How to I sell my greatest DVD? at DVinfo.net

Kenneth Burgener · October 26th, 2009, 04:04 PM

Next week, I will be receiving one thousand DVD's of my first film. It is a picture post card of birds of Florida, called Birds Gone Wild. I have several small stores around where I live that will buy 20 or so at a time.
I think that the work has just started. So my questions is how do I get a rep to help me sell BGW all over Florida? I thought that Taking Care of Business might have some ideas. Any help will be wonderful. I have told all my friends that if BGW doesn't sell well, they will be getting a copy for their birthday and Christmas for the next 40 years.

Ken.

Annie Haycock · October 27th, 2009, 02:55 AM

You'll probably have to do the selling yourself. Go to any bird or wildlife organisation meeting everywhere in the state, show parts of the video on a loop during the breaks, be there with it to sell it. Try any outlet associated with nature reserves and national parks. Don't forget the hunting fraternity. Any person or organisation that has any remote connection with wildlife, or even cage birds. Gardening organisations too. Your buyers are out there, but getting a rep to do the selling for you in a niche market is likely to be a problem.

Paul Doherty · October 27th, 2009, 03:55 AM

1. Make something people want to buy.
2. Make it good quality.
3. Make it at a price people can afford.

If your DVD fits those criteria then you'll be able to sell them. If it doesn't then you will struggle.

BTW I didn't think up those criteria, but I can't remember who did - can anyone enlighten me?

Craig Seeman · October 27th, 2009, 08:40 AM

Have you defined your target market(s)?
Often times people can do very well targeting niche markets. It depends on the content and approach you've taken in your film.

What types of stores, Tourist spots or places that specialize in things like nature watchers?
Are they consignment and how are you going to prove sales and what is they likelihood they'll sit on the shelves for months? Have you thought of offering a prominent store display so it's up in the front in a featured location vs buried in some "speciality" bin in the back?

What kind of online marketing are you doing? Are there niche interest groups sites you can advertise on and also get featured reviews?

Print advertising? Magazines that target your audience?

BTW Reviews are one way to get "featured" press.

Have you sent out a Press Release and/or Video News Release? Maybe there is a paper or local cable news station near to you (or the birds you feature) that may be interested in doing a story about the local bird lover or local birds.

Chris Davis · October 27th, 2009, 08:42 AM

Have you set up a website for direct online sales? Do that and start getting the word out via forums and social media, including buying ads on Facebook and Google Adwords. Those are very effective methods to target bird/nature aficionados.

I have a friend who produces fairly amateurish "how to" videos and sells the DVDs online. He recently had his best month - grossing $90k (in one month!)

George Bean · October 27th, 2009, 06:36 PM

chris,

can you share the link to your friend's website? thanks

Kenneth Burgener · October 29th, 2009, 06:58 AM

Thanks to all for input. Is there a standard form for selling DVD's or should I just make up my own? Is there a company that will send out my DVD for me, or will I have to become a shipping agent?

The more I know, the more I need to know.

Ken.

Annie Haycock · October 29th, 2009, 07:46 AM

Selling on-line - easily done via a paypal account, you get a shopping cart to add to your website and they take care of all the payments - you just have to keep up to date with the shipping.

Selling direct - a cheap receipt book will do - the customer gets a receipt, you get a record of how many you have sold

If you're giving out flyers, a simple form should do the trick.

Craig Seeman · October 29th, 2009, 08:01 AM

There are companies that will do on demand burning and shipping of DVDs online like this:
https://www.createspace.com/pub/l/vi...45&utm_id=1297

Annie Haycock · October 29th, 2009, 08:58 AM

Self Publishing - Lulu.com as well - but as Ken has already got his 1000 DVDs organised, it didn't seem relevant here

I've been using lulu.com for books and reports for some time, and they certainly have been reliable so far - I'm just about to put in another order for a large number of copies of books for sale at a conference.

Craig Seeman · October 29th, 2009, 09:14 AM

You could setup an Ebay or Amazon store. You're not going to sell much without marketing which is why I brought that up in a earlier post.

I don't think you should limit yourself to Florida given the worldwide nature of the internet . . . and interest in birds.

I'm not sure of the kind of attention a "rep" would give to a small run. Someone could certainly help you define your target markets maybe if you're having trouble with that. Maybe that's what you're looking for.

Again doing niche market videos can be very profitable (so I've heard) but you want to make sure that the help you get (rep?) really have experience with this kind of targeting.

BTW The advantage of using the On Demand companies mentioned above is that you don't have to have a run of 1000. There's very little upfront capital needed. You make less per unit but you can gage at what point the sales are good enough to go into a production run and get a higher per unit profit.

Annie Haycock · October 29th, 2009, 09:42 AM

Just to illustrate that:

The original "Birds of Pembrokeshire" book in 1994 (based on fieldwork 1984-88) was published in hardback at some fairly astromical cost for whatever minimum number of copies seemed reasonable at the time. A lot of those were not sold, and subsequently the price was reduced. There are still a lot not sold.

Today I am trying to finish the layout editing on an updated version (based on fieldwork 2002-07). Once we have ordered a sample from lulu.com and checked that everything is ok (I'm sure there will be the odd typo or something that has been missed), I'll be ordering a batch of 100 to sell locally, especially at the upcoming Pembrokeshire Bird Conference. The cost of printing is around £4 per copy, the retail price will be £10. We'll sell at least half those copies at the conference. Future orders will probably be for 20 at a time, so there are unlikely to be more than 20 unsold at any time and we will have covered the cost of printing.

Selling on-line via lulu.com will give us a much smaller profit, but we won't have any overheads and anyway, we aren't trying to make a fortune. Advertising will be via the Pembrokeshire Bird Group website, other birding sites and reviews in birding magazines.

So there is an example of small-scale niche-market production without heavy investment in printing and storage costs. We could do a lot more to try to generate sales, but we don't have to worry about it right now.

October 26th, 2009, 04:04 PM	#1
Kenneth Burgener Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sanibel Florida Posts: 102	How to I sell my greatest DVD? Next week, I will be receiving one thousand DVD's of my first film. It is a picture post card of birds of Florida, called Birds Gone Wild. I have several small stores around where I live that will buy 20 or so at a time. I think that the work has just started. So my questions is how do I get a rep to help me sell BGW all over Florida? I thought that Taking Care of Business might have some ideas. Any help will be wonderful. I have told all my friends that if BGW doesn't sell well, they will be getting a copy for their birthday and Christmas for the next 40 years. Ken.

October 27th, 2009, 02:55 AM	#2
Annie Haycock Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Pembrokeshire, Wales Posts: 734	You'll probably have to do the selling yourself. Go to any bird or wildlife organisation meeting everywhere in the state, show parts of the video on a loop during the breaks, be there with it to sell it. Try any outlet associated with nature reserves and national parks. Don't forget the hunting fraternity. Any person or organisation that has any remote connection with wildlife, or even cage birds. Gardening organisations too. Your buyers are out there, but getting a rep to do the selling for you in a niche market is likely to be a problem. __________________ Canon XH A1; Canon XF100; Nikon D800

October 27th, 2009, 08:40 AM	#4
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	Have you defined your target market(s)? Often times people can do very well targeting niche markets. It depends on the content and approach you've taken in your film. What types of stores, Tourist spots or places that specialize in things like nature watchers? Are they consignment and how are you going to prove sales and what is they likelihood they'll sit on the shelves for months? Have you thought of offering a prominent store display so it's up in the front in a featured location vs buried in some "speciality" bin in the back? What kind of online marketing are you doing? Are there niche interest groups sites you can advertise on and also get featured reviews? Print advertising? Magazines that target your audience? BTW Reviews are one way to get "featured" press. Have you sent out a Press Release and/or Video News Release? Maybe there is a paper or local cable news station near to you (or the birds you feature) that may be interested in doing a story about the local bird lover or local birds. Last edited by Craig Seeman; October 27th, 2009 at 06:55 PM.

October 29th, 2009, 07:46 AM	#8
Annie Haycock Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Pembrokeshire, Wales Posts: 734	Selling on-line - easily done via a paypal account, you get a shopping cart to add to your website and they take care of all the payments - you just have to keep up to date with the shipping. Selling direct - a cheap receipt book will do - the customer gets a receipt, you get a record of how many you have sold If you're giving out flyers, a simple form should do the trick. __________________ Canon XH A1; Canon XF100; Nikon D800

October 29th, 2009, 08:58 AM	#10
Annie Haycock Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Pembrokeshire, Wales Posts: 734	Self Publishing - Lulu.com as well - but as Ken has already got his 1000 DVDs organised, it didn't seem relevant here I've been using lulu.com for books and reports for some time, and they certainly have been reliable so far - I'm just about to put in another order for a large number of copies of books for sale at a conference. __________________ Canon XH A1; Canon XF100; Nikon D800

October 27th, 2009, 03:55 AM	#3
Paul Doherty Regular Crew Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sherburn, England Posts: 136	1. Make something people want to buy. 2. Make it good quality. 3. Make it at a price people can afford. If your DVD fits those criteria then you'll be able to sell them. If it doesn't then you will struggle. BTW I didn't think up those criteria, but I can't remember who did - can anyone enlighten me?

October 27th, 2009, 08:42 AM	#5
Chris Davis Trustee Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Willmar, MN Posts: 1,400	Have you set up a website for direct online sales? Do that and start getting the word out via forums and social media, including buying ads on Facebook and Google Adwords. Those are very effective methods to target bird/nature aficionados. I have a friend who produces fairly amateurish "how to" videos and sells the DVDs online. He recently had his best month - grossing $90k (in one month!)

October 27th, 2009, 06:36 PM	#6
George Bean Major Player Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 248	chris, can you share the link to your friend's website? thanks

October 29th, 2009, 06:58 AM	#7
Kenneth Burgener Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sanibel Florida Posts: 102	Thanks to all for input. Is there a standard form for selling DVD's or should I just make up my own? Is there a company that will send out my DVD for me, or will I have to become a shipping agent? The more I know, the more I need to know. Ken.

October 29th, 2009, 08:01 AM	#9
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	There are companies that will do on demand burning and shipping of DVDs online like this: https://www.createspace.com/pub/l/vi...45&utm_id=1297

October 29th, 2009, 09:14 AM	#11
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	You could setup an Ebay or Amazon store. You're not going to sell much without marketing which is why I brought that up in a earlier post. I don't think you should limit yourself to Florida given the worldwide nature of the internet . . . and interest in birds. I'm not sure of the kind of attention a "rep" would give to a small run. Someone could certainly help you define your target markets maybe if you're having trouble with that. Maybe that's what you're looking for. Again doing niche market videos can be very profitable (so I've heard) but you want to make sure that the help you get (rep?) really have experience with this kind of targeting. BTW The advantage of using the On Demand companies mentioned above is that you don't have to have a run of 1000. There's very little upfront capital needed. You make less per unit but you can gage at what point the sales are good enough to go into a production run and get a higher per unit profit.

October 29th, 2009, 09:42 AM	#12
Annie Haycock Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Pembrokeshire, Wales Posts: 734	Just to illustrate that: The original "Birds of Pembrokeshire" book in 1994 (based on fieldwork 1984-88) was published in hardback at some fairly astromical cost for whatever minimum number of copies seemed reasonable at the time. A lot of those were not sold, and subsequently the price was reduced. There are still a lot not sold. Today I am trying to finish the layout editing on an updated version (based on fieldwork 2002-07). Once we have ordered a sample from lulu.com and checked that everything is ok (I'm sure there will be the odd typo or something that has been missed), I'll be ordering a batch of 100 to sell locally, especially at the upcoming Pembrokeshire Bird Conference. The cost of printing is around £4 per copy, the retail price will be £10. We'll sell at least half those copies at the conference. Future orders will probably be for 20 at a time, so there are unlikely to be more than 20 unsold at any time and we will have covered the cost of printing. Selling on-line via lulu.com will give us a much smaller profit, but we won't have any overheads and anyway, we aren't trying to make a fortune. Advertising will be via the Pembrokeshire Bird Group website, other birding sites and reviews in birding magazines. So there is an example of small-scale niche-market production without heavy investment in printing and storage costs. We could do a lot more to try to generate sales, but we don't have to worry about it right now. __________________ Canon XH A1; Canon XF100; Nikon D800