Catalyst Search Matters Search Marketing Blog

Since the DTC advertising took-off ten years ago, pharmaceutical companies have been aware of the persuasive power of video. TV commercials have brought an unprecedented degree of awareness to mass audiences, and have brought depth and dimension to products that would otherwise be difficult to explain. Now that opportunity is expanding to include online video. Online video resembles television in many ways:

• It is currently dominated by entertainment content.
• Thanks to the widespread adoption of broadband, viewership can often be measured in millions (although there’s no “broadcast” - so that viewership builds-up over time.)
• Word of mouth (and its e-mail/IM equivalents) can launch a video into the spotlight.

Healthcare companies can use these similarities to reach out to online audiences by purchasing pre-roll commercials at popular portal sites. These are displayed at the start of a video clip, and often accommodate a standard 15-second format.

However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Greater gains can be had by leveraging the non-TV attributes of online video:

• Online video is not an interruption: Except for those pre-roll ads, online video does not have to grab attention “mid-Seinfeld.” Online viewers already know what they’re about to see. In fact, chances are they requested it.
• Viewer attitudes are different: Because viewers are arriving via suggestions (”Check this out…”) or searches, expectations change. They’re as impatient as television viewers, but that impatience doesn’t translate into short videos. Instead, the key is to produce videos that get to the point quickly. Remember: viewers can hit “stop” on a video player even faster than they can hit the back button on their browsers.
• Search is a growing factor: Although video in 2007 is driven by viral marketing, search is a strong component. Videos can be optimized and submitted much like a conventional webpage, complete with metadata and even transcripts.
• Viral and search feed each other: As word of mouth spreads, a video will receive links from other websites. These links help reinforce the link scoring of a video webpage, improving its chances for ranking well in search results. That added visibility can fuel more word-of-mouth activity, creating a positive feedback loop.
• High-ranking videos can translate to high ranking websites: The link scoring benefits of a popular video can be transferred to a corresponding website. Getting this to work is largely a matter of execution: the selection of videos and the referral strategy has to be set-up to agree with search engine logic. This can work particularly well for unbranded sites, where “Learn More” can be a very effective call to action.

Last but not least: sincerity counts. TV viewers often express cynicism with regard to TV commercials, but layered under that cynicism is an acceptance that commercials “are what they are.” There is no such tolerance online, and so online video should emphasize facts and experiences over branding and product positioning. Favor patient testimonials and MOA animations — they’re much more likely to succeed than dramatizations or celebrity endorsements.