Diana Gladney of the Video Simplified Podcast gives us tips on the kinds of videos that businesses should make for YouTube.
Guest: Diana Gladney of the Video Simplified Podcast | DianaGladney.com | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook | Linkedin
HOSTS: The Video Marketing Value Podcast is hosted by:
– Dane Golden of VidiUp.tv and VidTarget.io | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube
– Gwen Miller LinkedIn | Twitter
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
Dane Golden:
Time for the Video Marketing Value Podcast. This is the podcast where we help marketers and business owners just like you 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 VidTarget.io, where we help you get a higher return on your YouTube ad spend with targeted YouTube video placement lists. Along with my cohost, it’s Gwen Miller. Hello, Gwen.
Gwen Miller:
Hey, Dane. It’s a good day to chat video marketing.
Dane Golden:
And Gwen, what do you do?
Gwen Miller:
I work with creatives to use data to craft better and better videos for unique, one of a kind audiences.
Dane Golden:
Okay. And for you, the listener, you should know that as always, you can follow along in your podcast app that you’re listening to right now with the transcript and the links from this podcast.
Today, we have a special guest. It’s Diana Gladney of the Video Simplified Podcast. Welcome, Diana.
Diana Gladney:
Thank you so much, Dane. It’s such an honor to be here. I appreciate you having me on the show today.
Dane Golden:
We are excited. Diana Gladney, we asked you on the Video Marketing Value Podcast today because on your podcast, you recently gave a few great tips for businesses on how they should decide what kinds of topics they should make their YouTube videos about. This is a very common problem and we thought we’d have a discussion about your tips. Does that work for you?
Diana Gladney:
Absolutely. I’m so pumped to dive into it.
Dane Golden:
Okay. Gwen.
Gwen Miller:
Cool. Let’s jump right in and talk about your tip number one.
Diana Gladney:
Yeah, absolutely. I think the first thing when it comes to trying to figure out what videos you should create for your business, one of the easiest forms is to do those frequently asked questions. If you are trying to figure out, “I’ve got to do all these things and learn all these different platforms,” the easiest, most… Honestly, it can be self-serving to the company, but it’s very service-centered at the same time is those frequently asked questions, because you have that literally on a dedicated page because your company gets asked those a lot.
Diana Gladney:
Even if you’re just getting started, you can take inspiration from the people in your industry, other creators, other entrepreneurs and their frequently asked questions. And sometimes there’ll be comments area on those pages that can go a little bit deeper, and get inspiration from there. That way, you not only have the written version of that specific question, but you have the video version of an answer that really, honestly, can dive deeper with your community and lead them to another piece of content that’s going to serve them in that next logical question that they may have when it comes to content that your company produces or what service and solution that you sell.
Dane Golden:
I love that as a place to start, because almost every company has FAQs or at least they know what people want to know, and you can embed those YouTube videos right on the page with the FAQ. But I have a question for you. When you tell this to a business, are they going to say something like, “That’s boring. That’s not what YouTube is about. That’s not viral.”? What would you say to that?
Diana Gladney:
But neither is the frequently asked question page on your website. But it’s very, very service-centered for your core and target audience. It’s very good and well and definitely part of the video marketing strategy to create videos that expose you to a wider audience. But frequently asked questions is once somebody, honestly, is in a buying pattern or a buying mind state when they are trying to figure out how much is this, how often do you do this, or what is the service like, or what happens once I sign in. All of those nitty-gritty things that honestly is better than trying to come up with a cold lead and transitioning to the point that they are asking buying questions.
Diana Gladney:
So these may not be the most exciting videos on the internet, but they are very service-oriented pieces of content that is going to serve your business and your audience and the people that are honestly ready to buy from you right now and today. So there may not be a ton of views, but they are quality views that you’re going to get from these.
Gwen Miller:
Would you say it’s better to… Say I just started my channel and I’m going out here and trying to establish a presence. Should I be doing a mix of content, or should I do like, “Okay, this month, four videos is going to be all FAQs to really establish my SEO.”? Or should I be trying to mix it up, keeping these really great FAQs in there, but also thinking of expanding out beyond that?
Diana Gladney:
That’s a great question. I think one of the great things to really have a framework around the content that you’re producing is you want to be strategic. But if you’re just trying to figure out the where to start, the FAQs are a great place to start. But if you’re really talking about building a channel around that, I always love to start with the framework that Ray Edwards gives in his book, How to Write Copy That Sells. Obviously, focused all around copywriting, but even videos deal with copywriting.
Diana Gladney:
So we can think about the person, the problem, and their pain point. Okay, there’s a person that’s just obviously your ideal customer or client. The problem that they’re currently having, which is why they’re going to YouTube search to begin with. And that current pain point is the positioning of that video. So when we think about it in that way, yes, you can do a frequently asked question, because that helps with reducing time for you and your team when it comes to dealing with email responses, chats, and DMs that you would get. But it also serves the people that want to know more about your business.
Diana Gladney:
But this pain point video specifically is one that can reach wider. And if it’s something that’s in relation to it, you don’t have to do all your FAQs all at once and upload those, or do once a week where it’s just all FAQs, but I would always say start with the most pressing pain points that people have. So pick the most commonly asked question that’s a frequently asked question, so that you have that there and that video serves its purpose. But then start doing the things that’s going to expose you and reach wider with the content, but it’s still a pressing pain point. That way, no matter what video they find, both are serving them.
Dane Golden:
To follow up on that, and you said a name of an author and a book really fast, and I didn’t catch it. So I’d like to know that and I’d also like to know, you said… Did you say person, pain, and problem, and solution? What are those?
Diana Gladney:
Yeah, so the book and the author, the book is called How to Write Copy That Sells. It’s W-R-I-T-E Copy That Sells. The author’s name is Ray Edwards. He’s a master copywriter. He’s worked with people like Amy Porterfield, Pat Flynn. Just oh my goodness, it goes on and on. Tony Robbins. So copywriting is writing the words that sell.
In his framework that he teaches, which is literally everything is copy. Everything is some translation or some version is always going to deal with selling something, essentially. So the copywriting are those words that convince people, or lead them to a decision, rather, with shepherding them, if you will. So his framework is the acronym, P.A.S.T.O.R., which is again, shepherding or leading people to a decision.
Diana Gladney:
That first P of that acronym is the person, the problem, and their pain point. So any piece of marketing that you can think of starts with a framework like that around who are we helping with what specifically, who’s this person that we’re trying to target and reach, what problem is it that we’re having and whether our business, our service, or the video that we have is going to pose as that solution. But what’s their pain point?
Diana Gladney:
You’re talking about video, I’d add a little asterisk to that, of their current pain point. That’s when you think about how often people are searching for a question. Something as simple as how to cook a steak. Okay, well, the person, problem, pain point can be how to cook a steak in a skillet or how to cook a steak on the grill. Same kind of a type video, very different in what they are expecting to get, and copywriting absolutely helps with that.
Dane Golden:
What is another main tip for finding out what types of videos your business should do on YouTube?
Diana Gladney:
A great place to start if you’re trying to figure out what kinds of videos you should make for your business on your YouTube channel is one that is not quite enough to maybe make it to your frequently asked questions page, but there are things that happen even in other established channels in the comments section. I love to start with something that may be trending or something that is relevant. So again, a pressing pain point is something that’s happening right now.
So in the marketing space, we’re looking at the new social platform called Clubhouse that’s currently for iPhone only. So people are asking questions about that, and no matter where somebody may stand, people have questions around that.
Diana Gladney:
So we can go to an established channel or a channel that is getting a lot of traction and attention towards that, and we can look in the comments to see if we’re also going to create a video around that for whatever the position is that we have. Then we want to look at using the language and addressing the current questions that people are having around that specific topic. Not just something that we think about that we think would be a good idea, but literally real-time, right now questions that people are having, and this comes out of the mouths literally of the potential viewer.
Gwen Miller:
When you’re looking at trending topics, is it important that it’s relevant, or do you have liberty to play around in areas which you may not be considered a business who should be a content expert in that area?
Diana Gladney:
Well, there’s always a core type of content that maybe your business will make. So let’s say you’re a social media marketer and you’re primarily focused around content on Facebook. Even with a tip like this around, again, maybe what’s happening with Clubhouse at the time we’re doing this podcast, then that’s a related and associated topic.
The reason why I say that, and it’s okay to address something like that and how maybe potentially that may impact the content that an entrepreneur or somebody is creating on Facebook and you want to bring this conversation to your audience. Even though it’s not your core type of content that you usually are talking about, Facebook, YouTube has what is called related and suggested content. So if you’re creating videos on YouTube and your focus is this one primarily thing, they are knowing the social behaviors that people are having to say, “People that watch this, also watch this,” or, “Your viewers also watch this kind of content that comes up in the analytics.”
Diana Gladney:
So it doesn’t matter if it’s so much so quote, unquote, “on brand” or your core content, because it’s related and associated. If it’s completely off the wall, like if I go from talking about cameras and video marketing content and content creation into literally the example that I gave earlier about cooking a steak, who cares? Unless I’m showing something in relation to, “Here is how if your business is something around culinary arts, then you can get a really close up detailed shot, and here are the camera settings.” I need to make that make sense. If there are some steak outbreak type something or whatever the case is, I need to make that make sense that’s relevant to them. Versus me just trying to piggyback off of something that’s hot off the press right now, if you will. So it has to be some relation and connection there, but it can be a related or associated topic.
Dane Golden:
When you’re talking to a business, how do you decide how much of a given video is about themselves, right? I’m a marketer, I’m a business owner. I may come to YouTube and say, “Hey, I just want to talk about how awesome our company is.” But how do you decide how much to talk about the company themselves, or maybe talk about their expertise that brings in people searching for that general topic that they know about, that may not be their specific product? How do you balance that in terms of numbers of videos of one versus the other, or the amount of time you spend in an individual video talking about it?
Diana Gladney:
That’s a very easy question because that percentage is almost zero. That is a very hard statistical data point that a lot of business owners, if they’re getting into video, they don’t want to hear. Because their primary question at that kind of a place and that transition into becoming a content creator and they’re an entrepreneur is, “What’s my ROI for the content that I’m doing? How am I going to make this work?” And the way that you make the videos work is you recognize that these videos have nothing to do, essentially, with you and your business.
Diana Gladney:
People are not there to watch your content because of how great you are or what accolades that you have, unless it’s relevant to, for example, a doctor. Unless you need some kind of credential for why you’re delivering that piece, which honestly, almost no entrepreneur really has to have in some aspects, then that’s the only reason why somebody would care. But you literally have to lean into the videos, assuming that your audience and your viewer, no matter who they are, they do not care. They are coming because of a pressing pain point and a pressing concern. Because when they search for, “How to stop a headache,” they do not want to hear about what you should have been eating two weeks in advance before they want to know how much, where do I go, and right now. So if you’re thinking of your business as a carrot dietary plan type of a deal, wrong approach. You need to be the pain reliever, not the carrot.
Gwen Miller:
So in that case, I as a business, what do I do to get that marketing value for myself? How do I convert that into sales?
Diana Gladney:
By being able to show up as a subject matter expert on your content and being the go-to resource around a specific pain point or area of business, you automatically start to get a return on that investment. Because once they come to your channel and they find one piece of content that serves them, the natural logical progression and the social behavior on YouTube is, “What else do you have?”
Diana Gladney:
So if I’m trying to figure out how to run a Facebook ad and I click on your video and I see that you have a fantastic video that no matter what other videos I’ve seen, yours is doing what I need it to, you’re answering the questions that I have and all of those different things, you have to remember that you’re not their video number one, you’re their video number 100. So when they’re coming to you and they’re finding your videos, it’s not because of their lack of searching, they’re just trying to weed through all the other types of videos.
Diana Gladney:
So when you show up and you’re that person that’s delivering for them, one, let’s start off with the most easiest way. We all are building email lists because we understand the difference between being on rented ground on social media platforms versus having your own website, your email list, the things that you own, your URL, all those different elements. So now we can transition them from a guest, if you will, somebody that’s a viewer, into that hierarchy of content, if you will, or the way that they’re digesting your content. From just being a viewer to now becoming a subscriber.
Diana Gladney:
So you can always be what I call leading and seeding. Where you can start to make this make sense for the business is what is a white paper, a checklist, a downloadable guide, or whatever that reinforces the core theme of the video or maybe the series of videos that you’re creating so that they now transition from being a viewer that you have no data on around them as a person, to now being able to get them to go from, for example, in business terms, a cold lead to a warm lead.
And then from there, most people know what they want to do with somebody that’s on their email list or what chain segment of listing and things like that, funneling system that they have. The easiest way to do that is provide value in something that’s a premium free offer.
Gwen Miller:
All right, let’s hop into tip number three.
Diana Gladney:
Tip number three. Once you’ve gone from being able to create those FAQ videos, answering something that’s a current pain point for an audience member, I think the most important thing that you should be looking at now is how can you go wider. Most of the things that we’re talking about are things that are relatively easy to create, but they’re not necessarily something that is going to get you more exposure or more views or expose you to people that don’t know about you yet. So absolutely think that third tip has to be now using YouTube search bar and other YouTube specific tools to expand your reach.
Dane Golden:
That’s interesting. How do you know if something is in your zone or not? There may be a number of things with that autocomplete in YouTube or Google search bar, but how do you know if that’s in your zone or not?
Diana Gladney:
If I understand you correctly, the way that you would understand that is that you do not want to go into the YouTube search by you using the business language. That’s a mistake that a lot of entrepreneurs make. They’re speaking from the expert’s standpoint. You have to create video titles. And the way that you go wide, as I said, again, create something that’s searchable. You go wider by creating something and searching for more content around what do they want more about, or what’s something that potentially would do well to expand the reach. Search and create stuff as if you are the person on the keyboard, not the expert.
Diana Gladney:
So if I’m a doctor, I’m not going to say anything around a title with something around how to reduce hypertension. I’m not going to say anything like that. Somebody that’s on the keyboard, they wouldn’t search for that. They’re searching for, “How do I lower my blood pressure?” Somebody that is a marketer is going to look at how to increase the specific click-through rate for a… That’s marketer terms, marketer talk. You’re speaking a different language. Unless you know that language, which most audiences don’t, they’re not searching for that. They may be thinking how to run a successful YouTube ad, how to get more clicks to my YouTube ad. So you have to start with the search that is specific to the person on the keyboard, not you as the expert.
Gwen Miller:
Yeah. Say I’m not an expert. Say I’m a small business and I’m just starting to get into this. What are some of the common mistakes for people who are very new to SEO and marketing that they tend to do when they come into this space for the first time?
Diana Gladney:
That’s a good one. They will create one, two, maybe three pieces of content, try to dive too deep on analytics, and do not create regular and consistent content from there that’s relevant enough to make YouTube work, so to speak, for them. The fact of you have to show up, you have to be consistent, and you have to create regular and consistent content is not the normal type of business model, if you will, for most people.
Diana Gladney:
So if you’re a small entrepreneur getting into the content creation space, you have to understand the platform. It’s just like getting into a car and trying to drive that the same way you would a motorcycle. It’s very different things. So as it is with social platforms. And again, understanding social behaviors.
So if you plan to be on YouTube, learn to learn YouTube. Not from a consumer side or whatever, but learn to learn YouTube and really how it operates. So don’t just create one, two, or three videos and say, “Oh man, these aren’t doing well,” or, “Is this how it’s always going to be?” and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. You really have to get to a point that you need to commit to producing content and commit to learning the platform.
Dane Golden:
I wanted to follow up when we dive down into the videos themselves, what type of structure of video in general are we talking about? Just sort of, “Hey, we got two people on livestream and we’re going to talk about the latest on this topic today.”? Or do you recommend more structured tutorials, or listicles, or a variety of formats?
Diana Gladney:
That’s a great question. I think that is going to be based on who you’re trying to reach and how they prefer to receive content. There are some things that are longer form content like this podcast. They want to go through the methodical process of the tip one, two, and three to understand the core promise being the title for this episode. So they’re willing to spend time here, but this is also a podcast.
Diana Gladney:
On YouTube, the social behavior is different. So there are some forms of long-form content that they will accept. But otherwise, they’re mostly… Again, you have to perceive that they do not care. They don’t care about your business acumen or any of those things. They simply want the answer. So if you have something in your business where you need to show them how to use something that you actually sell, just dive right into it. “Hey guys, today we’re going to be taking a look at our brand new product, this new microphone that we’re producing, and comparing it to this,” type of a deal, and then get into it. They don’t want to hear about the engineers and how you guys came up with it. That’s not their jam. If they did want to know more about it, that’s a whole other video.
Diana Gladney:
Now, if you’re talking about content that is… Again, it depends on the business, but if it’s a listicle type of thing, keep it short. One, two, three. One, two, three kind of a deal. Five at the max, really, unless you really are going for something spectacular. But otherwise, you don’t want to just sit and riff, because they’re going to feel like you’re wasting their time. And then you’re getting into specific YouTube talk, if you will, around audience retention, and you’re not retaining them. That sends a negative signal to YouTube to say people may click, but they’re not staying to watch. That’s what you don’t want to happen.
Dane Golden:
I want to jump in here and ask Gwen to ask Diana a question, because Gwen, you’ve done just so many different types of lifestyle marketing and other things like that, and I wanted to ask about what you think about certain formats and get Diana’s spin on them.
Gwen Miller:
Yeah. I mean, look, I’ve done a lot in the past in the how to format world, and I would love to get your kind of perspective, Diana. One of the things I think that a lot of people when they’re coming into the how to space don’t truly understand is that while you are communicating facts, you are also still storytelling. Those are the videos that stand out is when you are truly infusing the how to with A, the personality of the host, but also just the thinking about the structure of your video. What’s that payoff for people? Are they going to come out of this feeling satisfied?
Gwen Miller:
I would love to hear if you’ve seen something similar, working a little bit more deeply in kind of the advertising space with businesses, where the businesses that are successful have a little bit more storytelling chops. Not in the way that they’re stories, but in how they structure their videos.
Diana Gladney:
Absolutely. Because every story framework is essentially the same. Again, it’s a character who wants something. They go on a journey to get it. They encounter a guide. And by way of this process of taking the tips or the advice of the guide, they’re able to be changed by this experience to get this end result in a generalized framework.
Diana Gladney:
So at the point to where somebody is coming to YouTube, their intent on this platform is to figure out a problem. So no matter what that video is, the businesses that are doing well, I think they do understand the story framework in a really great way, because they understand the positioning of their video. When you understand the positioning of your video, it makes it very easy to come up with the framework of what to include and what to exclude, even if it was something that was recorded.
Diana Gladney:
So for those that, for example, are getting into how to use or you need to show how to do something or what have you, one great tip to kind of enhance the performance of a video is the say, show, and spell method. If you’re going to say something, make sure that you’re also showing that thing, and that you also are giving… If it’s kind of hard to say, you’re spelling it out. Say, show, and spell. So no matter what, you’re also including other visual elements to make that very easy for somebody to digest. But that also, again, goes into that storyline. Where is somebody at? You’re not their video number one, you’re their video number 100. So how frustrated are they when they are looking for something to where they’re now becoming and your video is the answer?
Dane Golden:
That’s great.
Gwen Miller:
Okay, so spell it out. I love that. When you say spell it out, do you mean literally make sure you explain it fully, or put things in graphics on the screen, make sure that there’s things in words that really emphasize what you’re saying? Or are you kind of saying both?
Diana Gladney:
When I say the say, show, and spell method, if I’m saying something like, “Hey, in today’s video, I’m going to show you the difference between a TRRS cable and a TRS cable,” at the time that I’m saying it, I’m going to show it to you on the screen. It’s very straightforward. I’m going to say it like, “Hey, here’s the TRS cable, and it looks like this,” and whatever tip maybe is relevant to that. But at the same time, I’m also showing that to you. So this is where we’re now introducing that secondary footage also known as B-roll. So I’m not the person that you’re seeing on the screen anymore. You’re actually seeing the little part of that cable. And then I’m also going to spell it.
Diana Gladney:
So I’m just going to have the actual three letters, TRS, on the actual screen. So no matter where in my dialect or my just somewhat country twang that sometimes comes out in my language, you hear it either way. You can see it. There’s no confusion and it just adds even more clarity. So if I’m saying it, I’m going to show it to you and I’m also going to spell it or make it so that that brand name of whatever I’m talking about, you can see it and you can read it. That’s just based on how people learn. Everybody learns differently, so you want to be able to enhance your content by addressing that as well in your storytelling abilities.
Dane Golden:
That was great. See, show, and spell. That was a new one for me, but it totally makes sense. Diana, you’ve really offered us a great checklist of what businesses should look at when they’re deciding how to make a video and what types of topics. Diana Gladney, how can people find out more about you and your business? Tell us some of your URLs and what types of work you do.
Diana Gladney:
Absolutely. Again, it’s been such an honor to be on the show today. So again, thank you so much for having me. It’s been a lot of fun.
If people are looking to find me, I’m very easy to find online. You can just search @DianaGladney literally across every platform, and I will show up. Minus Twitter, because I messed up the first one and had to go with the number two. So it’s the @DianaGladney with the number two. And then also, of course, dianagladney.com. And then my YouTube channel, Diana Gladney.
Dane Golden:
As far as the see, show, and spell them to spell your name, G-L-A-D-N-E-Y.
Diana Gladney:
That’s right.
Dane Golden:
Excellent. Thank you, Diana Gladney. My name is Dane Golden with my cohost, Gwen Miller. We want to thank you, the listener, for joining us today. Right, Gwen?
Gwen Miller:
Every single time, Dane.
Dane Golden:
Every single time we say thank you because we would not be here without these great listeners. And I want to invite you if you’re new to the podcast, to subscribe, or review us, or share us, or just tweet us to say hi. Gwen and I do this podcast and our various other YouTube videos and projects because we love helping marketers and business owners just like you do YouTube and video marketing better.
Thanks to our special guest, Diana Gladney. Thank you, Diana.
Diana Gladney:
Thank you so much, Dane. That was quite the amazing show. Thank you so much for having me. It was such an honor.
Dane Golden:
We were so happy. Until next week, here’s to helping you help your customers through video.