Hope you didn’t buy your big screen TV last month…According to Gizmodo, Sony is leading a huge price drop next month.
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Whew! That’s over!
We’ve finally moved this blog onto a WordPress platform.
If you’ve been following the blog talk recently, you know why I like WordPress so much -it provides a huge selection of plug-in ‘widgets’ that give you uncommon flexibility in design and optimization…not to mention awesome latitude in templates.
At any rate, please note that our new & improved blog, now dubbed “Video Success Secrets,” is residing right here at www.VideoSuccess.com
I’d appreciate it if you let us know what you think. As always, your comments are appreciated, and darned easy to post. And while you’re here you can easily add Video Success Secrets to your RSS feed, or you can sign up for the email alerts and we’ll let you know when new material is posted. While we’ve been redesigning the site, a lot of good stuff has been piling up, so expect to see quite a bit of activity around here in the next few weeks, too.
It’s getting a little weird out there right now – a downturn in the marketplace, the dreaded “R” word rearing its head, the convergence of technology …but that is no reason to stop investing in your business. I just got back from the 4EVER Group’s video conference in Orlando where I was shocked by the number of business people who just wouldn’t spend money on their building up their businesses. Whether it was new technology, education, or marketing and promoting -particularly those last two categories -they just didn’t feel that this was the “right” time.
VBA member Case Marsh puts it well when he says, “During the down cycles, I’ve seen people hunker down under their desks in vain efforts to hide from bad times. It never works. Bad times have a way of finding their way into every nook and crack, and root out the weak. The economists call it “adjustments.” You can be part of an adjustment, or you can be part of the recovery. You choose.”
That got me to thinking – and so I put together an hour-long podcast entitled, “Why Your Video Business Sucks.” It’s free to all VBA members. Find all the details about membership by clicking here, and find your way out from under your desk at the same time.
With the explosion of new media advertising in recent years, the traditional production model catering to advertisers simply no longer works. Each passing month clients spend less money on television spots, want their TV ads to tie into larger marketing campaigns or even turn completely to the Internet to get their message out. In an exclusive StudioDaily video, a panel of advertising production heavyweights discuss how they have rethought and restructured their business to fit the needs of today’s market. See it here…
Dateline, Orlando: I really don’t want to crow about being able to leave the single-digit temperatures of East Lansing to participate in the Video ‘08 Conferences in Orlando this week…let’s just say “it’s enjoyable” and leave it at that, eh? Soon enough I’ll be back in the land of slop & snow…
Nice to see so many VBA’ers down here -Kris Malandruccolo, Case Marsh, Hal Slifer, Scott Bert, Joe McManus and a host of others. And in between the very necessary socializing, catching up and learning sessions, I’ve been researching some really significant emerging trends for video that hold the potential for significant income. So if you’re interested in making some serious money with your creativity and equipment (nope, nothing new is required of you)…stay tuned to this space. More when I return.
Otherwise, all is well here, except for our host hotel’s Internet service. It seems the joint promised free wi-fi everywhere. In reality, though, the hard-wire connections in most rooms don’t work, and it turns up that we get wi-fi only in the lobby area (for $9.95 a day, natch) or if we’re sitting at the pool bar & grill and have ordered something. Luckily, they don’t see me and my laptop, squatting down behind this palm tree…but I could be interrupted anyti
Really?
Are you sure you want to say that?
Granted, there’s a lot of competition out there. But, unless you’re ready to roll out of bed at 1 o’clock in the morning to answer a client’s call, you’d best not say so.
There are other ways to differentiate your business from the crowd. Maybe you stay open longer or, because you work from your home, are more accessible on weekends. Perhaps
you do offer 24-hour emergency service or return phone calls within one business day. Or within the hour.
However it is you choose to differentiate your business, make it a part of ALL your marketing – from letterhead, to website, to e-mail signature, to media advertising and other print materials. Just remember, once it’s out there, you need to back it up with action.
Here’s an email I received this past week from a small video business owner: “Steve, I am working on the new design for our site, and I need a really snappy one- or two-sentence headline summarizing everything that’s great about us. It needs to say what we do in just a couple of sentences. Do you have any ideas?”
Finding your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is all the rage right now. Everybody talks about it. There are hundreds of thousands of listings about USP on Google. Many offer a 3-step, 7-step, 10-step, howevermany-step program to help you determine your products’ or your services’ very own USP.
Part of the reason it’s such a discussed topic is because it’s becoming more difficult to distinguish yourself from the competition. Back in the 1940s when Rosser Reeves, the ad guy who came up with “Unique Selling Proposition,” it was much easier to be the only product (or service) offering
specific benefits.
Determining your product’s USP is trickier than before and more important. So here’s a rule of thumb to follow; the simpler your message is - the better it will be.
In other words, what unique advantage can you offer that your competitors are not offering? Mind you, it’s not that they can’t do it; it’s just that they’re not saying it.
My “Positioning Your Video Business” video class talks about how to determine your USP. I also am devoting at least one upcoming column in EventDV magazine to this subject. Or do your own web search for “USP” and see what you can find.
Remember, there’s no time like the present to define or redefine your unique selling position to distinguish your video business from the rest of the pack, and give people a reason to patronize you.
I’ll have a little more on this subject tomorrow; stay tuned.
