I'm not sure what new scam the Federal Government is about to unveil on Nigerians this weekend...
But finally...
Someone with a functioning brain has said something worth writing about on a Thursday Morning:
Now, don't take offence to this...
But depending on how retentive your memory is...
You may remember a Tweet I put out a few weeks ago on Twitter saying:
When it comes to writing copy...
Don't copy things blindly
And because I serve a deity that neither sleeps nor slumbers
Just this morning...
A question in a private FB group I belong... further proves the point I was trying to make in that Tweet:
Here's the Question (from Martin M. /with a functioning brain):
"Why do Marketers Often remove Controls from Videos [VSLs, Webinars] ? What's the Advantage??"
And here's what I think:
Look, you've probably seen VSLs/Webinars where:
You can't forward it
You can't rewind it
Plus... if you reload it, it starts all over from the beginning
The actual fuckery!
And worse.. you don't even know how long this video is
10 minutes? 30 minutes? 1hour or more?
Look, I don't know who you've been listening to...
But this sort of thing... disabling controls in a video....
Makes your prospect feel like she's being cajoled and forced to watch your stupid video...
You're literally telling her:
"Aunty! weda you like it or not.... You must watch this video from start to finish"
Oh yea?
Coman force me nah!
That's how she's gonna react...
This silly marketing gimmick leaves a bad taste in your prospect's mouth
And don't even think about whipping up that silly line saying:
"Well, she's not my target prospect, if she was, she'd watch the video even if I disabled the controls"
Nope
That's not how it works
You can actually lose quality prospects by being silly
And I can bet you...
You're going to end up losing a large chunk of qualified prospects who would have ended up buying from you.. ...if you didn't make it impossible for them to watch your video ..."how they want to watch it"
For God's sake put yourself in your customer's shoes
Would you want to be forced to watch a video without having the power of fast forward or rewind at your own discretion?
What if I don't find some parts of the video interesting?
So I have to sit thru your bullshit for as long as how many "minutes or hours" I don't even know??
And you think I'll be happy to buy whatever nonsense you have to sell me at the end of your rubbish video?
And a lot of dummies are copying this shit
You see a VSL/Webinar with disabled controls..
You think it's cool and NEXT thing you're copying it
Without even knowing if it's converting...
No bueno.
Think thru things first
Picture your prospect and ask:
"Will doing this make her excited to buy my stuff?"
And look...
Any marketer with a functioning brain will tell you:
As far as VSLS/Webinars go...
The most important thing is the scripting of the video
Focus more on making that script as hypnotic as possible
Because once you can keep your viewer anticipating and breathing hard with excitement from the get-go...
You won't need to disable controls
And here's something else for the strong-headed ones:
Whether you insist on disabling the controls or not
Your prospect still has the power to decide whether or not they want to watch your thing
Yea, as in...
It's her device and she can close the damn tab
And if you still don't get it at this point...
Then you need deliverance
Whatever
Stay frosty
A.
P.S: so I got another question last week from a student on Video scripts:
"How much can I charge for a VSL script?"
It's somewhere between $1,000 and $25,000 or more
If you're just getting started...
You can charge anywhere between $1,000 - $4,000
And then as you get results for clients and word spreads that you're badass
You raise your fees on the go.
Stefan Georgi earns around $50,000 per VSL script
He writes sales letters too (and I think he charges same per copy)
Anyway the point is:
Clients pay quite a lot of money for VSLs (because when done right, the conversion from video promos is maaaaad!)
And if you choose to specialise in VSLs alone (Like my girl Rachel is doing right now...)
You'll be making a bundle for yourself for every gig you take on
Especially in these niches:
Financial,
Real Estate,
Health,
Travel
And Digital Course creation
The trick is to narrow your focus or just do a lot of studying and consistent practising too ...
And if you need a bit of practical guidance learning how to write really good VSLs (and getting paid very well to do it)
It's one of the things I teach in section III of my Copywriting course:
The Foreign Copywriting Initiative
If you don't have access yet
You can get it here:
Bonjour.