Well, it’s time to gird your loins for the newest round of super guru promotin’!
Of course, one of the super-duperest gurus of all is Frank Kern. If you are on any lists you’ll certainly see emails for a new latest-greatest thingy from him called the 4 Day Cash Machine or something…
Anyway, I’ve got some thoughts on the process he’s using with video for his list building and launch that I think are worth noting.
Let me be very clear here: I do NOT know what this is all about, I don’t own it, I’m not recommending it one way or the other.
But as a fan of Frank’s methods in the past, I will tell you what I DO like:
I am lovin’ the use of video and the viral promo tactic they are using.
1. The first step in the process lands you on a video squeeze page that has Frank giving away a presentation called Core Influence of really good quality in exchange, of course, for creating an account which puts you in the launch sequence. Standard stuff…
2. What happens next is pretty cool. Immediately after signing up, you are put on a page with an affiliate link for you and a video that explains that: "If you send out that link and get x number of referrals, you can get an extra video called Core Influence 2. This is an automatic built-in reward incentive. Awesome idea!
If you’re a student of excellent ideas like me, you can follow the flow also by clicking my affiliate link (of course!) here:
Seriously, you are going to see all kinds of the standard hype emails of how somebody made $37,394.42 in blah blah days or got a 57% blah blah conversion rate…geez, I’m sick of all that crap!
My take? Don’t worry about the junk…follow and study the process. It’s brilliant!
I really don’t even know what the actual product will be here. Don’t care. Not recommending it. I’m only using my affiliate link here so I can see the cool little reward that’s part of the process. I suggest you do the same thing if it’s applicable for your friends or lists.
The Core Influence videos are excellent content and worth the watch. Frank does a sweet job with video…
I’m interested to see how effective this tactic will end up being and also hearing what your thoughts on it might be.
After the 2010 Google Super Bowl ad I was inspired to try my hand at making one of these very cool screencast videos. In case you missed the blog post about it, here is the Google ad that aired and my first attempt to do one:
Check it out and leave a comment and/or Tweet it if you like!
Lot’s of folks want to know how I did that so I made a tutorial covering the details. Here ya go:
PRESS PLAY
I talk about a couple of main concepts used in this video that are applicable in a wide variety of screencast work:
1. Recording in “Scenes” - Have you ever gotten frustrated with trying to record a video because you messed up at some point or gotten out of sync? Maybe you’re just trying to do too many things at once!
2. Recording for Clarity – A couple of useful tips for getting crystal clear captures.
3. “Speed Typing” Effect – 3 ways you can get the nice fast typing effect.
4. The Power of Music – Music = Emotion and can change the entire “feel” of your video and the emotion of your message.
Cool Search Tips
Doing standard searches can be effective when telling your story but don’t forget to think “outside the box”. Here are some links to interesting things you can use that you might not know about:
OK…this is one of the sweetest deals to come around in the video marketing world. It’s called iFlash and it’s from Jason Anderson & Stefan Billups.
These guys churn out awesome, studio quality videos for marketing
professionals. I mean, these are online commercials that rival
the quality of big ticket television commercials.
If you’re making your own promotional videos…check out what these
guys at iFlash Video are doing:
You may never want to make your own promo videos again. I know that sounds strange coming from me but look…even I can’t put a video like these together for myself without spending hours in the mind-numbing complexity of Adobe After Effects.
And they’ll do one 60 second video for me a month for 50 bucks each??? Duh! No brainer.
The videos are:
* 100% CUSTOM…never a boiler plate template
* They all come with professional voice-over
* You just tell them your “vision”, give them an audio script and
the go and do their magic.
They are open for business (and have been for a while)…but this
particular private invitation is for a members only area that
isn’t quite open yet.
Here’s the deal:
They normally sell their video productions for $399 and up but
on February 16th…well…that’s when the new private access service starts.
There is a $149.99 set up fee which includes your first video, and then it’s only $49.99/month to continue.
Because these are all custom made, they are only letting in 500 people for this service. I’ve talked to Jason about this and it’s NOT some stupid “scarcity” tactic. You simply cannot take on too many people and produce this kind of quality work…
Can I vouch for this service?
Well…not yet. But it certainly can’t hurt to sign up for the Notification List to check it out. I was actually invited to take a look at this by my good friend Willie Crawford. In fact, here’s an episode from his BlogTalkRadio show where he interviews the guys on using these kinds of videos:
Bottom Line? I’m pretty jazzed about getting in and trying this out! Maybe I’ll just pay the setup fee for one awesome video at a very reasonable price and then quit…I’m not sure yet.
But knowing that I can get a new one every month has me thinking… I should really come up with a topic and have one made on an ongoing basis and leverage some killer content that I don’t have to create at a stupid bargain of a price…
Like a lot of folks, I was intrigued by the rare ad run by Google during the Super Bowl. Some people loved it, some hated it, some indifferent. Certainly, if loud action shots, side splitting humor, or just good ole’ fashioned big boobs are what float your boat as far as commercials go then this was a departure!
In case you missed it, here it is again:
Me? I saw a brilliant video…almost a work of art. The combination of imagery, perfect music, and use of screen capture “scenes” put together into a 60 second collage was awesome.
But when it was over, I immediately thought, “Whoa! I could do THAT!”
Since I’m speaking at Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins S.I.M.P.L.E. Event this month, I put together my own little “search story”. Here it is:
The really sweet part? I don’t have to pay $3 million bucks to air it! Actually, this clip is WAYYYY long because I couldn’t resist putting in the Cape Fear clip, so the 3 1/2 minute video would cost $10.5 million during that TV time slot.
The biggest concept to understand if you want to make one of these yourself is that it’s made up of individual “scenes” captured with Camtasia individually and then stitched together during editing.
If you tried to just grab ALL the footage in one recording shot? Hmmm…that would be VERY messy and you would never end up with anything that looked smooth. The biggest problem is that most of the scenes are “sped up” to give that cool fast typing effect.
I tried using Camtasia’s Clip Speed feature for this at first but since you can’t see the effects of the speed up until AFTER you produce, it was a TOTAL nightmare (come on Techsmith!! Uggg…).
I gave up and dropped the clips into Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum where the whole thing was a complete snap and I could monitor the timing and tweaks in real time. Syncing the music, sounds, and other audio was also a breeze in Vegas.
I exported to a AVI file and did the Pan & Zooms in Camtasia (which is easier than Vegas to me), and rendered it out to MP4 Flash.
A big thanks to Andy Jenkins (The Video Boss) for his blog post that gave me the inspiration and motivation to whip this out.
BTW…it took me about 7.5 hours, start to finish. Planning (as usual) took the biggest percentage of time (about 3.5 hours), setting up my “shots” and rehearsal about 2 hours, and the rest in editing and final production.
When it comes to making great marketing videos, Andy Jenkins is (IMHO) pretty much the best around. In this second installment of a 4 video launch series, Andy provides 20 minutes of pure gold content. Nothing for sale in this one…just one of the best brain dumps I’ve ever seen on HOW to make effective marketing videos from one of the best brains in the business.
Why do I like this so much and want you to watch and study it?
Because I’ve been teaching the SAME things for 3 years!
Watch the video below and then follow along with my thoughts and observations (and leave a comment!):
1. Notice Andy’s audio quality. Top notch! It’s a major contributor to the “professionalism” factor!
2. This entire video includes music tracks. Notice I used the plural “tracks”. Listen to how each track instantly conveys a very specific “feeling” and changes the dynamic of the presentation. See if you can pick out the “emotions” Andy is trying to convey with each track change and how it ties into the message he is delivering at that moment. This is powerful subconscious stuff!!
3. Within the first 10 seconds, he pulls us in with a compelling “reason to watch”. The “Fastest way to create powerful sales videos”? Heck ya! I want that! It’s the first 10 seconds that are critical to getting your message watched.
4. At :20 we get a nice dose of “social proof” in the way of comments from the first video in the series to further whet the appetite. The video is wrong, there are 1,087 comments as of this writing! Placing this scene here is NOT by chance. It’s there so we will “validate” our reason for watching it and feel like we will be “missing out” if we leave. More powerful subconscious stuff…
5. I believe that Andy probably changed the opening minutes of this video from his original script. And I believe he did that because of the feedback in the comments from the first video. Notice how he listened to what his viewers were telling him they wanted and adjusted the content to even further give us a reason to watch. TIP:ALWAYS keep your eyes open to what your viewers want and reflect that back to them in your content! Using simple footage grabbed from his comments page ended up being simple, quick, and very effective.
6. Oh…and the cool “sideways 3D-looking” effect he used in the scene? You can do this with the Camtasia “Tilt” Pan & Zoom feature. Notice he uses it sparingly for maximum effect but he uses it because it is a visual eye grabber. More on that in a bit…
7. Step 1 talks about using a…<gasp>…script! OMG! Really? Ya. Because if you are delivering a message, what you say, when you say it, and how you say it are important. I create an actual script for literally every video I create. I love his advice here: “The better the script, the happier the viewer!”
8. A sales page contains almost everything you need to plan & script a killer Camtasia sales video. I talk about this planning concept in the Screencast Profits Course in several places. Have you seen the freeAffiliate Marketing Module from the Screencast Profits Gold Member level? It’s a good compliment to Andy’s content! Specifically, check out the “Getting Started Right” Chapter in this module.
9. At 3:43 Andy does an easy little trick. Can you tell what it is? It’s a slow Pan & Zoom. He takes the capture (it might even just be a static image) and slowly makes it move. You can do this in Camtasia using the Pan & Zoom feature and just set the Zoom Duration to a higher value like 5 to 8 seconds! This is effective because we are conditioned to seeing things “move”. Watch a documentary on TV sometime. You know, maybe something about history where they show old paintings or photographs? You will never see anything “standing still” for more than a couple of seconds. It will move…because a hundred years of film production experience has shown that movement keeps the viewers attention.
10. At 4:15, the Little Boss FAB technique is solid gold. It’s a variation of the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) method I teach in Screencast Profits only more focused to the most important elements of a good sales message: Features & Benefits. TIP: It’s the benefit that sells!
11. At 5:29, you’ll see a pretty funny graphic. Again, not a random thing! It’s called a “Pattern Interrupt” and is there to jolt you back to the message. This is another thing I talk about in the Affiliate Marketing module in the Product Demos chapter. In fact, I also use a FailBlog.org image just like Andy used to demonstrate the concept!
12. Another concept I teach is at 7:09. “People love to buy but they don’t like being sold to!" Great advice…
13. Andy uses Apple’s Keynote to create his presentation. Arguably, Keynote is much cooler in the effects department than Microsoft PowerPoint! But…I don’t own a Mac (yet) so I use PowerPoint. FYI, the beta for the next version of PPT is out and I’ll be checking it out to see if there are coolness enhancements.
14. I highly recommend all the template, image, and other resources Andy mentions. I use them all!
15. At 10:12 – Using pictures & sound for maximum “emotional” benefit. Pay attention here! Watch any of my videos and you’ll see this concept used constantly. Key point:
Use text and then relevant images to reach beyond logic and help them understand the emotion of what you’re trying to say.
But you’ll never hear me use any Yani…lol.
16. At 17:30 we get to hear about another of my pet peeves. Rehearsal! I’m just going to say this about that: “Kick ass videos are rehearsed. Lame videos are not…period.” Winging it has a time & place but don’t become an expert in mediocrity by doing it all the time! Thanks for the validation Andy…
That’s it for this video review. Can’t wait for the next one!
Oh…one more thing:
There are download links for each of Andy’s videos on the page that has the video.
I want to hear what you think and what you have questions on! Please leave a comment!
Lon
FYI: The link to Andy’s video above is my affiliate link and I’ll be compensated if you buy. I’ll have my thoughts on what I think of the product after the 4th video of his series.
The hands down, bar none, and a no-doubt-about-it, not even close top video marketing expert hero of mine is Andy Jenkins.
I’ve studied him for several years now and always marvel at his style (which is very similar to mine I think) and his video marketing philosophy. In fact, at times, I find it absolutely scary how much we think alike in terms of how and why to use video on the internet.
I got to meet Andy in person (finally) at Mike Filsaime’s Affiliate Appreciation event in Vegas the end of January and it turns out that his personality is pretty much the same in person as it is in his videos. I knew this when he gave me a big bear hug! LOL…
I’m totally jazzed to see that since breaking away from StomperNet that he is now coming out with what will surely be the top video marketing information around.
His new thing is called The Video Boss. I’m sure it will be great ‘n’ all…but probably not for everyone…and probably pretty pricey.
So, why am I telling you about it and why am I psyched?
Because, if Andy is true to form with the launch of this product (and I’m sure he will be), he is going to provide a TON of absolutely incredible information during the process for free.
I highly recommend that you opt-in to watch and study these videos!!!!
I can literally promise you…it will be well worth the time.
Post your comments here and let’s discuss the tactics he teaches. You could try to also leave a comment on Andy’s first video page but…there are already 572 of them! Yikes…
Enjoy!
Lon
Disclaimer: Dear FTC, The links above are my affiliate links and I’ll get rich if you use them but I can’t promise you will if you buy anything,
I actually started working on my internet business the day I “retired” from Microsoft in March of 1999. I didn’t start to take it very seriously however until 2005 when I went to my first live event in Phoenix put on by a relatively unknown guy named Mike Filsaime.
I really started into the whole thing when I joined his private mentoring group called I5 Gold (at 500 skins a month!) with some other unknown newbies: Alex Jeffreys, Tim Brocklehurst, and a guy named Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins.
Since then, I’ve watched in amazement as Bob turned out product after product, success after success…the guy is a machine!
So, when Bob announced that he was hold his first live seminar event I wasn’t surprised. And I’m very happy to report that I will be one of only 4 featured speakers presenting with him in Wilmington N.C. Feb. 26-28th, 2010.
It’s called S.I.M.P.L.E. – School for Information Marketing Profits Live Event.
You see, Bob “The Teacher” was a real life teacher before making a full time living on the net. His ability to, well, teach is nothing short of amazing. Ask any of his current “students” and you’ll find nothing but respect and admiration from them as well.
The one other thing I will mention is that if you are in this business and never been to a live event, you’re missing one of the most impactful things you can do. The relationships and friends I’ve made in these face-to-face forums has been the single biggest factor in growing my business.
Today I’m going to take a look at a new software program that let’s you do some pretty interesting things if you use videos for marketing.
It’s called Easy Video Player and as the clever name suggests it creates video players…easily.
The product was developed by Josh Bartlett and is a standalone piece of software that is installed on your web server so it’s accessible from any computer…Windows or Mac
And what it does is make the rather complicated task of creating very useful customized video players…ummm…easy!
Here’s what I got:
This player includes some very interesting things especially relating to video marketing…
The actual “player” itself is an open source piece of work called Flow Player.
I like this player and have used it before…it looks good and has lots of your standard “nice to have” player features…
So…what does all this have to do with the Easy Video Player software?
You see, it’s all about taking your video produced in either FLV, MOV, MP4, or M4V and easily…
Putting it into the Flow Player WITH…a bunch of cool additional features!
And what are those?
Here’s what it will do for you:
Here are a few sample reasons why this software has grabbed a spot in my video toolbox.
1. Opt-in Form in Video
Normally, if you want to collect a name and email after presenting your compelling video content you need to put an autoresponder opt-in form somewhere on the page that contains your video.
That usually works ok but means a lot of work creating the page with proper formatting and all that and if I post the video on a blog, I have to be very specific about where the form is…
It can be quite a formatting and html or php challenge!
With this player, you can embed the opt-in form right IN the video player itself…so you can have any video, placed on any web page, act as it’s own listbuilder!
This is…NICE!
I’ve created a sample video of this feature below:
I’ve created a special mailing list where I’ll be sending out more tips and tricks on using EVP as I work more with it…
Just watch the very short sample clip and try out the form. This list will ONLY get video tutorials on EVP…how I’m using it, how to use it with Camtasia and WordPress, what my results are, stuff like that.
2. Buy Button code right inside the video.
No more messin’ around with watch this video and scroll down and click the buy button…boom!
Right there…done!
Again, the real power of this is that you can create “stand-alone” sales videos.
Sample video: Help Buy Lon a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT? Please?
3. Automatic Redirect Sample.
In this video sample I use the Redirect feature to automatically send the viewer to a sales page. Notice how I tell the viewer what’s going to happen at the end of the video…
The Cons
I haven’t really found much that I don’t care for in this product. Most of the things are limitations of other software or platforms like WordPress. For example:
* If you use the Visual Editor in WordPress after pasting your player code into the HTML view, WordPress strips out the script code rendering your video unviewable. Uggg….the workaround is to NOT use the visual editor ever. You can use any external HTML editor to write your posts and then just copy / paste the code into the HTML view on WordPress…or…my preferred method, use a plugin like EmbedIt.
* The software “times out” and will log you out. I guess that’s a security feature but it’s kind of a pain if you are working on uploading, customizing, and messing with getting the player just right and all of a sudden…boom! You are logged out! Be sure to save early and often to keep this from affecting your workflow. I’m not 100% sure what the timeout period is but it did hit me a couple of times in the beginning…
* Some things may not be cons…I’m just not sure about them yet. For example, I don’t see a way to increase the preload buffer time to make sure enough of the video is pre-loaded to ensure smooth streaming and playback. I’ll let you know what I find out. This, again, may be a limitation of FlowPlayer and not EVP…
* Not really a drawback but something to be aware of: If you want videos with a Table of Contents I haven’t seen a way to configure that. In this case, you’re better off using Camtasia’s player or the JW player.
The Value
The product currently costs a one time fee of $127. There is a Mastermind membership that you get to check out for free and then continue with if you like but this is completely optional and you can quit at any time! The software may also go to a monthly cost structure in the near future so grabbing your own copy quickly to use as much as you like might be a good idea.
Considering all you get and what it will do for you, I think this is a great value. Compare this to the JW Player which is about $80 per website and doesn’t really do any of the embedded marketing functions…
Overall, nothing in this list is anywhere close to a show-stopper for me and I can heartly recommend this player.
Here’s what you can do next:
To check out all the features and grab your own copy before it goes to a monthly fee to use it, just click the graphic below:
For the 3rd installment of my Holiday Giveaway Series, I’m giving all Free level members of ScreencastProfits.com a complimentary upgrade to Silver Membership.
This member level gets you all the Gold Member Bonuses including my award winning “Ace the Audio” 94 minute video tutorial on how to sound great in your videos and my brand new “Video Settings in Plain English” tutorial…a must see.
There are also royalty-free music tracks, graphics you can use in your projects and more.
Watch this video to find out how to claim YOUR upgrade:
And for my valued members, I’m happy to announce that you get a special pre-launch shot at upgrading to the Gold member level at the current price…
AND…being “grand-fathered” in for all the new modules and bonuses that will cost 50% more later this week!
Yep. ALL Gold members get upgraded access to all the new stuff like:
* New Screencast Profit Modules – Specific ways to profits with screencast videos:
- Affiliate Marketing
- Product Creation
- Sales & Marketing videos
- Growing Your Business with video
* New bonuses
- Royalty free music tracks
- Cool custom callouts
- A most excellent course called “Video Settings in Plain English”
I’ll be throwing in a few more unannounced goodies as well.
So…if you’ve thought about it and forgot or if you were going to
but didn’t…
You will see your available upgrade option and can check out the
current content.
I’ll have full details at launch time of course but by then it will
bee too late to get this special deal…this is folks who take
action and pull the trigger.
March 9, 2010 
Of course, one of the super-duperest gurus of all is Frank Kern. If you are on any lists you’ll certainly see emails for a new latest-greatest thingy from him called the 4 Day Cash Machine or something…
Posted in Cool Samples 
11 Comments » 
I’ve studied him for several years now and always marvel at his style (which is very similar to mine I think) and his video marketing philosophy. In fact, at times, I find it absolutely scary how much we think alike in terms of how and why to use video on the internet.
mentoring group called I5 Gold (at 500 skins a month!) with some other unknown newbies: Alex Jeffreys, Tim Brocklehurst, and a guy named Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins.
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