You might look at CustomFlix.com. They have an intriguing site for letting you sell your videos - they build a web site, do the fulfillment, etc.

Selling anything online is quite a challenge. Our loop libraries have been around for over two years now, and they're just starting to pick up momentum.

eBay might work or might not. Check and see if there's anything else like it being offered there. It will at elast give you an idea of whether or not people are buying and what they're willing to pay.

All good comments, however, I would think the loop libraries are a very small niche market. I designed my product to have as much broad appeal as possible, but thats no sure thing either.

Also, I am trying to keep the price very reasonable, like under $20 bucks. I look at the junk people buy at Wallmart or the Buck or Two store and I cant help but think I could move mine as well.

First question:
Who is your potential customer?

Gary

As far as potential customers goes, I guess I would consider my product as something just about anybody would buy. It has appeal in a number of areas, however, if i had to narrow it down it would have to fall under a few categories

1. Nature lovers and outdoors enthusiasts (since the slideshow is mostly landscapes)
2. Probably video enthusiasts and home theatre owners (since the soundtrack is in 5.1, it will need a surround setup for the full experience)
3. Tourists and people interested in travel or experiencing other places.
etc.

So you would marklet it in:

1: Places that sell outdoor gear or granola, nudist colonies.

2:Higher-end audio and video places (if the 5.i is REALLY good, market to audio stor owners for demos)

3: Places where people make travel arrangements

G

Well, if your stills/ landscapes are concentrated on 1-4 particular areas(national parks/monuments, eg. Yosemite), then how about gift shops located in or near the park/ area. Do web searches for "outdoor videos".... maybe those retailers might carry it. I also believe that Amazon.com might have some deals where they sell, you ship. Bottom line, define who your REAL customer is (who will seek this product out), and where do you place this product for them to see/ buy. Giving away free copies to shops( outdoor stores) for them to play in-store might generate leads aswell.

jesse

Has any of this helped??...... i will soon be in a similar boat, but the content of my DVD will be far different than yours, but I have been considering the marketing aspect all along while I am shooting and editing.

Jesse

Crooks, this thread has been helpful but I am still looking for more ideas and possible venues for my works.

The most interesting suggestion was this CustomFlix site - interesting business model there, however, they are more focused on delivery of content rather than marketing it although they have some good avenues for that as well.


Any other ideas?

Feel free to visit my industry website, "Chanimal - The Ultimate Resource for Software Marketing" at www.chanimal.com. The site has over 250 pages of free marketing information, templates and resources that should help.

To begin with, I would create a "Plan of Action" (a 2-4 page, high level overview of your approach). You don't need a marketing plan since you are the sole executor of the promotions and don’t need the formality.

You still need to address the 4 P's of the marketing mix--a marketing framework (product, price, placement and promotion). Following is a VERY short and abbreviated overview.

Start with your product.


PRODUCT

First, the product would find a "unique" need, and fill it better than other available options.

You didn’t tell us enough about your product. First, what is it? . In addition, what makes it unique or different? What is it's positioning, or unique hook that separates it from comparable options?

Second, why did you create it? Third, as Gary asked, who is your audience? Are they easy to reach (how?), large or small, etc.?

I can’t provide much advice without knowing your audience. You said everyone? Do you mean editors, graphic artist, consumers (mom’s) or professionals?

Your intended audience dictates everything; your price (consumer versus professional dictates price (available capital), as does your type of distribution (retail typically takes 55pts (a % of margin) so you have to have enough in your price to satisfy development cost and profit), placement (direct sales, via 1 or 2 tier distribution (including retail)--your product has to be where your prospects buy (retail, Internet, OEM, shareware, etc.), and promotion (you would promote to a consumer audience differently than a very select professional group).

In addition, who is your competition? There is always competition, even if it is "in house." If there actually is none, then there usually isn’t enough demand to justify your development efforts. If you have existing commercial competitors, your can “draft” their approach (using guerilla marketing (no/low cost alternatives), etc.


PRICE (http://www.chanimal.com/html/pricing.html)

Basically, Price insures there is enough return to make your efforts worthwhile. It also positions a product (i.e., Vegas is sometimes considered a lightweight, simply because of the lower price—the question however, is which market is bigger, or is growing faster (professional or prosumer)). You typically set your pricing objectives (trying to penetrate into the market or just make a few bucks short term), then the strategy (there’s 22 different approaches), then structure (your’s is easy since there is only one product) and finally levels (pricing to Vegas Users Group, versus general populace, price to retail/online/e-bay versus direct, etc.).

Regardless, $20 sounds like a “toy” or shareware price of something sold direct. You can e-mail me directly (once I know what your product does) and I can give you some pragmatic recommended ranges)--e-mail on the bottom of the Chanimal Website.


PLACEMENT

This refers to how the product is placed, or sold. It can be direct (on-line via a Website, phone (consider PayPal as the least expensive e-commerce credit card system (low cost per transaction, no fixed monthly fee, no $200 setup fee, etc.), telemarketing, through a distributor (Amazon has a 15% commission program, or e-bay (more an advertiser), through retail (by the sound of it, you do not have the experience or $100k plus it takes to buy your way into this channel (although you can use commission rep firms (listed at http://www.chanimal.com/html/rep_firms.html, but they still need MDF/Co-op dollars to engage).


PROMOTION

This includes advertising (display, banner ads, radio, TV), PR (press releases, editorial reviews, analyst relations), on-line marketing (Website, user groups, chat rooms), direct response (e-mail (targeted—not SPAM), carddecks, direct mail), event marketing (trade shows, user groups, road shows (usually w/alliances)), etc.


Of course, all of this is only worthwhile if you are serious about launching your product—versus a casual approach to see if you can make a few dollars here and there. A plan of action would sequence what you are going to do within a rough associated time frame. An extremely simplified plan might go like:

- Review any competitive products, read reviews, any analyst reports (often the key info can be gleaned from the free summaries) (see http://www.chanimal.com/html/pr_-_pg2.html for a list of some of the key analyst groups)
- Refine product positioning (create a matrix and see the holes that your product fills (starts to show your unique strengths). If there is no competition, then create a simple spreadsheet showing every advantage I have over doing it “in house” (adhoc). For example, will save 80% of the time, cost 40% less, add professionalism without having one in-house, etc.
- Name the product (register at http://www.chanimal.com/html/register.html to get a free document about both packaging and naming conventions) – the list is NEVER SOLD, but used for networking (one day I may contact you with a question I need answered (Pay it Forward approach))
- If you have a physical product (not download only), then also pay attention to the packaging guidelines (the same guidelines I used for Netscape, and over 400 product launches for over 150 vendors)
- Set the price. Review competitive pricing. Determine your objectives and strategy (go down the Chanimal list – should only take about 15 minutes to see which apply). Consider in advance how you want to distribute it (since you will need to consider others peoples markup when you set your price to ensure you make the margin you need).
- Determine where the buyers of your type of product purchase. If retail, consider the on-line sources first since you do not have the cash to get into a CompUSA, etc. If your product is really good, and you have no cash, consider finding a “publisher” who will get you into retail (even Netscape was “published” by my company, since they didn’t know how to get into distribution).
- Since this is probably guerilla, then make a list of other players your buyers may go and see if you can align to sell your product (i.e., OEM it to Sony (like Boris within Vegas 5.0 did) – usually for a VERY low price, with an upgrade path to recoop your investment). For example, I have a video series I created called, “How to Finance a High-Tech Startup.” I sell direct, but I also have a shortened version that I have included in several books that sell to my exact market. I also have it available within several on-line high-tech service and information companies (i.e., SoftwareCEO, etc.), have it streaming off VC’s sites, available via the Software Publishers Association, etc., etc.
- If also (I would recommend multiple approaches to selling your product) available on-line, I would setup a website (see www.chanimal.com/video) that provides a sample of the product, testimonials, press, positioning copy, description, etc. You could use Netobjects Fusion or other authoring packages if you need to create the site yourself without knowing HTML.
- Purchase a domain name (ranging from $6.97 - $8.97 / year (pay no more)), but get “cloaking” if you don’t want to pay apx. $10/month for hosting (you can use the 5 meg of free space you usually get with your ISP and re-route folks to the site and cloak it (see www.videobackstage.com – notice that it says Videobackstage on the top line, but highlighting any links will show that it actually sits in a directory off my Chanimal.com site (cloaking).
- Setup e-commerce (you can purchase a merchant account, but by far the cheapest “pre-made” approach is to use PayPal (it now accepts credit cards without being part of PayPal).
- Now that you have your first piece of “collateral” that defines the product, it’s positioning, it’s price you can now start promoting. Actually, you would start by "validating" your market.
- Validate your market. Quiet simply, you must now receive some validation that what you have put together (on the relative cheap) has value to your target. On the high end we would send samples to the analyst, press, key prospects and get their comprehensive feedback (from product features, to packaging, price, potential promotions, etc.). If you've hit the mark you will get positive responses (the most positive is "CASH"). If not, then make the changes and re-do this stage until you believe you've got a winner.
- Get testimonials (and written (e-mail will do) permission to use them). You will use them on your Website, within the final printed package (if applicable), within your press release, in ads, etc. They create "referencing" and help others see that you have validated your product. They will also help with the second step of the persuasive process (1. Attention, 2. Credibility, 3. Problem, 4. Solution, 5. Best Solution, 6. Overcoming Objections, 7. Visualization and 8. Close (attualization)).
- Always start with PR, it is 1/7th the cost of advertising and 15 times more believable. Go to PRWeb.com to issue a FREE press release (or pay about $30 for some extras). Also, go to http://www.marketwire.com/mw/services_pr_write to learn how to write a release. You can also use PressBlaster (see http://www.chanimal.com/html/pr.html and click on link) to select the exact publications to send your release to.
- Once a release is sent (usually the first of the week), then follow-up with the top 10 key publications that your are confident should pick up your story.
- Now, review the editorial calendar (available on their Websites) of each of your top 10 key publications (don’t forget on-line CNet and others). Highlight the upcoming articles that you wish to be part of and contact them 3 months out.
- Next, see if you can get any OEM deals for a “lite” version of your product. Check with every vendor that is targeting the same audience. I only made $1 each for my last OEM deal, but it shipped with over 2 million PC’s each year, produced a 15% upgrade, and cost me $1.00 plus postage to send to the vendor (they handle support). It was good advertising (that actually paid for itself), gave the alliance something extra, and also allowed me to piggy back on the alliances marketing promotions (i.e., roadshows, space in their booth, a mention in their ads, etc.)

And the list goes on and on… check out Chanimal.com for much more info (see the marketing plan section.

If you get this far you should start to see some sales and can stop, read more, and proceed further.

Hope this helps some for now.

Chaniimal -

WOW

(an MBA in marketing - iin one paragraph!)

Great incredible advice.

Great work, Ted! Very informative and really impressive!! Thank you for sharing that with us!!!

J--

Yep.... without even going to the site, this post gave a wealth of info for the marketing-challenged folk out there. I have heard that marketing is everything; you can have the best product, but without proper marketing you will not see the actual potential. i have learned alot about starting my own business just by getting out there and doing it (skate industry). One thing that I did was what I referred to as "spy missions": pose a potential customer to some of the "big guys".... see how they operate, waht they give you, and what they will tell you. Most big companies do not really hide their business strategies/ plans/ models..... they already own market share. Of course this "spy" deal really is effective when there are trade shows you can attend; lots of big guys to browse. Bottom line, look at people/companies already doing what you intend to do, and figure out how you can do the same... but better.

My 2 cents
Jesse