Know-How Exchange : Branding

Are you selling this in stores (competing with other DVDs) or simply on website/direct? If it's in a store, then the DVD's packaging needs to stand on its own. If direct, then your (website) marketing will explain the DVD in-context.

I agree with Phil - it's too much text. Are you thinking students will purchase this for themselves or mostly others purchasing the DVD for the students? If the latter, change the text to "Don't let money problems ruin their life." (etc.).

And why not offer a money-back guarantee to show that purchasing the DVD is a wise & guaranteed investment?

Dear rimagico,

Front cover: put the three lines of text you've got at the bottom of the page AT THE TOP and use them to introduce the title. Move the image down and don't be shy about cropping off legs or of zooming in more tightly on the upper body areas of your group.

Back cover: Copy's a dull as ditch water and it does not TELEGRAPH primary benefits. Consider telling people "ON this DVE you'll learn ..." THEN list you benefits. Bullets need to be picked out more (either in colour or size), and each one needs to SCREAM shock and awe and how your buyer can avoid this, embrace that, and generally get better at understanding money. The key lined box on the back cover at the bottom of the page has too much
text in it. Edit it.

Inside left flap: DULL. DULL. DULL. Ditch the half screened image.
Resist the temptation to make it sound like a course. This makes it sound like work and for people to make use of the DVD it's got to sound like AWESOMELY PROFITABLE FUN. This means ditching text such as your "45 minutes long plus 11 minutes of bonus material" text and anything else like it.

Text like this PUTS PEOPLE TO SLEEP. It's just dull! This bullet point ALONE will kill 85 percent of your sales and rightly so. GIVE PEOPLE BENEFITS THEY CAN USE!

No one gives a crap how LONG the video is, they want to know what PROBLEMS its content can SOLVE.

If you want to sell you've got to tell. Nix features and offer solid "reasons why" people need to buy and buy NOW.

The line: "45 minutes long plus 11 minutes of bonus material"
does BUGGER ALL to engage readers and pique their attention enough to turn them into BUYERS. Result? No sales.

But the line ... "After just 10 minutes you'll have learned how to repay a loan ahead of time, where you can get "free" money that you NEVER have to repay, and how you can spend less per month and STILL live a better, "wealth-lifestyle" than 95 percent of your friends, EVEN if they have more money than you do!" ... conveys new images of how life WILL be once the person has bought it, watched it, and has put its content into action.

This is a classic example of DIRECT RESPONSE copy. Meaning, copy that paints pictures of an imagined future and one into which the prospect walks of their own free will. Which is what I do for a living (among other things).

BUT, the thing on offer—your benefits—MUST live up to all the expectations. The DVD's contents MUST deliver on its promise. Otherwise your return rates will go through the roof and you'll lose money AND gain a reputation as someone that cannot be trusted.

So here your guarantee is vital. You also need SOCIAL PROOF (testimonials) from happy customers that have bought and used the product. And make more of your bonus features. What are they? Why should people care? How do they benefit people? What are they worth in terms of cold hard cash?

I hope this helps. Good luck with you DVD.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

You keep getting bogged down in features and TOC kinds of stuff. You need to elevate the copy to BENEFITS -- an emotional payoff of some kind. How will your customer FEEL about themselves after they've purchased/used the product?

Will they feel proud, self-confident, grateful? Will others look up to them as smart people with answers? Will the opposite sex be attracted to them? Or will parents bask in the love and adoration of their children because they gave them this valuable gift?

You have to provide that emotional payoff and not get bogged down in all the product features.

Lots of good suggestions above -- especially the "too much copy" comments. But don't just edit out half the words or thoughts. Change the focus to the main emotional benefit.

And I think you better decide who the real target audience is. Parents will have a different emotional hot-button than students. Trying to satisfy them both with the same copy will all but guarantee you'll have sub-optimal copy for each one.