Is This Such A Thing As An Info Product in a Day?

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Judy Murdoch


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Introduction: Saga of the Sea Monkeys
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When I was about 10-years old, I really wanted a cat. My mom, however, was opposed to this idea. In her opinion cats (and dogs) were bringers of dirt and chaos into a home she tried so hard to keep clean and orderly.

The exception to my mom's rule were things like goldfish and turtles because they were small and were not going to wander through the house, get into the garbage, or scratch the furniture.

But, let's face it, goldfish and turtles are boring and the ones I bought at the dime store had an unfortunate tendency to die within the week.

So I was delighted when I saw an ad for Sea Monkeys on the back of comic book.

Maybe you remember Sea Monkeys from your own childhood. Maybe you don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

Sea Monkeys were introduced in the 1960's by Harold Von Braunhut (who also marketed X-Ray Specs). The ads were brilliant: a well-known comic illustrator portrayed sea monkeys as cute, human-looking sea creatures. One illustration showed a Sea Monkey family with a mom, dad, and two kids. The mom even had a bow in her hair.

For a ten-year old who wanting a cool pet, Sea Monkeys seemed like the perfect solution. Sea Monkeys could be kept in a fish tank so they wouldn't disrupt the household AND according the ad, you could train Sea Monkeys to do cool tricks.

So I put two-dollars in an envelope and anxiously awaited the arrival of my awesome new friends.

When the package arrived, I immediately got to work setting up the little Sea Monkey habitat and opened the packet of Sea Monkey "eggs."

Then I waited for my Sea Monkeys to hatch so I could play with my Sea Monkey family.

After waiting the prescribed time I check the Sea Monkey habitat, but I couldn't see anything. I re-read the instructions which told me Sea Monkeys are actually quite small and putting the habitat near a good light source would make them easier to see.

And there they were, my Sea Monkeys, tiny, nearly transparent, and insect-like. I didn't get a rockin' family to play with. I got plankton.

Now I'm not bashing Sea Monkeys which are currently marketed by Transcience Corp. Most kids, including me, knew at some level that those comic book ads sounded a little "too good to be true."

Which brings me to the subject of this article.

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"Instant Product" - Really!?
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There are lots of books and programs promising you that you can "create a product in a day."

If you are a busy, busy business owner, this sounds fantastic. Imagine, you don't need to buy fancy software or special equipment. You can create a product that you can sell to customers in the time it takes to, say, get your car washed, go to the post office, get through your email, and fix dinner.

How totally cool would that be?

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The Reality: Kind of
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I work a lot with small business owners who want to create information products. Specifically information products that customers will love because those products are relevant, easy to use, and get results.

Is it really possible to create a substantive, useful information product in a few hours?

The answer is, yes, but it's important to keep in mind that a product you create in a few hours is likely the result of months even years of training and experience.

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True Story: How I Created a Product in a Day!
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For example, a couple weeks ago a client was having trouble writing a sales page for a new service she was offering.

She just couldn't figure out what information should go in what part of her offer. Did she need to include some sort of marketing copy? Where should details like class time and dates go? Should she include a money-back guarantee, etc.

It seemed to me that a "map" of a sales page might help. So I created a screen shot of a sales page I had worked on and added labels and call outs which explained each section of the offer.

It took a few hours to put the sales page map together and then it was ready to go.

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BUT ...
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The reason I was able to put together the sales page map so quickly is because I've been creating sales pages for years and teaching business owners how to do sales pages for years.

Over time I've developed a perspective around what works and what doesn't work.

All of this time, experience, and care went into the product I created.

If I had created a product but

didn't know what I was talking about or

just parroted information I'd learned from a book or a course without adding my own perspective and voice

did the equivalent of a "data dump" in which I simply wrote down what I knew as a disorganized, jargon-filled mish mosh.

I might have a product but it wouldn't be a product that my customers would see as valuable. And if they don't get value chances are pretty good that:

They won't be coming back to buy more from me

They aren't going to tell their friends and colleagues to buy from me

They may even have some not-so-nice things to say about me which they will share with their hundreds perhaps thousands of friends on Facebook and Twitter

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Bottom Line
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You probably can create a quality information product in an hour but the "one hour" is misleading because:

the product is based on years of experience in the field; knowing what works and what doesn't, personal analysis and thought, and learning

the product is also likely the result of collaboration - from beta testers, from peer input, and from ??

the product is going to be tweaked and refined before it's in a space to really stand on it's own and make money

Otherwise, your one hour product is probably info crap and you can expect people to pay what they usually pay for crap...nuthin'.




About the Author:
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com


Follow Judy Murdoch on Twitter.

Marketing for Introverts: Must We Impersonate Extroverts?

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Marcia Yudkin


In a survey I conducted of more than 300 self-described introverts, over three-quarters of respondents said they could impersonate an extrovert somewhat well or very well when important business was at stake.

This means being able to make small talk, to interact in a sparkly, attractive way, to remain "on" in the presence of others for hours and hours, and more.

On the one hand, being able to perform in ways that go against one's natural tendencies is a kind of flexibility that can come in handy to achieve significant business objectives.

On the other hand, with a radical shift in emphasis, such shape-shifting may be necessary very rarely.

I say "radical," because what I'm talking about goes beyond withdrawing from situations that feel uncomfortable or threatening to an introvert. Rather, by finding a different starting point for marketing than what everyone else does or recommends and by getting grounded in what you do best, a whole different approach unfolds.

Introverts can thrive in business by developing a reputation that pulls in people and quietly persuades them to buy, rather than by aggressively seeking out prospects and convincing them to agree to your deal. Imagine a slow-cooked meal deliciously yet invisibly layered with flavors and spices that once discovered, makes people want to bring their friends to savor it as well. Gradually this kind of meal can rival the popularity of other eating options that have more obvious appeal.

Instead of approaching marketing with a checklist of someone else's to-do's, you can start from what you enjoy, what you do well and what others unquestionably appreciate about you. In my survey, the top two introvert strengths mentioned were creativity and resourcefulness. Also highlighted were good listening skills, trustworthiness, attention to detail, empathy, balance and curiosity.

Whatever your own strengths, people are out there looking for or hoping to find them in those they do business with. Introvert marketing succeeds best when you don't pretend to be who you are not, when you spotlight what you take great pleasure in offering and when you relax knowing that the right people show up in appreciation of your value.

This takes faith and commitment, because if you do these things half-heartedly or while still clinging to society's "oughts," you may not come across as the shining star you can be.

People are more likely to appreciate you when you appreciate yourself. Are you ready to let go of the pretense and reach success on your own terms?


About the Author:
A bookworm as a child, Marcia Yudkin grew up to discover she had a surprising talent for creative marketing. She's the author of more than a dozen books, including 6 Steps to Free Publicity, now in its third edition, and Persuading People to Buy. She also mentors introverts so they discover their uniquely powerful branding and most comfortable marketing strategies. To learn more about the strengths and preferences of introverts, download her free Marketing for Introverts audio manifesto: http://www.yudkin.com/introverts.htm


Follow Marcia Yudkin on Twitter.

Blog Posts Versus Email - Which is Better for Marketing?

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Judy Murdoch


There's been an interesting discussion going on in a class I'm co-facilitating about the best way to reach customers and prospective customers:

Should you post your articles on a blog?

Should you email those articles to people who have subscribed to your list?

Or something else?

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The Death of Opt-in Email?
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Up until fairly recently, when you wanted to keep in touch with customers and prospects, you used email to send periodic messages to people who opted-in to receive your mailings.

For example, since 2005 I've been emailing my Contagious Marketing Ezine on a monthly basis (more recently bi-monthly).

Over the past few years, blogging has generated a lot of excitement as the best, coolest way to market your products and services online and the word is that "email is history. "

Arguments in favor of Email's impending demise include:

Email is less and less successful when it comes to reaching peoples' in-boxes.

People are so sick of spam, they're using aggressive settings to get rid of anything that has the faintest whiff of being an unwanted sales pitch.

More often your email is languishing in a Junk Mail folder ... or even going straight to the Trash.

People are reluctant to share any personal information including their email address.

You don't need to share any information when you are visiting a blog to access free articles, services, and so on.

People don't have time to read articles. Blog posts are shorter and better fit our limited attention spans.

Blogs and social media applications like Twitter and Facebook allow people to interact. Email is only one way.

The "impending death of email" makes many small business owners nervous: should they invest any time or effort into growing an opt-in subscriber list? Or should they bag the idea of a subscriber list and just work on their blogs?

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Opt-in Email: Not Dead Yet Baby
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Although blogs and social media have opened up some very cool ways of connecting businesses to a communities which include but are not limited to their customers, I believe opt-in email still has a place in your small business' marketing strategy.

An opt-in is a higher form of commitment.

When we give something, even something very small like our email address and permission for someone to send us stuff on a regular basis, we are making a small but significant commitment.

It is an action that tells the business owner that we are interested in what they are offering.

Because of the implied commitment, an opt-in allows more latitude for offering products and services you are selling. People are a lot more sensitive about blogs posts and social media that push sales pitches their way.

Personally, I have no problem reading an offer emailed to me if I opted into the list. But if someone I follow on Twitter, for instance, sends me a direct message asking me to "check out" some program they're selling, I stop following them.

Opt-in email allows you to control who gets what and when.

Most opt-in email management services like Aweber, Constant Contact, MailChimp, etc allow you to create different groups to whom you can customize offers and information.

Some people just aren't open to getting information through blogs. I'm horribly embarrassed to admit this publicly but I rarely, if ever, read my RSS feeds. I use blogs quite a bit, especially when I'm doing research and want to find out what others have to say on a topic but as way to keep in touch with a business, nope, I still prefer getting articles emailed to my inbox.

My Recommendation: a Hybrid Solution Rather than dumping one or the other, I use and recommend you consider using a "hybrid solution which allows you to take advantage of both technologies so that you can benefit from the unique benefits each offers.

Here's what I do which, so far, has worked for me and adds minimal work:

1. I write my articles as blog posts directly within my blog.

2. Once my post is finished and edited, I copy and past the post as a message in aweber. Aweber is the service I use to email my articles to everyone subscribing to my Contagious Marketing ezine.

3. I use the application, Ping.fm to send a new post to my Facebook, Linked In and Twitter accounts which announces the new article and provides a link for anyone wanting to read it.

And voila! People who prefer to get my article emailed to their inbox get the article. People who prefer to subscribe to my blog get the article via RSS feed and people who follow me on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn get a link to the article post on my blog.

It isn't a perfect system: I include offers to buy products and services in my email articles. I don't currently sell much on my blog.

And I'm still getting a sense of what kinds of offers work using Twitter and Facebook.

But it allows me to reach people who prefer opt-in email and people who prefer subscribing to blog posts and allows me to benefit from including offers as well as encouraging the two-way conversation that blogs facilitate.

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Bottom Line
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If you're a small business owner trying to sort through how best to communicate regularly with customers and other communities, I encourage you to use both opt-in email AND blogging.

Both methods offer unique advantages and you can adapt a system like mine which allows you to send your messages through both without spending much extra time.




About the Author:
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com


Follow Judy Murdoch on Twitter.

Brand Management - 5 Opt-in Methods

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Enzo F. Cesario


A big aid to the success of any online business is those customers paying attention to the site and its messages, including e-mail and newsletters. People who are following your progress on a regular basis are receiving more exposure to your product, and are more likely in the end to purchase the services or item you're selling than someone who just chances across your site. Thus, one of the many metrics set by businesses is a high number of followers they can reach via such contact methods.

As is often the case however, the numbers alone don't tell the whole story. Simply buying a list of e-mail contacts and sending them a message every three days does not count as having a large audience. That's just spam, and the opinion of spam on the web is rather well known.

Thus there is an increasing focus on the opt-in method of list building. By means of enticements, the distributor gets interested parties to voluntarily sign up for the service. Once this has been accomplished, it can be reasonably assumed that the party is interested in continuing the service over the long term. This means the message is more likely to be put in front of people that want to see it and are most likely to respond to it.

Of course, different strategies produce different results, and not everyone responds to the same methods. Here is a handful of opt-in methods that can be employed to begin building that list.

Method #1 - The Pop Up

This is one of the more controversial options, because it's one of the catch phrases of the anti-advertising mentality that grows on the web. People hate pop ups, the perception says. However, research suggests that pop ups still are some of the most profitable ways to generate clicks on sites.

There are several ways to approach the pop up option that will minimize the intrusion. Some mimic a toolbar that slides in from one side of the page, for example. Others will appear for a brief period, then recede if not used. The trick is to make it interesting enough to catch the eye, but not so obtrusive as to appear irritating or forced. Do avoid bright, flashing primary colors and strings of exclamation points.

Method #2 - User-activated Pop Up

This is a different take on the pop up methodology. The idea behind a pop up is that when it appears, it catches the eye and is hard to ignore. On the other hand, they're irritating when they interrupt something a user is reading or watching. However, if a video or article has an embedded link that asks if the visitor would like to know more, that link can be tied to a pop up. This script can then show up and since it's tied to one of their actions, it's less likely to get an irritated or rejecting response.

Method #3 - The Free Gift

People feel better about giving out their information for a mailing list if they feel they've been rewarded for it. Therefore, entice them into opting in by offering them a gift related to your service. If, for example, your brand is a publisher of ebooks, offer them one of your older titles as an incentive. If your brand specializes in small, casual web games, consider offering one such game for free, or at least a free trial. The visitor perceives an immediate benefit, and is likely to sign up as a result.

As a side note, some free gifts can take the form of contests for prizes. If you are going to go this route, make sure that the prize genuinely is winnable, is worth the winning and that you announce the winner, provided, of course, that you have their consent. Contests are increasingly seen as false options by many viewers, and the only way to circumvent this perception is to make it a genuine item that people can win, rather than a crass deception.

Method #4 - The Squeeze Page

This is a page, based on text or video, that stops the process of giving information and lets the visitor know that they should sign up in order to get the full degree of information. This makes the preceding pages they have viewed a sort of 'teaser' that gets them interested in the material you have to offer, followed by an invitation to continue reading in exchange for some brief contact information.

Video is an increasingly popular option for squeeze pages, because it's so easy to engage with. You can create a short video presentation explaining the value of the e-mail list, and it will stick in the mind much more than a highlighted checklist made of text.

Method #5 - The Basic Form

The simplest methods often become classics, and why? Because they work. Many sites still use the old standby of an unobtrusive simple web form at the end of an article, with spaces for a person's contact info provided. This has the advantage of being very simple to produce, very easy for the user to fill out, and presents a minimum of interruption compared to pop ups or squeeze pages.


About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

How To Profit From Really Inexpensive Website Traffic

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Willie Crawford


All online marketers eventually realize that a steady flow of targeted traffic is the very life's blood of their online business.

At that point some decide to focus on generating free traffic via methods such as article marketing and search engine optimization. That's how I generated most of my website traffic for many years.

Other marketers look at the time and effort involved, and decide that using traffic from paid sources is more cost-effective. Given that I now manage dozens of my own, and clients projects, and a dozen virtual employees, I've evolved to where buying traffic often makes more sense.

While most people think of pay-per-click traffic such as Google AdWords, I actually focus on MUCH cheaper paid traffic which offers a much higher return-on-investment. That's what I'd like to teach you to do today.

Before we get into a few simple and easy methods, let's establish a few rules that you should always follow. They are:

1) Make sure that the traffic you buy is targeted. These should be individuals actively looking for what you have to sell. They should be in a buying mode.

2) You should know your source. Do your due diligence and actually check them out. Google their name or their company name and see what is being said about them. Contact people who gave them testimonials and see how satisfied they are with that buying decision today. Look their site up on "The Way Back Machine" at http://Archive.org and see how their business has evolved over the years and get a feel for how long they have actually been in business.

3) Know specifically how this traffic is generated. You want to know both the methodology and the general demographics of the traffic.

Several years ago, one of my subscribers who violated all three of the above rules, lost $4000 in about a month. He was promoting a network marketing "opportunity," and was advised to buy leads. So he went to an online company and plopped down $4000 of his retirement fund for some guaranteed traffic.

He did indeed get the guaranteed visitors (several thousand) of them but not a single one of them converted (joined his team). Some did fill in his opt-in form for more information but they were just curious.

It turns out that the way the company he purchased the leads from, delivered that was traffic via pop-unders. A person would visit a site pertaining to something they were marginally interested in, and while they were reading a page, another pay would load underneath. When the surfer closed the top page, he saw my subscriber's page.

The problem was that most of these surfers had absolutely no interest in what my subscriber was offering. The curiosity seekers who filled out the form basically sent my subscriber on a wild goose chase as he followed up with all of those who left a phone number. NONE of them proved to be really interested.

Now that you know not to fall for that or similar scams, let me tell you FIVE ways that I generate a flood of highly-target website traffic, often for less than a penny per click.

1) I buy keyword-rich domain names to capture type-in traffic. These can be brand new domains or they can be aged domains that may even be still indexed in the major search engines. Even if they are not still indexed, some search engines seem to favor aged domains which are readily available.

Many surfer, looking to buy a product, mistakenly type their search term into the browser bar rather than the search box. If you happen to own that term (as a domain name) the traffic will often be redirected to your site. Even if the surfer enters the search term in the search box, your site will often be shown in the results provided your site is properly optimized and indexed.

If you use this method and average a mere 10 visitors per day, that's 3650 targeted visitors per year. Assuming these visitors are searching on a term that you'd have to pay $1 for at the pay-per-click search engines, and that the domain name and a full year of hosting cost you $25, you've just saved ($3650 - $25 = $3625). I do get my domain names and hosting that cheaply :-)

Imagine having a dozen domains each targeting a different keywords, and I'm sure you'll understand why I personally love this traffic generation method so much.

2) Offering a free gift to get the visitor to your site and then requiring them to join your mailing list before they can access the gift. After they opt-in, you give them the gift but also tell them about some other product that you want to call their attention to.

I find this method very effective when posted on social networking sites, or even run as ezine solo ads.

Done properly you not only generate traffic, but by building a list, you also build-in a way to call them back to your site periodically.

3. Buying links from other sites. In many niches, there are webmasters who haven't figured out how to monetize their sites yet. You can approach them offering to pay for a prominently displayed link pointing back to your site, and many will sell you these links very inexpensively.

You do need to shop around, and since there is a rumor that the major search engines MAY frown upon this practice, I do it in a way that it's not so obvious.

4) Funnel traffic via "mini-nets." In a mini-net, you have one main site that you really want to funnel traffic to. That's often referred to as your "money site." You build other sites on domains that you purchase, web 2.0 sites, and what are often referred to as "parasite sites." These are sites offered by companies that will give you free hosting on their network.

You have links from most of the domains that you purchased, the web 2.0 sites, and the parasite sites, all pointing to your money site. Some people build a network of sites pointing to their peripheral sites. The idea there is that if you can get the peripheral sites to rank higher in the search engines they will command more respect and boost the ranking of your money site too.

There are many complex linking patterns that you can use - as many as there are people who consider themselves experts on the topic. I personally keep things as simple as possible, and often rely upon the experience and expertise of webmasters that I often outsource the mind-numbing, tedious tasks to.

5) Build backlinks and RSS feeds by bookmarking. Many of my WordPress blogs are configured so that every post is bookmarked. I also use software to bookmark every page on some of my content sites and mini-sites. This both pushes them up in the search engines, and places links that highly-qualified visitors can follow back to my sites from all over cyber-space.

There are many other techniques that I use to generate an absolute flood of traffic to my websites and those of my clients. I'll share more in future articles.


About the Author:
Willie Crawford is an online marketing and website traffic generation expert. Over the past 14 years he's developed tactics and techniques that allow him to generate more than 1 million hits to some of his sites. Get him to send you highly targeted, buying website traffic for as little as a penny per visitor at: http://cheapverytargetedtraffic.com/


Follow @WillieCrawford on Twitter.

How to Evaluate the Quality of a Dietary Supplement

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Norm Howe


So, you've found a Dietary Supplement that exactly fits your special need. The information on the supplier's website appears to be consistent with everything that you've read and heard, and now you're ready to buy.

But there are questions on your mind. "What is the quality of this product that I'm buying?" you ask. "Can I really trust this supplier?"

With the globalization of the Dietary Supplement market, these are valid questions. When you look at the retailer's website, or even the label on the bottle, you can't tell anything about the product. You can't tell who actually made it. You can't tell where it was made. And you can't tell whether the product is a quality product, or not.

What's a consumer to do? I can give you a few answers, but you don't have an easy task ahead of you. Here's why.

First you need to understand the structure of the Dietary Supplement industry. Hold on because this is a little complicated.

There are many levels in the Dietary Supplement supply chain. Some of the companies may function in more than one level in the supply chain but most don't. They only do one part of the process. For instance, the company that you buy your Dietary Supplement from will usually be only a distributor. Here is a list of those levels:

Dietary Ingredient Manufacturers. These are the companies that manufacture the individual ingredients that you see listed on the labels of the Dietary Supplements that you buy. Some examples would be St. John's Wort, Echanacea, or Glucosamine. These products are sourced from all over the globe.

Dietary Supplement Manufacturers. These companies mix Dietary Ingredients together.

Tabletters and encapsulators. These companies convert the mixed Dietary Supplement into tablets or capsules.

Packagers. These companies package the tablets, capsules, powders, or liquid Dietary Supplements and apply labels.

Distributors. These are the companies that actually market the finished Dietary Supplement to consumers.

Herein lies your first big problem. The companies that perform these functions are not visible to you. The retailer that you buy your Dietary Supplement from may perform one or more of these functions. However, the chances are that your retailer does not do all of it. In fact there's a good chance that your retailer is only a distributor and contracts out ALL of the manufacturing operations.

Any Dietary Supplement that is offered for sale in the United States must comply with regulations of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Dietary Supplements that we buy are the safest in the world.

The FDA has enacted new regulations to improve the quality of Dietary Supplement manufacturing and FDA inspects all of the levels in the supply chain. However, those new regulations have only recently gone into effect and FDA has not inspected all the suppliers under the new regulations.

FDA does not give companies a certification, nor do they approve them after they have been inspected. So there is no stamp of approval from FDA that you could find on your retailer's website or in their literature that would define them as "FDA approved".

On the other hand, if FDA inspects a facility and finds problems, it can issue a Warning Letter. The Warning Letter will be published on FDA's website, www.fda.gov. The link is visible on the lower right side of the home page. If you want to investigate a company, go to the Warning Letter page and search for the company.

Unfortunately the retailer is unlikely to be the manufacturer of the dietary supplement. But if you find that your supplier has a recent Warning Letter, find someone else to buy your dietary supplements from.

There are non-governmental organizations that inspect and certify Dietary Supplement manufacturers. These organizations will then allow the Dietary Supplement manufacturer to display their certificate or logo. The certificate will usually say something like "GMP Certified". GMP stands for Good Manufacturing Practices. These organizations inspect Dietary Supplement manufacturers to make sure that they follow Good Manufacturing Practices and to ensure that the manufacturer has GMP training in place for all of their employees.

The bottom line is that if you want an extra measure of safety when you look for a Dietary Supplement supplier, look for a GMP certification logo on the website or on the label of the product you buy. But don't stop there. Go to the website of the certifying organization and check to make sure that the Dietary Supplement supplier is listed as a certified company.


About the Author:
Norm Howe, Senior Partner at Validation and Compliance Institute, consultants for the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. He got his BS at UC, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in chemistry at UCLA. He has held many management positions in FDA regulated industries, most at BASF. http://www.vcillc.com/


Read more of Norm Howe's articles.

5 Reasons to Hire a Ghost Producer for Your Video Content

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Enzo F. Cesario


The principle known as the division of labor argues that when people have sufficient resources available, they begin to specialize in different tasks, allowing more complex and profitable work to be done. The industrial revolution was based on this principle - as machines were provided that reduced the number of farmhands needed to grow crops, jobs requiring mechanics for the maintenance of these machines arose. More people were available to work in factories, which became increasingly specialized, and technology rocketed forward as a result.

In the branding world, the importance of dividing labor among various staff cannot be stressed highly enough. There are specialties for every conceivable task out there, and it is rare that you find someone who can competently handle all of them, much less excel. Further, since excellence sets a good brand apart from others, we must seek out the best specialists whenever possible.

When it comes to producing an online video component, such as a webisode series or informational campaign, it's time to hire such an expert to ghost-produce your materials. Ghost-production is the development of materials that will go out solely under the brand name, without necessarily attributing the creator in the process. As will be discussed shortly, there are many advantages in this approach for all involved.

Advantage #1 - Specialization

As mentioned above, the power to specialize is a unique and effective thing. It frees one of the need to focus in many directions, allowing him to devote more time and energy to the tasks most needing his exact expertise. S0 the advantage in hiring someone specifically trained to work on the video produced becomes self-evident.

What's more, video is a process that requires a specialized touch. There are concerns about lighting, quality of image versus likelihood of users' Internet speeds, issues about the exact perfect length of a video, and so on. While it is true that just about anyone can make and distribute a video with a half-decent digital camera and a YouTube account, there is no argument but that those most familiar and capable with the medium can achieve the greatest results.

Advantage #2 - External Perspective

As in all cases of hiring outside personnel to handle projects related to a brand, the value of a close but still external perspective cannot be overestimated. A ghost producer typically is not an employee of the brand company, but a contractor. They don't have the intimate personal involvement with the brand, yet they do care for its success because they want to get paid and be recognized as a good partner. So they can make objective assessments that might escape those more directly immersed in the program.

It's said that no one is a harsher critic than oneself; however, at the same time, no one can deceive like oneself, either. Many people have the tendency to focus on what they perceive as exciting and vital about their brand without noticing the discomfiting facts about it. A ghost producer can provide a bit of perspective and open up fresh ideas that may not otherwise present themselves.

Advantage #3 - Expense Control

Another advantage of the specialization effect is that many professional video producers have their own equipment, or at least access to some. With some careful research, a brand can contract with such a talent and alleviate the need to acquire equipment directly.

Additionally, if the video project is intended to be a short-term effort within the larger context of the brand, it means that the company can acquire talent for the duration of the project and no longer. Rather than hiring someone and going through all the routines required to bring them into employ, the brand can contract their services and then cheerfully part ways at the end with all parties satisfied.

Advantage #4 - Flexibility

There is one concern that is always raised about the ghostwriting or ghost producing process: Why would any creative sort surrender the rights to his work? The answer is for career training and flexibility.

Particularly in the early stages of a producer's career, anonymity can be a great asset. It allows the creator to gain on-the-job experience without risking his reputations early. Additionally, while he may be justifiably proud of his work when he produces it, he may have a different view later in his career and be more comfortable if those early efforts did not gain as much notice as later ones. Ghost productions therefore allow a comfortable period of adjustment to this career of choice.

Advantage #5 - The Sly Aside

Just as a ghost-producing effort could be a trial run for a budding artist's career efforts, it can serve equally as a trial run for a hiring process. Hiring several producers over time to make different branding campaigns can save the brand the money of retaining them full time, while allowing the brand to find the style it is most comfortable with before sending that artist an offer of employ. None of this need be stated outright during the campaign, but it is often understood that this might well be the case, and a strong brand will take advantage of the effect.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/


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