The keys to effective videos are:
(1) Good Presentation
(2) Relevance of the material to the topic
(3) BREVITY.
(4) Finally, the video must add some VALUE to the presentation.

Issues regarding being forced to sit powerlessly through a long presentation can be addressed by breaking it into short chapters. If each chapter is five minutes or less, focussed on a topic, presented well, and hyperlinked to from a “table of contents”, the viewer is empowered and less likely to become bored. Moreover, the viewer can return to the presentation and pick up where they left off, without being forced to sit through a repeat of what they already saw.

Compare watching a videocassette with a DVD – finding a spot on a videocassette is time consuming, but on a DVD, you can jump to the chapter you want from a menu.

Some material works well with video, some works better with text. The media that works well with one person will fail with another who has a different disposition. The key is matching the media to the message and the market.

Video tours on real estate – I’d rather use live web cams so that I could check the house out at my own pace and put more focus on the features and rooms that I have a particular interest in. Goes back to the ‘user driven’ experience.

I hear what you’re saying though. Text can’t give the user a real visual experience. A full gallery of good quality pictures can (that I can pick and zoom at will). Web cams can do really well (if the quality is good) because the viewer has full control over the experience. I’d sit and play with a web cam online when viewing real estate any day, any time, over a video.

Videos just bring me to ‘infomercial’ territory and I know some people will sit and watch those. I think the marketer will *love* video marketing as it controls the viewers attention on the direction the marketer wants. When I have my customer/shopper/user hat on – videos are just not for me .