The Video Marketing Perfection Trap |

One of the biggest issues that trips folks up on the way to video stardom, is the Video Marketing Perfection Trap:

It usually involves a pained explanation of why you can't create videos, followed by one of more justifications:

1. I have wrinkles

2. I am too young

3. I am too old

4. My office isn't clean enough

5. My office is too clean (I*m anal retentive!)

5. I*m not technical

6. I look like a politician everyone makes fun of

7. I look like Conan O*Brian (OMG!)

If you want to hang onto these, be my guest.

However, I have a better idea.

I recently stumbled on a young guy who simply decided to go for it.

He shoots most of his videos wearing a baseball cap, with whatever he has handy. Sometimes that's just a webcam. And he won't make anyone forget Brad Pitt.

But in less than 3 years he built a following of over 122,000 subscribers, over 31,701,000 total video views, and hordes of manufacturers of cool tech tools who throw thousands of dollars worth of free equipment his way in hopes he will review it in one of his videos.

He hasn't done it by being pretty. He hasn't done it by being technically perfect. He did it by following a few core bedrock video success principles. The same principles you can apply to your own videos.

(Even if you do look like Conan.)

First check out this video he created. Its about how to get Flash formatted video on an iPhone or iPod Touch. (If you don't know what that means, its not that important).

What is important is how he does it:

Does he use some fancy software to capture the iPhone screen? Nope. Does he take screen grabs and then meticulously sequence them in some fancy editing software? Nope.

He points a webcam (or cheap video camera) at his iPhone and shoots the screen, for crying out loud. That's it.

Could you do this? Yep!

To call this guerilla-style video would be polite. Its blurry. Sometimes its hard to see the iPhone screen. But its also been viewed over 1,300,000 times!

OK, ready to drop that perfectionism now? Would you like these numbers for your own videos?

Then here is the formula Ty used. And you can use it too:

Find something you love to tell others about. That you want to scream from the rooftops. The one thing you would tell Oprah if she gave you 5 minutes on her show.
Make sure its something millions of others are also passionate about. This is crucial. (Yep, the tree that falls in the forest really doesn't make a sound if there isn't anyone around to hear it).
Create your first video.
Repeat #3 100 times. Think about it: post two videos a week and its done in less than a year! This is why #1 is so important: You need to pick something you can't stop talking about. That has your friends begging, "Can we PLEEEEASE talk about something else?!" Something you would STILL tell others about, even if you were independently wealthy.
If you said "I don't wanna create 100 videos", you need to take another stab at #1. If you get #1 right, #4 takes care of itself.
If you get #1 and #2 right, everything else takes care of itself. THIS IS TY'S SECRET.
Your video creation mantra is "Action over Perfection". You don't get perfect before you take action. You get as close to perfect as you need to be by taking action. Ty isn't close to perfect yet. But it looks like millions of people don't care.

Guys and gals, this is it. It isn't the microphone. It isn't the camera. It isn't that techy trick. Yes, a great mic gets you nicer audio. A good camera gets you clearer video. Cool techy tricks get you a few nice comments.

They don't get you 122,000 subscribers.

This is the foundation for video success. This is where you need to start.

It isn't waiting till you're older. Or trying to look younger. Or hiding your wrinkles.

In fact, if you play it right, the wrinkles might get you more viewers! (Can you imagine an 80 year old grandma doing killer iPhone tutorials? How stunningly cool would that be!)

Are there other skills you will need to pick up along the way? Sure. But without these first 7 steps you won't get to the point where these other things make any difference.

So check your perfectionism at the door. Start using this 7-Step Video Success formula. And watch your video success go through the roof!