Do Silly Names Sell Products?

Way back in the day (which is another way to say I don’t know when this happened, but it was at least 10 years ago) an online marketer recorded a bunch of videos to sell as a product.

The product had something to do with online marketing, but I don’t remember the topic. I also don’t remember who the marketer was, although at the time I think he was pretty well known.

What I do remember is that while he was recording, a dog in the background kept barking.

And thus, rather than go with a standard name for his product like the, “Get More Traffic!” product or the “Make Tons of $$ with Social Media” product, he called his video set…

“The Barking Dog Videos.”

My point here is simple: After all this time, I STILL remember that name because it was different from everything else out there at the time (or perhaps since, too.)

He could have rerecorded the videos to make them more “professional,” but if he had, I suspect his sales wouldn’t have been as good.

Not only did he have a catchy, memorable name – he also had a STORY that his affiliates could tell in just a few words.

In a nutshell: “Great product, silly name because of a crazy barking dog, check it out.”

I remember a tourist type of place with a huge gift shop and restaurant on a main road on the outskirts of town. I drove by it all the time, and regardless of what time of day it was, the place was PACKED with people.

The name of the place? “The World’s Worst Restaurant.” People stopped just to be able to say they ate at the world’s worst restaurant and shopped at the world’s worst gift shop. You know that when they got home from their vacation, they told their friends about the place.

Would they have told others if it was called the Magnolia Café? I don’t think so. In fact, they probably would have forgotten all about it after a week or two.

We might want to be “professionals,” but the fact is that being different, strange, weird and even fallible will sometimes win out over everything else.                                                                                           

Create great products with just a little bit of built-in gimmicks or craziness and see what happens.

Need help naming your product or business?

Try these brand name generators:

Shopify – Generate business names and check domain availability instantly. https://www.shopify.com/tools/business-name-generator

Oberlo – This is a platform that helps drop shipping businesses, and they also have a name generator tool you can use for any purpose. https://www.oberlo.com/tools/business-name-generator

Within the Flow – They say you can get your business name in just 3 seconds. (You might want to take a little longer than that, but hey, who knows? Your first attempt might also be the best. https://www.withintheflow.com/business-name-generator/

Namelix – Generate a short, brandable business name using artificial intelligence. https://namelix.com/

Panabee – Search for domain names, app names and company names. Red broken hearts mean the name is not available and full blue hearts can be yours. https://www.panabee.com/  

To Your Success Online

Steven Morton

Founder-Marketing Mastermind Tips

https://www.facebook.com/pg/stevenmorton1964/posts/

https://twitter.com/Marketing_Tips2

My Beginner's Guide to E-Product Development

Introduction
The internet is an elephant, so to speak. So how do you eat an elephant? One would say one piece at a time. Every internet guru has his own views about how to succeed in the internet or online, but like any other thing in life, there is no one perfect way, or one size fits all. Some say content is king. Some say begin with a list. Some say begin with 100% automation. Content, list, and automation all matter, but what about the person that is just beginning and doesn't know his left from his right? I believe a beginner should start with a product to prove his credibility and from there move on to building a list while at the same time gradually working towards automating his website to work on autopilot.

A Caveat about Starting With a Product
Having said that it's better to start with a product, I believe it's appropriate to throw in this qualification by saying that at the highest levels, you can actually sell a product you have not yet developed to your list or followers, but as a beginner, you may not be able to employ that strategy. At its most basic, it involves telling your followers that you have a product that is coming out in say 90 days or 180 days time and any one among them that buys in advance would get it at 30 or 20 percent discount. Some may decide to buy and you can then use the cash to develop the product. This strategy is for already well known "brands" like Peter Diamandis, Brendon Burchard, Tim Ferriss and Tony Robbins to mention just four.

How to Develop Your First Product
This presentation focuses on how you can develop your first product. The truth is, in internet business, you don't have to wait until you have a perfect product. Just begin and continue improving along the way. If you compare cars or any product for that matter made in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and 2000s, you notice that they keep getting better in terms of design, sleekness, and performance, to mention just three aspects. That should be your aim. Start, and keep improving day in and day out.

In this presentation, the focus is entirely on electronic products (eProducts), not the selling of physical products online, which is referred to as e-commerce. I'm assuming that you're already an expert operating in six dimensions as an author, trainer, speaker, coach, consultant, seminar leader and now gunning for the seventh dimension, information marketing. If you don't consider yourself an expert, don't worry too much, we'll come back to that and the scales will fall off from your eyes. Even if you're not operating in any of the dimensions yet, say you're just an employee, don't worry, this presentation will open your eyes to the possibilities ahead. The author of the book Instant Income, Janet Switzer, listed over 52 eProducts one can develop in her Maverick Program but we'll limit ourselves to just the simplest products as this is a beginner's program.

Understanding or knowing which products to develop, the demand for those products and how to position your products are beyond the scope of this presentation. Also marketing, selling and launching your product are outside the scope of this presentation. Having covered those preliminaries, let's dive in on your product development journey.

Products Suitable For E-Copies
The main products that you can easily convert to e-format are:
• Books
• Music
• Courses (seminars) - these are generally referred to as "How to Products."
• Speeches
• Research findings

The Top 7 Most Lucrative "How to Products" Areas In the Expert Industry

According to Brendon Burchard, in his book The Expert Messenger, the seven most lucrative how to product areas are:

1. Motivation Advice
2. Leadership Advice
3. Financial Advice
4. Business Advice
5. Marketing Advice
6. Relationship Advice
7. Spiritual Advice

E-Product Formats
The main formats are:
• PDF
• E-pub
• Mobi
• Audio (MP3)
• Videos (MP4)

Sites For Uploading Your E-Products
Having made or created your product, the next thing to do is to launch. You can launch your products through a combination of channels, including:
• Your website
• Third-party websites
• YouTube
• Vimeo
• Stitcher
• iTunes
• SoundCloud
• CD Baby
• To your List through an e-marketing platform, example, Mailchimp.

The Various Product Formats In Detail
Let us now take the product formats one at a time in slightly more detail.

PDF (Portable Document Format)
One of the easiest ways to join the online business as an expert is to start with training course, workshop, seminar or a book. Your book in particular can and will open doors especially if you can write a New York Times best seller. For a beginner, that might be far-fetched so let's just begin with a good book or a well thought out course. Having done your book or course (this applies too to seminars and workshops), you save in word or PowerPoint and convert it to PDF. PDF (portable document format) is a special format developed by Adobe and can be bought online or better still buy the CD and install in your laptop. Once converted to PDF, no one can amend or tinker with your product and you can upload it to your website and start selling. Sounds so simple? Yes! Technology simplifies things. Anybody with a laptop or smart-phone can buy your product and start enjoying it right away. Most new generation laptops and smart-phones have PDF reader pre-installed or you can simply download an app that enables you read the PDF document.

E-Pub
E-Pub (ePub) is short for electronic publication and is an eBook file format that the majority of devices, including iPad, android smartphones, tablets, computers, or e-readers can read. To convert your book to e-Pub requires a special software, which an average business centre can help you achieve. If you cannot get a business centre near you to convert your book to epub, you can do it online through a company by the name Allzone.

Mobi
Mobi is especially peculiar to Amazon Kindle as that is the only format that Kindle uses. Starting in 2011, some analysts projected that within five years there would be over 53million Kindles worldwide so if you want one of the Kindle users to buy your book, you have no choice but to have it in Mobi format. But there is good news. Amazon does not even require you to convert your book into Mobi before uploading to Amazon. You can upload to Amazon in Word format and Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) will automatically convert it to Mobi for you.

MP4 and MP3
Just a few years ago we were using what was then known as CD (compact disc) before the mp3 format, which is an audio coding format for digital audio, was introduced. The mp3 (or MP3) format can store enormous amounts of sound so you don't need hundreds of CDs as before. Your finished work can be converted to mp3 very easily to be listened to using digital devices including smartphones, iPads and laptops. Don't worry about how to do this as an average sound or video editor would handle the technical aspects and help you uploaded your product to Stitcher, SoundCloud or CD Baby. Editing is not very expensive and goes for as low as $5 for a one hour episode depending on the editor and the fee keeps coming down as more and more people master the art of video editing.

Videos
Videos are what make the internet tick. Video engages more than any other medium so it's a must you learn how to do video. And the good news is that it's not as complex as you may imagine. You don't even need any technical skills. Direct-to-camera video is the one you make with an ordinary camera or camcorder. Camera comes highly recommended compared to camcorder not only because cameras are generally smaller in size and cheaper, but because they develop less heat compared to camcorders. Initially, you may have to rent the camera but with time, you may decide to acquire your own. The most popular camera type is Canon, but you can also make videos with your smart phone however there is a slight drawback as you may not be able to edit or get audio or MP3 out of a smart phone so having a camera has advantages.

The other type of video is the one you make with a software. For Windows computer, you use a software called Camtasia and for Apple computers, you use what is called screenflow. You have to pre-install camtasia (or screenflow if you're using Mac) in your computer to begin with. Let's focus on Windows computers since that is the one I use. Having installed camtasia in your computer, the other processes are pretty straight forward. You first prepare your presentation in PowerPoint. When your slides are ready, you put on the earphone and plug in the voice converter or adapter and switch on camtasia. Once camtasia is on, you start speaking and as you finish with one slide, you move to the next one until your presentation is over. Once your presentation is done, you save what you have done for editing and viola your video is ready and you can upload it to your website, YouTube or Vimeo. Editing is not very expensive and it's not something to worry about as an average business centre can handle it for you.

There is yet a third way of producing videos. This is different from camtasia video we just described above. In this case, there are actually companies that specialize in helping you make videos by providing you with prepared templates. One of them, which I use, is a company called Animoto. What you do is you sign on to Animoto and they give you the architecture to do a video complete with background music. You simply register with the company and once you log-in you just follow the straightforward instructions for preparing a video.

Animoto has free and paid versions of the service. The paid version starts at about $96 per annum. You don't need any skills to do a video. The website provides all the needed headings, such as description of video, which you fill in and upload the pictures and provide a description of your video and viola, your video is ready. In the free and lower end paid versions, the company's logo, Animoto, will appear on your video, but in the premium versions, nothing appears so no one would know you used Animoto. For the very high end versions, you can even customize by putting your name or company's name and logo on the video. For the free version, you'll be provided with a maximum of 6 place holders for just 1 minute video and no more. If you want longer videos then you have to go for the paid versions.

Conclusion
A journey of a thousand miles as the saying goes begins with one step. Internet or online expert business sounds and appears hard when you have no one to guide and show you the way. The fastest way to cut your learning curve is to get a coach and you'll be up and running in no time. In our Expert Empire Program we guide you through how to develop e-Products.

Paul Uduk is the author of five books, including Bridges to the Customer's Heart, Wealth Beyond Your Imagination and The Celebrity Speaker, all available at his website, http://www.pauluduk.com and on Amazon. He is the CEO of Vision & Talent, one of Nigeria's most respected service excellence and process excellence training consultancies, which can be reached via http://www.visionandtalent.com. In addition to training for some of the most respected brands, including Nestoil, Heineken, Inlaks, Dangote and Berger, to name a few, he coaches executives on book writing and the list of his clients read like who is who. Paul recently launched The Expert Empire Program that helps beginners stake a claim in the expert industry on Vimeo. Paul can be reached by email via paul@pauluduk.com or pauluduk@gmail.com and by phone +2348033075133.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Paul_Uduk/1194732

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3 Things To Know About Video Marketing

Videos not only add life to your presentations, but it's also the fastest-growing type of media online. If you're looking to promote or grow your business with Video Marketing then you're in luck. You will discover in this article 3 tips on how to make use of this visual technique.

For starters, videos do a great job of grabbing the attention of people surfing on the web. The truth is, most people are much more likely to become excited about the dynamic content of a video than they would be over just some plain written text. Also, given the fact that most people have short attention spans these days, they prefer to watch a video over reading an article post.

Tip #1 - Know Your Audience and Create Videos They Want

You need to know what your audience wants and then give it to them. This may seem obvious but a lot of businesses are so focused on their products or services that their target audience may get lost in the shuffle. People will have questions that they want answers to in your niche, so make it your business to find out what these are and create videos around them.

Videos can definitely transform your static presentations into lively, more engaging messages that trigger emotions, and help to communicate on a deeper level than nearly any other form of marketing. There's nothing wrong with using videos to establish your presence within your market or to define your brand, you just need to know who your target audience is. This brings us to the next tip.

Tip #2 Optimize your Videos for Search

Do some keyword research in your niche. Figure out what your audience may be searching for when they are doing a query on the search engines, then create appealing, keyword-rich titles for your videos and a keyword-rich description that tells people what the video is about. Be honest though, people do not want to be deceived so don't say that it is about something when it isn't. Also, use related keywords in your video tags.

Try to add the word "Video" to your title too as this will help you to rank in Google and the other search engines. Lastly, upload your video to YouTube if you want your video to rank highly in a YouTube search. Do this even if you have your own video hosting. Your video is now ranked and you're starting to see some traffic, all you need now is some sales!

Tip #3 Monetize Your Video

So, if you want people to buy your product or try a service from you in a video, you need to attach a working link to it. The link should be in the video player. This way, your link will always be available, especially if your video is being shared. You can do this through the use of a text box on your video. This is a great way to let people know where they can go to find you and your products. If you don't include the URL, they'll just watch the video and move on with no way to make a purchase even if they wanted to.

As you can see, video marketing is one of the best ways to promote your business. Through video marketing, you can reach an entirely new audience that will help your business experience growth and success. Remember the contents of this article when it's time to enhance your business with video marketing and be sure to visit my blog terryphong.com for more online marketing tips.

For more online marketing tips, please visit: http://terryphong.com

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Terry_Phong/283420

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7 Ways to Use Videos for More Engagement on Instagram

In the digital world, social media has become a very important part of a successful marketing strategy. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. offer a lot of opportunities for brands to showcase their products. These platforms are free to use and you can directly interact with a larger audience at once. You don't need to invest a lot of money in building a marketing strategy that includes social media videos. No matter whether you have a small or a large business, it's time that you take social media marketing seriously.

Based on statistics shared by Lyfe marketing, 93 percent of videos on Twitter are accessed from mobile phones. Views of branded video content on YouTube has doubled in the last three years. Moreover, Facebook live videos receive 10 times more comments that a regular video. All these statistics show that video content is in demand on social media networks. This is because millennials connect more to videos on social media. Web Marketing Video Council has found that more than 60 percent of brands are using social media videos actively for promotions. Thus, it is highly likely that your competitors are also leveraging the power of social media video to expand their customer base.

Instagram is a very powerful social media platform that allows you to share images and videos online. Techcrunch has been studying Instagram trends since its launch. As per their study, Instagram crossed the threshold of 1 billion monthly active users in 2018. Moreover, Instagram is currently growing at a rate of 5 percent per quarter, the highest among social media platforms. So, Instagram should be your first choice in showcasing your brand's product and services. In this article, we will take you through some ways to use Instagram videos for engaging more audience.

Short Commercials

Create short, valuable videos that represent your brand. You can showcase your product in an artistic way through these videos. The commercial can be inspirational, funny, or emotional. Instagram currently allows you to share a 60 second video on your timeline. With such short videos, it is easy to grab the attention of the target audience. Also, short videos are best to share crisp information about your products. You can share the commercial in Instagram stories, IGTV or in the Instagram timeline.

Product details

Showcase your product's specifications or a 'product in action' video to demonstrate its capability. Focus only on important features to keep the viewers engaged. Keep the video more informative and less descriptive. Attention to detail is the key to creating a cool and sexy video. You can put the product video in your brand's Instagram page's timeline for the audience to see anytime. Creating such spontaneous videos attracts a lot of attention.

Do it yourself videos

An effective way to use Instagram videos is to create instructional content. 'Do it yourself' or 'how to' videos share your products working. This helps the users to understand the product's usage. You can also create troubleshooting videos related to any problem that your customer might face. To the point videos are liked by the target audience as they get relevant information within a short span of time. By sharing such videos from time to time you can build a relationship with your existing customers.

Behind the scenes video

Customers have become picky in choosing a product, hence it is important to establish a connection with them. You can create behind the scenes videos that take them through trivia related to your product. You can even conduct quick learning sessions about tips and tricks related to your product usage. The fast forward video that Sheryl Cole has shared about her work will give some idea. You just have to be creative and smart in capturing the right moments for your Instagram video.

Instagram Stories Video

Instagram launched Insta stories in August 2016. Through stories, you can share images or videos with your followers for a 24-hour duration. This short span creates a sense of urgency and people tend to view the stories as they see one active. You can use stories to promote your business as follows:

1. Sharing short-time deals is a good way to attract people to your products and services. You can set up the offer so that it can only be redeemed during the story's lifespan. Once people get to know about such deals, they will come for more.
2. Let an influencer take over your Instagram handle to share a sneak peek of the products and discount offers. A familiar face is sure to attract more audience.

Live on Instagram

The best feature on Instagram is that you can stream live video on it. Once you go live on Instagram, you are at the forefront of your follower's feed. Hence, there are high chances of your followers engaging with your live stream. They get to see your stream even if they aren't physically part of the event. Product previews, product releases, Q&A sessions, educational streams, etc. are some ways in which you can engage with your online audience. If your event is pre-planned, then you can promote it through emails and other social media platforms.

Bring in the makers

Give a personal touch to your stories by introducing your employees who have created your products and services. You can get the team members to share their journey in product development. Also, you can let your employees handle your brand's Instagram account for a day. They can then share details about their work life and the hard work that goes into making the product. The employees can even conduct a Q&A session for the audience to educate them about the product. Such video sessions create an emotional connect with the target audience and more views to your Instagram account.

Conclusion

If you aren't incorporating the power of Instagram into your digital marketing campaign, then you are missing out on something big. Instagram's potential if exploited properly, can take your products to new heights. There is no perfect way to use Instagram video, the techniques mentioned above will help you in getting started in doing so. You can even hire social media management agencies that will help you promote your products by creating some amazing video content.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Mark_S_Cooper/1296732

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Video Production – The Modern Marketing Strategy

Every business owner has to have their finger on the pulse when it comes to thinking of new ideas and revising current methods used in advertising and marketing. There is no time to sit back and relax as competition is high and people get bored very easily, it’s crucial to come up with a new approach to keep you in the public eye. An organisation that wants to maintain a business name and ensure it becomes familiar with the general public has to incorporate effectual marketing policies, and video production is a modern and fresh way to approach selling products and getting your brand name out there where it can’t be missed. Everyone enjoys watching movies, and videos are just as appealing as they are short, visual, and let you be as creative as you feel. They can achieve all kinds of things, use it as a tool for a visual presence on the web to advertise products and services, and to market your company and provide important information to your audience by incorporating image pieces, sales incentives, product information, and CEO messages. These can be supplied via the website, or via marketing, training, and tradeshow videos. Whether you’re interested in a marketing video to draw attention to a new product or want something practical for training employees’, video production companies can identify your needs and develop an idea into an engaging or instructional mini film – visual images have a lot more impact than reading through a whole page of text. Also useful for employee training sessions videos can raise awareness and cultivate learning and change, in addition to promoting risk management from a health and safety viewpoint, and utilize techniques to encourage consumers to think positively about the company. A short instructional video for consumers is a great visual tool and allows those who aren’t so good at reading or simply get frustrated following complicated instructions to learn about the product in a fast and easy fashion. Video’s are highly effective and can get a point across using a direct and prompt approach. Put your corporate production onto a DVD and send it off to potential customers as an economical but cheap way to promote your new line for example. A great way to market your business they can be sent via email or added to the company website – video emails provide business’ with an alternative method of sending a message to clients and are a particularly high speed communication channel. Companies using social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube to post video can achieve superior results if positioned and marketed suitably to those channels. Traditional marketing videos were focused on selling and commonly disregarded as uninteresting and as they are an obvious sell not always seen in a positive light, whereas modern mini-videos are seen as a modern technique that can entertain and educate. Hiring an established and reputable company to produce your project guarantees a high quality as they have the experience and skills to achieve what you want after years of working in a diverse range of industries, from TV commercials and corporate videos, to industrial videos, music videos, and even film and movie production. If you have your own ideas or prefer them to come up with a novel idea the finished product should be something that gets the message across both clearly and successfully in a way that is modern and noticeable. Video Production services are a great way to get a business’ marketing message and brand successfully out there in the marketplace and you don’t even have to spend a lot of effort or cash. With today’s technology a project can be accomplished in a matter of days or a week at the most. This permits customer’s to set up a promotion using a number of media channels very quickly. Delivering your message at such a speed and ahead of competition gives you the ability to reach the target market first. Thinking of using an in-store video ad to be used in retail stores on a national scale or a short promotional ad for YouTube? Then get your project in motion, go online and search Seattle video production for the latest information on corporate production companies. They really are one of the most valuable methods of getting attention and generating more money for your organisation.

We provide a wide range of filming and video production services - from controlled environment studio shoots including greenscreen presenter led videos, stop-motion and pack shots to location shoots for infomercials and live event filming. Article Source: http://www.articlebiz.com/article/1051554351-1-video-production-the-modern-marketing-strategy/