Tag: video

Videos on the Rise!

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As is common with most of us, we have a hard time imagining massive changes in the future and how those changes will affect how we interact with one another and how it will influence how we will do business.

Every entrepreneur that is successful, is enjoying that success based upon the fact that alertness and awareness of how things are changing around them, continue to constantly present new opportunities for profits and solving new problems – which present even more opportunities.

The following statistics will clearly prove your Customers are actually looking forward to receiving a Video Email from you.

Do my customers want Video Emails from me?

  • Yes. 78% of consumers indicated they would “look forward” to receiving any type of email from a business they frequent. (AOL Survey)
  • 66% of consumers indicated an email of any type from an existing business relationship was the best form of customer service they had experienced in their lives. (AOL Survey)

Does email marketing boost sales?

  • 68% of the respondents said they have made purchases online after receiving email. (DoubleClick)
  • “…a discount was the most compelling motivational factor for making an immediate purchase after clicking on an email (70%).” (DoubleClick)

Should I send Video Emails to my existing customers?

  • The odds of selling a product to a new customer are 15%, whereas the odds of selling a product to an existing customer are 50%. (Bain and Co.)
  • Acquiring a new customer costs five to ten times more than retaining one. (eMarketer)
  • Repeat customers spend 67% more. (Bain and Co.)

Can I build my business on referrals?

  • Absolutely, yes! After ten purchases, a customer has referred up to seven people. (Bain and Co.)
  • Customers love “being in the know” with new products or information – especially when it’s informative, entertaining or helpful
  • Video emails can quickly become ‘viral marketing’ tools as they are forwarded to their friends and family.

Instead of being left behind when it comes to moving to a new media – just include it in your current business planning! Videos are here to stay. Our very busy world demands an optimization of our communications. Books aren’t going away – but how we experience them is EXPANDING.

The written book, the audio book, the video book … think of the possibilities!

The Magical Marketing Power of Videos Online

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The old ways of doing business are rapidly changing which makes old, static websites obsolete. As a business owner or hobbyist that desires an online presence along with the ability to earn extra income, a mind-boggling number of tools have entered into our Internet lives.

WordPress is one of the leading tools that continue to keep pace with this ever-changing cyber-landscape. Even though the platform is relatively simple, many people resist making the change because they are fearful of accepting the responsibility of updating their own sites or having the control to change their pages as they need to. Now that control has been placed back in the hands of the business owner many shutter at the thought of yet, “another learning curve” as they learn how to post their own blogs or update pages.

The beauty of WordPress is that any level of student or professional can update their site and do anything from edit simple text to editing code. It’s up to you how much control you want over your site and how it functions.

Imagine bearly knowing how to use email, yet being able to update your own website!

Video tutorials are the perfect solution for beginners and for advancing users. Whether it’s learning how to post your blog on your own website or learning how to create your own WordPress theme – there are tutorials available online.

As a service to my clients, I’ve created quick, easy tutorials on simple WordPress tasks that every user needs to know.  The beauty of a video tutorial is that you can replay, stop, backup, and follow along—something that any student hesitates to bother their teacher with!

You can find these tutorials HERE.

YouTube has hundreds of tutorials on everything you can imagine, including WordPress. Be sure to look there as well, and when you find a tutorial that you like, be sure to subscribe to their channel so as not to lose your place when you want to go back and learn something else.

As a bonus thought, while you are enjoying the free tutorials, notice how people present themselves and their subject matter.  Do you find yourself engaged, or put-off by several seconds of introductory music? What background music did you find the most complementary to your tutorial? Personally, as I noticed my own reactions, I found myself annoyed with music beforehand, but would tolerate it to some degree. It really turned me off if there was a long introduction from the person that was in essence, an advertisement about how smart and qualified they were. (I just wanted to know the information, get in and get out.)

That’s why my videos contain just the basic bits of information that get right to the point. Now, understand that doesn’t mean this is the right way – its just one way, and you may find that you like more of a production in your video tutorial.

Why do I mention this? Because while you are receiving the benefits of someone else’s work, notice the immediate value that providing that video has added to that particular person’s business.

If you are interested in making videos from your desktop computer but don’t have the software, here’s a free software that you can use: http://camstudio.org/ (you’ll notice me using this software in my own video tutorials)

In the WordPress videos, you’ll see me showing you how to do something directly from the WordPress Dashboard. The software is simply capturing what it is that I’m doing (or seeing) on my computer. Do you have a PowerPoint that you wish was a video? Set up your PowerPoint slide show and just narrate it while the recorder captures your desktop presentation and ta-da! You now have a narrated video of your PowerPoint presentation.

Now that you’re thinking in terms of personally providing tutorials – what else can you do with them?

Continue noticing what you like and what you don’t like, such as:

  • Video length
  • Narration, or no narration
  • The “flavor” of the narration (formal or casual)
  • Music or no music?
  • What kind of music?
  • Website address before or after or just in the description of the video?
  • Credits?
  • Edited or non-edited (formal or casual)
  • How does the video make you FEEL?
  • How does the video make you THINK?

Next, think about the delivery of the video. How did you like going to a website to view a tutorial section?  Would this work on your site? Would you want to add a membership site feature to your site where clients would pay a modest fee to access your materials?

What would it be like if you had a series of tutorial videos and visitors could subscribe to them for them to be delivered straight to their inbox without having to hunt through YouTube for them? This allows you to build your database of names for future marketing – and this database is direct to your target market who value the information you are providing, or they wouldn’t have subscribed!

Now think in terms of educational or motivational videos. Begin with free and build your database, then introduce or up-sell to video products that your customers purchase and have delivered directly to them.

Did you know that by the year 2014 videos are expected to represent 90% of our Internet communication and represents over $50B in expected business? Even Amazon is already accepting video reviews as an option instead of written reviews.

What would you rather do, read emails or watch a video? Think about it! How would video revolutionize your newsletter? Your online products? Video blog? Online conferencing?

The opportunities are endless now to not just make simple tutorial videos, but to communicate to a worldwide audience in real-time and through videos with web-conferencing (which can be recorded and repurposed as a video product)

The opportunities are endless for us now as we enter into a whole new world Online of communication and interaction. Nothing builds a relationship with your audience like personally interacting with them face-to-face except with a video.

Call me to brainstorm the possibilities for your specific product, book topic, or service. In the same way that I graphically record conference sessions, I gather information and resources to visually communicate your business to others.

Contact me for a FREE ½ hour consultation.

How a Book Launch Site Works

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Book Launch pages

There are four main elements to a Book Launch site.  In the next four posts, I’ll list them in order of appearance on your site.

These are your Book Launch pages:

  1. LANDING PAGE
  2. GIFT VIEWING PAGE
  3. FORM TO CLAIM YOUR GIFTS PAGE
  4. DOWNLOAD YOUR GIFTS

The Landing Page
This is your main home page where your readers will land to hear about your book and bonus gifts – and to purchase.

The 6 Key Elements to your landing page are …

1. Header =This is the attractive header that carries your branding and reflects the colors of your book for branding purposes. It is at the top of your landing page and sets the tone for the rest of the site’s appearance.

Author photo and book cover suggested along with a tag line or descriptive phrase or quote.

2. Sales Pitch = Video and text / Why do “I” want your book? 

Not only do you want to have a short video to connect with your readers and potential buyers, but you also want the interaction that occurs when people have something to click on. It causes them to linger … which you want them to do!  Having a video on your page helps busy people to stop and pause, and become interested in the rest of your book launch sales pitch.

Layout the benefits of purchasing your book by stating what problem you are addressing by having written the book, and what they will learn in how to prevent or recover from that problem. Will it save them time? Money? Is it easy? Is it fun? What will make them want to pick up your book and read it?

Not only have your video address these things – have a quick and easy-to-read written paragraph that will also mention the same points for those who prefer to read.

3. Bonus = Optional – but a lot of fun. Pick 1 winner from buyers.

Having a bonus puts a subliminal urgency on your pitch – making people want to buy immediately to get their ‘name in the hat’ to hopefully better their chances of getting yet another free goody.

Your bonus can be your own consulting or coaching, or it can be another book or training system that you have on hand. It could be free tickets to a seminar you are having or a webinar that people have to register for.

Each of these ideas is additional marketing tips that inform people of YOUR value and the value of what you write.

Don’t have any of these things? Take this as a push to think in terms of industry – not just a book. You are a wealth of information. Your book is just a drop in the hat – and provides opportunities for many, many more products. I dare say that something such as the “Power Rangers” probably first started out as a children’s story .. then went to a book … then someone kept thinking about it and thought bigger … and bigger… and it became an industry worth millions.

4. Gift Temptation = This is the link that will lead to your next page, the Gift Preview Page.

Tease them with a link to the gifts to preview them and read their descriptions. Be sure to include graphics such as photos, logos, book covers, or even a screen capture of a website. If you have no graphic representation of the gift or the gift giver, then find clipart. (and notify the gift giver that they are missing a fantastic opportunity for promotion and branding.)

5. Call to Action = Tell them what they need to do to buy

As simple as it may sound, don’t ever assume that people will know what to do next when they are reading your sales pitch. TELL THEM what you want them to do. 

“Click here” or “preview” or “do this first” helps guide the dazed mind to exactly where you want them to go.  Remember, they are spending valuable time on your site, taking it all in and wrapping their mind around what your offer is and how it will make their life better.  They don’t want to hunt and peck to figure it out. Just make it easy, keep it simple and TELL THEM.

6. Testimonials = Collect them ahead of time, get photos/logos, etc.

SOMEONE knows you. They know your passion, they know your work. They have commented to you how they value what you do – or they have read your book and have enjoyed it a great deal. Who are they?

Contact these people individually and ask them if they will write something about how great the book is or how they value what you do as a professional.

If your prospects are so busy that they just don’t get back to you. Think about what you’ve heard them say or how they would say it. YOU WRITE IT, and then send to them, a selection of perhaps three ‘testimonies’ and see if any of them fit. Then ask if they would endorse one of them so that you can continue with your scheduled book launch site.

People are busy. Keep this in mind when planning your book launch. Keep it simple. Keep it Clear. Keep it entertaining, intriguing, funny and/or interesting. What would YOU want to see if you were to land your page?

How to Look More Comfortable on Camera

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Speak like a pro

Here is a great resource from Kevin Clay regarding “How to Look More Comfortable on Camera”. As I create book launch websites for my clients, I am often met with a gasp or a blank stare when I mention that one of the best elements you can have to sell your book with – is a video.

Readers love hearing from the author of the book they are thinking about buying. But, since many authors lean towards the ‘introverted’ side of things, creating videos and talking to a camera is just not something that is natural to them … or why would they be writing instead of talking?

However, as the Internet and social marketing becomes the norm, people want to know who is behind the scenes, and they want to connect with you, the author. Connecting with your readers through a medium that is conducive to building a feeling of relationship, people subconsciously love the idea of being ‘in-the-know” and having a ‘personal’ connection with you. They become evangelistical fans who will help you with your marketing and thereby boost your sales and success by talking to their friends and family and sharing their discovery.

Knowing that a video could “make you” or “break you” you’ll want to make the best impression that you can, and the first step to doing that is to appear very relaxed and authentic in your presentation. Many authors freeze at the very thought of making a video, but it’s really easy – and with the luxury of having privacy in your own home or office, software that comes with almost all computers now, you can practice all that you want, comfortable and natural in front of a camera.  As Kevin points out, speaking to a video camera is really no different than talking on the phone. It’s all in your mindset.

Here’s Kevin’s simple, informative, and clear video on how to become more comfortable when recording your video.  Please watch it … then have fun practicing, noticing, and creating your own. Your fans await …