What is Flash Good For?
Some regular readers might think that I hate Flash. Or advertising agencies.
For the record, I do not hate Flash.
Hey, it is just a tool.
After all, I don’t hate hammers. When they are ably used to construct something wonderful or useful, a hammer in the right hands can be a dandy tool.
However, when the hammer is in the hand of someone who wants to use it to beat you senseless with it, you might want to run!
Most ad agency creative directors unwittingly use Flash to beat you over the head with the coolness of their designs. That’s not a particularly effective — or creative — use for Flash.
So what is a good use of Flash? There are about a million terrific uses for Flash in internet marketing. Here are just three — can you tell what they all have in common?
Online training videos. Currently, I am developing a number of online training videos for a client. The videos are in Flash. Many of the training videos at my other internet marketing site are also in Flash. My stats show that people like short, online video tutorials. They spend minutes or hours watching these Flash movies — and they frequently bookmark them as a reference — and they come back again and again. Done well, online training videos in Flash are very effective for marketing and customer service as well as training.
Online games. Flash games can be tremendously fun and they can spread like viral wildfire. They are great for branding when you associate your site with something positive – a place where people want to hang out and play. And because fun games often generate a wealth of inbound links to your site, Flash games can help with search engine traffic as well as with bookmark, word-of-mouth, and other inbound referral traffic.
Other interactive tools. Design tools. Quizzes. Surveys. Show and tell. These kinds of Flash components let your audience interact with your site or your product. You can increase the amount of time people spend at your site when you provide them with interesting, useful, interactive tools.
So what do these three good uses for Flash have in common?
In a word, permission.
Great Flash can be an effective component of your web site. However, when Flash is thrust upon an audience without their permission, the audience is often impatient and irritated.
Give your audience a choice — i.e., ask for permission. You can generate excitement for your online Flash component with benefits-driven direct marketing web copy. Tell your audience what to expect — if you have a Flash game, tell them how fun the game is and what the rules are. If you have an online tutorial, tell your audience what they will learn and how long your lesson is. The point is to use your words to sell your audience on experiencing your Flash component. Get them excited about clicking that link!
Provide a strong call to action. Next, tell your audience that by clicking on the link, they get to play the game, watch the video, or work with the online tool. That way, they get to decide whether they want to experience your Flash component. You can even use your copy to provide other calls to action — bookmark this video, tell-a-friend, etc. This simple marketing technique can make your Flash component go viral!
Bottom line: Don’t suck the internet marketing power out of your Flash piece by simply thrusting it upon your audience without using a benefits-driven pre-sell! No one like waiting around for something if they are not clear on what the benefit of waiting is! Plus, we all know that search engines do not like sites developed in Flash — but there is no reason you cannot use Flash as a successful internet marketing component for your website.
Go ahead and use Flash — but be certain to use effective direct-marketing copywriting techniques to really get the most out of your online Flash components.
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[...] Is search engine traffic important to your business? Then Flash is not your best platform for web development. However, you can use Flash sparingly and still get good rankings. Don’t believe me? Read what Google has to say. [...]