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

If you want to grow your business and position yourself as an expert in your industry, it’s as simple as this: host teleseminars.

You’ve probably heard this before, but this is something that you truly should do, even if you don’t have a list. It doesn’t matter if there are people on the line. You can pretend there are people on the line. You can mute the call and just present.

It’s so difficult to get this content out of you on your own on your computer or writing it out, unless you’re a writer by nature. Some of us are, but not all of us. It’s very difficult to get information out without committing to a date to deliver content.

You’ll want to record the teleseminar. I recently listened to a podcast by Alex Mandossian. He’s an internet marketing guru you probably know about. He said that if you do not repurpose your live content, you are losing 80% of your business. Many people host teleseminars because that’s what they’ve been told to do, but they’re not recording them. If they do, they only give them out to the people on the call. You want to use this information that you’re creating for all kinds of different strategies.

It doesn’t matter if you’re charging for this information the first time. You can give out bits and pieces of it to create a very valuable marketing campaign. The teleseminar isn’t the end. It’s the beginning. You’re not creating this teleseminar as an end product. You’re creating a content-creation vehicle.

You need to make sure that the information for the teleseminars is modular. “Modular” means that each topic is very specifically laid out in a template. You’ll want to lay it out before. You don’t want to read the information. That will sound jagged.

You want to be able to repurpose it into chunks. Each step will be turned into an episode in this repurposing campaign.

You want to select your hot topic of expertise. It needs to be something that excites you and your prospects, colleagues and clients. I suggest a written brain dump to create content. If it works for you, you can record it in a handheld recorder or your computer. You can write on a piece of paper. You dump out all kinds of ideas.

You’ll want to select the five biggest and best ideas to be subtopics of the main topic you’ve selected for your teleseminar. It can be five to seven topics. This definitely works for the 60 to 90-minute teleseminar that most people do. I suggest starting with that as a model. Look for five to seven ideas.

Each of these five to seven big ideas can be broken down into four to six bullet points. Each bullet point is a smaller subtopic. It can take up to two minutes of time. You don’t need to monitor yourself on time. It is something to keep in mind if you want to try to keep within 60 to 90 minutes.

You want to write down these concepts and any notes you want to be sure to mention. This isn’t necessary for the repurposing but you may want to try to work in a relevant sales message around 15 to 45 minutes into call.

If you don’t have anything to sell, or you just want to create some content, you don’t need to do it. The reason I say 15 to 45 minutes is that is when the most people are usually on the call. Often people will wait to the very end of the call to present an offer. That’s when people start to drop off. They think, “I got everything out of this. Now he’ll just want to sell me on something. I’ll drop off now.”

Another great thing is case studies or testimonials. That’s a no-brainer. It’s something that many people do to make what they’re saying more tangible by example.

As I said, be sure to make it re-purposeable, one point at a time. A Q&A session at the very end can also be used to generate content if you have an audience to engage. Often someone will ask you a question that you would have never have asked yourself. If they ask you a very good question and your answer comes out naturally, that can be better than if you wrote down points yourself.

Consider doing one of these things to stay on point. Use note cards, a written outline or a PowerPoint presentation. Unless you’re doing a webinar where people can see the screen, they won’t be able to see these points. It’s something you consider if you’re a person who wants a guideline.

About the Author:

Caleb Scoville helps consultants, trainers, coaches and service professionals, multiply their impact with information products and audio and video online marketing strategies.

Find out the 5 simple steps to turn one hour into a successful marketing plan at http://www.northbankaudio.com/teleclass