Following is a list of 5 ways that online video can help you to increase your business.
Welcome Guest Blogger, Jules Watkins, Pocket Video Power
When I decided to create a Pocket Video Marketing course some people said to me “What is there to learn? You just hit the record button, it’s simple!” Wrong! A Pocket Video Camera is a powerful communications tool, it’s more than just hitting the record button and shooting yourself against a white wall in your box room.
You can easily make bad Videos that look and sound bad or drag on to long or are devoid of creativity. But making good Videos is a skill that I think every Marketer should have as part of their Marketing toolbox.
A quote I love is this: “It’s not about the Bow and Arrow, it’s about the archer” (Andy Jenkins – The Video Boss). It doesn’t matter what camera you’ve got if you have great ideas and some technical skills, you can make better Videos than 99% of the planet and good Videos will get your products noticed.
So with that in mind here are 3 ways I think you could use your Flip, Kodak, Iphone4 etc. to boost your Marketing efforts.
1. Come out from behind the powerpoint.
If you’ve watched any of the recent Big Internet launches the common thread is you see the Marketer on screen. People connect with people and Video does a brilliant job at
building a bond with your prospects.
I’ve just viewed a new Jeff Walker launch Video. If you follow Internet Marketing you’ll know Jeff’s multi-million dollar earner Product Launch Formula. The first Video was almost entirely real world footage. What I mean by that is you saw him at a whiteboard and then it cut to an on camera interview where he was sat next to one of his successful students talking about how much he had earned from his own launches.
There was nothing in the Video that couldn’t have been done on a Pocket Video Camera and it was much more engaging than a back to back Camtasia presentation.
Don’t get me wrong I think screencasting is very powerful I just think that breaking it up with real world footage is a great way to engage your buyers even more. Put it this way the Big Marketers test like crazy and they wouldn’t go for the ‘on camera’ route if it didn’t work for them.
You don’t need a lot of gear to make these Videos look great, in fact over on my training course page you can see footage that I shot with a Flip camera in a tiny room in my house with lights that cost around £100 a pair!
2. Be a Pocket Video Paparazzi!
Take your Pocket Video Camera everywhere. You never know when you will spot something extraordinary. If you do then it could prove a hit on YouTube and you can link it back to your most relevant product. I also advise people to get into the habit of filming their business and personal life. So if you give talks stick the camera on a tripod and get some shots of your presentation to an audience. If you are making good money on the Internet and spend your weekends on your shiny new sailing boat (!) film that.
Build up a library of clips and you can use these to make a Video where you show your prospects proof of what you do and how your success effects your lifestyle.
If you go to events in your niche, shoot on the fly interviews with participants, upload to facebook, friend your interviewee and use the Video ‘tag’ function to highlight that they feature in the Video. This means the Video will also appear on their wall and get seen by their friends which exposes your brand to new eyeballs.
If you target an interviewee that runs a blog even better. You’ll often find that they will embed the Video in their blog too, as it’s so quick and easy for them to do so and beats writing a long post.
3. Get creative with customer testimonials.
We all know the power of Customer testimonials, but if you want to take them to the next level offer you audience alternative angles. So say you have a customer, Jane who bought your Marketing product and is happy to record a Video testimonial for you, break it into shorter clips.
For example Jane on: “How the product helped me get organised”, “How the product or service made boosted my buisness”, “Why the Webinars were so valuable”. That way you get extra Videos for your YouTube channel and you give visitors to your site a sense of control over the content. Another plus is you avoid making an overlong 10 minute video where you try to pack everything into a single clip.
Even better, go the extra mile and show footage of how Jane has benefited from your product on camera to edit over the interview clips. If we get to know Jane more through Video we’ll trust her judgement even more.
So let’s see Jane working away at home whilst being able to keep her eye on her baby and winning extra clients all at the same time. That way your Video will stand out from the average customer testimonial and your viewers will stick with the clip right to the end.
These are just 3 tips but I hope you can see how powerful your Pocket Video Camera can be. I’ve no doubt, if used well, you can repay the cost if buying it many times over.
7 Things Digital Marketers Can Learn From Porn
These tips come by way of Ed Celis from his video, Seven Things You Can Learn From Porn if you are a Digital Marketer on Vimeo. The video contains no adult content and is not intended to promote the porn industry, so it’s safe for viewing by anyone. It is primarily a video presentation with tips for successful online marketing and content distribution with samples taken from the adult industry. The video runs 21 minutes in length and definitely worth your time if you are an online or digital marketer.
- Content drives tech (not the other way around)
- Recycle (it’s good for business)
- Packaging matters, a lot
- Own your club, shop, portal or channel
- Move fast!
- Perception is (often) the larger element of your product
- Speciality content sells
Endavo Media Creates Fictitious Producer Kelvin G. To Help Real Producers Better Monetize Video
Endavo Media, a leading Internet TV and Social Media Platform, has created a fake Hollywood producer, Kelvin G., as a unique case study and marketing campaign to help online video content producers better understand Internet TV platforms, and how best to monetize their video. “He’s a little offbeat. He’s obsessed with zombies, and addicted to his webcam,” says the Endavo Media blog.
“While Internet TV platform technology has created a world of new money-making opportunities for producers and broadcasters,” said Endavo Media CMO Peter Contardo, “most could still use a little more knowledge to help navigate the space. Our fictitious movie producer, Kelvin G.,is helping educate, entertain and build relationships with our coreclient –the content producer. Kelvin is a fun, educational tool for demonstrating how Internet TV Platforms help grow businesses online with video.”
Launched last month, their online and social media marketing campaign targets a wide range of producers, broadcasters and brand marketers aiming to better leverage their video content online, Contardo added.
Kelvin G. interacts with Endavo clients, prospects and other “fellow producers” through his various Web videos, Twitter page,whitepapers and “personal” email, all supported by his own campy, mock movie that called Zombie Truckers 3, and a whacky microsite at ZombieTruckers3.com.
Endavo Media hopes that with Kelvin G.’s videos and his site, content producers will learn to embrace all the new opportunities to grow their businesses online, and have a little fun while they’re doing it. Check out Kelvin’s Hot Tips for “Making the Money” with Online Video and learn how smart producers and broadcasters monetize their content online:
About Endavo Media:
Endavo Media provides a hosted platform for Internet TV, enterprise video, social media and IPTV. This easy-to-use, cost-effective media management and distribution system offers high-quality live and on-demand delivery of video, audio and pictures. Content is delivered through brandable players, web sites and user interfaces, across the social web and to consumer broadband devices, including portable media players, mobile phones and set-top boxes. Music, entertainment and new media businesses, as well as social, cultural and faith-based organizations, get more control to connect and engage directly with their audiences, build their brands and generate revenue from their online video communities. Headquartered in Atlanta, Endavo Media was founded in 2004 and is now privately-held. Visit www.endavomedia.com for more information.
EQAL CEO Miles Beckett on “Making a Living in Online Video”
In another conversation from his blog, Tim Street talked with Miles Beckett, Co-Founder and CEO of EQAL, a social entertainment company best known for creating lonelygirl15 the world’s first online interactive drama. Both he and his business partner Greg Goodrich, EQAL’s President and COO, had other jobs a few years ago outside of the video and entertainment industry. Miles was a plastic surgery resident and Greg was an attorney practicing entertainment copyright and trademark law but both had ambitions of working in the technology and entertainment field. They left their careers and worked with Mesh Flinders, an aspiring filmmaker develop the idea that became LG15 which spun off KateModern and led to $5 million in venture capital to expand their offerings with new partnerships with traditional media companies and international brands like Paula Dean celebrity cook from the Food Network, CBS and CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker to explore the digital and social media space through multi-platform interactivity.
Miles says that while it’s a tough economy right now the time is ripe for independent producers and talent to create your own intellectual property and build your own brands. He said the important things are story and character, really interacting and engaging with your audience and finding them on every social network that they might be like Facebook and YouTube and bringing them back to your own site to control your user experience. He thinks people will be able to make money through advertising once that market bounces back.