Summary:
In this episode of the Engage Video Marketing Podcast, Ben Amos is joined by video pioneer Luria Petrucci, who has over 18 years of experience and 6,000+ videos to her name. Luria shares her insights into helping entrepreneurs and creators unleash their authentic selves through professional video and live streaming. Together, they tackle key challenges like overcoming fear, embracing authenticity, and building consistency in content creation.
Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned video professional, Luria’s advice on leveraging the messy beginnings, engaging with audiences, and even choosing the right tools will empower you to take your video strategy to the next level.
Key Takeaways:
- The Power of Imperfection: Embrace messy beginnings to build confidence and authenticity.
- Human Connection in Content: How vulnerability and relatability can create stronger audience bonds.
- Live Streaming Insights: The evolving role of live video in audience engagement and strategies to use it effectively in 2024.
- Gear is Just a Tool: How to streamline your tech setup to remove barriers and stay consistent.
- Authenticity Over Perfection: Why connecting with people matters more than nailing the perfect production.
Links & Resources:
- Get Luria’s free gear list at engagevideomarketing.com/boldgear
- Learn more about the BOLD program: engagevideomarketing.com/bold.
- Watch Luria’s live videos on her YouTube channel youtube.com/livestreamingpros/
- Luria on X
- Luria on IG
- Luria on LinkedIn
- Luria on Facebook
Quotes from the Episode:
“Confidence comes from action, not thought.” – Luria Petrucci
“If you want to connect with an audience, start by letting go of perfection.” – Ben Amos
If you found this episode of value I’d love for you to reach out and let me know on Instagram @engage_ben or email [email protected]
Rate the Engage Video Marketing Podcast on iTunes
Transcript of the Interview: ** Note: the following transcript was generated by AI and therefore may contain some errors and omissions.
Ben (00:00.233)
Hey Luria, welcome to the podcast.
Luria (00:04.238)
Perfect.
Luria (00:10.896)
my gosh, it’s been forever since we’ve been trying to make this work, so I’m so glad that I’m finally here.
Ben (00:18.407)
Yeah, well I’m so glad to get you on the call here as well today. I know that there’s gonna be some really interesting stuff we’re gonna dive into, whether those people listening or watching are entrepreneurs trying to do video for themselves or whether they’re in a business helping other people do video. This conversation is gonna be really relevant for everyone listening and watching here today. So Luria, for those that haven’t.
come across you before or come across live streaming pros or any of the content you’ve created over the many years you’ve been doing this stuff. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do and where do you get started in this world?
Luria (00:54.031)
Yeah, how much time you got now? Just joking. I asked that because I’ve been this is a I’m coming up on my 19th year of doing video and live streams, which makes me feel really old. But I got started in 2005 when podcasting was just beginning. And now I’m in the podcast Hall of Fame. I had amazing opportunities and
Ben (00:55.581)
Haha.
Luria (01:17.71)
to do some really big projects with people like Leo Laporte call for help. got to host a TV show. I got to do things with Panasonic and Samsung, big, huge, multi -million dollar productions. And so I really learned so much through all of those processes that it became really important for me to help others, but not at a multi -million dollar scale. And really drill down and simplify the tech.
behind creating video and live streams. And because I’ve been doing live for so long, you know, I’ve learned all of the tips and tricks, all of the no, don’t do it mistakes in terms of connecting with your audience. And I think that that’s really…
Actually, one of my strongest suit strongest thing skills, I guess is being able to just immediately connect with people and That’s something that I think I think people find really difficult through video
Ben (02:23.017)
Yeah, and I mean, obviously in 19 years in doing this sort of stuff, the world of video marketing and content creation has changed drastically in that time. I’m dating myself a little bit here as well, but I remember early days of starting my business 15 years ago, sitting in my garage home office.
Luria (02:28.942)
Thank
Luria (02:32.951)
Yeah
Ben (02:44.849)
and not having enough work on, to be honest, in my video production business. So I was just watching video podcasts and things like that. And that’s actually, I remember now, that’s one of the first times I think I saw your face popping up on things. So was it GeekBeat TV or something like, is that right? Am I remembering?
Luria (02:51.95)
Yeah.
Luria (03:00.594)
That was one of them, yeah. I’ve had multiple brands over the years. Geekbrief, Geekbeads, Geek something, and then Livestreaming Pros, Geeks University, I mean, like all these different brands, but you know, at the core of it has always been, you know,
Ben (03:04.584)
Yeah.
Ben (03:08.348)
Something.
Luria (03:20.461)
tech, helping people, connecting with people, and being able to really deliver your message. And that’s the key thing. I’m so honored and I have the privilege of working with amazing people like Michael Haya, Amy Porterfield, and many others. And what I love about them is that they are able to put their message out there in such a big way.
and they’re authentic for themselves. And when I get to come in and support them, being able to use the gear in their studio or like with Marie Forleo recently, she was doing a big live event. I was able to say like, okay, like you have your personality, you know how to connect with an audience. Like let’s tie that into the production side of things. And how can we release your personality?
into your production in a much bigger way and connect with your audience on a deeper level. that’s like, I just love doing that stuff.
Ben (04:27.517)
Yeah, I think when we think about the way that technology has changed over the years, it actually kind of makes it more important to recognise that technology isn’t really the issue here. Sometimes people feel it’s the issue, but technology is always going to change and it’s always going to be something that you need to figure out in some way in order to get your message out there. But what doesn’t change is the skill of getting your message out there like you talk about.
Luria (04:40.776)
Yes.
Luria (04:48.742)
Exactly. I believe tech is a tool, right? And it shouldn’t stop you or get in your way or frustrate you. It should just be that tool to get your message heard.
Ben (05:02.663)
Yeah, exactly. So when we reflect on that, you mentioned some of those names like Michael Hyatt and Amy Porterfield and Marie Forleo, those names that you’ve worked with. Now these people, they build their brands on connecting and growing an audience and communicating with people. So it seems like easy for them, right, that they can figure out the stuff and get themselves out there. But let’s talk about those people who maybe earlier on in their business or
Luria (05:18.576)
Yeah.
Luria (05:25.001)
Seems like it.
Luria (05:30.537)
Yeah.
Ben (05:32.795)
What do they struggle with? Those entrepreneurs who are trying to just get themselves heard in some way. What’s the biggest struggles you see?
Luria (05:38.868)
Yeah.
Well, I’m going to use Amy as an example. She talks about this on her own podcast. Amy hated, hated doing video when she first began. And this is the same for everybody out there. All the entrepreneurs I know have this hatred of it. I remember sitting down with Amy when I first started working with her and she was like, I don’t want to do this. But you but you have to. Right. And so I think that’s where people start.
Everybody starts there. I didn’t want to do video when I first started either. Like no one wants to put themselves out there because that’s a one of the most vulnerable things you can do. And so that’s where I think people always struggle with at the very beginning is they don’t feel confident doing it. And so they they procrastinate it. They put it off. They worry about what are people going to think about me? They worry about what you know, what if
I have no viewers what if nobody comments what if nobody buys what if what if what if and that tends to stop them in their tracks and waiting you know years for some people before they ever actually step over that threshold and confidence doesn’t come from thinking about anything right we know that is when you’re riding a bike when you learn to ride a bike as a kid you don’t get confidence by staring at it right – and so was a part at the park recently and this father.
was trying to teach this kid to ride her bike and she fell off immediately and of course she was crying and crying and crying and sometimes that’s how we feel when we go live or do a video and it it feels yucky or nobody responds to it but just like we know with bikes you have to keep doing it because confidence only comes from action.
Ben (07:34.525)
Yeah, absolutely. And that action, and that messy action, I’ve sometimes heard it referred to as well, is the place to start, right?
Luria (07:39.422)
totally messy. My first video is so embarrassing. It’s still online. And I had a squeaky, hi, I’m Kelly Lewis. I was going by a different name at that point. And I was so awkward.
It’s wonderful looking back at it, right? Like Marques Brownlee, MKBHD, one of the huge tech, tech -tuber, tech -youtuber, you know, still has his original first video when he was 13. And, you know, you look at him then and look at him now, and it’s such a drastic difference. And that’s going to be the same for you, but it is a messy beginning. And you know what? Sorry.
Ben (08:22.665)
Yeah, 100%. Now I know that, yeah, go ahead. No, go ahead, no.
Luria (08:26.367)
Well, I was just going to say, I think that that’s a beautiful thing because when your audience sees you being messy, guess what? It actually impacts them to be able to be messy too. And this is a beautiful part of being open and allowing vulnerability in your content. When you are uncomfortable, say it. Like you don’t have to harp on it, but say it or do an Instagram story and show behind the scenes.
as you’re creating something and say like, don’t know what the heck I’m doing, but I’m doing it anyway because of your why. And that human connection…
is the thing that people wait way too long to get to, because they want to be perfect. They want to have this, they feel like as an entrepreneur that nobody’s going to take you seriously unless you are perfect. But when you allow that authenticity to come through and you just connect on a human level,
The magic that occurs is so beautiful. I have a student who recently did this. Her name is Bonnie and she was trying to figure something out and she posted something and I don’t remember the exact details, but she posted something and she botched it, right? It was like totally botched. And so she just did an Instagram story and she was like, I don’t know what I’m doing with this. I totally did it wrong. It didn’t go out like I thought it was going to.
Tell me I’m not alone. Have you ever done something that you made a mistake on? Well, her comments blew up, right? And like people connect to that. And so I think that if you can embrace that vulnerability early on, then you will go so much further faster.
Ben (10:23.817)
Yeah. So for those in business of any sort who maybe have some of those fears or reluctance around showing up and putting themselves out there and being that authentic self on camera, creating that content, overcoming that messy start and so on, what would you say is the potential downside of not taking a hack or not taking a hack? Like what’s the downside of not showing up?
Luria (10:53.028)
Sorry, you broke out just a little bit. Am I getting a little fuzzy or are we good? Okay, okay, okay, sorry about that. So the downside, okay.
Ben (10:57.833)
No, I’ve got ya, I’ve got ya, so that’s fine. I’ll ask you the question. The downside of not showing up, like not taking action and stepping up.
Luria (11:08.974)
Yeah, the downside is multiple. One, at a core, you stay small. You never do the thing that you want to do. That little whisper inside of you that says, want to make a difference in this way, in the world. And society has a tendency to hold us back, tell us to fit in a box, all of that.
It is up to you to not play small, to play big. And that you will regret it if you don’t, right? You will one day. May not be tomorrow. It may be 20 years from now. It may be a month from now. But you are not being able to actually have a rolling impact in the world.
because you help somebody, another person gets helped by them, another person gets helped by that person, right? So like we have this rolling impact that we can start the, I guess think of it as dominoes, right? And so you’re not being able to help people or make a difference in their world. But on a financial level, I had a student, I convinced her to go live and to do video in her business.
She was like, okay. Yes, she signed up for all my things and she procrastinated through you know, two years I believe it was and you know, like maybe small steps small steps, but never really fully going for it and One day she finally just went for it. And then I got a message from her a year later and she said My business grew 30 % because of video and live
I wish I would have done that sooner, right? Like what if 30 % growth in your business, like if she had done that two years ago, right, then it would have been even better. So it’s both on impact and financial potential in your business.
Ben (13:20.7)
Now I know that many of the audience of this podcast are video producers themselves or professionals who help their clients do more video and they can handle the tech stuff and they can figure that out. And I also know that some of our audience are those trying to figure this out for themselves and do better. None of these …
Luria (13:26.951)
Yeah.
Luria (13:32.882)
Yeah.
Ben (13:39.357)
people listening, none of our audience needs convincing that video is a powerful tool. That’s why they’re listening and watching this show, right? But I want to talk specifically to those professionals, those people who help clients make video, because it’s very similar to you in live streaming pros. Like you could just build your business off the back of helping others, right? And not use video as a tool to get your own message out there. And I fear that many video producers do the same thing. They share their client work.
Luria (13:45.303)
Yeah, totally.
Luria (14:00.264)
Yeah.
Luria (14:06.344)
Yeah.
Ben (14:09.129)
They share their portfolio and they’re like, look at how good we are at what we do. But they’re very reluctant often to actually create content for themselves. we know they can, they have the capabilities. So what would you say to those people who just want to kind of do it for others and not for themselves?
Luria (14:17.542)
Yeah.
Luria (14:28.052)
Yeah. You can, right? If you have a successful business, you can do it. And like you said, off the back of just helping others. And I think you have to answer the question of what more can I achieve, right, with the video edition. have a student, Justin, and finally…
Decided like was uncomfortable. He does this for other people right video production for other people And didn’t really want to put himself out there but grew finally did held a virtual event and added 500 000 to his bottom line that year like crazy awesome amazing And I think that it’s not
I think that if you already have a successful business running a production company essentially, and doing that for other people, you don’t necessarily have to do what other people are doing and showing up consistently, weekly, doing all of the things, right? You could take a bit of a different approach in doing a virtual event three times a year or…
for or one or two, right? Targeting your audience, your right fit client as Barry and Blue from Sage call it. You could target that audience through ads because you already have some money to invest. You can partner with people, right? It doesn’t have to be that you have to run productions because that’s a full time job and you have to show up consistently on a weekly basis. You can take a middle road there. I think that works really well for
producers.
Ben (16:23.185)
Yeah, I like that. I think we could go down a whole path of conversation there. So that’s kind fired a few ideas. But where I do want to go though is talking to, whether you are that video producer just thinking like, probably need to actually do some of my own content to promote my own business, or whether you’re that entrepreneur or business owner out there just trying to get themselves seen. One of the things I know comes up for people is they start
Luria (16:26.743)
I know, that’s a hole.
Ben (16:52.263)
and they don’t get much traction or they don’t get much engagement or they start putting videos out there with good intention and then they stop pretty quickly because they feel like it’s just not working or no one’s watching anyway or it’s not doing what they need to. So do you see that too with some of your clients or people that you work with?
Luria (16:54.592)
Yeah.
Luria (17:07.544)
Yeah.
Luria (17:11.824)
Absolutely. Getting traction with video takes time. It does. And this is another reason why you just need to get it started. You know, I ask people to give it six months to a year to start seeing traction. That sounds horrible, right? But I put that in their brain. It can happen a lot faster. But I put it in their brain because it’s really important that you don’t have instant gratification mode on, right?
because this stuff does take time. Because it’s messy, you’re figuring it out. So you’re not necessarily going to create the right content, say the right things, right? Because you have to learn what the audience reacts to, what the algorithms send you out to more with. So you have to learn those things. And again, it only comes by doing. So I want instant gratification mode off for six months to a year.
in that process, you’re in a learning mode. And if it happens sooner, great.
And I know everybody’s running and screaming right now. And you can also do things to speed the process up. So get really good at creating content that people want is one. And that’s hard to know without doing, but you can learn that. Meaning you focus on, depending on the platform that you’re putting content out, but you need to.
to understand the platform’s strengths, right? And how people want to receive content on that. Like for instance, YouTube.
Luria (18:53.572)
That’s really about focusing on titles and thumbnails first and foremost before you ever think about what to say. So, you know, each platform works slightly different and that’s kind of how you can speed the process up through content. But then you can also partner with people. You can go on podcasts like I’m going on right now, right? Like you can connect with others, you know, talk to other audiences, connect with people on Facebook groups.
without pitching, right? But like you can connect and you can start to learn what people are asking. That’s one of my biggest things that I do, even today. I know what my audience needs, but I still listen. I listen and I pay attention not only to what they’re asking, but the thing behind that, right? And so I’m in Facebook groups all the time listening, asking.
taking in the questions that come around video.
Ben (19:56.701)
Yeah. And do you think that it’s something that is kind of requiring an experimental mindset as well of like, you sometimes don’t know what people want until you put things out there anyway, or do you think you should do all your research, figure out your strategy and then create, or do you think it’s a bit of a mix of things?
Luria (20:04.688)
Yeah.
Luria (20:16.869)
It’s a bit of a mix for sure. But you absolutely need an experimental mindset and this will help you not.
Feel worthless because this is how we all feel when a video flops. I was just watching a video on this from a big YouTuber and he was saying the same thing and I hear this all the time. It’s like you put a video out there, it doesn’t do well. You take that and you allow that to make you feel worthless. One, that cannot happen. You cannot put your value in your numbers. If you do, you will burn out, you will quit, you will cry.
I’ve done that a million times before I learned my lesson and I will tell you the secret to content Nothing you ever expect to happen happens
put so much effort into a video and it flops. And then I’ll be like, I don’t have time to create today, so I’m just going to create and it succeeds. Right? I mean, yes, I can. I know that, you know, when I get a new device, like I just did with the Rodecaster video, I know that I can put out a video on that and it’s going to succeed because I know my audience and it did. Right? And so like, because they love to see new gear, they love new announcements.
So when you know there are certain things that I can
Luria (21:46.355)
can plan on and I can anticipate and I can work a strategy around. Absolutely. But at the same time, there is an element to content and every single entrepreneur content creator will tell you this. You don’t always know like some things that you think won’t work will. So experimenting is key.
Ben (22:11.155)
So despite not knowing what will happen, and that’s guaranteed, What are some things that you can do, that you can control with your content to create more engagement or to set it up in the best way possible for success, even though can’t guarantee success?
Luria (22:15.644)
Yeah, it is.
Luria (22:28.638)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you can’t ever guarantee, but you can, like I said with my content, right? I know which things work in terms of packaging. So when I say packaging, it’s how does the audience perceive this before they ever even watch it? So if that’s on YouTube, it’s the title and thumbnail. They’re seeing that before they ever decide to actually watch your video.
And that alone will more guarantee success because you’re creating something, like I said, that people want to click on. On Facebook or Instagram or elsewhere.
that packaging is still in the title. It’s still in the description that you give it. It’s in the way you present it. So when we think about packaging, how is it? It’s about the audience and that’s key here, right? So like people get so upset with algorithms and my gosh, the algorithm is out to get me. I’m not getting seen by the algorithm.
gets the hate. But on all platforms, the algorithm works on human behavior. So if you’re creating something that humans want, you’re going to get loved by the algorithm. And that’s the hardest thing for people to wrap their brain around. So that’s why we ask, we listen, we search what people are searching for. And you…
Luria (24:06.26)
The other thing that you can do in content to more guarantee success is really think through removal of information. So a lot of, when I create a video, I think, what does the audience want? Part of that is in the packaging. What does the audience need to hear about this topic? That’s their desire to actually click on the video. And then what do they not need to know? Because we as experts,
it’s know everything. mean, I’m 19 years worth of knowledge in this brain, right? I could tell you everything you needed to know about topic XYZ, but I’ve got to remove some information in order to make it consumable and achievable by somebody who knows less than me. So I think that’s one of the, if you approach content from that perspective, you’ll have way more direction to success.
Ben (25:02.281)
Yeah, 100%. What I really love about that is that idea of if you’re thinking about your audience first, then you’re thinking about how can I best serve them in this moment with this piece of content? And that’s when you can answer that question with, well, they don’t need to know this right now. What they do need to know is this. And it’s down to what you say. It’s not about algorithms. I always talk about optimising for audiences over algorithms, So I think that’s exactly the way to think about it is.
Luria (25:12.106)
Yes.
Luria (25:17.665)
Yeah.
Luria (25:25.813)
Yeah, exactly.
Ben (25:30.907)
know who you’re trying to reach, who you’re trying to talk to, and talk to them in a way that adds value to their life, in whatever way that you can add value to their life.
Luria (25:34.219)
Yeah.
Luria (25:40.971)
Yeah. And then to have success with content, it’s also about the things that you’re not doing in the content itself, which is connecting with people. If one person comments, talk to that person. Get into their DMs and have a conversation, or don’t ever end the conversation. So oftentimes people will comment, great video. And we say what?
Ben (26:09.341)
We say thanks.
Luria (26:10.457)
Thank you. Yeah, thumbs up, thanks. Bye bye. What are you doing? Right? Like that’s ending the conversation. If somebody came up to you on the street and said, love your outfit, you can say thanks and the conversation is gone. Right? It’s done over with and you guys are going your separate ways. Or you can say, thanks, I got it in.
coals then it was 50 % off whatever right like you can say something about it and that might actually end up in a conversation because that person loves sales right like discounts and so like and just i like to put things in the perspective of like in person when we think about it online because we actually don’t lead most people don’t lead with
I’m talking to a human, right? And so keeping that conversation alive, not endlessly of course, but not creepily, but talking back to them, asking them a question is going to give you more engagement, likeability, and they’re more likely to come back to another video.
Ben (27:27.069)
Yeah, exactly. I think it’s changing that mindset from that broadcast idea of media where you create content and it just goes out via TV, for example, and you don’t really know who’s… There’s no engagement back to the way the internet works, it’s about conversations and relationships and it’s a one -to -one experience, even if it is YouTube, which potentially is watched by hundreds of thousands of people, it’s still one person watching that video of you. Yeah.
Luria (27:33.646)
Yes.
Luria (27:37.763)
Mm
Luria (27:46.221)
Yeah.
Luria (27:54.009)
Yeah, exactly.
Here’s an interesting just total squirrel side note when it comes to TV engagement broadcast Even we’re seeing some cool improvements In the TV space from YouTube. They just announced it made on YouTube that they’re doing a lot more with the TV experience and so, you know my immediate thought was okay, we’re gonna lose that conversation that engagement right? It’s really hard to comment on
a TV, right? People have to have it open twice to be able to like chat or do whatever. But now what they’re doing is they’re actually putting a QR code on the TV experience so that you can get that with your phone and keep commenting or chatting in a live stream. And so like we’re starting to see a merge of the broadcast and the interactivity style, which I find really cool.
Ben (28:51.465)
Yeah, that’s very cool. That’s a good side note by the way. So when we’re about engagement and on content and you know we’re talking to Luria from Live Streaming Pros as well. What value do you think going live versus publishing a pre -recorded or edited video is and what impact does that have on engagement today in 2024? Because I know it’s changed a bit over the recent years since live streaming has been a thing.
Luria (29:19.127)
Especially, well, yeah, mean, live has changed so many times, but it’s always really held true.
to its core, meaning is live is the most interactive form of video you can create. And so when you do have people watching live, it’s about that deeper connection. It’s a way to just actually have a conversation. And when I say live, it’s not just one way live streaming where people are chatting. We now have Zoom in the mix in terms of video production and community conversation, right?
And so that’s to it. You can see their face and they can see yours. And we are seeing tools actually wrap both Zoom and live streaming into it. So you can kind of really make a mission match everything that you want to create when it comes to live. But I…
I strongly strongly believe you need a multi format strategy. So your videos, your recorded videos that you put out there are relief for discovery. That’s for finding new audience members for you, getting them to like you, getting them to get value from you. And then your live streams are going to be more of about a
to take those viewers who are liking your videos and creating that deeper connection with them, engaging them in a bigger way.
Luria (30:53.597)
And that’s when they’ll do things like donate to you during a live stream. They’ll have conversations. You create what I call triggers, audience triggers, which are like inside jokes between the two of you as a group. And so you have all of this additional behavior that comes into play when you think about live. The mistake that people make with live is thinking that live alone is going to
blow them up. It did during the pandemic because it did. Pandemic era was its own unique thing. But post pandemic and pre pandemic, that’s not your strategy. Live alone, Pat Flynn did 365 days of live during the pandemic and it blew him up.
Live Alone outside of that just doesn’t have the discoverability or the audience know, like, and trust yet to really use it as a single alone strategy.
Ben (32:00.167)
Yeah, well that’s where my mind was going because we were talking before about those who are struggling to get engagement in the first place, know, maybe just starting on a strategy. Like, do you think there’s value in using live streaming as a tool when you basically don’t have an audience yet?
Luria (32:02.716)
Yeah.
Luria (32:07.621)
Mm
Luria (32:18.605)
Yeah, it can be. So when you don’t have an audience yet, you know, I want you to be creating recorded video for sure. And then what I want you to do is twofold. Treat it as an event, right? So like you would a webinar or a virtual event or something like that. have a date, you have a time and a date for this live stream and you’re going to…
kind of promote towards it. And so you can start there with like a monthly event that you promote towards. If you have five people on your email list, if you have, you know, 15 people across your social channels, let’s call it really small. If, you know, a couple of them showed up to this event that you promoted, you have to give them a reason to show up, right? But you start that engagement process. And then you also
You don’t ever want to again put your value in the numbers. Those two people that show up, right, are going to become your most loyal audience ever as you grow. And so you need to show up in a way that is thankful for the people who do show up. You can, you can, we could talk about how to get them to engage while on a live in a second, but.
That’s kind of how I like to treat it when you have zero audience. But the other thing is it’s a really good thing to practice and get good at. so I had a student, Andy Smiles, she was a bookkeeper and she had a successful business, but she wanted to take that online and she didn’t have an audience yet. And she knew, because I told her, you’re not going to have anybody comment.
or engage or show up. There may be zero people on this live stream. And she took my, I didn’t even suggest this, but she took a post -it and she covered up the view count so that she wasn’t paying attention to it. She covered up the comment section so that she wasn’t paying attention to it. And she just showed up like hundred people were there. She delivered content. Somebody watched that replay. Replays are really powerful.
Luria (34:45.526)
within the next 24 hours turned into a $3 ,000 contract. And then that snowballed into a bigger contract later down the road and referrals for Andy. So don’t ignore the fact that live is also a replay. It is also a video. And so you can structure it in a way that does kind of take advantage of, algorithms do like live because of the engagement, but you also kind of get the best of both worlds.
have to engage with people to have that value and benefit from it.
Ben (35:21.181)
Yeah, I love that example and I love the idea that you called out the benefit of the replay as well is because, particularly when you haven’t got an audience, and you are using that kind of event type live streaming approach, thinking of like a webinar or a…
Luria (35:28.109)
Yeah.
Luria (35:36.525)
Yeah.
Ben (35:38.119)
live workshop sort of a thing and not using a tool like Zoom or Teams or something like that because if it’s the right sort of content that you do want to get out there publicly, it’s that long game that I think you can really get the value from it and you don’t know what’s going to happen with that over time, right?
Luria (35:56.783)
You don’t. And I will tell you, I can’t tell you how many times somebody has been watching my livestream, never engaged, never commented, never said anything until they needed to approach me.
And I’m talking big names like, mean, you somebody from Go Daddy’s, Orange County Choppers, like all of these different brands and people that like a Hollywood director, right? Like the same thing. There’s so many people watching. They might watch the live, they might watch the replay, but then they approach you when they need you. keeping, you know, staying consistent and show
showing up, not consistent in necessarily the day and time that you do it. Yeah, that’s important too, but consistency in how you show up, fully ready to provide that value no matter what happens or doesn’t happen.
Ben (37:03.815)
I believe one of the key things in consistency in showing up and using things like those live event approaches and pre -recorded videos often comes down to just making it easy to show up. Whether we’re talking to those professional video producers with hundreds of thousands of gear locked away in their gear cupboard and things like that, or that just getting started entrepreneur, I recommend having some sort of a quick and easy
flick a switch and you can start making video whenever you’re ready, kind of a setup. I know that’s something that you help people with as well. I know we mentioned that the gear is just a tool, right? It’s not about the gear. But how important is getting your gear right so that you’re not hindered by the gear? You can just flick a switch and get started.
Luria (37:45.605)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, I call it a set it and forget it set up, right? It’s like you get it set up once, get that out of the way so that you can just turn on record, go live and be done with it. Every…
barrier will stop you in your tracks. So that’s really important to remember. And so it is really important to get that set up to put that investment of time in. It doesn’t have to be a ton. But once you’re set up, then you can rock and roll and show up like a.
rockstar. I was gonna say something else. But then, you know, what you have the capability to do when you have the right setup and that’s
The gear, the camera, the lights, that’s the background, the things that set the tone for your viewers. And it’s also things like software. Software that allows you to create professional quality and throw graphics on screen, put your name up on a lower third, and also do fun things. And this is where a lot of humanity and authenticity can come into in a lot.
Luria (39:11.159)
especially and on video, but you can do things. I’m going to throw a little animation here like like a little mind blown emoji up on screen when you say something that is supposed to be like, whoa, like mic drop moment.
You can throw, I love doing big wins to celebrate somebody in my coaching call or a live stream that says, hey, like I did this and I’m so proud of myself, right? You can do all of these different things when it comes to right software, because that creates so much more massive engagement. It is super, super powerful because I do things like that and I sell while having fun because all
like throw a bunch of things up on screen while I’m selling and guess what happens? People buy twice sometimes, right? Like think during a Black Friday celebration or sale that we were doing once, we had people buy twice just to get their name heard on that live stream, to be able to see something pop up on screen. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. You can choose two or three things that you do or that you have prepared.
And I have a bazillion of them, but you can throw a call to actions on screen and help people visualize what you’re doing and seeing and asking them to do. But it’s really powerful when you have those three things in terms of a right setup, the gear, the background, and the software that can do amazing, engaging things, then it’s a winning strategy, really.
Ben (40:51.773)
Yeah, I love that. And for those who are listening to the audio version here, you’ll have to go and check out the YouTube version of this to see some of the animations that at the click of a button there, Luria was able to throw up into this conversation here, which is exactly what you’re talking about, about getting it right. And my suggestion to those…
Luria (40:57.319)
Yeah.
Ben (41:12.509)
video producers out there who, they can do all this stuff. They have all the gear. They can create graphics in lower thirds in Premiere Pro and in their editing software and whatever. But often they haven’t taken the time to think, well, how can I just make this easy and remove the barrier to enable me to do this without having to dig out my hundreds of thousands of dollars of gear from the cupboard? To use me as an example, I use to record most of my content is
Luria (41:18.941)
Yeah.
Luria (41:23.817)
Mm -hmm.
Luria (41:31.138)
Yeah.
Luria (41:37.653)
Mm
Ben (41:42.583)
Canon M50 Mark II here and a little Elgato light and just at my desk with the pod mic here. And I’ve got all the gear downstairs. We’ve got a full production studio downstairs, but I don’t do that for my own content because when I do, if I try to, it doesn’t get done. I just don’t do it.
Luria (41:54.784)
Yeah.
Ben (42:00.221)
and I don’t show up. So I don’t think this is the same for the entrepreneur listening or the business owner who hasn’t got all that gear. You don’t need much. You just need a little bit set up in a way that’s a set and forget easy to get started. And I know this is what you help people with as well, Luria. So we’ve got a resource you want to share, which is like a free gear list. So we’ll have that at engagevideomarketing .com slash
Luria (42:00.297)
Yeah, yeah. Totally.
Luria (42:13.579)
Yeah.
Luria (42:24.459)
Yeah.
Ben (42:27.239)
bold gear. We’ll talk about bold and what that means in a second. You can check that out. can you just maybe mention like, when it comes to the gear or deciding on the gear list, I mean, you don’t just want to go to Amazon and search for video camera for streaming or video camera for YouTube, do you? Right.
Luria (42:45.854)
No, you don’t because I will tell you this Stu McLaren who we built his video studio He actually hired us because he had spent hours and hours and hours and hours going through YouTube videos searching on Amazon trying to figure out what gear do I buy and There’s so much gear on the market that it’s an overwhelming task and a never -ending one, right? Everybody has a different, you know opinion on which gear is the best gear and
it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, as long as it’s capable of achieving the task that you need it to, right? And so he just got fed up and he was still so confused after all the research that he did. So he just hired us to build a studio and be done with it. But that’s why I have this gear list, because it doesn’t…
Like I know all of the tech, right? I know all of the gear. I’ve used a lot of the cameras on the market, but there are certain cameras that will not go live for you, right? And there are certain cameras that will shut off midway through a video recording. And so…
There are lot of different things that you have to think about with all of that. So I’ve just drilled it down so that you don’t have to think about what gear to buy. You just buy the right gear in the kit that I’ve given you in that free gear list. And then you’re on your way to being able to then set it up, right?
Ben (44:19.015)
Yeah, awesome. So engagevideomarketing .com slash bold gear to just go and get that list and reach out to Luria. help you sort all that stuff out as well. But one of the, we mentioned bold there as well. So you have a program for people to help them get over this stuff, right? So can you maybe share a little bit more about the bold program and who’s at fore and what do you help people achieve?
Luria (44:29.017)
Yeah.
Luria (44:37.529)
Yeah
Luria (44:43.363)
Yeah, so, you know, I provide you with the free gear list and I’ve done that for many years. However, the thing that I’ve seen people struggle with is, okay, they buy a bunch of gear and then I asked my audience this recently, it’s like, how many of you have bought a piece of gear, camera, light, and it’s just sitting there unused?
Hundreds of responses, like everybody does this. And this is the problem that I set out to solve, which was, okay, I can tell you what gear to buy, my YouTube channel is full of that, but what do you do with it afterwards? What is ISO? What is all of these things? My belief is, unless you want to get geeky about stuff, you don’t need to know what ISO is on your camera or what to do with it. You just need to know the settings that you need to
set it out to get the results that you want. And so this bold video bundle is a paint by numbers style system that is literally the next best thing to having me come out and build your video studio for you. it’s you buy the exact kit I tell you to buy. And then you watch me set it up and you set it up with me. Very detailed setup video. It’s not a slap this thing together type of thing. It is super, super detailed where
you watch me assemble this knob, right? and things that you need to pay attention to in the setup process. So it’s a no fuss assembly process. And I just streamline the process of getting it set up without adding a whole bunch of knowledge and decisions. That’s a big piece of it is that people feel decision fatigue. You’re running a business, you already have a bazillion decisions to make, you already have a
bunch of knowledge in your head, let’s just get through the tech, let’s get through the gear, the software set up to make it super, super easy and simple for you to just create content to sit down and start creating.
Ben (46:48.649)
Yeah, and to use myself as an example, over 20 years in professional video production, I kind of know gear, right? I know how cameras work, but I believe, I’m pretty sure I still turn to some of your free YouTube content, for example, to figure out how to set up things properly for the easy way to create gear.
Luria (47:09.264)
for this specific purpose, yeah.
Ben (47:11.173)
for this kind of stuff, of being able to create high quality content without having to use all my other gear. Because there is some nuances to it, right? And this is stuff that you’ve already figured out. So you don’t need to spend hours searching through YouTube and trying to figure that stuff out when you can just jump in. Absolutely. So yeah, I encourage people to check it out.
Luria (47:15.109)
Yeah.
Luria (47:21.722)
There is.
Luria (47:29.361)
It does you no good, right?
Luria (47:36.21)
Thanks.
Ben (47:36.577)
working with Luria to kind of share about the Bold program for those who are interested in checking it out. So you can go to engagevideomarketing .com slash bold. That is an affiliate link just to let you guys know. But if you’re getting bogged down and you’re thinking like, need to be doing exactly what we’ve been talking about in today’s episode of getting yourself heard, getting yourself seen, growing your business just through creating value for your audience, then the gear shouldn’t.
be the thing that gets you tripped up.
Luria (48:07.74)
No, it really shouldn’t. Like you have plenty of things to trip you up. Let’s not let gear be the thing that does.
Ben (48:13.427)
Yeah.
Ben (48:17.289)
So, Luria, for those who are listening or watching and thinking that they might want to take action here, they might want to do something, what would be your final thought to them? We’re talking to people who maybe aren’t making consistent content. They’re not taking action right now, but they know they need to, because one thing they are doing is listening or watching the Engage Video Marketing podcast. they know they need to be doing more. What would you say to that person out there that kind of
Luria (48:40.39)
Yeah.
Ben (48:46.077)
Get them moving.
Luria (48:49.929)
I think it’s really important to kind of go back to that one thing that we talked about earlier on, which is it doesn’t need to be perfect, right? It needs to be good, but like it doesn’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to be perfect. You need to show up.
authentically and understand that that human connection is what is going to make or break your success. There’s a reason that your food pictures do better on social than your content posts. There’s a reason that people love to talk about the three biggest things, and I’ll leave with this. You…
If you integrate any of these three things into your content, it’s pets.
Food and kids. Universal engagement triggers. You may not want to put your kids on there, so leave with the two. But somehow integrate those things as examples, as little moments in a video or a live stream. I have a pet cam that just points at my dog who never moves during my stream, and when she does, the audience goes wild. These are things that create engagement, that create
authenticity, human connection, and they are meant to be in your content. Most people think, no, nobody wants to know about my dog when they’re here to learn about business or whatever, right? And so that, if you can kind of get comfortable with that side of things, it’ll help you take action much more because hey, you’re enjoying it because it’s something personal to you.
Ben (50:38.183)
Yeah, and let’s be honest, it drives business, because people buy from people.
Luria (50:42.396)
It does. They know, like and trust.
Ben (50:45.499)
Absolutely. Luria, thanks for joining me. So for those, obviously great place for people to connect further with you is engagevideomarketing .com slash bold and check out the bold video bundle there as well. And the free gear list, engagevideomarketing .com slash boldgear. But where would you like to send people? Where’s your favourite place to be publishing content and engaging with your audience? Because I know you’re kind of everywhere in various places, but where’s the best place for people to connect more with you?
Luria (51:10.741)
Yeah.
Come hang out with me on YouTube. I would love, like I’m live every week, as long as my travel schedule doesn’t get in my way. But I’m live every week mostly and I would love, love, love to see you there or watch some of my videos. I have a ton of helpful videos there. Comment, don’t forget to comment. And so tell me kind of what you think about it or what was your biggest takeaway, things like that. But yeah, I would love to hang out with you there and just start to get to know you.
Ben (51:42.503)
Yeah, awesome. We’ll have links guys in the show notes for this episode and I’ll share out the link to the show notes in a moment. But for now, Luria Petrucci, thanks for joining me on the Engage Video Marketing Podcast. It’s been a long time coming but there’s been a lot of value here as well. So thanks for sharing.
Luria (51:56.343)
Thank you.
I hope so. Thank you so much for having me.
