Video marketing. It’s the latest craze . From selling digital products to your own range of cuddly toys designed by your ten year old daughter . But if you’ve never done it, it can be a bit daunting first time around.

So here are a few tips for getting started:

• Buy a small HD camera. Sony are probably the best for this kind of thing, budget around £350-£500.00. Give you excellent resolution even in low light.

• Write a script. Yep, preparation is vital. Your script is like your rudder and will keep you going without running into banks of sudden memory loss. Learn your lines as best you can. Yes, be an actor. It’s not SO hard . Break the sentences down into manageable chunks. Learn the first paragraph, then the second, then go back and do paragraph 1 and 2 together. Then go to the third. And so on. This discipline will help you develop a sense of structure to your communication. Even if you deviate from your script when it comes to doing it to camera, the process of having written down what you want to communicate will help you produce a video in which you look like you know what you’re talking about .

• Be clear and concise. A lot of people in marketing seem to think they need a lot of words to get their message across . Don’t use two adjectives, use one. Don’t use two fancy terms in your sentence, use one. Don’t use jargon. Don’t give us two examples, when one is enough . You got the idea: Less is More. You look at any TV ad . How long is it? 30 seconds usually. So don’t ramble on. This is where writing a script will help. When you go over it, it should be apparent where you’re becoming repetitive. Don’t be afraid to edit the repetition.

• Use keywords in your script. By that I mean, words that are relevant to searches for your product or service and relevant to you and your blog . But be subtle. For instance, on some of my YourNetBiz videos, I’ll talk about ‘generous commissions’ or being ‘generous’ with marketing tips. Subliminally I’m hacking into your brain asking it to memorize the word generous so that when I give you my url as an Online entrepreneur you’ll go check it out . And you’ll associate the word generous with me and people I work with.

• Be yourself. Because ultimately that’s the person you want to be when you come to do business with whoever is attracted to your business opportunity . If you’re naturally outgoing and passionate, fine. If you’re not, don’t force it . The camera is quick to spot a fake . But try and find a little passion here and there.

• Don’t be afraid to pause. We’re so used to watching newsreaders run through things at pace – but remember, they have to. They also have an autocue. You have time. Don’t feel rushed. In fact the less rushed you look, the more confident you will come across, the less salesy you will appear. Pausing is good. It says, I’m in control here, I’m relaxed.

• Keep it short. Keep your running time to under 8 minutes. 6-7 is perfect. Once you hit ten, unless you’re brilliant , people will tend to click off and then you will have missed the opportunity to deliver your call to action – which is the business end of your video, after all.

• Make it ‘organic’. Obviously you will want to refer to your company or website or product – or all three – but do it ‘organically’, so you don’t come across as a sales person. You want to come across as someone who is simply offering help or advice . You’re not after the viewer’s money , you’re after his or her interaction with your passion, your vision, even.

• Upload your video. Once you’ve recorded and edited your video, you’ll want to upload it to your youtube account. When you’ve done that, pick up the code from ‘embed’ and put it on your personal blog . Ideally, the content of your video should tie up with an opt-in box on your website: that’s to say, in exchange, for their email you will send them something (of value) for free. Because, of course, you want subscribers, you need a list you can mail to.

• You may want to resize the video. A great site for doing that is Vtubetools.com. It’s so simple to use , even I could do it first time off – and I’m not particularly tech savvy. If you’re resizing from youtube, remember that you don’t want to copy all of the embedded code from youtube, just the portion of your youtube url that comes after the equals sign. It’s all there on the site anyway.

• And of course, don’t forget to include your name in your description of your video. Name and business and site. Seems obvious but it’s surprising how many people who don’t do it.

Once you’ve done your video and you’re kind of happy with it, do another one. Because the more you do , the easier it gets. Pop them all on youtube. Vary your tags and keywords and you’ll be maximising your SEO in google rankings.

OK, that’s it. Hope the above tips fire you up!

Roll camera, sound… and…action!

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