Re-Package Content Lets say you already have a corporate video, it’s around ten minutes long and you currently distribute it on a video tape format or DVD. The most obvious solution would be to have it transferred to a streaming format in it’s entirety and loaded up onto your website. Whilst a ten minute corporate video sequence may be useful as a backdrop display in a trade exhibition or screened to a captive audience in a conference, it’s often far too long to use as a streaming video clip on your website. Who really has time to sit and watch a corporate video clip for this length of time? It’s often far more useful to break sequence down into a series of individual clips or re-edit into a shorter, condensed version that has greater impact.

Following on from this, you might also want to distribute streaming video clips around different areas on your website. This way, clips featured can be targeted to match – and complement - page content. For example, on a page detailing company clients and case studies, video clip could feature customer testimonials; situated on a contact details page, video sequence could feature some generic shots of company locations and building exterior shots.

Brand The Video Whatever streaming video clips you use, try to ensure they are branded with your corporate identity. This could be a small logo in top corner of screen or a ‘picture frame’ wrapped around moving images. Taking it a step further, you may want to add an introduction sequence with animated corporate logos at beginning and end of every sequence. Another option is to create an HTML or Flash ‘player’ customised with your corporate identity. The video clip would then play within this frame and could be complemented by some animated product or service information around it.

When reviewing website statistics, it is frequently pages featuring streaming video content that are most ‘sticky’ and have longest viewing times by site visitors. Use this factor to your advantage - it’s an ideal opportunity to get your core brand values, products and services across to site visitor.

John Howarth is creative director of Blue Tuna Limited, a leading UK-based corporate communications & multi-media production agency. Past projects include live streaming for leading online bookmaker, Blue Square and the launch of the UK’s of the first club soccer channel, Boro TV for NTL.

Key Dates and Events: Can you come up with a story angle to tie your business into an event that typically generates lots of coverage? Put on your thinking cap -- I bet you can! Here are some key events during First Quarter: Super Bowl, NCAA Tournament, Easter, The Academy Awards.

Second Quarter: April - June

What Media’s Covering: An "anything goes" time of year. With no major holidays or huge events, April is a good time to try some of your general stories (business features, new product stuff, etc.) Light, fun stories work here, as a sense of "spring fever" takes hold of newsrooms (journalists are human, you know. They’re just as happy winter is over as you are and it’s often reflected in kind of stories they choose to run.). As May rolls around, thoughts turn to summer. Now they’re looking for summer vacation pieces, outdoor toys and gadgets, stories about safety (whether automotive or recreational), leisure activities, things to do for kids and so on.

Key Dates and Events: Baseball opening day, tax day (April 15), spring gardening season, Memorial Day, end of school, summer vacation.

Third Quarter: July - September

What Media’s Covering: The dog days of summer are when smart publicity seekers really make hay. Folks at PR firms are on vacation, marketing budgets are being conserved for holidays and reporters are suddenly accessible and open to all sorts of things. Get to work here, with creative, fun angles. Entertainment-themed pieces do well in summer, anything with celebrities works, lighter business stories, new products, trend pieces, technology news, back to school education-themed articles, you name it. Reporters are about to get deluged once again come September, so use this window of opportunity wisely.

Key Dates and Events: July 4th, summer movies, summer travel, back to school.

Fourth Quarter: October - December

What Media’s Covering: The busiest time of media calendar, Fourth Quarter is when business media turns serious and lifestyle media thinks Holidays, Holidays, Holidays. Business angles need to be hard news. Fluffy trend pieces won’t cut it, as business editors begin to take stock of state of economy and market. It’s a tough time to put out a new product release. For non-business media, think Christmas. Christmas travel, Christmas gifts, Christmas cooking, whatever. If you have a product or service that can be given as a holiday gift, get on stick early.

Nail down lead times for publications you’re targeting, call to find out who’s handling holiday gift review article and get your product in right person’s hands in plenty of time -- along with a pitch letter or release that makes a strong case about how what a novel, unusual or essential gift your product makes. After Christmas, you have a brief window for "Best of Year", "Worst of Year" and "Year in Review" pieces. Be creative -- media loves these things.

Key Dates and Events: Labor Day, World Series, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve.