What is one thing that could improve sales using video?

There have been studies about this thing and people have been writing about it since at least 1936!

I won't bury the lead, the one thing you could do when recording your videos that would make your viewers feel better is to smile.

That's such a lame tip right?

You would think so until you go to record a video, especially if you aren't comfortable on camera.

It's not as easy as it sounds

All of your focus is on the content you are trying to convey so your RBF comes out in full force to welcome all of your viewers. 😂

Even if you are doing a voiceover, if you smile it will change the way your voice sounds and make for a happier recording.

Smiling makes a difference even if we can't see your face!

Dale Carnegie wrote about this in his book "How to win friends and influence people" in 1936 and still holds true today!

In part 2 chapter 2 of his book Dale Carnegie says "people who smile tend to manage, teach, and sell more effectively..." He goes on to say that "telephone companies had a method called 'phone power' which is offered to employees who use the phone to sell their services or products and in this program they suggest that you smile when talking on the phone. Your smile comes through in your voice..."

If you smile can be heard over the phone and it helps make more sales, you can bet that it has a huge impact on your videos and how effective they are.

Priming Your Audience

•There has also been a study about forcing a smile, it's called "Priming" and has been used in marketing for a long while now. There was a study done where they had two groups of people watch a video. Group one just watched the video, group two held a pencil in their mouth without it touching their lips. At then end of viewing people from group two reported feeling happier about the video than those in group one.

Why? Because the act of holding the pencil in their mouth that way forced a smile and primed the viewers to be happy. Since smiles are contagious, you can smile and pass that on to your viewer.

It's Proven to work...

• Watch companies started using the time 10:10 on their watches back in the 1950's. Why is that even relevant? Because if a watch is set to 10:10 (little hand on the 10 big hand on the 2) it resembles a smile and it left their potential customers feel better.

If a "Smile" on a watch can sell more watches, do you think it's important for your videos?

I've used it to make better videos and sell more more for years!

It's the same reason why I use so many shots of smiling people in my highlight videos. If someone is watching an ad for a conference I shot and they see shots of people just sitting around, it seems boring. If they see shots of people laughing and smiling, they want that feeling. They feel happy while watching the video and think "That seems like a fun conference, I wanna go to that!"

Yes, smiles are contagious. There have been studies that show that it can trigger an automatic muscular response that will cause people to smile when they see someone smiling.

Smile in your videos and improve sales using video. 🙂