(revised version is being researched)
Why not Produce an $800 DVD?
Take a look at a new DVD entitled Customer Service Zone . Could you produce a video with this kind of price tag?
Publicize
As you’ll recall from the book I explain how the book business and the video business are so similar. Well I’ve been promoting the book to likely outlets and the campaign has been working. So far the book has great reviews in Event DV Magazine and Camcorder and Computer Video Magazine. I’ve been interviewed on The Creative Planet Podcast and the press release has also done well. Here’s where Google finds the book and the press release on the Internet.
What the point? you may ask. I’m not just tooting my own horn. The point is that this kind of publicity is something you can do for your own videos. In fact, you must do it because this will lead to sales. It certainly has for my book.
Marketing Class
Sales of the DVD The Secret have been astounding.The marketing alone is worthy of a graduate level college course. Here’s what Newsweek magazine says about it:
Decoding ‘The Secret
Oprah lives by it. Millions are reading it. The latest self-help sensation claims we can change our lives by thinking. But this ‘new thought’ may just be new marketing.
The Secret DVD has dropped to only #3 position in the Sales Rank DVD section of Amazon.com, but this may be because there are several editions out – the original edition, the expanded edition, etc.
Thinking about Topics
As we discuss in the book, you need to spend time looking at the Amazon list of special interest DVDs and see what is selling. You don’t necessarily want to be chasing fads unless you can produce a compelling video very quickly, but you do want to stay in touch with the trends.
Many of you who are in the video production business will be inclined to dream up titles of videos you’d like to produce and sell to the video production community. This may not be the smartest move if you want to make money in this game. I can hear the chorus now – “Hal doesn’t want any more videos to compete with the titles he sells.”
To tell you the truth, I’m not too concerned about that because VideoUniversity.com has been a market force for ten years and it is not going away. The reason I advise you to look for other topics is that the videos which teach some aspect of video production are a flooded market. There are so many available titles for wedding videographers. All the most successful wedding videographers sell their own DVDs. I talk about this in more detail in the book.
Instead of producing videos about video production, what if you once worked in the postcard printing business and decided to produce videos about how to sell more postcard printing. These videos would appeal to owners of printing businesses who specialize in postcards. Now I have not studied this market, but this could be a much more profitable topic than video production if there are no postcard videos available and if there are publications and web site where you can reach the postcard printers. I admit to know nothing about postcard printing but I hope you see the point – look for under served markets, rather than saturated markets.
More to come.
Hal
Author of
Secrets of Producing and Selling Successful Videos
How to Make Money with DVDs and Streaming Video
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