Video continue to increase in importance for online marketers in 2012.

Thoughts from “Mr Video” (aka Perry Lawrence)…

“Mr Video’s Video Predictions For 2012″

There are 10 in all.

First three…

1. Quality, Quality, Quality

Not too hard once you get started.  The “experience effect” tends to kick in and you get more proficient.

2. Mobile Video Explodes

Something of a trend here…mobile is important.

3. Google Buys GoPro Video

Makes sense.

Well worth reading the whole post for the remaining video marketing predictions for 2012.

Copywriters…UPDATE (19 November 2011):

The “Crazy 8″ webinar took place yesterday (17 November US time, 18 November here in Australia)…

…and BOY did the team over-deliver!  Now if you missed out, it’s not too late…

…because the webinar was recorded.  You can still “register” here…

www.keepkenstrong.com

…and you’ll get not only some amazing bonuses but also the recording of the event pretty much straight away.

The webinar ran for almost 2 hours, solid-gold content and a bargain at $27.

***

What, you may be asking yourself, is the “Crazy 8″ video sales letter formula?

Is it an out-take of deranged copywriters from the first “Kill Bill” movie?

No!

All is explained below by master copywriter David Garfinkel…

…one of my prime copywriting mentors.

Not only do you get the inside scoop on a wickedly effective way to write video sales letters…

…but you’re going to be doing your good deed for the day.

Over to you David…

***

The holiday season is always a little rough for me – my father died of cancer on December 22, 39 years ago.

Eight years ago in May, my good friend John Cantu died of cancer as well.

I’m not writing about this to ask for your pity.

I’m asking for your help.

You see, the war of medicine vs. cancer has turned the corner. More than ever before, it’s possible to beat the deadly disease.

A few months ago my buddy Greg had a huge tumor in his intestine. Doctor went in, tumor went out, and Greg’s doing fine as of today.

And, just a few weeks ago, my friend and fellow copywriter Ken Strong discovered he has a particularly nasty and aggressive form of cancer: malignant melanoma.

A bunch of world-beating copywriters agreed to join me to do a benefit for him, this Thursday.

www.keepkenstrong.com

The reason we’re doing a benefit is his insurance won’t cover the treatment he needs.

Don’t even get me started on that one.

Here’s why you should pay attention to this and consider attending:

John Carlton, Kevin Rogers, Brian McLeod and a slew of other top writers are going to be breaking down a “secret formula.”

Really, so secret that only a handful of people even knew about this formula as of last month.

But it’s powerful.

So powerful that Kevin and his writing partner Ben Johnson are using it to create multi-million-dollar Video Sales Letters.

Today.

In this economy.

It’s versatile, too.

You can use this secret formula to easily create powerful Video Sales Letters.

Also, for magazine ads.

Also, for telemarketing scripts.

For direct mail.

For scripted sales presentations.

For spontaneous sales presentations!

And here’s the best part:

We’re nearly giving it away on a live Webinar…for only $27.

To make it practically impossible to pass up this incredible offer!

Plus, you’ll get a recording (video recording; mp3; and a PDF of the slides) afterwards.

www.keepkenstrong.com

Each $27 registration is going direct to Ken’s PayPal account.

The last time I was involved in a group effort this valuable was six years ago, when I put together the crew for Breakthrough Copywriting, a three-day live event in Las Vegas.

People happily paid $5,000 to attend.

Of course there was more information there than in a 90-minute Webinar.

But you are getting so much value for $27. Even if you can’t make it Thursday night, you’ll still get all the info to review later, after the fact.

Please help us save a life:

www.keepkenstrong.com

Cheers,

David Garfinkel

World Copywriting Institute

 ***

OK, that all should be pretty clear.  Naturally, I’ve signed up and if you’re a copywriter it should be a pretty easy decision.  Video sales letters are a big part of online direct response marketing today and you need to know how to write them effectively.

David mentions the “Breakthrough Copywriting” workshop.  I attended that program and it really was one of the best events I have attended.  So I can vouch for the quality of any training that David is involved with.

This really is a bargain plus the $27 is going to a good cause.

Here’s where to grab your place…

www.keepkenstrong.com

Want some pointers to writing killer video sales letters?

Look no further than the infomercials on TV like this one promoting the incredible “Slap Chop”!

Has all the classic elements…

1) Grabs attention

2) Demonstrates the benefits (in terms of the end result…all those yummy dishes)

3) Credibility elements

4) Great offer

…PLUS wait, there’s more…

5) Bonus

And gee, the “Slap Chop” reminds me of something else…

…perhaps this?

Amazing how similar the ads are.

The reason of course is…

…they WORK!

I’ve mentioned before the video “Gadgetmania”…

…a great study of the classic pitchmen and the pioneering infomercials.

The principles don’t change…

…so if you want a successful video sales letter…

…it’s well worth studying these classics.

Here’s a marketing video featuring the Sydney Opera House that I think you’ll enjoy.

It’s based around the “Ship Song” by Nick Cave.

I both LOVE this video…

…and HATE it…

…as I’ll explain after you’ve had a chance to watch it…

Hits lots of emotional hot buttons…

…and a “feel good” piece.

BUT…

…I wonder how many more tickets this will sell.

Not too many, I would guess.

Sure, anyone who watches this is going to feel good about the Sydney Opera House.

And any visitors to Sydney will be even more likely to want to drop by (but they probably would anyway).

But as I said, in terms of making more dollars…

…this probably won’t make much difference.

The tag line at the end…

“Come make a little history”

…is pretty feeble and, quite frankly, a little obscure.

(Yes, I know it refers to a line in the lyric, but if you don’t know the song or don’t listen closely then it could well leave you scratching your head and wondering.)

No links to websites…

…no phone number for the box office or even details about tours.

So a classic “Image Ad”…

…but as a direct response marketer and copywriter I have to give this a big “Thumbs Down”.

Shame, because the Sydney Opera House is a real treasure…

…wonderful iconic shot at the end.

So enjoy the video and then why not actually catch a show at the Opera House?

Here’s where to find out more…

Sydney Opera House

Bell Shakespeare Company

Australian Chamber Orchestra

Not just another great cartoon from Tom Fishburne…

…but a very interesting case study in the successful use of social media and viral marketing.

Read the whole thing at…

“brandtube”

It concerns the most mundane of products…

…tongue scrapers for oral hygiene!

Actually, the story involves the archetypal lone inventor who had a product he believed in but couldn’t find a market.

What he ended up doing is revealed in this video…

Great story.

And here’ s the video that kicked off this viral sensation…

The marketer behind the campaign attributed the success to what he described as the “4 Cs”…

1. Authentic Content

2. Collaboration with the audience

3. Consistency

4. Clear Call to action

Note that the original video clearly follows the classic direct response model of…

…Problem / Agitate / Solution / Call to action.

Well worth studying this.

…but you’re going to create a killer video!

Or…

“A simple letter is beyond you…but a Hollywood blockbuster…no problem!”

OK.  Get the picture.

Look, the above comments (hopefully) don’t apply to you.

But I’m going to go on a mini-rant about something that is annoying me at the moment.

Bear with me because what I have to say may well save you a lot of time and frustration and money too.

There’s a somewhat dangerous (in my view) idea going around in marketing circles…

…that the traditional long copy sales letter is dead…

…and that video is the way of the future.

I guess this idea got going, oh, 2-3 years ago with Michel Fortin’s “The Death Of The Salesletter”.

It’s been picked up by other marketers like John Reese and Armand Morin.

In fact in a recent video promoting a new product, Armand boasted that he hadn’t written a traditional long copy letter for quite a while now.

This was in a video that ran for around 90 minutes…

…and ended with an utterly shameless stacking of bonuses on a slide that looked pretty much like…

…well one of those tables you might see in…a long copy salesletter.

My point here is not to dispute or down play the importance of video.

Done properly, video works and will usually boost sales and conversions.

BUT, video works not simply because it’s video…

…but because it’s an effective medium to communicate an effective sales message!

It’s the sales message that is key.

It’s the same with long copy letters.  They don’t work simply because there is 20-30 pages of text…

…but because they communicate a sales message effectively.

Now, you might be thinking, how do you create a great, effective, video?

Well, turns out that the process, the “formula” if you like, is pretty much the same as the traditional long copy letter.

Take a look at some of these video sales letters.

You’ll see the familiar elements of getting attention, building interest and desire, presenting proof and asking for action.

What I’m saying here is that many of the advocates of video either ignore or gloss over the importance of knowing how to craft a compelling sales message.

Bluntly, if you can’t write a sales letter, you’ve got no chance of crafting an effective video script.

In fact, it’s probably harder to write a video script.

Another thing.

Is video always the best medium?

Probably not…depends on your market and the audience.

Even in a market like internet marketing, video on it’s own can have limitations.

Take the recent launch by Eben Pagan of his “Guru Blueprint” program.

Let me say, I have nothing but the highest admiration for Eben.  The man’s a genius marketer and I watch closely what he does.

However, in the middle of the 90 minute video that formed the “video sales letter” for the product, I had to wonder when the hell this thing was going to end.

It was good content, but did it really merit 90 minutes?

Had to smile when the day after the video came out, super affiliate Jeff Johnson came out with an email that confirmed my thoughts when he said…

“Eben Pagan’s Guru Blueprint sales video is too damn long.”

One of the advantages of the traditional sales letter is that you can skim read it and quickly zero in on the key information.

You can’t do that with a video, which is why some experts recommend supporting the video with…

…a sales letter!

As I said before, I’m not “anti-video”.

I regularly write scripts for clients and I’m a big advocate of using them.

I’ve learnt how to script killer videos from the experts…

…and I watch closely how video is used.

You may have noted my occasional series on this blog about “Marketing And Movie Trailers”.

But the medium is NOT the message.

Beware the “Shiny Object”.

There is no substitute for understanding the marketing fundamentals, crafting a killer sales message…

…and then delivering that message via the most appropriate medium, whether that’s video, audio or text.

Some useful copywriting points to note in a video that’s been causing something of a stir with comments like “Has Alabama’s Dale Peterson created the best political ad ever?”

Here’s the video…

Here are a couple of the points that struck me…

1. Note the use of the “arresting idea” about the size of the commissioner’s budget.  Who would have thought? Great attention grabber.

2. Use of the “us” versus the undefined “them” idea.

3. For his audience (remember, the guy is running for the Republican nomination) the guy is connecting very well with the “conversation” that’s already going on in their minds.

Plus, of course, great imagery throughout with the classic American icon of the cowboy…

…and the very clever introduction of the rifle at the end.

This video does a lot in just over a minute, at the end you know clearly who this guy is and what he stands for.  Well worth looking at the structure of this video.

Be interesting to see how Dale does in the primary and then the election if he gets that far..

Over at Clayton Makepeace’s blog, there is a special guest post from marketing maven Rich Schefren.

It’s all about TV pitchman Billy Mays and the marketing lessons to be learned from his work.

In a nutshell…

“…Billy knew how to do something that very few marketers realize is even possible. He knew how to create and stir up demand for a product in less than two minutes.”

“That’s right, in less than 120 seconds he was bale to introduce you to a product, get you to want it badly enough, and then get you to pick up the phone and crack open your wallet to order it. And once again – all in the span of two minutes.”

Now, for marketers and copywriters, this is going to be an increasingly important skill.

Rich wrote a special report a while back called the “Attention Age Doctrine” which covered marketing in an attention-deficit society. So it’s no great surprise that he was interested in the work of Billy Mays.

(In fact, when Billy died Rich was considering creating a product with him on how best to sell through video.)

The article is more like a special report. I’ve printed it out and it runs to 20 pages, so be warned!

However, this is something well worth your time…

…and attention!

Here’s…

“Billy Mays Marketing Magic”.

Here’s something a little different from the usual marketing video clips that we’ve been looking at.

It’s from one of my favourite authors, Steven Pressfield.

His best known book is probably “Gates Of Fire”, a retelling of the epic battle between the Greeks (mainly Spartans) and the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

Steven’s latest book is “Killing Rommel” a novel set against the back drop of the war in North Africa in 1942-43.

Now, if you like historical drama I think you’ll love this book.  I got it a few weeks ago and couldn’t put it down.  Wonderful book with a surprising twist at the end.  Can’t rate it too highly.

But that’s not the main point of this post.

I was listening to a fascinating interview with Steven and I was quite amazed when he spoke about the difficulty these days of getting a review in the press for a new novel.

Apparently, the press in the US has cut back on reviews and even for a successful author like Pressfield, it’s getting more difficult to get the word out about new books.

Interesting.

Anyway, undeterred he went and set up a website to promote “Killing Rommel” that includes a video in 3 versions (30 seconds, 3 minutes and a 10 minute “mini-documentary”).

The different versions are interesting to compare to see how the producers adapt the message to fit the time available.

Interesting approach and we could well see a lot more of this sort of thing with marketing books.  We’ve already seen “virtual book tours” and it makes sense that authors will make more use of the internet to market and promote their work.

I’ve included the 3 minute version below.  On my “A-I-R” structure, I think it rates pretty well but have look and please share your opinion in the comments.

Oh and you may have noticed I’ve switched over to the DISQUS comment system.  You don’t need to have an account, you can comment as a “Guest”. Please do!

…from Billy Mays.

After yesterday’s post, I couldn’t resist putting up one of Billy’s “Mighty Putty” infomercials.

Love the part with the truck! Who wouldn’t want some of this stuff!

My only slight quibble with this is that the offer is a little ordinary…great value for sure, but ordinary.