Before We Hit Record with Video Strategist Ben Amos

If you remember , I started this whole segment because I'm all lonely here in Mexico where I live and I want to actually meet not just record episodes with other interesting and successful online entrepreneurs .

And we have somebody here named Ben and I actually knew Ben from way back three-ish years ago when I coached him inside of one of Rick Moretti's programs called what was that called Ben ?

Offer to Optimize , and so , if you're listening , what's going to happen here is you just get to hear Ben and I get to know each other and catch up in all the conversation that happens Because you know what Back in the day , back in my day , you know we used to sit down with folks and get to know them before we ever did business with them .

And Ben is the owner of Engage Video Marketing . He's a passionate online video strategist , video producer , international speaker . By the way , he just finished up speaking at Social Media Marketing World not virtually , but standing physically in person on stage .

He's legit and what he does is he works with high impact brands worldwide to connect them with their ideal audiences through effective online video marketing and , as the host of his own podcast called the Engage Video Podcast and coached to hundreds of video strategists globally , here's Ben's mission it's to help other creatives , marketers and entrepreneurs and video

producers better understand how to attract , engage and convert audiences online with video . Shoot , ben , sign me up . Did I do that right ? Sound good .

No , maybe I wanted to attend Social Media Marketing World and I saw you on their webpage and I'm like I know him . Oh my gosh , this is a big . How did that happen ? By the way , how did you get on the Social Media Marketing World ?

So you know my background prior to that and still today is running a video strategy agency video production company here in Queensland , australia . But yeah , long story short . Basically , I attended Social Media Marketing World in 2019 for the first time , so flew across to the States and attended .

So many of my friends in this , you know , online digital marketing world were there , so it was great chance to kind of meet people in person that you kind of virtually connected to , right ?

Yeah , so I attended and I , you know , I met at that conference , as as you do , mike Stelzner , who's a , you know , head of social media examiner and puts the conference on . Took a little selfie with him , you know , because you've got to remember that moment , right .

And then , you know , later that year , in 2019 , they were social media examiner , were promoting a YouTube conference or a video summit . I can't remember what it was called . It was like a virtual video based summit and I have , I host a video summit . I can't remember what it was called .

It was like a virtual video based summit and I have I host a video marketing podcast . So I kind of used that as an opportunity to say , hey , maybe I can get someone from social media examiner on my podcast to kind of promote and cross promote this upcoming video marketing summit that they were doing .

So I reached out Instagram direct video message to Mike Stelzner and and kind of introduced myself to him and said , hey , you know , can I support the summit some way on my podcast ? And you know , mike replied to me and said well , we don't really have the experts here at Social Media Examiner our kind of .

You know , our speakers at our summit are the video experts . So , you know , won't come on your podcast . But he said hey , but I'll have a listen to your podcast . And so , and obviously he did listen to it , because the next day he replied to me and said I had to listen to your podcast . It's great , actually , I will come on your podcast himself .

So Mike came on the podcast because at the time , social media examiner were just starting like kind of a stronger push into YouTube . So I don't know if you've been following that company for a while , you'd know that they weren't really doing much on YouTube .

But they , you know , a few years back back in 2019 , late 2019 , they they started a solid push into to YouTube content . So he came on my show and shared a whole bunch about what the social media examiner video strategy was going to be moving forward . Yeah , from there .

Basically , he then asked a bit more about what I do and then invited me on his podcast . So I , back in 2019 , was on the social media examiner podcast and then after that , he said come and speak at my conference and and that was it . So , yeah , I spoke there in 2020 . It was great .

No one was shaking hands , everyone was fist pumping and using hand sanitizer . And then , all of a sudden , we flew home and locked ourselves in our homes for a few years . That's right . You guys hold on a second .

I don't know if you wear an apple watch , but introduce this kind of recognition that you're washing your hands at the time and then , and then it , like it would kind of tell you that you've washed your hands for long enough .

Sure , yeah , popping it up , or you can see other episodes where I visually go through , like certain clients or people who submit them their funnels and kind of pick them apart , analyze and give practical tips to improve those . So , ben , I'm chuckling because I'm surprised .

As much as China can , like throw its weight around , I'm surprised that they didn't get everyone who had , like , an Apple watch or another smartwatch and say and set up something where , like , if you washed your hands effectively enough , then the data went through and gave you like some sort of code that showed that you were , you know , doing personal hygiene .

So you know that I got stuck outside of China right back in 2020 yeah , I've heard your story , yeah , right . I was thinking . One of the reasons that I didn't initially return after like right when the pandemic started was because the lockdown there was just super , super intense , Like one person per family could leave a week like their house .

But I was telling another lady do you know how they tracked and why ? They were initially like , Actually , all the way until they decided to let the pandemic run rampant , they pretty much squashed it . You know how they did that ? No , I don't think so . Color-coded QR codes on people's cell phones .

So they have this app called WeChat and WeChat you heard of it , yeah yeah . Yeah , sure , all right . So it's like a super app , right . Combine your Facebook , your Instagram for the person for the listener who doesn't know .

Combine your Venmo , your PayPal , all payment platforms or most of them in the States and Australia and wherever else you're listening from with Instagram and Facebook , and even like eBay and wherever else you do , your purchasing , amazoncom . Combine that into a super app and then , like , 95% of the people in China have this app , right , and so it's everywhere .

And so what they did is they gave you red , yellow , green , red . You've had , you know , covid in the past 14 days . Hey , can saying you're the video specialist , can saying that word still , like get the reach of your video lowered because social media .

I don't think so , okay , cool because , like before , you know , I would just put up like I wouldn't say it , and I would put up on my old videos like a picture of Voldemort , you know Harry Potter , and kind of bleep the word out . Anyway , now we could say the word all the time . So what they would do then ?

Yeah , they got these QR codes If you had it within the past 14 days and you were red , and if you there was something for yellow and there was something for green , and they tracked everyone because they got access to your data .

So imagine if you're living in at home in your development , you know your community and somebody near enough to you let's say like 16 houses down for a random number , gets it .

Then , like everyone else's codes , go red and in order to like , go anywhere , do anything , you have to first go to , like the local clinic and line up with your red QR code , because they know where you're at physically , and take , get one of those q-tips , swab super high , tickling your brain , and then , if it's negative , then you get a green code and you

can merrily go about your life right , and so I didn't want to go back to that . That's intense , it's quite intense . The tracking is out of control , oh man . You could drive to a market or a place Like imagine if you were doing your regular . Just because you're in the vicinity , yep , but they can track you back in time .

So like , let's say , you went on a Monday to get groceries and now it's like Thursday , but somebody was diagnosed with COVID back on that Monday . They just like go back in time in their systems and everyone who passed within a certain radius of that point when that person got it , you know . Then their QR codes go red too .

So all of a sudden you're like four days later and your QR code on your phone goes red . Now you can't be mobile . You still have to go get your nose swab . They're really good at doing that kind of stuff anyway . So that was a tangent what happened to you during the pandemic .

Because , at the time I think you know we're talking 2020 here , so during that kind of pandemic year , I guess was when , I think we first met and I had my agency . So I've been building my video marketing , video production company for 15 years here . So you know I've been doing that like creating video content for brands and businesses .

You know , around Australia for many years I built a team here . You know physical offices and that sort of thing . So I've been doing Australia for many years , built a team here . You know physical offices and that sort of thing . So I've been doing that for many years and that's my bread and butter .

You know , that's what pays the bills , that's what you know take home salary and all that sort of stuff .

But I , about seven or eight years ago , I started this engaged video marketing side of my personal brand journey right , which started with the podcast as a way of just sharing and talking about video strategy , and then released a course which , at the time , was called Online Video Strategy Blueprint Course and this was teaching video strategy primarily to video

producers . So my target market was other video producers , people who can go out and make video at a high quality for their clients , but they're not talking about the strategy side of things with their clients , right . So you know that's kind of was going well .

Well enough , it was kind of open , close launch model where I launched to , depending on the year , three times a year , okay .

That is the whole point . Right , just get better at that whole approach of doing . I tried a few different launch models and things like that

. But then in 2020 , off the back of my first speaking at Social Media Marketing World , I launched a membership as well . So , you know , add another thing to the mix , right . And that did not go very well .

So , you know , I had about 10 members at its peak and I think I just didn't really have a clear vision for what it was going to be or what it should be . And the members that I had were good and they were engaged , but I didn't .

I just wasn't able to crack the code of getting more people enrolled in that and , to be honest , I had so much going on and it was the pandemic year as we're talking about that I didn't really get a clear plan in place for it .

So I ended up actually closing that membership after 12 months and that was one of the simplification kind of pieces of advice that you shared with me at the time , and it was such a weight off my shoulders actually to close that oh really . It was a low value membership .

It was like I think it was $40 a month or $39 , $37 a month and for 10 members that's not a lot of income , right . $9.37 a month and for 10 members , that's not a lot of income , right . So it's like $400 or something for , you know , kind of getting on monthly calls and , you know , adding new content to the membership and it yeah .

So it was such a weight off my shoulders to let that go and that allowed me to then focus on doubling down and clarifying my message for , for my main course , right . So I ended up , you know , over the course of the next 12 months I think we're talking 2021 there just refining the course , re-recording and relaunching as the video strategist's master class .

So I've kind of rebranded the course . Um , and you know I still continue to sell that . It's now an evergreen model at a lower price point . So it's back to 6 697 as an evergreen model . But you know I still haven't really nailed the the funnel for that . So you know , maybe I need to have a chat with you more about that .

But you're the funnel guy , right ? I ?

But you know , after just like looking at my business , like my time , at like what I really wanted to do with the business , I decided I'm just going to serve clients one way managing ads and rather than putting funnel fixing and ads together , I'll just separate that and do like strategy calls separately .

If somebody wants to hire me for a couple hours to look at their funnel and they can , can't , and that was that was kind of my . I don't know if you call it a pivot . I feel like pivot kind of hide , something that wasn't working , but it was working . I just decided to change it . So you did set up your course on evergreen .

It is selling , so it's working .

But I think the other side to my story is it's typical entrepreneurial kind of lack of focus sometimes right , okay , you got idea right , but no , I mean , it's not for the last couple of years , particularly coming out of the pandemic , right , we kind of started this conversation talking about the pandemic , but coming out of the pandemic and getting back into

business as usual in inverted commas right , I made a conscious decision to double down and focus on my agency . To double down and focus on my , my agency . So my , my goal here is , you know , to do the right things in my agency over the next number of years , to free up more time for me to do the things that I want to do in the online space .

So , you know , although I'll keep the Engage Video Marketing brand going , you know , invested in new website and , you know , new copywriting and all of that last year , so , you know , continuing to focus on that but I feel , from a from a business perspective , if I can do the right things in my agency , get the right people in place here , which is starting to

work now , right , so I've got the team and the processes and things where you know I can and for the first time last year went um , went away for two weeks in this business and didn't have to touch anything and the business kept going .

And that's the first time in 15 years for me of being able to , you know , actually step away from my business , but the business kept going . And that's the first time in 15 years for me of being able to , you know , actually step away from my business , but the team kept going . That's big Like a physical team in an office here in Australia .

So I feel if I can do a few more things to move me a bit further out of that , particularly out of the business development and sales which is my kind of main role in the agency Sure , then I think I'll set myself up in a good way .

So , yeah , that's why , yeah , when you got split focus , you can only kind of put a certain amount of time in certain things right . So , yeah , that's , that's the lesson that I've been learning I understand .

First , where do you travel to when you take a vacation for two weeks in queensland ? That's a state in Australia , and the capital is Brisbane , right . It's a state , that's right .

Not that I always do that , but I feel like podcast episode would be just a slap in her face if I was eating there and if she saw it she might like fly down here and set me straight .

So like every day it's like the same , like quinoa and various colors of bell peppers and broccoli and chicken and beef and salmon and this sort of thing , and so she just preps everything and puts it in tupperwares and then I kind of chow away . That's pretty good .

So you were going to tell me about vacation , like where does one vacation from where you're located at ? You said to the kingdom of fiji yeah , well , we went to fiji .

So the Fijian people just love kids and you know the kids clubs . It's super fun , like the kids want to go to the kids club and the parents ain't complaining . And the parents ain't complaining , right ?

So the kids club cut off is 12 years old , so after 12 , then you're not really supposed to , you're not going to the kids club anymore so our eldest daughter is now 12 years old this year , so you know , and she will be 12 when we go back to Fiji later in the year .

So it's kind of our last chance to have have the kids off to kids club , so maybe we're gonna we're gonna make the most of that what's your plan like after she can't go to the kids club , then I guess just gotta hang around with us , or you know I , I guess you know I haven't got a teenager yet .

She's 12 now , right , but I guess when they're a teenager , they just say that mom and dad are boring too right , so they go off and do what they do if we go to places like that .

But could be the good thing and the bad thing about being at a resort with a teenager , but hey , you know yeah , she's a good kid though , so yeah , so I mean , yeah , there's that , but yeah , I mean , look , queensland , where I live in australia , is like you know the tourism , one of the tourism capitals of australia , so there's , you know , beaches and

there's so many places to go locally and that's typically what we do . We don't typically go to overseas holidays , as a family . You know we typically stay more local . So , yeah , it's good Love living here .

It's about the size of the paddleboard , you know , but it has mesh on it and you use it to kill things Because I live in a desert basically Cacti and spiders and lizards and scorpions , and so we get those creatures and I kill those creatures , happily so .

Is there any video that's not online these days ? But to increase their business sales ? Yeah , anything you want to add to that before we jump into the next episode and record that well , it's actually what you just mentioned there .

So , you know , as I transitioned to naming the course of video strategist masterclass , I've also moved away from you know , very deliberately away from just referring to it as online video , because every bit , every bit of video content is online somewhere yeah yeah , now looking forward to the next episode . Got some uh , got some value to share , I'm sure .

And , um , yeah , look , look forward to diving in cool .

Strategy for online businesses . And so until then , until the next time that you see me or hear from me , be blessed , take care and goodbye .