Who is this turd? Joel Bauer? He’s so insecure and arrogant it’s like driving past an accident scene… you can’t help but watch with horror. “He builds crowds… guaranteed.”
Yeah, Captain Small Penis. You gather crowds. So does a guy with a severed head in his hand, hanging from the 30th floor of a building. And that’s just about as appetizing to watch.
Glad I could share. Thanks Jan. Happy Halloween.
Daisy Whitney gave two examples of companies shifting from a free to paid model. I agree that “training the customers early to pay” is good advice, but I also like other model… give it away for free, then offer meaningful upsells. For instance, I’d probably pay for Tubemogul because it saves me the hassle of visiting a number of online sites to distribute and track my videos. Likewise, I just upped my YouSendIt account to a monthly fee… it’s got a 2 GB limit (and I was always just a little to bloated for the free one), and it remembers my e-mails.
So yes “train customers early to pay” but “free” is a good marketing tool. The trick is to develop value-add additions once you have a regular user base. Oh- and note Daisy’s focus is on B2B.
Charging for online-video content is not a good idea right now unless you’ve got INCREDIBLE content and a major following.
The other day I had the funniest adventure dealing with Cambridge’s Who’s Who. I chronicled it in this absurdly long (10 minute) video. I really thought this video would die a quick death even though I had terrific fun making it (and I watched it four times, giggling like a grade child in Church).
Much to my surprise, it’s now the second highest rated comedy video of the day on YouTube. I imagine that rating is from sympathy votes because people like a “scam” exposed. Certainly it’s not the production quality, as I shot it in one take using a cheap camera with horrible pixelation.
Here’s a nice blog post that explores the validity of the Cambridge “Who’s Who” offering, which boasts a free listing. After a lengthy interview, the “mark” is told they “rank,” and asked if they want the $600 or $800 package. It’s a rather bazaar experience. Here’s the official site of Cambridge, which according to the telemarketer has 25 million visits and 250,000 “members.” Hmm.
The kicker is that my credit card had maxed out (as I chronicle in this follow-up video) so I was spared the charge. But I can’t help but wonder if other people have had positive experiences with Cambridge, or if people feel as suckered as I would have felt had my Mastercard not exceeded its balance.
One of my favorite things about online video is the accountability it can provide consumers. Can scams continue if people are brave enough to admit to being duped, and broadcast it to others?