How Much Has Content-Based Business Changed?

[Govern Mental]

This thread is for anyone who has built a solid content-based business within the past year or two. It seems to me that the old ways of doing things in this arena (i.e. books, ebooks, etc.) has been progressively phased out by something more "modern." The question is... what?

Has content seen a shift toward online videos, or seminars/classes, or even one-on-one coaching? Or are the more conventional approaches still equally popular today as they were a few years ago?

Now, I'm thinking in terms of "how-to" content, or information. I have a few ideas in my head right now, but I want to make sure I take the most efficient path, from marketing my information to distribution, before I take any big steps.

Perhaps my hunch is wrong, but I just want to get some feedback from people who have been there and done that in this area as far as how exactly it was done and where they see the most profit coming from.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

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[MendeGames]

There has definitely been more of a switch toward video for a few reasons:
1) Youtube provides a method of referral traffic without any need for advertising or SEO.
2) People are lazy so watching videos is easier.
3) It's easier to communicate a lot of content in a video that in an ebook.
4) Many people hate reading.

 

[RazorCut]

I totally agree with the above but it also depends on your niche. Sometimes you need more than a video to convey the necessary information so then it will be a combination of video and written material. And sometimes the video is just a vehicle to sell the written word.

For example the last two big launches I have witnessed video was used heavily to sell a printed book that was posted to you several weeks later so quite a spin on things and totally at odds with the instant gratification models the Web usually provides. I bought both books, both out of interest and also to see the process and what back-end sales systems were in play.

The two books were from huge names in their fields:

Jeff Walker - Launch
Tony Robbins - Money, Master the Game

Money currently sits at #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list (Business)

http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/business-books/list.html

Jeff Walker made it to #1 in his niche too which shows how powerful their marketing strategy is (and obvious huge number of JV connections):

http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2014-07-20/advice-how-to-and-miscellaneous/list.html

It was not just their own Videos that created the momentum, there was many video interviews and also, Podcast interviews which saw their presence heavily spike across the internet during the run up to their respective launches. Very slick marketing machines you can learn a lot from.

 

[Durete]

Sadly lots of focus has gone to video's.
For the people that I follow, I stopped following them since they went to video's. (You need a good broad band connection to reliably follow a video...I'm on satalite internet so video's are a no-no, unless I'm sure that there's a LOT of value in there. than I'll take the 15-20 minutes to download the youtube video's etc.)

I think for the general population:
Video's or audiobooks are the prefered way right now

For highly effective/busy people:
I think that reading is preferred, as you can get through the information a lot quicker than to listen to someone talk.
Also you'll remember it better as you see the text while you're reading it.


General population is where the "Easy" money is at.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

I totally agree with the above but it also depends on your niche. Sometimes you need more than a video to convey the necessary information so then it will be a combination of video and written material. And sometimes the video is just a vehicle to sell the written word.

For example the last two big launches I have witnessed video was used heavily to sell a printed book that was posted to you several weeks later so quite a spin on things and totally at odds with the instant gratification models the Web usually provides. I bought both books, both out of interest and also to see the process and what back-end sales systems were in play.

The two books were from huge names in their fields:

Jeff Walker - Launch
Tony Robbins - Money, Master the Game

Money currently sits at #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list (Business)

http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/business-books/list.html

Jeff Walker made it to #1 in his niche too which shows how powerful their marketing strategy is (and obvious huge number of JV connections):

http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2014-07-20/advice-how-to-and-miscellaneous/list.html

It was not just their own Videos that created the momentum, there was many video interviews and also, Podcast interviews which saw their presence heavily spike across the internet during the run up to their respective launches. Very slick marketing machines you can learn a lot from.

These two books are bad examples. Huge brand name authors and huge huge lists of JV partnerships. They couldn't fail if they wanted almost..

Better launch example is The 7-Day Startup by Dan Norris of wpcurve.com. He even has a post about how he promoted. And he's a huge content creator.

Next shift is Video. Podcasting was the most recent wave. Text still works too, but it's not hot. There are billions of articles online now. Less video.

 

[Govern Mental]

Better launch example is The 7-Day Startup by Dan Norris of wpcurve.com. He even has a post about how he promoted. And he's a huge content creator.

Do you know where I could find that post? I'm very curious to know how he did it.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Do you know where I could find that post? I'm very curious to know how he did it.

Go to www.wpcurve.com blog.. it's not an old article..

Also go to www.nathanbarry.com and dig around, there will be few case studies of his successful book launches.

 

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[RazorCut]

These two books are bad examples. Huge brand name authors and huge huge lists of JV partnerships. They couldn't fail if they wanted almost..

Better launch example is The 7-Day Startup by Dan Norris of wpcurve.com. He even has a post about how he promoted. And he's a huge content creator.

The question was not provide a launch example is was: "How Much Has Content-Based Business Changed?"

The big boys lead the field and the rest tend to follow. There are many others of course but I thought these two offered an interesting spin using technology to sell a traditional product that seems to be going out of fashion in many ways.

I wouldn't recommend reading the Dan Norris book itself. It is based on his panic situation of having 2 weeks of money left after failing in business for 14 years or so. Because he got lucky and hit on something that finally worked he wrote a book saying that's how to be successful. Advocating setting up your business in 7 days is foolhardy at best and completely flawed. Day 1 decide what business you are going to build? I'm sure if we all did that we would all be rich. As a book for advocating action over procrastination it has merit. As a book to base your business on? Well good luck with that.

If the question was provide a launch example that would help promote

"how-to" content, or information.

I would look at John Chow, he provides practically everything you need to know about launching a digital product step by step in this video:

He will show you how you can get large numbers of JV partners offering your products.

Don't overlook the smaller entrepreneurs but looking at how the big players that have been in this game forever operate is well worth the investment in time. Plenty of tips and tricks there.

 

[Gymjunkie]

The question was not provide a launch example is was: "How Much Has Content-Based Business Changed?"

The big boys lead the field and the rest tend to follow. There are many others of course but I thought these two offered an interesting spin using technology to sell a traditional product that seems to be going out of fashion in many ways.

I wouldn't recommend reading the Dan Norris book itself. It is based on his panic situation of having 2 weeks of money left after failing in business for 14 years or so. Because he got lucky and hit on something that finally worked he wrote a book saying that's how to be successful. Advocating setting up your business in 7 days is foolhardy at best and completely flawed. Day 1 decide what business you are going to build? I'm sure if we all did that we would all be rich. As a book for advocating action over procrastination it has merit. As a book to base your business on? Well good luck with that.

If the question was provide a launch example that would help promote I would look at John Chow, he provides practically everything you need to know about launching a digital product step by step in this video:

He will show you how you can get large numbers of JV partners offering your products.

Don't overlook the smaller entrepreneurs but looking at how the big players that have been in this game forever operate is well worth the investment in time. Plenty of tips and tricks there.

Doesn't matter if it was based on panic or not. Jeez.. He analyses well and gave a good structure to launch and MVP of a business. That's better than months of procrastination and wasting time on bad idea. I had similar thoughts about the book before, but it is a good read.

D.Norris is a guy who built his businesses on Content Marketing so learn from him and it matches the topic. He built relationships with his first few (failed) attempts and when he launched a good idea, all things converged to work. He and Neil Patel are great examples to analyse for content marketing.

How is John Chow doing these days is interesting tho..

 

[LuckyPup]

This thread is for anyone who has built a solid content-based business within the past year or two. It seems to me that the old ways of doing things in this arena (i.e. books, ebooks, etc.) has been progressively phased out by something more "modern." The question is... what?

Has content seen a shift toward online videos, or seminars/classes, or even one-on-one coaching? Or are the more conventional approaches still equally popular today as they were a few years ago?

Now, I'm thinking in terms of "how-to" content, or information. I have a few ideas in my head right now, but I want to make sure I take the most efficient path, from marketing my information to distribution, before I take any big steps.

Perhaps my hunch is wrong, but I just want to get some feedback from people who have been there and done that in this area as far as how exactly it was done and where they see the most profit coming from.

Thanks for the feedback.

Yep, with more bandwidth and faster speeds, video has become more popular. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video can be worth much more. However, as noted by others, it's not the only content marketing strategy and other strategies shouldn't be ignored. Mike Koenigs has made a lot of hay in the author niche, and he uses the term "multi-cast marketing," which means repurposing the same content in video, written word, audio, etc.

 

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[mt_myke]

Not to hijack this thread, but is there a "wordpress for video" yet? Something a step beyond just screencapping a PowerPoint presentation, but that still lets you crank out video with heavy use of premade material, the same way WP lets you crank out websites using premade themes.

As someone pointed out video is popular because people are lazy, not really because video is always a superior medium in every case. For example if you're selling a product that doesn't have much compelling action / in-use potential then the video isn't really bringing anything to the table that you weren't alteady getting from your landing page. So, is there a service or software that lets you quickly and easily generate "landing page" pitch videos if you already have the images and copy you'd otherwise use on that page?

 

[Gymjunkie]

Not to hijack this thread, but is there a "wordpress for video" yet? Something a step beyond just screencapping a PowerPoint presentation, but that still lets you crank out video with heavy use of premade material, the same way WP lets you crank out websites using premade themes.

As someone pointed out video is popular because people are lazy, not really because video is always a superior medium in every case. For example if you're selling a product that doesn't have much compelling action / in-use potential then the video isn't really bringing anything to the table that you weren't alteady getting from your landing page. So, is there a service or software that lets you quickly and easily generate "landing page" pitch videos if you already have the images and copy you'd otherwise use on that page?

The whole point of video would be to add something more than just product images in video. There should be founder talking about the product and clients, how it helps etc. Real video not slideshow.

And not aware of anything similar yet.. There is something like that for animation (Pawtoons) but not for vids.

 

[mt_myke]

The whole point of video would be to add something more than just product images in video. There should be founder talking about the product and clients, how it helps etc. Real video not slideshow.

And not aware of anything similar yet.. There is something like that for animation (Pawtoons) but not for vids.

Powtoons is the kind of thing I was thinking of. Imagine a founder being able to take a selfie video against a white office wall, and something like powtoons blends in background video + animation making it look like a professional spot. I expect to see a lot more of this kind of generated video vs. traditional "from scratch" productions.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

Powtoons is the kind of thing I was thinking of. Imagine a founder being able to take a selfie video against a white office wall, and something like powtoons blends in background video + animation making it look like a professional spot. I expect to see a lot more of this kind of generated video vs. traditional "from scratch" productions.

I wouldn't like it, personally. Just take a smartphone video or a GoPro instead and just be natural..