Leveraging Your Thought Leadership
In the previous webinar, I showed you how to take one idea and turn it into 21 different pieces of high-quality content, which you can use for marketing purposes. In this session, I answer your questions about the process and tools.
Watch the recording here:
Register for future webinars in the series here.
If you’d like to know more about content marketing and how to use it in your business, come to my two one-day workshops in Sydney:
In this webinar, I’ll show you how to take one idea and turn it into 21 different pieces of high-quality content, which you can use for marketing purposes – to attract high-quality traffic that turns into high-quality clients.
Watch the recording here:
Register for future webinars in the series here.
If you’d like to know more about content marketing and how to use it in your business, come to my two one-day workshops in Sydney:
Text is still important, but many Internet users prefer visuals – such as photos, videos, slide shows, and infographics. In this session, I answer YOUR questions about these visual content marketing tools.
Watch the recording here:
Register for future webinars in the series here.
If you’d like to know more about content marketing and how to use it in your business, come to my two one-day workshops in Sydney in May:
Last week, I ran a webinar showing a number of ways to display your content in a more visual way (you can watch the webinar recording at the bottom of this blog post). Here’s a list of the 15 things I mentioned, broken down into five areas: Photographs, video, slide shows, screen capture video, and live events.
Still photographs are easy to create and share, and people love sharing good photos with their own networks as well.
Now that practically everybody is travelling around with a camera in their pocket or purse (it’s called a smartphone!), there’s no excuse for not taking more photos. Of course you’ll take personal photos as well that you won’t share with your business network. But also look out for opportunities to take photos that are business-related as well. Here are three of mine – which I can link to business themes of lifestyle, achievement and personal responsibility:
If you add words – a quotation, some advice, or a funny saying – to a picture, it means that when somebody shares the picture, they will automatically share the words as well. There are some online tools for adding words to pictures (Lunapic.com is one example), but you can also do this in PowerPoint or Keynote.
If you have a number of related photos and you want to display them in a slide show, use Animoto to combine them in an appealing way. It creates a slide show with music, beautiful transitions, and animation. If you want to use it for business, there’s a commercial version available.
Online video is also very popular now, because it’s easy to create, YouTube makes it easy to publish, and broadband Internet makes it faster to download.
Yes, everybody talks about YouTube, but that’s for a good reason! You should use YouTube for publishing short videos of you speaking to camera. You should have an introductory video for your Web site, short teaching videos, and short videos promoting your main products.
Send private video e-mails using Eyejot. Yes, you can do the same with YouTube now (by marking your videos as “Unlisted”), but it takes a number of steps. Eyejot is quicker and easier, and the Pro version (which removes ads) is very, very cost-effective.
If you’re teaching something, use a whiteboard, flip chart, or even a large art book (with large sheets of white paper). I love the way Matt Church does this on his blog MattChurch.com/blog, where the camera shows only the sheet of paper, not his face.
Sometimes, a good slide show is better than a video for presenting educational material.
Use Slideshare for publishing your PowerPoint or Keynote presentations. Think of it as “YouTube for PowerPoint”. For those of us who are good with PowerPoint/Keynote, it’s a breeze to put together an attractive slide presentation which teaches, promotes, or both.
Slideshare also allows you to add an audio track to your presentation, so viewers can get – in effect – an entire presentation, with visuals and audio. Another option for including audio is to record it directly in PowerPoint or Keynote, and then export the presentation as a video file, which you can then upload to YouTube.
For a different kind of slide show, check out Simple Booklet, which allows you to create very attractive slide “booklets” for your Web site or blog. It’s a bit like using a desktop publishing tool, but much simpler and specifically for publishing to the Web.
Screen capture video allows you to record what’s happening on your screen (including mouse movements and typing), and records your voice.
If you want to demonstrate something technical on your screen – such as an Excel spreadsheet, how to access your membership site, or how to do something in Microsoft Outlook – do a screen capture video. You might have heard of Camtasia for the PC or ScreenFlow for the Mac, but I like to use Screencast-O-Matic.com, a dead-simple online tool for this purpose. Just create an account on their Web site and click “Start Recording”!
Screen capture video isn’t only for demonstrating technical things. Because it just records whatever is on your screen, you can use it to demonstrate anything there. For example, if you use an online mind mapping tool like MindJet, iMindmap or The Brain, simply open it up and talk about your mind map while Screencast-O-Matic is running. That turns into an attractive visual walkthrough of your mind map, and you simply upload it to YouTube or some other video hosting service.
Frankly, I haven’t seen any good live presentations using the fancy presentation tool Prezi, because most of them focus on the prettiness of Prezi rather than using it for anything useful. But I think Prezi is a great tool for recorded presentations, because its visual appeal then does make a difference. As with the mind mapping example, you just run Screencast-O-Matic on your Prezi window and talk through the presentation.
Some online events are inherently visual, and this gives you a chance to engage people both with their eyes and their ears.
Of course, a webinar is a visual presentation, and it has the added benefit of a live presenter, so the audience can ask questions and interact in other ways. If you’re not already running webinars, sign up to GoToWebinar and get started! All infopreneurs and thought leaders should be using webinars to engage with new and existing audiences.
You can also use Skype for video conference calls, record the video and publish it to YouTube. Terry Brock did this last year with a three-way Skype video call between him, Scott Friedman and me, talking about the state of the professional speaking industry worldwide.
Another way to do small-group video conferencing is with Google Hangouts, another free service from Google. You can have up to 10 people in the conference call, and even open it up to unlimited others in the audience (who can watch it live on your YouTube channel). You can also record the hangout, and the recording is uploaded automatically to YouTube.
You might not be able to use all 15 of these ideas, but do think about what might work for you – and for your audiences.
Here’s the full recording of the webinar I did on this topic last week:
Register for future webinars in the series here.
If you’d like to know more about content marketing and how to use it in your business, come to my two one-day workshops in Sydney in May:
Text is still important, but many Internet users prefer visuals – such as photos, videos, slide shows, and infographics. In this webinar, I’ll show you different ways of sharing high-quality content in a visual way.
Watch the recording here:
Register for future webinars in the series here.
If you’d like to know more about content marketing and how to use it in your business, come to my two one-day workshops in Sydney in May:
If you’re a business owner, you can’t ignore the power of online video to generate leads, turn prospects into customers, and bring you repeat business. Online video is no longer difficult or expensive, so it’s time for you to take advantage of it.
According to Google, which owns YouTube, over 60 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Yes, that’s 60 hours every minute! That means that if you wanted to watch all the video uploaded to YouTube in a single day, it would take you 10 years – and that’s watching it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year!
Here are three simple ways to use video in your marketing.
This video sits near the top of your home page, and is a nice, simple, friendly video that introduces people to you, your business, and your Web site. It shouldn’t be more two minutes long – and one minute is even better.
What should you say in it? Here’s one simple formula: Start by stating the biggest problem that customers face when dealing with other people in your industry, then explain why you’re different, then tell them what to do next on your Web site.
For example, if you’re a plumber, you might say something like this:
“Hello, I’m Julie Bloggs from No More Leaky Taps. One of the biggest problems people have with a plumber is that they don’t tell you when they will turn up, and sometimes even when they do, they don’t turn up on time. So you have to hang around for hours waiting for them, which wastes your time, and sometimes messes up your entire day.
So you’ll be pleased to know that we’re different. All our office staff know about plumbing, so we can give you an exact time for your appointment, and we can even tell you how long it will usually take. We’re so confident that if we’re more than 5 minutes late, we’ll give you $100 cash on the spot!
So if you want an on-time plumber – for a change – then get in touch with us. Have a look at our Web site for the nearest team member, and give them a call today!”
Record this video and upload it to YouTube. Try it out – it’s easy!
If you’re worried about splashing your face on YouTube right away, here’s how to start with something simpler: Send video e-mail using Eyejot.com.
You log on to their site, record a short video, and then send it to somebody as an e-mail. They get the e-mail and click the video link to watch your message.
This is perfect for keeping in touch with people, and it has a “Wow!” factor because it’s impressive – and unexpected. If you’re a plumber, imagine your customer’s reaction if you send a video e-mail like this 24 hours before an appointment. Or if you’re a real estate agent selling a home, you could send a video to the owners after a Home Open, just telling them how it went. Or if you’re a personal trainer, you could send a short motivational video to a client after a training session.
This is so easy to do, because people expect e-mail to be friendly and casual, so it doesn’t matter if your video isn’t slick or elegant.
Ask your customers to record a testimonial video and send it to you. That gives you instant marketing material for no effort at all!
You can ask customers to just record themselves talking to camera about your product or service, but that can be a bit dull. So get creative! For example, if you sell some sort of gizmo or gadget they can use, you might run a competition, where you tell customers to record a short video of themselves using the gizmo and talking about it. And you give a prize to the most creative video. Or whatever.
So those are three pretty simple ideas for you to use video marketing in your business.
The most important thing: As Nike says, “Just do it!” The more you do it, the easier and more natural it will become.
Last week, I conducted a webinar about online video for members of my eGurus Community. One point I made was that video doesn’t just have to be about speaking to camera, and I shared a number of other ways to create and publish online video.
A few attendees took the opportunity to try some of these immediately. One of them was Phillip Slater, who created this animation to promote his business:
Many presenters – even experienced presenters – look wooden and boring when they record a video. One of my clients, Michael Neaylon, has three simple but very powerful tips for adding an element of performance to your on-line videos.
If you’re an eGuru, you need to be on YouTube – no ifs and buts about it! Everybody and their cat is there, so if you’re not, it reflects poorly on you.
But don’t set out to create the world’s best viral video. Start by recording a 2-3 minute promotional video of you speaking to camera, introducing yourself and explaining what problems you solve for your clients and customers.
OK, I know that’s not as easy as it sounds! The main problem most people have is that they don’t know what to say and how to say it.
Here’s a simple template for writing a natural-sounding, high-quality script for your promotional video …
“Hi, I’m [your name], and I’m a [sales trainer / wealth creation coach / whatever you're an expert in].”
“People often ask me, ‘How do I [motivate my sales team / invest in the stock market / whatever problem your clients have, in their words]?’“
“I [have a membership site / run a two-day workshop / have written a book / whatever] to answer this question …“
“… because I know what you really care about is [your team meeting their targets / creating security for your family / whatever big purpose they have], not [managing people / buying and selling shares / whatever the immediate problem is].”
“What makes [me / this course / whatever] different is that [each salesperson gets individual coaching / I'm the only wealth creation coach endorsed by the Australian Tax Office / whatever makes you different].”
“I know this stuff works, because I [have a Masters degree / have been doing this for 12 years / have worked with over 150 clients / whatever experience, expertise or education matters].”
“For example, a recent client [tell a success story ...].”
“I love [turning average workers into stars / helping ordinary Australians achieve their dreams / whatever you're passionate about.]“
“If you’d like to find out more, download my [special report / audio program / whatever] at [www.YourWebSite.com].”
Copy this template, fill in the blanks, turn on the camera and try out the script. Don’t expect to get it exactly right on the first take, but you might be surprised just how easy it is.
When you’re happy with it, upload it to YouTube, and copy the YouTube video to the home page of your Web site.
This article is based on the “Show Your Face” chapter in my book “Fast, Flat and Free”. The book describes this process in more detail, with a couple of additional examples, so you have more samples to choose from. I also share some tips to improve the quality of your video when you record it.
Find out more and buy the book here.
At a higher level, it’s based on a concept called the Positioning Matrix, created by my friend and colleague Matt Church (and used with his permission). It’s useful not just for videos, but also for networking events, sales letters and Web sites.
We all know Google is the world’s biggest search engine, right? But what comes second? It’s not Bing or Yahoo! or Baidu (the leading search engine in China).
No. It’s YouTube.
I remember when Google first bought YouTube a few years ago, some experts were worried that it would quickly wither and die. Not because Google would kill it, but because there was so much copyright infringement on it and Google had so much money, that some people feared that it would be swamped with lawsuits.
Fortunately, it survived. And thrived. YouTube has just turned five, and it’s now getting 5 billion views a day.
I’ve been slow in recommending on-line video, and I didn’t jump on the bandwagon early. But that was because we didn’t have widespread broadband access, easy tools for creating video and easy tools for watching video. But that has now changed.
If you’re a speaker, trainer, consultant, coach or other thought leader, you can’t afford to ignore YouTube as a marketing tool for your business.
Don’t think you have to create the same slick sort of video you would do for a speaker demo DVD. You don’t need to use fancy green screen technology. And you don’t even need to do “video” at all – in the traditional sense.
I’ll share with you here six ways to create video for YouTube easily and cost-effectively. I don’t have the space to take you step by step through the process of each technique, but I hope this will spark some ideas.
An easy way to get started with YouTube is to do a book review by video. It doesn’t require much of a “presentation”, it requires just one prop (the book, of course!), and it’s a great way to leverage your reading into a promotional opportunity.
Here’s my video book review of Ken Robinson’s book The Element.
If you’re using YouTube to teach something, use a diagram to explain your concept. You don’t have to do this with slick PowerPoint or Keynote slides, nor with green screen technology. You’ve probably seen some people do it in front of a whiteboard or a flip chart. It’s the message that matters much more than the presentation tool.
My weapon of choice is my five-year-old niece’s drawing tablet, which I stole … err, borrowed … for this purpose.
Here’s my video about what Web 2.0 means for your business.
The next option requires a bit more creativity, but it’s very effective. Because YouTube is a visual medium, if you can create a visual metaphor for your message, it’s far more effective than a talking head, or even a talking head with a good diagram.
Here are two examples I’ve done:
If you can demonstrate something on the screen, you can use screen capture software to record it. You might be doing this already for your private e-learning products, but have you thought of publishing a few of them to YouTube for promotional purposes?
Here’s my short video on how to be more productive with e-mail.
Of course, you can use screen capture software to capture entire PowerPoint or Keynote presentations, along with your narration. You can do the same thing without the screen capture software (for example, Keynote can save a presentation directly as a movie file), but if you don’t know how to do that, just use the screen capture software.
Here’s my video about my membership site.
Recently I’ve been experimenting with photo publishing software, which was originally designed for creating animated photo albums. However, if your “photos” are PowerPoint or Keynote slides, they make a beautiful, professional-looking promotion – complete with music.
Here are two recent promotional slide shows I created:
I hope these six ideas have sparked some ideas for you. You don’t have to use them all – but choose at least one and give it a go. Remember: YouTube matters!
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