If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s the value of
a three-minute video like the Irish Experience Tour you’ll find on Monaker
Group Inc.’s (OTCQB: MKGI) NextTrip website? Quite a lot, say the analysts at
Globe Small Cap Research, who, in a summary of their research findings, write
‘Monaker’s core strength is its proprietary video-centered technology’. Globe
Small Cap has found that Monaker ‘is expanding its video-centric capabilities
at an important time in the development of the Internet. Video is booming
across the Internet and having significant impacts on marketers and advertisers
that rely on the Internet to communicate brand and product messages.’
Indeed it is. The video clips and still pictures that appear
on Monaker Group’s websites are the hors d’oeuvres of anticipation before the
pièce de résistance of the vacation itself. In this digital age, no story can
be properly told without motion pictures. The marketing message transmitted by
video is more engaging and requires less effort from the recipient. We’ve known
this since the era of Charlie Chaplin and the Keystone Cops. That is why many
people have become acquainted with the great classics of literature, such as
Tolstoy’s War and Peace or Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, only through their film
portrayals.
The Globe Small Cap report discusses how clever marketers
like Monaker have responded to the increasing sophistication of the internet,
noting that there has been a convergence of the purely informational
announcement and advertising copy into what is known today as content
marketing. The report explains that ‘content marketing is the approach of
combining an advertisement for goods or services with internet content that is
of interest to the would-be purchaser. A content marketing approach allows
advertisers to target clearly defined audiences in order to drive actions of
prospective customers. Marketers that use the “hook” of the content in order to
draw the user in and then interject an advertisement and a call to action in
order to elicit a purchasing response. This is done so effectively, that the
lines between advertising and content have been forever blurred.’
Content marketing is a shift of emphasis within an
advertisement. Ads have always played the important role of providing
information to the public about products and services. Now, in content
marketing, more weight is given to selling the product. The next stage in the
evolution of the advertising to content marketing progression is the addition
of video. In its earliest days, video use was mainly for entertainment. Now,
there’s a realization that, like pictures and verbal forms, it is simply
another medium of communication.
Video is captivating. The Globe Small Cap report, citing
eMarketing, states that ‘during mid-2015, online video overtook social media
relative to the amount of time spent per day online’. Research by HighQ
confirms this: ‘…approximately 55% of Americans watch online videos every day
with the average American adult spending one hour and 16 minutes each day
watching video on digital devices. Growth relative to this area has been
staggering as consumers spent only 21 minutes per day watching online videos in
2011.’
Monaker’s portfolio of assets and alliances form a somewhat
‘vertical’ complimentary structure. Through Maupintour, holidaymakers can visit
popular haunts or travel the back roads. Maupintour is the longest established
high-end travel company in the United States. In October 2015, the company
acquired AlwaysOnVacation, an online alternative lodging marketplace.
Alternative lodging is accommodation, such as home rentals, that can act as a
substitute for rooms in hotels. AlwaysOnVacation, founded in 2006, came with
its 65,000 properties in 120 countries and over six million monthly visitors.
In April 2016, Monaker entered into a partnership with Recruiter.com, an online
global recruiting and career service, which will make Monaker’s customized
travel and lifestyle offerings available to the recruiting agency’s ‘three
million current members and followers’.
NextTrip is the next stage in Monaker’s safari to place
convenience at vacationers’ fingertips. Launched in February 2016, this booking
engine integrates all of the company’s acquired technologies with very select
channel partners. This makes NextTrip the first booking solution to include
conventional lodging, alternative lodging, and unused timeshare and resort
inventory all in one place. The technology allows consumers to search and book
from the timeshare inventory in real-time without any timeshare solicitations.
For more information, visit www.monakergroup.com
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