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Podcast (10k-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:19 — 29.7MB)
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Creating video for Amazon sellers requires a lot of trial and error. Rick talks about how to get viewers hooked on your videos.
New Book: “Video persuasion”
Video is becoming a real necessity if you’re using it to help sell a product /generate leads. It’s not about the technical aspects.
There are lots of software tools. But content is more critical and more neglected.
Content is king
- What to put in the video
- To engage the viewer quickly
- How to keep them interested.
- How to structure Call To Action
But what content should you use?
style=”font-weight: 400;”>How do you hook them in?
What content is most appealing?
How do you use video to get people to take a specific action?
What is Direct Branding?
Sell the product first, get it into the marketplace and improve the brand with a response from the marketplace.
You get two results:
- Improve the brand
- Cashflow!
Having run a marketing agency for years. Rick is doing more writing, speaking, consulting.
Products =branding
We forget the power of word of mouth – reviews and social media amplify this.
Having products out in consumers’ homes is great brand awareness and engagement!
Writing
Rick has set a goal to write five books In the next 5 years!
Working with Jason Boyce doing $20M a year – launching products
Goal setting and conversation point here.
“The difference between an idea and action…”
Even in business, a lot of people fall down. They don’t take the steps.
Setting goals and acting on them is really important.
What to put in the video
Rick did a lot of research using stats from Cisco and Hubspot for the book.
There are 3 most effective types of videos based on the videos:
Top 3 most effective types of video?
- Tutorial (how-to)
- Demonstration
- Testimonials
These are the most important to put on your website or on Amazon.
Demo + Test is really powerful to sell products.
They’ve seen conversion rate increases with clients
What are the steps to create great demo videos?
It sounds simple to make a demo video – but there’s more to it.
Rick worked on direct response TV – the production money gave a discipline that showed what got people to respond.
Create really great demo videos.
What are the principles?
This holds true for both video and even still images…
Many Amazon listings could be much better at converting.
The human element in still images
A lot of people take a product and we see very cold images of the product.
If you can incorporate a human element – using the product – even a body part like a hand etc. – it goes a long way to helping these things convert.
Graphics and titles
If you can create a product image with infographics in it, where title calls out benefits of the product, that helps with conversion.
Rick works with Amazon agency – including infographics with benefits in images
Video
Adding titles to videos – if it’s on a social media channel where people have it muted, it becomes more important.
Some video production companies stumble – they feel it will ruin the look of the video.
That is wrong – people watch to get information, so it’s pointless not communicating.
Demonstration video nuts and bolts
- Let people know upfront what video is about
- GoPro commercials – everyone started with a Go-Pro logo so people knew it was about that product!
- The goal is not to get everybody watching to watch video
- It’s to get people who are invested in the product
- Put user-generated footage eg snowboarding
- End with an offer
No Call To Action!
Many sellers forget to add a Call To Action. It makes no sense at all to get consumers excited to buy and don’t give them a path to action.
Even if it’s simple like 10% off, Buy One, Get One Free, etc.
Brand and response are not mutually exclusive! Always be sure to go for a response!
Why lead with the brand?
Clients don’t have $100 millions of dollars for advertising!
You need to get advertising to pay for itself.
This is done from lots of experience and trial and error.
Also, the bigger brands that have no Call To Action in brand advertising eg Proctor & Gamble (SP) are getting killed by smaller brands that do direct response marketing.
They are stuck in a way of doing business that is no longer effective.
As small/growing business owners, we can do better than the established players in this way.
Testing
Rick is a big believer in testing.
Even if it works, you should test to see if you could make it better.
Nearly every big brand Rick has worked on had trial and error and lots of failures.
Example:
George Foreman had just won the heavyweight championship aged 46 (oldest in the sport).
They started the ad with boxing footage which cost them $1000s for about 30 seconds’ footage.
Sadly, the target audience didn’t like boxing!
Most TV buyers were women – they still are – so they hated it!
Went back to the drawing board, rejigged and then went on to a huge success. But the first attempt was a clear failure.
How do we frame it such that we don’t run out of cash?
You can start things on a shoestring budget but it’s getting harder now.
You can’t get around the fact: the more capital you have to test things, the better the result you’re going to have.
Getting above breakeven
Trying to market a product – do an ad proof Pro-forma
Eg selling a hairdryer – each $1 spent on advertising needs to make $1.75
This is the break-even point definition.
You need to be scientific about the financial calculations.
Research Principles and examples
The other thing that can get you to the goal sooner and minimise spend:
Really understand the concepts that should be in your video to make them work.
One of the easiest ways to do that is to look at videos on Youtube that you personally respond to. Analyse them and study them – how do they work? What’s the structure?
Learn and network
It’s great to learn from webinars, books etc.
It’s crucial to share learnings from different businesses. Masterminds can be great for this.
Different types of content – tutorials and demos are critical – rickcesari.com there is a white paper about that for free.
3 proven ways to hook in viewers at the start of the video
There are 3 ways Rick has used to start a video to catch the attention.
Option 1: start with a question
eg: “Would you like to lose 10 pounds in 30 days?”
Address the potential problem. Anyone with that problem will stay to listen.
Option 2: Factoid
Rick did a TV infomercial for juice man juicer
Factoid: element in broccoli shown to prevent breast cancer.
Option 3: Short story
People love to hear stories – that would tie into your product or service?
Could be a real experience
Structure of video
A lot of the structure is the same as giving a speech.
Rick read Dale Carnegie “How to win friends and influence people”
The formula for speech – tell people what you’re going to tell them; tell them; tell them what you said.
- Short intro tease
- Go into more detail
- Then summarise
If you have an audience, you need to keep them engaged.
About Rick Cesari
Direct response marketing for 30 years
- Launched – Sonic Care, Go Pro Camera, Lean Green Grilling Machine (George Foreman )
- – now using this Knowledge to help Amazon sellers.
- Author – 1st Book “Buy Now”, 2nd book “Building Billion Dollar brands”; 3rd book about to come out
Direct Branding
Rick has a company called “Direct Branding”
They take the concepts from TV advertising and apply them to 7-, 8- and 9-figure e-commerce businesses.
To explore working with Rick’s agency:
Learn more about Video Marketing from Rick Cesari here.
On Tuesday, Oct 15th when you purchase a copy of Rick’s book, Video Persuasion on Amazon, you will receive:
➢ Gift #1: Rick’s very own Video Scriptwriting Template that we use for our video shoots!
➢ Gift #2: A FREE book, 101 Fast, Good, Cheap Hacks for Writing a KILLER Sales Letter, by Jack Turk (Digital version)
And, your name will be automatically entered into a drawing for these fabulous Bonuses:
➢ Grand Prize Bonus #1: Be a guest on the set of a George Foreman TV commercial shoot!
➢ Bonus #2: Entered into a Drawing for a one (1) hour consultation with me $1000 (3 available)
➢ Bonus #3: Entered into a Drawing for a Video Persuasion/WealthFit Online Instruction Course (5 available)
Launch page with bonuses: http://amazingfba.com/rick-cesari
Amazon link for the paperback book: https://amazingfba.com/rick-cesari-paperback-book
Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that I have experience with all of these companies, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals.
