Cheesy Videos? Or Insanely Effective Hooks...

How and why we’re creating so many hooks, to bring more people into our world.

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What's up, everybody? This is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets podcast. Today, we're going to talk about cheesy videos, thrown out hooks, and a whole bunch of other fun stuff. All right, all right, everybody. I hope you guys are doing great today. Oh, man. I want to tell you about the fun things I've been doing in my life. Well, let me step back. Okay, so those who have followed the ClickFunnels journey for a long time, you know that we're always trying to figure out different ways to get people to join ClickFunnels and to buy my products and all the things. And it's funny, because I get people all the time who ask me, "Why are you still making so many ads and creating products and writing books, and all these kinds of things?" And, for me, it's a couple of reasons.

One is I love what I do. So there's the most important thing. Number two is I feel like the things we're doing help us grab different segments of the market and bring new people into our world, which is exciting. Number three, if you've read the book, Crossing The Chasm, we're at the spot now where we have I think penetrated the early adopters and the innovators in our world, and now we are moving across the chasm to try to get the rest of the world to become funnel hackers and to join this movement that we're so excited and so proud of. And so those are some of the things that are happening. And so number four, I think number four, who knows what number I'm on, number four is I feel like I'm trying to create examples for you guys to model. And so there's a lot of the reasons why I do it, and that's one of them.

So one of the things we did a few years ago was we hired the Harmon Brothers. You guys know they did Squatty Potty and Fiber Fix, and some of the most amazing viral videos of all times. So they've done I think four or five. Anyway, They did a bunch of videos for us that have gone viral that have been really good, that were really, really fun. And last year, I actually was watching Kaelin Poulin. Those who know Kaelin, AKA the LadyBoss, she grew up in our world doing a lot of our stuff. And it was interesting because about a year ago or so, she started doing these videos and they were like viral videos, but instead of typically the Harmon Brothers style video, they hire actors and actresses and everything, instead Kaelin was the actress in each of the videos.

And they were scripted out and they were funny, and I watched these videos that she was rolling out and they were so cool and I was so excited by it. And I messaged her a couple months later just to see how they were going, and I can't remember the numbers, the number I remember my head which could be completely wrong was 6X. She was like, "This has grown our company 6X, these new videos." And I got excited. I was like, "I want to do that, make funny videos." But I'm the person in it as opposed to hiring actors and stuff, but I didn't have the time or the bandwidth. My team, we have a million things happening. And so it's cool though, there's another company that's competitors to Harmon Brothers, but their business model's a little different. Instead of doing one highly produced video that costs $1 million, they do a whole bunch of smaller videos.

And so the guy that owns it, his name is Travis Chambers. He lives here in Boise, and so messaged him, because I was like, "If I could do these videos and not have to leave Boise, that'd be amazing." And so we ended up working out a deal, and basically we're doing 12 videos with them where each month we launch a new video and they're fun. So they do all the scripting. I told him, I'm like, "I don't want to think. I just want to show up, film stuff, go home, and then a month later the videos launch and I'm not involved in the process of it." And so it's been fun because their team goes and they do the writing, they do all the things, and I show up and I them. And so some of you guys have probably seen some of the videos. The first one was me with a Coke and a Mentos bottle and a kitchen in an Airbnb we had rented showing if you put a Mentos in a Coke and it explodes and trying to catch all the Coke in a bottle.

And the first time, it didn't work. Second time, we put a funnel and it works and you catch way more. And so it's this video, and it's me acting. I know. If some of you are watching it, you've seen me like, "This is cringe-worthy, Russell. You should not be acting." I'm like, "I know, I'm not an actor." But that was the first one we did. Next one we did, it was this lemonade stand scene, which was really funny. We blew things up, and it's hard for me to go back and watch these, I'm like, "Oh, it's so painful for me to watch myself act. It's so embarrassing." Then we did a Mission Impossible theme where they strapped me to a harness and I was drop from the ceiling. Then we did a first person shooter one, which is really fun. And yesterday we filmed the one that was an angel and the devil where I was the angel and I was the devil on a dude's shoulder trying to convince him to use ClickFunnels.

And then today we're filming one for the Five Day Lead Challenge with lead magnets and a bunch of other stuff. And anyway, it's just fun. So every other month, we go and spend two days, we knock out two videos, and then we're doing 12 of them. Basically, we're launching one a month. So we're putting these things out there. And it's funny because I guarantee some people, especially I'm sure my competitors, are like, "Russell, you're such a dork. Why are you doing this? It's so embarrassing? Why are you putting yourself out there?" And I'm doing it for a couple reasons, and most of them were the same reasons I talked about earlier. I'm legitimately proud of what we do, and my job, if you've read the Traffic Secrets book, is to create hooks, to grab people's attention so I can tell them my story so then we can make them an offer.

And so all these things are just different hooks. Me dropping from the ceiling to get people to OFA challenge is the hook. Me being an angel and a devil and acting horribly, because I'm not a good actor, is a hook to get somebody to stop the scroll so I can tell them my story, so I can bring them into our world. And all these things are that way. So I'm telling you guys this because I know some of you guys aren't making ads because you're embarrassed. "Oh, I look stupid. I'm not funny. I'm not blah, blah, blah," whatever the insert excuse here. Some of you guys are doing it because you don't know how to act or you don't feel comfortable on camera. Do you think I feel comfortable on camera doing these things.? No, I don't not, even a little bit. It's so awkward for me. They were making me do these voices that were so embarrassing. I watched the video afterwards, it's all super cringe-y.

But then it launches and, oh my gosh, it grabs people's attention. It stops the scroll and it's bringing new blood into my world. And so that's why I do it, because it's the way I reach more people, it's new hooks to throw out there. It's new creative putting out there all the time. The more creative you put out, the more people you can grab, the more attention you can get. And so that's one of the big reasons. Number two is I'm trying to model for you guys what's working. You look at Kaelin's videos, and if you haven't, go follow their fan page and watch her videos. They are killing it with it. And she's a better actress than me by far. Her videos, I mean, come on now, she's just great at what she does. I'm the dorky version trying to be cool like her, and I'm not as cool as her, but they still work.

And so it's modeling, "Why is Russell doing this? This is goofy." Instead of being, "Why is he making these goofy videos?" it's like, "Huh, maybe there's something behind these. Maybe I should try to make something like that. How can I have some fun with it?" I remember when we first started thinking about how do we throw more hooks out there? Dean Grasiozi was the one I was following at the time, and he was putting out so many videos. He was doing magic trick videos. He was doing him and his daughter's soccer game videos. He was doing thing after thing after thing, and I was like, "I need to put out more hooks. I don't even know what to do." And it was hard for me. And so by hiring somebody and putting it in a process, it's something where it's forcing me to put out these hooks way more often.

And so, anyways, hopefully, again, I know a lot of you guys, you go and you buy the book, you buy the course, and you hear me talk about throwing out all these hooks. Yes. That's a big part of it, but that's not the full point of it. The full point isn't for me just to tell you about getting hooks. It's for me to actually do it so you can see me and be like, "Oh, that's what Russell's talking about. He actually practices what he preaches. Unlike most of the gurus who just talk about something, Russell's actually doing this. Let's model what he's actually doing anyway." Anyway, so I'm sure if you've seen the videos, that's what they are. If you haven't seen him yet, I'm sure you will see them and they will keep popping up and you'll be like, "Man, that Russell Brunson, he's the hardest working man in this industry. He cares more about this craft than anybody because he's willing to embarrass himself and put out all these hooks."

And it's true, because I love what I do. I love my message. I love the people that we're serving. And so I'm willing to be uncomfortable and be goofy to get their attention. It's interesting. I remember hearing, I can't remember who it was, but this is probably a decade ago or something, I was studying, I wasn't studying acting, but I was studying actors who were successful, and I remember reading a quote from somebody saying, "If you realized how to be a good actor, you do things that make you feel so uncomfortable then on camera seem normal." And I remember hearing that and I was like, "Oh, weird." And I remember the very first time I was trying to get PR, oh excuse me, I tried to do an infomercial. That was the first time. I tried to do infomercial and I remember my host came on and he was interviewing me on the infomercial and after the first take or so he stopped.

He's like, "All right, this is the deal." He's like, "If you talk normal, you sound like you're dead on TV." He's like, "You have to be up like this and super excited and then you sound normal on TV." And so he said, "That's the energy you have to have, it's way up here, to be able to sound normal." And so he kept training me and forcing me to do these things that stretch, that made me feel uncomfortable. He's like, "Take it to the level 10, level 12, level 15," wherever it is. And then he's like, "Now you seem normal." And sure enough, when we watched the infomercial back, I was like, "Oh, it actually doesn't sound goofy. It sounds normal. Whereas if I sounded normal, it sounds like I'm dead." And that was just a big a-ha. Same thing when I did media training before I tried to do my PR the very first time. You've got to grab someone's attention. If you talk like you normally do, nobody's going to pay attention, you're not going to get people's attention.

And that was 18 years ago, 15 years ago, whenever it was. Nowadays, it's way harder. How many ads do you swipe through on Facebook or Instagram every single day? How many times has somebody heard about Dotcom Secrets or Expert Secrets or ClickFunnels or One Funnel Away Challenge, and they even ignored it until they saw me dropping from the ceiling like Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible, or until he saw Shoulder Angel Russell fighting with Shoulder Devil Russell. And then all of sudden, they're like, "Wait. What?" And they watch it and they're like, "Okay, I've got to try this thing out." What's the hook that's going to finally get the person's attention? You don't know until you go out there and do it, and do it, and do it. So anyway, that's why. That's the purpose. I hope that it helps.

With that said, I'm going to get cleaned up, because in one hour they're picking me up for my next video. This one's going to be goofy too. Not as goofy as yesterday's. Yesterday's, I'm actually really excited for the shoulder angel and shoulder devil one. But today's is one for our Five Day Lead Challenge. Like I said, every single month, we're picking a new video to do and trying new hooks. Some hooks will work, some won't, but you don't know until you throw them out there. So that said, you guys, get back to work. Go make some more hooks. Make some more videos. Throw it out there. Get your audience's attention and try to change the world in your own little way. Thanks again, and I will talk to you guys all again soon.