I have had some semi-serious interest in internet marketing for some time now, although I have been thoroughly turned off by MLM and other obvious scams targeted to the innumerati. I subscribe to a number of IM newsletters, and I have observed a disturbing trend that has popped up and spread like a metastasizing cancer all over the web. That cancer is Video. More and more email newsletters consist solely of a link to a site that has little other than an embedded video. I’m guessing this is the logical response to the desires of the short-attention-span generation.
One of the things that internet marketers try to do is arrange things so that whatever they are offering takes up so much of your time that you don’t have any left to spend with the competition. Video accomplishes this very effectively. With video, you basically have to take the time to watch/listen at the speed of the spoken word (generally less than 100 words/minute). Worse, I have started seeing video posted using technology that prevents you from being able to download for later watching. Such a time commitment also appears to make customers more loyal (“I have all this time invested in this program, I have to continue to get my money’s worth”). With only a few exceptions, the videos that I have seen lately have an order or magnitude or less information per unit time than the written word, and the pictures are usually worth much less than a thousand words each (they are usually powerpoint slides or something equally banal). It seems that video has become an information sink instead of a source.
I can read the written word at about 10-20 times the rate that information is presented in a video. And I’m finding that ‘information’ presented via an internet video invariably consists of vapid ‘testimonials’ and so-called “social proof”, and I’m frustrated that I can’t just skim through and read the conclusion (which boosts the effective reading rate to well over 10,000 words/minute). But no matter, the ‘conclusion’ is always “sign up and send money”. And the ‘product’ is more and more geared towards ‘duplicating’ the process of selling ‘information’ about how to make money on the internet.
I have been unsubscribing from newsletters (and RSS feeds) with links to videos, with a few exceptions. For instance, USCCA generally does a good job of producing short videos that illustrate techniques that would be difficult to describe using just the written word. But then, I pay for the USCCA newsletter, and I decided to do so after seeing that they used video in a manner that enhances the presentation instead of just lengthening it.
I’ve pretty much made up my mind that the “pay me $ to learn how I make $ on the internet” is 100% scam, and I have been very careful to avoid that ‘business’ model. I really want to sell something that will add value to my customers’ lives. BTW, I do not have an affiliate relationship with USCCA (hence no link in this post; you will have to look them up on your own), although I may consider one in the future. I’m just a satisfied (for now) customer, and a bit jealous that I didn’t come up with something like that first.