Sound Solutions: North Bank Audio Solutions

Many people are turned off by how fast technology moves. I recently got a question from someone who wanted to get into using video more to market her business and monetize her knowledge, but was puzzled as to how to get started.

She didn’t want to spend a bunch of money only to have her gadgets become obsolete a few months later. We’ll call her “Technophobe” for the purposes of this post. I don’t use this term in a degrading way. I think her anxiety around fast-moving technology highlights a common thread through the psyches of many people who want to get into info marketing, but aren’t sure how to get started. It’s also something I’ve noticed is very common with people who aren’t quite young enough to have grown up in the age of 1,000 mile-per-hour computer technology.

Here was my advice to her. I hope you find it helpful as well.

Dear Technophobe,

Don’t be discouraged by fast changes in technology. Much of that is simply marketing tactics to create perceived obsolescence so that people will buy more products. (The ironic thing is that this kind of marketing often discourages people like you - and myself - from buying anything.) The truth is, if it does the job now, it’s probably going to do the job just fine for years to come. It mantra doesn’t always work for things like computers, but now that we’re in the digital age, I wouldn’t worry too much about making a bad investment in a camera. Now is a good time to buy one.

I would go to an electronics store and try out a few cameras and just pick which one you like. I don’t have a specific suggestion. Simply find one that fits within your budget. Generally, with cameras, I would say don’t buy the very cheapest one available, but maybe a step or two up. You can find very decent video cameras for around $200.00. The cool thing about technology moving so fast is that these same cameras were five or ten times more expensive a few years back, so you’ve actually saved money by waiting.

Some specs to look for are:

* Buy a camera that uses miniDV tapes. I would avoid the cameras that export to a proprietary format because you can run into problems when you try to edit and produce them.

* Make sure it has an external microphone input. Audio quality is at least as important as video quality. This way, you can always upgrade the audio without buying a new camera.

* Pick a camera that isn’t too noisy. It’s always a bummer when you play back your recordings and there’s an annoying buzz or hum over the whole take.

Probably more important than the camera itself is that you have proper lighting when you record and that you use a tripod. Natural light looks the best, so if you can record in a space with lots of windows, that is ideal. You can supplement by placing lights (sometimes household lamps will work just fine) behind the camera as you record.

To edit your video, it all depends on your level of tech-savvyness. If you use windows, sometimes the free Windows Movie maker will work just fine. If you use a mac, iMovie will do the job. A step up is Sony Vegas Video Studio (about $100 I think) and if you want to use what the pros use, go for Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro. I use Adobe Premiere, but going that way will set you back quite a bit.

If you’d rather delegate the editing, there are lots of people who can do that for you. My business offers video production (http://northbankaudio.com) but we are by no means the only show in town. Shop around locally and online or ask colleagues for a recommendation.

To get your stuff online, there’s a nifty tool called http://tubemogul.com/ that will help you upload to about a dozen of the top video sites (including YouTube) in one swoop, for free. This is one of my favorite tools.

I hope this helps. Let me know if I brought up any other questions or ideas along the way.

~Caleb

Many of my clients know they and their clients and customers would benefit from them creating new information products, but they get stuck somewhere in the conceptual process.

They start thinking about creating a product and end up talking themselves out of it for some reason.

One of these reasons is that they think that they should only create a product that they are a reputible expert on. This logic is flawed because there are few ways better than creating a product to propel yourself to perceived expert status.

Another reason people get stuck when creating audio or video info products is that they don’t know which idea to move forward with.

I’ll give you a hint for this one…

“Listen to the marketplace.”

What kinds of questions do you find yourself getting asked all the time? Is there something you’ve accomplished and others have repeatedly asked your how you did it? Which of your blog posts get the most views or comments? Which of your marketing emails get the best response? What other products are selling well in your target market? Even if there’s already something out there similar, your target market may need to hear it from you in your voice in order for them to reap the full benefits of the information.

These ideas are the ones you should be focusing on - not just whatever you feel like creating a product about.

If you create an information product that responds to a need in the marketplace, you’ll avoid the trial and error and guesswork that so many information marketers, coaches and consultants go through in this area. You and your customers will both benefit because you’ll sell more products and gain more new clients and your customers will get what they want as well.

One way to leverage your time and propel you to expert status is by creating information products. A CD is an information product. This is something that can be free or for a fee. The free option is opt-in bait for a website, the ethical bribe, or the “pink spoon” as it is sometimes referred to. CDs are extremely easy and inexpensive to create and market.

This article was harvested from a transcribed teleseminar I hosted which can be part of a teleseminar. It may not be something that I’ll sell, but it’s something that I can use as opt-in bait. Then I don’t have to deliver this teleseminar every week or month. I can just say, “Do you want to learn these things?” and I can use the same sales or opt-in page I use to get people to opt in to this seminar. I can send them directly to the recording.

It can be just as effective as a teleseminar. The only reason it might not be quite as effective is there’s not a specific date attached to it, so there’s not as much urgency for people to opt in. There’s nothing that it has to go into once you put it up there. There’s no reason not to take advantage of this kind of thing.

Also, the recordings can be sold as bonuses along with other programs or products to add value. If you have some sort of coaching or higher-end program, you can include a recorded teleseminar, for example, “The Seven Deadly Mistakes” or “Six Essential Pits.” This is a great way to leverage that if it pertains to your target market and the problems that they have.

The recordings are also an instant legitimizer. Once you become a publisher of an info product, things will start to happen differently for you. Obviously, it’s not going to happen overnight, but you will have more opportunities if you have some sort of product to sell or give away.

If you have hosted a teleseminar, you already have an info product. There are a couple of different options. One could be a digital download, which is easy to set up. I suggest doing that no matter what.

There are also the CD and print material. There’s usually a higher per CD value with these, but it really depends on your niche market. You will just have to look into that to see which one is more realistic for you and a better deal.

I definitely encourage you to get started with this. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Even if you just record and do not edit or spiff it up, your content can be a great legitimizer to give away to your prospects.