Mark Harbert

If you've ever stared at the camera thinking "what do I even talk about?" this is for you. I put together 101 Video Topics That Sell. They're the topics I rotate through to bring in leads and sales, sorted into the 4 stages that turn a stranger into a paying customer. Most people only ever make videos for the first stage. That's why their content gets likes and no sales. Grab the full list here, it's free: markharbert.com/101 Pick one topic. Hit record today.

The way I sell is a little bit of Ray Higdon. A little bit of Russell Brunson. A little bit of Alex Hormozi. A little bit of Dan Kennedy. A little bit of Mike Filsaime. A little bit of Gary Halbert. Almost 20 years of learning from the masters has morphed into my own unique style. That's how it works. Even if your offer is similar to other offers on the market, your particular perspective brings a unique slant to it. That's what makes it powerful. Your product is not the first one they've ever purchased. They've tried things. Your unique angle answers, "Why is this different from what I've tried?" It makes them feel like they found the missing piece. Whose voices have shaped the way you teach?

After my wife and I got married, we wanted to have a child very soon. We tried for two years, and she could not get pregnant. Finally we said, "Okay God, whatever you want. We're just gonna love on each other and enjoy each other. We're not even gonna think about it anymore." Well, guess what happens. We go on a cruise. We have a good time. And she gets pregnant. Because we stopped thinking about it. Now we have a great daughter. My point is this. When you focus too much on the analytics, it'll drive you bonkers. I get tired of the algorithms. So when I take my focus off the algorithms and just focus on creating great content, I'm gonna reach people. I may not reach everybody. But I'm gonna reach people.

One of the greatest signs I've ever seen: "Your wife is hot. Time to get your AC fixed." Tell me that doesn't grab your attention. You're like, "What?" Then you go, "Oh, it's an air conditioning thing." Ogilvy said that on average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you've written your headline, you've spent 80 cents out of your dollar. That ought to tell you how important the hook is. I'm working with a client running Facebook ads. We're getting leads, but only about a 19% conversion rate on the capture page. So what are we doing? Improving the headline. Because it's 80 cents on that dollar. Getting attention is not a step in the work. It's most of the work.

Back in 2008, the number one thing that was preached was: you gotta build your list. The list, the list, and nothing but the list. That is still true today.

When I got going in this industry, I bought leads from lead vendors and cold called them. It was brutal. You didn't know who you were gonna get. They didn't know you from anybody. The second they picked up, you were just a sales guy on the line. It put me on a quest to learn how to do my business different. That's when I found attraction marketing. Now, I'm all for calling your leads. But when you call a lead that's already warmed up to you, it's a totally different experience. Stop chasing people. Establish yourself so people seek you out.

Early on, there was a live event coming up, and one of my mentors came up to me. "Mark, you need to go to this event." "I don't have the money. I can't go." "That's exactly why you need to go." He said if you want something to change, you've got to get around the people who are making it happen. I decided to take it on faith. I went to my very first live event, and it literally changed me. When someone tells you to go to an event, your mind immediately starts searching for a reason not to go. I've got this. I've got that. It's natural. I've been there. But one of the biggest factors in my business today is the contacts and connections I've made at live events. Partnerships. Friendships. Things I learned in the hallway. Get around the people who are doing what you want to do.

70 to 80% of your email list will be Gmail addresses. So I set up dummy Gmail accounts. I leave them on default. I don't check emails in them or click into anything. Before I send an email out, I'll send it to those dummy accounts like a regular broadcast. Then I open the account and look. Where did it land? One time I did a test and it ended up in the promotions tab. My subject line was "They're lying to you." I was like, oh, that was insightful. I changed the subject line, sent it again, and it went to the primary tab. Maybe I was a little too sensational there. That was eye-opening for me. Your wording matters.

Once you understand marketing, you drive past a billboard and go, "That's a great hook. I can see what emotion they're playing on." Once you see the psychology, it's hard to unsee it.

Have you ever seen an email with a PS line, and then it's just all this white space? They push all the unsubscribe stuff down so you have to scroll to find it. Bad, bad, bad, bad. Never do that. I used to follow a big marketer years ago who did this. You'd have to scroll and scroll and scroll in the email, because he was trying to keep you from unsubscribing. And it's like, why? If people want out, they're either gonna unsubscribe or just mark you as spam. Same with disclaimers. Some of them are ridiculous. They're this long. Learn to say it in as few words as possible. And make it very easy for people to unsubscribe.

I'm gonna be honest. I hate Facebook. I don't like Instagram. I don't like social media in general. Quite frankly, if I wasn't building a business, I probably wouldn't use social media. There was a time I was seriously considering quitting Facebook. There's just so much negativity. But then I decided to shift my mind and look at the positive side of things. I've met some incredible people on there. There are some phenomenal people in the groups I'm in. You're always gonna find negative anywhere. I've learned that over time. So I'm just not gonna worry if people are mean or crude or rude. I get nasty comments all the time. I'm like, yep. Ban. Delete. I don't even respond anymore.

I literally just saw a page with like a million followers. Their post had been up a couple days. It had maybe 10 likes. That is horrible. Followers today truly mean nothing on social media. Of the people who follow the average page or profile, maybe 2 to 3% actually see the post. Why would you want to put all of your eggs in the follower basket? Remember this. You don't own your social media following. Your email list is an asset that you own. If you move platforms, you export that list and take it with you. Everything you do on social media should drive people onto your email list. End of story. Then, if you want to, build your social followings from your email list. Followers are a useless vanity metric. All focus should be on building your list first.

I'm the video guy. You should be creating videos. But when you create a video and just post it somewhere, you're 100% relying on the algorithm to put it in front of the right people. If you want to get in front of the right people, ads are the best way to do that.

Years ago, I was an incredibly shy person. I wasn't bold in the way I spoke. I was timid around people. If you'd gotten me up in front of people to speak, I probably would have run into the other room. Today I can get up in front of a room of a thousand people and train, and not even be nervous about it. I'm not saying that to brag. I'm saying I've been where you might be right now. I've been at the point where I wasn't sure I could ever have success at anything. What changed? Every time the pressure was on, I pressed in instead of pulling back. It's not always fun. It's not always easy. But every time you press through the pressure, you come out on the other side stronger. The thinking that got you here is not the thinking that gets you to the next level.

There's a lot of stuff out there right now about faceless videos and AI avatar videos. I tried one. I created an AI avatar video with me in it. It was so dumb. There's no way I'm gonna do this. Here's what I believe: • People want authenticity today. • Even the people who say they don't like people still want somebody who cares about them. • Faceless videos have an expiration date. That's my opinion, and I'm entitled to it. If you want to build an audience, do the videos yourself. The people who thrive in the age of AI will be the ones who put human connection over artificial intelligence.

Does this sound like you? You're using AI every single day, but the sales are not matching the effort. Your content calendar's full, but your bank account is not. Maybe you've tried this: • Buying every new AI tool the second it drops, hoping this one's the difference maker. • Hoarding endless prompts and prompt packs. • Chasing the latest content strategy from whichever guru went viral that week. • Setting up automation after automation, thinking the next funnel will eventually convert. • Cranking out more content and more emails, and still hearing crickets. That's how I open a presentation. Right away, people are going, "Yeah, that's me." When you write a post or an ad, the first goal is to get them to say, "Yep, that's me." As soon as they do, you've got them. Which of those five have you been stuck in?

Quit trying to be someone else. Be yourself.