How to Create your own Zazzle Commercial

This may be my own opinion, but I think music is the single most important part of designing your commercial.

Music directs the feel of the video, and the feel of the potential customer viewing it. Great music will fire your customer up about your business and have him or her raving about your products- or at the very least, your music. If someone likes the music on your video but could care less about your products, they will still share the video link in order to share to the music on it- and that equals more eyes on your products.

(at this point I will make a small interjection about copyrights- while anything you create on your own automatically has it's own copyright attached to it, it's important to protect yourself. You can use a creative commons license on your work, but that won't help you if someone steals your song and sells it for money while you get nothing for it. This next option costs money, but if you are a professional I recommend getting a real-deal copyright at copyright.gov.

For those of us who cannot afford or don't want to purchase a legal copyright for their song, there are a few other alternatives that can still protect you. For instance Josh and I didn't want to get a copyright since the song we used in our commercial was not even fully complete yet, but we still didn't want someone stealing it to remix and make a quick buck. So we just included a robot voice on top of our song saying "Abstract Energy Studios" every thirty seconds, which essentially works like a protective watermark.)

It's easy to make your customer care about your music when you make it yourself- you are supplying the listener with an original new beat that he or she can't find anywhere else! Like I've said already- if a customer CARES, a customer SHARES. (don't I remind you of your kindergarten teacher?) And social sharing is a good thing for your business!

How do I make my own music?

I happened to be blessed with a musically talented husband. That is just his natural gift.

If you have a Mac, Garage Band is a wonderful way to easily create a quick song that will knock anyone's socks off. You don't even have to play an instrument.

My husband uses different instruments to record like the keyboard, guitar (even his own voice) and tweaks them using music software to create his songs.

If you or someone you know is not able to make a 2 minute or less song for you, then just use a song from the public domain! It's no biggie- there are a lot of awesome songs out there for free use. Just think of your products cascading next to a blasting powerful classical tune.

PLEASE do not violate a copyright by stealing someone else's music to promote your products. That is a serious no-no and it tarnishes you and your company's reputation.

It's a good idea to make (or choose) the music for your commercial first, that way you can match your images to the music later.

If you'll notice in my commercial, I used several images of my and my husband's work as well as several of our Zazzle products. All of these products move at certain times according to the music of the beat. I included different phrases at different points to break up the slew of images and also to coordinate everything better with the music.

Choosing which images to display and what words to say is pretty important.

At first glace, you'll probably want to include everything in your store. I have over 700 products, so that's logically just not possible to display in 2 minutes or so comfortably (not to mention it would be absolutely boring. After I've seen an image on a round magnet I'm pretty sure I know what it looks like on a round pin). A good way to narrow good images down without getting carried away is to choose one product out of each design you have. Try to choose different products that make your images look the best until you've covered all your designs. People don't want to see 30 different cell phone cases unless you are going for a strictly cell phone case commercial. If you have a ton of designs, just try to choose some of your favorites or your best sellers- those will be perfect.

The words are almost more important than the images. On the internet, everything goes by visuals. With all the Zazzle products out there, people are apt to say "so what" if they suddenly click on a video with a ton of Zazzle pics and nothing else.

When it comes to your business, "so what" doesn't have to be a dirty word. In fact, you should be asking yourself this every time you market your product. Pretend you are the customer and ask yourself "so what?" Why should I care about this product or business? That's where your words come into play.

When searching for the right words to say, start by analyzing the store itself. How many products do you have (translation: how many gifts can the customer choose from)? How many of those items are customizable? One great thing about Zazzle is the option for customization. It's a big selling point so be sure to mention it! Most of all, what makes your stuff SPECIAL!!

There is such a multitude of Zazzle users that it's easy to get lost in the crowd, unless you let customers know what makes you SPECIAL, you'll end up just like poor Waldo (womp wooomp). What's your image? Again, start asking "so what?". Are you a one stop original art shop like me? Do you only sell items for specific pets or specific sports teams? Do you sell humorous items specifically for women going through menopause? (trust me, the products are out there and they sell like hot cakes) Let people know what you're about and cater your commercial around it. Your music can even be tailored to it as well, for instance, choose Chrismas like music for a year round Christmas or winter themed store.

Oh yeah, and mention your website: A LOT. Whether it's your own domain or straight link to your Zazzle store, make sure to find a way to get that link into your customer's head within the video. Don't just expect them to find your link in the description area of your video (though you should definitely put links there too). Most people aren't going to play a game of Where's Waldo when they are looking for your website. They will just simply give up and find a Waldo doppelganger instead. Okay, that should be my LAST Waldo reference. I can't help it- the guy is just so fun to make fun of.

Video editing just happens to be one of my hobbies. I get joy from tweaking images or video footage into perfection- especially when it's coupled with music.

I've used a lot of editing software, and I can tell you just because something is free doesn't mean it's not good.

If you've got a Mac, you can use iMovie to create your commercial, but I prefer Windows free ware when it comes to creating my videos. I use Windows Movie Maker for most all of my projects- it gives me a great amount of control and it's simple to use. Not to mention it's free.

Here's where I happen to have some beef with Windows: I've been video editing since before Windows XP, and I've always enjoyed using the movie maker software that came with it. Sadly, when Vista and Windows 7 was released, Windows Movie Maker was nowhere to be found. A new, "updated" version called Windows Movie Maker Live was available for download instead.

The bad thing was that that Movie Maker Live was more like a downgrade from the Windows XP version. The controls were dumbed down in an effort to make a user friendly interface, and that robbed users of the amazing editing control that once made it so great.

So even though I now use Windows 7, I still use the Windows XP version (2.6) of Movie Maker. I would recommend it to anyone over Live- the only downside is that it seems to crash a lot (be sure to save often!). You can legally and freely download Windows Movie 2.6 from the Microsoft website here: Microsoft Download Center.

The quality of your commercial will depend solely on how much time you are willing to put into it. A sub-par video takes almost no skill or effort, but do you really want to do that? You don't want your video to be a Waldo- you want it to be captivating. Oops, I just made another Waldo reference.

You've already got a great start by choosing captivating music, images and words to include in your commercial. Now go the extra mile and make it coordinate to the beat of your song. With Windows Movie Maker 2.6, this is easy to do while your in Timeline mode- simply close your eyes, get a feel for the music, then trim and slice your image clips accordingly (with your eyes open of course!). With big-rig video editors this action can be more precise, but if you don't already have that type of software don't worry about it (it's expensive- and right now we want to get as far as we can for free!).

Whatever you do, don't just slap your images down and let them display for a default amount of time as if the music has nothing to do with them. That defeats the purpose of you choosing dynamic music and images and just makes your store and image look weak. Make your products relate to your music somehow- as cheesy as it may be, I made one of my products "explode" with a special effect just as the music reach an exciting peak. That part may not be awesomely professional, but it still gets people's attention. And I don't think that's a bad thing.

Also think about how you order the display of your images. For instance I chose to display photographs of my artwork first, and then my actual products later (all the while providing visual breaks with a black title screen). I did this because I wanted to draw my viewer in with my art first and foremost, before they could say "so what" and dismiss it. As the music built up, I also built up anticipation for what was coming next with the words I used. Once the products are shown, it's too late for the viewer to dismiss the video as "just another Zazzle store". Seeing the same images from the beginning of the video now being displayed on things like coffee mugs and t-shirts really reinforces the idea of customization and the vastness of items the customer can choose from. Finally, before the customer can get bored, the music winds down along with the images. The commercial ends with a reminder about the company and an invitation to visit the site.

Once you've got your video seasoned just right, turn it over and let it bake for another 15 minutes.

Oops wrong subject. I meant to say that you should watch your commercial several times (check for typos and other mistakes) before publishing. Keep in mind that no commercial made with completely free software can be "perfect" like the ones of TV, so don't beat yourself up if it's not Super Bowl quality.

You've got your commercial done, but no one's ever gonna see it if you don't upload it somewhere!

I would recommend Youtube as your base upload since it's easy to embed and link to. Plus, Google owns it now, and that means Youtube videos show up more efficiently in search engines. By uploading to Youtube first, you're already covering more bases and increasing your chances of being found.

After that, take to the streets of Facebook and Twitter and proclaim your creation like a 1930's paper boy!

If you're lucky, your video will be shared and might even become viral!

Now that's something even Waldo would be proud of.