Using Webcams as a Sales Tool

Many web savvy businesses are realising that video content is liked by the search engines.  Create a YouTube channel with relevant content and it can really help boost traffic to your site.  But how many organisations have considered using live video as part of their content marketing portfolio?

What is content marketing?

Found in an ever-increasing variety of formats, content marketing is a marketing strategy converges both advertising and media, and is chiefly used to building awareness, educating potential customers and to drive lead/customer conversions.  By offering readers informative and enriched content that people are less likely to want to filter out, content marketing is increasingly being used to drive engagement.  Articles and content for social media are the most popular form of content marketing.

Live Interaction

For some years now, companies have been using ‘live text chat’ on their websites to open up dialogues with customers.   Traditionally, there has been two ways of doing this – (1) live text chat which is initiated by the site visitor, or (2) live text chat which has been initiated by the organisation.  The latter can be seen as intrusive and annoying when you want to simply gather information from a site without being hassled.  However, the conversion opportunities are endless… no more waiting in a queue to speak to a sales consultant or customer services agent because live text chat notifies you when someone is free.  What’s more, if you have an Internet connection, it’s totally free!  New plug-ins are launched every day and most can be installed within an hour or less.

How can live video help?

Unlike YouTube feeds which can help with page rank, live video chat is perhaps the ultimate conversion tool but the flip side is that it has limited SEO value!   But how much of an impact can live video chat have on sales conversions?   Some industry experts argue conversion rates will rise by 20 to 50% because potential customers can see who they’re dealing with. For larger purchasing decisions, video chat can be a very powerful.  Of course, talking to a face on a screen is no substitute for meeting someone face-to-face but it at least gives organisations the chance to build rapport and influence a sale from the comfort of your favourite armchair.

Perhaps soon we will be able to Skpe our bank manager for advice or even speak in person to the nasty.  Travel Agents will be able to share their screens to show customers their favourite restaurant near the hotel the prospect is interested in.  Charities can offer support services and counselling via a new platform without the need for a physical meeting place.   The possibilities are endless…

(Images courtesy of Freepik)