Comments on: Video >= Images + Stories http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/ new media strategies and other marketing gems Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:25:22 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Erik Deckers http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/comment-page-1/#comment-83577 Erik Deckers Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:46:56 +0000 http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/#comment-83577 There are two basic rules that any marketer should follow: Rule #1 (from journalism) -- The average person has the reading level AND attention span of a 6th grader. Use short sentences and small words. The important information goes first, the less important goes last. Rule #2 (from marketing) -- We are bombarded by more than 30,000 persuasive messages per day (this is more than just advertisements). To cut through the clutter, even for smarter people, you need to follow Rule #1. A good RFP is only a couple of pages and will only address that particular need the client has, not talk about the responding company, their process, or include lots and lots of materials. If you do, include them in an index, but only include the materials you absolutely must have. There are two basic rules that any marketer should follow:

Rule #1 (from journalism) — The average person has the reading level AND attention span of a 6th grader. Use short sentences and small words. The important information goes first, the less important goes last.

Rule #2 (from marketing) — We are bombarded by more than 30,000 persuasive messages per day (this is more than just advertisements). To cut through the clutter, even for smarter people, you need to follow Rule #1.

A good RFP is only a couple of pages and will only address that particular need the client has, not talk about the responding company, their process, or include lots and lots of materials. If you do, include them in an index, but only include the materials you absolutely must have.

]]> By: Douglas Karr http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/comment-page-1/#comment-83448 Douglas Karr Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:09:02 +0000 http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/#comment-83448 Great post, Martin! I'd encourage everyone who reads this post to head over to yours. Great post, Martin! I’d encourage everyone who reads this post to head over to yours.

]]> By: Douglas Karr http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/comment-page-1/#comment-83447 Douglas Karr Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:06:43 +0000 http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/#comment-83447 Thanks Penny! Your comment hits on something very important - that our goal was to <em>educate</em> the client. Had that been a classroom, our students would have flunked. We need to be better teachers! Thanks Penny! Your comment hits on something very important – that our goal was to educate the client. Had that been a classroom, our students would have flunked. We need to be better teachers!

]]> By: Douglas Karr http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/comment-page-1/#comment-83446 Douglas Karr Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:04:42 +0000 http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/#comment-83446 Hey Scott, Your conversation with Mark definitely encouraged this blog post and I agree with you. Given the volume of material we needed to push to this particular prospect in a short period, I even think going beyond images would have been necessary - perhaps a mix of images, recorded demonstrations and live demonstrations. We were definitely put at a disadvantage from the start - the other company already being embedded without our knowledge - but the fact that we have the better product would have stuck out much more had we left all of the participants with the vivid memory of our products' better capabilities. Thanks for the inspiration! Doug Hey Scott,

Your conversation with Mark definitely encouraged this blog post and I agree with you. Given the volume of material we needed to push to this particular prospect in a short period, I even think going beyond images would have been necessary – perhaps a mix of images, recorded demonstrations and live demonstrations.

We were definitely put at a disadvantage from the start – the other company already being embedded without our knowledge – but the fact that we have the better product would have stuck out much more had we left all of the participants with the vivid memory of our products’ better capabilities.

Thanks for the inspiration!
Doug

]]> By: Martin Weiss http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/comment-page-1/#comment-83382 Martin Weiss Sun, 10 Feb 2008 09:29:20 +0000 http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/#comment-83382 Great post, Doug. My reply became so long, that I made it a post, rather than a comment: <a href="http://modifoo.com/2008/02/10/powerful-video-great-story-great-execution.html" rel="nofollow">Powerful video = great story + great execution</A> Great post, Doug. My reply became so long, that I made it a post, rather than a comment:

Powerful video = great story + great execution

]]> By: Penny Gould http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/comment-page-1/#comment-83332 Penny Gould Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:22:50 +0000 http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/#comment-83332 Sorry to hear you didn't make the sale. Your honesty is very much appreciated. It's a humbling experience to be 2nd on something important. It sounds like you have hit the nail on the head with your insight on the video medium. If you think of a sales presentation as an educational experience for the customer, you will remember that people learn in different ways. Teachers know that some people process learning by listening, some people process learning by reading, some people process learning by doing. If you can provide a variety of learning experiences, you'll reach your goals of educating. You can always have multiple presentations with different styles prepared in advance, and gauge your audience during the presentation. If they give you little clues like saying "I hear you, Doug", or "I'm not seeing where whe're going here", you can gain a little insight into their learning style..... and then go in that direction. Good luck with the next presentation. And thanks for the cool little video on Blogs on the Commoncraft site! That was so fresh! And also thanks for the backlinks from a previous comment... I am placing your blog on my list of blogs with the no-nofollow on my site! Sorry to hear you didn’t make the sale. Your honesty is very much appreciated. It’s a humbling experience to be 2nd on something important. It sounds like you have hit the nail on the head with your insight on the video medium. If you think of a sales presentation as an educational experience for the customer, you will remember that people learn in different ways. Teachers know that some people process learning by listening, some people process learning by reading, some people process learning by doing. If you can provide a variety of learning experiences, you’ll reach your goals of educating. You can always have multiple presentations with different styles prepared in advance, and gauge your audience during the presentation. If they give you little clues like saying “I hear you, Doug”, or “I’m not seeing where whe’re going here”, you can gain a little insight into their learning style….. and then go in that direction. Good luck with the next presentation. And thanks for the cool little video on Blogs on the Commoncraft site! That was so fresh! And also thanks for the backlinks from a previous comment… I am placing your blog on my list of blogs with the no-nofollow on my site!

]]> By: Scott Whitlock http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/comment-page-1/#comment-83299 Scott Whitlock Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:24:23 +0000 http://marketingtechblog.com/2008/02/09/video-as-selling-medium/#comment-83299 Doug, I talked to Mark about this today at Basketball, and the first thing I asked him was "did you draw pictures with the client?" In my experience, nothing brings business and technical discussions together better than a live "white board" discussion where you get all the linkages, systems, reasons, users, etc. out on the board in a live discussion with the customer. I agree with you that no one reads anything. If I write something, I like to read with with the customer word for word - so that demands that the documents be short. Sorry for the long comment, but you hit a hot button with me, and I got pulled into the conversation today... -scott Doug,
I talked to Mark about this today at Basketball, and the first thing I asked him was “did you draw pictures with the client?” In my experience, nothing brings business and technical discussions together better than a live “white board” discussion where you get all the linkages, systems, reasons, users, etc. out on the board in a live discussion with the customer. I agree with you that no one reads anything. If I write something, I like to read with with the customer word for word – so that demands that the documents be short.

Sorry for the long comment, but you hit a hot button with me, and I got pulled into the conversation today…
-scott

]]>