MBA2306 Q&A Wednesday: What gear do I need to create a great sales video for my site?

0:09Heyo! Welcome to the$100 MBA show, because a better business begins with you. That's why we deliver daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zinhome. I'm also the co-founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company. I started with my co-founder back in 2014. In today's episode, it's Q &A Wednesday. On Q &A Wednesdays, we answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners. If you've got a question you want to ask, go ahead and email me over at omar at 100mba.net. Today's question is from Brenda, and Brenda asks, I want to create a killer sales video for my website.

0:41I sell online courses and I want to know what gear I need to pull off a great sales video. Do I need to invest in a great camera or just a very good webcam, mic, teleprompter? What do I need to make this happen and have a sales video that helps me get more conversions? Thanks for your help, Brenda. Love this question, Brenda, because I've created a lot of sales videos in my 20 years of business experience. And I'm going to give you all the options. I'm going to tell you what you need, what you don't need, how to decide what to buy, roughly how much these things cost, and how to get started. It can make a huge difference in the conversions you make, how many sales you get for your products or services.

1:22People love compelling video. And when I say invest, I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about time, effort, creativity. That's really what's going to make your video pop. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. Like I mentioned, I've created all kinds of different sales videos. Funny enough, one of the most successful sales videos I created didn't use a camera, a mic, a teleprompter, lighting. All I used was my laptop and I spent$50. Now you might be saying, how is this possible? We spent$50, didn't even use a camera or mic or any fancy equipment. Well, it's all about what the video is about.

2:00The idea, the script, the story you're telling. If that's strong, your video is going to be strong. I have also shot sales videos that were shot on location, fancy cameras, great music, highly edited, used a teleprompter, used all the technology, and it flopped. And again, it boils down to what are the words that are being conveyed? What is the message we're sending out? And there's a ton of examples I can give of really simple videos, videos that don't cost a lot of money to create that went viral. whether it's the Dollar Shave Club sales video or Old Spices videos where the guy is in the shower and telling women that your man can smell like me.

2:39If your concept is solid, it's really what matters. And let me explain where to get started so you know what you actually need to pull off your vision, to pull off your sales video. You need to start with a blank page, a blank piece of paper, a blank Word doc, Google Doc. That's where it starts. And you start with one goal. If there's one goal for this video, what is it? And don't say more sales because obviously we want more sales. But what do you want your audience member to walk away feeling, thinking? For example, in that$50 video that I created that was one of my best sales videos, it was a video to promote my software, Webinar Ninja.

3:16This is a video I created about five or six years ago. And the word I had at the top of my document was excited. I want people to get excited about my software, excited enough for them to try it because there's a free trial. I knew if they were excited to check it out, I've done my job. Now, once I nailed that word, the word, the thing I want them to actually feel, think, walk away with, you're going to decide that for yourself. But once you start with that word, it makes your life a whole lot easier. Because then you start asking yourself, well, what makes you excited in my case? You know, my word was excited.

3:47And I said, music pumps me up, so it's got to have great music. Action pumps me up. Personally, powerful words pump me up. When you hear a powerful quote or you hear a powerful sentence or a great speech, it really excites you. So I would write down a brainstorm. I said, OK, great music, great words, great message. And that's how I came up with the concept where I said, I'm going to create a video that's all about typography and very fast paced upbeat music, showing different images of our software and what it does and explaining why they should get excited about it. So that kind of is the way you can come up with a great concept.

4:26It's just starting with the word and then asking yourself, how do I get people to feel that way, to think that way? What would help me do that? Maybe your word is inspiring or feeling inspired. Well, maybe you need to show some inspiring images, maybe clips from your own life, maybe inspiring quotes or inspiring figures from history. And from there, you start to realize, OK, in order for me to put this together, maybe I need to be on camera. Maybe I don't need to be on camera. In my case with my$50 video, I wasn't on camera at all. There was no voiceover. It was just music and typography and images.

5:00I bought an After Effects project and customized it for our needs. I bought the rights to a song that I thought would go great and would be punchy with this typography video. And that's all I bought because that's all the project needed. I didn't want to just bloat it for no reason. Now, your needs might require you to be on camera. Does it need to be a$5 ,000 camera, a studio camera? No, probably doesn't. You probably could shoot a great video with your iPhone, with your smartphone. Do you actually need great audio on the go or can you do a voiceover later on? Can you use music over the images and use words?

5:36At the end of the day, once you understand what you're trying to do, what you're trying to invoke in the customer when they watch this video, you'll know what you'll need. Now, I'm not a big fan of teleprompters because I know a lot of people, they're going to deliver lines in a sales video. They're going to do some teaching, like say, for example, in Brenda's example where she is selling online courses, maybe she wants to do a bit of teaching. Maybe it's better to share some clips of you coaching on a live video. I did this with a sales video for our automated webinar challenge course, and it came out brilliant.

6:07And you should check it out if you want to see a good example of this over at WebinarNinja.com slash AWC. Now, the reason why I'm not a big fan of a teleprompter is because it's very hard, unless you're a professional and you do this every day, to make it look natural. To make it look like natural speech. To look into the lens perfectly like you're talking to somebody directly in their eyes. I like to make eye contact with the lens because it makes it a very compelling video when somebody feels like you're looking right at them. And I rather have three or four cuts, me delivering lines that I've memorized.

6:39And I usually can memorize two to three lines at a time. and cutting to a different angle or maybe a closeup. And you can do this in post and edit every time I deliver a line so it looks like a deliberate edit, a deliberate shot. And it comes off more authentic, in my opinion. So it starts with a concept. Then you start understanding, what do I need? Do I need music I need to buy? Do I need to get some graphic work done? Do I need to just get a bunch of footage and spend some time shooting some video? Maybe I want to shoot some footage of New York City or the city I live in. Maybe I got to do some interviews over video or in person.

7:14Whatever your concept is, understand, okay, what do I need to pull this together? And then you'll know what equipment you need. If you're on a budget, ask yourself before you buy any pieces of equipment, will this make or break the actual sales video? Will it actually be a deal breaker? In most cases, in my experience, it's not. Usually the concept, the message, the feeling you're trying to evoke is really what matters. People will tolerate less than perfect delivery or equipment. Of course, if you can afford it and you can go all in, amazing. So as you can see, your sales video really starts with the concept.

7:51Then you ask yourself, what do I need? Because often if you start the other way around, you're going to buy and invest in things you just don't need to pull off your idea, to pull off your sales video. I will say that the real magic happens in the script or the storyboard and in the edit, because that's really where the story is told. That's where the video is really turned into magic. And if you're not strong with either one of them, maybe you can hire some help on Upwork or on freelancer.com to help you with these tasks. This is where I would invest some money because this is really where you can differentiate your video from a good one to a great one.

8:27Brenda, I hope that helps answer your question today on Q &A Wednesday. If you have a question you want to ask, go ahead and ask me over at omar at 100mba.net. I'll make sure to answer right here on Q &A Wednesday. If you love this podcast, hit subscribe, hit follow on your favorite podcast app. Just hit those triple dots on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, on Stitcher Radio, on whatever app, and hit follow. That way you get our episodes automatically and you get access to over 2 ,300 business lessons in our archives. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Crediting a sales video is so much fun in my opinion.

8:58It's such creative work. It's a great exercise of expression and a chance for you to show how proud you are of your work. When you do this, the viewer, the customer, they see it. It gets conveyed and they get excited about your product or service. So don't be bashful, okay? Be proud of what you've created and show your pride in that video. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

9:30Thank you.