Modern Video Marketing

Email #1
Subject:
Thanks for your purchase!
Thanks for grabbing the guide!
[Modern Video Marketing] Thanks for your purchase!

 

[FIRST NAME],
First off, thanks so much for purchasing the guide That Will Teach You All the Skills You Need to actually succeed with video marketing.
If you follow the step-by-step guide, you will be heading straight to that goal...
But, what if you could do it even faster…
And what if you could insure that you get the absolute BEST results possible and stay focused…
In short, making sure that this is a real success.
The good news is, you can…
For a limited time, you can get access to the video upgrade to the guide you just purchased at a very low price...
This powerful upgrade will make it easier to get started and stay committed to your ultimate goal.
Just to be clear, this is an EXCLUSIVE upgrade for customers only...
To get all the details on this upgrade, click the link below now...
>>>LINK TO UPSELL SALES PAGE
To Your Video Marketing Success!
[YOUR NAME]
PS – This special upgrade is very limited and only available to existing customers. Click the link above to get started today!

Email #3
Subject: 
You very own coach...
This is the next best thing to having an expert…
Do you need an expert?

 

[FIRST NAME],
This is the next best thing to having an expert on the subject, right beside you, showing you how it’s done. 
Of course, hiring an expert would easily set you back hundreds of dollars. Luckily, you’re not going to have to invest anywhere near that today to get the next best thing.
Not only will you avoid many of the most common mistakes that people make when trying to do effective video marketing, you’ll notice immediate positive results in your achievements...
If you’re a visual learner or prefer to be shown something as opposed to just reading about it… you need this special video upgrade to get the best results possible.
Click the link below to access the video upgrade now...
>>>LINK TO UPSELL SALES PAGE
To Your Video Marketing Success!
[YOUR NAME]
PS – As life-changing as this upgrade is, you’ll be surprised at just how small the investment is when you get this now...
>>>LINK TO UPSELL SALES PAGE

Email #4
Subject:
[Modern Video Marketing] What are you waiting for?
[Modern Video Marketing] Stop procrastination dead in its tracks!
[Modern Video Marketing] Are you ready for this?

 

[FIRST NAME],
Have you ever intended to do something, but failed to follow-through and take action, even if you knew that you should?
We all do it.
Procrastination is human nature.
And it’s more likely that you’ll put something off when you get stuck or you’re really not sure what to do next.
That happens a lot with people that have purchased text-based guides… especially if you’re a visual learner.
Instead of getting started, plugging in, and committing to making a change for the better, it’s easy to just say…
“I’ll do it tomorrow…”
But tomorrow doesn’t always come.
That’s why you need to upgrade to the video version today…
...to make it easier to get started and stay focused to get results quickly.
Click the link below now to upgrade...
>>>LINK TO UPSELL SALES PAGE
To Your Video Marketing Success!
[YOUR NAME]

Email #5
Subject:
Modern Video Marketing… This is your last chance to upgrade...
Modern Video Marketing… Going once… going twice...
Modern Video Marketing… upgrade while you still can!

 

[FIRST NAME],
Have you had a chance to take a look at the video upgrade to the text-based guide you recently purchased?
If you haven’t grabbed the upgrade yet, you need to do it RIGHT NOW… This is the last email I’ll send you, and if you don’t upgrade now, you’ll miss out on this low cost video training...
>>>LINK TO UPSELL SALES PAGE
Who should get the video training?
If you’re a visual learner, the video version makes it a wonderful training experience. Although the guide you just purchased leaves no stones unturned, if you want to be sure you see results as fast as possible, you need to get the video version.
Not only will you see results faster, but you’ll make sure you stick to your plan and in many cases, you’ll get even BETTER results by following the video upgrade.
How many videos are there?
There are 10, high-quality, in-depth videos that cover everything you’ll find inside the text-based version of the guide… 
How is this different than the EBook version of the training?
Although the material covered is the same, it’s done in a format that makes it much easier for you to learn and start making things happen as quickly as possible.
It’s proven that most people struggle and ultimately give up with text only guides. THIS upgrade gives you the best chance for success and will pay for itself extremely quickly.
In what format is the training delivered?
You’ll get 10 high-quality videos in MP4 format that you can download and view anytime you want.
How much is this?
First off, ‘cost’ is the wrong word… This upgrade is an investment that will pay for itself many times over. If you close this page and try to come back later, I cannot guarantee that price won’t be higher or that this will even still be available to you.
Is there a guarantee?
Of course. You get a FULL 30 days to make sure this is for you. If for any reason, or no reason at all you’re not 100% satisfied with what’s inside, simply send me an email, and I’ll refund every penny of your tiny investment…
No questions asked.
How do I get INSTANT ACCESS to the training now?
To upgrade to the video version along with the Fast Action Bonus MP3’s, click the link below now…
>>>LINK TO UPSELL SALES PAGE
To Your Video Marketing Success!
[YOUR NAME]

Article #1

Does video marketing have to cost you a lot of money? 

Let’s get one thing clear. One of the main reasons why your competitors probably haven’t jumped into video marketing is because of their fear of cost. Please understand that the reason why they are not cranking out one marketing video after another probably is not due to their inability to appreciate the power of video marketing. 

In fact, most people in the marketing field would agree that video marketing brings a lot of value to the table. This is not the argument. This is not where people disagree. Instead, people have all sorts of misconceptions regarding the costs of video marketing. They can see the benefits with no problem. What they’re unclear on is whether the costs would justify the benefit. 

Most video marketing attempts fail the first time

What really clouds this whole picture is the fact that when you try anything the first time around and you don’t have some sort of blueprint of plan your chances of failure are quite high. This is not just a video marketing thing mind you. This applies across the board. 

Maybe you’re trying to ride a bike. Maybe you’re trying to build a house or an addition. Maybe you’re trying to do a painting or you’re trying to sculpt. I am almost guaranteeing that your first few attempts are not going to be all that good. You probably already know this. Why should video marketing be any different? When people just jump in both feet because they got all excited about the benefits of video marketing, they might end up making rookie mistakes. How come. They did not have proper guidance and that’s the good news here. 

With the proper blueprint or coaching or video marketing consulting, you don’t have to commit those beginner mistakes. Your stuff doesn’t have to look amateurish and basic. You can come up with something truly professional the first time around. In fact, it’s not uncommon for small businesses to get out of the gate with really high-quality videos that connect powerfully with their target audience members. Their secret, there is no secret at all. They just read the right resources and allow these resources to guide them in producing one hard-hitting quality video after another. If they can do it, you can do it too. 

This really is not an issue of cost but more of information. With the right information, high-quality videos that truly go a long way in building up your brand doesn’t have to cost a lot. 

There are many ways to solve the video marketing problem

One of the main reasons why a lot of people have this idea that video marketing has to cost a lot of money is the misconception that they have to produce Hollywood or Madison Avenue level videos. Absolutely wrong. In fact, in certain niches, audiences respond favorably to very amateurish or very basic videos. You really just have to know your niche. More specifically, you just have to know how to segment and break up your niche into little sub-markets. Put simply, the better you know your audience the more powerful your video can be and has nothing to do with how polished or smooth it is. Instead it has everything to do with your video’s ability to communicate with your target audience members on a very human, personal, and emotional level. 

There are many tools you can use

Another piece of good news. You can drastically reduce your video productions costs by understanding that there are many different levels of videos. At the top of this hierarchy, of course, are high-quality videos. These are very personal, these are professionally shot, and these really are your meat and potatoes videos. These are the kind of videos that really champion your brand, but the levels beneath this kind of video are not as quality intensive. 

You can use the software to crank out a video for supplemental marketing. You can use software for video that is intended to supplement or support your text content. Obviously, the relationship with these different video levels goes a long way in reducing your overall cost. Keep the facts above in mind if you are still on the fence regarding video marketing. It doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn’t have to cost a lot.

Article #2

This Software Can Reduce Your Marketing Video Creation Costs By 90%

A lot of entrepreneurs are under the impression that high-quality professional videos have to be expensive. I really don’t blame them for thinking this way because a lot of the best videos in their niche probably look and sound like they were professionally produced. 

They have got great background music, their scripts are just nothing short of amazing, they are edited in a very tight, compact, and emotionally powerful way. What's not to love. Given that level of quality, it’s very easy to assume that you probably wouldn't have to spend a pretty penny trying to come up with something similar. 

What if I told you that you don't have to spend all your budget on high-quality and high-budget videos. You definitely need to have at least one of those videos. For the rest of your video materials, you can use the software. It all boils down to understanding how your video conversions work. In a way, videos are like articles. 

When you go to a typical blog, chances are most of the material there are informative in nature. They may be written with a lot of personality, they may play up certain facts, they may even have some sort of interesting or quirky take on certain types of information. But at the end of the day, there are only a few pages on that blog that actually converts the viewer to buy something or sign up for a mailing list. This is called conversion content. 

Oftentimes, the typical blog is made up of 95% informative material and 5% conversion content. The same applies to video. You can get away with only one highly polished, well-produced, well-scripted video that converts. This is the video you used to convert your website visitors. However, for the rest of your videos, you can use videoscribe. 

Videoscribe is a handy software that you can use to quickly produce a tremendous amount of videos in a short period of time. Videoscribe makes the otherwise painstaking process of creating high-quality animated videos very easy. You just have to walk through the process. You don’t have to spend money on expensive graphics, you don’t have to spend money on expensive voice-over if don’t want to. 

Of course, you're going to have to do that for your converted video. For everything else, I am talking, about supplemental videos here that get people familiar with your brand as well as open your viewers’ minds regarding the solutions that you bring to the table, you can use videoscribe videos. 

If you choose to do that, you stand to reduce your video costs by as much as 90%. That’s how you play the game. You don’t stock your website with the very best videos you can produce. That’s just going to drive you to the pros. On the other extreme, you are not going to fill your website with middle-of-the-road or even low-quality videos because that's going to destroy your brand. 

There has to be a decent level of quality for your informative video content, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to bankrupt it. Obviously how this works, with the little bit of automation you can go a long way in reducing your video creation costs while converting your visitors. 

Article #3

The Five Hallmarks Of A Truly Effective Video Marketing Script

The heart and soul of marketing video are not the typical belts and whistles that see in such a video. It’s not the diagrams, it’s not the infographics, it's not the layout, it’s not even the very interesting accents of the voice-over actors. It has nothing to do with that. It definitely has nothing to do with how smooth, flawless, or sharp the images are. 

Instead, what makes a video truly effective is its content. I am of course talking about its script. Screw up here and you have just wasted your money on creating a marketing video. That video is not going to do what you think it should do. How can it. It doesn't have the tools. It doesn't have the capacity, it doesn’t have the ability because the script is lackluster. 

How do you write highly effective script? How do you outsource it? How can you tell whether the video script that have for your marketing video is solid? It will have the following five hallmarks. Ideally you should insist on all five. 

Hallmark #1: Plain English.  

There is a reason why really successful politicians speak at the eighth-grade English level. This is quite puzzling to many untrained observers because a lot of these politicians actually have advanced degrees like Juris Doctor or medical doctor and MBA degrees. Why do they speak like eighth graders. Eighth-grade English has very few five-dollar words. Most words are short, easy to understand and very accessible. 

This is why politicians and trained speakers speak at this level. It is the lowest common denominator. If you keep it at that level most people would understand. Highly effective video scripts are written in plain English. They don’t try to dazzle or impress the viewer by blasting them with all sorts of jargon terms and acronyms. You come off as somebody who is trying to hide ignorance when you do that. You end up looking like somebody who is trying too hard to impress the viewer. 

In fact, if you overdo this and you just blast the viewer with so many long, flowery, or even technical words they might even think you’re pretentious. You might come off as somebody who is trying to be something he or she is not. Plain English enables you to come off as more sincere, authentic, and real.

Hallmark #2: They are short. 

Let me tell you, most people do not have the time of day to listen to a long speech. There are better things to do. This is the reason why most people don't even read online articles. They just scan for keywords. If see the keyboard that they’re looking for, that's when they slow down and they would read a little bit more of the article. Otherwise, they’re just scanning through. It’s kind of like going through your Facebook feed on your mobile device. You don’t have the time to thoroughly read every link. That’s just not going to happen. You’re too busy for that. The same applies to video. Highly effective marketing videos are short and to the point, but they get the job done. 

They tell a very convincing personal story, it communicates a wide range of benefits tied to the solution the video promotes. They do this using many different signals and it operates on many different levels. It operates on an emotional level, logical level as well as a conceptual level. You have to understand that the ability to tell a story quickly enables you to communicate clearly in a very short period of time. You don't have to give a long speech for that. 

Hallmark #3: Easy to vocally emote. 

Well-written video marketing scripts are very easy to vocally act out. You just need to read a word and read the next word that follows it in the sentence to instantly know that you have to either raise your voice a little bit, sound concerned, sound suspicious, sound excited, and a hundred other emotional signals you can send with your voice. 

Great scripts are very clear as to the kind of emotional twists and turns they demand. Bad scripts make you sound like you’re just reading off a TelePrompTer or you’re just reading a book. It’s dull, lifeless, and very generic. You run the risk of sounding like some sort of robot.

Hallmark #4: Effective scripts mention case studies or stories. 

If you are able to tell a story you, will be able to connect with people on a very personal note. I have yet to see a person who is convinced by just raw data. You have to at least present that data into a form people can engage with. This form is called a story. Believe it or not, people use the story form to make sense of the world. You should do the same with your marketing videos. By including a case study or tool, in the video, you make it clear to the prospect that you’re not just making stuff, but there is some hard science or hard numbers behind the claims of benefits the video is talking about.

Hallmark #5: Emotional call to action. 

Highly effective video marketing scripts tie the benefit the prospect would get from buying a product with the call to action. Effective scripts don’t just say click the order button or click subscribe now. Instead, they talk about the benefit and tying it to that action. For example, the script would say gain the confidence you felt you’ve lost by losing the spare tire around your midsection. Take action today. Isn’t that much better than just saying click here or clicking the link in the description below.

Whether you are writing your own video or having it written by somebody else, make sure the five hallmarks listed above are present in the script. Otherwise, you are just wasting your time. 

Article #4

What Is The Difference Between Regular Videos And Marketing Videos?

I have got a depressing statistic to share with you. The vast majority of videos on YouTube have very little views. We’re talking less than 100. You image taking the time and trouble to shoot a video and then uploading it to YouTube only to get less than hundred views. 

I am not talking about somebody shooting a footage of their high school dance party or dance scene from a local play. I’m talking about videos that are intended by marketers to convert their audience members into buyers. I’m talking about intentionally produced, crafted, scripted, and uploaded videos. In fact, a lot of these videos were not cheap. The marketer who uploaded them actually spent money on them. Still, there they are, gathering digital dust, stuck at 100 views or less. One of the main reasons this tragedy happens is because a lot of video marketers are unclear regarding the differences between regular and marketing videos. 

A lot of people are thinking that as long as they shoot videos a lot of the benefits of marketing videos will magically happen. They will be able to communicate on a very direct level. They would be able to send all sorts of signals that can convert the viewer. They would be able to present what would otherwise be complicated information in a very direct, personal, and immediate way. 

Unfortunately, they produce one video after another and nothing seems to work. It all comes back to this confusion regarding regular videos and marketing videos. 

Regular videos are supplemental in nature

Please understand that if you want to make money with your videos you have to know, what they can and cannot do. When you make a regular video, this is essentially video that is content. You’re either explaining stuff, you’re revealing information, or you're just entertaining the reader. Nothing wrong with that. This is supplemental to your efforts at building a brand. These videos get the reader to feel like they know what you’re about, what your brand is focused on. You might even get the reader to like your brand, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they trusted enough to buy from it. This is the difference. 

You have to remember that to sell anything online you have to walk a person through the KLT process. KLT stands for know-like-trust. For a person to buy, you must first trust you enough to want to buy from you. For them to trust you, they must first like whatever it is you’re offering. They must like your brand enough to trust you. For them to develop a liking to your brand, they must first feel that they know enough about the problem that your brand solution solves. There are many stages to this. There are at least four stages before you get people to rip out their credit cards and buy stuff through an online form. 

Regular videos only take care of you on the K and L phases. They do a great job getting the prospect to feel like they know enough about their problems and the likely solutions. Supplemental videos can also do a good job getting the prospect to like a particular approach or particular class of solutions but they don't go far enough. They don't take you to the trust stage. This is where marketing videos come in.

Marketing videos build trust

The great thing about video marketing is that you’re able to walk a person through the KLT process within the same video. First, you present the problem. This filters the viewer. If the viewer does not have the problem the video talks about, that the viewer is not going to remain a viewer for long. They are going to close the window and watch another video. The video doesn’t speak to their needs. 

The video then presents the general solutions or common solutions to the problem. It sizes up the advantages and disadvantages of the solution. By this point, the viewer would feel a preference for one solution over the other. Effective videos then go to the next step. They present credible and authoritative information in the form of case studies and stories that they get the viewer to trust that the specific solution that they are promoting is the solution they should use. That’s how you get people to buy. 

Also marketing videos are written and produced in such a way that they tightly integrate with your other marketing initiatives. This way you can easily share them on Facebook, you can tweet them on Twitter as well as share them on many other platforms. This is the difference between regular videos and marketing videos. Don't get your wires crossed. 

You don't have to spend a ton of money making one marketing video after another. Highly effective marketing videos take a lot of time or they cost money. Instead, you can produce cheaper regular videos to walk your prospects through the KLT process and then let your single or couple of videos convert them. That’s how you play the game. That’s how you get viewers to trust your solution.

Article #5

Do Marketing Videos Have To Explain Stuff?

It’s very easy to get the impression that all marketing videos are educational in nature. After all, highly effective sales people first educate their prospects regarding the options available to them. Once the prospect feels that they understand their problem enough, then they’re more likely to trust the sales person because a true sales professional gave them the facts or information they needed to at least make the customer feel competent enough to make a decision regarding the situation. That’s how effective sales marketers work. 

They disarm through education. It’s a free gift. They’re not asking for money for that free education or free information. This is a key part of them building enough authority and credibility in the eyes of their prospect for them to eventually close the deal. 

Unlike traditional marketing, we don’t people have the luxury of time. Either you educate, convince, and close the prospect now or you lose a sale. It is no surprise that a lot of people think that marketing videos have to necessarily explain stuff. They are absolutely correct but not in the way they think. 

Usually when people think about educational videos, we’re talking about stuff that’s boring, we’re talking about videos where the speaker just talks to the screen and sometimes rambles on. It’s as if your high school or college teacher shot a video explaining some sort of concept or stepping you through an idea. A lot of marketers confuse the educational aspect of marketing videos with traditional educational videos. This is where they drop the ball. This is where they screw up. The goal is not to bore the viewer to tears. 

Unfortunately, that's the kind of risk you run when you go overboard in the education. While it’s true that highly effective marketing videos explain the problem and the solution to the prospect they do so in a disciplined way. They don’t just ramble on and on about all the things, all the possible solutions, all the pros and cons, all the advantages and disadvantages, who cares. Your job is not to lecture to the prospect. Your job is to get the prospect sign on the dotted line. 

Accordingly, the educational component of the video must be disciplined. It must be compact, it must get to the point, it must be limited only to the extent that it leads to conversion. If it goes beyond that, it’s excessive. It’s saying too much. It’s rambling on. This increases the risk that the viewer will get bored, distracted, or confused. 

Marketing videos should explain stuff, but they should explain it in a very disciplined, focused, and concise way. What is the point, you educate only up to the point where you earn the trust of the viewer. You do this enough to build credibility. You share enough information to basically buy their trust. Once you get that trust, you then direct the discussion to where you need it to go. It should be obvious. 

You need it to go to your product. You need it to go to the service that you are offering. In other words, you need it to go to a discussion where you identify all the most common solutions out there and map them out one by one by focusing on the weaknesses that they all have, which your product or solution doesn't share. Maybe all the other solutions out there are too expensive. Guess what, your product is affordable. Maybe all the other products out there are inconvenient or cause all sorts of hassles. Guess what, your product is very easy to use and takes effect immediately. 

Whatever the case may be, line up the worst elements of the competition against the most positive elements of your solution. In other words, put simply you focus on your strongest points and then use that to direct the conversation. That's how effective sales people work. By the same token, that's how highly effective marketing videos are structured. The education is just a small part. It's very important, but it has to be tightly directed so that it earns trust. 

That’s is the only reason why you’ve included education materials in your video script anyway. It's the price you pay for the viewer to give you their trust. They keep doing that until you build enough credibility in their minds and then that’s when you start directing the discussion to where you need it to go. You need to make your product or solution look good at the expense of the competition.

Article #6

This is the Secret Ingredient of Highly Effective Marketing Videos

How many times have you seen an online video that has motivated you to buy something? Chances are, you can count those experiences with two hands.

While the internet doesn't have a shortage of interesting, quirky or memorable videos, these qualities, in and of themselves, don't necessarily mean that you would buy a product that these videos talk about.

Often times, the videos that you personally enjoy really don't have any sort of commercial agenda. They are not pushing anything. They are not promoting anything. They don't want you to do any kind of action that puts dollars in the bank account of the people behind these videos. They are just for fun.

And this is the reason why a lot of people are confused about video marketing. A lot of video marketers out there are under the impression that as long as their video gets shared and a lot of people talk about their video or find their video cute, memorable and interesting, that somehow, some way, this would lead to dollars appearing in their bank account.

I'm sorry to be the one to break this to you, but that kind of thinking is magical thinking. You might as well start imagining rainbow-colored unicorns raining down from the sky, each grabbing a pot of gold with their horse teeth.

You have to think clearly when doing video marketing. There are really no two ways about it. Because it's too easy for you to crank out one video after another and have very little to show for it.

In fact, if you run a company, it's very easy for you to devote thousands upon thousands of dollars on video marketing, only to see your brand continue to struggle. This is due to the fact that people really have their wires crossed when it comes to videos' effectiveness.

Here's a short list of people's misconceptions regarding "effective videos." Effective videos are: cute, memorable, quirky, funny, interesting, weird, awesome, fascinating, earth-shattering, insightful.

What's missing? It should be obvious. Highly effective videos bring home the bacon.

Even if the video looks amateurish, even if it looks like it was shot and edited by somebody who is eight years old, at the end of the day, effective videos bring home the bacon. Dollars and cents rule the day.

Sadly, a lot of the online marketing convesations regarding video marketing lose sight of this fact. They focus on how many likes it had on Facebook. They get all excited about how many times the video was retweeted or whether a celebrity mentioned the video.

It did not occur to them that a video that is shared throughout all four corners of the globe, but doesn't generate one cent of revenue is a money loser. That's the bottom line. It really has to go back to conversions.

The secret to video marketing is conversion. The video has to lead to conversion directly, or must be part of an online supplemental content that eventually makes conversion possible.

On top of this, great marketing videos also establish solid brands. When somebody's watching a great marketing video, they know where that video came from. They know that when they go to that source, there's a lot more where that video came from.

They also have the expectation that when that source produces video after video, they can expect a certain level of quality. They can expect a certain range of benefits. That's how powerful brand-based videos are.

But as insightful as this discussion may be, and as important as conversions and branding are, if you really want to get down to the nuts and bolts of highly effective marketing videos, you have to get to the secret ingredient.

This secret ingredient separates brand videos that don't really go anywhere and brand-building videos that develop solid brands. This secret ingredient also explains the difference between marketing videos that explain a lot of information and are great resources but make very little money, and videos that are able to generate a profit.

What is the Secret Ingredient? PRESENCE

Highly effective marketing videos pack a lot of presence. You can tell that this brand stands for something. You can tell that the product being endorsed, explained, outlined and discussed by the spokesperson truly speaks to your needs. This is only possible when the video has presence.

Now, one of the most common misconceptions regarding presence is that only human beings can have presence. In other words, the video has to have a person looking at the camera and connecting with you eyeball to eyeball for presence to ooze out of the video.

Absolutely wrong. Seriously. Even an animated video using talking animals can have presence.

Presence is that human state of mind where you feel that the content that you are engaging with is speaking to you on so many different levels. That is presence.

And unfortunately, a lot of marketing videos, and these are videos that are specifically written, produced, edited and crafted to generate dollars simply overlook presence. They think that as long as they have the "formula," conversions will happen. Completely wrong.

They think that as long as they mention certain concepts, the money will appear. Absolutely false. You have to create videos with presence. Otherwise, you are wasting your time.

What complicates matters is that presence is defined in many different niches.

If your niche involves kid's athletic gear, presence is going to have its own specific form. If your niche involves academic admissions, then presence for your videos is going to be nuanced a little bit differently.

That's what is tricky about this. But it's kind of like looking for the needle in a haystack. But believe me, it's a golden needle. It is worth the search.

This is the secret ingredient that will turn your marketing videos into gold-digging machines. It's definitely worth figuring out the secret ingredient of presence in your particular niche.

Article #7

How to Craft Video Calls to Action that Really Work!

I remember when I first got into video marketing, I would watch one video after another. This stuff was really fascinating because a lot of the materials that I was viewing really told great stories.

A lot of them were well produced, they were crisp, they were clear. A lot cracked jokes. In many cases, a lot of these videos connected with me on a very deep level. In fact, a tremendous amount of them were very insightful.

They taught me a lot of things that I did not know before. I was able to connect the dots as far as online marketing goes, thanks to these videos. In fact, I owe a lot of my skill set to these videos.

Interestingly enough, despite the dozens of marketing videos I consumed, I never really signed up for any of the products they were promoting. Believe me, they were promoting products. That's the main reason they were produced in the first place.

It's not like the marketing experts and gurus behind these materials had nothing else better to do. They definitely were not producing high quality, high cost educational videos for their health.

Where did they fail? Where did they go wrong? What element did they fail to include in their video? This omission, it turns out, was one of the most important lessons I, as a marketer, had to learn.

It's one thing to produce a video that's slick, talks about the right things, creates the right emotional environment, but ultimately, if you don't include an effective call to action, you're just wasting your time.

It's as if you got the viewer to get all pumped up and excited about the fact that you can solve a problem, but you did not get around to letting the viewer know that they should sign up for your solution. Talk about a joy kill. Talk about going 99% of the way, only to drop the ball when it counted the most.

Sadly, even the most polished videos commit this mistake.

Here are the steps that I use to create video calls to action that really work.

First, I start out with a case study. You have to remember that a human brain makes sense of the world through stories. There are lots of data in the world, but the human brain doesn't function with data.

When you are presented with raw data, you can't make heads or tails out of them. Instead, you want to piece it all together into a form you can readily recognize and you can readily engage with. This is where personal case studies or stories come in.

You can talk until you're blue in the face regarding a particular business opportunity, but believe me, people are more likely to listen to you if you tell them the story of your uncle who actually carried out and took advantage of a particular business opportunity.

All of a sudden, what would have been a theoretical opportunity to make money becomes a real personal experience that you would want to listen to.

I always start out with a case study, and I walk the viewer through the story elements of the case study. This leads me to the benefits.

Basically, they have a problem and we distill that problem using a story form into benefits. I spell these out. I clearly identify them.

And then, now that we have established that they should shoot for certain benefits, I line up other solutions that supposedly bring the same benefits.

But here's the catch, I use a comparison method. The other methods that competitors bring to the table may be too expensive, take a long time to use, fall apart quickly, are inconvenient, or have a bad reputation.

Whatever the case may be, I would line them up regarding how well they deliver the benefit, then I would find a hole. I would find a weakness. I would find the inadequacy. I would find something missing.

I then bring it all down to a crescendo. It is kind of like a classical concert, there's a crescendo.

Now that we know that there are these set of benefits that we're shooting for, but a lot of the stuff out there simply fall flat for a variety of reasons, there must be one solution. There must be at least one exception to this.

And that's where I talk about my solution. I talk about how my solution, which leads to the product or service that I'm promoting, succeeds where everybody else fails.

Of course, I do this in a strategic way. I'm not going to compare the strongest points of the competitors to the weak spot of the product that I'm selling. That does not make any sense. That makes me look like a fool. That makes my product or offer look weak.

Instead, I line up what's wrong with the other alternatives out there, and then I compare that or I line that up with the strongest point of the service or product I'm promoting. This is how you distinguish the solution. This is how your solution appears black and white.

I then create an emotional hook with the benefits. Since the video begins and ends with a focus on benefits, I then create an emotional connection between the action that they're about to take and the benefits that they will get.

"Wouldn't you like to live your best life today instead of constantly waiting?" "Wouldn't you like to get the best skin that leads to greater confidence and greater appreciation?" "Don't you deserve a better life because you finally let go of your belly fat? "

There has to be an emotional hook. And this emotional hook must be directly plugged into the benefits. Because the more you remind the viewer of the benefits that they would be getting, the tighter the connection between your solution and those benefits.

They develop a sense of emotional urgency and don't be surprised if they whip out their credit card at that point to fill out an online form so they can add dollars to your bank account.

That is the bottom line. It's all about crafting video calls to action with the right emotional punch.

Article #8

Get This Wrong and Your Marketing Videos will Crash and Burn

Let's get one thing clear, if your video has a bad script, you have lost the game.

That's right. It doesn't matter how crisp or clear your video images are, it doesn't matter how awesome your video editor is. It doesn't even matter if you spent a lot of money producing your video. None of that matters.

In fact, that money just went up in smoke. Why? You did not invest in the one element that plays an outsized role in the success of your video. I am, of course, talking about your script.

Get this wrong and your marketing video will be toast. I'm not exaggerating, I'm not getting all melodramatic, I'm just telling you the cold, hard truth.

It's about time you heard the truth. Because a lot of people, some of them self proclaimed video marketing gurus or consultants, try to get you all pumped up about slickly produced videos.

They might even get you all excited about signing up for some sort of video marketing creation tool. Like you just plug in some sort of text document and this software just produces an instant video.

Don't be fooled. Don't get taken for a ride. It's not that easy. Because if it were, then everybody would be a millionaire. Everybody would be riding around in Lamborghinis, Ferraris or top of the line Mercedes Benz.

Obviously, that's not happening. Why? Most people screw up the script. Either they think that they can write it themselves or they outsource it to people who have no clue about what they're doing. Whatever the case may be, they drop the ball.

Get your script wrong, and your marketing videos will be worthless. I hope that much is clear. I'm just trying to drive home this point.

What are the hallmarks of a solid video marketing script? It should have the following.

The more of these hallmarks are present, the higher the likelihood that the video that you produce from that script will work. However, if you miss too many of these elements, chances are, your video will simply not connect.

Now, this doesn't mean that your video will obviously suck. It might be cute, it might be interesting, it might even go viral on YouTube or Facebook. But don't for a moment think that popularity means conversions. At the end of the day, there are millions of video views on certain videos on Facebook, but those videos are not making any money.

Instead, your video marketing is all about conversions. It's all about taking the bacon home. It's all about adding dollars to your bank account.

Don't get your wires crossed. Don't screw this up. Because if you think that your script has to be funny, cute, clever, but it drops the ball on the following factors, forget it. You're just wasting your time.

It Must Speak Plainly

Great scripts don't screw around with $10-words or $5-words. Instead, they just focus on plain, basic English that everyday people speak.

It's not like you're talking down to people. Instead, you are making sure that almost everybody can get what you're talking about.

You come off as sincere. You're not hiding behind a series of hard to understand words. People don't have to whip out their dictionaries just to figure out what you're saying.

Because when you do that, you're coming off as somebody who has something to hide. This is not good when you are trying to sell something to your prospect.

Get to the Point Quickly

Highly effective video marketing scripts get to the point quickly. Sure, they tell stories, they discuss case studies, but in the beginning, they tell you, "this is the problem, and this is the solution you should be looking for."

And then they go through the case study. They educate you. And then they repeat it again, "This is the problem, this is the solution." And then they compare the solution to other solutions out there, only to reveal that most of those other solutions really fail.

They are either too expensive, too slow, or they're not all that durable. Whatever the case may be, your solution comes out on top. It comes out smelling like a million roses.

Get to the point quickly because if you allow yourself the luxury of producing a very long and drawn-out video, it's very easy for you to ramble. It's very easy to for you to talk about stuff that doesn't really matter or doesn't really get people to convert.

In other words, your video just basically feels like a long, drawn-out lecture. Who wants that?

They Pack a Lot of Emotional Points

Now, a script that has emotional points doesn't necessarily have to be an emotional script.

What I mean by emotional points is that the speaker, whether it's you or somebody you hired, can look at certain parts of the script and know exactly what kind of emotional slant to put on that item.

Maybe they should act surprised, maybe they should sound disappointed, maybe they should sound tentatively excited. Whatever the case may be, there has to be enough cues as to the emotional state the speaker has to be in.

Because highly effective scripts connect at the heart level and it's very hard to do that when the speaker sounds like he's reading some sort of grocery list. Do you see where I'm coming from?

Your Case Studies Must Be Believable

You have to understand that the human mind has a certain range of believability. Otherwise, people are going to be skeptical. They might conclude that whatever you are saying is just too good to be true.

If that's the case, then they really have no business trusting you. Do you see how this works? You must select your case studies very strategically.

My favorite are case studies that apply to the vast majority of people. This makes my product all the more approachable. Because the case study can happen to anybody. Do you see how this works?

Great Scripts have an Emotional Call to Action

Great promotional videos or online marketing videos do not leave the viewer hanging.

By this point, you got them excited about the case study, you got them excited about the solution, you knocked out all the competing products, you got the horse to the water. Now, you need to say the right thing in the right sequence to get that horse to drink.

This is where the emotional call to action is. You can't just rattle off a series of product features. Buyers couldn't care less that a product has two canisters or uses two bags or has a new motor.

Instead, you have to speak their language. Do they save money? Is this product going to last longer? Is this product easier to store away?

You have to think along those lines. You have to think in terms of benefits in the real world instead of just some hyped up acronym that supposedly sums up the range of features a product has. Know the difference.

And once you're clear on the benefits, then you call the viewer to action: "Gain your life back by burning all these pounds with this video course" or something to that effect. It all must come back to the raw emotional power that the benefits bring to the table. Otherwise, your script is dropping the ball.

Make no mistake, if you get your script wrong, your marketing videos will crash and burn. Please pay close attention to the 5 factors I've outlined above.

Article #9

Why Do Most Marketing Videos Suck?

One of the most potent forms of punishment I ever inflicted on myself involved a time when I intentionally sought out and searched for all the marketing videos on YouTube. Believe me, it was an endurance. I was basically whipping myself going through all that stuff.

I don't mean this as a joke, and I'm not exaggerating here. A lot of that stuff is really, really bad. If you think some Hollywood movies are all too forgettable cinematic disasters, well, check out a lot of the marketing videos on YouTube.

It is no surprise that they only have less than ten views. It's no surprise that a lot of these materials have basically been buried in the guts of YouTube. Some of these were actually uploaded as long as the founding of YouTube.

What's going on? Why do most of these marketing videos suck? Why do they have to suck? How can they drop the ball that badly?

Well, after I went through video after video, certain patterns started to emerge.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a rocket scientist, nor am I a brain surgeon, but it's very easy to spot these patterns. It's very easy to trace these patterns back to the failure of these videos.

I'm not speculating on their failures because video has failed when it only has less than 100 views. You can't escape from that conclusion. You can't dance around it. I mean, even if your video converts on a one to one level, a hundred views for an 8-year old video is failure.

Why do they suck? Here are some clues based on my very painful personal research.

Mass Quantity

It's obvious that a lot of the videos that I was going through and viewing were mass uploaded. In fact, it looked like they came off the same template. It's as if somebody took the same script, created video after video using the same script.

The results were really sloppy. It's as if this person didn't even bother to actually watch the video produced. They probably just used some sort of software to crank out one video after another. Totally weak. Totally worthless.

There they are, lying in the gutter of YouTube. No views. Not even digital rats to chew at them.

No Presence

Another common feature that I observed among these sucky videos is the fact that they did not create presence.

Now, please understand that a lot of these videos don't look like they suck. Some have clever discussions. Some even look like they spent a tremendous amount of money on high level animation.

But regardless of how slick certain elements are, and despite the fact that sometimes these elements came together to produce a really nice effect, at the end of the day, there was no presence. It felt like the video wasn't speaking to my needs.

The video didn't really go a long way in making the brand behind the video come to life. It wasn't doing any of that. It was just lying there. It was flat.

Remember, they had cute parts. Some parts may even look like it's working. But in the big scheme of things, it had no presence.

Doesn't Fit a Niche

One of the most annoying class of videos that I ran into during my painful research on YouTube involves videos that try to be all things to all people at all times. As you can already tell by my description of it, these videos are doomed to fail.

As the old saying goes, you can please all the people some of the time, but you cannot please all people all the time. That's just not going to happen. It would be foolish of you to even try.

And unfortunately, a lot of videos produced out there that are supposed to be marketing a particular product and trying to make money, don't even bother to create a tight fit between their product's niche and their video. They don't even go through the motions. It's as if they have forgotten the whole concept of niche.

Let me remind you, if you select the wrong niche, you're probably going to lose money. If you no idea what a niche is, then you're probably just taking shots in the dark and are wondering why you're not achieving any kind of success selling stuff online.

Niche is everything. And these videos just committed the cardinal sin of being clueless regarding their niche, or failing to address their niche adequately. Whatever the case may be, they missed the mark.

They Don't Build Brands

Finally, a lot of marketing videos out there suck because they don't even bother to create brands. They really don't. They just drop video after video, hoping against hope that somehow, some way, somebody would load the URL mentioned in the video.

Nobody does it. That's why there are only ten views.

You have to build a brand, otherwise, your business is a commodity. It's just another face in the crowd. It's just another cog in the machine. Totally replaceable and, unfortunately, totally forgettable.

Make no mistake, if you are serious about taking your video marketing results to the next level, you cannot take any of the factors I raised above lying down. You have to roll up your sleeves and do some hard planning and some hard work to make sure that your videos deliver the brand-building niche presence they need to truly make an impact.

Article #10

The 4 Habits of Highly Effective Video Marketers

If you change your habits, you will change your results. Take that to the bank. I'm willing to bet everything on that statement.

Because when you change your habits, you change the way you think, you change the way you talk, and most importantly, you change the way you behave.

Listen up, people couldn't care less about your feelings. I don't want to be the first person to let you in on that truth, but it's the absolute truth.

How come? Well, all people have feelings. Feelings are a dime a dozen. You're feeling one way one second, then you're feeling another way another second. So what?

What matters is what you do. That's when the world sits up and pays attention. That's the point in time where you actually change your world. You will be judged based on what you do, not your feelings.

This is why it's really important to change your habits. Because if you are any way, shape or form, unhappy with the results you are getting, it may because of your habits.

As a video marketer, you know that there is money to be made. You know that this is not a fantasy. You know that this is not theory, speculation or somebody's opinion. This is the real deal.

People are banking. People are killing it. But why not you? What are they doing right that you are doing wrong? What did you miss out on? Well, it can boil down to your habits.

The good news? Study the habits of successful video marketers and adopt them. Again, change your habits and you change your results.

Here are the 4 habits of highly effective and successful video marketers.

Habit #1: They reverse engineer their competitors

The first thing that I noticed about highly effective video marketers is that they don't reinvent the wheel. They definitely do not suffer from the classic "build it and they will come" mindset that has bankrupted so many marketers before them.

Instead, they focus on what works. They focus on what everybody else got right and uses that information to build their online marketing empires.

In other words, they build their businesses on the bedrock of tried and proven success. They're not speculating, they're not taking shots in the dark, they're not hoping for the best coming up with something hot, no. They focus on stuff that already exists and use the same topics and themes and present video with a particular brand-building twist.

Habit #2: They constantly test

I have yet to meet a successful marketer who just stuck with one solution throughout their career. If they did that, they would quickly start to starve.

Successful marketers understand that market sentiments and consumer trends change quickly. This is why they always try to remain several steps ahead of the market. They're constantly testing.

How do they do this? Well, they would take a video ad, for example, and come up with many different variations. They would run traffic through the video ad and pay attention to the results.

If it turns out that one variation is converting at a much higher rate, then they would take that variation and come up with even more variations of it, and run the traffic again. They then take the winner that leads to higher conversions, and repeat the process again and again.

They only stop once the video no longer improves in conversions. They've reached a peak conversion rate.

What do they do then? They buy a lot of traffic, or they go on a massive free traffic-generation campaign. And it all boils down to constant testing.

Habit #3: They constantly scale up their operations

Highly effective video marketers are not content with just one small video in one channel making, let's say, $1,000 a month. A lot of people would think that that's success. No.

Successful marketers understand that if they are able to make $1,000 per month, they can make $10,000. If they can make $10,000, then they can make $100,000. If they can make $100,000, they can make $1,000,000. And on and on it goes.

The secret? Scaling.

So what they would do is they would constantly test different content and see if it converts, and then they would take what works and replicate it across many different platforms into a larger scale or maybe they can use it to promote other products.

Whatever the case may be, they're scaling up. They're not thinking small time. They have huge mental horizons. They don't just focus on a neat, tidy little box in front of them.

Habit #4: They focus on conversions

I have to admit, this is one habit that I should have adopted early on in my video marketing career. Unfortunately, I did not.

Just with a lot of marketers who are wet behind the ears, I got all excited about the fact that my videos were getting a lot of traffic. I would upload video after video on YouTube and, sure enough, just like clockwork, people would click on the link in the description page.

It seems like people love my videos enough to go to my sales page link. But here's the problem. They would click the link, and promptly do nothing. My videos got a lot of traffic, but I also got a whole lot of nothing.

It took several months for it to finally dawn on me. In fact, "dawn on me" is too mild of a phrase. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. It's as if these bricks just came out of the sky and just pegged me on the head. It was a painful realization to say the least.

I was focusing on click-through. I was focusing on reach. I was focusing on traffic volume. I was focusing visits. In other words, I was focusing on all the stuff that, at the end of the day, doesn't really matter.

Because you know what matters? Whether dollars appear in your bank account or they don't. That's what matters. Dollars only appear when you convert traffic into cold hard cash.

Highly effective video marketers focus on conversions from the beginning. Before they even sit down to create a video, they're already thinking of conversions. Before they even think about writing the script or outsourcing the script to somebody else or retaining a voice-over talent, they're already thinking about conversions.

At the end of the day, it's about conversions, conversions, conversions. That's why they're successful and most other video marketers continue to struggle.

Make no mistake, you need to adopt the 4 habits of highly effective video marketers sooner rather than later. You can only take so many hits before you start seriously thinking about quitting.

I'm sorry to report that the only way to fail is to quit. So don't quit.

You already know the habits of highly effective video marketers. Adopt these habits. Change your habits and you change your results.