Scaling on cold traffic has always felt like something of an uphill battle on the best of days – but it’s getting especially difficult given the rigid compliance regulations and higher ad costs that most brands are dealing with.
Regardless of your platform, the rules are getting stricter all the time concerning what you can and cannot do in your content, which makes it difficult to maintain consistent messaging and create an overall consistent experience for the people you’re trying to serve in the first place.
However, the vast majority of vendors who have been able to successfully weather this cold traffic storm tend to have one thing in common: the ability to sell on camera. Emily Lark is one of those vendors, and she’s been using video for years to great effect.
In fact, Emily created her own sales video system that literally tripled her conversions and took her startup online business to an enormous level of success in the first year. But the best part of all is that this system is so straightforward literally anyone can use it, including all levels of marketers and product owners. The system itself is also nothing if not versatile, so it can be applied to all forms of marketing videos like VSLs, short video ads, webinars, social media posts and much, much more.
Selling on Camera: The Best Techniques You Should Be Paying More Attention To
One of the most important things to understand about improving your video conversions is that the video format itself is not enough to get the job done. Yes, it’s true that people love video more than ever. If given the option between watching a short video and reading a blog post, most people would overwhelmingly choose the former even if the latter contained the exact same information.
Video is naturally more fun, exciting, and engaging at the same time… but simply recording a video won’t make that impact you’re after if you’re not careful.
Case in point: the difference between recording a voice over for your video and actually appearing with your product so that you can sell it on camera is a deep one, indeed. The first option may allow you to convey all of the information you’re trying to get across, but only the latter will create that experience you’re going for and that your customers want more of.
Now, performing well on camera isn’t necessarily a trait that a lot of us naturally have. It’s not something we’re ever taught and most of the time, it’s something you either have or you don’t. But when it comes to your own videos, start by trying to find someone with an appealing nature and focus on ways to bring that through on camera however possible. You don’t want to put someone in front of your product and have them go straight into “presenter mode” – that’s a great way to get people to check out.
Instead, find someone who just conveys that type of natural charisma and use the camera to highlight that as much as possible. In addition to being naturally engaging, this is also a great way to build trust with your target audience. People can hear the tone in someone’s voice AND see the look in their eye, all while listening to the words they have to say. If nothing else, it’s a way to get them to stick with you for the foreseeable future which is especially important given everything going on in the world right now.
Likewise, it’s important to understand that “acting” in this type of direct response sales video is a lot different than the “acting” that would be required of someone if they were in a television commercial or even a movie. So once you get the right person in front of the camera, they still need to be educated in everything from vocal tone to body language to help resonate with customers.
Prepare, Prepare and Prepare Some More
Emily said that another one of the most important tips she offers to people who want to successfully sell on camera and create better videos that convert involves how they prepare before the video is ever shot.
A lot of people (especially those who don’t appear on camera often or who may be appearing for the first time) want to use a resource like cue cards or a teleprompter to remember their lines, but that isn’t necessarily the right way to go. More often than not, this creates a situation where someone is very obviously reading something and they lose the natural fluidity of language that is so important in this context. They’re spending too much time focused on what they’re saying and aren’t controlling how they’re saying it, diminishing the impact in an unexpected way.
Rather, Emily prefers memorization and she says it’s a lot easier than one might expect. Human beings are visual learners, and studies have shown that we tend to have an easier time memorizing things when we experience them visually. Whenever she has to appear on camera, she’ll take the copy and try to distill each paragraph or line down to a single theme. Then, she’ll translate that theme into a visual image that is easier to remember. She may not get every word 100% correct, but the important heart of the message will always ring through.
Overall, these are the types of best practices that you can use to create videos that truly convert. This is true regardless of the business you’re running, or even the industry that you’re operating in. Successfully marketing is all about creating a real, emotional connection with as many people as possible and video is a great start for doing that. But you also need to get comfortable appearing on camera (or hire someone who is) so that you can sell yourself every bit as well as you do the product you’ve already put so much effort behind.
