I recently had the opportunity to play with a couple of great cameras to record some videos. After some trial and error with lighting, I finally came up with a setup that combined the Canon 6D with an Ikea lamp and a Rode lavalier lapel mic and went to work recording videos.

The big video I needed to create was a sales page feature for my interviews club, the EJ Insider.

While the entire video is 11 minutes long, there is a nice short spiel I did with a close up angle, where I talked about how interviews have impacted my own success online.

I decided to cut out that section to create a little two minute teaser clip, which you can watch now below –

Interviews have been an important part of my learning process over the years. As I talk about in the video, they have also been a vital source of inspiration and motivation too. This is one of the main reasons I wanted to finally create my own premium interviews club.

Even if the EJ Insider is not a hit in terms of sales, just having the opportunity to create this product has been fantastic. I’ve had the chance to conduct interviews with some of my idols when it comes to online business, and also hear how bloggers have reached the million dollar level, a goal I have set for myself once again.

My Soft Pitch

If you have ever had to put together a sales video you know how annoying they can be to make. I like talking on camera, but something about having to create a video that asks people to buy something puts extra pressure on you.

You have to make sure you hit all the important points and weave it together in a compelling way. The simple formula you can use is to introduce the problem, explain your solution, then give a call to action. Easy to say, but when you start breaking it down it can become a monster to squeeze in everything you want to.

I didn’t want to produce another 25 minute sales video as I have done for other products in the past. Given the EJ Insider doesn’t have a super high pricing point, and in principle the offer is quite simple, I figured I could come up with something compelling, yet brief.

My typical formula is to follow my own advice from this article –

How To Craft A Compelling Offer In 7 Easy Steps

Those seven steps are usually all I need. I sit down and write dot point notes to answer each section, sometimes taking a look at my previous sales pages to find any content I think I should include.

After doing this, I had two pages of notes ready to go on video recording day.

As I wrote about in my previous article about the Ikea lamp video lighting solution, I ended up having two days of video recording with bad lighting that I didn’t use.

One benefit of the two days “practice” before getting it right on the third day, was I began to remember my sales page notes. Once you say a few things over and over and over again with all the retakes, it starts stick in your head.

On the third day, once I had the lighting sorted, I decided that instead of using my notes I would just sit down in front of the camera and say everything off the top of my head. I wanted a natural language style and to say each section without having to stop and start again. This would mean less post-production editing too.

Testing A Theory

I decided for this sales video, I’d relax and not worry so much about getting all the right “triggers” in.

I’ve always believed that people buy from me because it’s me, and while I like to make sure I do everything I can to help conversion, I think today people are even more jaded about typical marketing hype.

Hype of course is subjective. In the past I’ve been accused of being too-hypey in some of my sales copy, yet also had people tell me they enjoyed my softer, less-hypey approach. You can’t please everyone. In the end what matters is pleasing enough people to have a successful and profitable product.

I believe today the main focus should be on being clear, approachable, engaging and natural. Let your personality and your personal brand do the selling for you, without the need for excessive sales technique beyond what comes natural.

Of course it’s still vital to go over the problem, the solution, the offer and weave in some story-telling, but the more natural you can make it, the better.

I personally like this approach more too. There’s something comfortable about just saying what is in your product, why you made it, who will benefit from it and how you can buy it. That’s essentially what my sales video ended up like.

It is important to note after years and years of being online and selling information products, much of what I say and how I say it has become innate. I still advocate educating yourself about selling psychology, but hopefully given enough time, it will come through naturally, so you don’t sound like you are forcing the sale.

I suppose in the end, that is just what good selling is. It’s persuasive and congruent, rather than forced and artificial.

What Did You Think Of The Teaser?

I’d love to hear what you think of the teaser video above. It’s more the “story” component of the sales video, so might feel a little incomplete, but hopefully it is at least engaging.

Leave me a reply as a comment, I appreciate your opinion.

Yaro Starak
Natural