trakAx

Join trakAx on Facebook
 
Inspiration Videos – 5 Ways to use Video to help sell Cars
Monday, August 30, 2010

Are you an owner of a car dealership? Are you trying to sell your car online? Is nobody coming to your car lot or website? Why not make a promotional video of your dealership and cars on offer that will not only entice visitors but provide a platform to increase sales. By creating an online video, you are engaging with the customer and establishing a personal connection. Not only can you speak directly to the potential client, you can control exactly how your message is received and explain what you do best and the services you provide. The people at “Evenalicium”, the digital marketing consultancy, report that people remember only 10% of what they read but 50% of what they see and hear.

In the videos below, we see some good examples of business owners and individuals who have used video to leverage their business opportunities and prospects of selling their cars. These videos also give some good ideas of the shots you can use if you wish to promote your own business and sell your car online.

1. Overview of Car Dealership.

The Nice Car Company really demonstrates how, in under 3 minutes, a business can provide a simple and informative video while also connecting and engaging with potential customers.  From the outset there is a warm friendly hassle-free atmosphere. They use the video to highlight their advantages and explain thoroughly their services including the previous history of their cars, a full mechanical inspection and report and information and access to every car online. Most importantly, I believe this video highlights the company’s professionalism and credibility as a reputable car dealership and gives confidence to customers that they are receiving a fair and honest deal.

What you’ll need:

2. Promoting your Dealership.

This video is a great example of how a simple one minute video can provide a potential client with a lot of information. The video highlights the friendly personal service you will receive. You get a full view of the dealership, inside and out, and the wide selection of cars on offer. Simple use of bullet-point style text highlights the services available including a test drive, certifications and guarantees as well as finance options. Why would you use a cumbersome brochure when you can visually showcase your business and cars on offer?

What you’ll need:

3. Selling your own Car.

More and more people are beginning to sell their own car privately on auto trading websites. As video becomes mainstream, you will begin to see more of these trading sites excepting video reviews of cars for sale. If the saying goes “A picture tells a thousands words”, what must a video do?

In this video, we see a pristine 1991 Porsche Carrera for sale. The owner has used simply shots to highlight the beauty of his car. He teases us by drawing our attention to the sleek lines of the Porsche and its exquisite interior. However with old or classic cars, one always has the fear that the engine has seen better days. But not to worry, we see and hear the engine running which still sounds as smooth as the day it was made. You cannot convey this compelling message with a written description or photos.

What you’ll need:

4. Become an Expert.

Weblogs are a great way to connect with a wider audience. It allows you to demonstrate your knowledge in a particular field. If you deliver high quality content on a regular basis, you will stand out from your competitors and will become recognised as a local expert in your industry. Here we see Keith McCahan, a senior salesman at Capital Ford Lincoln Mercury in Wilmington, N.C. He shares with us his extensive knowledge and experience, and gives sound advice to new up and coming sales people. Again, it emphasises the credibility and professionalism of the vendor.

What you’ll need:

5. Customer Testimonials.

What better way to promote and advertise your business than getting quality customer testimonials. If your customers are saying great things about your dealership, then why not publicise those positive comments for everyone to see? A compelling customer testimony validates the claims you make about how great your business is. And the great thing about this video is its believability. The customers seem very authentic and you get the feeling you are receiving a genuine deal.

What you’ll need:

Bonus Video

Thinking outside the Box.

I thought I would include this bonus video as I could not believe my eyes when I saw it. I am certainly not promoting this type of marketing idea but it does highlight that sometimes the most extreme marketing ideas work. Selling an extra 35 cars during the promotion is proof of this, plus they received great free advertising. However, I do wonder what the marketing meeting was like when someone piped up with the idea “How about we give away a free AK-47 with every car sold! Jackpot $$$$”.

Some other videos you may find useful –

Remember trakAxPC can be used for all your video editing needs. Take advantage of our special price - buy trakAxPC today for just $24.95.


Share |

Posted by Colm in  |  Leave a comment line
Inspiration Videos – 5 Ways to Use Video to Market your Restaurant
Monday, August 23, 2010

The restaurant industry has to be one of the most competitive and diverse industries to be a part of. Whether your restaurant is in a major city or a small rural village, how are you going to let potential diners know about your business, style of food and location? Adding a video to your website, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and Google Maps can provide potential customers with an insight to your restaurant, the type of food on the menu, local produce used, unique selling points and of course, your location.

In the videos below, we examine how some restaurants and chefs that have used videos to highlight their business, skills, food, and more importantly to entice diners to their restaurants.

1. Tour of your Restaurant.

Creating an overall video tour of your restaurant will give your patrons an excellent understanding of your business, the style of food, the surroundings, as well as the staff who help make the restaurant work. Here we see a video created for the Guy Savoy restaurant in Paris. In this video, even though it is professionally made, there are a lot of great ideas that can be used in your video production. There are no great tricks or illusions in this video, it is simply well made. Firstly, we see the ingredients being chosen in the market, followed by the cleaning and preparation of the food, the doors open, patrons arrive and the action begins. We see the beautiful shots of the dishes which are the star of the show and finally we see the dedicated team that made it happen. This video highlights that a clean and simple style (both the food and video production) is always the best.

What you’ll need:

2. Tour of Food

Creating a video highlighting your dishes can be great for any restaurant, but it can be especially useful for restaurants which provide speciality foods or ethnic dishes that maybe uncommon in your area. In this example, we see a food and drink tour of Bao Noodles Vietnamese restaurant located in Manhattan, NY. By allowing us to view some of their mouth-watering dishes and cocktails, the potential diner can almost smell and taste the food and will know exactly what to expect if they wish to visit.

What you’ll need:

3. Unique Selling Points.

What makes you different? What makes your restaurant stand out from the rest? Why not make a video about it? Here we see how two chefs promote their restaurants by highlighting their unique selling points. In the first video, we see Head Chef Ryan Tate of the Savoy restaurant create a beautiful duck dish which uses fresh ducks from his local producer John Fazio. The chef also explains the process of cooking duck properly and why their restaurant believes in working with small farmers.

In the second video, we see something completely different. The Turnberry Resort in Scotland promotes their restaurant by highlighting their unique selling point “the Chef’s Table”. This fun and well made video, which emphasises the delicious food available, as well as the private service and surroundings offered by this “Chef’s Table”.

What you’ll need:

4. Creating a Dish.

A great way of promoting your restaurant, the chef’s skill and food is to post regular weblogs. These weblogs can include the chef demonstrating how he/she produces their favourite dish, the process involved in creating a new dish, how to make a specific sauce, a particular cooking skill, cooking at a special event, etc. These weblogs will help build brand awareness, as well as highlighting the food on offer and talent of the chef. In this video, we see Chef Paolo Laboa of the Farina Restaurant creating his favourite Pesto Pasta dish. He demonstrates how using simple, fresh ingredients can produce appetising dishes.

Our tip if you are creating a video such as this using one camera, firstly film all the ingredients and then edit them in when necessary. You can also make your videos shorter, between 1 – 3 minutes long, which will help keep the viewer interested.

What you’ll need:

5. Highlight Your Location.

The location of your business is always important as footfall is key to a successful business. But what if your restaurant is in a unique location, like a famous tourist spot / landmark or somewhere different like a stadium or train station? Why not show it off? The Black Pearls Seafood Restaurant is one such example. Located in Brussels Airport, they offer their customers a place to relax in comfort while also providing top class food. This simple 1 minute 30 seconds video clearly shows it’s the “very place you would want to spend a nice time awaiting your flight!”.

What you’ll need:

Some other videos you may find useful –

Remember trakAxPC can be used for all your video editing needs. Take advantage of our special price - buy trakAxPC today for just $24.95.


Share |

Posted by Colm in  |  Leave a comment line
Inspiration Videos – 5 Ways to Use Video for Real Estate
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Obviously the last couple of years have been tough for most Realtors and Estate Agents across the globe. In some markets things are picking up slightly, while in others (like Ireland), the market has remained challenging. To help their clients sell properties and to sign up new clients, realtors are looking at new ways of using technology, in particular video. Below, we have listed 5 easy, but innovative ways you can use video to enhance your Real Estate business.

1. Create a Video Tour of your Properties.

Creating a video tour of the property is much easier than you may have imagined. Looking at the video above, they have kept things simple – nice shots of the property with a recorded voiceover. The voiceover means you can write a detailed script and don’t have to worry about your presence front of camera. Be sure you have a tripod (shaky video will just look unprofessional) and that each room is well lit and turned out.

What you’ll need:

2. Create a Slideshow Tour of the Property

This option is even quicker – if you are commissioning professional photos of your property, why not make a video slideshow to bring the photos to life. Quickly add some text to highlight some important points of the property and you’re done. To achieve a similar effect to the video above, add some “Zoom” effects and keep your font choice crisp and simple (see here for more ideas on fonts). What makes this video so successful is the actual photos themselves – the lighting is immaculate, so push your photographer to make the most of lighting available on the property.

What you’ll need:

3. Give Sellers / Buyers Useful Advice

Pamela Liebman , CEO of the Corcoran Group is one of the most famous faces on the New York Real Estate scene. On the Corcoran Group Real Estate YouTube Channel, Ms. Liebman gives practical advice to sellers and buyers in bite-sized videos. Often less than 1 minute long, Liebman covers questions such as “How do I make an offer on an Apartment I Like?” or “How do I determine my price range for Buying a Home?” as well as questions that are very particular to New York.

As a real-estate agent, you know your city or neighbourhood probably better than anyone else – what questions do new buyers always ask? Create short videos that you can share on YouTube and your website that answer these common queries and highlight the positive aspects of the neighbourhoods where you sell – not only should it help traffic by covering keywords that buyers may be searching for, but also build your reputation as a “Trust Agent”.

What you’ll need:

4. Explain Complicated Technical Information

Buying, renting and leasing are often complicated processes and buyers/ sellers can be intimidated by legal requirements and the complicated form-filling that accompanies any property transaction. Why not create short videos (they can be 1 minute or less) clearly explaining some of the legal jargon that is part of the rental / lease / buying process in your jurisdiction.

I recently read that more new businesses were started in Ireland this year than in any previous year and I am sure this trend is reflected in many countries. The international down turn, has meant more and more people have become entrepreneurs and are starting their own businesses. If you are running a Commercial Property business, these potential clients may be completely new to their commercial renting and leasing market. Videos explaining important information that these users need to know could be a valuable tool to small businesses and portray your Real Estate business as the “human face” of commercial property.

What you’ll need:

5. Market your Real Estate Business

Obviously to maintain a healthy real estate business, you need a combination of new and satisfied clients who are buyers and sellers. Often estate agents can get a bad rep, so reverse this preconception with a video showing your offices, your staff and maybe even some happy customers.

What you’ll need:

Some other videos you may find useful –


Remember trakAxPC can be used for all your video editing needs. Take advantage of our special price - buy trakAxPC today for just $24.95.


Share |

Posted by SysAdmin in Tips for Small Business   |  1 comment line
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya uses trakAxPC
Thursday, August 12, 2010

image

We are completely delighted to announce that the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) have chosen trakAxPC as their preferred media editor for the upcoming academic year. I asked the BA Media Programme Director, Antoni Roig Telo, why he chose trakAxPC as their software of choice:

“As a media programme director in an online University, I’m constantly looking for video tools that might be useful for our students in our virtual courses. For me, an ideal tool should meet at least the following principles: be affordable (we need a license for every single student and main information centres), with a slight learning curve, be easily accessible, be supported, be self-contained (demos or commercial-oriented limited products are not useful for us), be powerful and aimed to professional practice. Up to now, video editing software has been elusive; there are certainly free good tools around, and even some of them online (which is great for beginners and short projects), but none has filled our needs as Trakax, which provides the experience of working in a professional video editing environment in a matter of minutes. We asked our video editing professor, who is used to work in Final Cut and didn’t know about TrakAx to make some tests and arrange a little workshop: he was pleasantly surprised and agreed immediately that this was what we were looking for. A definitive great find for us.”
Antoni Roig Telo
Estudis de Ciències de la Informació i de la Comunicació
[Director del programa de Comunicació Audiovisual]
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

What is interesting about trakAxPC, is that educators of all levels have embraced it - from primary schools (10 - 12 year olds) right through to third level, as seen above with UOC. If you are an educator, you may be interested in our special education pricing on volume purchases of trakAxPC. We have also just announced our new dedicated Teachers’ Resource Area - http://www.trakax.com/software/trakaxpcEducation/.  Sample lessons have all the resources educators will need to map out stimulating classes for a wide range of subjects. Lessons are composed of sample projects and activities that aim to improve IT skills, encourage team-work, assist goal-setting and planning, help organisational skills as well as highlighting students’ natural talents (eg. writing, researching, directing, performing, editing etc.). If you would like further information on purchasing trakAxPC for your education, please see our Education page or contact me directly -

Share |

Posted by SysAdmin in  |  Leave a comment line
Lighting your Video - Tips for Small Businesses
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

When you are creating a video for your small business (or any video for that matter), a key element of the recording will be you or a staff member speaking to the camera explaining your products and services. One of the easiest and cheapest ways to help your video look professional is the lighting. You don’t have to spend any money, just use what is available to you - overhead lights, natural light from windows, lamps etc. What’s more, once you get the set up you are happy with, you can use it over and over again for video blogs, product announcements etc.

Professionals often talk about “Three-Point Lighting” - which is a pretty simple theory. It involves a key light, a fill and a rim or back light. They often add a fourth point, which is a background light. As the name would suggest the Key Light is usually the most important source of light - in your video, you could try and use a large window or a strong lamp.

image

Play around with some lamps for the Back Light until you get the look you want - if the back light is too strong, your face may go into the shadows, so change the position (or lamp) until you get an even light. The Fill light is normally softer than the key and back light, so you could try a lamp with a lower wattage bulb or even some foam board from a Art and Hobby shop. Lastly you may want to turn on the overhead lights as a background light to brighten up the whole picture.

You’ll be surprised what a difference a little bit of time spent on the lighting will do for your video - as always, the more professional you look, the more trustworthy your business will appear.

The video below from Videomaker also gives some great tips of improving your lighting (especially if you decide to record outdoors):

Remember trakAxPC can be used for all your video editing needs. Take advantage of our special price - buy trakAxPC today for just $24.95.



Share |

Posted by Catriona in Tips & Tricks  Tips for Small Business   |  Leave a comment line
New trakAxPC Video
Saturday, August 07, 2010

We created the two minute video below to show hopefully show all the features of trakAxPC quickly and concisely - all the editing was done with the software.

Share |

Posted by SysAdmin in  |  Leave a comment line
trakAxPC Video Tutorials Now with Closed Captions
Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Over the last few weeks, we have added Closed Captions to our Video Support Tutorials. What is really interesting about adding Closed Captions to YouTube Videos is that is allows people to translate these videos into the language of their choice.

image

I have attached an example video below:

We would love to hear from users how they find the translations - are the translations clunky or are they actually really useful?

Share |

Posted by SysAdmin in  |  Leave a comment line
Page 1 of 18 pages  1 2 3 >  Last »
 

Copyright © 2010 HighAndes Ltd. All Rights Reserved.



Follow trakAxPC on Twitter See us on YouTube trakAxPC Video Editing Software on Facebook