Print is Dead, Long Live Print

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Video, Email & Social Media Marketing Seminar

Videos, Emails & Social Media Work Great Together

I’m more excited over this seminar than any I’ve done this year.  Video marketing is a great way to grow your business and brand.  The part I like the most is that very few small business owners have started using videos.  What does that mean for you?  It means HUGE growth potential.  

In this 2 hour seminar we’ll cover in depth the following topics:

1. Video Marketing – How to create short videos that you can use to create brand recognition, drive website traffic and more importantly SELL MORE PRODUCT.

2.  Advanced Social Media Marketing – What can you do outside of just making a post.

3. Facebook Advertising Tactics – Create impactful ultra targeted ads to get in front of your best customers.

4.  Search Engine Optimization – How to use videos to create more website traffic through organic SEO. 

7.  Email Marketing – Learn the best practices for sending email and how to make this great marketing tool drive traffic and sales to your business.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Video Marketing Tips

Here are a few easy tips that I use when shooting videos for clients and myself.  This is a working list, so I’ll be adding to it as items come to me.  If you have some tips you’d like to add, email me at matt@mattplapp.wpengine.com

1st – Use something that’s easy to use and fast. iPads are great options. I use a program called Avid Studio. It allows me to create quick professional videos. My $2,000 HD camera sits on a shelf and never gets used. It’s too long of a process to get the video from the camera to a final product on YouTube.  If you’re wanting to skip making your video fancier and looking for a quick way to get something online theres’ nothing wrong with that and iPhones do a great job as well.  

2nd – Always purchase “royalty free music”. Don’t use your favorite song from The Eagles, eventually a bill will come. For as little as $1 you can find songs in the itunes library that will save you from future headaches

3rd – The Sun is your enemy. Try to avoid it at all costs.  If you’re in a room with natural light make sure you try out different angles to get the right look. 

4th – If you aren’t comfortable on video, have someone who is be on camera. Or practice, practice and practice the script more.  BUT don’t have a 5 paragraph script sitting in front of you for this video.  Every video you do for your business should be something you can do off of memory and worse case scenerio all a few bullet points. 

5th – Going off of #4, don’t go into the video with a word for word script. This is your business, if you can’t have a list of bullet points and easily do a video on your product, then you probably need to find someone who can.

6th – Make sure you’re dressed appropriately.  You’re branding yourself, so make sure what you’re wearing reflects what you want your customers to think of you.

7th – Um, Uh, LIKE.  PLEASE don’t say these over and over again.  If you have an issue with certain word or catch phrases have someone give you honest feedback and then make an effort to eliminate these from your vocabulary for the speech.

8th – Turn off cell phones and other devices that can (and will) make noises during your video.  There’s nothing worse than nailing a video only to have your cell phone ring halfway through it.

9th – Topics – Try to avoid only using the videos to sell.  “How To” videos are excellent ways to get peoples attention and guess what, most people watching these don’t actually perform the tasks, they call you to do it.  Use these videos as an opportunity to brand yourself as an expert in your field or industry.  

10th – The graphics and logos you use in these videos should be consistent across your other marketing pieces.  I like to use my clients 

 

Do your customers REALLY know you

Do your customers know you or THINK they know you?  I’ve got a funny story that will make you realize that you’re missing a BIG opportunity in your marketing.  In 2005 a guy walked into our boat dealership and was interested in buying a boat from us.  He went on to tell me how he was friends with the owner of the boat manufacturer, Earl Bentz, and he deserved a better deal.  Earl was a legend in the boat business.  He had been around for many years, he reminded me of a politician, always on camera and somewhere shaking hands and kissing babies.  So the customer explained how he was great friends with Earl and could buy a boat from the factory if he’d like (not actually possible), but that he wanted to do business with a local store.  Of course I was agreeing with him and in the conversation I asked how they became such good friends, how they knew each other.  I won’t bore you with the LONG story, but at the end of the day it turns out they had met ONCE and that was when he waived to him and shook his hand at a fishing tournament.  This was how they became “good friends”.  No I didn’t call him out on it, I sold him a boat and he became a good customer of mine.

You might ask yourself how this happens, how does a consumer get to a point where they THINK they are good friends with someone, but they don’t actually know them.  It’s called MARKETING.  Earl like any smart business owner always put his face out there.  He was in the marketing, videos, at events, on tv shows, etc. Everyone knew Earl and when you thought of one of his boat companies you always thought of Earl.  

Flash forward to today and the great results a client of mine is having.  Steve Cain of Steve Cain’s All Vacuum Center in Crestview Hills started using videos to market his company a few years ago.  He does product demonstrations, how-to videos and showcases items he sells.  Steve has become really good at making these videos and his message comes across great.  What’s happened isn’t surprising though.  Every week customers come into Steve’s store to speak with him about a new vacuum.  They mention that they’ve watched many of his videos.  These customers are more educated now on what Steve sells and more importantly they are more comfortable with him.   They aren’t walking in off the street to a stranger, they are coming in to see STEVE, the guy from the videos.  On top of that, the videos make his website and other marketing standout from the competition.  Plus there’s the added bonus of the organic SEO value of each video on YouTube, the pages on his website and the content for email and Facebook.

So I’ll ask you again, do your customers REALLY know you?  I didn’t think so, get started today and create your own video marketing plan.