Stop Making Me Watch Videos!

[Josh Anderson]

Video information is the biggest time waster ever for any productive marketer.

It certainly can be.

Though I cater to the video market I rarely watch any video all the way through. If it is interesting I will use a plugin in firefox to download it while I do something else and then I watch it on my desktop and fast forward through it to find any useful/interesting parts.

However, I ignore most videos from most internet marketers because they rarely know how to produce short concise, useful, and to the point content.

Like most people in IM these days I am not looking for history lessons, accolades about other people, or reviews of basic concepts...

I look for meat. Information I can apply immediately.

For this reason I try and make my own videos short, concise and to the point... they show exactly what the visitor is there to find out.... no fluff no filler.

If I am creating a direct response video it must be short. Short and compelling... with the single purpose of increasing interest and delivering a specific call to action.

They are targeted... so that those who are not interested and would not be good prospects anyway know what the message is about and can leave quickly without having to wait around just to find out what the message is about.

Just like a good headline sucks people into the body of a message a video must perform the same way.

[adamv]

If a marketer uses video "instead of" a PDF because they were to lazy to do the writing then the video is going to suck out loud.

I would prefer text if the information is theory or tips about doing something but I enjoy video for learning a step by step process. If someone is actually "showing" me what I need to do then video can be valuable.

[Dana_W]

"I hate video", is the new "I hate long-copy"...

In both cases, what the complainant REALLY means is:

I hate BORING. Hey, me too..."

Very very well put, Brian. There have been a few videos that I've actually learned and benefitted from. Most of them are just really poorly made and ramble on forever before getting to their point. I can page through a PDF and get to the good part, but it's hard to do that with a video.

[AgileHosting]

Originally Posted by Jason James

To all you guys dissing video... Frank Kern and this guy seem to totally disagree with you...

I don't care who disagrees with me they're not here taking care of all the stuff I need to get done, but couldn't, because I wasted 2 hours watching video to pick up 4 minutes' worth of information.

I know what works and doesn't work in my life. Don't think that anybody with a famous name is going to make a whit's difference with his opinion. He's not. The facts are the facts.

Bailey

[Chri5123]

Originally Posted by Dana_W

To clarify: I like it if a video is showing me step by step how to do something, but not if it's just somebody reading something aloud or having a long rambling conversation with another internet marketer, punctuated with the occasional decent piece of information - which describes most IM videos I've seen.

But again, if they sell better, then that's the way to go.

I agree Dana,

If the video is showing me something specific and gets right to the point fine. However if it just a video with lots of "chit-chat" I tend to find myself skipping through to try and find the important parts.

Chris

[Dana_W]

I just got an email with the subject heading "7 Online Success Killers." I would have read an article or report on that. But when I saw it was a video I said "eh." Delete.

I would watch a video showing me step by step how to do something - create a website, train a dog, etc. But not everything in life is meant to be a video. Paris Hilton, I'm talking to you, chickie.

[KenSilver]

Originally Posted by MikeAmbrosio

Ken - I have just one question for you...

Just HOW do they MAKE you watch these videos?

Quite frankly, I'd like to have that technology...

You know that the easiest person to sell to is a salesperson. I just get sucked in

[IM_Geek]

Originally Posted by Dana_W

I just got an email with the subject heading "7 Online Success Killers." I would have read an article or report on that. But when I saw it was a video I said "eh." Delete.

I would watch a video showing me step by step how to do something - create a website, train a dog, etc. But not everything in life is meant to be a video. Paris Hilton, I'm talking to you, chickie.

<offtopic>
Haha! Good one.
+1 awesome for you.
</offtopic>

What I can deduce from this topic, is that it mostly depends on the situation and the content. What I learned from this, is that if I supply a video in the form of a tutorial or whatnot, I'll be offering a transcipt alongside.

[KenSilver]

I guess from the replies the preference is to stick with print, but have plenty of screenshots. In one of my recent manuals I made an average of 1 or 2 screenshots on every page, and reduced the print need by 90% because it only explained what you saw.

The beauty of a series of screenshots is that it works like a series of video still frames, but if you already know the information, you can move on quickly.

And I agree - video is great as an endorsement, or to make emotive requests. That part will never be redundant.
...

[David_Thompson]

I see so many complaining here about video but yet still
most of the big name products are using video to sell and
the product itself is mostly videos.

Look at the products that have been released over the last
year, Stompernet, PLF2.0, MassControl do I need to continue,
they all had a huge amount of video and most of you people
are using these products to make insane money.

The issue here from what i can see is the fact most think
the videos are boring or long winded just fluff now that's the
creators fault he or she has to make their product interesting
their content must be good otherwise most will think it's crap
and just blame video.

And you people that are making noise about video I say stick
to your ebooks, videos are bad for you they will give you a rash...lol

--David

[Colin Evans]

When somebody creates a post asking why marketers only provide information in video format, why do a bunch of marketers always get flustered and start saying "because video works" or words to that effect?

The OP was asking why don't marketers provide information in other formats, like PDF?

Yes, video can improve the effectiveness of a sales page, but is not the issue in question.

IMO - Videos are only useful as an information medium when they are short and to the point (and most of them I've watched are not). I believe the best way to produce such a video is to imagine that one minute of video costs $10,000 to produce - You have to pack the information into the shortest time.