Frank Kern is a veteran marketer whose stuff is usually extremely good. In fact, I've followed him for some time and I learned a lot from his videos and courses.
A little while ago he released a 'Gear Walkthrough' video where he shows you exactly what he uses to make his videos... which basically boils down to his cell phone and a few tripods.
Now, of course, you can go live on Facebook or make YouTube videos with just your phone. If I were talking to someone just starting out, I would probably recommend that. However, over time, you should be thinking about upgrading the production values of your videos. This is especially true if the videos you're producing are for content marketing and need to sit alongside competitors in your niche.
But, why is the quality of your video any different to Frank Kerns? How can he 'get away' with using just his phone whilst others spend a fortune on gear at every available opportunity? It's all to do with Costly Signalling.
Take a look at the not-so-humble Peacock. It is actually one of the exceptions that prove his 'Origin of the Species' theory but, until the 1970s, this was a conundrum for biologists. In fact, Darwin hated this
"The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick"
Charles Darwin, 1860
The classical Darwinian theory would suggest that any animal with a tail as large as a male Peacock would, over time, evolve so that his tail became shorter and he was able to run away from predators easier.
Of course, we know that's not happened. The weight of the Peacock tail can be anything up to half of the Peacocks weight (depending on subspecies). This makes it an incredibly cumbersome thing for a male bird to have to drag around.
What's happening here is an example of costly signalling. The Peahen thinks that any potential mate that can wander around, encumbered by its tail and not get eaten, must be a fine specimen for procreation. Less fit specimens would not have the agility to avoid predators when handicapped by such a tail.
The very impracticality of the thing is the signal to others that having one makes you higher in status than those who don't. That's the very essence of signalling theory.
Signalling is the reason that you might buy a sports car. These are completely impractical machines. They are costly to buy and run. They usually only have 2 seats, unsuitable for families, and have little or no space for any luggage. But, because of this, they are desirable items.
It signals to potential mates that you have the money to indulge... and, ultimately, to keep that mate well provided for. It's probably one of the reasons why so many men get these vehicles during their mid-life crisis.
Now, it's important to consider that this signalling doesn't happen purely because of the cost of the vehicle. If women were just attracted to people driving expensive vehicles, the drivers of agricultural vehicles would be overrun by potential mates. But, driving a tractor doesn't infer any extra social status in the same way as a Lamborghini Aventador would.
Which wedding would you go to?
In fact, signalling is something that permeates our culture. Perhaps the most illustrative area we can see it working is weddings.
Imagine you had two friends who were getting married on the same day. The invitations came. One of them was sent via email and the other arrived at your door in a scented envelope on thick, laid card with handwritten text and a gold inlay around the outside.
Well, all things being equal, most people would choose to go to the second one, with the nicer invitation. That's because the amount spent to convey the message increases the value of the event, even if the two are actually identical.
We infer things from an email sent via email. Perhaps it would be done on a budget. Perhaps you won't have as much fun. Perhaps, god forbid, they won't have an open bar.
If you're in any sort of business then these behavioural queues are worth learning about. The aria of study that has built up around these is called Behavioural Economics and deals with the psychology of why we make financial decisions. Hopefully, you can see how useful that can be.
It's not, perhaps, important to know that middle-aged men buy sports cars to attract younger women unless you're in the car market. However, knowing that signalling is something that humans react to means that it's something we can use to increase our "know, like & trust" factors... specifically the trust factor.
And, this is where brands come in. Part of my job designing logos and websites for people was to consider the brand, to understand what people in the market were expecting and it's this expectation where signalling plays a part.
Let's go back to the concept of the wedding invitations but instead, we're looking at two brands that sell televisions.
If
Now, the average consumer won't ever know which television is really the better one. To do so would require a lot of studying about electrical engineering, an understanding
A brand like Panasonic or Sony spends a lot of money on advertising. These are costly signalling activities. We know that if a brand is on TV, the likelihood that they will not produce a poor product is increased. This is because damage to their reputation is more important to them than making a quick sale.
We see this mirrored in the popularity of certain brands as well. The top selling televisions are not the cheapest.
As a consumer you end up not basing your decision on which TV is best but rather which one will likely cause you the least pain. The Supermarket brand might actually be the better television if you're shopping amongst a certain price range.
But, the supermarket has not signalled its intention to support that television. It has no reputation riding on the TV being a bad product. In fact, it is just one of a million products that the supermarket sells.
And this brings us back to you and the video content you might want to produce for your business.
Frank Kern suggested that all you needed was a smartphone but that ignores the costly signalling that occurs in his own video. Quite apart from Mr Kern having a name for himself within his chosen industry, the video also shows you parts of his house. This is (probably quite subconsciously) some of those same social signals that we have been looking at coming into play.
He might be in a similar niche to you or I (that of making money online) but he is already seen as a thought leader. That places him in quite an interesting position. He has become a brand in his own right. He is already the Sony or Panasonic of the online marketing world and his reputation is more important to him than making a quick dollar.
On the other hand, if you're reading this, it's likely that you're just starting out (either with video or with marketing in general). That would place you in a similar position to the supermarket brand. You are untested, so you need to give people a reason to start knowing, liking and trusting you.
The best way to do that is to start increasing the production values of the videos you put out. Now, nobody will expect you to get it right overnight. That's not the idea of this process. What you would be doing is signalling that you are investing your time and money into the videos you put out.
The very process of purchasing equipment is a signal that you will be creating this content for the long run.
This is most important if you want to compete on YouTube before making a name for yourself anywhere else. In that instance it's important to do your market research.
Have a look at the other videos that are being produced in your niche. Which ones do you like best and why? Which ones are the audiences responding favourably to (more likes and comments)?
There are two ways you can use costly signalling to then indicate to your potential audience you are someone who should be listened to .
Firstly, make your videos look better than your competitors. If they've not got good lighting, get good lighting. If the sound from their videos is bad, make sure yours is good. One of the most important factors on YouTube is watch time so try to create videos slightly longer than your competitors to increase this metric.
There are lots of little tweaks in the quality of your content and production values that will signal to your audience that you are someone who should be taken seriously.
Secondly, and this is my favourite method, be prepared to advertise your videos on your competitors channels. Very few people put money into growing their YouTube channels with advertising but if you intend that to be one of your main traffic sources, it's worthwhile.
With Google Ads, you can actually buy your competitors audience from them at the same time as signalling that your content has a higher social value than the content they are watching, because you can pay money to advertise yours.
The irony of all this is that it won't cost you that much to target your competitor with adverts.
