This is a guest post authored by John Lawson. John is an eCommerce Entrepreneur and speaker, CEO of 3rd Power Outlet and ColderICE Media . John is also a Platinum eBay PowerSeller, Top-Rated Seller on Amazon and American Express TV Commercial Spokesperson.
How to Use YouTube To Increase Sales
I decided one Saturday afternoon to put my video camera on a stand, set up a table, and show my customers how to fold a bandanna. Customers would frequently purchase bandannas from my online store and after receiving the bandanna, would send us questions about
how to fold the bandanas
for that urban look.
Specifically, we would have people from other countries wondering how to fold the bandannas to look like their favorite rap star or how to rock it the right way so they would not look amateurish. So we made a how-to video aimed at our customers teaching them how to fold a bandanna to help answer customer questions.
Today, the video we created has 160,664 views and resulted in over 10,821 sales transactions! This is all from 1 video that took 30 minutes to make.
Why Video?
For many educational tasks it is simply easier for you to show someone how to do something rather than to write it all down, edit it, and illustrate it in a written format. When you write you want to make your content very conversational and engaging - and you know how hard it can be. If you are not a professional writer, the blank page can be scary.
Most of us have a video camera and when you talk to the camera like a person, you easily come across as conversational. The use of images, voice, and narration makes videos the perfect tool and an easy solution.
What Should I Record My First Video About?
Like the blank page for a writer, you still need to craft content for your video. Where do you start? I think that is easy: simply take the top 5 or 10 most frequently asked questions in your business and start there.All you need to do is sit in front of the camera, read off the question and then answer it on camera. Things like:
- How your products are packaged
- What payment methods you take
- Shipping options / delivery times
- How to combine orders
Start with the simple stuff. This will make you more comfortable speaking to the camera and you get the bonus of never having to answer that question again for your customers. If they email you the question you can now simply point to the video link. Easy win.
Try Making a Video FAQ - They Work!
These basic videos will probably not go viral but they are great to embed on your FAQ pages. The content is highly relevant and will get watched. Most importantly, these videos are nearly guaranteed to increase customer conversion. Remember this: “a confused customer buys nothing." When you remove all confusion, your customers will buy more and buy more easily.Who Is Your Audience?
It's your business and you already know that answer - I can't know that for you. But many people spend way too much time trying to get new clients/customers when they should simply make the ones they have happy.Here is what I mean: do not spin your wheels trying to make a video to attract new customers. Try to make a video to enhance your current customer experience and they will bring you new customers. Moreover, the tone of the content will not be “salesy”, because you already sold them. Try to find “5 cool ways for them to use Product X” or “3 reasons why Product X makes life easier”. Expand on the experience for your customer.
What then happens is that existing customers now have a reason to share the video with others and they will actually expand your brand for you. Again, the content will be 100% relevant to your products and services and unless you are selling a completely unique item, people that purchase that item from other sellers would be interested in your video, too! Now you are expanding your audience by talking to your own customers and beyond , and that is powerful.
Marketing Takeaways
Sure I lucky and the bandanna folding video got a little viral. But there are some very key reasons why it is so popular that you can duplicate in your market space.- HubSpot CMO Mike Volpe says to keep in mind that “ social media isn’t a strategy, its a technology ”. Use technology YouTube to share the information with anyone that wants it.
- Use your deep niche to your advantage . There are riches in niches and a targeted audience of your current customers is a VERY deep niche. Go for it!
- Keep the videos informative and useful without making an overt pitch.
- Use splash intro and exit pages to wrap the content and expand your branding.
- Use fully qualified URL (i.e. http://www.YourURLHere.com) as the first words in the video description . This will show up as a clicakble link on YouTube.
- Use YouTube annotations to “gently” let user know that you sell the product(s) in the video.
- Even try watching the cheesy TV shopping channels to see how they frame benefits of a product. You may notice that they often spotlight customer testimonials with unique ways they used a product or service. These can be great lessons for how you to make a vide, too.
Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
Heather Hinman 4:17 PM on April 14, 2011
Great approach to sales! As a public relations professional I use this method often to increase awareness about my company and its products.
gary fosburg 4:48 PM on April 14, 2011
Great article. Here is a new website that uses video for showcasing your product. There's no cost involved and does exactly as you wrote about. Gary
acemakingmoney 5:56 PM on April 14, 2011
50 cent help give away a million Ebook that you can make money with so go website.
Stefan Petersen 10:41 PM on April 14, 2011
Excellent approach. Now...equipment.
osCommerceBoost 12:58 AM on April 15, 2011
Nice concept...it's amazing how popular informational videos can become, even ones that are clearly homemade. It'll be hard to ever top this kind of ROI...
Judy Schmidt 3:23 PM on April 15, 2011
Great content - keep it coming!
Ashley 6:18 PM on April 15, 2011
Very informative! I am curious, however, as to how you were able to obtain so many sales transactions from this video? Was it simply by using YouTube annotations or was there more to it?
Thanks!
Prabhat Shah 1:52 AM on April 16, 2011
If this works for one it must work for others. Very innovative ideas for engaging customer. I think hearing from human will convince better than reading from the machine !
John (ColderICE) 12:26 PM on April 16, 2011
First, thanks for all the positive comments and feedback on my guest post here. It is greatly appreciated.
re: @Ashley
Not just annotations. When I shot this originally they were not available at all on YouTube, those were added to the video recently.
You want to use my "5 Finger Method" combination of URL link, splash pages, annotations, social media embeds and keyword SEO. A little more detailed than I could go in the first installment.
re: @Stefan the equipment I used at the time was a Kodak camera that had video setting. Wow, that was a long time ago. Today you have everything from your PC to Smartphone that can record video. I am over the thinking that OVER-Production actually detracts from the value. If I had to do this video over again, I would of course make it much better, but NOT too much better :-)
Key thinks I think you want to get are:
1) HD Camera (HD is a must in 2011)
2) Familiarity with any video editing software. I don't care which one you use...long as you know HOW to use it, that is way more important.
3) A tripod. Sure you can hold the camera, but a simple tripod mount makes a big difference.
4) A background with little clutter. It does not have to be on a green or white screen, but make sure its not the junky room in your basement (I know, mine had my ashy feet in it LOL)
5) Do not go for perfect! Perfect is the enemy of good enough. You want to get something "in the can" you can always reshoot later if necessary and after feedback.
Hope that answers your questions?!?
Thanks Again, and please share the article via Twitter and Facebook for me :-)
John (ColderICE)
CEO - ColderICE Media
Sue Barrett, Home Business Center, Inc. 11:08 AM on April 17, 2011
Great detailed advice and instructions for a newbie. Taking the focus off of "direct advertising" and turning it into "answering questions" makes the whole process of video marketing much easier and less intimidating. Thanks!
Jesus A Flores 8:56 PM on April 17, 2011
Great Post, Video I think is very Important to created relations between vendors and the Customers, Let me tell You make video about the Bandanas was a Great Idea, the conversion Number are fabulous.
Thanks for the information,
Jesus A Flores
Bronson 4:39 PM on April 18, 2011
Great advice to take note of and follow through on with new clients.
Look to the client problems for content ideas and build it.
Edward Kuryluk 1:30 PM on April 19, 2011
With the ability to create video from a smartphone and quickly get it onto YouTube, businesses need to take advantage of this. I've had several clients start to use video, and they are happy with the results. Great article!