Is video magic?
Let me ask you a different question…
Is the Internet magic?
Not that long ago, some business people actually thought that the Internet was magic.
They believed ANYTHING you put up on the Internet would work.
This was called the ‘Dot Com’ Era.
Or maybe – with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight – we should call it the ‘Dot Com’ Error.
The error being that in the tremendous excitement created by the coming of the Internet, many people forgot that business ideas – no matter how glamorous – eventually have to pay their own way.
Events demonstrated that the Internet alone was not magic.
… And video on the Internet will prove it’s not magic either.
But it will be powerful when used skillfully.
— What’s wrong with this picture?
Sometimes the best way to learn how to do something right is to watch other people getting it wrong.
In this issue, I’m going to point out a site that at the moment (12- 23-05) is not getting it.
The company is called Ross-Simons and they have a substantial print catalog that sells jewelry.
If you want to look at the site and form your own impression if it before you read my comments, you can see it here. What do you think? Good, bad or so-so?
http://www.ross-simons.com
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NOTE: As of 1-15-06, the company has pulled its video content off the web. My guess is their use of video did not help their sales.
Read on to see how they got it wrong.
Video alone is not magic.
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This Christmas Shopping season Ross-Simons decided to try their hand at video on their web site.
Good move.
But apparently, they’re not subscribers to the Internet Video Marketing Sales Letter.
Or if they are, they didn’t read the “Talking Heads” issue.
The Ross-Simons site features a Soap Opera heroine gushing over the company’s newest line of jewelry interspersed with video messages from the company’s CEO.
Lessons to be learned from this site:
1. Acting and selling on TV are two very different skills.
Don’t assume that a show biz type personality will always (or ever) work in a selling situation, especially on TV.
2. The CEO of a company is not always the best spokesman for a company’s product line, especially when the customers are women and the CEO is a pleasant and intelligent, but not very sexy middle aged man.
3. There are situations where “talking heads” can work on TV and we’ll take a look at some of these situations in future issues.
But meanwhile, it’s safe to say that talking heads is not a great way to sell jewelry.
Ross-Simons would do well to study the QVC model of leaving the selling to experienced host/salespeoples and making sure that the models are seen but not heard.
It’s a tried and true formula that goes back decades to the showrooms of the garment district in New York and probably to Paris before that.
Observe and learn – and applaud Ross-Simons for having the guts to be pioneers even if they did get it wrong.
(Because they’re in the game early, they’ll eventually figure it out before most of their competitors.)
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NOTE: As of 1-15-06, the company has pulled
its video content off the web. My guess is
their use of video did not help their sales.
Video alone is not magic.
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Best,
– Ken McCarthy
P.S. For over 25 years I’ve been sharing the simple but powerful things that matter in business with my clients.
If you’d like direction for your business that will work today, tomorrow and twenty years from now, visit us at the System Club.
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http://www.InternetVideoMarketingLetter.com/
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