MBA2456 Q&A Wednesday: I have the looks for radio but know video marketing works. Any advice?

0:08Heyo, welcome to the$100 MBA show, making building the business of your dreams a whole lot easier with our practical business lessons. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zinhome. And today's episode is Q &A Wednesday where we answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners. If you got a question you wanna ask, go ahead and email me over at omar at 100mba.net. Today's question is from Lisa. And Lisa asks, Omar, I have a thriving business. I just surpassed the six-figure mark, which I'm very proud of. Congrats, Lisa, it's amazing. But I wanna take my marketing to the next level and I know that video marketing works, but I have the looks for radio.

0:46Any advice? Firstly, Lisa, thank you so much for asking this question. It takes courage to say I need help, that you have a challenge that you need to overcome or figure a way around. Secondly, in today's episode, I'm gonna challenge you a little bit that the way you perceive, the way you look is bad for a video. I'm gonna give you some strategies to overcome that challenge but I'll also give you some alternatives if you wanna just get started with video without being on camera. Listen, I totally understand where Lisa's coming from. Growing up as a minority in the U.S., I really didn't fit in.

1:18I really didn't see myself as somebody that was good looking or that was attractive or was worth being shown on camera. It took me a lot of time to overcome that and realize just because I don't look like Tom Cruise doesn't mean I can't get in front of the camera and just love who I am and accept who I am and just show up as my best self, knowing that the purpose of the video is to help others. And we're going to start there in today's lesson. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. One of the best pieces of advice that I got was from a friend of mine, Michael Port. Michael Port runs an academy, a school called Heroic Public Speaking.

1:59I believe it's just called Heroic now, but it's a fantastic place to learn how to be a great public speaker. And when I was going through his training, he taught me one of the best things to do when you're so overwhelmed with being self-conscious, with worrying about how people are perceiving you, the way you look, the way you're dressed, the way you're moving. The best way to overcome that is to stop focusing on yourself and focus on them. Focus on the audience. And this is just as true on video. When you're just worried about making sure that I give value, that I help the viewer, that I help whoever just stumbled upon this video solve their problem, get past whatever they're struggling with, that really elevates not only the quality of video, but gets you focused on something else other than yourself.

2:45When you're focusing on others, when you're focusing on the viewer, the person that is receiving this content, you're going to automatically be less concerned about how they're perceiving you. You're really just worried about making sure this is valuable. This is a fantastic place to start and to kind of reshift your frame of reference. It's about them. It's not actually about you. This perspective allows you to really understand that, hey, eye candy is probably one of the lowest things on the ladder of importance when it comes to them clicking on the video and consuming the content. The other thing I want to say, and maybe this sounds a little cliche, but it's true.

3:25Beauty is subjective. Authenticity, being who you are, just getting in front of it and saying, hey, this is who I am, is very attractive. Owning who you are. There's so many YouTubers that I follow that are not conventionally attractive. In fact, when I got this question, I actually went back to my YouTube account, looked at all the channels I subscribed to and really looked at who are the people that I love watching. And many of them would struggle to be, you know, a professional model on Vogue or something like that, right? They might be overweight. They might be a little bit out of shape. They might have bad skin.

4:02Some of them have even speech impediments. Some of them are permanently physically challenged, but their content is so good. I never even noticed that stuff. Within the first few seconds of every video, I'm grabbed by the content. So I want to start by just reassuring you that if you just focus on the audience, on delivering great value and leveraging the fact that, hey, video does work, like you said, it's great for marketing, whether you're using reels or shorts on YouTube or having a YouTube channel or using it on your sales page as a sales video, it's massive. In fact, did you know that over 80 % of consumers are more likely to purchase a product after watching a video about it.

4:39That includes Amazon products, digital products online. That's a powerful statistic that emphasizes the importance of video in today's market, regardless of how you perceive yourself. Your appearance is just one aspect of the equation. It's your message, your authenticity that truly matters. I'm not here to tell you that, you know, somebody who is stunning or good looking from a physical point of view doesn't have an advantage. They do. But if they can't deliver, then it's disastrous. Your content is really what matters. I'm gonna go a little deeper. Whenever you have a challenge like this in your business where you're faced an opportunity, I could do video marketing, but I'm scared because maybe people won't perceive me as professional or maybe I don't look the part.

5:22Whenever you have those kinds of fears, this is a signal that you have to do it. Overcoming these kinds of challenges, overcoming these types of obstacles are really important business because on the other side of that obstacle is opportunity, is growth, is scale, is a chance for you to take you and your business to another level. So that's a signal to go after it. Let's get into some stretch. Instead of focusing solely on appearances, concentrate on what makes you unique and relatable, whether it's your experience, whether it's maybe your backdrop or your office has some little things that signal what you're all about.

5:57Share your stories, your knowledge, your passion, your enthusiasm shines through the video camera. That's what truly will resonate with your audience. It's not about fitting into a mold. It's about carving your own space and making an impact in your own way. Once I realized that, I realized I'm going to be my own personality, my own thing, because the best people that do it in show business, in movies, in talk shows, in podcasting, they're their own person whether it's joe rogan or comedians like jerry seinfeld or conan o 'brien or whoever it may be they have their own thing going create your own space create your own mold authenticity is your greatest assets through as hard as it may be be yourself regardless of your appearance regardless of how you perceive yourself just show up as you are that courage to do so will shine through and it's okay for you to even be so authentic to say in your first video hey hey, this is hard for me.

6:56I don't want to do this channel, but I wanted to challenge myself. I want to put the content out there. I want to put you first, the viewer, to give you the great information that I have, the great experiences that I have, so that you can get better. That will resonate with your audience. They'll say, yes, thank you. We're not all glamorous, you know, humans roaming the earth. So don't let the doubts about your appearance hold you back. Embrace who you are. Let your authenticity shine through the video content. And let me tell you, The world is hungry for genuine connections, for real people, not people that are unattainable.

7:29And you have an opportunity to provide just that. And listen, you can start small with a 30-second video, a 60-second video on Instagram. Then you can expand it to a 90-second video. Then you can do maybe a longer one and start a YouTube channel. Maybe put it on your website, put it on your blog. Ease yourself into it. Get more and more comfortable. Now, if you want to even ease yourself even more, this is what I would recommend. Start the video with you on camera. You want to build trust with your audience. Don't hide behind the camera. Build trust by showing your face and saying, hey, this is who I am.

8:00Then you can cut to B-roll, which is other footage that illustrates what you're explaining while you're voicing it over. This could be stock videos. This could be videos that you create, create your own B-roll in your office, outside, in your neighborhood, explaining what you're all about, what you're teaching. This could be animations. This could be drawings. This could be charts. There's a highly successful YouTube channel that I follow called CPG Gray, and it's all about animated explainer videos about interesting things in history, fun facts about the world. In fact, the person never shows his face, and that's the allure.

8:36I'm not a big fan of that. I like building trust in my audience, but it's something for you to reference. So you can start out with your face on the video, and then you can end with your face on the video wrapping up. And then more and more you can show yourself again throughout the video. This is incredibly important, especially if this video is intended to sell. It's a sales video on your website, for example. If you want people to take action, they have to trust what you're saying is true. They have to trust you as a person, they have to trust you as a creator. So think about making sure with every video you're showing your face more and more, especially again, if it's a sales video.

9:12Before I wrap up, I wanna recommend a book that might help you with this challenge. And it's called The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman. This book is really good at getting over these types of obstacles, getting something as a part of your repertoire, even your attire, a jacket, a hat, a pair of glasses that can basically flip a switch in you. When you put this on, you become somebody else. You play a role, the role you need to play to have the confidence to do what you need to do on camera. I know this sounds a little strange and maybe you're a little skeptical when I'm recommending this book, but it's actually proven to work.

9:54He's worked with professional athletes, celebrities, musicians, actors that you know, household names. And when you need to do something, you need to be open to different methodologies to overcoming a challenge. So recommend that book, The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman. I met Todd in person, solid guy. You're going to really enjoy this book. To wrap up today's episode, Lisa, I'm excited to see what you come up with. Please email me back, omar at 100mba.net, reply to the email, and let me know how it goes. I can't wait to watch your first video. I can't wait to share it and to champion your work.

10:31You got this. That wraps up today's episode. If you got a question you want to ask here on Q &A Wednesday, just go ahead and email me at omar at 100mba.net. I'll make sure to answer it right here on the show. I'll even give you a shout out to your business or whatever you do if you'd like, as a thank you for contributing to the discussion here on the podcast. If you haven't subscribed, you haven't followed the podcast yet, go ahead and do that right now. You got a next episode automatically. You get access to over 2 ,400 episodes in our archives, plenty of business lessons for you to build your business with.

11:01Go ahead and do that right now. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Most people care far less about you and what you look like and all these little details than you think. They're really interested in what's in it for them. They're actually very selfish. Most people by nature are just like that and not in a negative way. It's just how we are as human beings. You click on a video on YouTube. You're like, hey, is this going to help me? Is this going to be entertaining for me? Is this something that I want to watch? It's about themselves. It's not about you. So don't worry so much. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in the next episode.

11:36I'll see you then. Take care.

11:40Thank you.