by Ydraw | Dec 10, 2012 | video
I have had my eyes opened these last few weeks. It all started with a couple of books and it ended with a class in Dallas, Texas known as the GKIC workshop put on by Glazer and Kennedy. It was amazing and proved to be well worth my time. Hence the reason for this blog post.
Its all about the Sales Funnel
One of the most important parts of any business is sales and marketing, yet most businesses do not spend the necessary capital. If they do, they spend it on the wrong things. Small businesses can not market like large corporation nor should we want to. For us it comes down to leads, leads, leads.
If you do not create leads, you will not survive. If you do not have faithful customers, you will hardly grow. Simple, right? Well, it is easier said then done. Our whiteboard videos are designed and created to capture leads. We want people to call us on the phone or fill out a form on our site to capture info. That way they enter our sales funnel which has a nurturing campaign. Once a lead enters the door we have a series of videos or emails to follow up with the clients.
I learned this technique of survival back when I served a two year mission in El Salvador at the ripe old age of 19. We would spend hours each day knocking doors, talking to people, or asking for member referrals. It was tough to find people who would listen to our message about the Savior. Once we got into the door we would teach the first discussion and move them into the nurturing pool where we would follow up with 5 more discussions making sure to resolve doubts along the way. It was not easy and it took alot of work to get the leads into the pipeline and nurture them. Luckily for us, we do not have to knock on doors 9 hours a day. We have software that systemizes the whole nurturing process until someone is ready to act. Here’s a great quote.
“Most business owners and marketers lead lives of DESPERATION, because they do not know how to create a STEADY and SUFFICIENT SUPPLY of GOOD LEADS.”-Dan Kennedy
How to Capture Great Leads
- Use Video- the first step is to create a video that is fun, educational and has some type of value proposition. We love whiteboard videos, but animation videos created by Ydraw, Epipheo, Demoduck, or Common Craft are also great. Once you have a great video the job is to put it in front of your target audience. If you have no idea who your target audience is, you will waste a lot money on advertising to people who do not need your product or service.
- Create Landing Pages-Landing pages are a great way to capture a lead. You can use CPC ads or banner ads to drive people to a landing pages. That page needs a form on it to capture info.
- Direct Mail- This is something I do not know a lot about, but I am implementing it and will let you know the results. From what I have read direct mail is still the most powerful way to generate leads.
- Monthly Videos or Newsletters- Currently at Ydraw we are implementing this plan. Each month we create a general video that people enjoy watching hoping it will get passed around. The video is more for entertainment and fun than a business pitch.
Those are just a few ideas on capturing leads. Start with one and work your way up to where you have multiple avenues. The more leads you capture the better.
Nurturing your Leads
Once you capture a lead you have to nurture it. We spend so much time, energy, and money in capturing leads, it would be a shame not to get the most out of them. Nurturing leads is an easy step to automate, it just requires a bit of planning and design. Use Aweber, Mailchip, or Infusionsoft to start email follow ups. Be careful with bombarding your lead pool with too much advertising. You do not want to end up in spam folders or trash. One email per week works great. Make your emails educational, and entertaining; using stories, videos, receipts, and a direct mail piece.
Of course, most businesses will read this article and go on their merry way not implementing this strategy. It takes too much effort, organization, and discipline. Don’t be them! Jump in with both feet and become the 5% who actually experience sustainable success.
+Jace Vernon
by Ydraw | Oct 25, 2012 | Explainer Video
Explainer Video Absence Creates Marketing Dilemma
The Dilemma Marketers Face in Absence of Explainer Videos. Text is Boring. Give Your Audience Something Captivating!!!
Marketers face a serious dilemma everyday when trying to reach out to their audience. Conventional methods of marketing in the form of written text is boring and uninspiring. We are faced with the daunting task of reading each and every day and often with little or no interest in the topic. Explainer Videos overcome this dilemma by offering a visual experience that is truly inspiring and captivating.
It is a dilemma that marketers and people with a message to get across know all too well: text is boring.
Quite frankly people are sick of reading. We are bombarded with so many articles and pamphlets to read each day that the average person has little to no interest reading down a wall of text to come away with nothing but a good old fashioned advertisement. This has caused many would be text advertisers to go the way of audio messages. Some choose to flock to radio airwaves with very little success. Luckily whiteboard video messages seem to combine the best of both worlds while offering even more benefits than traditional means.
Sometimes known as an explainer video, whiteboard videos can be comprised of an individual drawing out a scenario or display of information in an engaging and highly visual way. Using a simple whiteboard and some markers they create and manipulate elements in the whiteboard video that gain the audience’s attention without ever letting them go. Best of all, explainer videos can be complimentary to the video SEO strategy of your company.
Just as any other video can be shared and spread, whiteboard videos can too. This ability creates a large web like effect for your website and companies video SEO, growing larger and larger as more blogs and networks pick up on and report its message. The explainer videos are also much more likely to go viral than traditional video advertisement. This is thanks to the uniqueness of their approach and how compelling the designs of a whiteboard video can be.
+Jace Vernon
Alecsy Christensen
by Ydraw | Aug 9, 2012 | video
There are a lot of reasons to not have a video for your company. Those reasons are, for lack of a better word, wrong.
For the cost, a video is one of the absolute best pieces of marketing material you can create for your business.
According to Google:
Videos are as effective as TV in building awareness of your business. And they get results – like an average 20% increase in traffic to your website
TV ads cost a fortune, both to produce and to run. But a web video can be as cheap as you want it to be, and the broadcasting is free.
Here are some other reasons you need a video:
Reason 1 – People don’t want to read
Sure your product is amazing, and you have pages of descriptions, features, benefits, and testimonials. But a lot of people don’t want to read any of it. Speak to these people with a 45 second video that captures their attention, imagination, and interest.
Reason 2 – Rank higher in search
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, right behind Google, who owns YouTube. People are searching for YOUR product or service not just on Google, but on YouTube. If they don’t find your video, they’ll certainly find your competitor’s. As well, videos show up on Google searches as well. Your video buys you more screen real estate on that crucial first page of search results.
Reason 3 – Endlessly Shareable
Videos are so easy to share and embed in other websites that if your video is compelling your fans will do your marketing for you. No one wants to send off an entire website that’s just a boring URL until you get into it, but a video is real, it has a button you can click, even in an email or embedded somewhere else.
Reason 4 – Endlessly Versatile
This single video has so many purposes. Of course you’ll post it on your site and YouTube, but what about using it in your office, at trade shows, loading it onto a flash drive and handing it out to prospective clients? Include it on Facebook, your LinkedIn profile, and in your Twitter blasts. The REACH is incredible and will justify the cost of producing your video without question.
Reason 5 – Make an Impression
With animation, visitors to your site will remember 58% more on average than with just images and text. It is LITERALLY impressing itself on your prospect’s brains.
Reason 6 – Distinguish Yourself
Your company is the best at what it does, right? Right. Does your web copy sound like came out of some undergraduate textbook on marketing? You need to STAND OUT from your competition. A well-made video not only showcases the benefits of your product or service, it also gives you a chance to express your company’s character, philosophy, and culture.
Reason 7 – Entertaining your prospects
It’s tough to make web copy that is both entertaining and effective. It’s easier to lose someone with text, easier to be misunderstood. People are used to videos that are all over the place. If you sell blankets, make a video with a murder-mystery theme. Have a new accounting system? Your video can show how it’ll keep your books during the inevitable zombie outbreak. Entertain your prospects with a funny story, witty dialogue, or fascinating visuals. Even if your message is pretty standard, there are some amazing visual styles that are entertaining in and of themselves.
The latest trend is video scribing, or whiteboard animations, done by companies like Ydraw. No matter what your message, this type of creativity is sure to engage your viewers.
Reason 8 – Some Stats
– Including your video in an email marketing blast will increase your click-through rate by 96%
– Adding an explainer video to your website can increase your conversions by 20%
– Videos on your site also increase brand recognition by 76%
Still not convinced? Your competitors are. Get your Whiteboard Video today.
+Jace Vernon
by Ydraw | May 21, 2012 | Whiteboard animation
Whiteboard animation videos have shown great success in social media methods with Ydraw.
These videos develop an engagement with the audience that is not found in other online videos, benefiting any social media campaign by creating fans.
Whiteboard animation videos are increasingly successful in helping Ydraw with their social media efforts around the web. Unlike other video marketing strategies, Ydraw’s whiteboard animation videos connect with viewers in a way that will promote devoted social media followers.
With whiteboard animation, Ydraw has seen the engagement of the viewer, or the time span that the viewer watches the videos, to be much longer than that of other videos. This animation technique consistently has shown a great impact on viewers and the dwell rate of how long they will view a video on YouTube or Vimeo.
As stated by an interviewed source in ReelSEO,
Pictures are worth a thousand words, but videos are worth a million…
Videos, specifically whiteboard animation videos, add a personal touch that is not seen anywhere else in video.
The viewer actually gets to watch artwork come to life before their eyes, as they are taken through the whole process of the development of such intricate animations and illustrations. This will then develop a sense of engagement and connection in the viewer, inviting them to watch more and more of the video. Most viewers of Ydraw videos find they look forward to watching future videos, as whiteboard animation videos are mesmerizing in all ways.
Placing whiteboard animation videos on social media allows it to reach more people. If someone sees a great video they are more likely to share it. Which is free marketing for your product or company! Ydraw knows this, and recommends that all companies seek out various social media platforms to help promote their videos.
Written by Alecsy Christensen
by Ydraw | Mar 10, 2012 | Whiteboard animation
Dr Drum came out with a new whiteboard animation video and if I am seeing this right it has over 1.5 million hits in a couple of days. Dr Drum Beat Making video is a huge hit and I am trying to figure out if their video received so many hits because of their site or if a Tastemaker made mention of it. This isn’t the actual video but here is an example of a video scribing video
Explainer Video
A very small percentage of videos get over a million hits. How did these guys do it? Today, it was one of the most viewed videos on YouTube and I must admit I am a bit confused. Obviously people love Whiteboard animation videos and Dr. Drum did a good job on their video, but I am seeing some numbers that are a little crazy. Usually it take 3 steps for a video to go viral.
1. Tastemakers: Certain people’s tastes influence those of a larger audience.
2. Communities of participation: The audience determines what is popular. “We don’t just enjoy now; we participate.”
3. Unexpectedness: Things that are unique stand out.
Dr. Drum also uploaded another video to Youtube the same day that had over 500,000 views. You can see that the Whiteboard animation video almost doubled the performance of their other video. Why do you think that is? We continue to push for video scribing and hope everyone can see the results. We have seen 400% more viewers and 85% more sales. They just work!
Dr. Drum you did well! I do not know how your video went viral so quickly, but kudos to you.
