Good Morning, Class

Video may have killed the radio star, but it was a boon to the professor — the Video Professor, that is.

The direct marketer of instructional computer videos, which built its business using both long- and short-form infomercials, is launching a Web site to celebrate its 20th anniversary. People can try out the first level of the hourlong online streaming tutorials for free. If they like what they see, they can pay a monthly or yearly fee to view more lessons.

More than 7 million have purchased Video Professor's products, says founder John Scherer. In a previous life he ran a business marketing IBM PC clones. The company needed a video to show people how to use the computer, but couldn't find one anywhere they searched. They had to create their own, and a company was born.

The Lakewood, CO firm first tried to sell the product at retail and slowly started going bankrupt. Then someone suggested infomercials to Scherer at a convention. The first spots aired in 1991, “and the business took off,” he says.

The target audience for Video Professor is you. And me. And, well…everyone, says Scherer. “It's unbelievable. It's from kids to seniors. We didn't realize that when we started out.”

Scherer says the company has never done direct mail, but has used print in the past: “At one time or another we probably ran in every major paper in the country.” However, as newspaper readership declined and ad rates went up, Video Professor moved away from print.

Now only a small percentage of orders come in online. Scherer predicts that will change dramatically within the next year or two.