I hear this all the time. “I can’t write. I don’t have time. What would I write about? I’m a lousy writer.

Seth Godin would say that is your lizard brain yelling at you. It’s creating excuses, throwing up obstacles. I say, “Just do it.”

You can’t write, but you can if you practice. You can if you are writing about something you believe it. (You believe in your company’s products and services, I hope.)

You have to make time. Marketing costs money or time. Either hire a marketing firm or schedule some time – regular appointments when you are freshest is best.

What do I write about? I have answered this numerous times. Tell stories about your customers, your community, your industry, your employees, your charity. What do you talk about at networking events? Write a short post about that. (It’s a place to start!)

You are a lousy writer – now. With practice (and maybe some editorial help) you will get better. But to do that you have to get started!

If you don’t want to write — audio and video work too!

UTB Social Media Seminar from Zack Koczanski on Vimeo.

Coverage of the UTB Social Media Seminar at the Hilton Garden Inn, Oldsmar on Friday September 11, 2009. Sponsored by the UTB Chamber of Commerce, the event drew over 40 people. The topic was “Social Media – does Your Business Belong in This Game?” A well versed panel of experts presented information and answered questions.
This program was part of the Small Business on-going educational offering by the UTB Chamber.

Lots of talk about using video for marketing. YouTube has the majority of the online video audience with 40%. The significant statistic is this: The duration of the average online video was 3.8 minutes. The average viewer on Hulu only watches 1 hour and 17 minutes of video in the month. That means many, many folks watch a lot less than 1 minute of video.

Like a TV commercial, you need to grab the audience in the first 3 to 5 seconds. But it’s more than just the attention grabbing. Your message has to be powerful, memorable, and concise.

The rule of marketing is the same for online video, offline media or social media. These vehicles only work if the marketing works. [The marketing being that you have a powerful, concise, easy to share message. The more memorable or emotional it is the better it can resonate with your audience.]

At the AMA Tampa Bay meeting on Online Video, there were some good examples of video messaging. One was Julia Gorzka’s use of video to get the story out about Tampa’s own tortilla factory (savethetortillas.com).

Another example was Ken Donaldson, who is a relationship counselor. He spoke about the ease of video to get the message out and how he has built his practice through video and blogging.

Like any medium, if the message is boring, you won’t get a response. In today’s frenetic attention deficit society, you not only need your marketing to be ON, but your video better be on some fast servers and load quick!