How to add video without breaking the bank

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much do you figure a video is worth when it comes to promoting your small business?

Depending on the statistics you reference, it's not an insignificant amount. Nielsen Wire, for example, notes that close to 148 million Americans watch video on the Internet, while 36 percent of online consumers "trust" online video ads. Another data point (from back in 2011) estimated that video ads make up more than one-third of all ad spending, based on research conducted by Break Media.

Generally speaking, though, it can cost a lot to produce a video -- even from stock clips, up to $450 per clip for some of the ones offered by Getty Images.

But a startup called Dissolve, funded with $5 million from the co-founders of Veer and iStockphoto and participation from iNovia Capital, seeks to collapse that model with a marketplace that offers some of those same high-definition clips for $5 per clip. (To be fair, Dissolve also charges up to $500 per clip for original material, based on the production values.)

"Why not tell a better story?" said Dissolve CEO and co-founder Patrick Lor.

Part of Dissolve's value proposition is that it takes some of the mystery out of licensing, making it more simple for busiensses. Almost 95 percent of its royalty-free clips (all of them are HD) are being offered for $5 per clip.

"Dissolve will focus on creative inspiration, ease and affordability," Lor said when the company was launched. "The site will be engaging and clips will be simple to find and license. We will be curating for quality so customers won't have to waste time searching through clips that are unusable, subpar, or simply too expensive." 

Some evidence: The video below is an example of a promotional video that a Calgary immigration attorney created using Dissolve footage and a voice over: