//Sara Wodrich: Educating Your Market Through Videos

Sara Wodrich: Educating Your Market Through Videos

PRP 43 | Video Marketing

 

In this digital age, the bar has been set higher for business marketing strategies in gaining more audience. Video marketing is proven to be effective in educating people and showcasing authenticity. Sara Wodrich, the President of Vyral Marketing, tells us why videos create wonders for your business and why the need for them is strong in the marketplace. As she recommends how people put video content into their marketing plan, find out the benefits of having educational video content and sending it to your database online. On top of that, catch how you can grab Vyral Marketing’s marketing plan.

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Sara Wodrich: Educating Your Market Through Videos

Before we get started with an older interview, I’d like to invite you to go over and take our quiz, The Promote Profit Publish Quiz. You can find it at www.PromoteProfitPublishQuiz.com and find out your platform building and marketing skills and how they’re put together if you have all the pieces in place. There are a lot of moving parts and we get that so we’d love to invite you to go over and take the quiz. Our guest is Sara Wodrich and she’s going to talk about video.

I have another great guest here, Sara Wodrich. She is the President of Vyral Marketing, a firm which partners with independent professionals, small business owners, salespeople and entrepreneurs to market themselves through video. After teaching in the private education sector in Chicago for seven years, Sara realized that teaching was a passion but not the profession she was meant to pursue. What grades?

I started with third through eighth grade and I taught Arts. They pushed me into junior kindergarten where I was teaching three-year-olds and four-year-olds to read and write. It’s elementary education.

At this point, she realized that the time for change had arrived. After meeting Frank Klesitz, the Cofounder and CEO of Vyral Marketing, Sara began a career with the firm. Just two short years later, Sara transitioned from an employee to a team member and then from a mentor to her current state as an executive leader in the firm. She’s leveraged her creative spirit and strong communication skills into furthering the growth of the company. Since becoming President of Vyral Marketing, Sara has worked to build the firm’s referral pillar by implementing strategic lead acquisition to Vyral’s business plan. Drawing on her passion for educating, Sara has trained with other executive leaders at Vyral doing the same. Welcome. Tell us a little bit more about what you do and why you feel the need in the marketplace is so strong for this.

Vyral Marketing started a few years ago with our Cofounders, John McMillan and Frank Klesitz. Frank had gone into the repeat and referral type business with the fitness industry. He had started Vyral to help build his fitness industry. Once the business started, his leads started depleting because of the economy. That was when the huge fallout was. People didn’t have extra money for fitness so he went into an area where the need was greater to have relationships rather than leads. He had built this business based on Thank You letters, Thank You notes, meeting for coffee dates, as well as phone calls and video communication. What we then realized is video started becoming imperative to any business because of the outreach of apps on phones and other digital quick fixes just as the microwave came in and the stoves. Although you still sell them, people will stick something in the microwave because it’s a quick fix. It’s the same way you can view the video.

In a video, although you want to meet a lot of people, you’re going to have a lot of relationships. You just lack the time. The video now is used as a media to get in front of a wide audience. It has your audience spend time with you. We do have a strong foothold in the real estate industry because we did have a lot of connections when Frank had first begun Vyral Marketing with real estate agents because they were getting outnumbered and outplaced by things like Zillow and things like Redfin where they were getting undersold as the agents. The agents realize they needed to spend more time with their spheres of influence, their relationships that they have to bring business back to them and not worry as much if there is some downturn in a market. They’ll still hold those relationships and still be able to generate business.

You and I got together through a mutual friend. One of the things that we’ve talked a lot about is the need for entrepreneurs, whether they’re coaches, authors, speakers or small businesses to have that connection through video. We’re talking about educational content. Is that correct?

When you have timely and relevant information, people can go to you for advice. Click To Tweet

Yes. You have a lot of people on the internet that are promoting themselves and promoting products on video. It doesn’t work as well in the entrepreneurial mindset of educating your audience. The reason why we have a strong focus on this education is that when you have timely and relevant information, people can go to you for advice. If maybe they’re not ready for a conversation per se, they can still go to you and you are still looked at as that adviser and as that expert in the field because the content is there. You have backing on what you’re talking about and it’s you talking about the topics. The topics are not going to be these stellar ideas that only came out of maybe a client’s mouth one time. Our educational videos are going to be topics that are more relevant to a whole industry where you’re not segmenting a certain person, but you’re giving them an educational excerpt of what you know about.

I’ll use real estate again as an example because that’s the biggest clientele that we have here at Vyral. Although we do work with chiropractors, recruiters and physical therapists, our big one is real estate. To have educational content for the home buyer, it’s going to be relevant content for our home seller as well. This is when we have started to push as well for the agents themselves to build networking groups to help with their referral business and key in and focus on those relationships.

One of the things that happen with real estate agents a lot is that a big company will bring in a company that will do a canned blog. They don’t realize that every agent in the city has the same blog that they’re going off of. The video is very personal, it’s very relevant and they get to see what you look like, how you carry yourself, your demeanor. Do you look trustworthy? Do you look like someone who better not quit their day job?

It goes back to spending time with your potential clients and with your past clients. That is the number one focus when you make videos. This is people spending time with you. The more time that they’re going to spend watching the videos and engaging with your content, the easier it is to start that relationship in a trusted way rather than a sales position of everyone needs this. This is a onetime fit. These are individual, these are personalized, these have their different graphics. You want to brand yourself. As a real estate agent, as a recruiter, you have a brand that you want to represent but the people are working with you, not only with your company. That’s why it is so important to be on camera, tell people what you know and show them who you are.

It’s less salesy. To go out and to sell a product feels icky to the people on the selling end as well as a lot of times to the people who are selling because they don’t have the confidence. When you’re imparting your wisdom, you’re telling people you have clients without saying, “Buy something from me.” It’s a different and more comfortable sales position too. Would you agree with that?

I would agree 100%. The other benefit of having video, sending videos to your database, posting it online and allowing the conversation to start, people can ask questions. You’re going to get a lot of great questions and that’s going to give you even more content to put out there. If these are people that are close to your sphere, you’re working with them on a day-to-day and they have these particular questions. A rule of thumb for us is if you hear the question three times in any marketplace, do a video on it. Ten other people want to know the same thing. As they spend more time and they get comfortable to ask you the question, you then can reach out to them and say, “Do you have any other questions? Did I answer your question completely?” It opens the door for more communication and more content ideas for the consumer.

I hear the same complaint over and over, “I don’t know what to produce. I don’t know what to say.” Say that again about the questions because Sara just told you what to produce.

PRP 43 | Video Marketing

Video Marketing: The number one focus when you make videos goes back to spending time with your potential clients and with your past clients.

 

Anytime you put a video on, make sure you allow the comments. People are going to ask you questions and it’s a great open door for you to call them and say, “What other questions do you have for me? I’d love to answer it in my next video.” You’re engaging, you’re not being salesy and you’re being real with the education that you want to display.

How would you recommend that people put this into their marketing plan? How do they plan for it? How do they work with you? Is this their prep?

Honestly, we encourage them to do video and try it. You’re going to be uncomfortable and your first video is going to be the worst one you’ve ever done. You’ll have to move past it. We’re going to be okay with it. You can worry about the lighting and the colors behind you and the backgrounds after you have the content and the audience. If you are open to doing this type of marketing strategy, I encourage you to start posting on social media pages. Go live. Tell people what you’re doing. As a business owner and the audience that you’re in front of, do the people even know what they do? Does your audience know what you do? Do your friends know what you do? Does your family know what you do? These are your front and runners and these are people that you should start with because they do have the trust in you.

I’m going to tell you that everybody thinks they look bad on video. I had a professional shoot done and I told the producer, “These look horrible.” He said, “You’re one of the best subjects I’ve ever worked with. Everybody says that. You look good.” I was like, “Did you tell everybody that?” Everybody says they look horrible when they do videos.

I would compare that to even hearing yourself on a phone call. If anyone has ever recorded themselves and listen to them back, they’re like, “I don’t sound like that. That’s not me.” It’s very hard as humans to see ourselves, focus and believe that this is who we are on camera. What camera is going to do is highlight your personality and show people who you are.

Especially if they have a sense of humor, people love that. When you’re at ease with that, they’re like, “They’re in front of the camera and they’re doing okay with it. I can do it too.”

We also run into the problem a lot. A lot of our agents and a lot of our clients have never been on video so sometimes they stumble over their words. We say, “It’s okay. It’s real. This is going to happen in real life. You are going to see these people in real life. For you to position yourself as an idol that never stutters or doesn’t forget what they’re saying is completely out of focus and is not something that is achievable consistently.”

If you hear the question three times in any marketplace, do a video on it. Click To Tweet

It’s not what people want. People want you to be human. Nobody likes that perfect person. It’s the same thing when you’re storytelling. Nobody wants to hear that you woke up one day and the next day you were making six figures. That’s not how it works.

You need the struggles, you need the stutters, you need the slip-ups. It’s okay.

That’s one of the things I love about what we do. It doesn’t matter where they go, we never edit them. I had people drop words that shouldn’t be dropped. It’s a lot of fun. It’s just what happens with it. What are the best tips? What’s the equipment you would tell people that they need to do this?

We recommend a Logitech C920 webcam. Sit in front of a computer and make sure that there’s no window behind you. You want to be moderately lit to make sure that you are in focus. The biggest thing that we do recommend though is that you have great audio. Get a lapel mic and use an audio recorder. 32% of people will continue watching a video if the screen is off or maybe if it’s blurry, but if the audio is not on point, they will not continue listening. Make sure you have a focus on your audio.

I’m going to show you a little secret. You don’t need an expensive background either. I have clients who I’ve seen have gone down and got those green screens or the ones that celebrities walk on when they go to an event. They’ll have one of those made with their logos all over it. I have my screen from Amazon for $22. It reflects light and I have it stapled to achieve three panels that I got. My point is don’t go out and spend a ton of money on this stuff because those things with your logo on in the background, those can get a little expensive even though you could reuse them for other things, but this doesn’t have to be. Sara, what was the total cost of those materials you just get? It’s less than $100.

It’s $62. We even recommend using your phone. A lot of the iPhones or the Androids, as long as you bought a phone within the last few years, they record as fast as a 5D Canon camera, which is the studio version of the big fat cameras that the photographers use. You don’t need all of it. You need to make sure that you are giving yourself exposure. You need to make sure that you are talking about topics that are relevant. That is your focus. It’s not what’s on the background. It’s not what is anywhere else. If you look ten years younger, it’s not going to change when you meet the people face to face. It is definitely the message.

Video shows you in real time. How many times have you seen an agent give you a business card and it’s so obvious that the picture was taken many years ago?

PRP 43 | Video Marketing

Video Marketing: Give yourself exposure by talking about topics that are relevant. That should be your focus, not what’s on the background or anywhere else.

 

A lot of the time. We won’t give the statistics there. We’re not judging if you are a real estate agent.

Go get your picture taken. Get an updated picture. We’re judging. That video engenders trust. When you hand somebody a card and they have to look and go, “Three face lifts ago.” That doesn’t engender trust like seeing you in your natural habitat.

Another tip with business cards that we usually tell our agents is that when you go and meet people, you shouldn’t bring your business cards. You should receive business cards. Keep that in mind. You’ll have the conversation kept in your court as long as you have that lead. Maybe you forgot them, maybe you left them on your desk, but it’s also a great way to get into a conversation.

Every real estate agent out there now will seize to have cards made. You have a free gift for us. Do you want to talk about that a little bit? Tell people about it and where they can find it.

Here at Vyral Marketing, we sell our marketing strategy as done for you. We want to leverage your time as much as possible to spend time with your clients. On our website, we offer our marketing strategy that you can do everything that Vyral does for yourself. Although it will take you more time and it may not be edited up to our standards, but you can get your business going and get them in front of the camera sooner than later. You can find that marketing strategy at www.GetVyral.com/video-marketing-plan.

Get that free download and give it a try yourself. I love that you do a done for you because most busy entrepreneurs will take that and try to figure it out. Thanks so much for being on. I appreciate your time.

Thank you so much for having me. I enjoy spending time with you, Juliet.

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About Sara Wodrich

PRP 43 | Video MarketingSara Wodrich is the President of Vyral Marketing—a firm which partners with independent professionals, small business owners, salespeople, and entrepreneurs to market themselves through video.

After teaching in the private education sector in Chicago for seven years, Sara realized that teaching was a passion, but not the profession she was meant to pursue. It was at this point she realized the time for change had arrived. After meeting Frank Klesitz (Co-Founder and CEO of Vyral Marketing), Sara began her career with the firm.

Just two short years later, during which time Sara transitioned from employee to team member, then from mentor to her current role as an executive leader in the firm, she has leveraged her creative spirit and strong communication skills into furthering the growth of the company.

Since becoming President at Vyral marketing, Sara has worked to build the firm’s referral pillar by implementing strategic lead acquisition to Vyral’s business plan. Drawing on her passion for educating, Sara has trained other executive leaders at Vyral in doing the same.

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By | 2023-07-26T06:32:14+00:00 June 11th, 2019|Podcasts|0 Comments

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