How to create more opportunities within my video production business

Download The Resources

Introduction

It's tough running a video production business. Competition seems to be growing, but all you hear of is how video is such a powerful marketing and communications tool.

Every brand, every business, everyone should be using video. We read the reports, we see video becoming more and more powerful online. We see all the social media companies making video content a central part of their platform.

So why is it so hard to generate opportunities within your own video business? And why is it so hard to generate opportunities that you actually care about? That pay you properly, that respect and appreciate your skill set?

Well, today we're going to learn how to do just that. How to create more opportunities within my video production business.

Links

• Watch: The Buyer's Journey: The most important marketing concept for video production professionals to understand >>>
• Watch: Blue Ocean Strategy and how video professionals can use it to completely eradicate the competition >>>
• Purchase: The Lead Generation Machine for just $7 >>>

Transcript

00:00:00:02 - 00:00:24:15
It's tough running a video production business. Competition seems to be growing, but all you hear of is how video is such a powerful marketing and communications tool. Every brand, every business, everyone should be using video. We read the reports, we see video becoming more and more powerful online. We see all the social media companies making video content a central part of their platform.

00:00:24:24 - 00:00:50:16
So why is it so hard to generate opportunities within your own video business? And why is it so hard to generate opportunities that you actually care about? That pay you properly, that respect and appreciate your skill set? Well, today we're going to learn how to do just that. How to create more opportunities within my video production business. So, welcome to this week's How-To.

00:00:50:16 - 00:01:10:20
Today, we're going to work through the steps that you need to take in order to ensure that you have a constant flow of opportunities coming into your video business. To help you implement what we learned today, I'm also going to provide you with resources, worksheets and a few other things - for free - to help you take action on what we learn here today in this video.

00:01:11:07 - 00:01:33:18
And, before we begin, the lessons from today's video are taken from my book, The Lead Generation Machine, which has helped over 3,000 video production professionals around the world to build a simple marketing system that returns a constant stream of opportunities (that are perfect for them) into their video business. You can get the book, which comes with all the step by steps via the link below for just $7.

00:01:34:03 - 00:01:56:23
Okay, cool. Let's get started. Now a bit of context. I first got into the video world back in 2010. I started from scratch in my grandma's spare bedroom as a freelance videographer and quickly transitioned into a video production company. At its peak, I had 33 full time members of staff working on projects with brands such as Adidas, Nike and Yves Saint Laurent.

00:01:57:07 - 00:02:29:07
We had offices all over the UK. We had hundreds of freelancers working on projects around the world at any given time, and I grew the company to being valued at over $20 million. Then, in 2018, I lost it. We filed for bankruptcy. I talk a lot more about that journey within my book, but when I lost that business, I took a year out - partly to deal with the stress and embarrassment of losing my business - but also to regroup, to learn from my mistakes, and to lay the foundations for building back stronger.

00:02:29:15 - 00:03:00:01
I'm happy to say that I did indeed achieve that. And from that review I was able to build a simple marketing system that allowed me to never look back. Today, I consult with many of the world's leading brands on their video marketing strategies. Brands such as Shell, Deloitte and the International Olympic Committee, in an ongoing capacity. But because of the journey that I've been on, and the lessons I've learned, and the frameworks that I've built, I'm also in a position where I teach marketing, sales and retention strategies to video production professionals around the world.

00:03:00:08 - 00:03:22:21
And it's that marketing system that we're going to learn today. This isn't finger in the air stuff. This isn't regurgitated marketing strategies shoehorned into the production world. This is the learnings of 15 years within the game, seeing what works, what doesn't work, testing, retesting, fine tuning, and it’s a system that has shown itself to be the most powerful for video production professionals.

00:03:23:04 - 00:03:49:08
And also it's a system that has been built specifically for our industry. So let's first run through the steps that we're going to take and then we'll work through each of those steps in a little more detail. The first step in the process is to understand the key marketing concepts. Then, we need to understand our audience intensely. Then, we'll look at how we open up our clear blue ocean, and finally we'll look at how we progress our prospects through The Buyer's Journey.

00:03:49:14 - 00:04:10:23
None of that will make any sense until we talk through the steps, so let's do that now. So, let's start at the start. Step number one, understand the key marketing concepts. Now, there are two key concepts that you absolutely must understand in order to be in a position to drive a constant flow of opportunities into your video business.

00:04:11:04 - 00:04:35:11
These are The Buyer's Journey and blue ocean strategy. I actually have two deep dive videos on these two concepts for those that want to learn more about them, which I've linked to below this video. But when we understand these two concepts and we use them together, we see our marketing in a completely new light. Video production professionals will typically only ever market with their showreel and some case studies or some portfolio pieces.

00:04:35:19 - 00:04:58:05
And that's natural because that's what we think our perfect prospects will want to see. But it's a bit backwards. Let me explain. The Buyer's Journey is broken down into three stages The Awareness Stage, The Consideration Stage and The Decision Stage. In The Awareness Stage, our prospect becomes aware of an issue that they're facing or an opportunity that's presenting itself.

00:04:58:16 - 00:05:19:24
If our target client is a marketing director or a business owner, it could be that sales are dropping or they're not hitting their target or there's a new competitor in town. Now, once our prospect becomes aware of an issue that needs to be fixed or an opportunity that they can take, they move into The Consideration Stage, which is where they start to look for ways in which they can fix that issue or achieve that opportunity.

00:05:19:24 - 00:05:47:16
So again, for that marketing director or that business owner, this could be looking at SEO services, or pay per click advertising, influencer marketing, out-of-home advertising, or, potentially, video marketing, or video content creation. And finally, once your prospect is set on the vehicle that's going to help them to fix their issue or achieve their opportunity, they move into The Decision Stage, which is where they look for the person, or the team, that's going to help them do just that.

00:05:47:22 - 00:06:12:05
This is where they become provider aware. Now, this is important because if you're like almost every other video production professional in the world, your marketing collateral probably only consists of your showreel, some case studies, your portfolio pieces, maybe an about us video or part of your website. But what's the issue with that? Everyone does it, right? Well, yeah, but think about that content.

00:06:12:05 - 00:06:34:02
Who is it talking to? People in The Awareness Stage, Consideration Stage or Decision Stage? It's The Decision Stage, isn't it? The people that have already identified an issue or an opportunity, the people that have already decided that video is going to help them fix it or achieve it. And the people that are now looking for the person, or team, that's going to create that content for them.

00:06:34:11 - 00:06:59:02
Now, here's the issue with that. Less than 1% of all of your target audience - so in this example, that's marketing directors or business owners - are in The Decision Stage, ready to hit the button, at any given moment in time. And that issue compounds because all of your competitors are fighting for that work too. And that ultimately creates a race to the bottom and it comes down to price.

00:06:59:02 - 00:07:24:00
Not a good place to be. Massive effort, massive competition, low conversion rates, low profit. But that's the 1% of your target audience. What about the other 99%? Where are they? They are still marketing directors or business owners. They still need to achieve the same things as the 1%. Where are they? Well, they're in that giant blue ocean that is full of your perfect prospects, but none of your competition are fishing there.

00:07:24:06 - 00:07:59:15
It's a gigantic opportunity. And with the right marketing strategy, you can be fishing there to your heart's content, attracting, converting, working with them and moving them through your own buyer's journey. Does that make sense? Like I said, I've got two deep dive videos that I've linked to below that go into a lot more detail on these two subjects, but that's a top level view of it. And it's the video production professionals that understand these two concepts, who are the ones that are flourishing, not worrying about where the next project is coming from, charging what they are worth, working with clients and in industries that they love.

00:07:59:15 - 00:08:28:17
So that all make sense? But the question that you're probably asking now is: “How do I open up that big blue ocean?” Well, that's the next step of the framework. Understand your audience. Now, to really take advantage of this newfound knowledge, you need to be clear on who your perfect prospects are. Because when you are, you can easily make them aware of an issue or opportunity and take thousands of your perfect prospects through The Buyer's Journey without worrying about the competition.

00:08:28:17 - 00:08:50:18
So we need to truly understand who these people are, where they spend their time, what challenges they face, what opportunities they face, what their true intrinsic motivations are. Because when we do, the whole thing becomes so very easy. To help you with this - and below this video - there is a link for you to download some resources and worksheets.

00:08:50:24 - 00:09:13:13
One of those resources is an audience persona worksheet. Now, this isn't your usual audience persona. We're not just covering off bland things like gender, location, age, income bracket and so on. I mean, we do cover these things, but we go deeper here. We look at what their key intrinsic motivations are, what they really want to achieve, what their aspirations are, what they struggle with.

00:09:13:19 - 00:09:36:00
Because when we know that, we are able to hook them into our buyer's journey and transition them into an opportunity. So, go ahead and download that worksheet and you can run through that exercise in about 5 minutes. Once you have, you'll be crystal clear as to who you're targeting and how you're going to hook them in. Cool. Okay. So we understand the key concepts.

00:09:36:05 - 00:10:04:00
We're clear on our audience. What's the next step? Well, now we need to open up our clear blue ocean. As I mentioned earlier, The Buyer's Journey is broken down into three stages. The Awareness Stage, The Consideration Stage and The Decision Stage. To truly create a constant flow of opportunities that are perfect for us, we need to hook as many people in as possible that have the same challenges, opportunities and aspirations as our perfect prospects.

00:10:04:00 - 00:10:28:19
So in The Awareness Stage, we simply create a few bits of content. This could be videos, social media posts, blog posts, that tap into those. Now this part is key. We then put that content in front of our audience and we do this in the most cost effective way possible. When production professionals think about promoting themselves on social media or via ads, here's what they do.

00:10:29:03 - 00:10:58:23
They grab their showreel, some case studies or some of their most recent projects, and then they select all the people that they think might be interested in working with them. They promote their content, or they boost a few posts, but because they have no clue as to whether or not the person is interested, they waste their budget serving their Decision Stage content, their showreel, case studies, portfolio pieces to people that are most likely not even aware of a challenge that they're facing or an opportunity that's presenting itself.

00:10:59:06 - 00:11:18:10
So 99% of the people that they are paying to serve that content to have zero interest in a showreel, or a case study, or a recent project. They're not even aware of a challenge that they need to fix, or an opportunity that they can take. So they're not aware that video will help them to fix an issue that they don't even know that they have.

00:11:18:16 - 00:11:43:05
And they certainly aren't looking for someone to create that content for a challenge that they're not aware of yet. So what happens? The videographer, or filmmaker, or production company owner, turns off the ads and comes to the conclusion that advertising on social media just doesn't work for them. They waste their budget and move on to the next form of marketing to drum up interest - cold calling, referral gathering, attending networking events.

00:11:43:11 - 00:12:18:20
But here's the thing ... More often than not, that videographer, filmmaker or production company owner, will be paying for clicks, or maybe even conversions. And that is super expensive - especially to a cold audience. A click can cost upwards of $5. A conversion can cost upwards of $50. So here's the secret ... Our Awareness Stage content has one purpose - one single purpose. And that is to find people that have a challenge or opportunity that we, through the creation of video content, can fix or achieve.

00:12:18:20 - 00:12:44:13
That's the sole purpose of our Awareness Stage content. It's short and it's sharp. Now, this part is key. If they engage with that content. So that could be visiting a page on our website, watching a video to over 75% completion, liking, commenting or sharing on a social media post. If they show any of these engagement actions, we know that something in that video, that post, that blog has, well, engaged them.

00:12:44:22 - 00:13:11:05
And this is beautiful, because we can pay for engagement, or even video views, on this content, which typically costs less than a cent, which is a lot cheaper than $5 (or 500 cents) for a click, or $50 (or 5000 cents) for a conversion. It costs less than a cent. This allows us to find, to discover, to prospect thousands of people at a time with a tiny, tiny budget.

00:13:11:12 - 00:13:30:12
Now, you may be thinking, what good is that when we need an opportunity? Well, that was how you find your blue ocean. We now move into the next step and transitioning them through The Buyer's Journey. And this is another secret. We use a tactic called remarketing, which basically groups all of those people that have engaged with our Awareness Stage content.

00:13:30:15 - 00:13:52:22
Something has resonated. Something has engaged them. So we can now serve them our Consideration Stage content. And when they engage with that content, we can serve them our Decision Stage content, which is our showreel, our case studies, are about us content, because we know that when they reach this stage, we are only paying for clicks and conversions for people that we know are engaged and will convert to an opportunity.

00:13:53:05 - 00:14:14:07
And the beautiful thing about this is that it can all be set to automate. It works in the background of your video business whilst you focus on delivering beautiful video content to your clients. And that, in a nutshell, is how you create a constant stream of opportunities (that are perfect for you) into your video business. Now, you may have some questions at this point. “What content should I create?

00:14:14:12 - 00:14:57:00
How do I set this up? Where should I be promoting my content? How do I do that?” Well, if what I have talked about in this video has resonated with you. If it's made sense and you want to build this system into your video business. If you want to create a constant stream of opportunities. Opportunities from industries and with clients that you love. Well, you can get every single step outlined in detail within my book, The Lead Generation Machine, and you can get all of that information right now for just $7. You can join over 3,000 video production professionals, videographers, filmmakers, production company owners, who have this set up and are benefiting from the simplicity

00:14:57:00 - 00:15:24:11
of it - playing in their own giant blue ocean. And the link is waiting for you below this video. So that's how you create a constant stream of opportunities (that are perfect for you) into your video business. And it's so simple once you know how, which, ultimately, is what the book does. I hope that's been helpful. Remember, you can download the resources and worksheets below and of course you can grab your copy of The Lead Generation Machine for just $7 via the link below this video.

00:15:24:24 - 00:15:32:09
If you have any questions, please feel free to drop them in the comments below, but thank you for being here and have a fantastic day!