Today is all about the final step in selling your first travel video. I will also provide a few other options on how to make money with travel videos.
Step 4: Follow-up and closing the deal
By now, you’ve already created a commercial sample video, received a client testimonial, and created a list of potential clients. You’ve also called those potential clients and sent out an email with more information, all while keeping your Excel sheet up to date so you know who you should follow up with and contact again.
In your Excel sheet, you should note down the date of when you’ve sent out the email so that you can time your follow-up phone call for a few days after.
On this follow-up phone call, be sure to ask whether they’ve received your email because sometimes emails with links end up in the spam folder.
If not, then perhaps they can send you an email first, so that your response will not end up in their spam box.
If they have received your information but have not yet had the time to review it, then you should note this in your Excel sheet and call again a few days later.
If they have had time to look at it but they are unsure about video…believe it is not the right time…want to wait for remodelling…or simply wait for the right season to arrive, then you can try to respond to those doubts.
For example, you can suggest to start shooting a video now and then amend the video later after some parts have been remodelled or when the season is right for the garden to look colorful and in bloom.
You may also say that you can offer a 10% discount for doing the video this month rather than later.
Don’t hesitate to reiterate that an investment in a video will pay for itself in just a few months. With video, they can expect more bookings. And, best of all, they’ll only pay once for a video that will continue to advertise for them year after year.
As you gain more experience talking to people, you will find more ways of alleviating doubt and get them to commit to a video right away.
Don’t be discouraged when people say no. It doesn’t mean you are not good enough or that your product is not of interest. It may just mean that they don’t have any spare budget or that they are not open-minded to new ways of advertising just yet.
There will be plenty of businesses with an interest in low-cost video production…you just have to find them.
I believe that very soon every business will need a video just like they need a website. It’s only about 15 years ago that the Internet was in its infancy and video wasn’t even an option. But as the Internet becomes faster and more prevalent, video will become even more predominant than it is today.
Here are a few other avenues you can follow to make money with video:
- Upload your clips to a video stock agency:
www.shutterstock.com, www.videohive.net/category/stock-footage,
http://www.istockphoto.com/footage
- Create a YouTube video and earn money with advertising. You can read about setting up your account for monetization here
- Contact tour companies that operate trips to the destinations you have filmed and create a short video for them using your existing footage
- Create a DVD about your local area with tips of what to do and where to go, and start selling it on consignment in local shops and tourist information offices and hotels.
[Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can fund your travels and make an extra income with photography, travel writing, blogging, and more in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel. Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Profit From Your Photos: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]