Video is by far the most important medium of communication to be focusing on. It is leaped ahead of all other content mediums. With the right objectives in mind, videos can be created with a limited budget yielding a high ROI piece of content. The problem is that many entrepreneurs and companies spend too much money on videos that are all about selling themselves and a product, and not about actually creating good content. Content needs to be simultaneously entertaining and educating.
So does it work? In our first year with Dollar Beard Club we did $10.5M in revenue in a niche market with a broken website, limited media buying, no affiliate traffic, and until recently, no email marketing. It’s “not bad” for a group of young entrepreneurs. We attribute all of our success to our ability to create low cost, and extremely high return on investment videos that get shared virally, and end up transform leads to customers, and then into community members.
There are only a handful of companies that have properly built a sticky community for their customers to be apart of. This is unfortunate, because many companies have amazing products and services with which they could build a loyal community around, especially if the issues that customers have are worth talking about.
The reality is that everybody wants to buy, but nobody wants to be sold. A great example of this is remembering the last time you were car shopping. You were probably interested in buying something, but the forceful sales tactics creating a hostile and pressuring environment are not comfortable to be in.
We have witnessed countless entrepreneurs put unbelievable amounts of money into media buying and traffic generation with a very high CPA – we have even been guilty of it ourselves in the past. We realize that media buying (including facebook, google, etc) always plays a critical role in the scaling of a business. However, the initial traction of the content and the ROI on the spend can be multiplied exponentially if companies focus on creating what we like to call Unconscious Content.
Unconscious Content is the name that we’ve given to the content that we create. We appeal to the Unconscious (or subconscious) mind of the customer. This makes the marketing sharable, which is the single most important aspect of any content that you create. Every single person that is currently reading this has at some point shared a commercial with someone that was funny or engaging. The first thing that 9/10 people say about our company is “I love your advertising” – and if you think about those words in a literal context, they’re complimenting a video that we made, not the products themselves. Then, when they decide to join Dollar Beard Club, they do so on their own time, and feel empowered that it was their decision to make a purchase, rather than having the sale forced upon them.
With Dollar Beard Club, we realized that we had to make content that triggered the ‘Share reflex’ first, and the ‘Buy reflex’ second. A viral snowball we keep rolling down the hill, and as it picks up momentum, it picks up tons of buyers. Many of them have now had multiple great experiences with multiple different aspects of our company, not just the marketing – that was simply the funnel in which they entered our front door. After they sign up, we learned the importance of continually delivering them entertaining videos that educate them on the use of the products, how to get the most out of their membership, and even cross sell them on other great products. We also keep sending out general purpose funny videos that don’t sell or educate, but strictly entertain. This way we are always making deposits in the ‘Relationship bank account’ with our members.
Networking events have emerged as a prominent way to meet other influential and intelligent individuals that have mastered their core competencies, and charge a fee to come and tap into their brain. After going to multiple events, we have noticed that so many companies are not using video at all, let alone the Unconscious Content approach. Because of this, we have put together a small group of the world’s most prominent media and content creators, partnering with social media influencers and celebrities, and are all working together to change the way marketing is done over the next decade. If you would like to connect with me, please head over to UnconsciousContent.com. You can begin to think about tapping into your Unconscious mind and forming some outside-the-box creative strategies for you and your company.
No matter what industry you’re in, there are ways to create humorous engaging videos. With our blueprint for creating low budget commercials, you can figure out how to shock people, make them contemplate life, makes them cry (a happy cry of course), or make them laugh – and that is the secret to building out a community. These are the types of commercials that get shared, and we all love to share. It’s time for you to get creative my friends!
