1 00:00:00,300 --> 00:00:03,600 Robert Plank: Marketer of the day. Episode 704, video, 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:07,980 persuasion, storytelling, brand building, demonstration videos 3 00:00:08,100 --> 00:00:11,280 and psychological principles with Rick Cesari. 4 00:00:16,500 --> 00:00:19,020 Hey everyone, and welcome back to the marketer of the day 5 00:00:19,020 --> 00:00:23,000 podcast. We are joined today by Rick Cesari, who has been a 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,780 pioneer in the direct to consumer marketing industry 7 00:00:26,780 --> 00:00:29,300 since the early 90s. And if you've heard of some of these 8 00:00:29,300 --> 00:00:33,140 iconic brands, like the juice man, Sonicare, the George 9 00:00:33,140 --> 00:00:36,140 Foreman, grill, OxiClean, Clarisonic, Rug Doctor, 10 00:00:36,140 --> 00:00:40,240 momentous golf GoPro. Camera, we could keep going, but he has 11 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,000 been involved with all of them, and he his strategies have 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,600 helped grow four companies from startups to over a billion 13 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,900 dollars in sales. And he has a book called Building billion 14 00:00:49,900 --> 00:00:53,500 dollar brands. And his newest book is called Video persuasion. 15 00:00:53,620 --> 00:00:56,620 And we're going to talk about using video in your online 16 00:00:56,620 --> 00:00:59,260 marketing, about sales, conversions, persuasion, 17 00:00:59,260 --> 00:01:01,800 storytelling, influence, whatever we can fit in. So Rick, 18 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:03,060 glad to be talking to you today. 19 00:01:03,180 --> 00:01:04,980 Rick Cesari: Hey, great. Thanks for having me on your show. I'm 20 00:01:04,980 --> 00:01:06,000 looking forward to it. 21 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:10,140 Robert Plank: I am too. So yeah. So I've never heard of you, but 22 00:01:10,140 --> 00:01:12,420 I've heard about all these brands that I'm super duper 23 00:01:12,420 --> 00:01:15,000 impressed, and I'm sure that listeners are too. So can you 24 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,880 tell us about yourself and what makes you unique and stand out 25 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:18,660 and special? 26 00:01:18,780 --> 00:01:21,620 Rick Cesari: Yeah. So I'll just give you a quick overview of my 27 00:01:21,620 --> 00:01:25,580 background. I actually, you know, have spent my last 25 28 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,820 years in marketing, but I actually have a degree in 29 00:01:28,820 --> 00:01:32,300 biology, and I my deep plan was that I was going to go to dental 30 00:01:32,300 --> 00:01:35,060 school, but I got tired of going to school, so I moved back down 31 00:01:35,060 --> 00:01:39,800 to Florida, and I was a took a year off, and kind of was a BART 32 00:01:40,100 --> 00:01:42,940 bomb for a year, kind of a bartender and a lifeguard. Not 33 00:01:42,940 --> 00:01:46,000 that those things are bad professions. But I just wanted 34 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,000 to spend a little bit of time away from school. But anyway, I 35 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,120 got it interesting and how I could make money. And I started 36 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,660 reading a lot of books. And the people, you know, the books I 37 00:01:55,660 --> 00:01:58,540 was reading, said that people could make money by buying real 38 00:01:58,540 --> 00:02:00,960 estate, investing in real estate. It was the same back 39 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,680 then as it is today. So I started doing that, and I 40 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,940 actually started help promoting real estate seminars. And that's 41 00:02:08,940 --> 00:02:11,880 how I kind of first learned marketing, trying to get people 42 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,600 to show up to these free real estate seminars. And those were 43 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,420 some of the early guys. This is happening way back. I'm going to 44 00:02:18,420 --> 00:02:21,920 date myself now, way back in the 80s, before there was even an 45 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:25,640 internet. But I learned a lot about sales and marketing doing 46 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:29,060 that, and they were some of the first people that started using 47 00:02:29,060 --> 00:02:32,600 television direct response, or infomercials. And I made some 48 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,540 shows to promote the seminars, and then just took what I 49 00:02:35,540 --> 00:02:39,920 learned and used it to start marketing direct to consumer 50 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:42,880 products. And that one product you mentioned, the juice man, 51 00:02:43,060 --> 00:02:46,840 that was a company my brother and I started in 1990 and we 52 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:49,300 were at the right time with the right product, and we're doing 53 00:02:49,300 --> 00:02:52,840 the right type of marketing. And that grew to 75 million in sales 54 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,540 in a little under four years. And we sold it to a company in 55 00:02:55,540 --> 00:02:59,140 Chicago called Sultan housewares. And Sultan was the 56 00:02:59,140 --> 00:03:01,860 company that came up with the George Foreman grill, so they 57 00:03:01,860 --> 00:03:05,220 wanted us to do our marketing for that. And so I did that. And 58 00:03:05,220 --> 00:03:08,940 then Sonicare and OxiClean and Rug Doctor and a lot of the 59 00:03:08,940 --> 00:03:11,700 other ones you mentioned. And you know, have been using video 60 00:03:11,700 --> 00:03:16,560 to actually sell products to people for more than 30 years. 61 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:18,780 And so my book that you mentioned earlier, video 62 00:03:18,780 --> 00:03:21,680 persuasion, that's kind of taken everything I've learned in the 63 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,160 last 30 years about using video and persuading people to 64 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:27,380 purchase and I've put that in that book. 65 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,160 Robert Plank: Super impressive, super awesome. And so, I mean, 66 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:36,140 what, what is there to to know about video persuasion? Because 67 00:03:36,140 --> 00:03:39,200 it seems like, like these, these brands you mentioned, I mean, 68 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,580 like George former grill and Rug Doctor. I mean, these are, like, 69 00:03:42,940 --> 00:03:46,840 household names, right? And it's like, sometimes I see some of 70 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,000 the these things that people created, I'm like, how did they 71 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,640 come up with such a catchy name? Or, how did, how did they get 72 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:55,480 them to be, like, so popular in this really, like, competitive, 73 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,660 kind of cutthroat space. I mean, what? What's the secret? What's 74 00:03:58,660 --> 00:04:01,680 even the starting point to start to wrap our heads around this 75 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:03,540 whole video persuasion concept? 76 00:04:03,539 --> 00:04:05,399 Rick Cesari: Yeah, well, that's a great question. And I want 77 00:04:05,399 --> 00:04:09,839 your listeners to know that these weren't big companies that 78 00:04:09,839 --> 00:04:14,039 had big ad budgets that hired me to do their marketing for them. 79 00:04:14,579 --> 00:04:17,879 These mostly were startups, our companies doing very low in 80 00:04:17,879 --> 00:04:20,899 sales, and then I would come in and help them do their, you 81 00:04:20,899 --> 00:04:24,739 know, marketing direct to consumer, and so, you know, the 82 00:04:24,739 --> 00:04:28,159 names are recognizable now, mainly because all of these 83 00:04:28,159 --> 00:04:30,979 companies were able to spend millions and millions of dollars 84 00:04:30,979 --> 00:04:35,539 in advertising, but they didn't have the budget to do that. And 85 00:04:35,539 --> 00:04:39,379 part of the secret is really using understanding direct 86 00:04:39,379 --> 00:04:42,339 response principles and direct response marketing, and what 87 00:04:42,339 --> 00:04:45,219 that means is that you're not just making a video, but that 88 00:04:45,219 --> 00:04:48,099 the videos you're making, whether you're deploying them 89 00:04:48,099 --> 00:04:52,359 online, you know, through social platforms or TV, if you're still 90 00:04:52,359 --> 00:04:56,499 doing that, that there's a specific call to action that's 91 00:04:56,499 --> 00:05:00,839 going to generate a response that you're looking. Or that's 92 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:03,839 going to help generate revenue, or generate new leads or 93 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:08,579 generate new customers, and how to structure the video with the 94 00:05:08,579 --> 00:05:11,999 proper call, you know, direct call to action, so that when 95 00:05:11,999 --> 00:05:15,299 you're using these videos for marketing, they're generating 96 00:05:15,299 --> 00:05:19,199 revenue for you, and then that you can use that revenue to help 97 00:05:19,199 --> 00:05:20,159 build the business. 98 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,180 Robert Plank: Great. So yeah, it's like, if you're not 99 00:05:23,180 --> 00:05:26,540 selling, then, then you can't grow from there, and you're so 100 00:05:26,540 --> 00:05:29,360 right in there, and that there's a structure, right? And that 101 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:33,380 it's really easy to get lost in the technicalities of things and 102 00:05:33,380 --> 00:05:36,500 say, I'm just, I'll just shoot a video, but you're saying we need 103 00:05:36,500 --> 00:05:39,380 to have a call to action. We need to make it really clear 104 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,680 what we're solving what we want people to do. 105 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,740 Rick Cesari: I'll give you a great example, because the same 106 00:05:45,580 --> 00:05:47,740 I have a YouTube video, I have a YouTube channel, which is 107 00:05:47,740 --> 00:05:51,280 rickesseri.tv and I have a video there. It says, how, how you can 108 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:56,620 make a really good are engaging demonstration video. So the same 109 00:05:56,620 --> 00:06:01,020 concepts that were effective on TV are also effective for E 110 00:06:01,020 --> 00:06:04,860 commerce, for videos on Amazon. And so there's kind of like five 111 00:06:04,860 --> 00:06:09,120 steps to making a good demonstration video. First, you 112 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,180 need to introduce your product, then you need to demonstrate the 113 00:06:12,180 --> 00:06:15,120 product. Then here's something where a lot of people fall down, 114 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:19,020 especially Amazon sellers. You need to focus on the benefits 115 00:06:19,020 --> 00:06:21,920 and not the features. You can mention the features, but 116 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,940 there's an old saying, features tell benefits sell, and so you 117 00:06:25,940 --> 00:06:29,240 really should focus on the benefits to the end user, then, 118 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:33,500 if possible, include some authentic testimonials, and then 119 00:06:33,500 --> 00:06:36,860 always have a call to action. And you'd be surprised two 120 00:06:36,860 --> 00:06:40,720 things I see going into a lot of companies that I consult with 121 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,860 one. They don't never reach out to their database and talk to 122 00:06:44,860 --> 00:06:47,980 their customers and get authentic testimonials, which I 123 00:06:47,980 --> 00:06:51,220 think are some of the most powerful marketing tools. And 124 00:06:51,220 --> 00:06:54,460 then a lot of them will make videos, but then they'll get 125 00:06:54,460 --> 00:06:56,860 someone excited about their product or service, and then 126 00:06:56,860 --> 00:06:59,560 they don't tell them to take the next step, which is, you know, 127 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,880 go to the buy box or or go visit our website to get more 128 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:06,660 information or get this free download and little simple 129 00:07:06,660 --> 00:07:09,180 things like that, that. But a lot of companies aren't, aren't 130 00:07:09,420 --> 00:07:11,100 taking the right steps to do it, 131 00:07:11,940 --> 00:07:15,360 Robert Plank: and it's so simple to correct those mistakes right 132 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:18,300 like the steps that you mentioned. So introduce the 133 00:07:18,300 --> 00:07:22,520 product, demonstrate it. Focus on benefits, not features, add 134 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:26,180 testimonials, and have that call to action. When I first, you 135 00:07:26,180 --> 00:07:28,700 know, came across these sorts of formulas, like, I mean, it's 136 00:07:28,700 --> 00:07:33,440 basically a idea, right? Yeah, desire action. And before, yeah, 137 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,520 and before I knew that there was, like, a proven, universal 138 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:42,100 formula, basically, then a lot of before that sometimes an ad 139 00:07:42,100 --> 00:07:45,700 or a video just wouldn't quite sit right. And then once you 140 00:07:45,700 --> 00:07:49,180 know that there are these like, exact steps to bring someone 141 00:07:49,180 --> 00:07:51,280 through, then you can kind of tell, like, if a piece is 142 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,100 missing, or if a piece could be better, or things are kind of 143 00:07:54,100 --> 00:07:57,400 out of order. And then now you're confused, like it, it 144 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,660 makes a lot more sense knowing that there's the structure. And 145 00:08:00,660 --> 00:08:03,900 like you said, if there's an Amazon seller out there who has 146 00:08:04,020 --> 00:08:07,080 these products for sale and the video is not quite right, just 147 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:09,300 run it through these steps and correct this stuff. 148 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:11,220 Rick Cesari: Yeah, absolutely. It's great stuff. And you know, 149 00:08:11,220 --> 00:08:14,460 the other thing, I kind of take it a little a step further, and 150 00:08:14,460 --> 00:08:17,820 there's a great book out there for your listeners, and you've 151 00:08:17,820 --> 00:08:21,800 probably heard of it. It's called influence, the Psychology 152 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:26,240 of Persuasion. And Robert Cialdini has six persuasion 153 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:30,620 principles, and I show how you can use those in your videos. 154 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:34,280 And this is really proven, like psychological reasons why people 155 00:08:34,340 --> 00:08:38,240 react to certain things. And so if you can include one or more 156 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:42,880 of those principles in your videos, you're more apt to get 157 00:08:42,940 --> 00:08:46,660 to have engaging videos, but also get people to respond in a 158 00:08:46,660 --> 00:08:50,020 manner that you want. And you know, example, we talked about 159 00:08:50,020 --> 00:08:53,860 testimonials, and people have heard about social proof, and 160 00:08:53,860 --> 00:08:57,040 that's really a psychological concept that when people are in 161 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:00,040 a situation and they don't know how to act, they'll look to see 162 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:03,840 what other people are doing. So look at Amazon reviews. If you 163 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,360 go on Amazon and you're looking at two different products, and 164 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:09,300 one has two reviews and the other one has 100 most people 165 00:09:09,300 --> 00:09:12,300 are going to buy the one with 100 reviews. So that goes for E 166 00:09:12,300 --> 00:09:16,860 commerce. If you can get more authentic video testimonials on 167 00:09:16,860 --> 00:09:20,480 your site, you're going to appeal to more people, and it's 168 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:24,980 going to break down the barriers to purchase and help create 169 00:09:24,980 --> 00:09:26,300 higher conversions. 170 00:09:27,380 --> 00:09:30,200 Robert Plank: Well, fantastic. Well, you mentioned a little bit 171 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:34,280 earlier about Amazon sellers, right? That you've like, this is 172 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:38,120 a whole new space of that. It's not just, not just, it's not the 173 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:41,920 90s or the 80s anymore, where you had to get this television 174 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:44,560 spot and had to run these ads. Some people can just have a 175 00:09:44,560 --> 00:09:47,740 YouTube channel, like, how you have your yours, or they can 176 00:09:47,740 --> 00:09:51,820 post on an Amazon page, and then you always hear how our 177 00:09:51,820 --> 00:09:55,180 attention span is so limited. So how does that translate into 178 00:09:55,300 --> 00:09:58,300 what you do now? Like, I imagine that would mean like, like, 179 00:09:58,300 --> 00:10:01,680 quicker cuts and shorter video. Was, but then also there's that 180 00:10:01,680 --> 00:10:04,620 issue sometimes, of like, I know if I want to buy something, 181 00:10:04,620 --> 00:10:07,620 sometimes I'm looking for, like, a specific feature. So how do 182 00:10:07,620 --> 00:10:10,800 you like balance those things, of having these short videos, 183 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:14,040 but then also packing in specific things? Like, if our 184 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:15,660 attention spans super short these days? 185 00:10:15,660 --> 00:10:18,300 Rick Cesari: Yeah, and that's a great point. You know, people 186 00:10:18,300 --> 00:10:21,800 always have the ability to click away in the old days, you know, 187 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:24,620 it was with a TV remote. If you didn't capture their attention, 188 00:10:24,620 --> 00:10:27,380 bang, they would switch to another channel. Online, it's 189 00:10:27,380 --> 00:10:30,860 even faster people if you don't catch their attention. So I talk 190 00:10:30,860 --> 00:10:33,920 about in the book three different ways. And actually 191 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,560 there's probably about a half a dozen different ways that you 192 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:40,600 can start a video to really capture people's attention and 193 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,720 then hold it in there. And I use a lot of there's another good 194 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:47,980 book I read in my 20s called How to Win Friends and Influence 195 00:10:47,980 --> 00:10:51,340 People by Dale Carnegie, and he gave us formula for giving a 196 00:10:51,340 --> 00:10:54,280 speech, and that is, tell them what you're going to say, say it 197 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:58,240 and tell them what you said. And that sounds like a simplistic 198 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,640 formula. But another mistake a lot of video makers make is they 199 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:05,820 don't get to the point quick enough what the video is about, 200 00:11:05,820 --> 00:11:09,480 and then you lose the viewer. So a real easy way to start a video 201 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:14,400 is ask the person a question, how would you like to lose 10 202 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,880 pounds? Do you want to have more energy? Would you like to have a 203 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:22,580 better night's sleep? And if it's interesting, then, to the 204 00:11:22,580 --> 00:11:26,120 viewer by asking that question, they're going to stay more 205 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,480 engaged to see if you deliver the answer. And hopefully you do 206 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:32,960 in the next 30 seconds, 90 seconds, whatever, you'll 207 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,380 deliver the answer to that. So I talk a bunch of ways in the book 208 00:11:36,380 --> 00:11:41,800 about how to start videos to keep the viewers engaged, so 209 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,040 that you know they'll stay and listen to what the rest of the 210 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:47,500 video has to say. Fantastic. 211 00:11:47,500 --> 00:11:49,420 Robert Plank: And what I'm liking about our conversation so 212 00:11:49,420 --> 00:11:53,380 far is that these are all really simple formulas, right? Like the 213 00:11:53,380 --> 00:11:59,500 Robert Cialdini list, the like, just that idea of, start with a 214 00:11:59,500 --> 00:12:02,220 question, solve a problem. Know what the point is of that video? 215 00:12:02,220 --> 00:12:04,920 So that you're not just rambling, these are all easy 216 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:08,700 fixes, or are just simple things to keep in mind for the videos 217 00:12:08,700 --> 00:12:10,080 that we'll be creating. Yeah, let 218 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:12,720 Rick Cesari: me make two, two points about that, because one 219 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:16,740 thing that's never changed, like delivery platforms are changing. 220 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:19,740 You know, daily, weekly, monthly. There's a new social 221 00:12:19,740 --> 00:12:23,960 media platform, but human human behavior doesn't really change. 222 00:12:24,020 --> 00:12:29,000 And so the same hot buttons that work for print ads, radio ads, 223 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,100 you know, eventually TV and now online, if you understand the 224 00:12:34,100 --> 00:12:37,940 underlying psycho site human psychology and how to tap into 225 00:12:37,940 --> 00:12:42,760 that, you can then make your videos more more successful, and 226 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:46,540 that's what I talk about. And so the second thing, let me just 227 00:12:46,540 --> 00:12:49,840 give you a quick example of one project that ties everything we 228 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:53,620 were talking about together. My company did all the television 229 00:12:53,620 --> 00:12:58,720 marketing for the GoPro camera. And GoPro used a combination of 230 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:02,640 TV and online marketing. So if you remember, if you ever looked 231 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:08,040 at a GoPro ads, they were 30 seconds long. They were TV ads. 232 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:11,940 Every TV ad started with a GoPro logo. So we were telling people 233 00:13:11,940 --> 00:13:15,540 right away, this is a GoPro ad. Then it was user generated 234 00:13:15,540 --> 00:13:17,700 content. You know, people jumping off a cliff in a 235 00:13:17,700 --> 00:13:21,980 wingsuit or snowboarding or scuba diving. But at the end, we 236 00:13:21,980 --> 00:13:25,340 put an offer that said someone will win one of everything they 237 00:13:25,340 --> 00:13:29,720 make every single day. So three great things happened. They 238 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:32,900 watched the commercial. They they would go to the website to 239 00:13:32,900 --> 00:13:36,140 register for the contest. So we were building a database of 240 00:13:36,140 --> 00:13:39,980 names that we could remarket to and email market to. The second 241 00:13:39,980 --> 00:13:42,280 great thing. People would get to the website, they would see 242 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:45,580 other cool videos. They would share them with their friends, 243 00:13:45,580 --> 00:13:48,280 creating a viral effect. And the third thing that happened was 244 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:50,800 more traditional, direct response. They would get to the 245 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:54,580 website, and they purchased a product generating revenue which 246 00:13:54,580 --> 00:13:57,880 would offset the advertising costs. So just kind of a real 247 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:02,880 simple formula that helped GoPro go grow from, you know, zero to 248 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:05,400 a billion dollars in eight years. And I mean, there were 249 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:09,540 other factors at play too obviously, but that was the main 250 00:14:09,540 --> 00:14:13,140 advertising campaign that helped make them successful. 251 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:16,200 Robert Plank: And so there are kind of two things I want to 252 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:19,380 pick up on from what you said there. One is that I love this 253 00:14:19,380 --> 00:14:23,900 idea that there are. I mean, the humans haven't really changed 254 00:14:23,900 --> 00:14:26,780 that much in the last couple of decades, like the technology's 255 00:14:26,780 --> 00:14:30,380 changed, but that means that we can sometimes pick up or reuse 256 00:14:30,380 --> 00:14:34,100 or repurpose old ideas, even some things that may be we've 257 00:14:34,100 --> 00:14:38,060 forgotten about, or things that we can bring back and then and 258 00:14:38,060 --> 00:14:40,120 then. So then the other thing that's cool about our 259 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:44,740 conversation here is that that you're you're then using all 260 00:14:44,740 --> 00:14:47,320 this, this new stuff, in a new way, right? Like bringing 261 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:50,800 together, like, the the user generated content. And so one, 262 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:54,760 one thing that has me curious, though, is, how do you arrive at 263 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:57,460 some of these decisions that that you make, like, you say, 264 00:14:57,460 --> 00:15:00,720 like, well, GoPro, you have the logo for. Question you have the 265 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:03,840 user generated content, and the contest is that just a matter 266 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:07,680 of, like, observing what people are doing and putting it 267 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:11,160 together, or like, how do you go from nothing to having these 268 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:14,820 kind of new, unique ideas that get really popular? Yeah, that's 269 00:15:14,820 --> 00:15:16,980 Rick Cesari: a great question. And, you know, it's kind of a 270 00:15:16,980 --> 00:15:23,360 combination of an art and a science and so kind of the art 271 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:26,360 comes in, you know, it's, it's a little bit easier for me. I've 272 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:30,800 been doing this for 30 years. I've the reason I can have some 273 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:34,580 successes is I've probably made every mistake under the book so 274 00:15:34,580 --> 00:15:38,600 I know what not to do, I guess. But at the end of the day, the 275 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:43,360 reason I love direct response marketing is that you can test 276 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:47,140 and you can test very inexpensively, so you can create 277 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:50,560 a couple different ads and then test them and see which ones 278 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:55,240 generate the best response. And there's very few projects that I 279 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:58,600 get involved in where the first time out it's like this adds a 280 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,280 home run. You know, if you go way back to the commercials I 281 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:05,040 made for the George original George Foreman grill, which 282 00:16:05,100 --> 00:16:09,420 eventually sold over 100 million units, the very first TV ads I 283 00:16:09,420 --> 00:16:13,620 made didn't work. I started them out with boxing footage because 284 00:16:13,620 --> 00:16:16,380 I thought that that would be cool and could capture people's 285 00:16:16,380 --> 00:16:19,380 attention, but I didn't understand the end user was stay 286 00:16:19,380 --> 00:16:22,400 at home moms that didn't like boxing. So once we took out the 287 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,420 boxing footage, the commercial started working a lot better. So 288 00:16:26,420 --> 00:16:30,980 to answer your question, you start off with a with kind of an 289 00:16:30,980 --> 00:16:34,580 educated guess based on understanding the demographic 290 00:16:34,580 --> 00:16:38,300 that you're marketing to and what they respond to, and then 291 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:43,000 you make an ad. You test it, if you get the ROI you're looking 292 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,760 for, you spend a little bit more money. If you don't, you go back 293 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:49,120 and change the editing. But let me tell you a good shortcut to 294 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:55,300 getting the right solution to what to advertise. One of the 295 00:16:55,300 --> 00:16:59,260 first steps I take when I'm working with any business is to 296 00:16:59,260 --> 00:17:03,240 reach out to their customer base. And most companies 297 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,640 nowadays have, you know, if they're doing direct to 298 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:10,500 consumer, have a database that we can email to. And I set up a 299 00:17:10,500 --> 00:17:14,580 testimonial day where I'll, and I'll, you know, send out emails 300 00:17:14,580 --> 00:17:20,660 to local areas and invite maybe 15 people to one location. We do 301 00:17:20,660 --> 00:17:23,960 a for rent by owner. You know, get a house. People can show up 302 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,840 there every 45 minutes. And I interview these people, and I 303 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:29,840 ask them a series of questions, which I have in the book that, 304 00:17:29,900 --> 00:17:33,740 basically, you know, why do you buy this product? How do you 305 00:17:33,740 --> 00:17:36,080 hear about it? What do you like about it? What do you don't like 306 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,600 about it? If you were telling your friends about it, what 307 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:41,860 would you say? And I'm recording all this, so I can use the 308 00:17:41,860 --> 00:17:45,880 answers as sound bites in my marketing, but I'm really 309 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,240 getting first hand kind of market research, and by after 310 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:54,340 talking to 15 different people, I kind of know like, what what 311 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:59,260 motivates people to buy the product? So I am basing the ads 312 00:17:59,260 --> 00:18:03,600 that I make and the videos that I make on real customer answers, 313 00:18:04,980 --> 00:18:07,800 Robert Plank: awesome. So you take this educated guess, you 314 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:10,260 try to figure out what would motivate them, you're based on 315 00:18:10,260 --> 00:18:13,980 the data. And then you also work in the these testimonials, these 316 00:18:13,980 --> 00:18:19,200 customer stories. And I imagine when you do these 15 interviews 317 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:23,300 that there's a like, a lot of recurring like keywords, phrases 318 00:18:23,300 --> 00:18:24,800 over exactly 319 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:26,660 Rick Cesari: you hit the nail on the head. You start to see 320 00:18:26,660 --> 00:18:30,440 trends. And people start saying, you know, the reasons that they 321 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:34,520 purchase something. And, you know, you could use any examples 322 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:38,120 of the product you mentioned with. You know, it's funny. This 323 00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:40,960 last weekend, I was just, I have a new client called Real Time 324 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,080 pain relief. They sell pain products, and they were having a 325 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:47,560 distributor convention in Birmingham that I spoke at, and 326 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:51,760 but I interviewed, I interviewed 50 people, and every I've never 327 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,600 had this happen before. All 50 people had amazing stories of 328 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,960 how this product helped them relieve pain when nothing else 329 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:03,060 could. And so when you listen to these and hear that, you know, 330 00:19:03,060 --> 00:19:07,140 someone had a hip replacement or a bad back or bad knees, you 331 00:19:07,140 --> 00:19:09,780 know, you can start to put together kind of a marketing 332 00:19:10,380 --> 00:19:14,220 script that that really would appeal to people. So I'm really, 333 00:19:14,220 --> 00:19:17,640 I'm not kind of inventing things based on my knowledge or 334 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,320 experience, but really kind of taking the feedback I'm getting 335 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,980 from the customers, and then turning that into the 336 00:19:24,980 --> 00:19:25,760 advertising. 337 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:29,360 Robert Plank: I love it. Yeah, you're, you're like, like, just 338 00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:31,940 kind of assembling things. You're taking the best stuff and 339 00:19:31,940 --> 00:19:35,660 packaging it together. So that makes, that's reassuring, in a 340 00:19:35,660 --> 00:19:38,480 way, right? Because it means that you're just taking these 341 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,980 raw materials and making something better, and in a way, 342 00:19:41,980 --> 00:19:46,240 like reflecting, echoing their words back to them. Because if 343 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:51,040 you, if you just try, if you try to come up with some words or 344 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:53,200 some video, or you said, I'm just gonna sit down and write 345 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:56,020 something from scratch. I mean, it seems that seems like that 346 00:19:56,020 --> 00:19:58,540 would be a very hit or miss way to go about it, right? Either 347 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:02,400 you'd like. Yes and make it work, or it would always flop, 348 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:03,600 because you're just guessing, 349 00:20:03,660 --> 00:20:07,440 Rick Cesari: yeah, take a shortcut. Let's say you want to 350 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:13,140 market a product, find a similar product on Amazon. You know 351 00:20:13,140 --> 00:20:16,200 that's similar to one you're marketing, and go read the 352 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:21,740 reviews, and the reviews for that product will kind of tell 353 00:20:21,740 --> 00:20:25,160 you, give you great I've always found that I can never write 354 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,100 copy lines as good as what people come up with, you know, 355 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,460 in testimonials. And so that's kind of a little shortcut you 356 00:20:31,460 --> 00:20:35,720 can use to at least get some some background when you're 357 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,360 thinking of launching a product or a new product, if you don't 358 00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:43,060 have any customers, that's kind of a shortcut way to do it. So 359 00:20:43,060 --> 00:20:48,040 it's just, you know, I'm a real big person in using customer 360 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:53,200 feedback and tried and true strategies that have worked for 361 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:57,040 literally decades. And I know some of it sounds simplistic, 362 00:20:57,100 --> 00:21:00,180 but you know, the only thing I can say is it works, so I keep 363 00:21:00,180 --> 00:21:00,660 doing it, 364 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:04,440 Robert Plank: yeah? I mean, yeah, if you could make it hard, 365 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,680 but then how would that benefit anyone else? And also, that's a 366 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,040 really good point there of find a similar product on Amazon. 367 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:13,320 Because, I mean, nowadays there's so much information 368 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:17,100 available to all of us. And then also there's, like, sometimes 369 00:21:17,100 --> 00:21:21,080 people will say things and they don't even realize how like 370 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:23,480 impactful it is, right, how important it is. We're like, 371 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:25,940 ooh, that that phrase, the way you put that, with the pain 372 00:21:25,940 --> 00:21:28,460 relief, that's so that's so catchy, that's so profound, and 373 00:21:28,460 --> 00:21:30,320 they don't even know, because they're just talking, they're 374 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:32,780 just, you know, being honest and letting their words flow out. 375 00:21:32,780 --> 00:21:35,840 So, so yeah, this is all really great stuff, and we're 376 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:38,780 approaching almost seeing here we're in these last few minutes 377 00:21:38,780 --> 00:21:42,460 and about to wrap up. But is there anything you think that we 378 00:21:42,460 --> 00:21:45,520 need to know in this modern day and age, as far as, like we've 379 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:48,100 been talking about combining the gold and the new and one area 380 00:21:48,100 --> 00:21:51,160 that I want to make sure that we cover before wrapping up is the 381 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:54,700 storytelling aspect, right? Because that's that's kind of 382 00:21:54,700 --> 00:21:55,600 tricky sometimes. Yeah, 383 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,020 Rick Cesari: I'm glad you brought that up. So you know, if 384 00:21:59,020 --> 00:22:01,920 people go to my website, which is ricksesseri.com they can 385 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:07,740 download a free ebook that I have the three most engaging 386 00:22:07,740 --> 00:22:12,600 types of online video. And so if people have a website, our e 387 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:16,020 commerce website, and this is going to touch on stories, I 388 00:22:16,020 --> 00:22:22,340 recommend that they have three types of videos on there one, I 389 00:22:22,340 --> 00:22:26,360 believe people should always have some type of introduction 390 00:22:26,360 --> 00:22:31,340 story. That is basically why, you know, if someone visits your 391 00:22:31,340 --> 00:22:36,980 website and you're selling a widget, why? Why tell me about 392 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:41,380 yourself, why you're selling this fidget widget? What's your 393 00:22:41,380 --> 00:22:45,460 background? It's your story. And, and then why you're 394 00:22:45,460 --> 00:22:48,640 different. Why should I buy it from you versus a competitor? 395 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,540 What's different about it? And, and that's kind of you can do 396 00:22:52,540 --> 00:22:59,320 all of that in, you know, 60 to 90 seconds. And so it's always 397 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:03,180 kind of like an introduction video that tells the people who 398 00:23:03,180 --> 00:23:05,940 you are and why you do what you're doing, which is kind of 399 00:23:05,940 --> 00:23:10,140 your your story that you mentioned. Then these are other 400 00:23:10,140 --> 00:23:13,740 types of videos that I mentioned in that free download. Every 401 00:23:13,740 --> 00:23:16,560 website if you're selling a product, should have a tutorial 402 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:21,680 video. And tutorial video is really just a how to, how do you 403 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:27,740 use the product or service? And then the third is demonstration, 404 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:31,040 which is, now it's not just how to use it, but you're 405 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:34,640 demonstrating it and focusing on the benefits to the end user. 406 00:23:34,820 --> 00:23:39,020 And then if you can incorporate any video testimonials, that 407 00:23:39,020 --> 00:23:41,980 would be the last thing I would, I would say. And if you can have 408 00:23:41,980 --> 00:23:45,160 all those types of videos on your website, and again, you 409 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,040 talked about length earlier, these don't have to be long. 410 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:53,380 Video testimonials, you know, can be 1015, seconds. And I find 411 00:23:53,380 --> 00:23:57,820 that if people, you know, if you take the right sound bite, they 412 00:23:57,820 --> 00:24:01,260 can be as long as 30 seconds. If people find them engaging. So 413 00:24:02,580 --> 00:24:05,160 Robert Plank: super cool. You're making a lot of sense here. And 414 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,940 I mean, I'm taking all sorts of notes, and there's even, I'm 415 00:24:08,940 --> 00:24:12,540 gonna, I'm gonna send that, that freebie, or that the link to 416 00:24:12,540 --> 00:24:15,180 that freebie, over to a client who specifically needs this, 417 00:24:15,180 --> 00:24:18,480 who's a doctor who's making a website, making the web pages, 418 00:24:18,660 --> 00:24:21,680 making the videos, and isn't really exactly sure. Like, how 419 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:24,980 do I, how do I say the right things and hit the hot buttons, 420 00:24:24,980 --> 00:24:28,160 but also be like, short and to the point. So, so, yeah, this is 421 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:32,300 great of having, like, that kind of that, that, that origin story 422 00:24:32,300 --> 00:24:35,360 video, and talk about how you differentiate, how the tutorial 423 00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:39,140 video, have the demonstration and testimonial video. I mean, 424 00:24:39,140 --> 00:24:42,040 this is all really great stuff. And everyone should go to Rick 425 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,820 cezeri.com and you also have some books and other things. So 426 00:24:45,820 --> 00:24:49,060 if people say, Man, this is making a lot of sense here. You 427 00:24:49,060 --> 00:24:52,300 give me things to think about and implement. I want to keep 428 00:24:52,300 --> 00:24:55,480 the party going. I don't want to just listen to a podcast 429 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,060 episode, which was great, but now you want to find out all 430 00:24:58,060 --> 00:25:01,620 about Mr. Rick Cesari and five. Find out about what he has going 431 00:25:01,620 --> 00:25:05,160 on, video wise and book wise. So what other sorts of links, 432 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:07,740 resources, URLs do you have for us today? Yeah, 433 00:25:07,740 --> 00:25:11,400 Rick Cesari: so my website's a great place to start. And it's 434 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:15,660 my name's R, I, C, K, and last name is C, E, S, A, R, I, 435 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:19,260 ricksesseri.com and so I have a blog there, a weekly blog that 436 00:25:19,260 --> 00:25:22,400 talks about all types of video marketing if you don't like to 437 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:25,160 read, and there's some great statistics how we're becoming a 438 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,820 video first society. I have a YouTube channel, which is 439 00:25:28,820 --> 00:25:32,180 rickesesseri.tv and on the YouTube channel, it's like, I 440 00:25:32,180 --> 00:25:35,000 show you how to make a good demonstration video, and I show 441 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:39,380 you how to make a good tutorial video, and basically, how to use 442 00:25:39,380 --> 00:25:42,940 video to build your business. So those are really the best. The 443 00:25:42,940 --> 00:25:46,780 two best resources is my website and my YouTube channel to get 444 00:25:46,780 --> 00:25:51,220 more information. And you know, I'd love it if you know, if it 445 00:25:51,220 --> 00:25:53,560 makes sense for any of your listeners to purchase my book, 446 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:56,860 video persuasion, you can find that on Amazon, and you did 447 00:25:56,860 --> 00:25:59,680 mention my previous book, which is building billion dollar 448 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,420 brands. And that's kind of more of a case study, and what it 449 00:26:03,420 --> 00:26:07,380 takes to build a brand and grow it into a billion dollars. And, 450 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,940 you know, there's Sonic Care, oxy clean, GoPro and George 451 00:26:11,940 --> 00:26:15,900 Foreman grill, and those are the big ones. And then there's a 452 00:26:15,900 --> 00:26:19,020 whole bunch of ones that didn't quite reach a billion, but they 453 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:20,100 hit 100 million. 454 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:22,940 Robert Plank: Well, close enough, right? We can settle for 455 00:26:22,940 --> 00:26:23,960 that. Yeah, I'd be happy. 456 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:26,240 Rick Cesari: Yeah, when I'm launching a product, if it can 457 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:28,220 get get a few million, I'm happy. 458 00:26:28,940 --> 00:26:32,060 Robert Plank: Yeah. So there was a heck of a lot to chew on, and 459 00:26:32,060 --> 00:26:35,900 the place to go is Rick caesarea.com as Rick said, last 460 00:26:35,900 --> 00:26:40,720 name is, C, E, S, A, R, i.com and then Rick cesari.tv, is 461 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,260 where you can find those videos, and do check out his video 462 00:26:44,260 --> 00:26:47,260 persuasion book on Amazon, which is linked to from the website, 463 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,800 because we're becoming that video for society. If we're 464 00:26:50,860 --> 00:26:53,140 going to hide and not be on video, then we're going to miss 465 00:26:53,140 --> 00:26:55,720 out. We have all these other competitors, and if they have 466 00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:00,040 some app or coaching program or book or whatever it is that they 467 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,640 have, and they're on video, and we're not, we're going to miss 468 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,820 out, and if we're also on video, but we are missing some of these 469 00:27:05,820 --> 00:27:08,940 key ingredients of persuasion, we're going to miss out. So Rick 470 00:27:08,940 --> 00:27:12,600 cezeri.com go there, check out his book, check out his blog, 471 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:14,460 and we'll see you there. And thanks so much, Rick for 472 00:27:14,460 --> 00:27:17,820 stopping by and and wowing us with Your wisdom, but also 473 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,320 keeping it simple, keeping it very implementable. I appreciate 474 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:22,520 it very much. Thank you. Hey, 475 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,620 Rick Cesari: thanks for having me on, and hopefully I can come 476 00:27:24,620 --> 00:27:25,220 back again. 477 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:32,420 Robert Plank: Yeah, have you had a chance to rate and review the 478 00:27:32,420 --> 00:27:35,960 show yet? If not, go right now to marketer of the 479 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:41,200 day.com/itunes, click View in iTunes and click the ratings 480 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,220 tab, we would really appreciate a five star rating or whatever 481 00:27:45,220 --> 00:27:49,060 you think is fair, plus a quick one sentence review to tell us 482 00:27:49,060 --> 00:27:52,600 how we're doing. Thank you very much. And have a wonderful day.