.

If your website is nothing more than an online brochure for your business, then you’re losing the battle.

Business coaches advise that it costs more to get a new customer than to keep a customer. If you can convince an existing customer to buy more, your profit margin is higher. You can do that through engagement. Actually, you can also qualify and close more new customers that way. And there’s part of the difference.

While advertising implies a direct offer, engagement is more about establishing and building a relationship – one that, over time, will lead to sales, brand loyalty,  and a perception of expertise in the marketplace.

Video is the quickest and the most affordable vehicle to drive engagement.  Video for websites should not be advertising. People don’t search for commercials. Your visitors want to be engaged. Those businesses that provide that engagement will win. I hope you’ll be one of them.

–that’s a wrap.