RobbScottVideos
I've Got It
Actually, I don't have all the answers yet but stick with me. Because I do have a lot of proven advice to share you'll find helpful in getting views for your videos. Let me explain the Coles Notes version on my background. Then I'll explain how I used it to successfully get a lot of views on one video.
I'm a working visual artist with a real passion for marketing. I've been nationally recognized for my highly detailed pencil drawings and have collaborated on projects with sports icons such as Michael Jordan, Sidney Crosby, Bobby Orr, etc. But in the last year I began to feel unfulfilled by drawing alone. So I began to search out another way to express more of my creative ideas. Recently I discovered that outlet was videos.
I've built my art career on the marketing provided by media organizations. Meaning I used the media to sell my story - for free! I've literally received millions of dollars worth of advertising (in the last 2-3 years alone) and paid almost nothing for it. The secret? There is none. It's really quite easy if you find the right angle to sell your story. The media needs stories. They aren't interested in selling your products. But they are interested in telling your story in a way that appeals to their viewers.
But the focus of most of the media I've received has been offline (ie: print, TV, radio). It wasn't until I read a great marketing book recently titled "Trust me, I'm lying", that I used the same techniques online for one of my first videos. This book explained the power of blogs, and how they are used to feed our news cycle.
So I combined offline and online techniques to make my first video a solid success. Let me explain.
I created a video titled "Breakin Labels". It was a 3 minute spoken word video I wrote and performed about my son who has Down Syndrome. It was an emotional video from the heart. As a piece of art, I'm very proud of it. But as a marketer I also understood emotion sells very well.
When the video was done I posted it to my Facebook page to get some feedback and shares. Then I began sending it to blogs. I started near the top with Huffington Post (canada). They posted it on their site, calling it was "powerful." I then included their quote in the rest of the emails and messages I sent. (NOTE: a quote like that from a big blog gives your email/message more weight. Other blogs want to follow).
Soon it was picked up by Upworthy. Once they posted it was picked back up by Huffington Post (America) and then many other blogs followed. Once you hit those big blogs it just becomes a feeder to so many others. Meanwhile I then began to send it around offline media organizations. I ended up doing three TV interviews (one on a national level) on the topic, as well as a newspaper article and a radio interview. In total 5 interviews.
All this marketing took about one week. The end result? 77,000 views in about 10 days. Not a huge gangum style success - but something I think most people would be happy with. I know I was. Especially when my goal was only 10,000 views.
So the kicker is this: I've tried to market two humorous videos since (online only - not to offline press) but didn't have the same success (on average each video received about 1,500 views in two weeks and were only picked up by a couple same facebook sites). So what I learned is selling emotion is much easier (which makes sense when you explain most viral stuff, it creates emotion of some sort). But I like to make funny videos as well and obviously that will take a different approach I'll learn as I go.
Anyway, that's my two cents. It can be extremely helpful if used properly. I hope this post gives you some ideas for marketing your videos (or channel).
I'm a working visual artist with a real passion for marketing. I've been nationally recognized for my highly detailed pencil drawings and have collaborated on projects with sports icons such as Michael Jordan, Sidney Crosby, Bobby Orr, etc. But in the last year I began to feel unfulfilled by drawing alone. So I began to search out another way to express more of my creative ideas. Recently I discovered that outlet was videos.
I've built my art career on the marketing provided by media organizations. Meaning I used the media to sell my story - for free! I've literally received millions of dollars worth of advertising (in the last 2-3 years alone) and paid almost nothing for it. The secret? There is none. It's really quite easy if you find the right angle to sell your story. The media needs stories. They aren't interested in selling your products. But they are interested in telling your story in a way that appeals to their viewers.
But the focus of most of the media I've received has been offline (ie: print, TV, radio). It wasn't until I read a great marketing book recently titled "Trust me, I'm lying", that I used the same techniques online for one of my first videos. This book explained the power of blogs, and how they are used to feed our news cycle.
So I combined offline and online techniques to make my first video a solid success. Let me explain.
I created a video titled "Breakin Labels". It was a 3 minute spoken word video I wrote and performed about my son who has Down Syndrome. It was an emotional video from the heart. As a piece of art, I'm very proud of it. But as a marketer I also understood emotion sells very well.
When the video was done I posted it to my Facebook page to get some feedback and shares. Then I began sending it to blogs. I started near the top with Huffington Post (canada). They posted it on their site, calling it was "powerful." I then included their quote in the rest of the emails and messages I sent. (NOTE: a quote like that from a big blog gives your email/message more weight. Other blogs want to follow).
Soon it was picked up by Upworthy. Once they posted it was picked back up by Huffington Post (America) and then many other blogs followed. Once you hit those big blogs it just becomes a feeder to so many others. Meanwhile I then began to send it around offline media organizations. I ended up doing three TV interviews (one on a national level) on the topic, as well as a newspaper article and a radio interview. In total 5 interviews.
All this marketing took about one week. The end result? 77,000 views in about 10 days. Not a huge gangum style success - but something I think most people would be happy with. I know I was. Especially when my goal was only 10,000 views.
So the kicker is this: I've tried to market two humorous videos since (online only - not to offline press) but didn't have the same success (on average each video received about 1,500 views in two weeks and were only picked up by a couple same facebook sites). So what I learned is selling emotion is much easier (which makes sense when you explain most viral stuff, it creates emotion of some sort). But I like to make funny videos as well and obviously that will take a different approach I'll learn as I go.
Anyway, that's my two cents. It can be extremely helpful if used properly. I hope this post gives you some ideas for marketing your videos (or channel).
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