Attention! This Book Will Make You Money: How to Use Attention-Getting Online Marketing to Increase Your Revenue

Chapter 11. One Video Got My Message Through

About 3 years ago, I became a big believer in the future of online video. The rise of YouTube had me convinced that online video was a smart business opportunity not only for me, but also for service firms who wanted to offer video services. The writing was on the wall, consumers were becoming less and less open to traditional marketing messages like banners and web sites, and instead were responding more to multimedia messages like audio and video. Therefore, I knew that I wanted to be a part of that trend, but I didn't have the startup funds to go out and create the Web video company that I had envisioned. Actually, I knew I didn't want to own that type of business; I just wanted to be part of one and help create one. Hey, I like working for myself.

I still had many connections with former partners and associates in the Web space, and I figured it would be best to try to convince one of them about the future of Web video and get them to put in the money and let me create a business for them that they could run. The problem was that YouTube was still relatively new and many of my contacts didn't yet understand how online video could be worked into a business strategy. Therefore, I needed a way to make them understand, and the best way to do that is to show them exactly what I already knew.

One of the people I used to be in business with was the president of a top-15 search engine firm with more than 50 employees. I identified this person ...