A year ago, Directr debuted its point-and-shoot video app with hopes of helping people share their personal stories. Twelve months later and crowned one of the Best Apps of 2013 by Apple, the Boston-based team is rolling out a novel product Thursday with a more professional spin: Directr for Business.
Directr for Business brings business owners the same simple-to-use technology, while also allowing them to tap into film industry expertise to create branded video, shareable across their websites, blogs, marketing emails, newsletters and social media sites.
The raison d’ętre for the app is clear. For businesses, more video means more consumer engagement, resulting in more dollar signs. Users stay on a page with video twice as long, and 85 percent of people who watch a video on a product page are likely to convert, Goldman explained.
However, “the problem with video is that it's the most difficult of all the media,” said the chief executive. Professional video can carry a price tag of $4,000 a minute, not to mention the cost paid in the time it takes to shoot from start to finish.
Starting at $25 a month, Directr for Business, then, is the affordable alternative for small business owners. The six-person team based the offerings of the app on "the real needs of real Boston-area businesses," such as Kinvey and New England Venture Capital Association, shared Goldman.
Here's the result: Users have the opportunity to build their business’s story on over 25 storyboards designed by real film-makers. The ever-growing library of templates is organized by categories like HR, product and profiles, with pre-crafted boards for product showcases, Kickstarter videos, how-tos, testimonials and more. What's more, Directr allows users to add customized branding to the video by changing up color and fonts, as well as crisply edit and pare down their clips with the Directr Super Trimmer.
But Directr for Business's deliverables go beyond the app's sharp functionality: Users will gain access to the knowledge of film professionals on Directr's team, who are on-call to review users’ videos and offer up advice.
Also aiding in the new product launch is Cambridge-based Wistia, a leader in business video hosting and analytics, whose services are available to Directr for Business customers.
“Together, we're making it easy for users of Directr to get their video to their Wistia accounts with one tap," stated Goldman in an email. “It's two Boston area companies joining forces to make video marketing a mainstream technique and we're incredibly excited to be working with them.”
"We felt like we won the Oscar of apps," laughed Goldman on being named one of the App Store's best this year. Hopefully, the company, which raised $1.1 million in June 2012, will find similar celebrity with Directr for Business.
