That may seem like odd advice coming from a company who recognizes video as the king of all content types, but it is often times the best guidance we offer. We get it, a video is such a shiny marketing object it’s often hard to resist. Name any overused marketing term: engagement, conversions, SEO, ROI, take your pick and video does it best.
So you’re probably thinking if we shouldn’t make videos what should we do? Start a blog? Build an email list? Produce a podcast? If that is what is going through your head then the answer to each is don’t do it. There are tons of other marketing efforts outside of content that will provide a better return. To successfully get the most out of your content, regardless of channel, it’s important to not be concerned with the platform, at least initially. The important question to ask is why are you doing it?
The Stop Making Videos Newsletter is dedicated to sharing in-depth content marketing case studies, actionable advice and covering real-world examples both good and bad. We hope you find value in this resource and it can help jump start your own unique conversation.
We believe in content marketing for so many reasons, one is actually one of its best kept secrets: Your audience will tell you what you need to make next. How many of us have been in R and D meetings trying to decide what to make next? Most of the time we’re looking at sales trends, what the competition is doing and evaluating in-house opinions in order to figure out where our next offering will fit in. Now imagine for a second that you had a good enough relationship with your audience that WITHOUT ASKING they told you exactly what they wanted…and bought it!
In this issue, we dive into how a tropical weather enthusiast sold $70,000 worth of t-shirts in 48 hours by simply doing what his trusting audience requested. There was no specific campaign, lead generation, or action taken other than creating what was requested and letting your audience know you had it. While you may be thinking, “What does selling T-Shirts have to do with my business?” realize that this same principle can be applied to virtually any space. From figuring out what legal service your law firm should offer to what features should be added to your next car, your fans are key. Simply put an engaged audience will buy what they request.
Mike Boylan is a weather enthusiast living in Florida who has been obsessed with tracking tropical storms for the last decade. He has no formal training in meteorology, yet has a loyal following of thousands of people who count on him anytime there is a storm brewing in the ocean. I’m one of them. He communicates with his audience primarily through Facebook and email while housing all of his weather resources on his website: http://spaghettimodels.com/. It is truly a grassroots, passion project. I called him up to pick his brain about how spaghettimodels.com came to be and how on Earth he sold so many shirts! You can listen to five minutes of that call below.
Q & A with Mike
The takeaway. The value of your audience isn’t limited to simply their status as a customer. If the relationship is strong enough they will be key players in process of product planning. When that product is released they will skip the standard consumer decision process (search for info > evaluate alternatives > purchase) and go straight to the purchase. That is what we want from our marketing.
Next Issue: Value Of A Share. Here’s something to stir on until next week. A single ‘Share’ on Facebook is worth 1477 ‘Fans’ of your page. We’ll dive into how we arrived at that number and more in issue #2 of Stop Making Videos.
