Should I learn This Software or Should I Let It Go Now.
Those whiteboard marker videos have fascinated me for a long time, I just really like them and can see them adding value to my business. Couldn't resist any longer an offer landed in my inbox, I couldn't refuse it, just had to get the software.
I love the effect you know where the message just sketches itself in front of your very eyes, I see it as a powerful marketing tool. I opened it up and had a play around with it, the ideas are flowing and I can see the potential.
But,
Do I have the time to spare to learn how to get the best out of this software? Reflecting I could spend that time learn how to use it and if I get semi-good at it, the opportunity is there too on sell the videos that are produced. It could be a win-win.
I kind of stopped in my tracks, should I do it or should I outsource it, and get someone else to do it for me.
If we look and search, you can get things done online for relative value. How do you value your time, can we get better value if we get the job done elsewhere, or do we spend time and do it ourselves?
I learned a valuable lesson today. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Alex Evans.
Recent Comments
58
I'm pretty sure it's not difficult to use. Video marketing will take you to a whole new level I'm sure. I've spoken to someone about this when I asked just a few days ago and they're making good to okay money with it. I think it's really good for story telling and information sharing. As for selling..I think it's been overused.
Is this camtasia or some other software?
Video content has much higher chance of going viral I would say... a good example would be improvementpill. His YouTube channel is doing really well. I think he makes good money from YouTube and Amazon.
At the end of the day it's just a tool. How well you use it is based upon your creativity. I honestly want to try it eventually but Not at the moment. I still have a site to build.
Hi Jason, thanks for stopping by, the product is easy sketch pro, relatively easy to use getting that professional look would take some practice, the thing that I was pondering is was it worth my while to spend the time learning or is it more effective to outsource and spend that time somewhere else on the business.
I Concur with your thoughts, some aspects of marketing have been overdone for sure it is at the end of the day all about creating unique content that stands on its own merits.
Appreciate your points of view and thanks for sharing.
I love the feedback this has generated. The most helpful thing I can add I think is my my mother's guidelines on outsourcing:
Know the cow. Know your farmer.
Taken from her long time passion and involvement in locally based agricultural, a generalized translation is that if it's impractical to do something yourself, have a clear sense of what it is you want, and build relationships with people that you can trust to follow through.
Hope that is helpful.
:-)
Kit
I like your mother's guidelines, Kit! :-)
Another one I learned from my neighbor, Jed...an old retired farmer...is:
"If you don't think fear can control you...then, you have never been chased by a mad momma cow!"
Jim
I must say that I have found real value from the responses in this thread WA shining through at its best.
You have a very wise mother Kit, that is the key more so in online marketing we have to know where we are going what our expectations are and how we are going to achieve them.
thank you for sharing your insights much appreciated.
That is awesome Jim, that is an experience for sure nothing like the odd scare to keep us honest and aware. thanks for that one.
Well, Alex, I never experienced a mad momma cow but, I've had enough of my own sudden scares to keep me on the right path!
:-)
Jim
I've still got a huge learning curve ahead of me, because I only have time to work on WA a couple of hours a week. So this is just my humble opinion.
All the bells and whistles are great fun, but do they convert? Do they actually make money for anyone other than the people selling the video software?
I find sales videos incredibly annoying, and those sketch videos give me a headache. I saw somewhere that most people scan a page and pick out what they feel is useful. Which is why subheadings, and written content, are so important.
Video does not allow a customer to do that. Most people are too overwhelmed and busy these days to sit and listen to four or five minute video, regardless of the topic.
I suspect sketch video software is pretty much a fancy toy, but not much else. Would the average visitor sit through a sketch video to learn what they need to solve their problem? Probably not. Today's audience is too jaded and savvy for that.
As boring at the concept may be, written content is still the way gain trust and convert a visitor into a loyal customer.
Anything else is just a fancy accessory, and probably a drag on site speed.
I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but I think it's probably pretty accurate.
I just did. Thank you for the link. I remember seeing most of the points he makes in some decent self-help books. He's not stating anything new. What he is doing is presenting old concepts, really, really fast! LOL.
I am old school. I like reading books. and reading web content. I find the sketch videos overwhelming. It's like everything is coming at you at once.
It's too much for me, but that's just me. Obviously, others feel differently. To each his own. :-)
Hi Wendy, in the beginning, we come to the online world with lives that are already full and busy, it takes time but things come around and you will have more time to learn grow and expand.
That is an interesting take, within the online industry folks are making 7 figure incomes by creating and launching products and service none more so that the MMO and IM niches, the good thing with affiliate marketing, is that we can by becoming affiliates derive income from the crumbs of the table.
Many of us have become scan readers and viewers and this will only grow as our love affair with mobile technology continues to expand.
From a marketing point of view sketch videos are an excellent way to explain or expand on an idea, the key is to find that balance, some folks have created a profitable niche by specializing, for many it is a way to create some different content.
In the marketplace today there is so much competition, so every option to enhance our content is worthwhile looking at, we all have likes and dislikes what counts at the end of the day is what our respective audiences like and what to consume.
The biggest task that we face is learning that and if we find that key the process becomes streamlined.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts much appreciated.
Hi Wendy, to some degree I agree with you.
I often watch half a minute or maybe 2 (usually just enjoying the sketching), before closing the window.
We have limited bandwidth, so it must REALLY be a video that I have to watch, before I waste my bandwidth on it. Many website have a "stay on page" button, which will provide a transcribed page of the video, which I find much more appealing, for the reasons you mentioned.
I especially like that I can quickly scan through the page, see whether this interests me or not, without the video wasting my time.
May you enjoy a lovely day!
For me, it is a matter of time and money. I crunch the numbers on how long it takes to put a decent video together and then calculate what that time has cost me...
There are tools out there that create short videos for sales and promotions that can take product pages and images and in literally 3 minutes you have a FB ad...
I have so many products to sell that such a tool is more useful than the video tool you are talking about. I do use it once in a while, but not that often...
I also have 4 other video tools that I can use if I need to. What I HAVE done is training up our team and split the websites up among all of them and they are creating these videos daily now (and other content)...
That has freed me up for other things like paid ads and marketing strategy tasks...It is good to learn a bit before you turn stuff over so you can explain and know what you are looking for with the videos...
Have fun!
Dave : )
Hi, Dave thanks for the input, you have raised such a valid point in the online world it is so easy to discount our time and as we all know it has value, it can be about finding that balance.
I think as we track on we do tend to pick up various resources, that we may or may not get value from I like the idea of getting others to use them to create that value.
My take is the same as you, it is always good to get a feel for things so that when it comes to farming things out we have a clear understanding of our expectations also easier to measure the results as well.
I hope that your selling season is going well and your pay pal accounts are exploding. Best wishes.
I used to want to learn every new bit of software and become proficient in its use. However, that does not pay the bills and I will now be outsourcing when the time is right. Fortunately, for me, I learnt enough software that I can still do 90% of the things I need now, the other 10% has been put in the "wait till I get the money" basket.
Thank you for chiming in Steve, there are so many resources available online, we have a brilliant suite available to us here in WA time is one of the biggest constraints that we have, I guess getting the most effective use of our time should be one of our top priorities
Really like your thinking on this Steve thanks for sharing your insights.
Alex,
As much as I love to learn things to prove to myself , I can master them, there are times when one is just too much time contraint to spend that extra time learning all the techie stuff . If you can afford it , best to outsource. Just make sure , when outsourcing , that you get exactly what you are asking for.
Hi Dr. Fraser, you have raised that issue that many of us face both in life and our businesses time is the issue. It can be about getting the most value and looking at it you make a good point when outsourcing we should have a clear vision of our expectations and outcomes. thank you for passing by and adding to he conversation.
That's a great choice Alex. Although I have cut way down on all the stuff I work on, I still find myself busy constantly at my computere. So I still haven't got time management nailed down. One problem is that i have been looking for a remote job so I can work from home but I jut never get hire. The best I have done o far were 2 different jobs that gave me an interview but i didn't get either one. I have to work from home now because I broke my hip and can't drive for 6 weeks. But even when i get better I just want to work from home -- after 25 years of commuting I'm done with that. What a huge waste of time that is.
It sounds like you have it together, Alex that's really good!
Barbara
One of the major attractions of working from home is escaping that commute, the novelty certainly wears off the longer we do it.
I hope that you heal quickly Barbara, I think that you have raised an issue that many face, getting an opportunity or job that can be done from home. Good job that we are building an online business with the skills and resources that we have here in WA.
Don't know about having it together, but getting up every day and giving it heaps and working tirelessly, yes things do start to come together.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts Barbara.
I also love these videos and have one on two of my websites. It’s a really fun way of getting across what might be dull information otherwise.. but it also catches the eye and engages! I use them for ‘my story’ which ppl may or may not otherwise read. However... the ones on my site are not ones I made.. I got the software and played around but realised for what I really want to do I would have to spend a lot more money on it and time. It’s easy enough to become very good at creating these videos but do I really want to.. is my skill set and passion in this direction? The answer was no, I want to use them to get on with my niche markets.. so I stopped diverting my time and paid for someone on fiverr to do a great one for me! However one programme I have taken time to learn is Illustrator.. now that has proved well worth the time and effort!
Hi, Helen thank you very much for sharing, my thoughts, many of us are on time constraints and it is how we allocate time to get the best return.
There are so many apps and software out there it is all about finding what can help us the most either in-house or like you did farming it out.
You can this far Alex go all the way with the program I am new at this website learn the ropes this business online I got suspended from job over the Holidays job Fed ex Ground making a honest living I never heard of at will Employment I do not think that law or even have a law code to back it up I was done wrong but it cool payback is dog man Merry Christmas and a Happy New year God bless and peace ✌️
Hi, Gerald thanks for stopping by, and sharing hope things work out for you over the next little while we are in a good place here in WA.
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Glad it was you Alex, we also have been checking/working on getting one as well. Now after reading your post: Not! My normal rule of thumb on buying a new Shiny Object Program is dig into it for 30 days.
Thanks for Post, save me some time and maybe heart ache.
Bless You,
Sam and Deb
Hi Sam and Deb, There are so many products and services out there that can help accelerate content creation and enhance our abilities to engage, they are all time relevant.
I would agree, if we drill down into a program we can usually get a take on how it will assist us, the key is to develop that mindset whereby we can let things go and move on, without that fear that we are missing out.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and adding to the conversation.
You find something that works, would love to check it our Alex.
Sam