The Direct Marketing Society

The online and offline business community is finding itself going more and more toward promoting with video.  From the hometown dentist to the sophisticated Wall Street businessman, using video to promote their services or products gives their business an edge.  More and more prospective clients can relate to video better, so the intelligent business owner takes it upon himself to use video promotions online.

It isn’t as technical as it used to be so more and more businesses are either hiring professionals do the promotions. But the savvy do-it-yourselfer can produce a fairly nice video with some practice.

There are a few things to keep in mind though.  Firstly, keep it simple and clean.  While it is tempting to get flashy and loud, a simple video with minimal excess movement will appeal to your audience better.

Use charts and diagrams if it helps you explain your businesses purpose.  This is a simple matter if you use Microsoft Power Point to create a slideshow, which you can later edit into your promotional video.

Highlight your service’s or product’s uniqueness.  If you are the only natural dentist I your area, make a point of telling the benefits of having natural dentistry.  If you offer some service that is over the top, say so.

Make your business unique and to somehow brand you as the one to go to for your particular product of service. Promoting with video is still fairly untouched online advertising medium.  With it, you will have a much better chance of getting exposure online.

Many business owners have jumped on the bandwagon of adding video promotions to their online advertising campaign and as such they have learned how to market online with video.  Using and producing video is only half the equation though.  Learning how to produce video is a skill most can learn with practice.

But the skill that takes more than just practice is how to market.  Marketing is the science of getting inside your prospects’ heads and thinking like them and therefore producing advertising that captures the viewer’s heart strings.

Video does this well as we know from watching a good movie or well made commercial.  So the best way to learn how to market online with video is to study commercials, magazine ads and other marketing gimmicks to see what works.  Pay attention to what catches your attention – what makes you want to “rush out” and buy or do what the ad is selling.

That is marketing – making you want what is being sold even though there are dozens of other similar products or services like it.  Being unique, selling to a certain age group, appealing to one gender or the other - decide what angle you want to take in your marketing plan.

Whether you do it yourself with the video or hire it out, the real trick with how to market online with video is reaching your customers “hot button” and pushing it.  Whether or not you get the sales is determined by how you reached into the consumer’s head and caused them to say, “I need that!”

We take for granted video media like TV and movies so that it’s a natural transition to use video advertising to reach your consumer.  It’s statistically very likely that your potential customer has a PC and the income to make purchases online, so it would be prudent for the savvy business owner to employ video as part of their marketing and advertising program.

Technology is becoming simpler so, with practice, nearly anyone with good command of the English language can use video to its best advantage.  It’s also true that a large group of the population who owns a computer also has access to the Internet and YouTube.  And as YouTube is the second most viewed website on the ‘net, more and more businesses are using it as one way to get the word out about their product or service.

It isn’t difficult to produce a simple bit of video advertising either.  Just a few minutes of recording with a digital video recorder like a Flip Mino, and you’re ready to publish to YouTube.  Of course you’ll want to add your website URL as a watermark and perhaps some introductory slides to give your video a more polished look.

Any way you may look at it, video media is the way of the future.  It isn’t some passing fancy either; as long as there is the Internet, there will be a viewing public.  So, letting the public get to know you better through well-planned video advertising will assure your position.

It’s a very competitive world, business-wise, and a smart businessperson will bring in marketing consultants to round out their team of business advisors.  The whole point of being in business is obviously to make profit.  In order to make that profit, it takes someone with specialized knowledge to research your business’s marketing advantage, which a good marketing consultant will do.

Your marketing specialist is trained to help you come up with a plan to reach your consumer demographic then systematically implement your marketing campaign.  He or she will help you determine more accurately who that target market is and how best to reach them.

He will discuss with you, the strengths and benefits of your product and then devise ways to capture the public’s eye either through a catchy logo, a different way of reaching your client base or coming up with a new marketing scheme.

Another aspect of a marketing consultant is one who can determine your businesses worth, help you to buy new acquisitions and/or sell your business when the time comes.  He will research the viability of any purchase or sale to your best advantage.

Make sure to let your marketing consultant know what you expect of him or her at the time of the first interview.  Whether he or she considers another business for acquisition or chooses which demographic to focus the company’s service is what you will hire them for.  In this respect, you will want to get references from other businesses about prospective marketing consultants.

Everyone knows where to go when they buy something from a website.  It’s toward the bottom of the page, right?  Maybe there are a few order buttons sprinkled throughout but most of us know exactly where to go if we just want to buy.

But how do you make it easy for your viewers to respond to your online video sales campaigns?  If your video is sitting on a squeeze page, and not directly within YouTube, you will make sure to include a submit button right next to or below the screen and even go so far as to point to where it is in relation to your video. This is just smart brand management.

One thing you can be sure to do is to add a watermark on your video when you are editing it.  Put your URL in good sized letters and positioned toward the bottom edge of the screen. This will make it easy for people to find you on the ‘net.  A distinctive watermark will help to brand you, too.

More importantly, don’t forget that within YouTube you have a description box that shows up to the right of the viewing screen.  So, when you are filling out your description as you upload the video to YouTube, make sure you write out your URL first, before they read anything else about you.  That way it will be the first thing they see.

Here again, you may want to use arrows or other gestures that point to the URL so that it is clear that they can find out more by going here.   Again, tell them where to go and what to click. Part of savvy brand management is leaving nothing to chance. Lead them through the process.  Make it worth their while by offering a freebie of some sort when they sign up or buy through your link. Do whatever you need to make it an easy final step to make a purchase through your online videos.

Do you want to get 500% greater response to your Las Vegas videos marketing campaigns?  Simply format your ad to seem like it is a news spot.  It is proven that people will read or watch the news but quickly pass over obvious advertisements.  News means facts, authority; listen close and be informed.  On the other hand, we have conditioned ourselves to tune out blatant ads.

Think about it.  What do you pay attention to when there are many things taking up your interest:  An ad that tells you to buy XYZ because it does this, this and this (blank-eyed stare)?  Or a news-like program that tells you about some new process or service that is taking the country by storm and, by the way, you can get it here?

So, instead of producing a Las Vegas videos marketing ad campaign that is straight out sales copy, turn your copy into a news story with benefits sprinkled throughout.  Keep it concise and leave out all pressure to buy.  This is where the “take action” part of AIDA isn’t necessary.

Just the fact that you came across in an authoritative, informative format will cause the viewer to take action.  People like to think they are intelligent (well, we are!) so telling them through the news leads them to make an informed decision – on their own.

Try it the next time you put together your Las Vegas videos marketing campaign.  Use charts, graphs and other props as you demonstrate your product or service.  Give your “pitch” masked in a news style and just watch what happens.

Video marketing is no different than any other form of target marketing.  You need all the elements of a good marketing plan.  You have heard of the acronym, AIDA: that is to Attract attention, create Interest, create Desire and, finally, ask you visitor to take immediate Action.  So, in your online marketing video, what effective methods can you use to close the deal - to get your viewer to take action?

After the viewer has sat through anywhere from 2 – 8 minutes of your sales pitch, he has obviously shown interest enough to stay with you.  So after offering an awesome no-brainer offer and money back guarantee, ask them to buy – right now.  Tell them in a friendly way not to go away until they have bought your product.

Make it easy for them to justify the price.  Telling them to dig in the couch for change, give up pizza this week, makes it a no-brainer for them.  And they reason, he’s right – it is just the price of a pizza or a night on the town, and they click the order button.

Why else will they buy right now?  Here are a few more incentive plans for target marketing:

You can have a time limited offer where you will only offer your product as such and such a price for 48 hours and then the price goes up.  The thing to remember is to really increase the price and not “fake” your customers out.

Another good way to get your visitor to buy right now is to tell them there are fast action bonuses for buyers who take the offer today.

Just remember to respect your customer by only offering top quality information and you will have no trouble closing the deal.

Why does professional appearance matter in your online marketing video? For whatever reason, convention has taught us that we convey who we are by our appearance.  For example, when you see a man dressed in navy blue (or bright red depending on your nationality), a silver badge on his chest and a baton and side arm on each hip, what do you envision?

Contrast that to what he looks like on his days off.  In a matter of minutes he can transform his image just by changing his clothes.  He is still a police officer by profession even in his T-shirt and jeans but we just don’t take him as seriously as we do when he is in full uniform, right?

So it goes with how we come across when we appear before our viewers in a marketing video.  For the first time in history, men and women from all backgrounds have an opportunity to make a public living online, regardless of their looks or talent.  So, you get to see people in all manner of dress and style.

Yet, tests prove that if the presenter was pleasingly dressed and hair neatly styled, response was far greater than if the same marketer dressed in his or her everyday duds.

Now, we don’t need the presenter to be trussed up in business dress either.  Casual dress wins the day meaning clean open collar shirt and slacks or neat jeans for guys and attractive but not seductive dress for gals.

Maybe you can let your hair down later as you develop your brand and clientele, but for now try to follow the rules of casual business dress and you can’t go far wrong while maintaining a professional appearance in your online marketing video campaign.

Who of us has watched a movie produced by an “amateur” – someone who was either just learning the ropes of cinematography which just plain failed to capture the viewer’s interest?  Boring, right?  The same goes for direct marketing online. To do the job well requires you to use compelling graphics and design, just as the majority of the direct marketing society embraces.

We have all seen a website that is so busy that you can’t find how to navigate around.  Well, the same goes for video.  If it’s too “busy,” noisy and full of flash video, you will distract your viewer from your main purpose which is to compel them to buy.  After all the noise and dust has settled, the viewer may feel entertained but did they push the Order button?

So the order of the day here is to keep it simple.  You can choose a classy theme or even a contemporary theme but don’t overwhelm your viewer with artsy glitz and loud distracting music in the background.

Try to think like your customer.  How do you feel with flashy video graphics moving in and out and unnecessary background music?  Well, so will your viewers.  So create some video then – and be sure to test it like any good member of the direct marketing society.

Since video really is so simple to create and since your bread and butter depends on doing a good job selling, it pays to test the market.  See what they like.  In the end you will find that simple graphics and clean design sells best.  But you give it a test for yourself.

As you would expect, you need to plan your copy script before you take on YouTube video marketing.  Like any sales copy, you must determine your most enticing benefits and a bit of “you” in the form of a story and then making an offer followed my an over the top money back guarantee.

If you have already written sales copy for your product, this would be a simple matter of reading select parts, making sure to use the biggest benefit or two in the headline.  Start out your sales video with a slide that states this headline.  You have only a few seconds to “hook” your viewer, so use it wisely.  One great video promotion tip is to switch over to you talking screen in screen, perhaps, introducing your product and yourself.

Be compelling as you speak.  This will take practice but after a few attempts you will be able to convince your listener of the benefits of your service.

Also, like with written sales copy, offer a guarantee, offer irresistible bonuses and reasons why your price is worth every dollar spent.

Even though it is required to offer money back guarantee, especially if you use services like ClickBank, it is a good idea to make it a selling point.  Saying something like, “The risk is all on me.

You look at it for 60 days and if you don’t agree with me that it is worth more than you paid, I’ll refund your purchase – no questions asked.”  If you say that with conviction – eye to eye – you will be amazed at how your viewer will respond.

It is worth every minute of your time to plan your video promotion script for your YouTube marketing video.