Doug Dibert, Jr. built the Magnfi platform which helps marketers and businesses send video emails and make video testimonials. Magnfi’s mantra is “Made Easy,” and with that in mind they’ve built their automated video marketing platform around the core needs of most businesses.
GUEST: Doug Dibert Jr. | Magnfi | Linkedin
HOSTS: The Video Marketing Value Podcast is hosted by:
– Dane Golden of VidiUp.tv and VidTarget.io | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube
– Renee Teeley of VideoExplained and ReneeTeeley.com | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
SPONSORS: This episode is brought to you by our affiliate partners, including: TubeBuddy, VidIQ, MorningFame, Rev.com, and other products and services we recommend.
PRODUCER: Jason Perrier of Phizzy Studios
TRANSCRIPT
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
I want to deliver to them a fully-produced, packaged video testimonial, ready to go, without them having to hire a video production company to put that video together. In a nutshell, almost a little bit putting myself out of business.
Dane Golden:
It’s time for the Video Marketing Value podcast. This is the podcast where we help marketers and business owners just like get more value out of your video marketing efforts. My name is Dane Golden from VidiUp.tv, where we help you up your game on YouTube for business and transform your viewers into loyal customers. And I’ve started a new business with some partners, VidTarget.io where we help you save time and money through more targeted YouTube ads. Along with my cohost, she’s the powerhouse video marketer from San Francisco. It’s R-E-N-E-E T-E-E-L-E-Y, Renee Teeley from VideoExplained, hello Renee.
Renee Teeley:
Hello Dane. Today I am on cloud nine to be co-hosting this podcast with you.
Dane Golden:
But are you thrilled?
Renee Teeley:
I’m thrilled. I’m thrilled up there on cloud nine. I am all of the things.
Dane Golden:
She’s all the things. And Renee, what do you do at Video Explained?
Renee Teeley:
At Video Explained, I offer video production and consulting services to help companies use video to build credibility, generate leads, and convert leads into paying customers.
Dane Golden:
Okay. And for you, the listeners should always know that as always, you can follow along on your podcast app with the transcript, the links, the show notes, and send us a message on social media to let us know how you like the show. And today we have a special guest. It’s Doug Dibert, Jr. from Magnfi. Welcome Doug.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Thanks so much for having me. It’s a pleasure to be on the podcast with two other fellow video nerds, video geeks. It’s fantastic. I was going to say Big Dane.
Dane Golden:
You can say that.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
But I couldn’t think of a funny one for Renee. I don’t think Big Renee, just doesn’t sound…
Dane Golden:
She’s actually quite short in stature.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. I’m 5’2″, so I’m definitely not big, but this is also not the first time that someone has called me a nerd today.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Yeah.
Dane Golden:
I think that was me earlier.
Renee Teeley:
It was you.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
It’s a complement now. Back in the day, it was offensive now. Now I’m like, “Oh, thanks. I am a nerd.”
Dane Golden:
And I know she appreciated it. That’s the thing. Doug Dibert, Jr., we asked you on the Video Marketing Value podcast today because you’ve built a platform called Magnfi, and I’m going to spell it, M-A-G-N-F-I, which helps marketers and businesses send video emails and do video testimonials and a few other good things. Is that a good topic for today?
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
I think it sounds like a fantastic topic for today.
Renee Teeley:
Awesome. So I had a chance to play with the tool a little bit earlier today.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Oh, cool.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. Really awesome tool. It seems like it does a lot of different things. So can you give us just an overview of the general idea of what it does and then we can break it down as we go along throughout the podcast?
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Absolutely. For sure. So I’ll give you a little background actually on Magnfi, so how it was kind of birthed and created. So my background obviously is in video marketing and video creation. So I ran a video marketing agency called Crossing River and started that company on January 5th, 2005 shortly after I graduated college with my film degree and was shooting weddings and all that kind of good stuff and got into corporate stuff. And corporate stuff transitioned into video marketing stuff because people didn’t know what to do with their videos after they got them. “Oh yeah, I got this great video. What do I do with it now?” To them a fully-produced, packaged video testimonial, ready to go, without them having to hire an editor or a video production company to edit or put that video together.
In a nutshell, almost a little bit kind of putting myself out of business. But obviously, between shooting out a camera and a smartphone are two totally different things. But anyways, long story short, put together the interface of how I wanted the platform to be created. And we launched Magnfi in fall of 2017. And we launched with just the video testimonial functionality. We send a video, send a request for a video testimonial, then record that video, 50 seconds or less, smartphone, tablet, or computer with a webcam. They submit it. It goes back, Magnfi adds the logo, adds music to it, call to action in the logo, ready to go. That was our first iteration, our MVP, our minimum viable product. And then after that people started sending themselves requests for videos to themselves. But obviously, instead of filming a video testimonial, they were filming themselves or their video of their product or service in action.
So it was mainly people creating expert videos they could put on social media. So our first one was a real estate agent saying, “Hey, this week, I’m going to talk about three tips to get your house ready to sell in a competitive marketplace. Here’s my three tips,” yada, yada, yada. “If you want to list your house with me or looking to sell or buy, click the link in the post.” They love the fact that it put their branding on it, had their logo had music to it. It made it look professional. So we added that functionality.
Dane Golden:
And let’s break those down. So I want to break down each of the features, and Renee is going to ask about testimonials and more, but I want to ask my personal interest is in video email, part of that tool. So how does the Magnfi email video or video email work, and why does someone want to use it? And what are some of the principles that make up a good video email?
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
If you’re not using video email listener or listening to this podcast, you’re missing out. Video emails are something you definitely want to start doing ASAP. So with Magnfi, with video email, how it came about was we had people asking to send branded videos in an email. So essentially, we automated the whole process. So video email with the Magnfi allows you to record it up to 90-second video on your smartphone, tablet, or computer with a webcam. And you could send that video email to anybody, prospect, a current client, especially in this day and age where we can’t get together as much as we would like to. We can’t get hop on a Zoom call, you can’t hop on a Skype call all the time time. I want to shoot a quick video, record a 90-second video.
And then you can add call to action links on there. You can add your phone number on there. People can reply back to that video email. So it makes it really interactive. So best case practices for using video email is within Magnfi. If you log in and create an account and you’ll see a spot where pop in that person’s first name, last name and email. You go to the subject line. But underneath the subject line, we say, “Write a short note.” And the reason why we say write a short note, because the whole point of a video email is you want them to get them to engage and play that video. Don’t write a super long regular email, because they’re not going to play your video. You want to write a short note to get them to engage, to play that video.
Say had a Zoom call with the client or a Skype call with a potential client and you said, “Hey, thanks so much for the great video conference call. Made you a quick video with some additional details that you need to know. Check it out below.” That’s it. And then in the video is where you get into the detail. Because the detail is where they’re going to learn more about what you’re doing and what you want them to do. And within that video, you’re driving them, “Hey, to set up our next meeting, click that link below.” It’s going to pull up my calendar and you can grab another date and time for us to have a followup meeting or whatever next step you want them to take, because that’s where the magic happens with the video email, getting them to play that video and then putting a link to a next step.
If you want to get a prospect, or you want to get a current customer to take a next step, you want to do that within that video email. Because again, they’re seeing you, they’re making that personal connection. And what a lot of salespeople who have been utilizing video email within the platform to get really great success to kill the cold call, which everybody hates. There’s not a lot of people that love making cold calls. At least have that cold call somewhat warmed up. So what a lot of salespeople have been doing to leverage the platform is they’ll send a video email before they cold call them.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. I feel like that’s a good value proposition right there. If you going to say, “Kill the cold call,” that is just overwhelming value proposition. I’m always really curious to know how companies, especially in the video space are using their own tools and where they found the most success. So in terms of video emails, how are you guys actually using your own video tools and where are you seeing the most success?
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Sure, absolutely. So for us, we have our regular users. But we also white label our platform to digital marketing agencies. Or even white label our platform to video marketing agencies because they’re finding that our platform is a really great gateway to get their customers to create higher end videos. Magnfi can easily create the simpler style of videos, but can’t come close to creating full-out video with the documentary style filming and the extensive B-roll and the original music, all that kind of stuff. So for us, sending video email to our prospects, to our customers to create that more personal connection. And that’s how we stand out in a very crowded and busy marketplace. Just having your face and hearing your voice on camera and seeing the facial expression brings about the biggest edge that everybody has. The biggest differentiator you have is yourself. Because there’s a lot of people that can do a similar service. But the big differentiator is you. And video in email helps emphasize you. It melts away that text in your email.
Renee Teeley:
It’s so good to hear that you’re actually using your own products because I’m not going to name any companies, but I have worked at companies before and I’ve worked with many that are in the video space that just aren’t actually utilizing their own product in the same way that they are asking other people too. Video can be incredibly powerful, so it’s really great to hear that you’re using your own products. So moving on-
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
We’re doing it all manually. All the tools on the Magnfi platform are very much user generated. Our mantra is made easy. We want to make sure that every tool we add, one, is simple and easy to use, and two, our users are demanding it and asking for it. In video email was a big one, especially toward the end of last year, actually.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. So there’s tremendous value in video emails, but I’m also curious about some other features that you guys offer, specifically in terms of testimonials. So I have seen a lot of really boring customer testimonials. So I just love to understand a little bit more about how you guys are allowing people to capture those testimonials, that value that you’re really adding. And then maybe some of the tips that you have to make video testimonials interesting or work really well for customers.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Sure. So with the Magnfi platform, we actually have four different ways to capture video testimonials. We have, what we call the collective video testimonial tool. And then what we’ll do is it’ll send a link to a happy customer. You reach out, you pick up the phone and you ask them. So the collective video testimonial tool does that. Instead of hiring a full-on video production company to go out and shoot the video, you’re asking your customer, “Hey, would you mind making a quick video testimonial?” And they say, “Yeah, absolutely.” And you’ll say, “Hey, look, I’m just going to send you a link. You click that link and record it on your smartphone, tablet or computer with a webcam.” And the beauty about that is it our number one feedback we’ve gotten from our users is that these videos are super authentic.
We only allow them to record up to 50 seconds. So that way it’s not some long, drawn out talking head. And it’s somebody looking at the camera, utilizing their smartphone. And the authentic meter, so to speak, if you call it that, to shoot sky high, because they’re looking at the camera directly. And they’re talking about how that product or service made their life better. That there’s nothing better than another human being on camera just talking about how you just made their life better with the product or service that you offer. And we also have another tool that can mass capture video testimonies with one link, and again, allows them to record up to 50 seconds. And then we have another tool we call capture a case study video. And capture a case study video, again is very user demanded from our current user base and what it is, it’s kind of like a guided video testimonial, but what it is, it takes care of the question that comes up when we were producing video testimonials for our clients.
They would say one or two things after they said yes, to record a video. They would say, “Yeah, sure. What do you want me to kind of talk about in the video?” Not that they want it scripted, they just want direction, because when they have that camera on, people will freeze up unless you give them a little bit of basic direction. So you write a short little note, but with capture a case study video, they would say, “Hey, would you mind sending me the questions before I make the video?” So with capture a case study video, you could send three questions to a happy customer. And they see each question individually and they have 30 seconds to answer each question. And then the platform will take each video clip and produce the video, adding your logo at the very beginning and stylizing it with a little bit of zoom animation. And then the first question will actually fade up in text form.
Dane Golden:
And then let me ask you, Doug, when you talk about case studies in particular, what are the right questions to ask? Would we be talking about how much money we made? How much sales? Do we want to get them to talk in emotional terms? “This really relieved me from stress.” How do you craft the right questions?
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Sure. So a good rule of thumb is falling that story arc. So what was life like before you started using XYZ service? How was the implementation process of our solution? And then what’s life like after? So if you follow that story of before, during, and after when creating a case study video, you’re going to get a really unique story from that happy customer because you want to get them to talk about what life was like before they started using it. Let me see, what’s a good example? Let’s say you’re a dentist and you’re sending a request to a case study video to a customer who maybe got some really nice teeth whitening. So maybe the first question is, “How yellow were your teeth before you came into our office? And they’re like, “My teeth were so yellow that I looked like I had cheddar chops. I had cheddar cheese my teeth.”
Renee Teeley:
That sounds like the beginning of a joke. “How yellow were your teeth?”
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
How yellow were your teeth? But we’re having some fun. How yellow were your teeth? And maybe the second question could be, “How was the whitening process?” And then the person holds up their phone and they have 30 seconds to answer how was the whitening process. And they go, “The whitening process is pretty painless. They only took a hammer and chisel to a couple of my teeth.” And then the third question could be, “What kind of reaction are you getting with your teeth whitening?” And then they answer the question. 30 seconds, they say, “The reaction I’m getting is it’s so blinding white that the people could see barely anything when I walk into a room. My teeth are just glowing.” So it just tells the story before, what was the process like, how do we implement our solution and what’s life like now? Because that’s what people want to know. They want to know what was life like before because they want to relate.
Renee Teeley:
Such a good approach to customer testimonials is taking that story format. And I think that people can relate to that. And I actually love the story that you just said, because it just reminds me of the Friends episode where Ross gets his teeth whitened and then they’re like glowing in black light. So it’s just such a good visual. Stories are super powerful. So I see a lot of different applications for the tool. There’s lots of different things that you guys offer. And I believe you mentioned this before, but you said that you offer a white labeled version of your app for agencies. Can you talk a little bit about the value an agency would get in terms of white labeling your product?
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Absolutely. So when we launched the platform, I had no intention of white labeling, and what a white label is essentially, it’s your own version of Magnfi. So underneath your branding, your name, Magnfi stuff is gone. It’s your tool, it’s your baby to leverage and do whatever you want with. So a white label allows you to essentially give your own in-house video service to your customers. Once we launched Magnfi, we had agencies contacting us and saying, “Hey, can we white label your platform because we want to have our own in house video service. We don’t want to outsource simple video projects. We want to be able to offer video marketing, to allow our customers to do video marketing consistently, without breaking the bank.” Not replacing the higher end videos. Because again, Magnfi, the platform itself doesn’t create the higher end videos that require the talent and skillset of experienced video producer and experienced videographer to really tell a deep dive story.
That’s what Crossing River did. We told those a two-minute, three-minute long documentary-style brand videos. And agencies find that it helps them generate video content to help them have more social content, to put on their social media, to put on their website. And it’s an additional value, additional service offering that they have, that they could charge for that can create an additional revenue stream.
Dane Golden:
I did do a testimonial for my dentist and I’m glad you’re offering the service because they had me do it totally the wrong way. They had me do it when I was in the chair. And what I said about their service was, “I really like the service and I [inaudible 00:21:25].”
Renee Teeley:
I know you well enough that I knew where you were going when you started that.
Dane Golden:
You knew where that was going.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
That’s an authentic video testimonial though.
Dane Golden:
I love the [inaudible 00:21:38] partner.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
I tell you the tooth. Dad joke alert.
Dane Golden:
And here’s the question, and I don’t know if you offered this service, but maybe you can make some recommendations. When you do a group email and you want to do video for that, is one of your solutions good for that. Can I adopt the solution, or if it doesn’t, do you have any recommendations about using video for group emails, for instance, to my mailing list?
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Yeah, absolutely. So with Magnfi, and whether you’re a Magnfi user or you’re a white label user, you can CC or BCC up to 30 people on one video email. So reason why we have it at 30 is one, video email is all about personalization. So if you’re doing a video email out to a mass group, one, to get better results, if you’re sending out a video email to a large group, you really want that video to be playable on a landing page that has some sort of contact form or … what’s the word I’m looking for?
Renee Teeley:
Call to action?
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Call to action. Yeah. So from our experience when I was running my other agency, if somebody wanted to do a video email blast out to a thousand or even a hundred plus people, they generally got much better results when they put that video on a landing page. Even with magnified, for our white label service offering. If you go to our website, that page has a video on it that talks about the white label and what it is. For video email within Magnfi, you can track how many times the video was played and obviously if it was open and how many times it was played and we’re adding additional features of what percentage of the video email was played and if they clicked call to action link within your video, and then we’re adding on the ability to add videos to video email. So it’s all personalization on that. But for Magnfi itself, you can CC and BCC up to 30 people, which for most is perfect.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. I think that’s a good number if you’re really using this as a tool for video personalization. Other than that, if you are sending it to more than 30 people, it becomes not as personalized.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Not as personal. People will pick up on it. Even people that are doing the 30 at a time, you’re being careful to send out … you’re sending out to like a team. If you have employees and they’re scattered across the nation. And every morning maybe the team lead is sending out a video to all 30 people to say, “Hey guys, so here’s what’s on the agenda for today.”
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. Or you’re sending it to 30 people named Dane, and so you can mention Dane by name.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Yeah. There you go. We have one user who-
Dane Golden:
Look, there’s an email for Renee.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
We have one user that specifically works with churches and whenever they send a big group email, they just say, “Pastor-”
Renee Teeley:
Oh, that’s perfect.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
You figured out a way to work the system, my friend.
Renee Teeley:
So can you talk a little bit about how you guys have actually used customer testimonials for your own business in some of those results?
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Yeah. Oh my gosh. And anywhere we can possibly put a video testimonial, we put a video testimonial because it is the most valuable piece of marketing content you can create. And that’s not just me saying that, owning a platform that does it. Forbes agency council came out and said, “Video testimonials are the number one most valuable form of marketing content you can create.” And we all know at some point, Google is going to add that to the algorithm. I could guarantee it. It’s going to happen. I think it’s going to happen any month now. With such a move with video, what we’ve seen because of the coronavirus, video has advanced between five to 10 years, in my opinion, ahead. Where we would be at, without this happening, it would have took another five to 10 years.
Essentially, it’s forcing people to be more comfortable in front of the camera. Even though we’re doing a podcast right now, more people are more comfortable being on camera. Our stats show it. We’ve seen a huge jump in people creating branded videos. Expert tip videos of the week, videos of their product or service in action. We’ve seen people doing more video testimonials now because they’re comfortable being on camera, because they’re doing the video conference calls. They’re like, “Oh, it’s not that big of a deal anymore.”
Dane Golden:
Excellent, excellent. Doug Dibert, Jr., how can people find out more about Magnfi?
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
They can just go … I love how you said that. Love how you said that. “Magnfi.” All right. So they can go to Magnfi.com, and Magnfi spelled M, as in magical, A, as in apple, G, as in great, N, as in nifty, F, as in fantastic, and I, as an ice cream, .com. M-A-G-N-F-I .com. And then if you’re on LinkedIn, connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m super active on LinkedIn, love connecting with people on LinkedIn. So hit me up on LinkedIn as well.
Dane Golden:
Excellent. Thank you, Doug Dibert, Jr. My name is Dane Golden, with my cohost. She’s R-E-N-E-E T-E-E-L-E-Y, Renee Teeley. And we want to thank you, the listener, for joining us today. Don’t we, Renee?
Renee Teeley:
Yes, absolutely. And today, I want to leave you with a quote. So as I once told my good friend, Bruce Lee, “A successful warrior is an average person with laser like focus. So make sure that you’re putting your energy into the things that matter the most.”
Dane Golden:
And if you want to hear more about Bruce Lee, check our episode from last week, where we had an editor who loves martial arts videos. I want to invite you, the listener, to review it on Apple Podcasts. And if you can’t find that review button on your podcast app, click the share button or tweet us, follow us on LinkedIn. Renee and I do this podcast and our various other YouTube videos and other projects because we love helping marketers and business owners, just like you do YouTube and video marketing better. Thanks to our special guest, Doug Dibert, Jr.
Doug Dibert, Jr.:
Thanks so much.
Dane Golden:
Until next week, here’s to helping you help your customers through video.