The other day I was speaking with direct marketing expert Perry
Marshall.
One of the points that I brought up in our conversation is the
lack of video on the Internet. Most savvy people in direct marketing on
the Internet know that the use of effectively constructed video
will increase sales dramatically. That's a fact not conjecture.
I asked Perry, "why
do you think few internet marketers are using video?" He
felt that there are a couple of reasons, one, a lack of what to do to make a
compelling video, and lack of equipment. I suggested that he start using
more video to appeal to the type A, ADHD, Entrepreneur. For $10,000 you
can create excellent movie quality work and you own the equipment and
can keep producing great work without using an outside company. Heck you
can even scale down and get a great in office studio with all the software,
high powered computer to render video and a great camera for under $5,000.
When you own your equipment and feel like shooting you shoot, period.
The more you are in front of
camera the more you grasp how to work with the camera. The
more you step in front of the camera the more confident you get. It's like
learning how to ride a bike you will need training wheels--it's
a process.
Even if you don't have the
equipment you can shoot several high quality pieces at some small studios or
rent the equipment for $500 or less. You could probably shoot three or
four videos for under $500, and edit them to your liking (as long as you shoot
those videos consecutively during the same filming session).
I also suggest you
get a teleprompter and work on your pitch to make it the best you can.
You can buy teleprompters that work with I Pads for less than $150.
To educate yourself tape hours
of TV commercials
and look for commercials that compel you to act urgently. Few commercials
invoke urgent action. They are a waste of
time and money. When you get a hand full of great commercials story board
those commercials and study the structure of the argument. Granted, instead of
sixty seconds (shortest format that is successful on TV) on TV you can have a
three or four minute,
(and much longer video on line) as long as it's compelling and holds
the viewer.
Most of
the videos I see on line are really dysfunctional and don't have any real
format to them. A lot of people disclose that they just want to increase
awareness with video. If that's you you're missing the point. The purpose
should be to make the sales process consistently perfect with video. Next
to in person, or over the phone sales there is nothing like video for driving
sales on line. It's a lot easier to watch TV then it is to read.
Keeping this in mind is important in order to achieve direct response
marketing, direct marketing or DRTV success.
Start watching commercials more
intently than regular programming when
you are watching TV and start studying the structure of the copy, the call to
action, the guarantee that is used, and most of all the claims.
written
by Brad
Richdale
