Shopping Product Reviews

10 secrets of highly lucrative video marketing

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I started compiling a bunch of statistics to show you how popular video marketing is getting.

And then it hit me: The last thing you need is more statistics on how video is taking over the internet.

The fact is, if you’re not already using video, you’re losing customers, customers, and revenue.

Consumers love videos. They watch the video. They ENJOY the video.

They even enjoy video when the video sells something, as long as the video still entertains and informs.

So how can you use more video in your business?

And how can you make those videos work as well as possible to get your viewers to take action?

Here are ten tips to get you started in the right direction:

1: Make your video about the story, not the sale.

Anyone can make a sales video and put it on YouTube. “Buy my product!” But will you get views? Not likely.

Instead, tell stories and deliver value. Let’s say you’re selling a course on marketing for chiropractic offices.

It’s tempting to tell the viewer why your course is great, why it’s exactly what they need, and how it’s only available for a limited time.

But what if you make a series of short videos, each providing a powerful marketing tip just for chiropractors?

I guarantee those videos will be seen and shared among the chiropractic community.

You will establish massive credibility. And of course, you can politely refer them to your website at the end of each video.

These videos will not sell your course for you.

But what they will do is make it much easier to get the sale.

Think of it as making the customer fall in love…

First, you take them on a date or two or three…

AND THEN you close the sale.

Your success rate will be much higher than if you try to close the sale while the two of you are still strangers.

2: Make the first 10 seconds the BEST 10 seconds ever

One statistic says that 20% of viewers will click away from a video within the first 10 seconds.

Now you must ask yourself: why would they do that?

They came to see something, but leave almost immediately.

There could be a few reasons:

Your video doesn’t seem to be what they expected. If they come from a link that says “iPad for free!” and your video is about growing organic vegetables, you’re going to miss them. Continuity is key here.

· You have a long, boring “Look at me!” intro You’ve seen those intros where it’s 30 seconds of how great the company is, the creator of the video, the brand, or whatever. The problem is that nobody cares except the person who made the video. Lose the long intro.

You entertain yourself. Taking the first minute of the video to finish setting up your recording equipment is a big mistake.

· You don’t start with a bang. You want to get right to the heart of the matter by quickly laying out what’s going on and then making it happen.

Think of movies from the ’50s, ’60s, and even ’70s: they all had long, boring intros filled with lots of credits and no action.

Now think about today’s movies: from the first moment there is action; something that captures your attention and makes you want to pay attention to know what is happening, why it is happening and what is going to happen next.

When it comes to writing fiction, teachers often tell their students to cut out the first page or two, because they are usually full of long, boring introductions to set up the opening scene. But when you cut that out and start with the action, BOOM: the reader is wowed.

The videos are the same way. Start with the good stuff and let it get better from there.

3: Don’t be so serious.

Your video may be to inform and instruct, but that doesn’t mean you have to sound like a boring, stuffy college professor.

Find ways to inject fun and humor into your presentations. This does not mean injecting knock knock jokes that have nothing to do with the topic at hand. Instead, find humor in what you are teaching or talking about. It’s always there, you just have to look for it.

Now I know that when you get in front of a camera, if you’re like most people, you get nervous. And when you get nervous, you may not be able to find the humor in anything, except perhaps your own nervousness.

I can tell you three things: if you practice beforehand in front of a friend, you’ll be surprised at what fun things come to mind. Go ahead and test your humor on your friend and listen to their feedback. They will tell you which parts and which to skip.

Second, when you’re shooting, continue to think of the camera as your friend. You’re just having a friendly conversation, regardless of whether you’re on camera or using slides.

Third, have fun. If you’re having fun, chances are the viewer is having fun too.

4: It’s good to be human

No one really likes someone who is perfect, or even someone who seems perfect. That’s why it’s okay to make mistakes on camera.

If you’re nervous or if you do something wrong, own up to it and move on. For example, you drop something you were showing to the viewer. Laugh it, pick it up, make a joke about your nerves or your butter fingers or whatever, and move on.

It’s funny when we admit to the audience that we are human and that we can laugh at our own weakness: the audience starts to like us more and support us too.

I even know people who purposely make a mistake or do something clumsy, just to get the audience on their side.

It is a truly effective technique when done right.

5: Tell embarrassing stories about yourself

As an extension of the last point, use yourself as an example of what not to do. Let’s say you’re teaching dating advice. You want to tell viewers what not to do. Instead of saying, “You should never, ever do this or that just because it annoys the other person,” say this:

“I was on a date once and I made the dumbest possible mistake. What happened was…”

And then you go on to tell a story about yourself doing something stupid or wrong or whatever.

Note that now instead of reading to the viewer, you are sharing a valuable story about how you made a mistake.

This does a couple of things…

It teaches the viewer in a way that they will remember, because people remember the stories much better than the lessons.

And it’s yet another chance to show how human you are and make the audience love you even more.

But what if you’ve never made that mistake yourself?

It’s up to you, but I don’t see any harm in telling the story from your point of view anyway. Again, it’s a highly effective teaching method, and everyone loves someone who can laugh at themselves.

Just look at the comedians: they continually tell the audience about the things they’ve done that weren’t too brilliant. And the public loves them for it.

6: Optimize your videos for search

Here are some tips for doing just that:

If you can, host your video on your own domain first, before uploading it to sharing sites. This has the potential to get people to link to your own domain, which will also help your overall SEO efforts.

Enable embedding for your video to increase the likelihood of receiving inbound links.

Add your videos to your sitemap to give Google information about your video. This gives Google useful metadata that can improve Google’s ability to include your video in search results. Here is a useful page to tell you how https://developers.google.com/webmasters/videosearch/sitemaps.

Use tags for relevant keywords. Write full descriptions and add a unique title.

And remember this: if you have a chart, Google needs you to fill it in to help you rank.

7: Educate your audience

Some of the best videos you’ve ever made that your prospects and customers will love, or videos that teach your viewers something useful.

Whether it’s getting the result they want, showing them how to best use your product, or providing helpful tips, people enjoy short “how to” videos that teach them what they want to know, when they want to know it.

Which, of course, means that you need them to find you when they’re looking. To do that, go back to no. #6 and make sure your video shows up in the right SEO searches.

8: Let your customers speak for you

Social proof is best done by your customers on your behalf. For example, you can ask customers to film themselves talking about how they use and love your product.

Case studies are a great way to showcase your product while teaching your audience how to achieve the result they want.

Your customer can talk about their buying decision, what might have stopped them from buying, and why they went ahead and got the product.

They can then talk about the results of using the product, the specific features they like, and the biggest benefits of using the product.

A good customer testimonial or case study can be worth an entire sales letter when it comes to converting new prospects into customers.

9: Add a call to action

Regardless of the type of video you’re making, don’t forget to add a call to action at the end. It could be visiting your website, going to a landing page for a free report, checking out a sales page, or whatever.

Just remember that your videos should be 90-95% great content and only 5-10% sales.

10: Add a Video to Your Landing Pages to Increase Conversions

Naturally, you’ll want to try this, but you’ll most likely see a nice boost in your conversions on your landing page if you add a short video.

The video should quickly introduce you and let them know what they get when they subscribe. Make it viewer friendly and fun, and try to inject a bit of humor.

Above all, give a very clear and immediate benefit by signing up for your list and getting your free offer.

I know a salesperson who has never sold anything on his videos. All he does is provide helpful advice, tell silly stories about his industry, and act as a helpful friend to his viewers.

And their sales are through the roof. Why? Because people love him and trust him.

The video is not difficult. What is hard is sometimes relaxing enough to just be ourselves and lend a helping hand or advice to the viewer.

Sports

Restaurant Management Tips for a Smoothly Running Restaurant

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Driving sales by Service Magic:

Implementing Sales Techniques in Your Restaurant

Do you think sales happen by magic? In a sense, you’re right, because you create magic by giving your customer a positive impression of your restaurant’s food and service.

Management and employees need to drive sales. Your service people are your top salespeople. Kitchen Employees must be motivated to provide quality food to their guests. Management needs to keep both areas on track and make sure the atmosphere for every customer is a positive experience. There are two key elements that we see as the magic that can keep staff on track and positively motivated: the “WOW Service Steps” and the “Pre-Shift Alleyway Meeting”.

First, each server needs to realize that they are sales people and will create more tips and happy guests by selling the menu. This means that each server must know the menu inside and out. This happens through proper server training and motivation of your managers.

How many times have you visited a restaurant and the server was completely ignorant of menu knowledge? Does that create the magic you want in the service? How about the server who was quick to respond to your questions about the menu? That is the magic of WOW service that you must create in your service staff.

WOW service steps

There are many aspects to training your waiters and waitresses. These are basically summarized in the easy to remember format of the WOW Serving Steps. Do your servers know and use WOW service steps? If so, you are ahead of the game. Here is a summary of those commonly used steps:

  1. Greeting – Seat: Make sure all guests are greeted as soon as they enter the restaurant. You can even add more flair by opening the door and welcoming them as guests. Seat your guests as quickly as possible. Customers hate standing in the doorway when there are plenty of open tables in sight.

  2. Say-Sell: Inform guests about the menu to sell the menu. This is a key factor for all service personnel. Waiters and waitresses must be informed immediately of any changes to the menu and if there are any special promotions. They must know the menu completely. They should be able to answer any questions from guests. They should also know what they personally like on the menu and what are the popular items on the menu. They should sell the menu. Plant the thought in the guest’s mind by suggesting a menu item. If the guest says they don’t like that item, she should ask if they like a certain type of food: spicy or mild, fried or grilled, etc. Your questions stimulate the thoughts in the guest’s mind and create the feeling that the server sincerely wants to please that guest, which should always be the case.

  3. Ring-Bring: Ring in the food immediately. Each server needs to be trained on how to place orders or place orders in the kitchen. If you have a point-of-sale (POS) system, everyone should be trained so they know how to check in the order. If you use paper checks, make sure you have developed a system, so that the flow from guest to kitchen, back to guest, and then to the register is seamless. The clearer the check and information is to the kitchen, the better the kitchen will be able to prepare the food as requested. Children’s food should be prepared and served first, whenever possible. Waiters and waitresses must give special instructions to kitchen staff. Then, as soon as the food is ready, it should be brought to the table: hot food hot, cold food cold. If it settles, the temperature will not be what it should be and this can lead to customer complaints. Who wants a cold steak? Serve it quick. Teamwork is ideal: each person should bring food to the table. If that server is busy and can’t deliver it quickly, someone else should deliver it, then that server checks back asap to make sure the guest has received everything.

  4. Check again – Recharge: After two bites or less than two minutes, the server should check again to make sure the guest is satisfied with the food. Even if the guest says it’s okay, the server should read their body language and expressions and ask questions if in doubt about the guest’s level of satisfaction. Refill drinks when the glass is half full. Don’t wait until you see an empty glass or the guest to ask for a refill. The server must be proactive and reload before being prompted. They should also check during the meal and remove empty plates or glasses.

  5. Say – Sell Desserts: Before the guests finish eating the main dish, the server should suggest a dessert. Plant the idea in the guest’s mind by saying, “Save room for one of our delicious desserts.” Servers should not simply ask if the guest wants dessert. The server should say something like, “We have these delicious moist chocolate cakes baked at a local bakery. It’s my favorite dessert. Wouldn’t you love to try it?” If the guest says no, he can also ask about the guest’s favorite dessert. If the guest says that he is too full for dessert, the server can suggest a to-go box to have dessert later. If desserts are ordered, they must be brought immediately. If a dessert order is not placed, the server must ensure that the guest’s check is ready.

  6. Check-back – Check-down: Within two bites or within two minutes, the server must recheck on the dessert with the check already counted. If the guests are happy with the dessert or did not order dessert, then the waiter can leave the bill. If you have server verification pads, place them upright. This serves two purposes: it’s easy for the guest to see the check, and it’s also easy for the server to tell if the guest has the payment ready when the checkbook is no longer upright. Make sure the server has provided to-go boxes, if requested, or suggest them if there’s a lot of food left over. The server should bring those to-go boxes immediately.

  7. Receive-Reboot: The server should receive the payment again. If it’s a credit card, they should process it right away and return it to the guest for signature. The server should also invite the diner back to the restaurant and thank them for visiting. Then, once the guests have left the table, the server must reset the table within two minutes so that the next guests can be seated.

Your staff can easily learn these steps. Different restaurants may vary in their style of service, but these steps can be used or adapted for any restaurant. Consistent implementation of these steps will create the right impression on your guests and they will want to return.

Meeting in the alley before the shift

Management is ultimately responsible for driving sales at your restaurant. They must properly motivate their staff and communicate effectively.

Fifteen minutes before any peak period, management must hold a meeting in the alley to keep employees informed. Always make sure the alley rally is upbeat and positive, as negative feedback will only bring the team down and ultimately affect guest service.

  • focus of the day
  • The feature or special of the day.
  • Suggestively sell a specific item
  • Recognize any employee who went above and beyond the call of duty
  • uniform compliance
  • Waiter and/or cook contest
  • Guest reservations in large scheduled groups

Management needs to project a great and fun environment for the shift.

Reward employees with:

  • free meals
  • Movie tickets
  • lottery tickets
  • gift card

Believe it or not, your guests will be listening and watching the management and staff. Good interaction between management and staff leaves a positive perception of your restaurant.

Happy employees who love their job and really want to come to work and will be more competent and project a positive aura in the eyes of the guest. Happy employees make a positive impression on your guests.

No matter what, the guests are always right, even if they are wrong. Make sure all the guests leave satisfied. Its atmosphere, the food served and the service staff will leave an impression on the guest. Each customer’s positive impression of your restaurant is ultimately the magic of repeat business to drive sales – happy customers lead to higher sales!

Tours Travel

Cafe Constellation: A Cafe Stuck In Glorious Time Wrap

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The British may be gone, but a part of their charm still lingers in small cantonments across India. Kasauli is one of those towns that clings to its colonial past and this is visible in all the nooks and crannies of the old garrison.

Perched on what might as well be Kasauli’s main road, the Alasia Hotel has seen the changes around it for over a century. The hotel’s Constellation Café on the ground floor is one of the best examples of a place that’s contemporary and yet caught in a glorious wrapper of time.

What sets Café Constellation apart?

Offering a mix of Indian, Chinese and Continental food, Constellation Café could best be described as one of those things that benefited from the old colonial rulers. The quaint decor, hand-drawn sketches of the township along the wall, friendly waiters, and soothing green hue on the walls along with traditional favorites like Shepherds Pie (less than Rs. 360), Mutton Rissole (less than Rs. 235) and chicken stew (less than Rs. 235), Constellation Café’s continental fare will take you back in time for a while.

Worth trying at Cafe Constellation

Although one might be tempted to indulge in Continental, Café Constellation’s Indian dishes are worth every bite. With generous amounts of methi (fenugreek) in a thick masala sauce, Constellation’s Chicken Curry (less than Rs 435 full and less than Rs 235 half) is unlike the image that usually comes to mind. The smooth tawa roti is the perfect accompaniment that makes food taste even better. Unlike the overly fried yellow dals one gets at most places, Cafe Constellation’s Dal Maharani (less than Rs. 110), is one of the simplest yet delicious preparations you’ll ever taste.

Many still think of Kasauli as a sleepy hill town, but it’s far from that. A place full of energy, especially on weekends, the chances of getting stuck in a traffic jam at this altitude is a possibility you need to be prepared for. The Alsia sit-in is one of the best ways to enjoy Kasauli’s serene surroundings. A narrow cobbled path crisscrossing patches of really green grass with the Kasauli TV tower looking on solemnly, the sit-in is the perfect place to soak up the sun and watch life go by. The problem is that for some strange reason no food is served outside and the fumes from passing vehicles will break the spell. But despite that small detail, the Hotel Alasia’s Café Constellation is an ideal place to escape to the past for a while.

Constellation Café Rating: 3 ½ of 5

Constellation Cafe, Hotel Alasia. The Mall, Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh.

Reservations can also be made at the Delhi office of the Alasia Hotel.

705, Chiranjiv Tower, Nehru Place, New Delhi – 110019

Technology

What about the latest mobile apps?

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With mobile app trends dominating the market, more and more people are using their smartphones to access the Internet, thus eradicating the use of personal computers. According to a recent study, using a smartphone to make phone calls is the fifth most popular use of the device. So, if you are among those who still think that mobile phones are for making and receiving calls, then you should definitely think twice.

These days, people spend more time using their Android phones to surf the internet, check email, social media, play games, music and download mobile apps. With smartphones gaining popularity, many devices and brands have started to penetrate the market. According to a recent analysis, more than 1.8 million mobile apps have been downloaded more than 70 billion times and the number is continuously increasing. Some of the best-selling mobile applications in 2013 are:

Whats App Messenger: This is a simple, spontaneous and fantastic alternative to sending text messages, which are paid. It allows people to send messages, share photos, audio files, and videos. But the best thing is that it is completely free. According to a recent report, India is the third largest smartphone market after China and the US which has downloaded the most number of messaging apps. Thus, the Japanese messaging app provider is aiming to double its user base in India to 20 million by the end of the year.

Imo Messenger – This free app is compatible with everything from Facebook to Skype, and people can link to multiple accounts. Voice calls, multimedia files or even group messaging sessions, users have endless flexibility to use this cross-platform solution.

Tapatalk Forum App – If you want to browse and post to forums without any hassle, then this is the app for you. You can stay up to date with all the threads in Tapatalk’s simple interface for just paying a few dollars.

Dolphin Browser – This is a competitor to Chrome that offers Sound, plugin support, and gestures. With these on your mobile, you can search, navigate with voice commands, bookmark, and even share. It offers more than 55 plugins to choose from and it is absolutely free.

Best App Market – If you are too confused about choosing the best apps in the market, then this is the right tool for you. This is free and allows you to organize your downloads with the help of carefully selected lists and tools.

This is not. There are many other mobile apps like GasBuddy, Widegtsoid, iTriage Mobile Health, Chrome Beta, Pulse News, and Swift Key 3 keyboard, which are all available for free and absolutely awesome.