Why video marketing is so powerful with Lou Bortone – ep 76

Mostafa Hosseini  00:01

Welcome to daily confidence for entrepreneurs. My name is Mostafa Hosseini. Today we are talking about the importance of video marketing and I’ve got an amazing guest. During this episode you’ll learn about why why video has become a must have for marketing, you will discover the best ways to get started with video quickly and easily.

How to Overcome Video Blocks and procrastination. How to find your video sweet spot, and tips for gaining more confidence on Camera B which a lot of people are lacking and they’re probably looking for my guest is Lou Bortone. Welcome, Lou.

Lou Bortone  00:39

Hey, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. How you doing?

Mostafa Hosseini  00:43

Great, great to have you. Let me do a couple of housekeeping items. As usual. Please make sure that you like and subscribe to the channel, whichever channel you’re watching or listening through. If you have any questions, post a comment and do it ask your question in a review or post them on our website.

If you know anyone that could benefit from video marketing and becoming more confident at Video Marketing, please tag them in a comment on social media, make sure that they get the message and you share the love with other people.

And the other point I’d like to bring up is the confidence giveaways coming up at during the week of November 15 to 21st. And you’re going to have many gifts to help you boost your confidence in different areas of business, such as MINDSET STRATEGY, sales and marketing technology and the rest of it.

So for you to get access to the daily confident the day the confidence giveaway, I’m sorry, go to daily confidence dot show forward slash giveaway and you can download your gifts when he comes up. Now.

Let me do the proper introduction to Lou here and we’re going to dive into a very interesting conversation. Video marketing is very interesting and I’m always interested and happy to talk about it. So Luber tone is has been a pioneer and thought leader in the video space. Since the launch of YouTube in 2005. 

He has helped 1000s of entrepreneurs and companies create and leverage online video to build their brands and dramatically grow their revenues. Lou is a popular speaker, author and ghostwriter of six dozen books.

He’s also the author of video marketing rules, how to win in a world gone video. Welcome, Lou.

Lou Bortone  02:33

Thanks so much. It’s good to be here. And I’m always happy to chat about video.

Mostafa Hosseini  02:38

Absolutely. So we’re about are you law are logging in from? I

Lou Bortone  02:42

mean, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, about an hour north of Boston.

Mostafa Hosseini  02:46

And what’s the weather like?

Lou Bortone  02:48

It’s rainy and cold and windy and stuff. Beautiful. November Yeah,

Mostafa Hosseini  02:53

that gang if you’re watching, you’re listening, we’re talking about video and the power of video marketing. If you have any questions, pop them in a comment and in the chat box, and we’ll do our best to cover it. Now, Lou, let’s start with your story. What is your story? How did you get into the whole video world?

Lou Bortone  03:09

It’s funny because I think I got into it when I was really, really young because my dad worked at a TV station in Boston. And I would spend weekends there with him and run around. You know, like the TV station was my little personal playground. And so there really wasn’t anything else that I wanted to do but go into television.

So I went to school for that. And I got a job actually, the My first job was in radio and television. And I worked in the TV business for many years in Boston and Los Angeles. And I’m trying to remember when I came back to Boston about 20 years ago, to work for a.com Because that’s when everybody was sort of jumping ship and going to the dot coms that didn’t last very long.

And then I realized, you know what, I can just do this video thing. I don’t need a TV station anymore. I mean, we’re sort of at the point where YouTube was starting up and it’s like, you know, we all have our own TV station. So that’s kind of how I got into this.

Mostafa Hosseini  04:03

Beautiful. So it’s like a natural transition for you. You kind of grew into it.

Lou Bortone  04:09

Yeah, I mean, it’s funny, because I think I had a little bit of us coming from the TV business, like, oh, how hard could this be but then the online world and online video is much much different from traditional television.

Although these days, you know, like, our, you know, kids and our younger folks sort of see it all as just a screen or you know, they don’t care where they get it. Whether it’s online on the phone on a tablet on a big TV, it’s all just a screen to them.

Mostafa Hosseini  04:36

Interesting i But but they have integrated pretty well though, like the TV and online worlds are.

Lou Bortone  04:45

It’s really we used to talk about the word back in the day was convergence like oh, you know, someday this is all going to come together and it took a little bit longer than many of us thought but now there really is no distinction between television and video.

You know you tubas TV TV is YouTube. So it’s kind of an interesting opportunity for entrepreneurs because like I say, it’s like we really do have access to what, you know, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, only three or four big networks had access to these kinds of audiences. Absolutely.

Mostafa Hosseini  05:15

So what do you do? What do you do these days? And who do you serve?

Lou Bortone  05:20

I work with entrepreneurs and small business owners and help them with their video marketing strategy. So it’s, you know, it’s marketing and branding, but sort of leading with video and taking advantage of the fact that, you know, you can reach a lot of folks really easily and quickly with video, so I really help them with the overall strategy.

And that’s everything from what kinds of videos should they be doing to where should they be posting? So how can they integrate video into their overall marketing strategies?

Mostafa Hosseini  05:47

Absolutely, no, this is gonna sound simple, but what is video marketing? Video

Lou Bortone  05:54

marketing is really any marketing that you do using video. And that could be you know, doing a video on YouTube, it could be sending somebody a video, email as video outreach, it could be live like this. So really, anytime you’re doing visual marketing, you’re doing video marketing.

Mostafa Hosseini  06:12

Absolutely. All right. And why is video marketing so powerful?

Lou Bortone  06:17

Well, one of the reasons it’s become so powerful is that the pandemic really accelerated the growth of video and accelerated the need for video because suddenly, we couldn’t be together, we had to be socially distance.

I mean, I know it looks like we’re sort of in the same room just kind of get the same background as you but but video became even more important, it was already growing quickly. But the pandemic really accelerated it, because instead of being at events, or networking, and things like that, we had to rely more and more on video.

So, you know, the Zoom, zoom use of zoom went up something like 1,000% in a month, you know, last year, and it’s really kind of leveled off there. And it’s just become the way we connect the way we engage the way we communicate. Absolutely,

Mostafa Hosseini  07:02

I think a lot of people are that are now used to this or not going back to what I just heard that people don’t want to leave their house anymore. A lot of people and a lot of companies went like, was it Amazon or some other company that they have now? Like 10,000 People permanently work from home? Wow.

Yeah. And they just announced it, and they’re just getting used to this. They’re like, Oh, this is nice. I don’t have to pay rent for office, we could communicate through video and get things done virtually. And yeah. You know, the results are there. And they speak for themselves.

Lou Bortone  07:39

It’s a new world. I mean, I know my my kids who are grown that 2323 year old twins. And they both been working since they got out of college. But I’ve never been in an office. They’ve always worked remotely from the day they graduated until now. And my daughter’s company did the same thing. They sold the physical building, and now they’re completely remote.

Mostafa Hosseini  08:03

Absolutely no. Low Can you give us an example of a successful video marketing campaign that maybe you’ve done in the past like, this is what happens and here is how maybe it revolutionized or created results for for someone that maybe you have worked with? Yeah,

Lou Bortone  08:22

I’m all for somebody that I use an example of somebody I didn’t work with. But because it’s such a well known example, I always go back to the Blendtec blenders had these industrial blenders, maybe you remember this.

And on YouTube, they had, they decided to do their own little show called Will It Blend and they would drop iPhones and all kinds of things into these huge industrial blenders. And that really, you know, that viral campaign took off on YouTube and really put them on the map. So having seen that, I mean, I’ve done you know, I haven’t put anything in blenders and blended them, but just the fact that you can use, you know, a little bit of creativity and a little bit of fun, and basically create your own kind of television. 

So a lot of what I do with clients is not necessarily trying to get them to do wacky things. But think a little bit you know, I hate to say outside the box because it’s so overused, but really think about how they can use video to be more of a force in their clients and customers lives.

So I have one client for example that does a video series and she puts it out every Tuesday religiously. And she’s you know, little by little built up, built up, built up built up. I had another client in Costa Rica who had a vacation property there. And she started doing videos about why come to Costa Rica and this is somebody who had never been on camera and some of her videos have half a million views and her beach property is completely like sold out two years advance.

So it’s amazing that you know, like she was saying, well I’m way down here in Costa Rica. What can I possibly do that’s going to help my business and I said you’d be surprised you just put those videos on YouTube and off the off you go.

Mostafa Hosseini  10:02

So then what does she What does she cover in our videos just talk about different? Yeah, actually.

Lou Bortone  10:08

And she has because she’s in Costa Rica and she literally lives on the edge of a rainforest. She can do these on location videos where she’s talking about best time a year to come to Costa Rica, or is it safe to come to, you know, exchange rates?

Do you know anything about travel, so she got to be known as only as a person who has this amazing oceanfront property that she rented, but also as kind of a bit of an authority on on Costa Rica. And as an American who had moved there permanently. 

She was sort of like an expat. So she really kind of had that credibility. And again, even though she wasn’t, you know, even though she didn’t have like, a lot of tech, technical skills to begin with, it was really more of the idea of like, okay, well, I’m here I’m going to, I’m going to share what it’s like to be here.

And suddenly, she’s got, you know, I think that her video that had, like, half a million views was like, basically, it was a sloth, like, watching a sloth and sloths, baby. So things like that. It’s like, oh, my gosh, you know, just show real life show examples, and try to capture some of the magic of Oakley she is.

Mostafa Hosseini  11:15

So So I mean, she could talk about everything and anything about around her area, and there is no limit to what they could she could talk about, I guess.

Lou Bortone  11:23

Yeah, absolutely. So the only downside of it for me was I can’t afford a place now because it’s so much. So. But that’s for her.

Mostafa Hosseini  11:33

But yes, yeah. You need to pick up a new client there. Good stuff. As always give this student he is a students, the Blendtec examples. Super easy concept for them to grasp. Yeah.

Lou Bortone  11:50

You know. The other part to remember of that bad is that, you know, it’s relatively low budget and low production quality, but it doesn’t matter, just because the idea is so memorable.

Mostafa Hosseini  12:02

So here’s a question for you. How long do you give your campaigns and your videos before to expect results?

Lou Bortone  12:12

It really depends on on what you’re promoting and on the client. But I always tell folks, that video is a marathon and not a sprint, you can get results quickly, and you can get awareness quickly. But it’s not you know, it really is something that you have to build over time. Because regardless of what you’re promoting, or advertising people have to know like and trust you before they buy from you.

Mostafa Hosseini  12:35

So I am absolutely with you. 100%. What do you say to people that they say, oh, you know, I’ve done like five videos, and I got no results.

Lou Bortone  12:46

I say do 50 more and let me know. I know. You know, I was always it’s funny, because even though I’ve been on YouTube, since the very beginning, I used it more. It’s like all just put my videos there. I used it more as a hosting platform. So it took me a few years. And it wasn’t until I did you know, a Trump song powdi That one of my videos got half a million views.

And that one just blew up. And it’s like, so it’s like, hey, if I did that, my first video, it just depends on the timing. And it’s like catching lightning in a bottle. But, you know, I have 1000s of videos on YouTube over the past 17 years. So it does take time, but it only takes one video sometimes to kind of hit the magic spot.

Mostafa Hosseini  13:30

Do you like happen to know which video is going to take off? Or is it?

Mostafa Hosseini  13:39

Just to finish my thought as like sometimes we don’t know which one is going to take off? Do you ever have you ever been surprised? Yes. Is what I’m trying to say. Yeah.

Lou Bortone  13:50

And because there’s sometimes when you do, you know, you sort of follow all the rules, like oh, I use the right keywords. And I was, you know, short to the point and it was entertaining, you know, you kind of put everything in there. But then it’s just some other like I said some goofy video, I give you an example. I was testing a new webcam and my pug was sleeping on the floor.

And she’s snoring. So I put the webcam on the floor to capture the sleeping poke just to see if the webcam worked. And I put it online and like oh my god, my dog Stella has 20,000 views. You know, it’s a snowing pub. So you know, who knows what, who knows what people are going to react to.

Mostafa Hosseini  14:26

You never know, just like, your earlier example with the sloth, whatever you’re like, you know, she was just filling a slot and then the truck was at half a million views.

Lou Bortone  14:35

Yeah, something like that. It’s crazy. So, I mean, the important thing is you want to be consistent and you want to, you know, do the right things like have a good call to action, have a really, you know, interesting hook or introduction because people are going to decide in the first seven or eight seconds whether or not they’re going to stick with you.

So you know, you want to do the right things technically, but you also want to have content that’s going to engage people and you don’t always know exactly what that Uh, let’s gonna hit

Mostafa Hosseini  15:02

loving I guess the solution is just keep going. Be consistent. Yep. And something you mentioned, like before we started was doing it religiously. Discipline like every day every week or however often you do it so that, you know, over time we build on it. Yeah, that’s

Lou Bortone  15:18

the thing. And when I mentioned, you know, Marathon, it’s like somebody can say, I don’t understand I win the first five miles that marathon really, really quickly. It’s like, Yeah, but the last 25 You know, the last 20 you crawled? So?

Mostafa Hosseini  15:31

Yeah, it’s like, you gave up just a tad early. So interesting. So what’s the best way to get get a start out if people are camera shy, or they’re afraid of being seen, or they have that fear?

Lou Bortone  15:45

It’s funny, I had the same you know, I’m an introvert. I don’t particularly like being on camera. I came from the TV business, but always behind the scenes always on the marketing and advertising side. So when I first started, I would use you know, kids and pets and props, and, you know, things to sort of take the attention off me, which is why, you know, I had my dog my pugs in the video.

So often, I had to put them on my website, because everybody was like, where’s the pug was the pug. But a lot of it really just has to do with consistency, like you said, and, and just keeping at it. And if you’re getting started, I think that live video, things like this Facebook Live. YouTube Live is one of the easiest and sort of low hanging fruit ways to get on video, because it doesn’t necessarily need a lot of production. I know we do this with stream yard, so it looks cool. But again, if you just do a regular Facebook Live, and you think about it, you don’t have to edit it, you just put it out there. And it’s done. So that’s a good way to get your feet wet and to sort of dip your toes into the waters if you’re just starting out.

Mostafa Hosseini  16:55

How, if I’m afraid of being seen, and being invisible out there, what do you think is like, like the best way to overcome that fear?

Lou Bortone  17:05

Honestly, it’s really just it’s practice and putting yourself out there. And, you know, start slow, maybe just to Facebook Lives to your Facebook group. So if you feel like you’re in a safer environment, oftentimes when I do like, you know, 30 Day video challenges, and I’ll let people put videos in the Facebook group, but only people in that group can see it.

So it gives them a little bit of a kind of an Off Broadway chance to get comfortable with it. So again, it really just comes with practice. You know, even now, as long as I’ve been doing this, I always get a little twinge of like, oh my god, what if I look like a fool? So but then again, what’s the worst that can happen? Suddenly, that’s just a matter of like, you know what, if you want to be in business, and you want to be an entrepreneur, you can’t afford not to be seen and not to do things like video. So sometimes you just gotta suck it up and do it.

Mostafa Hosseini  17:55

Absolutely. Capillaries asking Lou, what are your most important video KPIs

Lou Bortone  18:02

isn’t always views, believe it or not, it’s not always judged by the number of views because I want to make sure that I’m seen by the right people, not necessarily by the most people. So at the end of the day, you know, my biggest KPI is am I generating revenue from my business?

And am I generating leads? Am I getting clients? And that’s, you know, obviously, it’s fun to make the goofy parody videos, and I can tend to use those, but those don’t necessarily help my bottom line.

Mostafa Hosseini  18:32

Love it, like aiming for business instead of like views or clicks and likes and dislikes that like Yeah,

Lou Bortone  18:39

and I think that, you know, it’s like somebody I don’t know who maybe Gary Vaynerchuk calls them vanity metrics. It’s like, well, it’s nice to have, but it doesn’t necessarily pay the rent.

Mostafa Hosseini  18:47

Exactly. But I don’t care how many views or likes I have, if I’m not, if I’m broken, I’m not paying my bills, then he. It doesn’t matter how popular I am on YouTube. Yeah.

Lou Bortone  18:59

Yeah, I did a video one time when my kids were in high school, and they came back and they’re like, Oh, my God, dad, some of us friends saw your video, and they thought it was hilarious. I’m like, well, that doesn’t be absolutely no bid at all. Because I’m not marketing to high school. Kids, you know. So yeah, that’s nice. It’s fine for the ego, but it doesn’t it doesn’t do anything for the business.

Mostafa Hosseini  19:19

Interesting. So what are some some good ways for people to get

Mostafa Hosseini  19:26

now before before I dive in my next question, going back to the fear piece. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now. And before that I was really comfortable being on stage and talking to people face to face. But I remember when I was first trying to do go live on Facebook and LinkedIn. I had that fear of like, oh my god, people are gonna see me.

And then I had the fear and I was like, you know, stuck doing it in the beginning, but then I thought to myself, That’s how people See me every day. Like, when I’m out and about and I go to Walmart and I go to outside that people see me I can’t hide inside. And that’s how I look like and because sometimes I’m like, oh my god, I sound terrible. And then I’m like, Dude, that’s how you sound.

Lou Bortone  20:21

The first time when you I don’t know if you know, I’m older than you, but when you were little the first time you heard your voice on a tape recorder, you like that to me? You know?

Mostafa Hosseini  20:30

The answer is yes, that’s you.

Lou Bortone  20:32

So, it is, you know, it’s tricky. But again, and it’s the funny thing is speaking from the stage is a lot different than speaking virtually, which I think a lot of us found out in the last year and a half. Because you’re basically you know, right now in a room by yourself talking to a little green dot, I mean, I’m talking with you, but you have to look at this, the cameras up there, and there’s not an audience and you can’t get the energy of you know, we know people are watching, but you don’t have the advantage of feeding off of their energy.

Mostafa Hosseini  21:03

Absolutely, yeah, it is different. So I guess one advantage of going live is you can get some feedback from people and you have an audience that watch you live maybe like questions and reactions and all that you’ll you’ll know.

Lou Bortone  21:18

Yeah, definitely. And that’s why I like Facebook Live and things like that, because you can get a little bit of a back and forth and answer questions and and give shout outs if you recognize, oh, I can’t believe so. And so’s here, you know, so. And other people like in the TV business is like, oh, no, you’re not supposed to acknowledge the audience. You’re not supposed to break that that glass screen, but on live video and on on online video, it’s much different it really you do want that back and forth?

Mostafa Hosseini  21:44

Absolutely. I think it will, it will probably even drive your views and engagement up and higher. And you’ll get more views. If there’s that engagement. Yeah. Do you have any tricks and tips for actually driving engagement up?

Lou Bortone  22:03

Well, like you said, it’s, it’s getting folks involved, is great. So that’s why I like to do interviews and panel discussions, because two heads are better than one and this you know, people that you can feed off of, and you know, so those, it’s always a good idea. Like if you’re trying to kind of establish yourself, and you say, Well, if you’re not quite ready to do a video by yourself, then do a pod, you know, video podcast or a show like this, where you have a guest, and you can kind of share the stage and, you know, share some of the responsibility for engagement.

Other than that, it’s really a matter of, you know, when the videos done, whether it’s live or pre recorded, you really have to promote it like an event, you can’t just kind of, you know, post and pray and put it on YouTube and hope something happens, you have to let your audiences and your followers know that it’s there.

And you have to promote it. I mean, I take videos that I’ve done three or four years ago, and if they’re still relevant and not, you know, perishable, I might resurrect it and throw it back up on YouTube or Facebook, because maybe people didn’t see it the first time.

Mostafa Hosseini  23:06

Absolutely. So given given the current year, and where we’re at right now, why should we be doing more video marketing in 2021? And upcoming 2022? For sure. Well,

Lou Bortone  23:22

a lot of folks, you know, like, we talked at the beginning a little bit about the you know, a lot of events are live, traditionally, live events are not necessarily going back to live though, they’re becoming hybrid events, a lot of folks are just expecting to get their information and entertainment this way.

Now, they don’t necessarily have to, you know, get on a plane to attend a conference, they don’t necessarily have to go to a networking event to be on a zoom panel with 20 other people. So a lot of it’s just been kind of, you know, the pandemic kind of forced our hand, and maybe we’re heading that way anyway.

But, but it’s really, really important to be able to put video as a part of your business, because so many people and so many of your clients and customers expect to have have, you know, hear from you that way.

Mostafa Hosseini  24:05

Absolutely. Absolutely. A video has been has been important, I think all the way along next since the emergence of, you know, YouTube and Vimeo and all that. But I think now that people are spending much more time online and on social media, to have a presence you’ve you’ve got to have.

Lou Bortone  24:25

Yeah, I think the statistic I saw for 2020 was that 96% of consumers increase their online video consumption. You know, maybe because they didn’t have a choice. But you know, if you’re not on there, then people don’t see you. I always tell my clients if people don’t see you and don’t know you, they can’t buy from you so

Mostafa Hosseini  24:46

absolutely. So what are some of the most common mistakes that business owners make when it comes to video marketing?

Lou Bortone  24:52

The biggest mistake I see business owners making is that they wait too long or they think it needs to be perfect. They say, Well, as soon as my new webcam comes in, or I need to get a better microphone and, and honestly, with the phones that are out these days, you have a studio quality camera in your pocket with most of the phones in the last two or three years.

So there’s no excuse not to get started, although some folks do procrastinate because they feel like they need all the right gear, or they need to have everything look just perfect. It’s more important, you know, quality is, content is more important than quality is best to say. So that’s one of the things and then the other thing is just making time for it or thinking like, Oh, God, I gotta do a video.

It’s like a chore like, well, if you do it, if you just commit to it once a week, and you do your video once a week, then you’re out there and it used to be inconsistent. Oftentimes, I will batch record videos. So if I say okay, it’s quiet at the house for a change in person next door isn’t mowing their lawn or blowing the leaves? So I’m gonna do three or four videos and then drip them out over the next three or four weeks. Absolutely.

Mostafa Hosseini  26:03

Absolutely. We have a commitment to to every Wednesday at 230 Mountain Time, run the show. Yeah, it’s there. And unless something happens, we’re gonna go live every every Wednesday, right?

Lou Bortone  26:19

And especially being able to do live because the consistency is important and, and people even though you can stream and binge watch now, all the way back to the sort of the TV example that you know, there’s such a thing as appointment viewing, like people just expected that. Okay, Seinfeld is going to be on at nine o’clock on Thursdays, you know, when it was on?

So that appointment viewing philosophy I think still holds?

Mostafa Hosseini  26:42

Absolutely. Louise ask it at appeal is asking Lou, why do you think vine and ProScope failed?

Lou Bortone  26:48

That’s a really good question. Because, you know, tick tock and other similar formats are doing, you know, really great. So I think some of it is is kind of hitting the right place at the right time. So maybe it’s a little bit of luck.

And maybe just knowing your audience, I mean, that’s the thing with with tick tock has just taken off with with younger viewers, obviously, it’s not drastically different than some of those other formats. I remember there was a format called Blog blab that I loved that I would do all the time and I had a co host and all that kind of stuff.

And you know, it just it just didn’t have staying power. There’s a ton of competition out there. Whatever something successful like Instagram, they’re either gonna get bought by somebody like Facebook or they’re gonna get imitated. And now YouTube is doing shorts in response to Tik Tok. So, a lot of it’s just you know, if you can get enough traction without being swallowed up by somebody, somebody bigger you may be able to survive.

Mostafa Hosseini  27:45

Absolutely. I think I could be wrong, but I think maybe their name might have something to do with how lasting their brand or their name could be like some names are like, really temporary names. Yeah. And some of them did last forever. Do you have anything? Yeah, that’s

Lou Bortone  28:08

interesting. I mean, you know, because I think about a lot of the things that went away. Even Periscope, which I guess is going away, which was bought up by Twitter, it’s like, Well, does that name say what they do?

Or is that name just catchy enough to to be, you know, there’s something about Tik Tok and Snapchat that just like, I can remember those, you know, it’s like, head to think vine. Oh, yeah, I remember them.

Mostafa Hosseini  28:30

Yeah, like Periscope. I told me if I hear that for the first time, I think it would be like a horoscope kind of website. Or you could read your horoscope. Yeah. And, you know, maybe that’s part of it. Maybe not.

Lou Bortone  28:46

I don’t watch that, you know, the focus groups and advertising people and all that, that would try to think of what’s what like, is an app that I love, and which is a little bit like zoom with a lot more creativity called hmm, Mm hmm. I’m like, Okay, that is a weird name. And I don’t know why they they use that but maybe it’ll catch on.

Mostafa Hosseini  29:08

I know for a fact that name plays plays a major role. Like stupid names, like, they probably wouldn’t take off or they would have to spend a lot of time and money and resources to establish your brand. What are what is like if someone is getting started, what is the best platform to start with video marketing. All

Lou Bortone  29:35

a lot of times I talk about finding your video sweet spot, which is really about what’s the best platform for me to use where I’m comfortable and you know, technology wise, I can handle it. And your sweet spot is basically the intersection of your favorite platform and your clients or audience’s favorite platform.

So if I love Tik Tok, but my audience is over 50 then that’s kind of a mismatch. But because I like doing Facebook and I like doing Facebook Live and a big part of my audience is there that’s kind of part of my sweet spot. So the platform really depends on what do you like that your audience also likes so that you’ll actually do it.

So again, I didn’t use I didn’t really use YouTube as a as a promotional vehicle for the first several years because it was just like, oh, it’s all skateboarding dogs and goofy stuff. And eventually, it’s like, okay, well, now my audience is there. So I have to be there.

Mostafa Hosseini  30:33

So you do you recommend business owners start on YouTube?

Lou Bortone  30:36

I think YouTube is probably one of the you know, you can’t go wrong, universal, sort of like it’s just so big and so influential and covers so many audiences. In fact, the largest growing demographic on YouTube right now is 55 plus, so I don’t know if that means that, you know, old folks like me just discovering it or getting older.

But YouTube is one of those like, Okay, well, yeah, of course, you have to be on YouTube. And then what else? Maybe Facebook because they will also so big with video. LinkedIn, because you’re, you know, you want to be more business. Like, there’s such a huge business is there. So again, it just depends on Where’s you know, where can I find my audience? Where can I best connect with my audience?

Mostafa Hosseini  31:18

Interesting. Is there is there a good easy or is there a tip on finding out where they hang out, like, which platform they hang out on? For someone that’s getting started? Like, they have no clue, like, like,

Lou Bortone  31:34

where people hang out? Yeah, you know, I mean, demographically, you know, this sort of general things like okay, I know that Tik Tok and Snapchat have a much younger audience. So, you know, the vast majority of their viewers are younger than my audience is not younger than I’m probably not going to want to be there.

But part of it’s also that when I say finding the sweet spot, it’s like, you have to experiment a bit. And you have to say like, Okay, well, I put the same video on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube. And it got 17 views on YouTube, but it got, you know, 900 likes on Facebook, it’s like, okay, well, you kind of look at the, the results from the different platforms, and you kind of get a sense of, okay, this is where my audience is reacting best to my videos even now, you know, even though I use YouTube, and they have more reach, I get more traction and reaction on Facebook and YouTube.

Mostafa Hosseini  32:28

All right, now, I like that. And I think there’s, there’s some testing that needs to be done. Like, there’s no surefire way of saying, Here’s a magic wand, get on YouTube, and you’ll become a billionaire. Like, you got to test it.

Lou Bortone  32:39

Yeah. So you know, experiment, find out what works for you where your audience responds. And, you know, for some folks, it’s LinkedIn, some people only do LinkedIn video, it’s like, that’s where my audience is. That’s where I get my, my, the best response. And that’s fine. If that’s where your audience is. Absolutely.

Mostafa Hosseini  32:57

One thing that we do is like, right now, as we speak, we aired this live on every channel that we have. And that’s how we do it. Yeah.

 If I get responses on Facebook, perfect, like some topics we do well on Facebook, some topics we do well on LinkedIn, and but like, I’m not going to eliminate, say, YouTube or Twitter, right? Because I don’t have any beef with them. Like, you know,

Lou Bortone  33:22

the great thing about videos, you can do that, I mean, you can go two simultaneous platforms all at once. So if you post a video to YouTube, you can still post the same video to Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, wherever, depending on length and stuff like that. But you know, there’s no reason it’s just too easy not to just click Yes, I will share this to Facebook or Yes, I will upload this to LinkedIn.

So you know, why not? Why not exactly. Every opportunity and every, every possible chance to find you don’t have to find

Mostafa Hosseini  33:54

like, even if if I need to post the same content manually on different platforms, it’s going to take us a bunch of time. So I’m really happy with the leverage that we got, say with the stream yard, just air it live on as many platforms as possible. Yeah,

Lou Bortone  34:11

that’s one of the things I love about stream yard as you can you can kind of get a bigger bang for your buck, because you are going to several different platforms. Absolutely.

Mostafa Hosseini  34:21

Lou, what are the latest trends with video marketing?

Lou Bortone  34:25

There’s a lot. It’s funny because especially with the last year and a half, that’s kind of put everything sort of upside down. So aside from the fact that just more people are using it, one of the trends that I see and that a lot of folks in that I really like is personalized video.

So even though you know we just talked about going to as many people as possible at the same time. There’s also a really good argument for going to one or two people at a time because you can create that personal engagement so I use video email I use things like loom or dub to send video emails on a follow up with video emails because it’s just more memorable and more impactful.

And people are gonna, you know, they’re gonna get, you know, 500 emails a day, but maybe only one or two video emails of those they’re gonna pay attention to so one of the biggest trends that we can all take advantage of is just personalization and customization. So as much as you want to reach as many people as possible, you also want to sort of narrow cast and say, I’m going to send this message to Mostafa, and only him and it’s going to be for him, and I’m going to mention his name, and he’s going to know it’s just to him. So

Mostafa Hosseini  35:34

I like that. It’s like personalizing your message. I know, I heard I heard Tim Ferriss talking about when he wrote the book, The Four Hour Workweek. He wrote the book for one specific person. Wow. And he that’s what he was saying.

And that’s part of the reason why it actually took off. He wasn’t trying to please the entire world. He’s like, there’s this one person that I’m going to address it to. And that’s how specific he got with his target market or hers niche.

Lou Bortone  36:04

Yeah, I really liked that idea. Yeah, so I like personalization. That’s one of my favorite trends. Obviously, there’s also you know, a trend towards really short micro videos like tick tock and YouTube shorts and things like that, that really catching on I found it’s, you know, for as a business person I’m still struggling with, you know, what’s the best way to do that, then it’s not just some goofy dance or something, but it actually, you know, creates business.

Mostafa Hosseini  36:33

I actually saw a software called lately.ai. Have you come across? No. So lately is an AI software that you could upload your video? Yeah, will transcribe it. And you can make like short one minute videos or however long you want. Yeah. And then you could post it across multiple channels. And it will schedule it for you. It’s actually really smart, like Gary Vee and a bunch of other people that I know.

Yeah, use it. Late. lately.ai, if I’m not mistaken, when the site but it’s called lately. Yeah, cancel, but

Lou Bortone  37:07

videos are not going away. So you know, there are tools and resources that you can use to make it easier to create them, you would think it’s really easy to create, but I think it’s harder to, you know, squeeze your message into 15 seconds. And it is yeah, it is being able to say I’ll just do a three minute video.

Mostafa Hosseini  37:22

Yeah. Like, for example, this very conversation that we’re doing right now, there’s a ton of golden nuggets in there. If I could upload it say on lately and have say lately, I want you to create 15 Second, or I don’t know, what are the limitations, but let’s say I want 32nd videos out of this clip. It will do it. That’s cool. Yep. Yeah. Interesting.

Lou Bortone  37:44

Yeah. So short and sweet. That’s another you know, just another way to like about video, email and video outreach is that you know, I can do a 15 second, you know, hello to somebody or Happy Birthday, whatever, when it’s done, and it didn’t take me two hours, you know? Yeah,

Mostafa Hosseini  37:59

I know on loom. You could do it real quick. Yeah, turn on the camera. Hi, Lou. Happy birthday. Hope you have a great day, you know, we got to get up. You have. And as soon as you press finish, it automatically copies the link into your clipboard. So you can just paste it and press send.

Lou Bortone  38:15

Yeah, and as I do, I follow a company called vid yard out of Toronto. And they’re really great as far as video outreach. And one of the things they talk about is, if you’re doing video outreach, or if you’re trying to reach somebody, and you do a loom, you can go to that person’s LinkedIn page and do the loom from their page.

Hey, I was just looking at your profile and I saw yada yada, yada, you know, somebody who goes on screen and sees themselves on their LinkedIn page, you can say, oh, okay, well, this person’s, you know, it’s just going to catch their attention, because you’re not just some random salesperson calling from out of nowhere, you’re on their LinkedIn page.

Mostafa Hosseini  38:50

That’s a brilliant idea. And

Lou Bortone  38:54

another example that video I’d used was there was a an account exec who was trying to get into I think it was Buffalo Wild Wings like to have a meeting or something like that. So he did a video where he tried he said, I’m going to try to deliver this message while eating your hottest wings.

So he’s eating Buffalo Wild Wings in a video to Buffalo Wild Wings. But you know, it’s the wings are so hot, you can hardly get through the message, but it’s like, okay, well, that got their attention. You know.

Mostafa Hosseini  39:20

Very interesting. Read ideas there. Tell us about your gift, your what you’re sharing with us your resume.

Lou Bortone  39:30

Oh, yeah, well, now you know, obviously since we’re all on video all the time of all doing zooms and lives and things like that. A lot of what’s happened is we’re using these virtual backgrounds. In Stream yard, you know, the brick wall is one of the backbones you can use, but on Zoom, you can use virtually anything.

I did a video the other day I was promoting a retreat that I’m doing later in Tuscany and I had the Tuscan hills in the background and I got a glass of wine and I put some goods Sound Effects and stuff. So people that are like, in Tuscany, I’m like, No, I’m in green screen land. So I’ve shared just a bunch of really fun, cool green screen backgrounds that you can use in zoom or in other virtual meetings.

Mostafa Hosseini  40:14

Yeah, you could use it on stream yard as well. You could just upload it. Yeah.

Lou Bortone  40:18

That’s really great. Yeah. And I, you know, I did one the other day, like, as a joke, like I missed, I was late for a meeting or something like that. So I had a jail cell background. And they said, I’m really sorry, I missed the meeting. But I have a really good excuse. I’ve been incarcerated. And I, you know, so there’s just a million different things you can do with it.

Mostafa Hosseini  40:36

Oh, yeah. You can get really creative with that. Love it. Love it. Lou, what’s one thing people could do today? To get better with video marketing?

Lou Bortone  40:47

Honestly, it’s really just doing it more consistently. So if they had to do something today, I would say try to do a platform that you’ve never done, you know, go live on Facebook, or stream yard, or try a YouTube Live or record a video email that you’re going to send to a prospect using loom for instance.

So just take a platform, any platform and try a video and just see how you feel with it. Because you might find oh my gosh, that was easier than I thought it would be. Very

Mostafa Hosseini  41:18

interesting. Give it a try. Like you’re not gonna you won’t,

Lou Bortone  41:23

you won’t break the internet. Yeah,

Mostafa Hosseini  41:26

you’re not gonna get a heart attack. Like, just do it. It’s okay. You’ll survive. I survived. Lose survived a bunch of us have survived. Yes, yeah.

Lou Bortone  41:35

So I think like, again, the worst thing that can happen with videos like okay, I may get disconnected because there’s a power outage or you’re gonna hear my dogs barking in the background. But that’s, that’s life. And that’s the way that’s how we work now. So love

Mostafa Hosseini  41:48

it. Love it. Love it. Gang. So if you’re watching or listening, go download, lose 50 Plus virtual backgrounds that you could use for a zoom or stream yard or any other platform that you can use that’s very valuable.

And you can get very creative with that. And go reach out to Lou Lou as he definitely knows what he’s talking about. He’s been doing it for a long time. And I know that he is a trusted expert, and professional when it comes to video marketing. Lou, can I ask you some personal questions?

Lou Bortone  42:23

Sure. All right.

Mostafa Hosseini  42:25

What’s a new thing that you have tried recently?

Lou Bortone  42:31

Do you mean equipment wise, any

Mostafa Hosseini  42:33

personal business equipment, life

Lou Bortone  42:36

Wow. I am like a bright shiny object A Holic and I tend to buy a lot of tech techy things and things like that. So I tried, I’ll show you because I’m not using it right now. This thing called center cam, which is a camera that is just simply on a wire so that you put it on the top of the computer. 

The idea is that rather than looking down at your screen like this, you will look at the screen and the cameras right in the middle of the screen.

So you you’re looking at the camera more so those are one of the that I just gotten haven’t really even experimented with that much yet. But I just like the idea of like the saying like, okay, instead of looking up there with the cameras, I can just look straight ahead and it feels more natural.

Mostafa Hosseini  43:16

Love it. What is that called again?

Lou Bortone  43:18

Center cam. And it was like an Indiegogo kind of project. And again, I think it was like I want to say it was like 100 bucks or something. But just to be able to try to you know, say like, well, let me see if that makes my videos look better or more natural because I’m looking at the center of the screen rather than this way or that way. Oh,

Mostafa Hosseini  43:38

and where do you buy that?

Lou Bortone  43:40

I think it’s now it’s just available on center. cam.com But originally when I got it, it was on I think it was on Indiegogo, one of those kinds of Kickstarter projects.

Mostafa Hosseini  43:50

Okay, got it. Lou, what are your favorite top two or three books, business or life books that maybe have made a massive difference to your life?

Lou Bortone  43:59

Really good question. Oh, you’re gonna laugh at this one. But Well, honestly, this is like my, my Bible. The Godfather, I think is a brilliant business book. So that’s in my Italian background that I won’t go into too much but that that book hit a nerve with me. So that’s one and other more

Mostafa Hosseini  44:21

traditional ones are all remember not to mess with you.

Lou Bortone  44:25

Another one is Book Yourself Solid by Michael Porter. I was so impressed with that book that I became a student of his and became a Book Yourself Solid certified coach, which in that book is all about marketing and selling for people who don’t like marketing and selling.

Another one that much more recent that I really like is building a story brand by Donald Miller. And he really talks about the hero’s journey and how to put story into your videos and story into your websites and the importance of of telling this story. Wow,

Mostafa Hosseini  44:56

I am definitely going to check that one out. as well. All great books. Solid The Godfather love it. So obviously the Godfather is as a story.

Lou Bortone  45:07

Yeah, fiction. Yeah. And that one’s you know, a fiction novel from 50 years ago or something, but obviously the, you know, they made the movies and things like that. And I don’t know if it was because of my Italian background and where I grew up, we had a lot of people like that in our neighbor.

But I look at it like, wow, these are really good, you know, business ideas, you know, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer and make them an offer you can’t refuse and like, you know, some of that stuff is works for this this without making any nice, hopefully,

Mostafa Hosseini  45:41

or using baseball bats, I guess. Yeah. Did you grew up in Italy? Or no, I

Lou Bortone  45:47

grew up in Boston, but in a really Italian neighborhood in Boston.

Mostafa Hosseini  45:51

Love it. Love it, I always want to hang out with Italians. Most of them, okay, you guys are cool bunch. So

Lou Bortone  46:00

we get good food. And we know. So it’s funny, because when I hadn’t been you know, I’ve been to Italy several times, but I started to do my mastermind retreats there, because I’m like, Look, if I’m gonna, you know, if I’m going to be with a group of people for a week, I don’t want to be in a conference room at a Sheraton or something like that. I want to be someplace really fun and unique. So

Mostafa Hosseini  46:19

love it. Lou, what’s one advice that has made a massive change in your life?

Lou Bortone  46:25

That’s a tough one. I think, you know, it really sounds a little trite. But But my dad used to always say, you know, just keep at it, because persistence is going to put you in the top 10% No matter what, you just end it’s the same whether it’s video or baseball, or whatever hobby you might do. It’s really just a matter of sticking to it.

Mostafa Hosseini  46:46

Love it, that’s an important thing is persistence and keeping that in until you get there. Because, like you said, like the marathon to your example used earlier in the show. It’s like a lot of people give up way too early. Yeah. Yep. And

Lou Bortone  47:01

the same can be said of video or pretty much anything. It’s just like, you know, it’s not everything is hard before it’s easy. Right? So, so you might as well get through the hard part. Absolutely.

Mostafa Hosseini  47:11

If you had a Facebook or Google ad, or everyone on the on the web on the internet around the world could see. What would your message be for the people of the world?

Lou Bortone  47:22

Wow. Other than, like, send me $1 Because if everybody in the world sent me $1, I would have a lot of dollars. That blatant marketing, I really think it would be like you know, your message matters and the people who need to hear it. So get your message out there.

If you’re not doing video, or you’re not writing that book, or you’re not doing whatever messages inside you and get getting it out there, you’re sort of cheating somebody out of your message.

Mostafa Hosseini  47:48

Very interesting. Your message matters. Get your message out there. Love it. Love it. Love it. Little What advice would you give your 20 year old self?

Lou Bortone  47:58

Wow. That’s a really interesting one. I was trying to think of some wise answer, but I can’t really think of anything too funny. So I would think just take more chances. Don’t be just don’t be so conservative. I think again, coming from, you know, my dad was grew up during the Depression. So he was pretty conservative and you know, risk averse.

And I think, you know, whatever, however much of that I inherited, I think if I took more risks, and you know, probably be even further along today.

Mostafa Hosseini  48:39

Interesting. Yeah, taking risk is I think it’s a must for life, and we just can’t be too safe. We can’t play too safe. So. Yeah, well, well, very well set low. This has been an absolutely amazing conversation. Is there anything you would like to add that you? We didn’t talk about?

Lou Bortone  48:56

I don’t think so. I mean, I appreciate the opportunity to be on here. I don’t do a ton of these because I am a little camera shy. But you know, like I said, I’m trying to put forth an example and practice what I preach and it’s like it you know, if you’ve got a message, this is a great way to get it out there. So keep at it. Love

Mostafa Hosseini  49:13

it. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it gang. If you’re watching or listening, go out there and download, lose 50 Plus cool zoom or virtual background images that you could use basically on software’s and platforms like zoom or stream yard and use it for marketing your business. You could find Lou at Luber tone.com If you Google his name, I’m sure it will come up.

And do reach out because video marketing is important. It matters it makes a difference. I love the fact that like video is very engaging. And personally I’m very lazy. I don’t like to read. I like to watch videos and that’s part of why actually people consume a ton of video and content. So and it does make a difference and it can Make a difference for your business.

And when you work with a pro and an expert like lube or tone, it also makes more you can make more difference out there. So do reach out to Lou. Just another reminder, the confidence giveaways coming up during the week of November 15, to 21st. And the theme of our giveaways to help entrepreneurs boost their confidence in different areas of business. 

And to get that you could go to daily confidence dot show forward slash giveaway to download your gifts and get access to that, as usual. Make sure to like the show, subscribe.

If you have any questions for me or Lou, pop them in a comment on any platform that you’re watching and we will make sure to get back to you, Lou, thank you again. I really appreciate your time and expertise and sharing your knowledge and wisdom. And I’m sure we’ll chat soon more.

Lou Bortone  50:47

Look forward to it. Thanks so much.

Mostafa Hosseini  50:49

Thank you for joining us. You’ve been listening to the other conference for entrepreneurs. And we’ll see you next week with another episode another expert and another amazing topic. Have a great day and see you later. Bye now.