Stop Being Scared of Video! An Interview With Video Marketing Stars…

It seems like everyone’s talking about or doing video…

It was hailed as THE most important social media tool a good few years ago and everywhere you look on social media you’ll see more and more businesses and individuals sharing live or recorded videos of themselves and their surroundings.

If you’re not using it actively now then you’re a bit behind. But it’s OK – you’re not alone!

It seems like for some people the technology (a classic self-added barrier) gets in the way.

But you have everything you need to do video – your smartphone.

You could add a mic and maybe some soft box lights, but ultimately, you already have what you need.

Oh… and you need content. Good content.

Here’s where I get my ideas from…

‘Stupid’ questions!

We all get these, mainly from our customers and clients. Frequently Asked Questions, you might call them.

These are a good source of my content. It’s the reason I’m writing this blog. Look at the questions you find yourself answering a lot. Think about subjects that your customers need help with. Answer them, on video, in 2 minutes, and you’ll have some fab content.

It really is that simple.

But that’s fine for me to say, isn’t it?

A lot of people are saying “Just do video” without first considering whether someone wants to or not, or if they truly understand the benefit of doing it.

Stop Being Scared of Video! An Interview With Video Marketing Stars…

So let’s ask some experts what they think!

I’ve selected these people because they either do video and get a lot from it, or they’re actually qualified to tell you why you’re getting in the way of video.

I asked them the same 3 questions:

1. Were you ever afraid of video?
2. What’s your number one tip?
3. What’s the best result you’ve had?

Here’s what they said…

John Davies – Blackfire Films

1. Yes, but repetition and practice means I’m not even slightly bothered now
2. Treat the camera like you’re on a call to a mate, not talking to an audience
3. Different videos have different goals, but personally any video that tells a story, even a 30 second one, does very well.

Claire McTernan – No Fluff, Just Results!

1. 100% yes! It’s the thought of cocking up, looking and sounding awful. Plus, like most people, I hate the sound of my own voice so the thought of watching it back was like a form of torture!
2. Suck it up! Just do one. Start small, and pre-record them. Remember an imperfect video is way better than the perfect one you never did.
3. Using video definitely helped me fill my workshops, so I probably generated £4k from it. It’s now an integral part of my marketing and definitely helps build the ‘meet, like, know, trust’ elements without people ever meeting me in the flesh. So if I had to fully quantify the impact video has had I would put it in the £10k+ range easily and rising!

Mark Lotsu – Fact of the Day

1. I was wary of judgement of others but that soon passed.
2. Be yourself. Don’t pretend to be someone else on video because you think people will prefer that. There are always people who will like you for you.
3. Lots of compliments and words of encouragement to keep going.

Duncan Price – Mind Affinity

1. More nervous than on stage in front of hundreds of people. (Soon fixed that.)
2. BREATHE!
3. It’s the indirect results that I like most. Meeting new people and finding we already have a rapport because they feel like they know me from videos.

Taz Thornton – Unleash Your Awesome!

1. Maybe, but I can hardly remember, it was so long ago. My first every ‘proper’ speaking gig was in front of an audience of about 400 at The Dorchester in a London. I was bricking it! And it was being live-streamed across the web. That was a baptism of of fire. I forced myself to watch it back. Lots. And learned a ridiculous amount. After that, everything was much easier. Years later, I launched a digital magazine and ended up shooting lots of videos for it (remember FlipCam, anyone?), either selfie vids or celeb interviews. I got bored with editing them, so coached myself into becoming a ‘one take master’ to make life easier. ?
2. Have an idea of what you want to say. Remember a few bullet points, but don’t try to stick to a script. You know this stuff, so just breathe, relax and speak from the heart. You’re just telling people what you know – only it happens to be through a lens.
3. I shot an off-the-cuff video a few years back, talking about surviving tough times and staying alive. It breaks every rule in the book – it’s almost 10 minutes long, I’m not wearing my branded gear, and I hadn’t planned any of it. Surprise! It went viral. I stopped counting at 40,000 views across my Facebook channels, plus I ended up in Huff Post, DIVA, Kindred Spirit, a couple of newspapers, and on BBC radio. I got some work out of it too. People still message me, to this day, to say that video saved their life. Sometimes you just need to follow that tug to speak out and go for it.

Kon Frankowski – Maximise Success

1. Hell yeah!
2. Just F***ing Do It! But remember, people will choose bad video with good audio over a brilliant video with bad audio.
3. 7 SEO enquiries in one day! 5 of them converted.

Stefan Thomas – The Networking Retreat

1. Always afraid. I hate looking at myself on video and have to get over that every time I do one!
2. Get on with it. Yeah, I could talk about getting a tripod, stabiliser, etc., but I’ve got too many friends who invest in the tech but never actually use it. Get on with it. If you’re creating lots of videos invest in stuff to make them better, but only when you’ve got started.
3. Being booked for a £2500 speaking gig because they had seen my videos online and “felt like they already knew me”, in their words.

Kirk Pickstone – DuggyStone Radio

Matt Burke – Matt Burke Vlogs

1. Absolutely! I remember walking down the street talking to the camera with people beeping at me. It was so difficult at first, but the more I persisted the better the videos got and the more confident I became.
2. Tell a story. You have to take the viewer on a journey, and keep them engaged. Talk about what you’re good at and what you love, and your enthusiasm will show through video.
3. One of the videos I made once got tweeted out by the official YouTube account and was seen by millions of people. But personally, the best result I had was when someone told me that my videos made their day and told me never to stop doing what I love.

Wes Linden – Wes Linden

1. I don’t think I was really afraid of it as I had done a lot of stage work with big audiences which I think is more daunting as you can see people’s reactions!
2. I think be yourself – there’s already people who have done the ‘hustle’ and ’10x’ and swearing thing. Find your uniqueness and let that come through. I understand why people would go to a tribute act of the Beatles since they’re no longer around, but why would someone click on a tribute act of Gary Vee on video when if they wanted that, they could just click on him?!
3. I’m always a value-giver and try to be real with people. There are too many people just trying to entice folks to send them money. So when I do promote something, my audience seem OK with it. I have been an Amazon best-seller for 49 consecutive months in my categories, and I’m pretty sure that in part comes with me trying to give value, and then people being OK with sharing me and my books to other people.

Vikie Shanks – Vikie Shanks

1. No, I’m not afraid of video!
2. Go to one of Spaghetti Agency’s workshops if you want to get the best results!
3. People watching the video and then reading my blog. And lots of press. (I don’t do anywhere near enough!)

Sam Pratt – Captive North

1. To stand in front and talk? Yes of course! It’s strange looking into a black lens on your own.
2. Keep it short, keep it simple, and don’t talk rubbish. The information needs to be direct and useful to your audience.
3. I did a 6-second video on Twitter and won a £3k deal on the back of it.

Tristan Lee – Tristan Lee

1. Yes! But I had to jump in. Initially it was very awkward but I knew it would get better if I kept at it! I committed to be consistent and reminded myself that it was it bit like having driving lessons. You (hopefully!) improve with practice until it eventually becomes automatic!
2. Do it with a friend or work colleague. I had a good friend come to my house every week for two hours for months and months just to hold the video camera! It was an ‘appointment’, really fun, and a fantastic way to be accountable too. You don’t need to ‘go it alone’!
3. One of my videos reached over a million people and was shared over a thousand times! Happy days! Watch it here.

Luke Harrison – Imago Video

1. I’ve been doing stuff with video cameras my whole life. I got into video before I knew it was something that people thought was scary. It’s always been fun for me. I did hate the sound of my own voice played back when I was younger, but I quickly had to get over that.
2. I know it’s a cliché, but just do it. Get in front of a camera and start talking. Your first efforts will be rough and ready and years from now you’ll look back and cringe, but you only get good by doing it over and over again.
3. My best result recently was when a publicity video for a workshop I was doing got shared by a friend in one of their networking Facebook groups. Shortly afterwards I had a message from someone I had never heard of before in South Wales. She had liked what she had seen and wanted to know if we could work together.

Phil Sims – The Healthformation Coach

1. There was a time where I thought to myself “I could never do video content”. I’m not good enough.
2. My best tip is the one that was given to me. Just practise! You don’t need to post anything until you’re ready but talking into a phone is a skill by itself. Once mastered, getting your message across will start to become easier and almost effortless.
3. My best result was a simple one, I got a client. But someone approached me after 6 months, and they’d never ‘liked’ or ‘commented’ on any of them. I didn’t know they existed, but they knew I did because of my videos.

Video – remove the barriers and press record

Plenty of people are ‘scared’ of video and I get that, so the idea of this blog was really to show you that others were too.

Of course, some weren’t scared as such, and that comes down to personality for many of them, but all of them got some great chances, opportunities and business from doing video.

Mostly I think we’re afraid to look silly and what others will say about us.

Plenty of the people I interviewed mentioned not liking the sound of their own voice too!

I’ll leave you with this thought:

How many times do you think that someone looks stupid on video?

A few? Mainly only the people who purposefully do pranks or silly stuff to get attention? Or the hidden camera stuff?

Fair enough.

How many times do you tell people that they looked stupid?

Once? Never?

If you’re afraid of people’s opinions and reactions then it’s just possible that you’re worrying and thinking about something that might not even be happening. Or if it is, you’ll never hear about it anyway!

You’re afraid of something that might never happen…!

The first video you create might not go viral or win an Oscar, but it’s the first step to success as is every other video you create.

Be brave, be creative and press record.

You don’t have to go live or put it online, you just have to start doing them to get better at doing them.

No one was brilliant first time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Are you afraid? Are you obsessed? What have you got from video? What’s stopping you? Let me know in the comments below.

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

Do You Struggle to Create Content to Generate Sales?

We’ve Created a FREE Online Marketing Plan…

Use our simple ideas generator to help you make better content, over and over again…

Learn More

Tags associated with this article