The 5 Elements of Defense-Piercing Multimedia

Even though we decided to post­pone the mul­ti­me­dia copy­writ­ing sem­i­nar in south­ern Cal­i­for­nia due to the fires there, my friend, copy­writer David Garfinkel, asked me about it:

“(One of my coach­ing stu­dents) asked if you will share detailed test results like what to say vs. what not to say, what to wear in video, and other nitty-​​gritty like that, at your sem­i­nar when you resched­ule it. Those would be excel­lent points to cover for a seri­ous direct mar­keter. Any­thing you’d like me to tell him?”

Valid ques­tion. So here’s the answer I gave him, along with a few tips…

Yes, those are pre­cisely the things I was going to share at the sem­i­nar. But here’s some­thing you might want to tell him.

Online video should do either one of 5 things.

This is what I call my “SPEAR” for­mula, which I alluded to in my saleslet­ter for the sem­i­nar. Think of using mul­ti­me­dia like a spear that pierces through your tar­get market’s defenses, and pin­points their dom­i­nant desires.

SPEAR is an acronym, which means:

1. Sup­port
2. Proof
3. Empha­sis
4. Atten­tion
5. Response

In other words, use your mul­ti­me­dia for any one or more of the above. Let me explain what each ele­ment means.

(For the sake of sim­plic­ity, I will refer to mul­ti­me­dia as “video” from now on. But note that the for­mula applies to audio as well.)

1. SUPPORT

You can use video to edu­cate view­ers as a sup­port­ing ele­ment to your copy, such as deliv­er­ing the same sales mes­sage but in a dif­fer­ent modal­ity — thus appeal­ing to the visual, audi­tory, and kines­thetic vis­i­tor, instead of appeal­ing just to the reader.

In this case, the video is non-​​essential. They are basi­cally com­ple­men­tary to your over­all sales mes­sage. But its usage is def­i­nitely the eas­i­est of the bunch.

Some peo­ple learn and under­stand bet­ter with visu­als, while oth­ers do so with sounds. Either way, video enables all your read­ers to grasp your mes­sage in the way they feel most com­fort­able with, and to do so with greater ease, speed, and comprehension.

Essen­tially, it cov­ers all the bases by ensur­ing that your mes­sage is received in the best way pos­si­ble by every­one in your audience.

2. PROOF

You can use video to prove your case and per­suade your audi­ence by offer­ing an added dimen­sion to your sales mes­sage, such as using video to cre­ate or build value, scarcity, cred­i­bil­ity, or believability.

Video is a per­fect oppor­tu­nity to show­case actual results, clin­i­cal tri­als, sam­ples and exam­ples, case stud­ies, before-​​and-​​after com­par­isons, demon­stra­tions, prod­uct or web­site tours, etc.

Best of all, they’re per­fect for demon­strat­ing social proof, too, such as a clip of you deliv­er­ing your prod­uct or ser­vice, or speak­ing to a cap­tive audience.

(Take a look at how some mar­keters use videos to show what the prod­uct looks like. Some of them even record them­selves in the process of receiv­ing the pack­age in the mail, open­ing it up, and unwrap­ping the product.)

Inci­den­tally, just as action shots out­pull still pho­tos or mugshots in pic­tures, action scenes also do out­pull talk­ing heads in split-​​tests, too.

3. EMPHASIS

Video can also be used to empha­size key points in your copy, such as expand­ing on core ben­e­fits or the offer itself, or to drive home com­plex ideas or crit­i­cal points in the copy that may be hard to under­stand otherwise.

You can dive deeper into spe­cific things you want to cover that, in text copy, is dif­fi­cult or requires too much copy to do. You can even use it to empha­size parts of your offer, or even as a way to sur­prise view­ers such as by offer­ing an extra bonus not dis­cussed in the copy.

Ulti­mately, think of illus­tra­tions or fig­ures in a book. But in this case they’re videos. They help to illus­trate or show­case some­thing you talk about in the copy, which not only sup­ports it but also high­lights and accen­tu­ates it.

4. ATTENTION

Atten­tion is what video does best. It’s the most com­mon and effec­tive way to use video with any web­site, and par­tic­u­larly with web salesletters.

For exam­ple, hav­ing a video, espe­cially at the top of the saleslet­ter, is an effec­tive atten­tion grab­ber. You can use it to stop peo­ple from surf­ing and/​or scan­ning your saleslet­ter, and force them to start read­ing your copy.

Basi­cally, the video is like (or expands on) the head­line, which is sup­posed to do the same thing: get people’s atten­tion and get them to start reading.

5. RESPONSE

And finally, while grab­bing people’s atten­tion is the most effec­tive way to use video, boost­ing response is by far the most pro­duc­tive and prof­itable way.

In fact, video is not only per­fect for boost­ing response. It’s nec­es­sary. You should use the video to com­mand your audi­ence to take action. The video is really a “response aid,” and there are many dif­fer­ent ways to do this.

Aside from using calls to action in all your videos (even if it’s as sim­ple as ask­ing them to keep read­ing), you can also use video specif­i­cally on or near your order forms, response devices, and other calls to action as a way to edu­cate read­ers on how to take action, and what to expect when they do.

For instance, a video on my order page at The​Copy​Doc​tor​.com instructs vis­i­tors on how to fill out the form and process their order.

The added ben­e­fit? Since it’s a dig­i­tal prod­uct (specif­i­cally, a mem­ber­ship web­site), it also gives peo­ple an idea of what’s “on the other side” once their order is processed, such as show­ing them how to log into their new account.

You can even go through a mock order, where the video is a screen­cam of you fill­ing out the form and pro­cess­ing it in seem­ing real-​​time, along with the result­ing “thank you” page, con­fir­ma­tion page, or down­load page.

The bot­tom line is, this reduces fear and skep­ti­cism by allow­ing users to know, pre­cisely, what they will see, get, and enjoy by tak­ing action.

(By the way, this alone has lit­er­ally tripled my order form con­ver­sions and vastly reduced shop­ping cart abandonment.)

Finally, here are some addi­tional tips.

When­ever pos­si­ble, use a pro­fes­sional voiceover. Because when a third party intro­duces you before you speak (or if you don’t speak at all in the video, speaks on your behalf), it makes you look more cred­i­ble, author­i­ta­tive, and important.

This has been proven in test after test. Even when your own voice might sound just as good as a pro­fes­sional voiceover artist.

Why? Well, as the say­ing goes, “a third party will always sell you bet­ter than you can sell your­self.” This is true for a num­ber of reasons.

One of them is, of course, the fact that the voiceover doesn’t appear like a shame­less, self-​​interested plug. It’s per­ceived as being more cred­i­ble, believ­able, and objec­tive than if it were to come directly from you.

For exam­ple, if you say, “I’m the best,” it appears self-​​serving. But if a voiceover says, “Michel Fortin is the best,” it seems less so.

Now, you can still do it your­self with your own voice. It’s bet­ter than noth­ing. And some­times, you should (unless, of course, yours is not the most pleas­antly sound­ing voice there is).

Specif­i­cally, you should use a third party when mak­ing claims, but you should use your voice (or speak in the first per­son, if it’s a voiceover artist) when mak­ing promises.

Using a voiceover (or the third per­son) when mak­ing a promise might come across as cold, vague, imper­sonal, and formal.

Remem­ber, just like with copy, videos should be per­sonal, con­ver­sa­tional, and direct. Your video should speak to the indi­vid­ual — as if you were right there, in front of them, engaged in a one-​​on-​​one conversation.

Aside from that, a voiceover artist will make you look more pro­fes­sional, trust­wor­thy, and cred­i­ble. It also increases per­ceived value, because it boosts you as a solu­tion. As a brand. And not as a salesperson.

A com­pany I rec­om­mend is Voic​eTal​ent​Now​.com. They’re pretty inex­pen­sive and have over 40 voice tal­ent artists that you can choose from, with sam­ples on their web­site you can lis­ten to, too.

Some of my clients have used them with great results. Although I’ve never used them, a few other web­sites include Voices​.com and Voice123​.com.

Finally, don’t be afraid in using stock video in your web videos to give your videos move­ment, demon­strate a cer­tain ben­e­fit, and even empha­size a spe­cific prob­lem they are suf­fer­ing that you can solve.

The best one is iStock​Video​.com (from the mak­ers of iStock​Photo​.com). There are tons of stock video clips you can use, espe­cially in incor­po­rat­ing any of the points of the SPEAR Formula.

As an exam­ple, visit Keith Gilbert’s VideoAd​Prof​its​.com, which also offers a lot of extra tips and ideas on the very topic of mak­ing online videos.

Another exam­ple is my friend Jay Dou­glas’ brand-​​new Click­Bank Squeeze Videos, which offers pre-​​made videos to sell affil­i­ate prod­ucts on Click​Bank​.com. But pay atten­tion to the video on the opt-​​in page.

In con­clu­sion, here’s an aside.

Some peo­ple ask, “What about being entertaining?”

Noth­ing stops you from being enter­tain­ing with your video. But remem­ber, while it should always have a pur­pose and an out­come, your video should be rel­e­vant to your audi­ence, your story, and the advance­ment of the sale.

About the Author

Last 5 Posts By Michel Fortin

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