In the upcoming year, if you’ve been considering using video marketing for your brand whether online or offline then it’s time to stop considering and start doing! Christopher Rick, CEO at Gamers Daily News wrote an article that was featured at ReelSEO.com, reaching out to an all-star line-up about what video will hold for online advertising and digital media in 2011.

Here’s what these industry leaders saw as being the major video trends that will emerge in 2011.

Iggy Fanlo, President & CEO – adBrite: Advertisers are moving ad dollars in droves from TV towards video advertising. 

Andy Tu VP Marketing – Break Media: In 2011, more users will be turning to digital platforms including the web as a primary source of engagement and entertainment.

Chris Young CEO – Digital Broadcasting Group:  I believe that interactivity will be crucial to the success of any online video campaign in 2011. Marketers need to have some sort of added value to the content they’re distributing. You can’t just beat a consumer over the head with your static video ad and expect them to take action.

So it looks like the future will be branded, interactive and mobile video marketing. So how will you compete in the online video arena? What will you do to  effectively market your brand or capture, engage, entertain and motivate your viewers, fans or prospects.

Virtual Media Group, (a subsidiary of On Hold Inc) consistently ranked by TopSEO’s.com as one of the top ten web video and media production. As a full service online video marketing and video production firm, we can write, film, edit and produce short and long format web video productions and webmercials. Your web video production includes your choice of eight studio sets which can be customized with photos of you, your staff, your office, your products -- whatever you'd like. Or, just give us the word and we'll choose generic pictures, and you won't have to do anything at all except sit back, relax, and wait for your business enhancing website video production to arrive in less than a week.

Your custom web video production will resonate with your target audience, and prospects will be sold on you before they even pick up the phone to call. Your web video production can be optimized to improve search engine rankings, or embrace viral video in new and exciting ways every day. You can also attach your web video production to your e-mails, and you’ll look like the most professional firm in your field, or if you’re a brick-n-mortar business, your web video production can easily be distributed throughout your store or at customer check-out stations offering companion products or recommended items and increase sales.

 Recently Steve McKee, author of the book, When Growth Stalls, wrote an article that appeared in Bloomberg News about the top 7  top reasons why your advertising isn’t working.”

Additionally, a recent LinkedIn poll conducted by AdweekMedia  posed this question: "Of the ads you see in a typical day, how many engage your attention?" A remarkable two-thirds of respondents said "a small minority of them." Another quarter answered "none of them." Together, that's 91%. Only one in 100 respondents said "most of them."

Ouch. What does this mean? It means that business owners need to deal with the cold, hard facts - a lot of advertising doesn't work very well. Your advertising is like an automobile, it needs routine maintenance to ensure that it operates smoothly. Ignore routine maintenance, and you can find yourself broken down and stuck on the side of the road. Advertising is a constant evolution, one of the worst mistakes any business can make is not performing routine maintenance to make sure your advertising doesn’t cause you to get stuck on the side of the road.

With that in mind, here’s some suggestions on how some routine maintenance to ensure that your on hold marketing is pulling its wait.

1. It's boring. Yep, your on hold message is boring. Why do we watch TV, listen to the radio, read the newspaper, or go online? Three reasons: information, entertainment, and engagement. Ads that fail to offer at least two of these three benefits flop. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not changing your on hold message content. Callers can quickly tune-out old, boring messages that they can almost recite because they have heard them over and over when calling your company. You have to engage your callers with something that is interesting or entertaining to keep their attention. 

2  It’s out-dated/Untimly. O.K., this one may sting a bit, but if  you’re not paying attention to your on hold advertising, then who is? There’s nothing worse when using on hold messages than giving having callers hear out-dated or untimely information. As an example if you’re an HVAC contractor and your messages are talking about  air conditioning in the winter while it’s snowing outside, when you should be talking about heating information, than your on hold ad probably isn’t doing you any good! We have also seen clients not pay attention and have their on hold message advertise a product or service that is not even offered any more. Why would you waste  valuable time to give out incorrect information?

3.It's trying to do too much. Yes, believe or not, your on hold script may be trying to do too much. Just because you have a lot to say doesn't mean your audience will sit still and pay attention. Do your best to make a simple, singular point and Do it with flair. As the poll results above demonstrated, most people don't engage with most ads. And even when they do, for how long do they pay attention? Thirty seconds? Ten? Five? The best an ad can do is communicate one single, compelling idea. So for those client’s who prefer long winded messages, leave the on hold scriptwriting to our 20 year seasoned copywriting pros. We know what works best!

There are, of course, many more reasons why advertising underperforms, from poor media placement to bad strategy, but when it comes to on hold messaging, keeping  your script copy current, engaging and informative is what keeps your on hold advertising working, and goes a long way in making your on hold advertising better.

In the not so distant past, companies with the biggest marketing budgets won the most business, but that type of marketing just isn’t what it used to be especially since everyone’s budgets have shrunk due to an economy that has made its presence known in all industries. Many companies, think that if their customers are satisfied, then they will be loyal. Wrong!  No matter what industry you’re in, what products you sell, what services you offer, or whoever your clientele is, Customer retention is absolutely critical. You need to provide a superior customer service experience, and make sure you do whatever you can to keep your current customers. This includes providing for a great caller on hold experience with on hold messaging.

This economy makes customer retention strategies even more important because customer loyalty is weakened. Whether you sell b-to-b or b-to-c, your customers are going over their budgets carefully; they're looking for alternatives. And with the pace of technological change and more ways to communicate (blogs, Twitter, Facebook), they're even more likely to be more exposed to your competitors. That means you need a customer retention plan.

Even with technological change, the telephone is still the primary contact point for businesses. The number one factor in creating customer loyalty is the experience customers have with your business. The idea is to create a remarkable customer experience first, which earns you both loyalty and word of mouth advertising. What is your caller’s on hold experience like? Do they wait in silence, hear static radio, music to their disliking or even worse – a competitors ad?

Your telephone system touch point is the interface of your product, service or brand. Companies are growing more concerned about losing customers and the cost of replacing them is the highest it's ever been. Using on hold messages provides for better customer service and engagement with your target market. This powerful method of inbound marketing let’s you connect with customers, spark their interest,  and provide for a great customer experience thus building customer and brand loyalty.

You need to foster relationships and drive loyalty across all channels. Using On hold communication as a part of your phone system’s music on hold feature gives you the  opportunity to broadcast your message to anyone who will listen, and turn that message into a positive interaction. The customer experience dynamic is the engine that gets new customers in your door and then keeps them there longer. Whether you call it customer retention, account management or relationship management, developing a professional message on hold  as a part of your strategy so that you don't lose the customers or clients is vital to the success of any business — especially now.