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What Can You Offer Your Target Market That Your Competition Can’t or Doesn’t?
What do you know that your competition doesn’t know or that you know better? What value can you offer your target market? Do you have something you can teach them? Remember, people like to do business with people they know and trust. Make sure your target KNOWS you and TRUSTS you so they can SEE your value to them. Utilize video marketing by offering your teachings online. Make your brand stand out!
Extend Your Virtual Handshake and Open Your Virtual Classroom
How can you teach online? There are many online platforms that allow you to share your desktop, share your images, deliver Powerpoint presentations, interact with your audience, and build your brand while sharing your knowledge and teaching your target market something they really need or want to know.
To See the MyVideoTalk Broadcaster (aka Teaching) Platform, click on the image below. At that link you will see four product demonstrations. When you click on an image, you will be taken to a screen where you can put your name in the “guest” field and watch the broadcast. MyVideoTalk’s platform also allows you to charge for your content, if you choose to, by the using passwords.
WOW! There is an over-abundance of really valuable, really helpful, very insightful information on the web today. I am sure you have noticed. Have you ever found yourself doing a Google Search for one thing and ending up going in all different directions because you keep finding more and more and more value? I know I sure have! Where do you start and where do you stop?
It is for this reason (and many more) that I love to use video to relay my messages. Video done right can capture the audience’s attention with clever images, engaging and appropriate music, and of course the right length. The rule of thumb is the shorter the better; however in some cases, a little longer works as I have discussed in previous posts.
Here is a tip for you non-graphic folk out there (like me), If you like images with transparent backgrounds, Presenter Media has a great selection. If you want to use another image from a different site (assuming of course that you have the permission to use the image) you can make the background transparent by opening the image in Paint.net. Under the “tools”, select the “magic wand” option and click on the background section of your image. Then under “edit”, select “cut”. Voila. You now have an image with a transparent background! By the way, a word of caution: do NOT use an image you do not have the rights to use. I know of several people who were sued for this reason. There are enough either free or very reasonably-priced sites for you to be able to find any image you want. I use Presenter Media and iClipart.com.
I came across another site of very valuable information and followed Chris Hamilton‘s video series “30 Best Ways to Promote Your Website or Blog“. His videos are rich in content and information we can all use. With his permission, of course, I created a summary video for his series that you can see below. To me, this video represents a nice summary and entices the viewer to visit his blog to see more information about each of his 30 suggestions on how to promote your blog or website. What so you think?
Now, if you have any content you would like to see in a video, please send it to me. I will create a short video that we can co-brand and co-promote. A win-win!
How many emails do you get every day? How many email accounts do you have? How many social networks do you belong to? How many invitations to join new social networks do you get per week? How many directories are you listed in? How many newsletters do you subscribe to? How many groups do you belong to on Linkedin and Facebook? How many new products/technologies do you try for free to see if you want to purchase the upgrade? How many different ways do you market your business? Are you getting dizzy yet?
The Internet has opened up amazing exposure opportunities for all businesses, however, there is a down-side. In order to keep up with the latest and greatest, we might find ourselves joining and jumping on the bandwagon to keep up with what “everyone else” is doing. In the case of our competition, if THEY are “there” (wherever “there” is) we need to be there too.
Products/services/novel ideas come and go in this new world of the World Wide Web. For example, QR codes came out in the US with a vengeance. I was just getting used to the idea of using these cute little images, and was surprised to read Death to the QR Code and even more surprised at the reference in this article to Google’s dropping them. Of course, just because Business Insider wrote this article doesn’t mean everyone is going to stop using them.
One trend that has been growing and isn’t going away is video. Video is changing the way the world communicates and the way businesses brand themselves. Using video to promote your website, services, or products has become an integral component of online advertising. With the explosive popularity of sites such as YouTube (now considered the number two search engine online), Vimeo, and others – it’s time to embrace video and make it work on behalf of your company and your website.
Helpful Tips When Using Video
Be creative – be compelling. Give your audience a reason to WANT to watch your video and to share it with others. Be funny, different, unique, or even a little off-color – create that “spark” or “hook”, evoke some type of emotion, and grab their attention.
Showcase your brand! Include your brand’s colors and logo(s) to increase brand awareness.
Use video to SHOW your audience what OTHERS say about you and your brand. They carry much more weight than what you have to say. These video testimonials don’t have to be perfect – the more real and genuine they are – the more believable they will be.
Use video to show how your product/service works. Many people are visual learners and would prefer to SEE what your brand is than read about it.
Create a FAQ video about your product or service. If you have been in business for a while, then you already know what questions have come up about your brand from your current customers. Be proactive and answer these questions for potential customers BEFORE they ask. If you have a customer service department, creating FAQ videos can even cut down on the number of calls coming into your customer service department because you have already answered those questions in video.
There are only a few sure things in life – death and taxes are two of them. The other thing is change. Everything changes: The economy, markets, business needs, technology … Is your business keeping up with these changes?
If not, you will be left behind. Reinventing your business and making your business model dynamic rather than stagnant is the only way you will be able to remain competitive and be successful.
Keeping up with Technology these days is no easy task. For those of us non-techie types, it is sometimes very difficult to ride the waves of new technologies that are popping up every day. The World is going Mobile and I have a feeling that it won’t be long before we will all be able to do almost everything from the comfort of our cell phones. What about Facebook? Facebook is Taking over the World. I don’t know about you, but this concerns me. There is not a day that goes by when I don’t hear about someone’s Facebook account being hacked (mine included), suspicious links are posted on our walls, and spamming runs rampant. BUT because our competitors are on Facebook, after all, everyone is, we need to be there too. As Facebook continues to offer more and more functionality, the lines between OUR brands and the Facebook brand will start to merge together.
Think about the Ma and Pa businesses that have been around for 20+ years reaping the rewards of word-of-mouth advertising alone (which is still THE best form of advertising even in today’s world of the Internet) but because the business world of today dictates that for a company to be seen as legit it needs to have a web presence, many of these smaller local businesses are feeling compelled to create a website. Keeping up with technology and business trends…
Now to my favorite subject – video. There is no question that video is changing the way the world communicates and the way businesses relay their messages. Even the search engines love video. Are You Using the Power of Video to Promote Your Brand? If not, you really should consider using it in some form as part of your marketing strategy. Below is a video about using video. Which stands out more – the written word or the video?
How can you teach online? There are many online platforms that allow you to share your desktop, share your images, deliver Powerpoint presentations, interact with your audience, and build your brand while sharing your knowledge and teaching your target market something they really need or want to know.
If you missed the video, you can see it here in 
