Superb Use of Video by Trafalgar

This is a posting about an established travel company that is beginning to use video to gain market share and re-brand itself. This is a great first step. I have some suggestions to go even further.

LAS VEGAS, NV (November 11, 2009) – Trafalgar Tours provides escorted vacation tours around the world. They’ve been around since 1947. But they’re now giving themselves a facelift. And it’s a good one.

Trafalgar is using video to re-brand itself. Here’s the video.

The goal is to drive home their new brand: Rediscover the romance of travel with Trafalgar. The video does a great job by following around an attractive and likeable Australian couple as they go through Europe from Ireland to Italy. It’s like an eavesdropping travelogue.

Paul Wiseman, the President of Trafalgar USA, said video helps the potential customer understand “the experience.”

“What we’re finding today is that what resonates with the consumer … are experiences. It is very difficult to put into words the very comprehensive nature of what the touring experience is,” Wiseman told TravelPulse.

But there is more Trafalgar can do with video.

First, the video needs to explain that you’re are not driving from city to city. Who wants to be stuck on a coach from Paris to Rome for three days? You won’t; you fly from city to city and the bus drives you around the city. Most travelers will know that, but for some it will raise questions.

Second, I would cut that video down to 3 to 5 minutes. At 7 minutes, it is too long for the average viewer. For the most part, we understand the beauty of Ireland, France, and Italy. After a few minutes, I had some more important questions like…

Third, answer questions about the credibility of the drivers and tour guides. How often do we read or hear stories about a tour bus crashing. I really want some assurances in a foreign country. They didn’t answer that for me.

Fourth, Trafalgar needs to create a whole series of videos that are 3 to 5 minutes in length on specific topics such as the ones mentioned in the previous paragraph and a synopsis of each city and videos on certain aspects of the city like shopping or dining.

Fifth, list those videos on the main landing page with their topics clearly labeled so visitors to the site have their choice of which topics to view.

Again, if my team and I can help, take a look at this site.

Become Your Favorite Journalist

 This is a post about what I’ve been saying for years about you and the media.  And because of The great Recession it is here.

You and your business have to be your own news outlet.

In a recent article in Ad Age, companies cannot rely on traditional news outlets to get the word out about their company.

According to the website Paper Cuts, which tracks layoffs and buyouts at U.S. newspapers, nearly 30,000 reporters have left the industry since the beginning of 2008. So instead of pitching their stories to reporters, a growing number of marketers are directly engaging consumers through original content they and their agencies are creating.

I highly recommend you read the article.  Notice what companies like Coldwell Banker and Geek Squad are doing.  They’re building their own TV shows and networks and they’re reaching a much wider audience.

All businesses need to be doing this.  Your website is now your storefront.  And since you can’t be there live, a video representing you – not some endless written text — should be.

Most folks think they need a 10 to 20 minute comprehensive video about their business and services.  Wrong!  That’s almost as bad as giving your visitors a website with text only.  Why would you make them work to find out exactly what they want to know?

The solution: create a series of short videos — 5 to 10 videos would be ideal.  Each video should only be 3 to 5 minutes in length and each video should be labeled with a specific topic.

The topics should be informational; soft sell not hard sell.  You want to show off your expertise.

To do it right, you need seasoned professionals in the broadcast and news business.  We know how to shoot, edit, and write.  But more importantly, we can get your message across in a fraction of the time most video producers can.

That’s where my team comes in.  Catherine Savello, of Verge Marketing in Las Vegas, has already set up an information page that will soon, trust me, have a video component.  Here’s the link.

Along with Catherine is Michael Geeser of Poppy Productions.  We also have Internet Marketing guru Vicki Parnell.  Together, we can create videos and interviews that will make your business more understandable and you more approachable while reaching more customers — inexpensively.

There’s Some Movement: Be Ready

This is a posting about the movement that seems to be happening economically and financially.  And it will introduce you to an international conference I’m hosting November 17 and 18 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS, NV — We keep talking about green shoots.  They aren’t happening overnight but they are happening.

Ford Motor Company reports a quarterly profit.  Sure, the cash for clunkers had a lot to do with it.  And they might not see it in this next quarter. 

Warren Buffet buys Burlington Northern Santa Fe.  Yes, this is a deal for the future.  It might not turn the economy around today or even this year.  But it is a sign of hope for the future.

The other thing I keep hearing is the cheap dollar is attracting a lot of looks from overseas investors — namely the Pacific rim.

This is why you need to be ready for the economic return.  The International Conference of Business Professionals is holding this conference that I will be emceeing.  Here’s a video to explain more.

Conference for Global and Green Economy

I am emceeing a big event in Las Vegas November 17 and 18 at the Las Vegas Hilton.  Here’s a video to explain it all.  If you’re looking to jump start your business in this new economy and go green, this is the place to start.  You will also have a chance to network with companies from around the United States and around the world while also being a part of the International Congress of Business Professionals.  I was enticed by their strong educational programs that will train and re-train workers and executives in this new world.  I’ve written many times here that the economy went through a tectonic shift in the past two years.  Those who understand it and are educated to navigate the wreckage and the opportunities will thrive in the next few years.  I think this is one place to start.

NextGenMedia Makes You The Media

This is a posting about the new venture I’m working with: NextGenMedia. By using this breakthrough technology and the media know-how we have, we can help you not only get your message out but control that message. We’re also preparing for seminars you can attend to make it happen for you and your business.

LAS VEGAS, NV (July 24, 2009) – Take a look at the NextGenMedia site and some of the channels that we’re working on. Imagine your company with a presence like that — with HD streaming video technology.

(A note of disclosure here: some of the sites you’ll see are not operational. We’re in discussions with some of those companies right now and these mock-ups are used for demonstration purposes only.)

First, understand that your business in this new economy will not survive, let alone flourish, if you don’t have a major position on the worldwide web. Your website is your storefront.

And when someone virtually opens that door, they better like what and who they see. They also want info NOW.

The only way to deliver is through video. Eye-catching, yet simple, informative video that sells you and your knowledge and expertise.

Second, all businesses need to understand that they don’t need the media. They are the media – no matter what their service or product is.

By having a website and video platform, like the ones we’re offering at NextGenMedia, you can get out front of the media’s message about your company, your industry, or the economic outlook.

For example, take a car dealer with a parts recall. Before the story hits the mainstream media, the car dealer can produce a video to air on its video platform. By blasting an email to their list of customers and prospects, the car dealer has now reached his prime market – not the shotgun wide market from a TV station.

In addition, by getting out in front of the story, the car dealer can frame the story correctly. I’m not talking about lying here; I’m talking about telling the truth and showing that the company is on top of it. Also, the car dealer can offer other incentives when a customer arrives to have the recall maintained.

Before it seems like I’m burying the mainstream media, I’m not. You still need to deal with them.

First, by having a video platform, you can actually deliver that video to a TV station for use in their story. It will be your side of the story without any editing. Of course, it doesn’t mean that a contrary side won’t be aired with yours. That’s fine, though.

Next, you also need to learn how to deal directly with the media. How do you present yourself as an expert: what do you say; how do you prepare; and how do you look and come across.

That’s another area of expertise we offer. We know what the media is thinking. Plus, today’s media is nothing like your father’s media – or even your older brother’s media. Things have changed drastically with the inroads of the internet and the various bias now practiced by all media.

So, in a few months, we will offer online and in-person seminars (in Las Vegas) on how to deal with the media while becoming a part of the media. As a result, you need to keep it posted here and on NextGenMedia.

Wealth Summit in Las Vegas

Good friend Wendy Brennan is helping with Wealth Summit Live in Las Vegas on May 9 and 10.  It’s at the Venetian.  Among the speakers is Harry Dent, whose recent book, The Depression Ahead, I mention in a recent posting at JohnDalyLive.   For more information, here’s a video with Wendy explaining it all.

Turning Your Pitch Into A Snoozer

The Wall Street Journal has a great piece on how to pitch to venture capitalists and investors.   In addition, there is a valuable book on the subject that is attached to the link.  If you have an idea you want funded, read it.  The story is also funny.

Making Your Business A TV Star

This is a posting about some of the ways to market your business in this new Information Age. In short, you need to be on TV … on the Internet. Here’s how.

LAS VEGAS, NV (March 31, 2009) – Your business has to be online or you’re toast. I’m not saying close your retail shops. I’m just saying you need a storefront on the web.

In his book, Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great Twenty-First Century Business Reformation, Peter Fingar says businesses need to sell experiences, lifestyles and statements, not just products.

The best way to do that is the internet.

The best way on the internet is through video.

If your company spends more than $250,000 a year on advertising and public relations, then let me show you a way to cut your costs and increase your exposure to a niche market: become your own TV station.

This is something I’m offering to the insurance and investment industry. You can read about it in this story on JohnDalyInsurance.  Or it can be simple one-on-one video interviews like the ones I conducted with the top internet marketers at RealMoneyShow.

But here’s how to get your business out there in a targeted and professional-looking way — without the high cost of TV.

Take an office space of 10 by 20 feet and build a studio. To do it right, so you get a professional look, with a 3-camera set-up, it will cost $100,000. (I’m giving you high numbers, but I have folks who can spec it out and build it.)

Hire a professional to come in and train you and the staff member who will be using the studio. Then hire local high school and college kids as a vendor or part-time who know this technology and have them do the editing and dubbing of the videos. The estimated cost for this is $30,000 a year.

Next, hire an internet marketer as a vendor. That should cost about $3,000 a month with a $10,000 set-up. So you’re looking at another $50,000.

Right now, you’re investing $180,000. Let’s throw in some contingency, so we’ll call it $200,000.

Again, you can do something much cheaper. Check out Michael Miller’s book, YouTube For Business. It’s a great read and great ideas. But if you’re looking for a professional look to your business, what I’m talking about is the way to go.

With this internet studio, you now have the capabilities to reach your customers and prospects with news and information immediately. You can create video blogs for each of your executives or sales reps. Those video messages can be for a wide audience or just individual clients or prospects.

Let’s say your company has a recall of a product. You can inform your customers first before the media does it. Chances are the media, in need of content for their newscasts, might use your video on their newscast. At least this way, you have more control.

What if you want to hold a seminar on a topic relating to your business and your customers? You can use the studio to create video messages promoting the event. Or better yet, you can have the seminar online for those who can’t make it.

The next hurdle might be you or your employees. They don’t like being on-camera. That’s where you bring in someone like me who has a background in front of the camera. Trust me, there are plenty of former news folks who are out of work these days and would love a chance to use their skills for you.

The good ones can actually host and produce shows for you. Again, they don’t need to be Hollywood style productions: a talk show format works just fine. Your audience – customers and prospects — want information, not entertainment.

How about the bottom line?

Take a 30-second TV spot on local television. It will cost you at the minimum $3,500 to produce – unless it’s really cheap looking. Then you will need to air it a minimum of two times a day to get any traction. Assuming the rates are $600 for a 30-second spot (using Las Vegas equivalents here) then for a month you’re paying $36,000 a month for air time. Add the cost of production and you’ve paid nearly $40,000 for one month.

Do that ten months out of the year, you’re already well over the cost of a studio.

Plus, the TV audience is not a niche audience. It’s widespread, so you’re really not targeting the customers you want.

Now, let’s say you want to use a local TV station to produce a TV talk show for yourself. This is a good idea to show you and your company as experts in your field.

But let’s look at the costs. Again, I’m giving you Las Vegas numbers.

To produce a half-hour show for you, most stations will charge $1,000 for each show episode. The decent air-times – which are usually weekend afternoons or early evenings – cost about $3,000 an episode. So, you’re paying $4,000 a week. If you do the show 50 times a year, you’re paying $200,000 – the cost of buying and running your own studio.

Furthermore, your studio can make money for you. Think of the customers you have that would want to promote their business either through video or creating their own TV shows for their websites or social networking sites. You can charge them a nominal fee.

For instance, here’s how.

A company wants to use the studio for a video. You charge the company $750 for the time and to produce a DVD. Again, this customer of yours saves a ton of money compared to TV and he has a video he can send out to all of his customers – for only $750. That is, if he doesn’t hire someone to be the talent on the video.

Let’s see how that works for you, the new studio owner.

Of that $750, $50 goes to your technical person and the expenses for the studio, while your business pockets $700.

If you bring in five businesses a week that need videos, the revenues will be $3,500 weekly net for your studio. Over 50 weeks, you just brought in $175,000 and nearly paid off the studio.

Remember, I’m using low revenue and high cost numbers here. The other thing to remember is that the second year of studio costs drops dramatically – by nearly $75,000 since you’ve already bought the equipment.

Any questions or referrals leave them on the comment section or drop me an email at info@johndaly.tv

Billy Bitumen And A Chance For You To Help Save And Pave The World

This is a posting about a company I’m working with. The company is Billian International – named after the two principles Bill and Ian. Let’s hope it changes from Billian to Billion. But money isn’t the motivation here. They’re going to change the world – paving one road at a time.

LAS VEGAS, NV (March 16, 2009) – Here’s the concept. Take tires out of landfills, and then use them to make better roads.

Yes, the concept has been around for nearly 30 years. Roads are less expensive to maintain which taxpayers love. Tire to asphalt roads are also safer (tires grip even in rain), quieter, and give motorists better mileage.

But to create tire-asphalt roads is expensive. You better be paving a lot of road, because it will take a lot of money to move the whole factory to the paving site for all that hot mixing.

Not anymore.

My buddy Bill Bailey and his partner Ian Cousins have a patented system that can turn tire into asphalt in minutes. In other words, if you want your driveway paved or you want to put a tire-asphalt basketball court in your backyard, then you can do it yourself – without a huge factory sitting on your front lawn.

That sounds cool because it will save you thousands of dollars. But what makes it even cooler worldwide is this: those small villages in Asia and Africa can now pave roads to the cities to bring their goods and food to market.

Now think about the low-cost of creating these roads with unskilled workers and you have yourself, what Bill Bailey calls, “another New Deal for the developing world.”

I likened Bill Bailey to Sully, the airline pilot who brought home a damaged jetliner on the Hudson in this recent post. Bill was all “aw shucks” about it. But I told him what he was doing could save people’s lives and bring economic gains to parts of the world that might never see it – especially during this worldwide recession.

It’s all done with paving pellets. Bill and Ian treat the pellets in a certain way that allow for the easy use of turning them into pavement. Look at their website and take a look at this video.

Sure, the video is a little crude and the website needs some sprucing up. That’s coming.

Once Billian is funded that website will be a model for green websites. Included on the site will be a blog called Billy Bitumen – written by Bill. Bitumen is the oil-tar that is the basis for pavement.

In addition, we will have videos from around the world where the Paving Pellets factories are located.

What Bill and Ian are looking for are investors who will either take a percentage of the company or offer a line of credit.

Billian is also looking for joint venture partners. The plan is to build a number of plants around the world. These plants will produce the paving pellets that will be sold to paving companies or governments – whoever is doing the paving.

In addition, the patented process that makes the paving pellets can also be used on the bitumen (oil) to pelletize them. So let’s say, a road project in China needs oil from Canada for a massive paving project. That oil, before it’s shipped, is turned into dry pellets. The cost of keeping the oil heated is gone while the chance of oil spills is negated as well.

The good news is that the economic stimulus package has put plenty of government dollars towards road projects. Bill tells me he has a lot of projects to fulfill.

If you need more info on this, email me at info@johndaly.tv. I will put you in touch with Bill Bailey. You will need to show you are a qualified investor.

For more information, here’s an industry article on Billian.

Don’t Be A Recession Weenie

This posting has been requested by a few folks who are looking for opportunities and some inspiration during this economic downturn.  All you have to do is go to this link.