Business Owners: Get More Mileage out of Your Videos

Does Your Business Have A Video?

More and more businesses are creating videos and seeing the value. Videos are a great way to demonstrate a product, detail a service, or introduce people to your staff. Videos can be time consuming to create, and expensive to make. While we have observed a growth in the number of businesses making videos, the majority of them fail to think about the next step: How do you get customers to see it?

We see the video process as having two parts: Production & Distribution. Production is the planning, shooting and editing of the video. Distribution is taking the finished video and putting it in front of people. While there has been a great increase in attention paid to the production, distribution is something many forget to focus on.

Where Are You Putting Your Finished Videos?

So where do your videos go? How do you get them seen? How do you measure the success of a video you’ve made? These are all questions you should ask yourself.

We’ve found that many business owners take a “Field of Dreams” approach to video distribution. The famous quote from the movie, “If you build it they will come”. If you build a great video and throw it on YouTube, you will soon find that your intended audience will not find it automatically.

It’s similar to printing fliers. Just because you’ve printed 100 fliers and have them stacked in a box, doesn’t mean people will seem them. You have to do the work to get those 100 fliers into 100 prime locations to reach your desired audience. Video works in much the same way. Even though you aren’t passing out physical videos, you do have to think about how to place them in front of people you want to see them. Youtube, your website, community pages etc. are all places you can start. We have found a primary space for these videos should be on TV in your business location(s).

Putting Your Videos on TV

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This doesn’t have to be your TV solution.

Having your videos on TV will draw more attention to them.  It will get them seen by customers that are more likely to act upon your messaging.

There are many ways you can get your videos onto TVs in your locations. We have details the top methods in this article: 3 Ways to put your videos on TV.

The problem with most display solutions is that they loop. Unless you have a large library of content at the ready, people are going to watch the same thing again and again with no break and nothing new. Maintenance and upkeep are also issues – often needing to brave a utility closet full of wires, re-load physical drives or USB sticks, or having to hire a specialist in order to update or fix what’s on the TV.

Making the Most out of Your Videos

Putting an easy-to-use system in place that will play your videos and mix them with other TV programming is key.  It’s Relevant TV takes the majority of the work away- providing your business with relevant TV programming, and a way to make the most out of your media.

It’s Relevant is a cable alternative that provides businesses a TV solution in the form of a living network of short-form content. IRTV’s library of videos is broken up into categories for you to choose from based on your customer’s interests, and gives you full control over what’s on your TV. The service provides compliments to your own videos as well as complete management of one or multiple TVs. IRTV tracks everything so you can know how many times each of your videos were displayed, along with specific timing and location.

The big difference between It’s Relevant TV and other solutions is in the content. IRTV provides interesting and entertaining content while inserting your own messages and real-time social media for people to see while engaged.

Visit itsrelevant.com to learn more about the easy-to-use and cost effective TV solution.

Amazon Fire Stick: Don’t Risk Sticking Your Business

Technology is Changing TV

Amazon Fire Stick, Chromecast, and Smart TVs are steadily emerging over the horizon, more so now than ever. With access to services like Netflix, Hulu, or HBO Go and devices that allow you to stream those services on your TV, cable is on its way out.

TV has come a long way since the 1920’s, and as we get closer to 2020, looking back on the history of television during the last one hundred years and seeing how far we’ve come is pretty amazing. Today, televisions are just about everywhere you go. Everywhere. And they have been for a while. That’s because TVs are a staple of technology – we use them to reach out to one another, stay informed, and keep ourselves entertained.

If you’re a business owner who caters to crowds, or often has people waiting or sitting for lengthy periods of time, then chances are you’ve got a TV within sight for the exact reasons just listed above. Which is great, the comfort of your customers is key – but in this rapidly advancing world of technology, it’s easy to get carried away when trying to build an inviting waiting room experience.

Between all the technology available to business owners coupled with the drive to maintain customer satisfaction, the ease of putting something up like Netflix powered by an Amazon Fire Stick is second nature. So why wouldn’t you do it? The answer is simple. Because it’s illegal.

NETFLIX TERMS:

The Netflix service and any content viewed through our service are for your personal and non-commercial use only. During your Netflix membership, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, license to access the Netflix service and view Netflix content through the service. Except for the foregoing limited license, no right, title or interest shall be transferred to you. You agree not to use the service for public performances.

Using those services with a “set it and forget it” mentality without regard for the licensing terms and conditions can be dangerous for your business. The people who enforce the rules on media licenses take this very seriously. For more information regarding why you should think twice about setting up services like that in your business, check out this article on using Netflix in your business.

Personal Use is Different than Business Use

In the end, the licensing rights tied with those services only applies to personal use. Setting them up in your business is a no-go. But if you think about it, TVs and plug-ins like Fire Stick and Chromecast were designed with the home setting in mind, not business settings anyway.

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So you can’t use a Fire Stick in Your business to deliver any real TV content. Up until recently, this left you with only one real choice: cable TV. And while it’s legal to run cable in a business setting, cable TV isn’t designed for the benefit of your customers and your business. It’s Relevant TV is.

Custom TV from It’s Relevant

It’s Relevant TV bridges the gaps between TV, customer satisfaction, and business messaging using unique digital sinage software – creating a more inviting place for visitors. The service provides businesses with content and control that makes for an all around better TV experience. IRTV creates a custom TV network for each business with access to a vast library of original content divided into a number of categories you can pick and choose from. On top of the TV content with more meaningful controls, your business also gets room to advertise additional services, reach out to customers, and share your latest social media posts. It’s Relevant TV turns your television into a tool for your business.

Top 10 Reasons to Cancel Cable TV or Satellite TV in Your Business

Are You Using Cable or Satellite TV in your Business?

Cable TV and Satellite TV costs are on the rise, while they continue to offer little benefit for your business. Business owners are finding a better way to utilize their TVs, to not only entertain their customers, but to make the business more money at the same time. Why only spend money on cable/satellite when you can be making money with  It’s Relevant TV?

The Top 10 Reasons to Switch (Video)

1. Cable TV COSTS Money, It’s Relevant TV MAKES you money.

It’s Relevant TV is designed to make your business money by integrating your own promotions, videos and social media into the programming. These integrations lead to an increase in the average customer spend, social media followership and return visits/referrals. Traditional TV doesn’t give you any customization, while IRTV lets you customize every part of what’s being delivered to your customers.

2. Competitive Ad Block®

Cable and Satellite TV have a ton of commercials, often 16-22 minutes an hour. And while everyone expects to see commercials on TV, the one thing you as a business owner shouldn’t tolerate is a competitor to advertising in your location.

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If you own a Mercedes-Benz Dealership, would you want a BMW commercial being played to your customers? Of course not. That’s why It’s Relevant has Competitive Ad Block®. It comes with all IRTV systems, and automatically blocks out ads from your industry competitors.

3. No Repetitive Loop & Better Content

If your TV is tuned to a news network you’re likely showing the same content over and over on repeat all day long. A repetitive loop just makes customers feel like they are waiting longer, and no one wants that! It’s Relevant TV is different. The programs never loop! Instead, we bring in fresh content all day long and switch between different content types to keep things interesting.

TV has a lot of channels, and you may find your staff and visitors having to change between them during the day. It’s Relevant TV has just as many choices, but instead of picking one channel, you choose all of the categories of content your visitors will enjoy most. We change the channel for you throughout the day, switching up the programming types every few minutes, increasing the number of touch-points you have with your customers.

4. Display Your Own Ads

Short of buying expensive advertising spots, Cable and Satellite offer no way to get your ads and messages across to customers. It’s Relevant TV makes it easy to feature your messaging next to the programming. You can create and upload images right from your computer or smartphone. IRTV handles the rest, rotating through your ads constantly throughout the day.

You can even set specific days or hours of the day to show specific ads. So for instance, if you run a restaurant, you can have breakfast specials shown until 11am, lunch until 3pm, and dinner for the rest of the night.

5. National News & 5-Day Weather Forecasts

Cable and Satellite TV offer a variety of weather and news channels. But you have to be tuned to one of the channels to get the information. As we all know, any extended viewing of news or weather leads to viewer boredom.

It’s Relevant TV allows you to mix in news and weather information seamlessly throughout the day amidst other more entertaining programming. So you can have food shows, travel programs, celebrity interviews, and news/weather all together instead of being stuck on a single repetitive channel for hours.

6. Real-Time Social Media Display (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

Is your business on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? How do you encourage people to follow your accounts? Are you getting real customers to follow you?

It’s Relevant TV will display your posts in real-time, showing your most recent photo and text updates to your customers. This is great because it encourages people that have been to your location to follow you. People that have physically been there are more likely to return when following you than someone that’s never been to your location before.

7. Display Your Own Videos

Cable and Satellite TV offer no way for you to display your own videos. You’re just stuck with the channels they provide. It’s Relevant TV is different. If you have a TV commercial or two, you can run them on your TVs. If you have a video message from a staff member for your customers, you can have it displayed for them. It’s as easy as uploading a video from your computer, or recording one on your phone. It’s Relevant TV takes care of rotating your messages evenly throughout the day, and even adds subtitles to your video productions so that they can be displayed on the TV without sound if you desire.

8. Sell/Barter Your Ad Space

Are there businesses in your area that might want to advertise to your customers? It’s Relevant TV provides you with a platform to display the ads and make direct revenue from them.

Let’s say you run an office, and across the street there is a restaurant. As people wait in your office they could see an ad for a special deal at the restaurant. You could charge the restaurant $50 or $100 a month to display their image ad on your TV, however much you choose – you set the price. And you keep all of the revenue.

9. All Family-Friendly Content

Unlike Cable and Satellite TV, It’s Relevant TV only provides content that is prescreened and family friendly. It’s far too often that cable channels have a tame piece of programming one minute and something disgusting, offensive or inappropriate the next. It’s Relevant TV gives you as a business owner piece of mind.

10. Easy Installation

Cable and Satellite TV require long installations, large windows of time for an installer to come, complex wiring, drilling holes and a lot of headaches.

It’s Relevant TV comes as an easy self-install kit. It takes just 5 minutes to get going, and you can do it on your time, when it’s convenient for you. No holes to drill, no shady installers to have to deal with- Just the TV programming your business needs on your terms.

Consult with a TV Expert

It’s Relevant TV offers a free consultation with business owners. You can reach TV specialists by emailing retail {at} itsrelevant.com or by calling (855) ITS-RELE between 8:30AM and 6:00PM EST, Monday-Friday.

Competitive Ad Block® for Customer Retention and Business Loss Prevention

What’s on Your Business TV?

Televisions are becoming a fixture in businesses throughout the United States. While many business owners have decided to buy TVs, not many put much thought into what is displayed on them. TVs can help visitors pass the time but they can also draw customers away from you, and to competing businesses and products.

Block Out the Competing Ads with Competitive Ad Block®

It’s Relevant TV blocks out all competitive ads from your television. In a car dealership, you will never see another car dealership message on your screen. In a restaurant, It’s Relevant TV will not show any other dining establishments. IRTV’s proprietary technology takes care of the blocking automatically and infuses your TV with more relevant TV programming in place of lengthy ad breaks. It’s Relevant TV shuts off ads that could be harmful to your business, while reducing the number of overall ads significantly to make your customers happier viewers. The average hour of cable television includes between 16 and 22 minutes of advertisements. It’s Relevant TV limits ads to 3 minutes, making sure that the focus of the television is on the satisfaction of your customers. You can learn more about the differences between cable TV and It’s Relevant TV on the official site.

Blocking Competition in Car Dealerships

Imagine you are sitting in a Ford Dealership getting your car serviced. You may be waiting a few hours and have a TV in front of you. The television, like many, is tuned to a local news station. In the time you are there you will not only see the TV programming that the channel offers, but also countless ads for other car dealerships. Chevy, Kia, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota, Mazda… all appearing on the screen as you wait. Catchy Ads showing happy customers, great lease specials, low financing rates, credit guarantees– all much more attractive than the car you are waiting to get back.

This is a real problem for the business. As you certainly know, cars are big ticket items. They are generally the second largest purchases people make in their lives. If only one or two people in the service center are pulled towards another brand over the course of a year, the negative impact on the dealership is in the thousands of dollars.

Blocking Competition in Restaurants

Now imagine you are in a restaurant eating your meal.  On the TV, you see an ad for a competing establishment offering great prices and appetizing food. While the ad may not keep you from your current purchase, it could very well give you an alternative idea for your next meal, instead of coming back to the restaurant you are in.

As silly as the quick video we prepared above may seem, the effect is very real. Regular TV exposes customers to competitors when they are most impressionable. As a business owner, you would never welcome a competitor to walk in at your business location to hand out their coupons, offer better deals, or speak directly to your customers. So why allow it to happen through your TV?

The answer is simple: Up until now there wasn’t much of a choice. If you wanted to entertain customers with your TV you had to deal with the ads. But with It’s Relevant TV‘s Competitive Ad Block®, you block the competing ads, and keep great TV programming.