This is my first post on BHW and I'm glad it's a successful one.
I read this early last Wednesday morning and immediately took action. I was going to make those 12 movies yada yada...and make it all big. In fact, I went so far as to get a domain and hosting for my chosen niche and made a few videos (pro account on animoto) but I stopped there. I sent out about 25 completely personalized emails and I started instantly getting back emails saying "if you made this with animoto, I'm not paying." (in about 11 different ways). Oops. Wrong niche. I had picked photographers as a niche (as I am one myself) but photographers are very creative in this way anyway so, back to the drawing board.
The same day, I picked another niche that was guaranteed to: 1. be fairly inept in marketing online and 2. be guaranteed to have lots of pictures on their website. I'm sorry, I won't tell you what it is because it has proven very successful for me and there are lots of niches out there. You should be able to figure one out. The third thing I made sure I found before I started on the website and videos was an online industry directory with first names and emails so that I could send personalized emails.
With all that found, I seriously just slapped together 4 videos, embedded them on a clean white blogger template (I didn't bother with domain or hosting, the day was almost over) with a short note, and started blasting emails.
Now, I said I did all of this last Wednesday. That was the day before Thanksgiving. I still got responses and requests and made 5 videos between Wednesday and Friday. The weekend was less busy than the holiday! I'm getting 3 responses per 100 emails sent and have closed all of them.
I think there are 3 things that have been key for me:
1. I am very cordial and clear in my email. "I hope this email finds you well, I am writing to offer you...Have a wonderful day."
2. Emails go to the personal email account and are addressed to the recipient, thanks to the directory. I just paste the text of my email into my signature in my settings so all I have to do is hit compose, paste the email address, write in the subject, and change the name. I can send 100 in 40 minutes. If you don't have 3 little boys interrupting you every 5 minutes, you can probably cut that in half.
3. I include this statement in my email and on my site: "request a video today. There is no obligation unless you absolutely love it." So, every email "request" I have gotten says "okay, lets see what you can do." I reply with an email saying they'll have a video to review within 24 hours and I have been paid within 24 hours every time. Granted, I've only been doing this for 5 days but, that's what it's been like so far.
I send them the unbranded link (under "share") and give them 24 hours to accept or reject or request changes. I figure, if anyone ever acts like they won't follw through, I'll just delete the video. I'm not too worried, though.
So, anyway, I'm happy. It's working. I've completed 5 sales and there are 2 more in the pipeline (waiting for review) and I've just sent out 100 more emails. One thing has to be said:
I did this as a stay at home mom with 3 little boys aged 2,4, and 6 (I homeschool the 6 year old). I don't have a single moment of peace and little more than 1 hour in a stretch where I can get away with sitting at the computer. The fact that I am writing this doesn't mean I actually have spare time - it means that I am so grateful that this has worked that I am stealing time to detail what I've done - to help others. This project has taken up every second of my "spare" time but I'm doing it.
If you have more time than me, you have no excuses not to make money on this. Also, I'm not proud of it but, I used grocery money to buy the pro account but, hey, so what? I took action and made my money back the next day - with the first video. I'm charging less than $100 but that works with my niche. And I'm happy with the income.
DON'T PICK THIS APART! Just do it.
Also, I don't have time to hang around and answer questions. It's not that I don't care. I'll check back in when I can.
-Kathryn