Video Copy... How would you do it?

First, there are a half dozen topics so repetitive, so beaten into the ground, they deserve a sticky post at the top of the forum. This is one of those topics.

Next, if forcing the lazy visitor to watch a video makes you money because it works, perhaps it is something to consider.

Pray tell, after a zillion hours of exposure to the differences between video screenwriting and traditional copy, what on earth makes you think that's all video is?

The entire point of debate is whether or not they actually put any credibility in your face. You don't have to show a Lamborghini, that's doing it wrong.

I have seen mansions. Helicopters. Funny though, I have not seen the camera pointed at a customer or client giving a decent testimonial. (Funnier still ... NO CLIENT Lamborghinis)

Don't show me your Lamborghini, show me your client telling me about their own Lamborghini your advice or service bought for them

Call it the Mary Kay Pink Cadillac rule. That Mary Kay Ash can buy a Cadillac is interesting to people. That they too can earn one using the Mary Kay system, that's fascinating to people and what convinces them.

Try looking up all the many threads talking about this subject, rather than forcing people to repost the same tired old discussion points. Or go to a few of the video sales gurus and buy their course on this topic.

Or watch a few infomercials. Because, while tested and refined, not one of these guys is taking a smidgeon of infomercial production sense.

Rest assured, you can fail with anything. Video is not magic. Video is not making a pitch work any more than paper makes sales letters "work." Paper is vital to a sales letter. But let's not go out of our minds about paper ...in the same ways people go nuts about video on the web.

Surely a ton of discussion about video copy, but if this is
old then everything about copy is old.

There's nothing new under the sun says the wise man King Solomon.

For sure a lot people have reported boost in conversion by
using a video sales letter. From those who have done
the tests they claim that a PowerPoint presentation
of your SAME COPY would do better than the flashy
videos.

My theory is that video sales letters work so well because:

1. Just the media (video) gets more attention than plain text.
2. Voice is more engaging than reading (Think audio books.)
3. You cannot skim a video--you're forced to get the value before the price.
4. It's (was) a new format--Interest in AIDA?
5. Most people are too lazy to read but they would listen.

-Ray Edwards

Here's how videos really SHOULD work. Not all of them do.

Why video marketing? Simply put, it's the best way to stand apart and form a connection with your audience. Even people who have nothing to sell, know this. Look around. Videos are everywhere, the internet is packed full of people who use them to show everything from their lives to their products, but most of them don't accomplish what they are trying to. The ones trying to sell something aren't positioned to actually make those sells.
So, how are you going to position your videos so it captures leads and generates money for you?

1. Feeling - The professionals know how to influence how someone feels as they watch the video.
2. Music - Have you ever listened to music and had it invoke an emotional response? Hollywood uses this tactic constantly. They use it to invoke suspense, happiness, sadness, etc. Next time you watch a movie notice when the music plays and how it makes you feel. Study this and you'll learn when to use it, and what to use in your own videos.
3. Stories - Stories show the wear and tear from the fabric of our lives, and when you start incorporating your story into it, your viewer will start to connect with you.
4. Location - Sometimes location is key. If you're standing in front of a beat up old house, or a place covered in trash it's going to create a very different feel then if you're in front of a clean, beautiful lawn.
5. Lighting - If you have bad lighting that feeling you're trying to invoke with location isn't going to matter much, because they won't be able to see it.
6. Sound - Above all this is one of the most important aspects. If your audience can't hear the video they won't bother watching it.
Learn to create the emotional triggers you're looking for in your audience and you will start to see a major difference in the way your videos are looked at, and the responses they elicit from those people you are targeting.

Most video can be skimmed. The average person, at this time, does not know how to work the controls to "skim." Also most video isn't set up to be skim friendly.

This may change as familiarity with video increases. Just as it was true "users don't scroll," for a bit on the early web ...and then users did scroll. (One of the flawed points used to argue keeping copy ultrashort is based on this old, outdated, observation).


Related:

Video converts and here is the proof would reduce the chatter by half, if only people applied the same hurdles to video as they do text. As long as they think it is some magic shortcut, there will be problems.