What do small businesses need in an online video deployment?

Nearly unanimously, the companies targeting this space said that the sales process with small companies involved healthy amounts of education, demonstration of value, and shorter lead times because the small business owner or other significant member of the firm almost always is responsible for the final "buy" decision

Benjamin Wayne, CEO of Fliqz, which focuses on this segment, said there is a fundamental difference between small business and media customers, as small business customers view online video deployments as part of their strategic plan rather than their tactical roadmap.

"If you"re a small business and first-time adopter of video, it's a brave new world for you, and you want to know how its ultimately going to drive your business," Wayne said "We lose very few deals because of features or competitive advantage; the deals that get delayed usually do so because the customer is trying to come to a strategic decision about how to use video in their marketing mix. The hand holding is often more important, if you don't offer telephone consultation they won't understand how they're gaining from your offering."

Delve Networks CEO Alex Castro said although some customers do want and need a more hands-on approach, his company's self-service model is better suited for those business owners who don't want to add a lot of discussion of the online video service to their already busy schedules.

"The small business owners we work with are really busy, and there is no sort of ‘video product manager' overseeing the video deployment," Castro said. "These customers are juggling a ton of things, and they usually don't want to be bothered by you. If the free trial has been successful, they can take out their credit card and make the purchase without any other commitment."

Castro said the small business customers Delve works with usually have heard about online video and its benefits, but aren't sure if they can afford to deploy it or if they have the technological knowledge to be able to set up an online video offering. Part of the process is making the platform as intuitive and easy-use as possible, Castro said, and then backing up a solid technological offering with affordable price points.

John McIntyre, CEO of PixelFish, said he has seen a growing number of small businesses sign up for his company's services, which include finding videographers to produce video for small businesses. McIntyre thinks self-service is the wrong way to approach the small business market, however, pointing to hosting and website design as other markets in which self-service models have failed.

"Video is too important for them (small businesses) to do it themselves, especially if it looks like you made it versus your competitor who has a professionally looking one," McIntyre said. "We do a lot of research on different ads for same category, and then we give the customer a couple of formats that we believe are the most effective. Depending on which they pick, we then ask the questions we think need to be answered on camera to make it a successful ad."

McIntyre said it was important to set expectations and make it so that the small business owner doesn't have to learn any tools, and he said the market will have to develop answers to this problem if small businesses are truly going to adopt online video.