A Lot Of Marketing Gurus Have Been Touting Online Video As The Way Of The Future. They Extol Video As A Replacement To Boring And Static Text. While I Have To Admit That I Really Like Using Online Videos For Promote My Websites, I Think That Replacing All Your Text With Video Is Silly. There Are A Lot Of Times When Id Much Rather Read An Article Or A Manual Than Watch A Video. Also, When Im Reading A Book Or The Newspaper, I Can Highlight Anything I Think Is Particularly Important, And I Can Rip Out Just The Pages That I Think Are Relevant To Me. Also, You Can Skim An Entire Book And Have A Pretty Good Idea What Its About. Skimming A Video Just Doesnt Work As Well. Then Theres The Fact That You Can Read Anywhere. If Youre Sitting Flying In An Airplane, You Can Read A Book The Entire Time. You Cant Watch A Video The Entire Time. Watching Video Also Requires Technology Like DVD Players Or Laptops Which Requires Batteries Or A Plug. When Youre Reading All Your Need Is Light. One Application Where I Like Video Is When Its Accompanied By An Article, Not The Replacement For It. For Example, When I Record Videos And Put Them On My Blog, I Always Try To Include A Text Version For What Im Saying In My Videos So That If A Visitor Doesnt Want To Watch My Videos Or Cant, Then They Can Still Get The Gist Of What Im Saying By Reading The Accompanying Text. When Youre Using Videos As A Marketing Technique, One Thing You Need To Be Aware Of Is That Not Everyone Has Broadband. If Your Target Market Only Includes Broadband Users, Then Fine, But If Some Of Your Customers Are On Dialup, Then Make Sure You Supplement With Text. So While Video May Very Well Be The Way Of The Future, Its Never Going To Completely Replace Text, Nor Should It.
