New Comm Biz

I recently sat in on a research forum where we asked small business owners several questions about how they find solutions to business problems on the Web. The following is pieces of relevant transcript. There are multiple people commenting all at once but I think you’ll get the idea.

when is video better? when is text only better? when is audio only better?

I prefer text for online research. I like to read about what I’m researching. Video and audio can be useful for illustrating concept, but I think text is still the best way for me to collect information on a topic

why text?

i like have a hard copy i can refer back to, print for others, etcFor text, do you generally review online or do you print it?

I prefer text, but it is nice to have video instructions for items that are very complicated.

I read the text online and if I feel it is something my boss needs to see or I need as a resource, then I will print it.

i print…so i can highlight or usually its just easier to read for some reason

I generally will download the text because you never know when the web is going to change and a page is going to disappear. Occasionally, I print it to read at home in the evening.

Video is such the craze right now. I’m surprised none of you have mentioned video to be the preferred method. Why not?

if your computer is not up to snuff…the video or audio jumps, it resyncs, whatever…its annoying

I like text for the most part because sometimes I can’t understand what is being said in the audio/video, but sometimes I like videos to be able to see an interactive explanation of how to do something

video instructions are annoying because you have to go at their pace and not your own.

excellent point about the pace…that gets to me too

A lot of times I can read faster than they talk.

I know for me I rarely watch online video…for business.

For entertainment I watch almost all of my video online. Its an interesting dichotomy.

What’s important for marketers to remember is that while there is a lot of talk about the rise in online video, it doesn’t necesarily mean that you should rush out and start producing a ton of video.

What about you? When do you prefer video to text?

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