By Guest BloggerR, Kimberly Dykeman of Soapbox®
www.PureSoapBox.com
Without a doubt, video is the most powerful way to tell a story, capture the imagination, argue a point, entertain and inform your target audiences – made up of individuals who prefer, hands down, to “watch” and “hear” your message and offerings, than read it. In putting a voice and a face to your name, you leverage the repurposable impact of engaging, storytelling video content to retain current audiences, gain new customers, and attract media, partners and sponsors.
PURPOSE:
As an author exploiting video, you have the muscle to transform your presence from average to extraordinary, adding a cosmopolitan layer to your reputation. Ultimately, video…even a simple Author Slate which adds dimension to your identity… can enhance current marketing and branding efforts of your book and name, increase site traffic and lead generation and online visibility and credibility via cutting-edge video communication tools that powerfully deliver the following:
- An authentic introduction to the person behind the book. Putting a voice and face to a name engages a broader audience of consumers.
- A showcase of the author’s presence, voice, mannerisms and ultimate ability to engage with another individual on camera. Adds tangible human element and shows media contacts first-hand the interview capabilities and proper placement of person in radio or TV broadcast.
- Intimate details of his/her biographical background (above and beyond the usual written bio) and his/her writing career, expertise in some industry, topic, etc.
- Breathing life into literature from the outside-in via a free-flow conversation about the book – how it came to be, who it is for, impact it has/will have, etc.
- A multimedia piece used immediately for enhanced media relations and long-term as a repurposable tool for traditional and internet-driven PR, and web.
SUGGESTED FORMATS for an AUTHOR’S SLATE:
- Man-on-the-Street: respond as if you were stopped on the street
- Mock Interview: pretend someone is actually interviewing you!
- Candid Camera: talk as if you don’t know you’re being filmed!
- Mock Oppositional/Smear: act as if this is the worst book in the world and people would be nuts to even investigate!
POINT IS: HAVE FUN WITH IT! Keep it short and sweet…under 3 minutes!
USAGE:
- Press Kits and Electronic Press Kits
- Author website: marquis, media player, etc.
- Company, Publicist/PR Agency, Distributor/Bookseller, Publisher websites
- Social Networking sites
- Pitch Tool for Radio/TV interview invitations, media tours, panel opportunities
- Footage to incorporate into current video reel of speaking engagements
- Reel for Looping at Trade Shows, Speaking Engagements, Conventions
- Add-on Voice-Over introduction to audio book or an add-in mini DVD to book
TIMELESS DISTRIBUTION:
To stand out from your competition, you must cater to the demands of society’s bigger-better-faster, tech-crazed culture and the ever-changing needs of your edutainment-focused consumers. Video is king for the times …to motivate, entertain and educate any audience …through the web and wireless/mobile media devices. Video sharing sites, like Brightcove, Blip, Facebook, Daily Motion, SevenLoad, Tumblr, YouTube, and Vimeo (to name just a handful), are crucial to virally deliver your message indefinitely… to consumers wherever they may roam and to whatever platform they may use!
“Video provides a rich medium designed to drive awareness and engagement, to entertain, and to deliver advertising impressions in a format more targeted, focused and familiar to customers.” – Web Analytics Demystified.com
NET-NET:
Once you’ve “birthed the baby”, you sure as heck want to tell and SHOW the world about it! Video offers authors a truly invaluable boost to their current social networking and online viral marketing efforts. Choose to create a memorable introduction to your new book creative content that provides engaging messaging, perhaps even shock-value, and definitely undeniable emotional viewer response.
TAKE A PEEK AT KIMBERLIE DYKEMAN’S AUTHOR SLATE for “PURE SOAPBOX”: