Welcome to Season 2, Episode 2 of Colin’s newsletter. We’re talking about Short-form video and it’s role in modern commerce and more importantly: why and how you should create it. Last week we talked about hooks and idea generation, today we’re talking about doing the damn thing.
If you aren’t interested in my tactical ramblings you can jump straight to the bottom to find some factory links, and/or kick rocks.
My email has been a lot of things over the last year, and similar to how we did on the product playbook series I’m reeling it in over the next few weeks to focus on a single topic and give you tactical information you can crush with. This is Season 2, Episode 1 of Colin’s email list:
The Short-Form Attack: Hook em in
Today we’re covering hooks and topics for your videos and what I wish I had done differently is start making videos sooner.
I’ve been figuring out short-form video on Instagram and TikTok for just over a year now and have made a few hundred videos top to bottom. No fancy gear, no Final Cut or Premiere – just iPhone. I’ve learned a lot, pulled down millions of views, and far and away got the highest ROI yet on my content creation / audience building journey.
So, Oren, Alex, and myself decided to package up everything we’ve learned about short-form video and put it into a cohort based 30 day course.
It’s called Cut30, and I’ll let the website do the talking.
This post is about my journey (and success) with short form video. I’m not gonna tell you all this to brag and gloat and make self deprecating jokes about being a micro influencer. I’m gonna tell you because I think it’s the most powerful tool we’ve got right now as entrepreneurs, and it’s important.
The first video took me easily 3 hours. Let’s be real, it took years for me to work up the courage to make a video and put it on the internet. But that first one, I recorded it 3 times. The first time I accidentally recorded with no audio. The second time I accidentally deleted it instead of saving a draft. Enraged, but committed, I fumbled out a 3rd take and finally broke the seal.
The next day, I made another. And another and another.
My guy Alex Garcia’s marketing newsletter Marketing Examined is booming – 185k subs – and he just featured yours truly. I’ve been putting in work on my Instagram and people have been noticing. Or he has, at least.
To the 2,298 new folks here since last week – welcome to a classic bait n switch. Here’s the deal:
I reel you in with simple stuff like factory links, only to smack you upside the head with the real game right here in your inbox. The Instagram and TikTok videos that pop are fun, but this is the shit you need if you’re actually building products.
Right now we’re working through the product pyramid shown below. It lays out a foundation for creating a perfect product and this week we’re talking pricing. Let’s go.
It’s no secret that media companies run the modern world, but many of us don’t appreciate why. It’s not the byproduct of an evil plot to captivate the masses, or some innate law of the universe. It’s because they have our attention, and they have our attention because they have content.
Last week I laid out the elements that make up a perfect product, with attention and eyeballs ? as the foundation. This week I’m gonna give you a tactical playbook on how to create content and use it to run the world get attention for your business.
“Workin’ on the weekend like usual
Way off in the deep end like usual”
– Drake, Life is Good
I recently posted a video about validating a product for your brand, and today I wanna talk about it more. Lucky you.
“After this drop, I’ve got new demands
Can’t meet the terms, keep it movin then”
– Drake, Used To
It’s been a weird year, lots has changed since I last emailed, and there’s about 2,500 new faces here on the ol’ email list.
For everyone I haven’t talked to in a while, and everyone that’s new here, an update:
At the top of the year, with a small group of my childhood friends, I bought back the company we sold 4 years ago. A few weeks later on January 26th one of our co-founders, Dana, was murdered. Getting LTRMN back was exciting but quickly turned bitter sweet. 5 months later as we settle into a new normal and realize it never will be: I’m super thankful to be surrounded by part of his legacy everyday. LTRMN, and Dana, forever.
Now, let’s talk about what’s next.
“Major distribution, labels call me
Bad Bunny numbers, it’s a robbery”
– Drake, Major Distribution
I really enjoyed sitting down w/ Sabrina for this pod and talking about just going for it. Also kinda stoked the episode somehow got piped into IMDb and generated a Colin Landforce page over there. We’ll take it!
