Strategic Ways To Use Video To Grow Your Business with Ben Amos
In the Podcast:
00:34 – Episode & Guest Overview
03:50 – Learn to Identify Your Audience
08:26 – The Consideration Phase
13:03 – Conversions Matters
14:07 – Using Testimonials in Your Videos
15:06 – Best Video To Create as a Starting Point
18:32 – On-Going Basis Type of Videos to Create
22:44 – Why A Good Script Matters
25:39 – Classic Mistakes to Avoid
27:08 – Learn More About Ben Amos
Episode & Guest Overview
Ilana:
Welcome back to this episode of Teach Traffic. I’m your host, Ilana Wechsler, and today I am interviewing a guy called Ben Amos from Innovate Media. Ben, welcome to today’s episode.
Ben Amos:
Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.
Ilana:
Awesome. So you and I met in San Diego at Social Media Marketing World what does feel like a lifetime ago in terms of world events, even though not so much in duration of time, and the world is definitely a very different place right now.
But I was wondering….so you and I are going to talk about how to leverage video to really grow your business and hopefully get more traffic to your site and convert that traffic.
Before we get stuck into what we’re gonna talk about today. Do you want to maybe give us a little bit of a background about who you are and what you do?
Ben Amos:
Yeah, for sure. So my background is in video production.
For the last 12 years, I’ve been running a video production business here on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.
And we, for many years, just worked with businesses to create videos and handed those videos over and said Good luck and the businesses would go off and do something with those videos which had nothing to do with us.
But really, about seven years ago, something changed in the way that we were approaching things because I started to notice that as we were producing videos handing it over to clients.
I would check back on what they’ve done with these videos and they were happy with the videos that we created.
They’d spent money we got paid, we’d moved on to other clients, but they typically just stuck them up on YouTube.
And it amassed, like, in one particular case, I remember it was about a $5,000 video.
And six months later, he got 34 views on YouTube.
So clearly, there was no return on that investment. Right?
So that kind of kicked off for me a transition into video marketing, video marketing strategy.
And now, my company Innovate Media, we position in what we do as a video marketing strategy agency, as opposed to a production company, we still produce content.
But we very much work on a strategy first approach with every piece of content that we create, and we help our clients implement that content as well.
And as a result of that, I’ve also been fortunate enough to speak on stages and I have online courses and my own podcast and all of that, which is under the brand name of Engage Video Marketing.
So that’s me in a nutshell.
Ilana:
Yeah. Awesome. And I love the fact that you had to do strategy first and then implementation later.
And that’s very much the approach that I take with ads as well, like people just like, do a scattergun approach with ads and they throw up all these ads.
And then they think later about what’s my strategy versus the opposite way around like, well, strategy first let’s think about who exactly is our target audience?
What are we going to show them? Obviously, with video or with ads, and then how can we implement later.
So I think there’s a lot of parallels in what we do.
And often I say to people, let’s actually not spend a lot of money on ads and people like what I wasn’t expecting you to say that, you know, so let’s sort of talk through some of your video strategy.
Learn to Identify Your Audience
So let’s imagine one of our listeners listening to this who kind of hasn’t really embarked on any kind of video marketing, what would be a good starting point for them if they’re going to start to think about the big picture strategy that they should adopt…
Ben Amos:
Yeah, hundred percent should we frame this around an example? imaginary business perhaps?
Ilana:
Let’s take a chiropractor, just okay. That everyone kind of understands, and it’s, you know, applicable for many different types.
Ben Amos:
Awesome. So when it comes to a video marketing strategy, and we’re going to focus on organic here, but it does play into a paid strategy as well.
But if you’re just thinking about what types of videos should we be doing in our business in order to actually move people to take the right sorts of action with our business, right?
Because at the end of the day, that’s what you want to do with your videos. It’s not about the videos, it’s about the action that your ideal audience takes to become a customer.
That’s what grows the business, right?
So that’s where it starts is really understanding who your ideal audience is.
Any good strategy needs to start by understanding who you’re trying to move to take that action.
If you don’t know that, then you’re not going to do the right things to move them right.
So identify Your audience, understand them really, really clearly not just on a demographic level, but also understand some psychographics.
So what pain are they feeling? What’s going through their heads? What keeps them up at night?
Or what they are excited about all this sort of stuff.
The Journey Starts with Your Customer’s Emotion
So let’s look at the chiropractor, for example, their ideal audience probably at that point of realization that will eventually lead them to becoming a customer of the chiropractor.
They’re going through some kind of emotion right?
Usually it’s probably pain in this case, and they’re probably feeling something that’s the physical pain is leading to frustrations in their life and that kind of a negative emotions or maybe it’s positive emotions that they’re, you know, getting ready to go off and do something exciting like on a hike the Inca Trail, for example.
So it could be positive or it could be negative kind of emotions. But people that’s where the journey starts, right?
It starts with emotion, because people buy with emotion and then they justify those decisions with logic and reasoning, facts and figures.
So when it comes to a video marketing strategy, we need to connect first on an emotional level with our ideal audience.
So we’re kind of thinking of it like a marketing funnel, right, your audience would be familiar with the idea of the funnel that people move through a phase of awareness through a process of consideration, down to a process of making a decision to buy the conversion.
And then after that, I think it’s important to recognize that advocacy stage of the funnel as well which happens post purchase, right?
So as we walk through this strategy, think about that, those key stages of the funnel so we’re at the top of the funnel now, right?
And with the chiropractor, were wanting to connect our brand emotionally with our ideal customer, or our ideal target audience.
The way you do this, in a video sense is typically storytelling is what works really well here.
So creating video content that tells your brand’s story.
So “Why do You do What You do”, it’s an emotional connection that people are going to make with you as a chiropractor as opposed to the chiropractor down the road, who maybe they don’t resonate with on an emotional level, right?
So using video to tell stories around your customers as well.
So, you know, maybe some of your clients who have had a successful outcome from chiropractic treatment, that kind of thing.
So, using those stories that are intrinsically emotional, as top of funnel content is where your strategy needs to start. The goal here is to get people to buy in before you ask them to buy from you.
Right? Buying in is an emotional thing.
Ilana:
And is the idea that you are placing these videos in various sorts of outreach types of channels via social media and YouTube and that kind of stuff.
Ben Amos:
So these videos can work when placed in front of your ideal audience. So whether that be through paid placement or whether that be organically but also think of your website, as a mini version of this funnel as well.
So when people actually land on the front page of your website, in that hero section above the fold is where this kind of emotional video needs to sit like right at the front and center of your website.
Because if people even though they’re further down the customer journey, by the time they typically go to a chiropractor’s website, they’re kind of starting that emotional journey with you.
They’re on your website. Does that make sense?
The Consideration Phase
Ilana:
Yeah, totally. Hundred percent!
Ben Amos:
Cool! So then as we move from that awareness phase down into the middle of the funnel or the consideration phase.
This is where we need to be providing video content that adds value to someone.
So when people are in that consideration phase there, they have questions, they either Google searching to find answers, or they’re just open to information that is going to be relevant and timely for them.
So this is where your video content needs to basically add value.
So it’s about educating, informing, inspiring, entertaining, as well as a form of value adding.
Now this kind of content I call social engagement content, which is all around social meaning human to human person to person, which is critical and building that know like and trust factor.
But it’s also around engagements or getting people to go on, you know, a further journey with you to kind of come into your ecosystem and think of it like these, you know, I like to use a dating analogy, like your, your awareness videos, like your first date, where you tell great stories and you dress nicely and you smile and you make eye contact, you kind of make a good first impression.
But then as you go on the second, third and fourth dates, you need to actually give some substance right and give some value to prove that you know what you’re talking about.
So let’s look at that chiropractor for example.
This is where you do videos that maybe explain how to do certain stretches at home or at the desk, you know, to prevent injury.
It might be how to overcome pain that you’re feeling as well. So people get those small wins, which prove that you know what you’re talking about.
So they haven’t bought from you yet, but they’re getting value from you. So the other thing that comes in here is that idea of reciprocity.
So you know, if you are the brand or business that’s giving more value in your marketing and in your social media and digital marketing, then they’re more likely to come and buy from you if they’ve gained a lot from just following you on Facebook, for example.
Ilana:
Yeah. And typically, how long are these types of videos? Or how long should they be?
Ben Amos:
So the question of how long it should be is really dependent on the distribution platform that you’re using. So this kind of framework can apply to social media.
So it could be a video on Facebook or Instagram, so you probably want to be around that one to two minute mark as an organic video on that platform.
However, if you’re using YouTube, which is also relevant for these social Engagement goal, then it can be longer.
And typically, you might want to give more substance to your answers on YouTube.
So it might be more of a six to eight to 10 minute kind of a video as long as it engages people and holds their attention long enough.
I’ve also seen some great examples of people using Instagram reels lately for the social engagement content. Now you’re talking like 15 seconds, you know?
So yeah, there’s no right or wrong answer there. It’s just about what value you’re going to provide.
Ilana:
I see those type of videos as being really good top of funnel ads, not even just ads, but just videos organic and paid as a way of going, Oh, okay, this person provided value.
Then we go to their website, check it out. And then there’s that first intro video of Hey, this is who I am.
And this is my story. Like that’s actually the content and the value is the lead in.
Ben Amos:
Yeah, and this is the real power of video here is because video can serve to make that emotional connection, even if the content that you’re delivering is more educational.
Because just by showing up on camera people are going to be like, you know what, I like Ilona, I resonate with her, she seems like my kind of person, which is that emotional buy in, which is that first goal we’re trying to achieve.
The way that I kind of think of it is that there’s different stages that people are going to discover you and your brand.
And often, this kind of search intent, this middle of the funnel content that I’m talking about here can be the first thing that people find of you.
But recognize that at this stage, people are already in that consideration phase because they’re already researching something or following pages related to a topic and that sort of, sort of thing.
So you’re right, it can serve to build awareness. But I think I kind of see it, that that goal of awareness and make that emotional connection is a critical first step before you focus on value.
Ilana:
Yeah, right. Interesting. Okay. So after those kinds of videos is sort of another video from the bottom of the funnel or?
Conversions Matters
Ben Amos:
so the third goal you want to be achieving. And when I say third, I don’t, it’s not necessarily every business needs to go 123 you need to identify, you know what you’re trying to achieve.
But the third goal we’ll break down here is conversions. Right. So this is when people are now think of it as the bottom of the funnel or nearing the bottom of the funnel.
This is where your video content needs to be about overcoming those rational objections that people might have to buy from you. So this is not the place for storytelling and cinematography, that kind of evokes emotion and that kind of thing.
These are the kinds of videos that need to serve the role of what say a typical salesperson would do in a bricks and mortar store, which is actually answer the rational questions that you have about the product, right?
So these videos need to be think of them as using them in a way that’s like one click away from the conversion taking place. So they help Over the Buy Now button, and this video needs to serve the role of getting people to click that button. Right?
Using Testimonials in Your Videos
Ilana:
Yep. Do you also use testimonials in such videos as well?
Ben Amos:
Yeah. So there’s different ways to think about the role of testimonials, I kind of see them working here at the conversions end, but also at the awareness.
And so, and it’s a different approach that you might take.
So a testimonial that’s used in the conversions end is more around social proof. So it’s more around, you know, I bought this thing and it, you know, led to success for me.
So it encourages someone to buy that thing, right. That’s a standard testimonial kind of an approach and often just having sheer volume of testimonials there can be really valuable as social proof.
But if you think of a testimonial more as a story, so like that I talked about a client story before for the chiropractor, maybe talks about tells the story of how someone overcame, you know, their pain and lived a better life, that emotional story.
That’s really powerful at the awareness stage of the journey at the top. It’s just a different approach. Does that make sense?
Best Video To Create as a Starting Point
Ilana:
Yep. So let’s say one of our listeners are thinking, Okay, that all sounds all nice and well, it also sounds a little bit daunting because there’s lots of videos that I need to create here.
What would be the first video that people should create as their starting point?
Ben Amos:
And that’s a really good point because you know, when you think about video used across the full funnel like that, it can be overwhelming, right?
And but where I suggest people start is by doing some critical analysis on what were the gaps are currently in their marketing and sales funnel.
So if you identify that you know what, when we get a, you know, someone following us and engaging with us and connecting with us and on our website, for example, we are pretty good at getting the conversion.
Then you want to focus on that top of funnel kind of stuff, just getting more of that emotional content in front of the right people to get to buy in.
However, if you’ve got, you know, if you think, Well, we’ve got a lot of awareness, a lot of people are aware of who we are and what we do, they know why we exist.
But we’re just not getting enough conversions.
You know, we’re losing a lot of people at the conversions. And then that’s where you want to focus, right?
You want to focus on creating content first that kind of plugs that gap, and smooths the sale process effectively.
Ilana:
Yeah, and I think it’s also like really similar from an ad point of view, like lots of people say, Where should I start?
And always I say to people always start with a retargeting campaign.
But if you don’t get a lot of traffic to your site, in that, you know, like you were saying that that most people don’t know you exist, then there’s kind of no point really well, you’re not really able to implement a retargeting campaign because you don’t have an audience to retarget to.
So then you need to start with outreach ads, versus the opposite. If you do get a lot of traffic, don’t start with outreach because lots of people know about you.
Focus on the traffic that you are getting, and try and convert those people. So it’s actually really similar.
Ben Amos:
Yeah..It is! I mean, it’s just a marketing strategy, right?
It’s just applied through a different lens, I think the important thing to recognize is, it’s different types of messaging and different types of content that you need to use to reach people in the right way at different stages of that journey.
So, at the convergence end, those videos, for example, need to be more direct, and rational and they don’t need to be overly produced, you know, you don’t need cinematic drone shots and shots of people walking through a field running their hands through soft grass to kind of answer a question that someone has, right.
However, if you want to tell a story and engage the emotional side of the brain, then you probably need to think more about production and have maybe that’s where you do hire a production company to come in and tell your brand’s story.
So if you don’t need to invest heavily in video, all the way through the funnel.
In fact, as you move through that advocacy stage, which we just very briefly spoke about before, those kinds of Videos typically are best done on your smartphone more personalized and one to one, just shoot a quick video message to your best customer and say, Hey, hope you’re having success.
We use the chiropractic example. Maybe it’s a little video, you shoot and say, Hey, Atlanta, it’s been a week since you’re in for your last adjustment, hope you back feel better.
Can’t wait to see you in two weeks for your follow up.
You know, good luck with your recovery, that kind of thing.
That kind of video can really build on that customer advocacy and encourage people to tell their friends about you and come back again.
On-Going Basis Type of Videos to Create
Ilana:
Yep, absolutely. What about on an ongoing basis? You know, so you don’t like those little how-to or tip videos, which I’m sure are great.
How often do you think people need to be creating such videos or can they keep repurposing those existing videos or just getting them out to a wider audience.
Ben Amos:
So when it comes to, particularly that middle of funnel, that social engagement type content we talked about before that’s really what good video content marketing is all about.
And consistency is key there. So consistency, and you know, fresh new content as you go.
So you really want to think about it, you know, a content calendar approach for that type of content. In the middle, this is like your inbound to the marketing term, that inbound kind of content, right is your social engagement content.
So think of the brand awareness content, as you know, invest in a suite of videos that maybe live on the front page, your website, and it’s probably going to be okay, for a while for you.
But as you move down into the middle of the funnel content, it’s fresh new content that you need to be updating as you go.
And when we get down to the conversion type videos, that’s when you really need to be considering different videos used in different specific targeted ways.
In your sales process, and that’s going to vary depending on how many products you sell.
You know how many different types of target audiences you serve, you might have, you know, heaps of videos here, but you’re going to be more targeted about how you use them.
Does that answer your question?
Ilana:
Yeah, it does. I mean, I’m just more thinking like in terms of, you know, what a listener might be thinking of, like, how can I kind of how often do I need to keep doing this?
Or is this something that I can just, you know, block out some time getting these videos done and then I never have to look at creating videos ever again.
Ben Amos:
I mean, definitely videos are not a one and done kind of thing. It’s not the kind of thing that you just do once.
And that’s, that’s it. It should be part of a regular content marketing strategy. And like any marketing, you don’t just create something once and then that’s it forever.
So certainly, some videos can have a longer shelf life and can work well for you. Think about a YouTube clip.
10 strategy for example is those videos when you create them the first time they continue to return on traffic and, you know, return on their investment. For years down the track.
Social media videos tend to have shorter shelf life videos on your website or in your sales funnel.
Unless things change significantly in the way you do business. You might not need to update them very regularly.
Ilana:
When I used to do a lot of agency work, I got a video created for my website. You can still see it on my website, you can check it out at GreenArrowDigital.com.
But like the difference in, I guess conversion rate if we’re using a technical term or just the amount of inquiries I got from when I didn’t put the video on my website versus without a video.
I mean, it was like night and day, you know, and this is a, I think it was a 45 second video like it wasn’t long, but it was professionally created.
And actually when I was helping my husband, sort of launch his website, so he’s a lawyer.
And we spend very, very little money on his website.
But what we did spend money on a really good video. And it’s definitely paid dividends in that respect. I can find good videos on a website, honestly, I believe it is worth its weight in gold.
Ben Amos:
Yeah, I mean, it’s people buy from people don’t they don’t buy from a logo or from some stock image at the top of the website.
At the end of the day, people make decisions to buy based on emotion, like we said before, and video is one of the best ways of communicating who you really are, who they’re going to do business with.
So yeah, I couldn’t agree more with what you just said.
Why A Good Script Matters
Ilana:
Yeah. And it’s funny because the guy who created the video for me, he wrote the script and created a sort of an angle which I personally would never have gone for because I didn’t think that it was a valid And so let’s sort of talk a little bit about about a script and the elements that a script should have, obviously, I mean, that’s a very broad question.
But yeah, there’s sort of some, some scripts that you should, or some elements to scripts that need to be in the video.
Ben Amos:
Yeah, there’s a different approach to take in different sorts of frameworks based on the purpose of the video.
But let’s look at just some general stuff that’s going to be valuable for people to think about when scripting.
Ultimately you need to think about those opening seconds as being critical. And whether it be I mean, people get that when it comes to advertising, things like that.
You’ve either hooked them or you lose them.
But at the end of the day, when people press play on a video, their attention spans are short, even if they’re on your website, if they don’t think it’s relevant or interesting to them, or it doesn’t hook them emotionally in the opening seconds. They’re not going to keep watching so the rest of the video could be awesome.
They’re just not watching it.
So you want to start with a hook, you want to then have some kind of introductory section, which is about the viewer, not about you. So that might be emphasizing the pain that they feel or the problem that they’re experiencing, or something that resonates with that viewer. Right?
So it’s important that it’s about them not about you. And then you want to basically get to the value part.
But it’s important to also consider how you can inject some element of tension or conflict.
So when you think about any story that you engage with, there’s something at stake there, there’s some kind of conflict or tension.
And in a brand video, this can be harder to wrap your head around how to bring tension or conflict into it. It makes more sense in a narrative, right?
But at the end of the day, what you need to do is to think about what’s at stake here, you know, why should people care about this message and get that in the messaging somehow.
So if you don’t take action, this is a very direct way of calling it out. If you don’t do this thing I’m talking about, you will suffer in this area, that’s a very direct way you can be more subtle.
You don’t have to smash people over the head with it. But you need tension, you need conflict there. And then you need to move people towards an action.
So towards the end, you need to have some kind of clear, what’s the next step? What do you want them to do?
Is it scroll further down the page? Is it like you on Facebook? Is it make an inquiry, whatever the call to action is?
You want to be clear on that and don’t miss that opportunity to tell people what to do next.
Classic Mistakes to Avoid
Ilana:
Yeah. Last question for you because I’m mindful of the time but what would you say is some of the classic mistakes that people make so that our listeners would be thinking okay, as long as I don’t do this, that I’m okay.
Ben Amos:
We’ll probably the biggest one is just doing video for video sake.
So anyone who listens to marketing podcasts Or, you know, he’s active on social media, you can see that video is everywhere.
And that it can be tempting to just go and make video just create video. But if without a strategy behind it, like we said right at the beginning of this interview, if you’re not having a strategy first approach, then you potentially just making noise around, there’s enough noise out there.
That’s probably the big one that I see. The other big one that we just touched on before is making it about them, like about you, your business, not about the people that you want to serve.
It starts with the audience and your content needs to be unique. Just run it through the filter of what’s in it for them.
Ask yourself the question. What’s the value or what do I want my target audience, my customer here to do, think, or feel after watching this video?
Ilana:
Yeah. And I think you know, that same applies for ads.
You know, the mistake I see so many people make is they just focus their ads about them and they’d be like, no, it’s about the person who’s reading that ad, it’s such an easy mistake to make.
So I can see the temptation with it because I just want to prove that they can do it, they will notice about you.
Learn More About Ben Amos
Ilana:
Anyway, Ben, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to come on today’s show. Before we wrap up, where can people find out more about you and your services?
Ben Amos:
Cool. So two things if I may, number one, if you’re a podcast listener, which you are because you’re listening to Ilana’s awesome podcast here, I encourage you to come on over and have a listen to the Engage Video Marketing Podcast as well if you want to dive deeper into the world of video strategy.
And also, if you want to head over to EngageVideoMarketing.com/foundations.
I have a free three part video training there to just get you started in building out a video strategy for your business.
So foundations is where you go.
Ilana:
Awesome. Well, definitely head on over there. And thank you so much for coming on Teach Traffic!
Ben Amos:
No thanks for having me.
Ilana: Awesome!