Have you ever worried about being too “creative”
with your videos? You know, wondering if your
message might get lost in the entertainment value?
You wouldn’t be alone, you know. Most business
owners share this concern.
Let’s put this concern in context.
The problem starts in your TV
Commercials try to grab your attention away from what
you’re doing to get you to notice what they’re doing. That’s
called interruption marketing. When it does its job properly,
it can make your brand more recognizable in the store.
But more often than not, the message is simply forgotten
in this ever-noisier marketing universe. For this reason,
interruption marketing is getting more and more expensive
with less and less result.
What is working? Well, video is working better than
ever, thanks to permission marketing. When your potential
client allows you to explain things in a non-hurried, non-hypey
way, your message doesn’t get lost. Why would it? You’re
just giving valuable advice that helps your prospect solve a
problem. And the best part is, they stumbled upon you while
looking for a solution instead of you trying to get them to stop
what they were doing to watch you.
So why do I need creativity?
After all, if your prospect is actively searching you
out (or at least the solution you represent), do you really
need to entertain her as well? I think you know the answer
to that question, but let me put it in black and white.
Getting your prospect’s attention is one thing. Keeping it
is another. I’ll give you an example. Michael Washer
(yes, he’s my brother) is an art teacher in the Texas school
system. He has invented a new way to teach art to children
that gets astonishing results. He would like to promote it at
some point in the near future.
So he made a video that talks about his solution. Actually
he made a music video. Go ahead and watch it first, because
when I tell you how he made it, you’re going to be not a little
impressed. I don’t say this just because he’s my brother 🙂
The Art Principle: Unity
So here’s the remarkable thing about this video. He made it
over the course of 2 nights in iMovie, a program he had never
used even once. He used Garageband to compose the music
and his family sang backup. He found some images on Google
and used some of his own. The live component was quite minimal.
Considering that YouTube is one of the best places to put
an Attraction video, this one, if it were optimized, could
really make a dent in his market. Why? Because the music
is catchy, the images are striking, the energy is palpable,
and the message itself is new and intriguing. It might even
be memorable.
How do you use a creative video to sell?
Well, it depends on which of the three phases of the marketing
cycle you happen to be in. For Attraction you can be as creative
as you like. For Conversion, you need to be less free-wheeling
in the presentation and more in the problem-solution area. For
Consumption, you need even less boundless expression, though
you should feel free to go either way.
Summary
* Permission Marketing has made video the most powerful
marketing medium ever.
* Creativity in an Attraction video is almost always a good
thing because it holds your attention long enough to make
a Call to Action.
* Knowing the basics of video is more than enough to make
you very successful in reaching your market.
This is what makes it so much fun to think about working in
ad agencies. They get to spend millions of dollars to focus
exclusively on the Attraction phase.
But now you can, too, and it needn’t cost you a cent. By the
way, do you remember Michael’s essential message?
_________ of the Elements.
Wow. And you only saw it once. Imagine what you could do
with a smoothie recipe.
*******************************************************************
A Contest for Video Marketing Mastery
Michael “groks” the elements of video. Now he’ll need to learn
the marketing part. Like how to use his cool videos to sell his
system. He’ll probably get it for free 🙂 Now I’d like to give you a
chance to get all this knowledge for free as well.
Here’s the deal. I was having dinner with a good friend last week
when between sips of some very fine wine and quite out of the
blue he says “I hate the name of your newsletter.”
“Why?” says I.
“Flight Plan. Why do you call it that? I know you like to fly,
but it isn’t congruent with what you do”.
“Oh. Well, how about The Cutting Room Floor”
“That’s…better”.
But he wasn’t ordering another bottle of wine to celebrate either.
So here’s my challenge and my promise to you. Give me a
better name for this newsletter so I can put up a pretty header
again. The winning title will get you free admission to
Video Marketing Mastery, which begins on May 2. (Yes, even
if you already registered)
If you have a name that describes the craziness we undertake here,
just send it to steve@brainyvideo.com and I’ll announce the winner
in next week’s newsletter.
By the way, there’s one final early-bird price for just another
couple of days, ending on April 28. If you’d like to learn the
coolest techniques and cost-effective tricks for making your
videos turn prospects into great clients, including the ninja
tricks that Michael used in iMovie, this course may be right for
you.
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