黑料门

Jesse and Rich talk with Rob Burns of  about e-commerce videos. He makes a wide range of videos for small to large e-commerce brands, and we break down exactly how you can make some for yourself.

Show Notes

• Testimonial Videos
• Product Video
• Product Demonstration
• YouTube PreRoll
• Facebook and Instagram Video
• Remarketing Videos

Transcript

Jesse: What鈥檚 going on, Richie?

Richard: What鈥檚 happening, Jesse? It鈥檚 that time again, podcast day.

Jesse: I love it. We鈥檝e had a couple of podcasts. We had a podcast on YouTube where we had the chef on there. So we talked a lot about video, but we鈥檝e said: “Oh, yeah. Just pick up the phone and start taking videos.” And that might be good advice for some people. But I think today鈥檚 the day to take it a little more next level. We鈥檙e going to give the real tips. Like, here鈥檚 exactly what you do when you want to make some videos.

Richard: We brought the right guy in.

Jesse: Yeah. So we brought the right guy. We鈥檝e known this guy for several years through different connections here in San Diego, like Internet marketing world. Let鈥檚 bring him on, Rob Burns. How are you, Rob?

Rob: Hey, great. How you are guys doing?

Jesse: We鈥檙e awesome, man. It鈥檚 good to see you. We got an in-studio guest, too. We can see some eye contact and wave our hands and say: “No, don鈥檛 say that.”.

Rob: It鈥檚 fancy in here.

Jesse: Yeah. Only the best for you.

Rob: You don鈥檛 normally do this, right?

Jesse: No. Only for you. (laughing) So, Rob, we鈥檝e known you for a while. We鈥檝e known your paths around the Internet marketing world. Even back to a lunch that we used to have. Give us a little bit of your past and what brought you to today.

Rob: Yeah. Jeez. I鈥檒l try to keep a long story short. So pre Internet days, we had a company called The Onion Publishing. And we did a lot of marketing for hotels and resorts and hospitality. We had like all the major hotels, we would do other kinds of media stuff, like sales materials and things like that. We go to hotels and do photoshoots and all that fun stuff. And when September 11th hit, pretty much every CFO from every hotel chain corporations said: “Hey, this is an act of God. We have to cancel our contracts because of the ways of traveling for like a year.” And we did if you maybe remember the airlines were shut down. So we literally were shut down, just dead in the water. And so within two weeks, we close our business. We had like a 5000 square foot printing plant. Probably 25 employees.

Jesse: You had a legit healthy business making money. And then two weeks later.

Rob: In one day, boom, it was done. In the interim, I was kicking around, like what鈥檚 the next thing I鈥檓 going to do? And way back in the day, I used to take every other semester off. And back then you could go to these little towns, villages, and people would adopt you. And I would always make it a point. Like hanging out with the mom and, helping out, and cooking or whatever kind of thing to pay my way. And so I started developing these hot sauce recipes. I started making my original style. And then I would come back, and I鈥檇 make them for friends. I was making like 50, 60 gallons every other month for people. When we shut down the business, a bunch of my friends was like: “You should start hot sauce business.” I was like: “I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 a great idea.” I entered this contest called the International Scovie Awards, which sounds like silver cell awards or something, but it鈥檚 actually the biggest hot sauce contest in the world, and I wound up winning it. And I鈥檓 like, oh, make a run at it. Long story short, that鈥檚 really how I got into the digital marketing side because just as we were scaling down venue publishing, it was just about when people started getting on the Internet and doing things. And so I鈥檓 like, well, maybe I鈥檒l try selling this hot sauce on the Internet and figure it out. And like back then, it was just like there are 50 different search engines and all this kind of stuff. And it actually got pretty good and wound up ranking number one and all these different search engines for the keyword “hot sauce.”

Jesse: That鈥檒l sell some hot sauce.

Rob: Yeah. Long story short, I wound up selling the company, and it was my dipping my toe in, moving away from doing agency stuff into doing online digital stuff. And then it鈥檚 been my path ever since. And then we started company maybe eight years ago, Copier Reach and that was a video press release distribution service. We would actually have a newsroom with an anchorperson that would do press releases. And that鈥檚 how we move back into video. I鈥檇 done a long time ago — pre-Internet days and then with video type of thing. And then our PR reach. We evolved into Video Telepathy, which is doing branded content and stuff for e-commerce, video product for e-commerce.

Richard: That鈥檚 when all the pieces came back together. You saw people selling things online. You took a little bit of your experience and knowledge from selling the hot sauces. You had the previous publishing companies/agencies, bringing it all together. What would get big wins back then for people, was it PR, actually?

Rob: We had done something a little bit different too. Because PR is pretty much the same as it was one hundred and twenty-five years ago, except for now, as you know, most PR companies have a digital version, and there wasn鈥檛 that much technology embedded in it. And so we tried to figure out like, what are all the new things now? We would do social distribution; we had this whole network of just different social channels. And then it would also go out to all these other news syndication sources, and it would embed the press releases and in some of the videos. And then you could use the videos for in your media section. Maybe you haven鈥檛 ever been on the news, but now you have this news thing. And we never tried to make it, especially these days, “fake news.” It was always video news, a press release like we said that. It鈥檚 not like you were trying to fake somebody out like we鈥檙e in a newsroom or something, but still, it built that credibility. And so people could use those, and they could syndicate it. And people were using the videos for ads for themselves and different things like that. Also, there was still some SEO value for press releases, which has come full circle. People are using them again. I sold that company, but I still use them all the time now.

Jesse: So you still believe in it?

Rob: Yeah, I still use it. The only reason I sold it was just because of the video. It was just taken off so much of e-commerce product video business that I had to make decisions; I couldn鈥檛 really halfway do one or the other. I needed to fully really engage in.

Jesse: That鈥檚 your full-time gig right now, Video Telepathy.

Rob: Yeah. It鈥檚 been for the last couple of years.

Jesse: Awesome. And obviously, that鈥檚 why we brought you on. This is an E-Commerce podcast. We basically want to pick your brain and help the listeners. How can they start building their videos? Almost everybody listening here is an 黑料门 merchant. They have physical products, not always, but let鈥檚 go from that standpoint. How can people go from “Man, I know I need a video” to actually getting one done without it being a massive production?

Rob: Today thanks to technologies you can do so much more with less. There鈥檚 more product, whether it鈥檚 more processing power in your smartphone now than Apollo-11 had. In that respect, if you do it right. I鈥檓 still a little opposed, the people are like: “Well, you can make whole huge production with your cell phone.” But there are certain things with your cell phone that you can use. And one is testimonials, real genuine testimonials from people, getting those and putting together those are amazing for using it on social media for different things. Maybe you鈥檙e having an event or maybe doing a tour of your manufacturing plant or something like that. Do it using the phone for like Facebook Live or an Instagram story or things like that, showing the product, maybe being shipped out or sent in. “Hey, we鈥檙e celebrating our one million widgets, we just shipped out today” or just different ideas, things like that. I would say you鈥檙e not spending a ton of money and using available resources. There鈥檚 a lot you can do. The key to it is to be really organic and be real and not contrived and just show what your business is about because people want to know, you guys know from being e-commerce that the biggest barrier to sell is fear. And they need to know to trust you. So the more things you can do where they know and trust you, then you鈥檙e that much closer to selling your product.

Jesse: OK, let鈥檚 dive into the testimonial a little bit, because for somebody who hasn鈥檛 made videos before that feels like “Boy, that would be a nice addition to the website.” Or be a nice addition to their YouTube channel, etc. How do you go about it? Let鈥檚 take a look, Rich, a previous customer, maybe the gals with the makeup glasses. You take your product, and you walk around outside?

Rob: What are makeup glasses? That sounds cool.

Jesse: Yeah. They had these glasses for women of a certain age; they use that term. They need glasses to apply the makeup properly. But you can鈥檛 have glasses in the way. So they had these glasses with a little flip-top mechanism, you one eye — you can see, the other eye, you flip it out of the way so you can apply your eye. Pretty cool. Flip over. It鈥檚 kind of odd, right? You don鈥檛 really think of it. But if you need glasses, and you try to apply eye makeup, you鈥檇 need these things.

Richard: Well, it鈥檚 got a few things, it definitely needs a demonstration, right?

Jesse: Yes.

Richard: You can鈥檛 tell when you鈥檙e just looking at a pair of glasses that you can move it all around like that. It鈥檚 kind of a twofold win. Going back to Jesse鈥檚 thing. You鈥檙e out there. You鈥檙e trying to get a testimonial. Is there a certain way to question people where you can get an organic reply, you have certain questions that you give them?

Rob: And that鈥檚 what鈥檚 great about testimonials. Things that you really can鈥檛 say about yourself or your business, somebody can say in a testimonial. If you do a video and you鈥檙e just bragging like the best of the best, everyone is like, yeah, whatever. But if you have a real person that鈥檚 purchased your product and it鈥檚 just an organic video, and you鈥檙e like, “Man, I love these guys. This is the best, makeup glasses, I鈥檝e never seen this concept; it is crazy.” Imagine if you just said that about you. It鈥檚 like, “Hey, I got makeup people, and we鈥檙e the best. And this is crazy. Check us out.” People鈥檚 fear barrier would instantly go up, and their brains would seize up. “I鈥檓 not buying anything from these people cause I don鈥檛 trust them.” That kind of thing. So testimonies are brilliant for trust. And trust is probably the most important thing for an e-commerce seller to sell.

Jesse: In a case like that. It鈥檚 great. I鈥檝e been in e-commerce for a long time. I鈥檝e asked my customers for a testimonial video. I鈥檝e asked many, many times. I get zero. People might love you, and they would send you a nice little note and review you and stuff. But to send you a video is next to impossible. How do you go when you have clients? How do you help them get testimonials? Are you walking down the street with a camera or how do you go? How do you really get the testimonials?

Rob: Well, a couple of things. If you鈥檝e been in business for a little bit and you start to have a customer base, you can start looking at your customer base and seeing who is local. And then find out people that are within a certain parameter. Maybe you say: “We鈥檒l give you some more samples of products. We just want to get a little feedback from you.” That鈥檚 one way. The other way is we do something called a market review video. And it鈥檚 a little higher production value. But for a starter company, it doesn鈥檛 really have to be. I would say it鈥檚 the only time that I would say that you could do higher production value for a testimonial style because you always wanted to be natural and organic. So this is more kind of a person on the street thing where you would just go out with a product. We had somebody that had some organic coffee. What we did is we actually went to the farmer鈥檚 market. We just hung out at the edge of the farmer鈥檚 market when people were walking out. We were like, “Hey, you want to try this organic coffee?” Almost everybody said, yeah. And then what we did is we asked them a series of questions that were based on the benefits or the pain points of that product because you also want to eliminate some of the pain points. Like what sets your your product away. So in that instance, they had a single source, coffee from Guatemala that was organic. And I guess coffee traditionally or organic coffee doesn鈥檛 taste as good as commercial coffee. Believe it or not. Coffee is very acidic. And so this particular coffee, the way they grew, it was super low acid. It wasn鈥檛 hard on your stomach, and it tasted really good. Comparatively speaking for organic coffee. And so what we did is when these people tried it, we would ask them these questions. What do you think? How does this feel in your stomach? How鈥檚 the acidity? And then they would answer back: “It鈥檚 really different for the most coffees. They鈥檙e a little hard on my stomach. But this stuff is great.” And so that鈥檚 the section we would use. And it sounds like a statement, they鈥檙e making a statement. And then how do you like this coffee compared to other organic coffee? That part, of course, is not in the clip. And then they would say: “It鈥檚 sweet, most coffees are a little bland, but this stuff is great.” And then we would just take all of those, and we would edit them together, make this whole collage. Basically, a pain point would have been high acid and coffee. So this solves that pain point and makes it completely different. It鈥檚 different than the most organic coffees. We would do about five or six questions like that, and then we put them together. That way it鈥檚 really a testimonial video which lowers the fear barrier. But it鈥檚 also a sales video because it鈥檚 going through all the things that you want people to know about your product so that they鈥檒l make an informed decision.

Richard: Yeah, that鈥檚 great. It brings me back to Jesse鈥檚 point. When you ask people, you鈥檙e not only asking for the testimonial. Sometimes you鈥檙e asking them to do the work, too. So, in this case, you鈥檙e actually helping them because there are certain people that are going: “Oh, well, there鈥檚 a camera.” The people who don鈥檛 mind being on camera are going to come out naturally, and they鈥檙e not going to care as much. And to your point, then it鈥檚 the truth and nothing but the truth. But it鈥檚 not necessarily the whole truth. You鈥檙e not in court yet. (laughing) I don鈥檛 mean you鈥檙e being deceiving, but you鈥檙e just asking those questions in a way that they were spawned as a statement. When you take your questions out of it, it just seems super organic and natural. And again, they really did say that.

Rob: Yeah. That鈥檚 a hundred percent in integrity. It just sounds weird if there is this voice in the background that鈥檚 asking questions, that鈥檚 weird. It just makes a better video too. It鈥檚 a hundred percent in integrity. But the way we do it, it鈥檚 like statements, and you鈥檒l see that all the time. I think we were talking earlier, even like TV commercials, I think car manufacturers will do that where they鈥檒l just bring all these people that have never seen this car before and get their input. They鈥檙e asking questions, but all you see is them going: “Oh, I really love the paint job” or “So much room.”

Jesse: And obviously, they asked hundreds of people, and they picked the best one. It鈥檚 OK to do that.

Rob: I think most people know.

Jesse: Yeah, I think so too. And I think maybe the bit of knowledge there that I鈥檓 pulling from that is that you didn鈥檛 just say, how鈥檚 the coffee? You had some questions in mind because you had statements you wanted to elicit.

Rob: Yeah, exactly.

Jesse: Yeah. You knew that there was like, OK, this is low acidic. So you asked questions in a way that you鈥檙e hoping you鈥檙e getting an answer like that, but you鈥檙e not forcing them to say it. You鈥檙e not having them read off of a piece of paper.

Rob: The science/art behind it is to massage those answers so that it sounds very organic coming out. But it鈥檚 also talking about the things you want to talk about. And what鈥檚 great is like those are things that you can鈥檛 say about yourself, but other people can.

Jesse: Your time investment here is like, OK, you went to a farmer鈥檚 market for five hours. Obviously, you鈥檝e planned ahead of time, and there鈥檚 editing. I鈥檓 not making light of the video production process. I know it鈥檚 hard. But realistically, if your quality level was like so-so, you could knock this out in a day probably.

Rob: You mean for somebody that鈥檚 just doing on their own?

Jesse: Yes.

Rob: Oh yeah. To shoot it and in the clips and just spice them together and there鈥檚 editing involved and time.

Jesse: I鈥檓 not trying to say that鈥檚 going to be TV commercial ready. I鈥檓 just saying that if you鈥檙e just getting started that鈥檚 the way.

Rob: I think it鈥檒l be very effective, too. And so just the organic nature of that kind of video, I think is good. That鈥檚 the thing. It doesn鈥檛 have to be perfect. It doesn鈥檛 have to be slick. Ours are, as we make them a little bit more like that. But we鈥檙e also doing for brands that are very concerned about their image and their reputation. That鈥檚 not to say; you鈥檙e the people that aren鈥檛 concerned about their image and reputation. But once you get kind of corporate level, then there鈥檚 always standards and committees and groups. This has to be this way. But, as far as the efficacy of the video, I think it鈥檚 shooting that cell video on your phones, probably just to cover it just as well.

Richard: So one plus it鈥檚 a bit of just take it. For some of the 黑料门 users it鈥檚 a side hustle, for some it鈥檚 full-time. But no matter what you get out and you do that, you鈥檙e going to learn more about your product even if you don鈥檛 use that video. The first one or two, three, four times you do it, you鈥檙e going to learn more, you鈥檙e gonna get better. You鈥檙e going to try a different way the next time. A lot of the times, we got to remind the listeners that it鈥檚 not about going out there and being perfect. I don鈥檛 know if you know my phrase or if I鈥檝e said it on the show or not, but perfectionism can be the most clever mask of procrastination there is out there. And sometimes it鈥檚 just about moving forward. Adjust accordingly.

Jesse: You don鈥檛 have to make the perfect video the first time. It鈥檇 be great to have this perfect testimonial. Every unique selling proposition is listed, but you have all this footage now, and you can turn that into some 15-second clips. You need 15-second clips for Instagram. You need YouTube鈥檚; everybody鈥檚 got their own little format that works better. People put their YouTube videos on Facebook, and they鈥檙e like, “Oh, people listen for like four seconds.” That鈥檚 kind of how it goes.

Rob: Well, here鈥檚 actually a little secret tip for us. It is usually on most of our videos and especially those kinds of videos that we always transition. Probably, five to eight seconds, 15 seconds at the absolute longest. There鈥檚 no real scene that鈥檚 really longer than that. And I鈥檓 sure you have guys heard the whole goldfish analogy. I think it was the 1990s. They did a study of the average American attention span, and it was measured in minutes. And then sometime around 2000, which is just about when Internet really started kicking in, the average attention span went down to about 18 seconds. And then a couple of years, I think 2017, which is really where people really started, it was peak cell phone stuff. Microsoft did a huge study, and the average attention span went down to eight seconds. So the average American attention span is around eight seconds. To put that in perspective, they say a goldfish鈥檚 attention span is nine. We鈥檙e literally less. That鈥檚 why we will do that. We鈥檒l slice everything in these little micro pieces of micro-content that are somewhere around eight-ish seconds just to keep people鈥檚 attention span. But something where it鈥檚 really engaging or action-packed or something, we鈥檒l go to 15 or a little bit longer. But for the most part, we鈥檙e always switching, switching, switching. And that way, just before they start trailing off — oh, it鈥檚 a new thing. That really keeps them going longer.

Jesse: For switching, I know where you鈥檙e going with this. But for people, what do you mean switching? What does that mean? Are you putting some fancy graphics to cut to something else or is it just showing some other things?

Rob: Well, it all depends. Say, for a market review video. Maybe it鈥檚, the person talking about that benefit and maybe that鈥檚 eight seconds. And also then it switches to maybe it鈥檚 just a slide, and it has text, that says, “It鈥檚 of super-low acidity. Thank you.” (laughing)

Richard: I鈥檓 getting thirsty just listening.

Rob: Super low acidity and then boom, it goes. And one what it does is it reinforces what that person just talked about and that benefit points. And then also you transition into the next person they鈥檙e talking about. “It tastes great for organic.” And then, boom, maybe it鈥檚 the slides, “taste great for organic,” or you could just slide into the next person talking about the next thing. It doesn鈥檛 have to be very fancy at all. The trick is just to have little eight-second engaging soundbites that you can switch off. And what鈥檚 good is what you were talking about is we do a lot. We鈥檒l take those. That whole video, which maybe it鈥檚 a two and a half, three-minute market review video and we鈥檒l slice it into micro-content for each one of those testimonials might be a little bit of a point. And what鈥檚 great about that is say you鈥檙e running ads and you really want to find out why are people buying my product? So you could run a little thing, just eight seconds, maybe it鈥檚 a Facebook ad or an Instagram. And it鈥檚 a guy saying, “This tastes great for organic coffee.” And then it鈥檚 like find out more. And then it goes to the site and maybe goes to the full video or whatever, where people could find out more. But basically, you鈥檙e just grabbing their interest and getting them off-page and then going. But what that does is it lets you test all the different things. Because what you think is awesome about your product is 99.9% of the time, not what everybody else thinks is also about your product. It鈥檚 not why they buy your product, because you鈥檙e so in it, and so vested and doing something like that where you have all these micro-content, and then you see what converts it better. That鈥檚 good. That鈥檚 actually going to tell you, why are people buying your product and then you do more of that.

Richard: There鈥檚 definitely something I鈥檝e said about the testing. Even Hollywood doesn鈥檛 have it figured out. Not all those movies now.

Rob: Was it Netflix where you鈥檙e choosing your own outcome? Different scenes and things that are crazy like that.

Jesse: So you think you have all these great testimonials in this minute and a half video? Two-minute video. Yeah, but there was really six or seven different, you know, selling points in there. So if you break it down, now you know.

Rob: And then another tricky thing is depending on what video player using. Like you use Wistia, it鈥檚 a little pricey. But it has great analytics, and I think Vimeo does the same thing where you can see as people are watching, you can see where they dropped off, and you can see where there is most engagement. That鈥檚 another way where if you didn鈥檛 size up in a micro content and run all the stuff, you鈥檙e going to see all these people dropped off and in 92.5 seconds. So there must be either change a video or next time make it something a little bit different and figure out what鈥檚 going to keep them engaged. And then you just keep fine-tuning.

Jesse: Yeah, makes sense.

Richard: I could see the drop off. Pardon, but I don鈥檛 want to geek out on it too much, but I鈥檓 a big video fan. But how could it measure engagement? Are you talking like comments in the video or something like that?

Rob: Well, as far as it鈥檚 engaged, actually watching the video.

Richard: Got it.

Rob: You being engaged in watching the video. Nobody made it to the end of the video. Where did most people stop watching the video?

Richard: Copy that. What about like rewind? If they are always rewinding in that one spot. Gotta say that more. They鈥檝e been around that. They want to learn more about that field.

Rob: Yeah. Either that or it鈥檚 like a big error that you were unaware of. (laughing)

Jesse: That鈥檚 good. And so for people that like Vimeo, Wistia. That would be the players where maybe you want to have this in the top of your home screen or on the top of a category page. You would use those players. You鈥檇 also use YouTube, free YouTube.

Rob: YouTube鈥檚 got some pretty good analytics now.

Jesse: Yeah. It does have weight. You can tell where people are dropping off. We won鈥檛 get into all that. We won鈥檛 nerd out on that. But yeah, there鈥檚 plenty of stats on that too. The first point is you got to make these videos so you can geek out on the dynamics later.

Rob: If you use YouTube, it is going to be a video player platform as always, just wanna make sure you鈥檙e super legit. You don鈥檛 want to get a whole bunch of videos, and then they鈥檙e over the line and then they just get disappeared really quick, and it happens all the time. Nobody even knows why. Most of the time.

Richard: What do you feel about when people hear the word fun? All we talk about fun, all there are different ways to do it. What do you feel about posting the links inside of other platforms, or do you think they should just be uploading them need natively? They shoot something on their phone, and they鈥檙e like, I鈥檓 supposed to do this and make them do that. And then they just hear this. There鈥檙e so many steps to get them to go here. Get them. Do you think they should be uploading to YouTube and then putting that YouTube link in their Facebook or should they just take that video and go straight into Facebook with that video?

Rob: I personally think that each social platform speaks a different language and is usually a different format where Instagram usually wants to keep around 15 seconds. And if you鈥檙e on an Instagram ad, it鈥檚 like fifty-nine seconds or less. And usually, it鈥檚 a square format where Facebook is vertical or horizontal. You also want to add text captions because a lot of times your video play without sound. And then YouTube鈥檚 a little bit different because if you鈥檙e running a YouTube ad, a pre-roll ad, you always want to hook them. You always want to get them to take action within the first five or 10 seconds. It鈥檚 gonna be scripted and shot a little bit differently because you want to grab their attention and get them off the page because YouTube pre-roll video or pre rollout, those are those videos that annoy everybody when you鈥檙e trying to watch a video. Then you got to watch another video before you can see that video. You can鈥檛 skip for five seconds; everybody hates them. But they work really well. That first five or 10 seconds, that鈥檚 where you want to grab them. For the most part, you really want to think about the platform that you鈥檙e putting the video on and not just do a broad brush stroke and just use one video for everything. You can do that, but it鈥檚 not going to work as well. And again you鈥檙e trying to gain their trust. You want them always to think “Well, this guy is blowing out stuff.”

Jesse: Yeah. It鈥檚 never easy. There鈥檚 never you can just make one video, and your problems are solved. Sit back and count your money.

Rob: A lot of people sell that. “It鈥檚 that easy.” But the truth is it鈥檚 not that easy. Marketing takes some work, and it takes some thought, and there is no magic bullet. There鈥檚 not a big red button you can hit.

Jesse: I wish there were. We keep bringing big red buttons to the podcast here but you still have to do the work if you鈥檙e looking for video. You gave it several different examples here, we did like a market research testimonial, and then we talked about different lengths and formats for these different platforms. For somebody that鈥檚 just getting started, where would you tell somebody to start? These are physical product merchants.

Rob: Depending on their product. And again. This is shooting with your cell phone kind of thing?

Jesse: Or most people have a decent DSLR camera too. You don鈥檛 have to use your phone.

Rob: Kind of editing and things like that. I would probably say, one of the most versatile that you can really use for a lot of different things is a video we call a product demonstration video. A product demonstration video really is just showing that product being used. And then we鈥檒l have some music and then some dynamic texts. The text is really the benefit points just like we would do on a market review video or a testimonial video. It might be somebody making that cup of organic coffee because the purpose of a demonstration video is the person that鈥檚 watching the video is in their mind鈥檚 eye. It鈥檚 them using that product, and they imagine themselves using their product, riding that big wave on that foamy surf or boogie board or whatever. You can do that where it doesn鈥檛 have to be really fancy, or maybe it鈥檚 cooking stuff, so you can do those tasty styles top-down videos where it鈥檚 just showing the products. You鈥檙e doing a bunch of recipes, maybe it鈥檚 like cooking knife, or maybe it鈥檚 some kind of food thing, and it shows the stuff being used because those people love those things and they鈥檙e not hard to be shoot. And like a lot of phones even have time-lapse photography where you get it every five seconds. I鈥檒l take a picture and put it right above the top of the stuff. A product demonstration video because you can actually use those as an ad or you can put it on your product page if you鈥檙e selling on Amazon. It鈥檚 probably the most accepted. You鈥檙e the most likely not to get rejected by doing a product demo video because Amazon really hates baggy talky direct market type stuff. So just showing the product being used and talking about benefits. You can鈥檛 go wrong. And that鈥檚 probably the best thing to lower people鈥檚 fear because you鈥檙e just showing them all the things that they want to see.

Jesse: I think you mentioned with Amazon too. That鈥檚 almost like a must-have. We all shop on Amazon. As you scroll down, there鈥檚 this video that plays. It鈥檚 almost like if you don鈥檛 have that, you can have a tough time really making it on Amazon. That becomes a must-have. And for your e-commerce site. Boy, I don鈥檛 have any product demonstration videos. I think I got to add this to the list here. But yeah, I can see it like people are visual by nature. If you don鈥檛 have the video, you have pictures, you have text, and things like that but you鈥檙e not really grabbing them, or you鈥檙e getting in their mind of why they鈥檙e showing you.

Rob: How easy the product is to use or what are showing the result of real because people just kind of want that gratification. It鈥檚 showing how this product is gonna make their life easier or make them happier or look better or whatever kind of thing. We just did when it was a makeup remover thing and all it was just this girl who was a model, and she had magic markers all over her face stuff and then she just holds. She didn鈥檛 say a word. This weird thing, she just holds up like the candidates, special makeup remover stuff, first she did it with show the magic marker and then she takes the makeup herself, and she just does the whole thing, and it was a speeded-up time-lapse thing. People love that. Wow. They went nuts. That鈥檚 super simple, and you could do that.

Jesse: There鈥檚 no text on that either? Now you鈥檙e international. Not only for English speakers now. Any language. Awesome.

Richard: Have you found any of the platforms are better than others for the top of the funnel stuff or does that matter based on your product?

Rob: You mean as far as social platform?

Richard: Yeah. Because to your point, it鈥檚 not like someone鈥檚 searching for that video. But it basically calls its own audience out in the video. Have you noticed like those were great on Facebook because they鈥檙e putting around, looking for stuff?

Rob: To a certain extent it depends on the product. But Instagram for e-com folks has been great, and I鈥檝e noticed there鈥檚 a good percentage. There鈥檙e some people that 50 percent of their business comes from Instagram.

Jesse: Short videos?

Rob: Super short. I mean you could do Instagram Stories, and those are longer, and I don鈥檛 think you can do promoted Instagram Stories yet like you can鈥檛 make an ad out of a story that鈥檚 longer, but you can go 59 seconds or less as far as it鈥檚 an Instagram ad.

Jesse: I think you can by the way. I鈥檓 pretty sure. Because there鈥檚 a lot of inventory in the stories section, you can pay for those.

Rob: I know when they launch your platform and the stories, and they鈥檙e like at the beginning you鈥檙e like, I couldn鈥檛 find a way to do that.

Jesse: Actually, now that I think back and yes, you can.

Richard: I mean these platforms where we haven鈥檛 just started in this, we see they give a lot of stuff out for free in the beginning and give all sorts of reach until they find out what works and then they鈥檒l gladly take your money. (laughing)

Rob: Oh yeah. Exactly. It鈥檚 in their best interest to do that. I feel like I wouldn鈥檛 be doing my job as the 黑料门 guy here without saying, if you鈥檙e on Instagram Stories, you can now tag those products with your 黑料门 catalog on Instagram. So now as you鈥檙e watching this story that鈥檚 a product demonstration. There鈥檚 that little thing that anybody can click with their thumb to go buy from your store. There鈥檚 a little plug for 黑料门, for Shoppable posts on stories.

Rob: A good example is we did some stuffers. No teeth whitening. If you look at those Instagram profiles and they do it, they do a ton of stuff not with just us, but there are 40 million dollars a year company and most of their business came from Instagram. They would have a lot of influencers and sharing like Floyd Mayweather. It would show how he get his teeth whitening.

Jesse: Does he have all his teeth still? (laughing)

Rob: Yeah. I think he can afford to buy new ones. That鈥檚 a good one.

Jesse: Product demonstration, what do we do? You mentioned some good things; you鈥檇 want to give a couple of bullet points on what would people show in this, how do you use it? What does it do for you? You work with a lot of clients.

Rob: I would say what problems does it solve. If you can show how it solves a problem, if you can show how it makes someone鈥檚 life better or easier. If you can show how it saves them money may be or if it makes them look better, those are really primal lizard brain things that in the back heads people may not even realize that鈥檚 what they鈥檙e looking for. But that鈥檚 most of the things; you want to feel safe, you want to know, you want to be protected. You want to look good. You want to make money.

Jesse: We鈥檒l make that little clip through our Instagram story right there.

Rob: Another another good platform for e-commerce is actually YouTube. A lot of people forget YouTube is the second largest search engine on the planet. So if you do videos that are geared towards your product searches that people would search for and then a lot of times if you do it right and format it right then, those kinds of videos will pop up in their search. And then you can lead them to your site or whatever it is. And of course, Facebook, everybody鈥檚 on Facebook. I rarely even talk about Facebook just because it鈥檚 so ubiquitous. Of course, you can, everybody knows.

Jesse: I鈥檝e noticed our videos on Facebook for 黑料门 they get to listen time or the watch time is super short relative to even Instagram or YouTube for sure compared to YouTube. Our idea of clients that is having success with videos specifically on Facebook.

Rob: Facebook, I would say, about a minute and a half for your video.

Jesse: So it鈥檚 sort of similar to YouTube then? Like it鈥檚 not necessarily a whole different. Instagram is like 15 seconds.

Rob: You could run a YouTube video on Facebook, and it would do pretty well. I would just make sure you caption it, and we caption even the YouTube videos too. Those two you could switch back and forth.

Jesse: With that same minute to minute?

Rob: A YouTube video do really well on Facebook. A Facebook video may not do really well on YouTube because a Facebook video you may not kind of put that engagement or that hook and the very first five or 10 seconds. Keep that in mind. And then one platform that a lot of people really don鈥檛 think about especially for e-commerce, there鈥檚 a lot of low hanging fruit it鈥檚 Pinterest. And you can do videos on Pinterest. And so especially DIY type of people that they have products like that or camping videos or survival stuff, anything like that. Doing stuff kind of products. Pinterest is awesome because people create these whole little categories and then every month or like every week Pinterest all email you say hey these are new pins. A lot of people do really well on Pinterest. I highly recommend using it.

Jesse: Yeah. We鈥檝e just had a couple of pods on Pinterest. Huge fan. They live on as well.

Rob: And it鈥檚 such low hanging fruit because a lot of people don鈥檛 really talk about it that much. They always talk about the Big Three, but it鈥檚 not really.

Richard: We鈥檙e super thankful. There have been some great tips if people are out there and they鈥檙e thinking: “This is great, I鈥檓 going to give this a shot.” But they might want to work with you or learn more about you. Where should someone go to check out more what Rob Burns and company is doing?

Rob: Just go to VideoTelepathy.com. You can actually set up a time to chat with us. We just answer questions. That鈥檚 our company culture is we just help people to death, and it鈥檚 up to you to decide whether you would apply the stuff. We never try to sell to you, but if you have questions and you need help, or you figured out what kind of strategy you want to do with your videos, then we鈥檙e glad to help.

Jesse: We can tell you you just like to help people and provide value. We want to make sure there鈥檚 got a chance to mention here your company. I know that鈥檚 not in your nature. So we鈥檙e going to try to help you sell yourself a little bit. Rich, any last questions or comments?

Richard: Not really. I just got hungry thinking of all these coffee all these product descriptions really. Gonna try to shoot a video for one of these restaurants around here real quick. (laughing)

Jesse: All right, Rob, thanks for being on the show. Really appreciate it.

Rob: Thank you guys for having me.

Jesse: Everybody else out there, go make it happen.