They're Here For Us. Let's Stop Being Frightened of Them.

There was a time in my business when all I did was write, even though my business was completely about video. (Those posts are still on the blog somewhere) 

I think this is where most of us start. Many never get past that. They really just see video as radio with pictures.

But you know what? That’s OK. It puts a little extra pressure on the writing, but a well-written piece will never hurt you. If you don’t like writing, I’d suggest adding some tech elements.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Welcome back to this personal journey into the art and science of packaging up your business on video. I don’t know what’s going to happen but I trust that by the end, you are able to take at least one of these forks in the road:

Any of those outcomes are fine. It actually doesn’t matter which fork in the road you take because I’m here to move you forward, no matter what that looks like.

A couple of days ago you had your first chance to take the interactive assessment. It’s designed to give you the whole lay of the land, so that these articles will be far more helpful. It always helps to see the route at least once before you start on the journey.

Yesterday we covered technology. Today is about how writing blends with technology, being on camera, selling and uniqueness. So let’s dive in.

The Insidious Trap That
Destroys Most Scripts

One of the really cool things about writing is that if you’re naturally drawn to it and put in some effort, you can make videos where some simple tech, an enthusiastic on-camera performance, and your personal brand of uniqueness can help you spin out little gems at a dizzying pace. I have students who’ve produced up to 10 videos a month this way.

But if you want those videos to “work”, you have to leave out the element of persuasion, especially in social media. And this is even if the thing you’re selling is free. The reason is that if you spring something on people like this at the end of an otherwise well-written video, you lose trust. And that’s just not worth the little bump you’ll get by pushing product.

In fact, it's stupid. Video is a machine designed to build trust among a certain group of strangers, promoting and encouraging their progress along a path of awareness that culminates in a hands-off sale. It's a delicate balance created in the mind of a stranger.

You have no control over this; anymore than you do over the sunrise and sunset. And to act as if you do, thinking to extend your will into the universe like that is really not very sane.

Worst of all, it makes sure that sale will never ever ever happen. We'll talk more about this in a couple of days.

For now let's just say this: If you want to sell directly, simply advertise. Now there’s no feeling of bait and switch. We’ll leave it at that for now until we get more into selling.

Not quite what we had in mind for THAT video.

In a sales video, script is everything. As you’re probably aware, there is a whole class of video called the video sales letter, where it’s just text on a page, popping in and out like a powerpoint presentation.

If you like doing the entire sales routine on video and you’re just beginning this journey, you might want to consider this from a technical standpoint. These kinds of videos are stone simple to create.

In any other sales video, the other elements are there to support the writing and they need to be first rate; tech, on-camera, everything. The reason is that you don’t want the sales to suffer because the other elements didn’t at least pull their weight.

This is also useful when you go back and analyze your results, because then you can focus on the words first, knowing that all else is equal.

That’s why sales videos are really what separate the beginners from the pros. The pro has a commitment and the budget to make everything look and feel at 100% of the capacity of the level of production they’ve chosen.

If you decide to make a sales video that looks “home-made”, you have to use all the hallmarks of homemade without making it difficult to watch. This is actually not as easy as it sounds.

In fact, Hollywood does this all the time. Their version of showing someone in a homemade video looks more Hollywood than many students ever try to achieve making videos that look professional.

But the importance of writing doesn’t only show up in sales videos. It also determines the style of the video, and so all the other elements are affected by it. An improvised video relies on a very natural performance. It’s often high energy as well. Think about the different ways of being on camera living out these kinds of scripts:

Clearly the script determines the way that writer will show up on camera. And if the writing is bad, the performance will suffer. Because in all cases, performance follows script.

If you’ve got a lot of experience on camera, it’s also possible that experience is in one kind of writing. You will very likely improve your on-camera work by trying out other kinds of scripts.

Bear in mind, this kind of flexibility is the end of the process. I work with people to bring these sorts of transformations to life every day. It sometimes even happens very quickly.

So we know how important writing is to selling. Is the reverse also true?

Absolutely.

Selling is all about the way you broadcast your energy. 

Writing out of need produces a very different set of words and ideas than does writing out of generosity. Neediness produces fear and fear stimulates the desire to persuade by any legal means.

So what happens? A consultant or some kind of expert suddenly starts pitching his services with all kinds of words they would never use in conversation. This results in the viewer backing away, which is kind of opposite of what we want.

It’s an energy thing.

Energy that makes space for someone to sell themselves on you seems to work much better at not only bringing people in, but does it in a way that creates a much better working relationship.

Getting this energetic relationship right within yourself is paramount, and it’s something we put a lot of emphasis on here. 

Hopefully you’ve noticed that in your Video Production DNA report.

You didn't receive it yet? Well, just click below to take care of that!

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