How did you pick a good song for a video?
We know music is one of the most
powerful forces in the universe,
like atomic energy or compound interest.
But how do we wrangle it?
Get it to make our videos sing?
The answer is elusive,
because it lives in a place where
almost no one ever goes.
Join us on the other side
to learn this simple secret of finding
great music.
So you wanna find a great
piece of music for that video.
You start looking around the web and
it's nothing but instant overwhelm.
Because what's your criteria for
selecting?
This is why it's been so hard.
Hi, I'm Steve Washer with BrainyVideo.com. In
this video, you're going to learn how to
choose the best music for your videos.
Right now you don't really have any
but the vaguest of criteria,
because no one seems to talk about it.
Maybe because it seems so obvious?
But you know it isn't.
You might be advised to think about what
you want your audience to feel.
That's what music is about, right?
It's about making us feel.
But we've left out
an important step
in our thinking process
about how this whole business of the
emotion works.
And that's why
you've not been able to do it.
So let's put the missing piece of our
thinking process back where it belongs,
and your method of choosing music
will suddenly become quite easy to do.
So let's look closely at our thinking
process.
Now generally speaking,
you want people to take an action
as a result of seeing your video.
maybe it's buying a widget or learning
a piece of software or donating to a cause.
That's over here.
But over here,
we've been asking ourselves
what emotion we want people to feel
over here, as a result of hearing
our music.
Well ok, we know that
people make decisions with their
emotions first and then
justify them with logic afterwards.
You're choosing your music on the basis
of emotion,
and for this to have any effect on this,
we need to understand it can't just be a
generalized emotion.
It has to be the emotion
that powers
the exact action you want them to take.
So you see,
there's something here in the middle,
a bridge between the two that's been missing.
Here's the secret:
what goes right here,
as a bridge between the music and the
emotion and leading to action,
is an image.
You choose an image that leads
to the emotion
that powers the action you want them to
take.
So you see, it's the image that stands
between you and that emotion.
Our emotions, especially in a video, are
stimulated by images.
Without the image being created in our
minds first,
there can't even be an emotion.
This is the step that everyone skips. 
They want to get to that emotion right
away. They feel like it should be
an intuitive process--
and there is a role for intuition--but we
first
have to decide on an image.
Now sometimes we get lucky and the image
we want to use is one we can show
right in the video.
Then the music choice is kind of obvious.
For example, in a video I made recently
about leadership
I talked about the journey of the
reluctant hero and encouraged you to go
on that journey.
The image I wanted you to have in your
head
happened to be one I could also show on
the screen. Take a look.
You re-imagine your story
as a journey,
the journey
of the reluctant hero.
We've seen this is a million times
and we never grow tired of it.
That's because this story
is kind of hard-wired into our
consciousness.
Luke Skywalker loses his family and
answers the call to adventure.
He wanders in the wilderness,
narrowly escapes defeat and death
countless times,
finds a powerful mentor,
gathers allies,
learns what he needs to become and to
do in order to succeed,
and finally returns to conquer his
enemies and
ultimately triumphs. 
The world of business is like this too.
Now all I had to do with summarize the
story in a very simple way.
The images and familiar music filled in
all the blank spaces.
But what if you can't show the images on
screen?
This is the case for about ninety percent of
the time. So to choose your music wisely,
you have to decide on the exact image
you want to infect your viewer with.
then let the music provide the emotional
injection of that image
into the bloodstream of your viewer.
It follows that if the image is specific
enough
than the music chosen for that image
will be more effective
than if the image is generalized.
The music will always be the music;
it could become like a Rorschach test
if the person listening to it has to
supply their own images.
If this happens, you could lose your
viewer in the music because your music
and your images aren't working together.
This often happens when people don't
decide the exact image they want
to create in the mind of the viewer.
Now what do I mean by
exact image?
I mean an image that leads directly to
an emotion.
Let's go back to my little leadership
video as an example.
We establish that in some cases we can
just
show the image.
But sometimes we can't
because it's just not possible or
practical.
Say you're doing a demonstration of how
to use a piece of software.
Do you want to show the image of your viewer
all pumped up on Jolt Cola, furiously
tapping away at the keyboard as the
expert coder they are, as a result of
listening to your tutorial?
That'd be kinda silly, right?
But you want them to use your tutorial.
You want them to see themselves
as the expert coder.
So you can use music to reinforce that
image.
Let me give you a very practical example
of how this might work.
Let's move forward a few frames in the
video about leadership I just showed you
and we'll see how two different pieces of
music create two very different images
of the viewer,
and thus could create two different
emotions and actions.
Now in this first example, I want my
viewer to have the image of themselves
succeeding in the spotlight.
Thousands of adoring fans
shouting their name from the cheap seats
of the football stadium.
My viewer's
filled with excitement and adrenalin and
the endorphins are overflowing.
Can I find a piece of music to create
this image? Let's see.
The world of business is like this too.
Maybe you've never thought about your
life in this way
but everyone has something unique
that life has taught them.
In Seth Godin's book Tribes,
he writes that all of us
are meant to take a leadership role
with a special group of people
who are out there, 
waiting for you,
lost without you.
They need to hear your stories
so that they can be inspired.
And they need to know what you know,
so that they can become
who they're supposed to be.
Okay, so that's one image leading to one
kind of emotion
which will lead to a certain action.
But wait. Is that the only kind of emotion
someone might respond to,
to take action on becoming a leader?
What if I want them to approach
leadership from a different place?
Maybe a place of
grown-up responsibility?
Then I need to create a different kind
of image.
Now that image might be
standing in front of a large group of
professionals who are relying on you to
give them the right stuff,
so that they can become better at what
they do.
The image is of a straight-talking,
trustworthy
expert.
The emotion that this leads to?
Quiet confidence.
Same action as before,
but now we need our music to color the
intention.
Is this possible? Take a look.
The world of business is like this too.
Now maybe you've never thought about your life in
this way,
but everyone has something unique
that life has taught them.
In Seth Godin's book Tribes,
he writes that all of us
are meant to take a leadership role
with a special group of people who are
out there waiting for you,
lost without you.
They need to hear your story so that
they can be inspired.
And they need to know what you know, so
that they could become who they're
supposed to be.
Let's summarize this section.
In order to choose your music, you only
have to do one thing:
decide on the exact image
you want to transfer to your
viewer
to get the emotion you want them to feel.
Now you may be wondering, 
well okay, I can do that.
I can choose an image, but how
do I choose the music?
Well, here's one more secret.
And you must believe me when I tell you
this.
When it comes to choosing music,
you're already an artist.
Even if your videos look like everybody
else's, when you choose your music,
it will transform your video into
a work of art.
Okay, maybe not the Mona Lisa,
or even Lisa Simpson,
but yes, a little work of art.
You see, every video creator
has a style.
The music you choose will be out of your
vision.
Only you will be able to say 
when you hear it
that yeah, this is mine.
You need to trust yourself.
And yes, you should
probably listen to some TV shows with
your eyes closed.
But this is all just part of
your general education
as a video marketer.
There are links below where you can
go to get music,
audition it to see if you like it.
This is where real editing software
comes in handy, because
you can place your music on multiple
tracks
and turn them on and off to see which
one you respond to the most.
But the most important thing is
to respond to it.
I know in marketing you're not supposed
to put out the things that you like
but rather the things you think your
audience will like. Well,
this is one of those few times you can
tell your inner marketer
to go to lunch,
and let your inner artist out to play.
Then you won't need a spreadsheet,
seven bullet points to follow.
All you'll need is something to spark
your imagination.
That just means listening to music.
What could be a nicer thing to do
on a rainy Sunday afternoon?
For more in-tune video tips, visit my
blog at BrainyVideo.com.
There are five new e-books waiting
for you there, all for free.
For richer video marketing,
I'm Steve Washer
with BrainyVideo.com.
