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Don’t use branding as an excuse to stay away from online video

Posted by Abha Gallewale

Is heavy branding in video the only way to promote your company in the right way? Many marketers are struggling with this balance between taking control and letting the brand speak for itself. The problem is, the decision is not really up to the marketers at all.

We recently had an event with BusinessWire and MediaMobz focusing on online video and branding. Judy Gern, Director of Conversion Marketing at Constant Contact and one of the panelists for the event, spoke about the importance of finding an appropriate level of branding in video.

Marketers are often tempted to intensively brand their videos to ensure that it is portrayed in the best possible way. They use video to reach their audience in an authentic way.

Unfortunately, branding accomplishes just the opposite. The transparency of video allows viewers to see the push for control, and the video’s “authenticity” seems forced. On the other hand, the accessibility of video provides consumers with the power to share their own opinions of your brand.

No matter how meticulously you script your video, there will be other conversations taking place externally that the public will be watching. As Gern explains, “Conversations about our brands are happening outside of our walls. We have to play, but we can’t control it.” It’s important for a company to have a strong presence by promoting and spreading its own content, but it must recognize that its influence may not necessarily be quite as dominating.

If you’re concerned about branding, you want to communicate a message that is as transparent as possible. Video does just that; it’s a lot harder to be vague or wordy when you’re speaking on-camera. So embrace it–and use online to your brand’s advantage to promote authenticity.

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Founder Dialogues featuring Mick Mountz of Kiva Systems

Posted by Chris Carroll

Hey, this is Chris from VisibleGains. While sponsoring the Founder Dialogues event by supplying the technology to make it available online, I had a great opportunity to meet Eric Paley of Founder Collective and Keith Cline of Venture Fizz at this quarters Founder Dialogues with special guest Mick Mountz from Kiva Systems.

Mick spoke about how he became an entrepreneur and started Kiva Systems, a company based in Woburn MA, (don’t drink the water, yes I’ve seen A Civil Action and yes I have family in Woburn) starting with an idea and growing an impressive portfolio landing contracts with Staples, Zappos, Diapers.com, Crate & Barrel and many more. Mick also had some great stories about his experience working at Kiva, Motorola, Webvan, and Apple.

Below are a couple of clips I found very interesting from the event, if you would like to catch the rest of the clips or watch the full event click here to head on over to the VentureFizz Blog.

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