You Gotta See This…

When I started Maverick Marketer last summer, my vision was to show you how to stand out from all the noise and win your customer’s hearts.

After all… it doesn’t matter how good your product or service is if your marketing doesn’t stop prospects long enough to consider your offer.

So much marketing flies at you from every possible media source, including the Internet, that sometimes I really wonder if ours heads are going to start popping one of these days.

When I say "Maverick" what I’m referring to, in part, is what makes some marketing (and marketers) different, noticeable, and believable.

Being a Maverick in a hype filled industry often is little more than simply doing your marketing in a personal and engaging way.

Like when I write about my personal life or go off on a rant. Sure, I probably alienate some people each time I do, but the majority of my readers get to know me better.

The problem with Internet marketing compared to television or radio is that most websites are just text blobs…

You’ll notice, of course, that my site is the same way at maverickmarketer.com. It’s just text.

Why? Because it’s been working… 49% of visitors opt in. Of those, over 90% confirm their subscription. So I have left it as all text since I created it last summer.

If you haven’t seen already, I have links to screen cam videos on this blog… but overall the multi-media element has been missing on my site.

That’s about to change.

I’ve done some tests recently that have me re-designing my sites behind the scenes…

Here’s why… increased response = increase revenue.

I study marketing trends… what’s working, what’s not. What’s up and coming, and what’s old hat.

Let me tell you about a trend that I’ve been dabbling in that is literally taking over this year.

Video… it’s bringing the Internet from wild wild west to the greatest multimedia communications channel the world has ever known (thanks to a few pioneers).

Like I said, I’ve done screen cam videos for some of my case studies and promotions, but things are getting a whole lot more interesting than that now.

Multi-media is so powerful because our culture is predominantly visual. We’re conditioned to television and movies and that means that we’ll eventually demand that of our online experience, too.

Right now, nothing stands out in marketing online like video. It’s fresh, it’s different, and it gets noticed.

I get way more traffic to my blog posts that involve video than I do for text in general. On a previous blog that I published last year, I had a series of videos on my subscribers’ websites that got spread around the web. I was getting viral traffic resulting in comments on my blog from people who weren’t even on my list.

So why isn’t everyone doing audio and video on their sites?

Here’s the challenge up until now with video… it intimidates a lot of people. How the heck do you do it? What equipment do you need?

And it’s true… if you have no idea how to create a screen cam or don’t understand the equipment or software involved, it can seem like an impossible task to put video on your blog, website, or in your emails.

Heck, most people don’t really understand how to put up a website, let alone add multi-media to it.

Here’s the thing… I’ve got a couple of friends who are video and marketing pioneers, Mike Stewart and Jim Edwards. There’s been quite a buzz about these two since December because they released (and sold out) a soup to nuts, step by step home study course on how to do video.

I literally clicked on their link to buy the coure 9 minutes after they took the site down last year… I was locked out. I’ve waited till now to get a copy.

Yup, the’re re-launching their course now… and I’m going through it right now… What I’ve seen so far has proved to me that I will be doing a LOT more video very soon.

They’ve made it brain dead simple. Even a techophobe like me can ‘get it’ and take advantage of video now.

My landing page, my ecourse, and my next product are all going to have video incorporated in them. More importantly, I see how it’s going to be a lot faster and easier than I thought to get this done (and make it look right).

If you want to see video in action… check out the landing page Mike and Jim have to promote their home study course.

You go there (have your speakers turned up) and see if that isn’t a heck of a lot more effective as a first impression for someone who stops there than your typical website.

I’m going to see if I can get one or both of these guys on the phone and do a call for you.

Listen, I’m a reluctant techie. But I know that the web isn’t going back to the silent, text days any more than television and movies are going to lose audio and go black and white.

Things don’t move backwards… and if you are serious about marketing online, you want to take a good look at how video can be a part of increasing your profits at

http://www.maverickmarketer.com/videoprofits

Ever since I saw Mike Stewart present on audio and video at Big Seminar last year I knew this was coming… but now the training is available for folks like you and me to actually figure it out (Mike’s been in radio, TV and such for decades… he knows his stuff and it comes second nature to him… and Jim’s a marketing genius… so the two of them are a real dynamic duo).

Everything I’ve written about in my blog when it comes to courses and tools are things I’m using to build my own business… and audio and video are no different.

Why? Isn’t this just some fad everyone is promoting?

Nope. We even have a saying in our language: "Seeing is Believing".

If you can demonstrate a benefit about your product or deliver an info product in video (or a sales message), you’re going to get far more attention from your potential customer than if you just wrote on and on in text.

Don’t get me wrong… I love text. I love to read. But I’m wierd that way. My wife, for example, can’t stand long copy websites.

But… the reason people in Internet Marketing are so ga ga all of a sudden about video is that the truth of it’s effectiveness has become undeniable.

Look at the website launches of the most successful promotions… John Reese’s relaunch of Traffic Secrets — tons of video, Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula, Armand Morin’s Big Seminar has video testimonials, Mike Filsaime’s Butterfly Marketing, and now Jim and Mike’s course… all have very effective video on them.

One would have to be one heck of a Luddite to argue that video was a fad… especially now that TV, movies, newspapers, magazines and newsletters all are integrating with the Internet and blogs.

The real question is, what is holding you back from using video… not whether you should use it.

I had to be dragged into video kicking and screaming… I don’t easily pick up new techie stuff… but I did because I saw the raw power of being on that cutting edge.

Don’t stick your head in the sand on this one… the biggest response rate boosts from using video are going to go to those who adopt it early.

Later on… it’ll be more like TV… and you’ll have to work harder to stand out.

But don’t ignore video… there will soon come a day when just plan old text and a site slapped together won’t cut it at all.

Multi-media is big part of my email marketing strategy and my testing so far shows higher conversion rates with few exceptions (though I did one video last year that was a dud… no response at all… but I am learning now why it was such a flop from Mike and Jim’s course…).

I’ll be doing some videos here shortly and you’ll see me change my sites and emails right before your eyes (I couldn’t help it… had to go there, lol).

If there is enough response to this post… I’ll probably create a ‘look over my shoulder’ program while I implement it on my projects as I go throughMike and Jim’s course.

We’ll see. Stay tuned…

- Craig

P.S. I was always nervous about doing audio and video until Mike Stewart got me into it (audio first). It’s fun now, and I would not want to market online without it these days with everyone so overloaded with hype… a good screen cam video or regular video makes you stand out like nothing else. Check out this landing page that Mike and Jim did…