Month: March 2006

What do you think?

Hi guys and gals,

Brad Fallon showed us all what’s possible with Internet video for product demonstrations, but what about companies that sell intangibles.

In my case, I sell advice and training (with a dash of insight) in the form of seminars and home study programs. How do you demonstrate the value of education with video?

One answer, I think, is customer testimonials.  My challenge is how to convey the total mass of testimonials  I have without showing hours of video.

Here’s my first experiment in this area.  Please take a look and then post what you think. (Don’t worry about hurting my feelings.  I’m looking for ways to improve, not for a pat on the back.)

How can we make it better? Is there a better way to attack the problem?

Thanks.

http://www.systemgrads.com

Thanks to Joe Chapuis for making this project happen.

The one I’ve been waiting for

In 1994, when I lived in San Francisco, I published a little
eight-page newspaper called the Internet Gazette.

My friend Jim Warren, founder of the Computer Faire,
the original consumer PC show, gave me the idea
and it worked like crazy for my then-fledgling Internet
consulting business.

I had two stories on the front page of the first issue…

Continue reading “The one I’ve been waiting for”

A TV channel of your own

I got this from J.D. Lasica’s book "Darknet", which I strongly recommend you get and read.

One of the most interesting characters Lasica found in the course of researching the new Internet video world is a guy who goes by the name of "Raven."

Raven has his own 24/7 TV channel. It’s called Daytona Beach Live.

Total cash outlay: Studio (zero, it’s in his home), $200 for a Sony Handcam, a few second hand computers and $17.95 a month hosting bill. Right now, it’s a labor of love and Raven pays the rent with a day job, but it’s a demonstration of what’s possible for people with passion.

The site itself is a bit rough and it streams in Real Video only. You can probably see many ways to improve on what he’s doing – but the key thing is…he’s doing it.

A useful resource on his site:

Click on the "Internet TV Portals" link on his site for pointers to two sites that have assembled an extensive collection of links to other Internet television channels:

Daytona Beach Live

Home movies from 1994

This is footage from the first conference on web marketing ever held. The year was 1994. The place San Francisco.  Featured speakers, your truly and Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Netscape.

It’s an hour or so long so it’s not a sales piece per se.  On the other hand, it’s a good answer to anyone who asks me the question:  "How long have you been involved in Internet marketing? And what the heck do you know?"

The video is hosted courtesy of Google Video.

Cost to me: nada. 

We just uploaded the footage (easier said than done actually because of its length) and they provided us with the code to put the player on the blog. Slick, huh? You can do it too.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.

Note: Unless you have the Google video player, the quality is not great.  Because this is historical footage, I kind of like the fact  it looks a bit rough.

Keep in mind as you’re watching, this is from 1994.

 

Enjoy!

How big media brags in 2006

Big media has two customer bases: 1) the consumers it attracts as viewers and 2) the advertisers it sells time and space to.

These companies do quite a bit of advertising to attract the latter and one of the best places to track their pitches is the print version of the New York Times.

Why bother?

These pitches show what big media companies think their ad buying customers want (and big media generally has a very good sense of what’s selling.)

Guess what’s hot?

Continue reading “How big media brags in 2006”