In this WebProNews video from the SES on capitalising on social media, Converseon CEO talks about how search engines give social media significant weight, which means that negative feedback in blogs and other social media about your company or product could make up 60% of the top ten search results.
It’s around the corner! More and more people are registering to come to my upcoming seminar on multimedia copywriting with Dan O’Day.
You already know who I am, but you probably don’t know Dan, who’s my “secret weapon” when it comes to audio and radio copy.
Dan is the world’s leading expert on radio advertising, which just happens to be the single most effective mass medium for driving targeted traffic to a website.
Well, Dan agreed to do a special teleseminar for you this Wednesday.
For one hour, Dan will reveal the secrets of creating Maximum Impact Radio Advertising. O’Day is the real deal. So have a pad of paper ready to take lots of notes, because he’s promised not to hold anything back.
Jay Abraham said this about Dan O’Day:
“Dan is ‘the man’. The go-to-guy for radio commercials and strategy. He’s taught more professional radio salesmen and copywriters how to create radio advertising that works than anyone else in the world. He also teaches for me at my $25,000, high-level seminars — now he can teach you, too.”
– Jay Abraham
Founder and CEO,
Abraham Group, Inc.
Famous copywriter Joe Sugarman also said this:
“I never thought I’d complain that a plane ride was too short. But that’s exactly what happened on a recent 4-hour flight from Los Angeles to Chicago: I wanted the plane to circle O’Hare Airport for a couple of more hours!
“Why? Because I was listening to my personal copy of Dan O’Day’s How to Create Maximum Impact Radio Advertising.
“Somehow Dan managed to distill his 30 years of experience into seven extraordinary hours. The result is a fascinating, compelling, and incredibly thorough education not just in ‘radio’ advertising but in advertising in general.
“Dan O’Day really knows his stuff.”
– Joseph Sugarman
BluBlocker.com
Now’s your chance to listen to me interview top radio copywriting superstar Dan O’Day on this special teleseminar.
And best of all, it’s free! (Of course, long distance charges may apply.)
The call will be held on Wednesday, at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific). To get the phone number to dial in, you will need to be on my email notification list as I don’t want to publish the number publicly. (There are only so many lines available.)
And I will be making the recording of the call available, too. But only to my list. So I urge you to subscribe. (Just enter your email address on the right or top of this blog. Or visit the subscribe page.)
This is going to be an amazing call. For an hour, Dan will be giving solid content you can walk away with and apply.
Why are we doing this? Sure, the bottom line is to promote our seminar next month. (Which we will do only at the very end of the call.)
But the most important reason is because many people have never heard of “Dan O’Day.” He’s brilliant, and once you listen in on the call, you’ll agree with me that Dan’s advice is worth a mint.
Again, simply make sure you’re on my email list to be notified of the phone number to call. See you on Wednesday!
advertising, audio, copywriting, Dan ODay, jay abraham, joe sugarman, multimedia, radio, seminar, teleseminar, traffic
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I’m back from Goa and I’ll soon be posting some photos of my vacation in Goa. This time I just visited my family so that my daughter could meet her cousins and be pampered by all my aunts. Also pigged out on Goan food so much that I HAD to make a New Year’s resolution to join the gym and work off all the holiday pounds.
What a fantastic call tonight! I grilled radio copywriting expert Dan O’Day for a little more than an hour on how to write effective radio advertising that gets maximum results.
Again, this one-hour teleseminar was to support our upcoming, intensive 2-day workshop in Los Angeles on how to write compelling copy for multimedia. (Which we only mentioned at the tail-end of the call.)
As promised, here’s the one-hour interview recording.
Click here to download and listen to the MP3.
advertising, audio, copywriting, Dan ODay, interview, multimedia, radio, recording, seminar, teleseminar
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Just came across two nice articles on social marketing, both by Helen Leggatt, I thought I’d share here.
It’s about time bloggers set a code of conduct, not only for writing, but also for tolerating what sort of comments they will tolerate on their blogs.
Even though we decided to postpone the multimedia copywriting seminar in southern California due to the fires there, my friend, copywriter David Garfinkel, asked me about it:
"(One of my coaching students) asked if you will share detailed test results like what to say vs. what not to say, what to wear in video, and other nitty-gritty like that, at your seminar when you reschedule it. Those would be excellent points to cover for a serious direct marketer. Anything you'd like me to tell him?"
Valid question. So here's the answer I gave him, along with a few tips…
Yes, those are precisely the things I was going to share at the seminar. But here's something you might want to tell him.
Online video should do either one of 5 things.
This is what I call my "SPEAR" formula, which I alluded to in my salesletter for the seminar. Think of using multimedia like a spear that pierces through your target market's defenses, and pinpoints their dominant desires.
SPEAR is an acronym, which means:
In other words, use your multimedia for any one or more of the above. Let me explain what each element means.
(For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to multimedia as "video" from now on. But note that the formula applies to audio as well.)
1. SUPPORT
You can use video to educate viewers as a supporting element to your copy, such as delivering the same sales message but in a different modality — thus appealing to the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic visitor, instead of appealing just to the reader.
In this case, the video is non-essential. They are basically complementary to your overall sales message. But its usage is definitely the easiest of the bunch.
Some people learn and understand better with visuals, while others do so with sounds. Either way, video enables all your readers to grasp your message in the way they feel most comfortable with, and to do so with greater ease, speed, and comprehension.
Essentially, it covers all the bases by ensuring that your message is received in the best way possible by everyone in your audience.
2. PROOF
You can use video to prove your case and persuade your audience by offering an added dimension to your sales message, such as using video to create or build value, scarcity, credibility, or believability.
Video is a perfect opportunity to showcase actual results, clinical trials, samples and examples, case studies, before-and-after comparisons, demonstrations, product or website tours, etc.
Best of all, they're perfect for demonstrating social proof, too, such as a clip of you delivering your product or service, or speaking to a captive audience.
(Take a look at how some marketers use videos to show what the product looks like. Some of them even record themselves in the process of receiving the package in the mail, opening it up, and unwrapping the product.)
Incidentally, just as action shots outpull still photos or mugshots in photos, action scenes also do outpull talking heads in split-tests, too.
3. EMPHASIS
Video can also be used to emphasize key points in your copy, such as expanding on core benefits or the offer itself, or to drive home complex ideas or critical points in the copy that may be hard to understand otherwise.
You can dive deeper into specific things you want to cover that, in text copy, is difficult or requires too much copy to do. You can even use it to emphasize parts of your offer, or even as a way to surprise viewers such as by offering an extra bonus not discussed in the copy.
Ultimately, think of illustrations or figures in a book. But in this case they're videos. They help to illustrate or showcase something you talk about in the copy, which not only supports it but also highlights and accentuates it.
4. ATTENTION
Attention is what video does best. It's the most common and effective way to use video with any website, and particularly with web salesletters.
For example, having a video, especially at the top of the salesletter, is an effective attention grabber. You can use it to stop people from surfing and/or scanning your salesletter, and force them to start reading your copy.
Basically, the video is like (or expands on) the headline, which is supposed to do the same thing: get people's attention and get them to start reading.
5. RESPONSE
And finally, while grabbing people's attention is the most effective way to use video, boosting response is by far the most productive and profitable way.
In fact, video is not only perfect for boosting response. It's necessary. You should use the video to command your audience to take action. The video is really a "response aid," and there are many different ways to do this.
Aside from using calls to action in all your videos (even if it's as simple as asking them to keep reading), you can also use video specifically on or near your order forms, response devices, and other calls to action as a way to educate readers on how to take action, and what to expect when they do.
For instance, a video on my order page at TheCopyDoctor.com instructs visitors on how to fill out the form and process their order.
The added benefit? Since it's a digital product (specifically, a membership website), it also gives people an idea of what's "on the other side" once their order is processed, such as showing them how to log into their new account.
You can even go through a mock order, where the video is a screencam of you filling out the form and processing it in seeming real-time, along with the resulting "thank you" page, confirmation page, or download page.
The bottom line is, this reduces fear and skepticism by allowing users to know, precisely, what they will see, get, and enjoy by taking action.
(By the way, this alone has literally tripled my order form conversions and vastly reduced shopping cart abandonment.)
Finally, here are some additional tips.
Whenever possible, use a professional voiceover. Because when a third party introduces you before you speak (or if you don't speak at all in the video, speaks on your behalf), it makes you look more credible, authoritative, and important.
This has been proven in test after test. Even when your own voice might sound just as good as a professional voiceover artist.
Why? Well, as the saying goes, "a third party will always sell you better than you can sell yourself." This is true for a number of reasons.
One of them is, of course, the fact that the voiceover doesn't appear like a shameless, self-interested plug. It's perceived as being more credible, believable, and objective than if it were to come directly from you.
For example, if you say, "I'm the best," it appears self-serving. But if a voiceover says, "Michel Fortin is the best," it seems less so.
Now, you can still do it yourself with your own voice. It's better than nothing. And sometimes, you should (unless, of course, yours is not the most pleasantly sounding voice there is).
Specifically, you should use a third party when making claims, but you should use your voice (or speak in the first person, if it's a voiceover artist) when making promises.
Using a voiceover (or the third person) when making a promise might come across as cold, vague, impersonal, and formal.
Remember, just like with copy, videos should be personal, conversational, and direct. Your video should speak to the individual — as if you were right there, in front of them, engaged in a one-on-one conversation.
Aside from that, a voiceover artist will make you look more professional, trustworthy, and credible. It also increases perceived value, because it boosts you as a solution. As a brand. And not as a salesperson.
A company I recommend is VoiceTalentNow.com. They're pretty inexpensive and have over 40 voice talent artists that you can choose from, with samples from on their website you can listen to, too.
Some of my clients have used them with great results. Although I've never used them, a few other websites include Voices.com and Voice123.com.
Finally, don't be afraid in using stock video in your web videos to give your videos movement, demonstrate a certain benefit, and even emphasize a specific problem they are suffering that you can solve.
The best one is iStockVideo.com (from the makers of iStockPhoto.com). There are tons of stock video clips you can use, especially in incorporating any of the points of the SPEAR Formula.
If you want an example, watch this video by Armand Morin, for his product called Product Padlock. It's a file-locking tool any marketer can use to secure their digital products from would-be thieves and serial refunders.
Another example is Keith Gilbert's VideoAdProfits.com, which also offers a lot of extra tips and ideas on the very topic of making online videos.
In conclusion, here's an aside.
Some people ask, "What about being entertaining?"
Nothing stops you from being entertaining with your video. But remember, while it should always have a purpose and an outcome, your video should be relevant to your audience, your story, and the advancement of the sale.
audio, copywriter, copywriting, david garfinkel, flash, formula, marketer, multimedia, salesletter, screencam, test results, video
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Michael Cheney, one of the most-respected names in Internet marketing, and the man behind the 6-Figure launches of AdSense Videos and 11 Days To List Profits, has unveiled a new video product titled “Michael’s Traffic Videos”.
Via WebProNews I learned that the guys at SEOmoz interviewed 37 leaders in the world of organic search engine optimization (SEO) on the various factors that are estimated to comprise Google’s ranking algorithm, and came up with an awesome summary representing “90-95% of the knowledge required about Google’s algorithm”.