Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha
Ken Okazaki, How to Create High-Converting Videos with Just Your Phone | Marketing | YAPClassic
Fri, 08 Nov 2024
Ken Okazaki first got the bug for producing videos when he was a teenager. Years later, he went into the event business where his job was to “get butts in seats.” Every day, he was surrounded by crew, equipment, sets, and gear. Ken decided to pivot, take the video marketing part of the business, and start his own video marketing company. In this episode, Ken will teach you the skills that optimize video content to gain more views, leads, and sales. He will also break down his 7-Figure Video Funnel Framework. In this episode, Hala and Ken will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (01:39) Leaving Home at 17 (03:09) Ken’s Exciting Start in Video (07:36) Are You a Video Dabbler, Part-timer, Pro, or Rockstar? (09:51) Tips for Looking Your Best in Videos (13:33) The Eye Contact Hack for Better Engagement (15:13) Bringing Life to Your Videos with Movement (16:56) iPhone Lighting Hacks (17:51) What Is the Toilet Strategy? (22:49) Ken’s 7-Figure Video Marketing Funnel (26:50) Grabbing Attention with the ‘Hockey Puck’ Title Strategy (28:37) Crafting Magnetic Hooks (30:42) Using AI for Video Content (31:58) The HILDA System for Locking in Engagement (38:44) Delivering Value Like a Pro (43:12) Breaking Down the Video Marketing Funnel (53:37) Common Funnel Problems (55:40) Key Takeaways from Ken Ken Okazaki is the head of Oz Media Global and loves helping businesses plan, optimize, and launch their video campaigns. He offers done-for-you video agency services and done-with-you video coaching programs. He also specializes in helping promote and market personal brands. Through working with him, his clients have generated millions of dollars in extra profit from video marketing. As a side benefit of working with world-class clients who are household names, he’s been able to take what’s working for them and systematize the process to help businesses of all sizes. Connect with Ken: Ken’s Website: https://kenokazaki.com/ Resources Mentioned: Ken’s Book: The 7-Figure Video Funnel: https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Video-Funnel-ultimate-marketing/dp/B09KN7ZQM5 Ken’s Video as a Service Agency: https://20xagency.com/ Go to youngandprofiting.co/goboxstudio and use coupon code YAP for a 10% off discount! LinkedIn Secrets Masterclass, Have Job Security For Life: Use code ‘podcast’ for 30% off at yapmedia.io/course. Active Deals - youngandprofiting.com/deals Key YAP Links Reviews - ratethispodcast.com/yap Youtube - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ Social + Podcast Services: yapmedia.com Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship podcast, Business, Business podcast, Self Improvement, Self-Improvement, Personal development, Starting a business, Strategy, Investing, Sales, Selling, Psychology, Productivity, Entrepreneurs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Marketing, Negotiation, Money, Finance, Side hustle, Startup, mental health, Career, Leadership, Mindset, Health, Growth mindset. Marketing, SEO, E-commerce, LinkedIn, Instagram, Social Media, Digital Marketing, Content Creator, Storytelling, Advertising, Social Media Marketing, Communication, Video Marketing, Social Proof, Marketing Trends, Influencers, Influencer Marketing, Marketing Tips, Digital Trends, Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Marketing podcast,
Chapter 1: What inspired Ken Okazaki to pursue video marketing?
And I went to my dad, I said, dad, why do they keep teaching the same stuff? And he says, well, maybe someone in the class didn't get it. And at that moment, I realized that they're teaching everything to the pace of the slowest person. And I started feeling claustrophobic. I started feeling stressed about it. And I said, how much more of this is there?
And he explained, you're in elementary school, you know, then there's junior high. And I was like, then I'm done, right? And he goes, well, then there's high school. And I said, and then I'm done, right? And he goes, well, you know, then there's college. And at that point, I was like, there's got to be another way. So long story short, he got me enrolled in American curriculum in Japan.
I'm Japanese. I live in Japan. I've never lived in the States, even though I sound kind of American. It's because I got enrolled in an American school. So this allowed me, because it was a correspondence course, to go at my own pace. So by 17, I'd finished everything. And I told my parents I want to leave home.
And I literally did that thing where you take a globe and you spin it, you close your eyes and you pop your finger down. It ended up in India. I told my parents, I'm leaving home. I'm going to India. And I did that. And it was 11 years of, you know, after leaving home, going to India that I traveled to multiple countries, got married, had kids 11 years before I came back home to Japan.
Wow.
So that's how we got started. The backstory.
That's amazing. And then what first got you intrigued with video marketing? How did you first start dabbling in video marketing?
Yeah, really good. After India, I was trying to figure out, hey, what's next? And I had a friend who was commissioned to create a documentary series in Uganda. And he asked me, hey, I need some help. You know how to like operate a camera and stuff, right? And I was like, sure. And I thought Uganda sounds like the next great stop for me.
So I went and borrowed a camera and just started playing with it, figuring out the settings. And this is 1999, actually. So that shows you how old I am. So I just figured it out because I wanted to get on this guy's team and make documentaries in Uganda. So from there, I just always had a camera in my hand. It was just second nature to me. We got to fly Air Force One with the president.
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Chapter 2: What are the characteristics of different video skill levels?
But what happens is you get that really nice pointy jawline and everything, as it goes further down, looks a little bit slimmer. And it's just this, you know, working the angles, right?
Yeah.
Ideally, most people are going to want to be exactly at eye level. And there's this experiment I did where I sat people across from a diner table with me and had conversations with them in my head. And then I met people in person. And the thing is that people consistently told me they felt more connected to me when they're sitting across.
And I realized what's happening is the length of your legs are canceled out and you're much more likely to be seeing exactly eye to eye with someone. Because when you're standing, the height difference really makes you feel either short or tall, inferior, superior, child, parent. There's these relationships that our psychological brains have already embedded in there.
But when you get the camera exactly at your eye level, then there's that phrase, seeing eye to eye. And people no longer feel threatened by you or they don't feel superior to you. They feel like they could have a one-on-one conversation with you. And right now I'm looking at your camera setup. You're exactly eye to eye.
My camera is slightly higher simply because the way my room is set up, I can't get it lower. But ideally, if you got a phone, then you don't know where to start. Get it right at eye level. A lot of people have it low. That's what I call the nose hair zone where people are literally seeing your nose hairs, not the most attractive angle.
So I think one really simple thing is just figure out your angles. Do you want to look a little bit more petite, slim? Do you want to look eye to eye like you're having a conversation? Or do you want to be a little bit more dominant looking, a bit of a bigger like father figure? Then you bring it a little bit lower, not too low. You get stuck in the nose hair zone.
Yeah, this is really great. And I don't remember who told me this, but to your point, when you're looking up in your video, you actually look like you're less authoritative. If it's slightly lower, you look more authoritative. But like you said, you don't want to have people look in your nose. Yeah.
And here's one small trick. I've had so many female clients and they're deathly afraid of showing a tiny bit of a double chin, which I do sympathize with them. And there's this, I call it the chicken move. And this is something that I learned because I watched it behind the scenes of Tom Cruise at one of his debuts. And from the front, they're about to take the group photo, right?
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Chapter 3: How can you look professional in videos without expensive equipment?
But then here's the thing, from front, it actually, you can't really tell, right? And if you're looking right at the camera and you're deathly afraid of the double chin, you just kind of stick your head forward like a chicken.
The turtle move.
Yeah, or a turtle. And then I started seeing it everywhere. In Hollywood photo shoots, if you look from the side angle, all the women are doing that right before the photo or before like a close-up shot. I thought that is so brilliant. Nobody even knows it happens because they're not looking for it.
So it's just a hack, especially because I know women are very conscious about how they look and they should be. It's just a little trick that might help you.
Yeah, I love that. And I know that you have this phrase, love the lens.
Yes.
What does that mean to you?
Right now, I'm looking right at the camera. I'm looking right at you. And hopefully the viewer can see that I'm looking right at the camera. If I were to look just a little bit off, then it feels different. Right now, I'm looking at the monitor where you are. And I've tested conversions on this.
And when you're looking right at the camera, and even if it's the difference of looking right at the camera here or at your own face, the conversions on the video will change. I don't know if you've heard of someone named Alex Hormozy, but I audited his stuff on Instagram and on TikTok.
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Chapter 4: What is the Toilet Strategy in video marketing?
It says like, no, I'm going to figure out how to get people's attention. And then I'll put a tail end on it. And for me, the tail end is really the content. So talking about titles is about composing great titles. It's about researching and figuring out what words are going to rank, what kind of triggers your audience.
When I say trigger, I don't mean that in a negative way, but what's going to get them engaged psychologically. And once you have a list of titles, you can talk to that. For example, Hala, if I asked you, if there's a title that says the two biggest mistakes that... first-time podcasters make that's costing them thousands.
I'll bet you could riff on that for five minutes or an hour straight if you wanted to, because that's your expertise. So we go into what's people's expertise, and then we make the eye-catching titles that they can speak to or fill the space on.
Yeah, and so this is relevant to YouTube, like you said, could also be relevant for like live streams, LinkedIn live streams of titles. Now, Instagram, TikTok, you don't really have titles.
So instead of a title, you just use that as your opening statement. And if that doesn't get people's attention, then you're doing something wrong. So the title can be the opening statement, which other people would call the hook. The actual visual title, it can be in the thumbnail, but just think of it as the first information that hits your viewer.
Yeah. And that example that you gave in that hook, you did some things that I noticed, right? I'm a marketer too. So use the superlative, the best, the worst. Use numbers. For some reason, people love numbers and hooks. And you made it relevant to me. It was about podcasters. And you even give monetary value, which also will pique people's interest more.
The more numbers you can stuff in a hook, the better. So let's move on to HILDA, which is your framework for building a video. What else do we need to know about hooks?
Let me tell you one real quick thing, though, about the title.
Yeah.
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Chapter 5: What is the 7-Figure Video Marketing Funnel?
Yeah.
So medium format content, this works really well. So medium format is anywhere from 10 to 12 minutes. And that's my definition. Start with a hook, introduce yourself, lead their anticipation into something you're going to deliver, and then finally ask them to do something at the end. HILDA. Hook, intro, lead, deliver, ask.
Hook, we explained that a bit earlier, but you've got about, by the time I wrote the book, I think it was about seven seconds. Now, especially in the short form videos that are less than a minute, you got about three seconds. And I can show you the numbers behind that, the data we have based that on. Introduce yourself. Now it's not as necessary as it used to be.
But if you must, if you feel like you must say, hey, my name is Ken Okazaki and I'm blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Always put that after the fact that they're bought into what you're about to say. But the truth is nowadays, if they want to know who you are, they'll just tap your little profile, you know, face and they could see that. If you're going to say it, keep it short.
First name, who you help, what you do, five seconds or less. And that sounds cruel, but it's real. The longer you talk about yourself, I'm sure you've looked at those engagement graphs on YouTube, right? That's where people drop off is when you're talking about yourself. But some people have got it. So I say, if you must, make sure you hook them in, right? Lead.
This is where you start telling a story. This is where you start giving context. Like I read this newspaper article the other day, and it got me thinking about this. I was talking to my friend, or the way I discovered this, the importance of what I'm about to share. You're just setting up the big reveal. And that's what you're going to deliver next.
So this is where you actually spend the most time. Because the moment you release the tension, when you deliver something, and release the dopamine. So D can also be for dopamine. That's when people feel satisfied, satiated. And you got to build this tension, release it. It's a classic Frank Coppola, you know, strategy and video directing.
And then at the end, and this is a, there was a marriage counselor who was asked by this woman, just like, Every time I ask my husband anything, he always says, no, I want to buy a dress. No, I want to go on vacation. No, I want to buy this vacuum cleaner. No. And he says, well, here's what you got to do.
You got to one day light some candles, cook him an amazing meal, put on your sexiest negligee, give him mind-blowing sex, and then afterwards ask him. She goes, what? He goes, just try it. It absolutely worked. I'm like, ah! And then she goes back and says, why did that work? He goes, he's got so much dopamine running through his brain. It's so easy to get a yes.
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Chapter 6: How do you create engaging titles for video content?
So what I did is, and they teach us that one, two, three steps. Now people are bought into the steps because they might be that 50 year old person who has their life out of balance and they have money, but no time. So that's, those are some examples of how can you give context, tell a story or paint a picture that sets up what you're about to share.
This is so good, Ken. Like you are so brilliant. I've had video marketers on the podcast before, but by far, I feel like you are giving the best advice. Thank you. You really know your stuff. You really, really know your stuff. So let's talk about delivering value.
One thing that I just want to stress to my listeners is from my understanding, what you say in your hook is the value that you're promising, right? So you need to make sure you deliver on your hook. Otherwise, people are going to leave your video and be like, you didn't, I watched this for no reason. Clickbait, right? That's what clickbait is.
It is.
So talk to us about how we can frame up delivering our value and what we need to know about that.
Yeah, let me paint a quick picture for you. Say you're a drug dealer. And social media, by the way, I see the closest analogy. It's like a farm. And you got a plot of land on the farm. And the person who owns the farm is Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. They own the farm and you are leasing a plot. Now what's going on is when you create content, then the product is your content.
And they use that and they sell it. The only thing on social media universally across all platforms that is a universal currency is time. People buy time. The advertisers buy it from the farmer. And you're just the person who's volunteering to create, to work the farm for them, which is amazing that they convinced us to do this.
So now that we've got this analogy where time is a monetizable product, it actually is money. It's bought and sold every single day, millions of times, billions of dollars. And when you understand this, then what you gotta think is like, well, if I am buying and selling time, and that's the currency of social media, when someone watches a video, Let's say they spend three minutes.
They pay you three units of time. And what are you getting in return? What you got to give them is a dopamine hit because otherwise they will not get addicted. They won't come back. They won't feel like they got their money's worth. So if you say, hey, get over here, you know, spend three minutes with me and I'm going to give you a dopamine hit. They come.
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