No one gives a shit about the things you like.
Or I suppose I should say something like…six people care about what you’re passionate about, and the rest probably don’t like you enough to pretend that they do.
Wow, this is coming off as more abrasive than I had intended. Okay, let’s start over.
I want to talk about presenting content through video, and to make it a little sexier, I’m going to do it through the ever-popular “two-truths-and-a-lie” format.
TRUTH #1: Video is your most effective means of sharing your message or product. Dr. 
James McQuivey estimates that a 1-minute video holds the persuasive power of 1.8 million words of copy. That’s insanity. At my pretty average typing speed of 65 words per minute, it would take me about 19 days straight to type that many words. In that amount of time, I could listen through American Pie roughly 3272 times or just wait for my girlfriend to get ready to go out.
TRUTH #2: Video is your most popular method of conveying information. Over 100 million people will watch online video this month. Humans are visual creatures, and it shows. We watch more video, and we respond better to video marketing. Hell, having a video can reduce opt-out rates to newsletters by “up to 75%” (See https:// www.oracle.com/marketingcloud/products/cross-channel/marketing-to-businesses.html).
THE BIG LIE: Your specific message is intrinsically interesting to people. Here’s the thing: people generally don’t buy products. People buy ideas, concepts, and personalities. For example, I very recently bought one of those machines that carbonates water and allows you to make soda at home. If I were to think about it rationally, I would come up with about ninety thousand reasons why I don’t need that machine in my life. But I wasn’t buying the machine, see? I was buying the life the marketing promised me–a life with more free time, less waste, and probably more sex or something. (As an aside, I’m really digging making my own soda so far).
You get the point, I hope. When you’re creating your opt-in or strategy session videos, you don’t need to focus on the specific message you have to give. I don’t want you to convince me that I need your five points to do X. I want you to tell me how my life’s going to be different by working with you. I want you to captivate me with your energy and performance to the point that I can’t wait to talk to you. I want to believe that you can fill a hole in my life.
Selling rarely works; entertaining and inspiring almost never fails.
David Vance, Editor at Hell Yeah Studios
