Monday, April 28, 2014

ATTEND A TRADE SHOW

Bill Myers at Myers.com offered some terrific advice in one of his articles on how to target your customer.  It's here:

Defining the exact product [your customer] wants now.
After you have defined a group of potential customers, you next need to find out the exact product most of them are interested in buying right now.

Doing this requires you to get out and do some personal research. You want to do the following:

1.  Understand what is important to these people.
2.  Understand what unsolved problems they have, what frustrations they have, what common questions they are asking.
3.  One way to do this research is to become a part of the group you want as customers. Live the same kind of life they do, pursue the same hobbies, visit the same events, tradeshows, workshops - so you start thinking like they do.  And be sure to read the same special interest hobby magazines they do. See if you can spot trends in letters in questions to the editors, or complaints or frustrations shared by most people in the group.
Yes, doing all this requires research and work on your part. But it puts you in touch with your customers (before they become customers), and allows you to come up with the exact product they actually want to buy. And if you can do that, you will be well rewarded.
http://www.bmyers.com/members/228.cfm

And 6 important trade shows!!!

TRADESHOWS IN LOS ANGELES:

June 2, 2014:  Accounting & Business Show.

June 8, 2014: Film & Video Show.

June 10, 2014:  Electronics.

November 5, 2014:  American Film Market Show.

 

Thursday, April 24, 2014

YOUTUBE DO'S AND DON'T'S

THINGS NOT TO DO ON YOUTUBE
#1: DO NOT use a 5 or 10 second splash promo or intro animation at the start of your videos. YouTube viewer retention rates in the first 20 seconds are low. This just gives them another reason to click away.

#2: DO NOT use annotations unless you have a series of videos and want to link them to your related videos.

#3: DO NOT hard sell anything. Ever!

#4: DO NOT make videos longer than 3 minutes long. The number of YouTube viewers that drop off after two minutes is high, so keep it short and sweet. Practice your editing skills to trim the fat. Break long 'how to' videos into a series of short videos.

THINGS TO DO ON YOUTUBE
#1: DO hit them with the good stuff from the get go. Get them hooked in the first 10 seconds. People leave in their droves during the first 20 seconds of a YouTube video, so make sure your irresistible offer hooks them in straight away.

#2: DO create high quality useful content that encourages the viewer to leave YouTube and come to your website (Where your unique video content using your own branded player will be waiting funneling them to a sales page or sign up form).

#3: DO tell them EXACTLY what to do in the video. If you want them to sign up for some free lessons, tell them step by step what they need to do e.g. Click on the link below this video to get your free lessons. People are lazy. If you don't tell them what to do, they won't do it. NEVER assume it is obvious.

#4: DO ask for viewers comments and opinions in your video. Tell them what to do or they won't do anything.

#5: DO add a new video at least once a week without fail. THIS IS THE BIGGEST KEY TO SUCCESS ON YOUTUBE. The secret to success for ANYTHING is doing it consistently over time. Most people put a few videos up, get a few hundred views and say 'This sucks!' and never does it again. HUGE mistake. Small things done on a consistent basis leads to big things. The more videos you put up, the more successful you'll be.

(h/t Pete @ Bill Myers.com)