276: Create a Successful, Stress-Free Video Strategy

Today on the podcast, we are talking about video because I know that you know you need a video strategy, but you don't just want to fool around. You want to know what's actually going to work for your store. So I'm going to talk about the strategy that will really move the needle for you, and we're going to walk through it, break it down step by step. So come and join me on the inside. It's going to be easy, I promise.

Welcome to the E Commerce Roadmap, the podcast for store owners who are growing their sales without spending a fortune on ads. Each week, you'll learn actionable strategies and tips that will fast track the growth and profitability of your E Commerce business. So buckle up and join your host, Susan Bradley, as we dive into the work that will grow your sales this year.

Hey, welcome back. So today we're talking about video. And video is hard. Video is hard for a lot of us, myself included. But. And we all feel big pressure, right, to create video. And we see so many others on social media creating videos. We're hearing success stories. And you might have tried video already before or done some video, or you might actually be one of those people that's just a little bit paralyzed about doing video and you don't want to waste your time or your effort. And so what I would love to share with you today is a strategy that we use inside of our inner circle. And it's really simple, it's repeatable, it's broken down in phases. You don't have to do it all at once. But what I'd like to do for you today is break down each of these three different types of video, tell you what success looks like when you actually create that video, and then talk about what's right for you. At what stage would you want to use this video? Because remember, if you try and do it all at once, it might be overwhelming and it might be too much for you. But one thing at a time and master that before you move on to the next thing is really the way to make progress. So let's talk about the very early stage videos. And so at this stage, we're talking about video for growing your audience. And so it's really, if you think about the E Commerce funnel and if you are a member of our inner circle, you already know every month we ask you to populate your funnel. So think about a funnel that you use, maybe in your kitchen. The top of the funnel is really wide, and then it gets more narrow as it goes down to the Bottom. And then what comes out at the bottom is really quite a small amount of people. And if you think about this for your business, it's like the top of the funnel is your audience, all the people that are aware of your business. Middle of the funnel is the people who are warmer. They actually know, they know about you. They have some awareness. They've probably visited your website, they might even be on your email list. And so they are definitely much warmer than the people up top in the audience. And then the bottom of the funnel is the people that are ready to convert, the people who are actually buying. And so what I want to share with you is that the very first video I think that most store owners should focus on is building that top of funnel audience. Because actually up higher top of the funnel and middle of the funnel, that's where we see most people just don't have enough people. And so you want to make sure that you have a big pool of people there. And there is nothing like video to build that pool of people really quickly and inexpensively. And so when you're doing those videos, the kind of video that you're going to do is really like a brand video. And so this is really, it's an awareness video. And so what do those brand videos look like? So if you're a member of the inner circle, we have training for this. We've run boot camps for our larger audience on how to do this. But these are really videos that just shine a light on what you sell. So let's talk about what a brand video is. And so a brand video doesn't involve you dancing on camera or doing something fun and engaging. Brand video is super simple. And it's just a really efficient way for you to introduce your store and your products. Give people a little bit of information about the benefits of the products and also to have them walk away knowing what you sell and if it's for them or not. And the best way to know if that product is for them is if they've watched some of your video. And so our goal with these brand videos, they have to be less than 90 seconds. In fact, I think they should even be less than a minute. But our goal for those videos is really just to have somebody watch the people who are interested, they put their hand up because they've watched your video for 15 seconds. That's a through play. And a through play is important to us because even though 15 seconds sounds really short, it's actually long for somebody to actually watch your video. And that indicates interest. That's like somebody putting their hand up and saying I'm somewhat interested in this and I might even retain some of, some of what I've seen here. And the beauty of all of that is that once you run an ad later on down the road, if you run an ad, you'll be able to pull an audience of people who have watched a 15 second second through play of your videos and that audience suddenly is much warmer than people who've never had any interaction with your brand. Now there are some people that do this really well. There are some examples of people who do this really well. And one of the ones I think about is there is this, there is this crazy phone holder that I keep seeing online and I can't remember what it's called, I should actually save the video. But it's really just a stand for your phone where you can record video of yourself. It's magnetic so it's easy, you don't have to take your case off your phone, all of those things. And I keep seeing this video over and over in my feed and I watch it, I've watched it several times so I'm sure I'm being retargeted to watch it again and perhaps have other ads. But you just heard me say I watched it many times but I still can't tell you the name of it. What I know is one day I will click and I will go to their website and I will probably buy that phone holder. When I think about it, there's another thing that I keep seeing and it's these high protein meal kits. So not for a long time, but I have in the past bought. HelloFresh. There's another one that I've bought and I've subscribed for for some time and probably the algorithm knows that. And so I keep being served up these meal kits that are specifically high protein meal kits. And again that's something that I see over and over again. So when I'm ready to actually make a purchase, I'm. I know it's going to show up in my feed and I will click on that link. Now we have an inner circle member who's brilliant, has done this brilliantly and I would love you to see how simple it is because this video is super short. It's just a video with some copy over top of it. But it tells the whoever's watching it exactly what it is that they sell and it allows them to make a decision about whether it's for them or not. And so I'm going to put the link to this in our show notes, this is a video that Shannon Cates has done. She owns Bird Moss. But I want to actually share my screen and show you this video because it is that good. I really wanted you to see this because it's absolutely genius. If you are listening to the podcast, I know you can't see this, but there is a link to this post in the show notes and I want you to take a minute and you can even pause and go look at this. Now for those of you that are watching on video, what you're looking at is a brand video and you can see it's actually less than 20 cent or 20 seconds long, but it is super powerful. So I'm going to just press play. And there is music with this video. I have muted it, but there is music. But what Shannon has done is she has created a flat lay of some of her products. And so she's then taken her camera and just, she's just moving it around the flat lay and it's on a black background. The products really stand out well. And then she's taken an overlay and she said at the top the headline is what's in a Bird moss box. So Shannon has a subscription box. It's for people who like fairies and the woodland stuff and magical things. And she has been very successful with this box. And so what she's saying here is these are things that could potentially be in your subscription box. So she's got tiny moss, terrariums, lockets with hidden messages, tokens from crows, encoded secrets, luminous mushrooms, sea glass, amber fossils. And then at the bottom she's got your magic is waiting. And that's really powerful because that if you like magical things and you like that fantasy world that you identify with that and that allows you to think, oh yes, this is for me. Now the other thing that I think is really good about this is Shannon has taken a review, she's published a review from, from Judge Me. So that is the copy. It's a five star review. It says this fairy tale box is exactly what I needed to start my or spark my belief in magic again. And so that's the copy. Then there's this great video and then there are some comments below and there's some good comments. There's someone there that says, just ordered my April box. And so in this 20 seconds, she can stop people from scrolling. She can get them to read very almost bulleted points about what's in it for them. And then she's told them basically who it's for so they can make that decision. Now, this is not an ad, although I do believe she has advertised something like this before. But she has. 44,000 people have watched this video. And so imagine the power of creating a little video like that. You don't even have to do your hair and makeup. And you can get that in front of 44,000 people and have the people who want this really put up their hand by watching your video. It's really genius. Okay, so now that you've seen a good example and you know how easy it is, I want you to remember that this is a top of funnel strategy. With this strategy, success looks like you get lots of eyeballs, lots of people are served your video, it's engaging. And that you have people that actually watch 15 seconds of that video because they've put their hand up and said they're interested. So that's what you're looking for in this top of funnel strategy. The other thing I want to share with you is that repetition is really good. You heard me say how many times I had seen some of these videos and that I'm still in the consideration phase. I might click through and make a purchase. And if you think about what, you probably have things that stick out to you the same way. That's what you're trying to do with these videos, that's a win, that's successful. Now if we talk about the next stage, you do the first stage first and then if we talk about the next stage, we're really talking about video that is designed to get people to go visit your website. You really want people to click through and go have a look at your products. And so these kind of videos, again, you don't necessarily have to be in these videos, but what we're looking for you to do is show your product in action, maybe demonstrating it, maybe you're unboxing it. Maybe it's a like user generated content. Maybe it's a video that one of your clients has sent you or you've paid an influencer for. And so here's a really good place to use like reviews on the product or testimonials or even a little bit of your backstory. Why that product? Maybe it's your best selling product or why that is your signature product or why you develop that product, a little bit more information because now we want people to take that next step. So this is not top of funnel, this is middle of funnel. You can even use your brand video. Again, remember, repetition is good. You would just maybe change the copy and add a call to action to go see it. Now I want to show you again what a good example of this looks like. And I'm going to use Shannon's store again because it's so dead simple but so powerful. I want you to see it and then I'm going to tell you how you're going to measure success with this. So I'm just going to share my screen again. The link for this is in the show notes, so if you want to go have a look, you should. And I want to show you this powerful little video. So I've turned the music off. This video is literally 12 seconds. What I love about this is anyone could do this. So I'm going to play it and you can see it's just a little. It's a candle with a little mobile above it that is sending these bats around in circles like a carousel. And it's just on repeat. It's 12 seconds. But what's amazing about this video is 97,000 people have seen this video and the copy's a little bit different here. So the copy for this is a little bit of a story. So Shannon's got. As twilight falls, the bats awaken. This detailed candle carousel cell is adorned with four intricate bats, crimson and crimson beads that evoke pomegranate seeds or perhaps the droplets of blood. Oh, dear. And it goes on to describe the features of the can the candle, it's powered by a tea light. The bats take flight and they create shadows around the room. And it's simple. And then she goes on to tell you how you'll feel. It makes you feel like feelings of wonder and nostalgia. And it's a breathtaking gift for anyone who craves a little magic. Get a closer look. And then she's got the link directly to the product. And with a video like this, which anyone could do, what you're really looking for is for people who will click that link and go visit your product. So these are people that are a little bit warmer, they've seen your brand video, they've seen other posts from you. Maybe they are getting your posts in their feed now. And now you want them to take that extra step and go look at a product. So this is really a middle of funnel, warmer audience. And when you're looking at whether it's successful or not, what you really want to measure is you want to measure link clicks, like how many people are clicking those links and going and hitting your product page. And so really success is link clicks. Link clicks are, are basically web visits. But we're sending them to that specific product page because that'll get them one step closer to buying. Now these video can easily be turned into ads too, if you choose. And so think about this. You could actually, could actually turn this video into an ad and you could turn it into a conversion ad with a view content goal, which is the easiest goal to get people to go and let the page load and look at the product. Or you could use an add to cart ad or you could even go further, initiate checkout or a purchase ad. But these ads are going to be most, most beneficial if you use them with a warm audience. So think about that audience that you've built with your brand, all that brand awareness, all those times you've shown up in someone's feed and now you're asking them to take the next step. So think about what you could do for your business. So to wrap it up, the second step, powerful video, is a product video that really has a call to action for you to go to the website. You're looking for clicks. So success with these videos is a click through to your website. Okay, so let's talk about the third kind of video that is really a bottom of the funnel strategy. And this is consistent use of video to drive sales. And it is really powerful if you do it consistently and you pair it with an email follow up. And so an example, we have a client who has done incredibly well with this. And what I will say is if this is something that is aligned with what you want to do and you have a product that changes and you have an audience that is buying and ready to consume, this is a good strategy because it eliminates the need for a really heavy ad spend. But what I would also say is it's the slowest growing, it's like SEO, it's going to take a long time. And if you haven't done a brand video and some product videos, and if you haven't done those first two steps, it may take even longer for you to get some traction. It's not something that you want to start and stop, but the kinds of things you will do on your live, it's a live video content strategy. The kinds of things you will do is you will teach something like teach how to use your product or, or you will demonstrate how a product works or you will walk through a number of products that you get new products in all the time. You'll walk through a number of products and you'll do it in real time. And so what we know is that it Takes a long time for these to start working. It's a really slow. It's like a snowball rolling down the hill. At first, you'll be talking to no one and maybe a few friends. And then you may find that after a month or two, you maybe have four or five people that show up when you're live. And then as time goes on, you'll get a bigger audience joining you live. But you'll also have people who know that you do it. They know you. They want to see what you've got. And they will watch the replay. They will either watch it in the feed, they will watch it on your website, and they will watch it when you send them an email saying, this is. Here's a quick summary of what we did. Go have a look. So we have several members that are very successful with this strategy. But what I want to remind you of is that consistency is key with this. These are also really great for YouTube. These videos are really great for YouTube. And anything that has any of the apps that allow you to put clickable links right in the feed. So if you're talking about a particular product and you can put a clickable link right in the comment feed with their. With the link to buy that product, they are very much effective. Very effective. And what's great about them is your purchases. It's not like the old days where you had to go send PayPal invoices. These. These apps will actually have your purchases running right through your Shopify. So they're easy to get your money, easy to get paid, and also easy to ship. So what I want to do now is show you an example of this and I'm going to share my screen and I'll show you. This is a client. I actually just interviewed this client. She's in our Mastermind. We talked about her strategy on the podcast recently. We will connect that in the show notes so that you can see. And this is Natalie Santini. She owns so Hungry Hippie and she sells vinyl. She sells vinyl for sewing and. And she sells kits, too, and which to make a product out of her vinyl. So Natalie started her video strategy several years ago, I think maybe even before COVID might be 2019, 2020. And she started showing up live once a week and just talking to the wall and selling her products, talking about her products, showing people how to put things together and offering her products for sale. And it took many years before she actually has a huge following. She. She has now two shows that she does every week. She does a matchup where she matches fabric and vinyl and shows people how to put things together. And she also has a live every Friday. So you can see this is a pretty big commitment. This is all also available, all these shows are available on her website and this is really a big driver of sales for her. So this is something that every store owner that has a product that is turning over needs explanation, needs demonstration, can do. But if you're not prepared to do it consistently, it's hard to be effective. So you have to really have a date with yourself to do it all the time. You can see some of these videos are close to an hour, some of them are a little shorter, a half an hour. But what you'll notice is it's very consistent. And she's even got an assistant on the videos with her. Now she didn't start out that way of course, but now she does. Now if you are listening and not watching, I've put a link in the show notes for you so that you can go have a look at this. Okay, so let's wrap this up. We've gone over three strategies and I want to take you back for a minute to the funnel. And so if you think about the three strategies and you place them on your funnel, remember that the very top of funnel is actually really important that you don't want to jump to doing all the other things before you get that brand video out there, that very simple brand video. Because the larger audience you have and the more times the people see that and become familiar with you and your products, the more likely they are to do the next step, to take the next step to click through to your website and then down the road make a purchase. And so remember at the top of the funnel we talk about brand videos and success. Looks like getting lots of eyeballs on those videos, getting great reach on those videos and having people put their hand up and say I'm interested by watching 15 seconds, which is a through play of your video. So that's the first step. Now the second step is to ask people to take that, that next step to go a little further and to visit your website. So what I love for those videos is like a product video, a demonstration of a product or an unboxing or a little video. I still remember with we squeak. I had this video that a customer sent me of their child, I think they were in Norway, who just put the shoes on and started running around. That was great user generated content. You can use something like that. You can also pull in reviews if you use Judge Me. It is so darn easy. Pull in some reviews about the product, or like you saw in the example from Shannon at Birdmoss, pull in a little story about the product. But the call to action is to go ahead and get a closer look or find your size or see all the colors and click this link and go look at the product. Because success at this stage looks like somebody's visiting the product. So again, we're not saying success is sales. Success is getting people to take that next step and get to the product page. So that's your middle of funnel. Those are your warmer people that you. You're targeting there with another video. And I want you to remember Shannon's videos are super short, right? They were 20 seconds. So this doesn't have to be a Gian production. And then the last step is like a really involved video strategy, which is a repeatable strategy that is consistent. People come to expect it, they show up for you, they want to see you. And this is a live video strategy where people are either going to learn something or you're going to entertain them, or you're going to show them what's new. And you're really hoping to make sales when you have these. Your goal success looks like sales when you're running these live videos. And so they are totally a bottom of the funnel strategy. And they're really powerful when you also use those videos. Send people back to those videos with email or send them, put them on your website or put them on YouTube. And the most important thing with this is consistency. You need to be consistent or people won't remember you. It's like me telling you how many times I've seen the protein meal kits. I don't remember the name yet, so I need to see it lots of times. And maybe I need to hit the website before and they'll start retargeting me again. But I maybe need to hit the website before I remember the name. And so think of that. That's how people are interacting with you and your brand. So remember that's a strategy that is a real commitment. It's not for everybody, but it is powerful if you decide to use it. And that's the work you want to do. Now, there are a couple of things I think you can do to get a better handle on this. The first thing is you could go listen to podcast episode 244. Now the title of that episode is how to get a million eyeballs on your products every month. The other thing I think you could do is we'll put the link in the show notes, you can sign up to join us the next time we run Brand Video Bootcamp so you can get on the waitlist. We'll send you an invitation and then we walk you through the process and hold your hands, and in that bootcamp, you'll walk away with your video done. If you're still stuck, the other thing I want to share with you is I will put the link to the podcast recording I did with Natalie about her strategy. I'll put that in the show notes. But I also want to remind you that there are a lot of ways to reach your goals. And I want you to think about this because both Shannon Cates and Natalie Santini are clients of ours in the inner circle. Both of them came to us with very little sales. They now have wildly successful businesses. But look at the difference. Shannon is doesn't have any desire to show up live or show her face. Like, she does not appear on camera and Natalie does appear on camera. So what I want you to know is you can be successful with either strategy or even a hybrid, some of both. You don't have to follow one thing and think that's the only way you're going to make success. And the real thing that is going to, I guess, is a predictor of your success is your consistent application. You're managing your expectations about how quickly you're going to get traction with that strategy. It doesn't just take weeks, it takes months before you see real traction with that. And. And you're measuring, you're tracking and measuring your results so that you can actually see your progress. Because all of us, myself included, we need evidence that something is working. And if we're not tracking and measuring, we don't have that evidence. And it's really easy to get in your head and start thinking that there's a better way. There's a shiny object that I need to chase. So I think that's it. We have an actually another episode that's a companion to this. So I want you to tune in next week because I think we've talked a lot about the what here in this episode when it comes to video. But I want to talk a little bit more and I'm bringing a guest on to talk a little bit more about the how. How do you get started? What are the steps you have to take to just get it done? So I hope you have an amazing week. I'm going to see you next week, get thinking about how you can apply what you've learned today to your business. I'll see you soon. Hey, if your sales are slower than.

You want them to be and you you're not sure what to do next to reach your sales goals, I want you to head on over to the Show Notes and grab a link to get your copy of my new course Conversion School. It's absolutely free and inside the lessons you will learn our step by step process to grow your sales without spending a fortune on risky ad strategies and without discounting your products. The strategy that you will learn in Conversion School works for e commerce stores of all stages. You'll use your store's data so if you're starting out you'll learn how to get consistent sales every day. And if you're an established store looking to really scale your sales, you'll use.

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Significant sales growth every month, month over month. So head on over to the Show Notes, grab the link and get your copy now.