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Welcome to Amplify Your Authority, the podcast where innovative marketing meets heart-centered entrepreneurship. Join Marissa Shadrick, an award-winning international speaker, Ray Edwards certified copywriter, and personal brand expert. You'll gain insights into the external strategies for business growth and how to navigate the internal journey of entrepreneurship. Now get ready to amplify your authority in a competitive digital world. And now is your host, Marissa Shadrick.

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Hello, hello, and welcome to Amplify Your Authority. I'm Marissa Shadrick. I'm your host, and I'm also an online marketing consultant and certified copywriter. I am so glad that you're listening today. It's an honor to have my listeners tune in. I don't take that for granted. I appreciate each and every one of you. And today I have content that I think is going to be very helpful for you. It's how we marry videos and copywriting. So you can begin to create some amazing videos. And videos don't have to be long for those of you that don't like to be on camera. They can be short, brief, to the point, and extremely effective. So we're going to talk a little bit about this and to see how you can incorporate videos in your marketing. As you know, videos are not going away. They are very, very popular. Now we even have AI tools that have text to video. They're still working out the kinks on a lot of these tools. They're not always the best, but it's getting there pretty soon. You're going to be able to record something and give a sample of your voice and your image on a video. You're going to be able to upload it in an AI tool, and it's going to be able to reproduce videos for you when you just give it text and it'll be able to produce videos and even translate it into different languages. Who would have thought, right? All of these things are happening, but you got to start with the right information. You've got to start with some engaging content. So we're going to start right from the beginning. As always, I've got some notes here for you. And as introduction to videos and bringing copy to the picture of videos, I want you to just think of the foundation of your video. If you're thinking of incorporating videos, gone are the days when we can just grab our phone and just shoot something right off the cuff and call it quote unquote authentic. We need to be a little bit mindful of people's attention when they stop and scroll. And we need to have something that's really clean and crisp. Now, some people can get away with impromptu type videos. If they're creating something that's entertaining, of course, that's going to always fly and always be a great piece of content to look at and laugh about. But if you're marketing and trying to sell products and services, you only have a few seconds and videos, especially with the type of videos that I'm talking about today, those videos that are under a minute that you can easily use as a YouTube short or you can put it online on social media. I love 60-second videos because it forces me to think through my content, be very succinct, be very punchy, and still deliver some great value. So let's talk first about the purpose of a video. I want you to think why do you want to create videos? Is it just because it's popular? Is it just because everybody else says you should do it? Why do you want to create videos? Now, here are some reasons that you can think about and see if it resonates with you. If you are trying to create, obviously, some brand awareness and you are the personal brand, it's a good idea to have the way you communicate, the way you share information, especially if you're a coach, to have that on video because they get a sample, a taste of your personality, the way you speak, the way you teach. And so that's always helpful to have some kind of brand awareness. But again, it helps you have some authority as well, especially if you can provide some value in under a minute. Now, the other reason I want you to think about is especially if you have something that you sell that's an intangible. If it's something that they can't really measure, like ROI, it might help to have some videos to talk about the benefits of what you sell, not just share benefits, but to think about this. Again, we're thinking about the foundation, why to have a video, to help them begin to go there and think about the outcome and the transformation that you want to offer. So that could be very, very helpful too if you have some type of intangible. And a lot of coaches that are mindset or maybe are in the health space, that could be very helpful to get people thinking about what it is that you sell. The other that's very much aligned with it, another reason you'd want to do it, is maybe customer journey. Maybe they're unaware of the solution that you provide. Maybe they've never thought about it. So these short little videos begin to help your audience think about the topic and consider, hmm, maybe I should consider this for myself. Or maybe I've never thought about this. Maybe this is something I should think about and I should follow this person and listen to some more videos on this topic. So if your audience is not aware of the problem that you solve, it's a good idea to have videos. So videos help with your brand, if you are the personal brand. It helps when you're selling intangibles, and it also helps if your prospects are unaware of the solution that you provide. So determine why you want to create videos. Now there are other reasons, but I just want to keep it simple to threes because I like the number three, it's just easy to remember too much, it's going to be too overwhelming. But consider the purpose these videos are going to have in your marketing. So the next thing to consider is the role of copywriting in video scripts. Now, I'm not going to say that you have to write a script and read it and get a teleprompter. You know, that's a lot of work. And teleprompter, there's an art to that as well. I'm considering getting a teleprompter for the first time next year in 2025. I'm thinking about it. I don't know if I'm going to because when I have tried to use teleprompter, it's a disaster. It's a skill in itself to use teleprompter. It's easier for me, is just to glance at some bullets that I have and just speak into the camera about a certain piece of content that I have. But again, it's a skill I can learn, right? And we can all learn skills. So if you feel more comfortable with a teleprompter, then this is going to be easy peasy for you. Once you marry copywriting techniques to your script and then you read it off a teleprompter, you're golden. You're good to go. And then you can modify and adjust. So when we're talking about these video scripts, let me give you a little bit of a guideline so you have an idea. If you're going to create a 60-second video, it's about 100 words. It's about 100 words. 30 seconds would be about 50 words. So that gives you an idea when you're thinking and you're in that ideation process to not write more than 100 words, right? Because you're going to have too many words to try to cram in a short video. Now you can always create longer videos, and if you're doing other things with videos, that's fine. But this particular podcast, we're talking about the short videos under a minute. So 60 seconds is about 100 words. So you're going to think first of all, what is the premise or what's the reason for the video? What is it that I want my audience to think? What do I want them to feel? What do I want them to believe? What do I want them to consider or do? Right? So we think of the premise of the video, and then we begin to kind of map out what we want to have in that hundred-word script. Obviously, we're not going to read it word for word, but it gives us at least a starting point when we're starting to consider the ideas for a script. So 100 words, 60 minutes roughly, and you want to give yourself some breathing room. Now remember, if you're talking about getting them to feel something, storytelling is going to be something you might want to consider. So you want to figure out within the hundred words what is it you want to say because words are powerful. When you learn to write succinctly and make every word count, and make every word earn the right to be there, whether it's writing copy on a sales page or for a script, that's when you're going to have magic because every word has to count. Don't have a bunch of filler words, don't have a bunch of jargon, don't have a bunch of pronouns. No, it's it has a name. So make sure you're very specific. Specificity, be succinct, be clear as far as what you want to say in this short video. So words are powerful in copywriting. Make every single one earn its place there. Words can influence, words can stir emotions, words can cause people to take action. Words can share a perspective that maybe someone has never considered. Words are powerful. So don't get lazy when you're writing these words. Consider what is it that I can write and let me trim the fat and have just the golden words that are going to help me say what I want to say in this video. Now you could use tools like ChatGPT, but I would suggest that you write it first. Write a draft. It could look sloppy, it could look messy, and then use an AI tool, if not ChatGPT, another, to see will help refine that script. Now remember, you don't have to read it word for word. What you're doing right now is really clarifying your ideas. You're distilling everything and you're narrowing it down to what's really important. And then you also want to consider how am I going to grab their attention? What am I going to start with? And sometimes getting the middle and the ending part is easier to then go back and start with the opening. And I used to do that when I wrote articles. I'd write the easy stuff first and then figure out how to go to the opening. Once you have the opening, and the opening could be a story, maybe a personal story of yours. It could be a quote, it could be something that you observed, something that's different that has a reason why it's in that script. And another thing you can do when you have that opening, whatever the premises that you're trying to point out, whatever the reason it is for that video, which you're going to say very quickly so people will know to stay tuned and continue to listen for that minute, you could do a type of technique that's used in articles that I used to use a lot. Whatever it is that I opened with at the end, I would reference back to it and I would close with it. So it creates kind of a sandwich. And it's a very nice way to bring closure to that original topic or idea that you started with at the beginning and then kind of recap again at the end. So you want to consider that attention-grabbing hook, and a lot of people call it a hook, but it's really a way to begin the conversation in a succinct way. Remember, you don't have to have the beginning, the middle, and the end. You could take a segment of a story as long as you can tie it into a point or something that has value for your audience and work with that. So clarity and brevity is what we're trying to aim for. And it really has to be clear, concise language in video scripts. So let's move into the structure of the video script with copy in mind. So you have the hook, and the hook again is that you're trying to figure out what is going to catch their attention. Short, punchy sentences are very effective as well rather than long ones. Sometimes when we get nervous, if we don't pre-plan our script, we end up talking too much. But going right into the scene of what it is we're trying to get to. Have you ever seen those movies that start not at the beginning, but right in the middle of a scene, and you're trying to figure out what the heck is going on in the movie, but it's got your attention. You want to stay long enough to figure out what's going on. So you can use movie techniques, right, to write this little 60-second script, but it will get easier as you write these, and you'll realize that a lot of the things that you're thinking about and trying to write, you don't need it. You can get right to the heart of your message. So the hook is important. The message, once you catch their attention, you want to transition into a point or maybe even three points. I can have three points in a 60-second script. I've done it before many times. It is possible to do that, or you could just have a story with a point, and then whatever the takeaway is at the end, or the call to action is at the end. So in your message, you can transition. For example, if you think of copywriting and you think of person, problem, and pain, that could be part of the beginning, opening, hook story. And then you transition, so you're presenting the problem or you're presenting the struggle, and then you transition right into, but what if you could, and then you get people to imagine a different scenario. And then you can transition and say, I've discovered or I've realized or something like that, where you begin to share what those tips are or tip, and you can break it down. If you share one, you can expand on it so there's a lot of clarity in it. If you share three, it should be something that doesn't take a lot of effort to figure out what your three tips are, but you want to be able to transition into those and then recap at the end, and or you can have a call to action at the end as well. So these really have a formula to them. So one of the things you can do is watch other people's videos, the ones that do it really, really well, and check their videos and see what is it that they're doing as far as the structure? What is it that they're sharing as far as the structure? Not so much the content. It's hard because we get absorbed in it, right? We're listening, we're leaning in and listening to the story. But pull back a second and look at it or watch it analytically and figure out what is it about this video that I really like? So as you watch videos, try to dissect it in a way and figure out what is it that I like about this video? What is it that causes me to want to stay to the end and listen to the entire video? So when you're creating these videos, what you're trying to do with the copy and the hook and the stories is you're trying to create emotional connection. You're trying to connect human to human with the person that's watching or listening. So emotional connection, again, this is really, really important to try to trigger this because we're trying to build trust. We're not trying to manipulate, we're trying to build trust. So we're trying to be authentic. And that's really hard for me to do. It's really hard for me to share personal stories. I don't know why. I guess I'm a very private person or something, but I am trying to be a little bit more open and transparent because some of those stories are really helpful for my audience. So storytelling in the video can be very, very helpful if it's your own personal story. Um, using persuasive language is another copy technique. You can provide examples, you can provide statistics, you can provide a case study, you could provide something that would seem very persuasive or make a comparison. That's always good. It's kind of like if this is true, then why isn't this true? And have that linger as they're thinking about it. So there's different ways to be persuasive without being pushy or without being salesy. And you're going to engage the audience to listen, and then they will, when they watch all the way to the end, you'll be able to have them address the call to action. Now, the call to action doesn't necessarily need to be to download something. It can be to consider what you said throughout the day. So it could be the next time you do this, try this tip and see how it works for you. And by the way, let me know how it turns out. It could be something subtle and soft like that. It doesn't always have to be download my free resource, right? Or go to my profile page or go to my website. You can leave a different call to action because you're still getting them to respond and think about what it is that you said. And then you can mix it up. You can mix it up. Some videos can have a download my resource or visit my website, but you can mix it up a little bit so it doesn't always sound like you're you're promoting something for yourself. Now, where can you put these videos? Oh my goodness, there are so many places that you can put these videos. Um I think one of the easiest ways to create different sizes, because before in the past, it was difficult to put them just anywhere because you could put them on your website, you could put it on an opt-in page, you could put it on a thank you page, you could put it in an email. But sometimes the size, we didn't want necessarily YouTube size videos, and we'd have to get a special tool to get a square or to get the portrait size videos, and it was a hassle, right? But nowadays, you can just create a video and you can use Canva templates. You can create any kind of template in Canva, whether it's for Instagram or whether it's for YouTube, or whether it's for your classic uh YouTube short, you know, the portrait size. You can create that in Canva, and you know that Canva has the elements, the elements for photos. You just drag that into that template. It could be an already existing template, or you could start from scratch. And then when you create your short video, you can upload the video right into Canva and it will go into your template in whatever size you have. So you can now have a smaller video, maybe a square size video, on a lead magnet opt-in page. Or you can have it on social media, of course. That's a given. We put it on social media, but I want you to think outside the box. I want you to think where else can I put these videos? Where can they live? My website now that I did a makeover back in, I don't know, was May or April. Um, it has a video, my origin story, my about page. It has a video on my contact page, has another video somewhere, I think, in the group coaching page. But there's videos in there. So you could put videos in different places. And I've created these videos in Canva. Lately, I've been using Canva to create videos because I got tired of just having, you know, that that kind of portrait, the the type that you see on YouTube, shorts. I got tired of just having those, you know, right there on LinkedIn and other places, and just my face on there. So I wanted something else. I wanted a caption that they could see. So these templates in Canva makes it really nice because then you can create it and they know exactly, they get a little teaser about what it's about, and then your video plays right on there. You will actually download it as a video file, and then you can put it anywhere you want. And you can create these custom sizes for emails. If you want to send an email with a video, you can do that as well. I typically do a um monthly brief, which I think I forgot last month to do it, but I do a monthly brief and I create a video for my email list. It's kind of a once-a-month touch-based behind the scenes type thing. And you can create these videos and you can put them in different places to just stay more engaged with your email list. It's a great way to create a video and customize the video just for the people in your email and just share something that you don't normally share somewhere else for your email list. So there's different ways. When you're thinking originally about having videos and considering what's the purpose of this video, consider what am I going to use these videos for? How can I use them? And then begin to brainstorm a little bit and figure out, depending on your weekly activity, what it is that you do, can you produce videos in the place of text? So that could be really helpful because I think people get a little sample of who you are. And there's things that no matter how much you try to share it in text form, we get busy and we sort of lose some of those elements that really should. Our personality. But when people watch you on video, they get to hear you. They get to see your movements, where you emphasize certain words, all your hand gestures. I use a lot of hand gestures. You can't see that in regular copy when I'm writing. But they can see that. They can hear when you get really, really excited. And they can hear when something is really important that you're sharing with them. So they can hear these things in video. And somehow in text, it can get lost in the whirlwind of the weekly things that we have to do. So these videos can be really helpful. And if you can get really good at creating under 60 seconds a video, you can begin to batch these. You can begin to batch them and you don't need much content. That's the thing. Maybe you have an article that has a lot of different points. You may be able to create a video for each point from one article that you've written in the past and create multiple video clips. Or how about a series? You can create a series that connects a thought with all these videos. And you can create a video series and create some anticipation for the next video that comes. You can create a email video challenge. See, this is just the beginning of different things that you can think about. What can you create that will enhance your marketing? And so when you begin to think about this and realize that 60 seconds isn't that long, but it's long enough to say a lot. Then you'll be able to use videos, get more comfortable with it, write succinctly, write very clear, and give those videos a purpose. Just like every word has to carry its weight, make every video carry its weight too. Let them become your little employees and doing their thing wherever they're going to live and create these videos. So I hope that was helpful for you. There are lots of different tools now that incorporate videos. I know I use SunSpark, which I absolutely love, and it's a way for me to create a quick video where I don't have to host it anywhere. I get a link and I use it a lot to communicate with other people when I'm working on a project or to share a quick tutorial with one of the members from my mastermind. I can actually use videos in private DMs. I can have a button with the video, a little overlay template that sits with the video. So if people listen to the video and they'd like to book a call with me, the button is right there with the video. There's so many uses for video. So I want you to consider, first of all, what would the purpose be of the video and start thinking how can I incorporate in what I'm already doing? Don't just add more stuff to your already busy week. Figure out what I can replace or how can I improve or what can I take out? How can I begin to use video in a way that's going to help me connect with my audience? Well, that's what I have for you today. I hope that was helpful to you. If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love a five star review that would help me get the word out to more people about my podcast. And if you decide to incorporate some of these tips in your upcoming videos, be sure to tag me so I can see your videos and give you a thumbs up and cheer you on. So until next time, take care. Bye bye.