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11 Signs Your Business Needs A Marketing Agency

11 Signs Your Business Needs A Marketing Agency

Nov 11, 2022 | Digital Marketing

You can only get so far by doing it all yourself- DIY’ing it isn't always the best approach. Digital marketing is no exception: You can run an in-house operation for a while, but not forever. So, what are some signs it’s time to chat with a digital agency? If your digital marketing efforts aren't delivering the results you'd hoped for, it may be time to hire an agency. Other signs that you should hire a digital marketing agency include:

1. An Agency Can Fix What’s Broken

When you first started your business, you had to do everything yourself or with a small team. It worked for a while: you came up with great ideas, generated leads, and increased your sales. Then something strange happened: website traffic slowed, leads dried up… Whatever got you this far has broken down.

At this point, you need new ideas and new people to help you come up with and carry out a plan that will get you the results you want. This is another sign to consider hiring a digital marketing agency to help you take your business to the next level

2. An Agency Has The Time To Commit

With everything on your plate, you probably don’t have enough time to create a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.

Let's be honest. Digital marketing is a time-consuming endeavor that includes SEO, content marketing, website updates, social media management, email marketing, and analytics. Unless you have the extra time and resources to learn how to become a bonified marketing expert, then hiring an agency while you focus on your core business is probably a more productive use of your time.

3. An Agency Knows More About Marketing

You know your business and industry inside and out, better than anyone right? But you're no digital marketing guru. You are not equipped with the skills, or experience necessary to develop and roll out a digital marketing strategy that is likely to succeed. And that's okay. You're better off allocating your time & resources to the business you've created. Website development, graphic design, content creation, SEO, analytics, social media, technology, and a variety of other tools are all play a role in digital marketing and all tied together.

4. An Agency Would Care More

You recognize the value of digital marketing for your company, but you don't understand how it works or how it's done, or you simply don't care. You're no dummy, you know it works and you want results. But you can't or don't want to be involved in the process of getting them. So if digital marketing isnt' your jam an you'd rather spend your time on other parts of your business, then it may be time to delegate it to an agency with a passion for digital marketing.

5. Return On Investment Is Underwhelming

Digital marketing can be a roller coaster, especially nowadays. Your marketing needs to evolve as the web evolves. So setting up multiple traffic streams to keep a steady flow of eager buyers incoming to your business is the way to go but unfortunately the rock solid strategies you've used just a couple years, or even months ago aren't driving customers to your business like they used to. And now your bag of tricks isn't generating the ROI it once was, and you're out of ideas.

This is yet another sign it's time consult with an agency. A good digital marketing agency will track your ROI so you can cut wasteful spending and optimize your campaigns while suggesting fresh new ideas that are working for local businesses right now.

6. You're On A Tight Budget

You can't grow your business without marketing. Let's just make that clear.

This normally means 1 of 2 things. A small budget could mean that the business doesn't understand how important digital marketing is or that it doesn't make enough money to spend on digital marketing.

Working with a marketing agency does not have to be expensive. In fact, it can be much more expensive building/maintaining an in-house marketing department. A dedicated space, skilled staff, ongoing training, salaries and benefits, specialized technology, and other costly components are all required for an in-house operation.

This is where a reputable digital marketing agency shines because they'll already have the team in place, tools, and expertise ready to go from day one and you don't have to worry about training, paying salaries or providing benefits.

7. You Need More Targeted Traffic

A slow flow of new leads and customers indicates a less than optimal digital marketing strategy. Maybe you're using the incorrect channel or channel combination. Perhaps your website is out of date, your content isn't engaging visitors, or your social media activity is insufficient. You might be targeting the wrong people

These are just some of the many challenges that a digital marketing agency takes on in order to help you reach your target demographic and bring in more business.

businessman holding tablet and showing a growing virtual hologram of statistics, graph and chart with arrow up on dark background. Stock market. Business growth, planing and strategy concept.
businessman holding tablet and showing a growing virtual hologram of statistics, graph and chart with arrow up on dark background. Stock market. Business growth, planing and strategy concept.

8. The Competition Is Winning

When your competitors' websites and blog posts rank higher than yours in Google search results and you can't avoid their social media activity, you know they're beating you. Clearly, they're spending a lot of money on digital marketing to expand their business and capture customers and sales that could be yours.

Consider it a wake-up call. You can do it if they can. But chances are you won't be able to do it alone. To get there, you'll need the right combination of content creation, citation and link building as well as social media, and analytics support. This is where an agency comes in handy.

9. Your Website Requires An Overhaul

Your website is the public face of your company. Customers visit it to learn more about your products and services and to make purchasing decisions. A well-designed, user-friendly website improves their interaction with your brand and speeds up the conversion process. An out-of-date, broken, or confusing website turns them off and undermines your brand's credibility.

An outdated appearance, low Google rankings, dwindling traffic, incorrect information, infrequent content publication, and technical difficulties are all serious issues that should be addressed right away.

10. You Can't Create Enough Content

Do I I really need to say it? Okay, fine… Content IS King. Now more than ever. Content and engagement is how Google measures success. If you go two to three weeks without creating and publishing new content, you need additional help. A lack of fresh content harms your website's Google ranking and significantly reduces user engagement. When there's nothing interesting to follow, followers leave and don't come back.

You should be adding new content to your website on a weekly and daily basis for social media. This content should be interesting, relevant, and useful to your intended audience. If you find yourself falling behind, it's time to hire a digital marketing agency.

11. You Aren't Measuring Results

One of the major advantages of digital marketing over traditional marketing is analytics. You can track, measure, and analyze the performance of your marketing campaigns using digital marketing to determine what works and what doesn't. This knowledge enables you to tailor your efforts in order to maximize your results and budget.

Is your digital marketing strategy producing results? Are your efforts bearing fruit? You're wasting time and money if you don't know, and you need an agency.

Wrapping up

In today's online world, establishing a solid digital marketing strategy and understanding how to apply it is pretty much essential for your success of your campaign. You may be a determined do-it-yourselfer, but unless you are well versed in all forms of digital marketing, you will require the expertise of an agency sooner or later. In the long run, acting sooner will save you more time and money.

Looking for a reliable digital marketing agency? We can help! Reach out today to contact us and learn more about the digital marketing help we can provide. Or, are you looking for a fresh, new way to boost your digital marketing content variety? Sign up today to meet with Jay Vics on the Meet the Experts podcast! Get your name out there!

Digital Marketing Mistakes And How You Can Fix Them

Digital Marketing Mistakes And How You Can Fix Them

Aug 24, 2022 | Digital Marketing, Video Marketing

We are currently living in the internet age, which means your business needs to evolve along with it. Digital marketing can help you promote your company, brand, and products or services.

There is an audience to be reached online, as well as a reputation to be established. However, there is more effective and less effective ways to approach digital marketing. Check out these common mistakes to ensure you're doing it right!

Bad Performing Website Design

A digital marketing-focused website should include a call to action and a well-optimized landing page. Any promos or discounts should also be prominently displayed. In order to create leads, you must have an informative and engaging website.

Not Optimizing Your Digital Marketing with a Blog

Remember that you are not only marketing your business, but also yourself as a trusted industry leader. Publish blog content that is valuable, informed, and easily accessible. This will establish you as a trustworthy voice. Furthermore, each blog post is another indexed page for your site. More indexed pages mean your site will appear higher in Google search results.

It is not enough to simply create a blog. In order to improve your digital marketing, it should also be interactive. To get responses, submit questions in the comments section. Include guest posts or interviews with researchers or other successful individuals in your field. Use this blog post writing guide to consistently produce the most important and relevant blog posts you can.

Failure to Convert Website Traffic into Customers

Visitors to your website who do not convert into customers are pretty much worthless. Unless, they generate leads for you through word-of-mouth recommendations. The first goal is to get visitors to your site. But, the second goal is to convert them into customers. Create a plan for converting online visitors into sales. Then, make a referral program that encourages people to recommend your business.

Not Optimizing for Mobile Users

Mobile browsing accounts for over half of all web traffic globally. Keep this in mind when you are optimizing your digital marketing websites or pages. If you're optimizing your site, don't forget to optimize it for mobile users as well, so that the load time is as quick as it is on desktop. Make sure the design of your site is also mobile-friendly.

Not Utilizing Social Media for Digital Marketing

You might think you can get away with not using social media. I’m sorry to tell you that you’re wrong! It’s an essential way to turn leads into customers. Spreading your content, reaching your audience, and engaging with users will help you promote your business online. But don’t try to do it all yourself; learn how a social media manager can help.

Providing Lack Luster Customer Service

Customer service starts with your digital marketing. If a visitor who has never done business with you before decides to become a customer, they are taking a risk. Having good customer service is vital for lowering that risk because 70% of consumers will continue to do business with you if they have a good experience.

Help should be easy to find on your site so that people know they can get it. This could be a Contact Us page, a virtual chat, a helpline, or other options. Just make sure that if someone visits your site, they can easily get help if they need it.

Not Offering Deals in Your Digital Marketing

According to a Retail Me Not poll, two-thirds of buyers made an unplanned purchase purely due to a discount. Online discount coupons or limited-time deals are excellent pop-ups for your site. Include deals on the landing page or when visitors are about to abandon their cart.

Sleeping on your Competition

It's possible that someone else is doing the same thing you are. Instead of pretending they don't exist, find a way to stand out. Identify what makes your business unique and showcase it on your website and social media channels. You should make it abundantly clear how your business stands apart from the crowd.

Lack of Social Proof

It's a known fact that showcasing your happy customers increases conversions. You want potential customers to purchase with confidence! You can use testimonials, case studies, and success stories in your digital marketing. This will give potential customers that are on the fence peace of mind and help to avoid any buyer’s remorse.

Not Keeping Track of Your Leads

Keywords, email blasts, referring links, social media, and other traffic sources can all generate online leads. One of those sources may be generating leads that rarely convert into customers, but another may be routinely generating them. This is critical information to have so that you may update your strategy based on the data you know.

The Influence of Digital Marketing

To succeed, your business needs the right marketing tools and strategies. By adjusting your digital marketing approach, concentrating on the right leads, and building an optimized website, you can grow your business to its fullest potential.

We want to help you improve your digital marketing! Sign up to meet with Jay Vics on the Meet the Experts podcast. Here, you can get your name out there and show what you know. After, we will provide you with free video content to boost your marketing game.

How COVID-19 Changed Small Business Marketing

How COVID-19 Changed Small Business Marketing

Nov 8, 2021 | Content Marketing

small business marketing needed for owner suffering from lack of customers due to pandemic

How COVID-19 Changed Small Business Marketing

By now, I think it’s safe to say that we’re all sick of talking about the pandemic. Most of us would gladly go back to a simpler time where there were no masks requirements, where businesses and restaurants were open for business as usual — and you could go about marketing your small business as usual.

But we still are living in crazy times. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in changes to advertising, marketing, and promotional campaigns for small businesses around the globe.

From brick-and-mortar, mom-and-pops to international brands, companies have needed to re-evaluate their approach to marketing to adapt to the ‘new normal.

Not to mention the minefield of policies that small businesses now face in the arena of paid promotion; The FTC, CFPB, and FDA have all honed in on unfair and deceptive business practices to protect vulnerable consumers, monitor bold marketing campaigns, and terminate COVID-19 scams from online platforms.

Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Marketing

Adapting to Change

Small businesses should be up to the challenge: thinking about innovative marketing strategies and practices that don’t alienate their customers by appearing tone-deaf.

Further, ensuring operations are seamless and campaign planning is flawless in a new commercial world of uncertainty and promoting products and services that meet your customer’s new needs & desires in a post-pandemic world.

More crucially so, with the States condemned to a rollercoaster of opens and closes, advertising spending has decreased dramatically in 2021 as physical stores shut their doors and deliveries come to a halt.

So what does marketing look like for a small business nowadays?

Social Media: More Important than ever

Your budget for marketing your small business should directly reflect the shift in the way customers shop and find you online. As restrictions were put in place across the US – public and print advertising came to a near-instantaneous halt.

In the meantime, in-home media usage went up, including:

  • TV viewership
  • Streaming services
  • Social platforms

And per a study by GWI, 45 percent of global consumers are devoting more time to social media, and video streaming has increased by 25 percent. Why is this data crucial to the survival of small businesses?

It’s critical that a small business now seeks to optimize its marketing practices to better reflect this rise in the online presence of its customers, digital transactions, and entertainment choices. If you know your demographic has been using Facebook more during the pandemic, you know how your Q3 & 4 2021 marketing roadmap should look. Further, the number of consumers using online food delivery services and essential goods delivery solutions has risen dramatically. Customers are online, now more than ever – because it’s essential.

Being Human has never mattered more

Consumer demand for empathy on behalf of businesses and brands is at an all-time high during the COVID-19 pandemic. The small businesses that will continue to thrive in 2021 will be those that try their best to promote in a human manner and communicate with customers on an emotional level, understanding their pain points.

Yes, if you’re like many, you may be growing tired of hearing about COVID-19, but that doesn’t mean your small business should ignore it. In a survey conducted by Kantar, 77% of consumers said they now want to see online content from businesses to show ‘how you’re helping people get used to the new everyday life.’ But how can we achieve this with our small business marketing?

  • Seek to build long-term trust.
  • Educate customers about your own struggles as a small business.
  • Engage with your audience through more personal means than simple ads.
  • Entertain your audience when they need it most!

Email at the forefront

small business marketing can be achieved through emails

If emails don’t currently form a part of your small business marketing strategy, now is the time to change that. If you’ve established a keen database of current/past/potential future customers, email marketing is an incredibly cost-effective, powerful tool to market your business during the pandemic. No leaving the house, no physical locations – just old-fashioned digital. Plus, email marketing historically provides some of the most asymmetrical positive returns in the business world. It’s too cheap and too effective.

As we said, we can’t ignore COVID-19. While updates are important, they shouldn’t be the only focus of your emails (especially if it’s sent to customers you want to sell to!)

Here are some COVID-19-friendly email campaigns to add to your mix in 2021.

  • Newsletters – Want a laid-back, friendly way of keeping your customers in the loop about your business? Newsletters are the way forward. Think: promotions, deals, one-time offers, discounts – and virtual/physical event dates to grow your business. On top of that, you can tick the ‘human’ box by doing a few simple things; Feature local news stories, share social media updates, and get customers involved in quizzes and prize surveys.
  • Offer help to your customers – Depending on the nature of your business, you might be able to offer your help to the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Do you have connections in the business space that can help your customer? Are you running a fundraising campaign for local equipment/vaccine centers? If you can provide any support to your audience, you’ll want to set up email campaigns to reflect these plans.
  • Business as usual emails – Strike the balance between being COVID-friendly and Business-friendly emails! Remember: you’re running an operation here, and it’s probably your livelihood. Just exercise caution with the language you use in marketing your small business: people want empathy this year and sympathy for their current circumstances (and they still want you to sell to them!)

What’s stayed the same?

Yes, COVID-19 has caused a seismic shift in small businesses marketing. But there remain some consistencies to approach. Don’t just start over from scratch after this article!

Your Customers Still Like Your Ads

Earlier, we mentioned a study on sentiment done by Kantar. Per the same brand’s other COVID-19 Barometer survey, 8% of consumers believe that brands should stop advertising during the pandemic. As we said, it’s a minefield out there, and some businesses are concerned about offending their customers or community. But this data gives you the green light to go wild.

This will also resonate well with the market because people want normalcy back. They want the ‘old way of life back pre-COVID-19, and that means ads. It means billboards, great TV ads, and physical shopping.

Data is still King

Data hasn’t changed. If your business isn’t paying attention to data to drive decisions and establish marketing strategies, you’re missing out on a great deal of money and growth.

You can collect data in their CRMs to create better visions of your customer and create powerful marketing campaigns using social media content and ads. Using what information you generate with those campaigns, come back stronger with an even more resonant message.

The customer is still at the heart

How many emails have you received from small businesses, companies, or brands that start with ‘During these difficult times’ or something similar? It’s getting old. Business customers are blind to empty words like this and are finding it harder and harder to connect.

You still need to put the customer first. The pandemic is no longer a shock or something to transition into: it’s reality. Deliver helpful, meaningful, and engaging content. Solve the customer’s issues by talking to them and finding out how you can help.

Ultimately, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a majority of small businesses as having little-to-no marketing strategies. If you’re one of them, that’s great – you won’t have to start fresh. If you find yourself shouting at the wind with no success, it’s time to build a pandemic-friendly marketing strategy that resonates with an audience that’s gotten to grips with a new world. Finally, there’s never been a greater opportunity for small businesses to engage with customers at such an intimate level.

Do you need help marketing your small business? Fill out this form so we can reach out to you!

Instagram and Influencer Trends That Can Help Your Business Drive Engagement

Instagram and Influencer Trends That Can Help Your Business Drive Engagement

Dec 1, 2017 | Uncategorized

three gadget of tablet, laptop, and smartphone showing three popular social media apps like facebook, whatsapp, and instagram

Instagram is often overlooked as a social media platform due to its nature being entirely ‘images’ based. However, this fact alone is what makes Instagram very powerful – it allows you to convey much more emotion and to really make a product or a lifestyle look desirable.

Not only that, but Instagram is the second largest social network behind Facebook. That’s a pretty impressive stat, so you really shouldn’t leave it out of your plans!

In 2018, expect more small businesses than ever to jump aboard the Instagram marketing train. The eye-catching format is easy to use, and provides businesses with tools to keep their audiences engaged and informed.

New features and toolsets, like Instagram Stories, have also expanded what the platform can do for small business owners. Thanks to Instagram’s powerful advertising tools, evolving features, and highly active audiences, small businesses can use the platform to make big gains.

To help your business prepare its digital marketing strategy for the year ahead, take note of the following Instagram and influencer marketing trends that have nearly every small business owner saying, “Oh, that’s Insta-worthy!”

More Small Businesses Using Instagram Marketing

Small businesses have driven huge growth on Instagram. This includes growth of both unpaid organic account posts and paid advertising use.

According to Forbes, Instagram now has over 8 million business profiles. The platform saw 500% growth in the number of business accounts in just a few months last year.

Instagram execs credit the majority of this growth to small business users. Setting up an account is easy, and it’s also just as simple to begin using paid advertising tools to promote posts.

Why are small businesses drawn to Instagram? Because huge audiences login every day, often several times a day. There were over 500 million monthly Instagram users and 300 million daily active users around this time last year.

Now, with the advent of features like Instagram Stories, that number has likely soared even higher.

Businesses can therefore use Instagram to get huge reach for their campaigns or fulfill brand awareness goals with just a little bit of effort.

Influencer Marketing Benefits for Small Businesses Stack Up

digital generated devices on desktop, with responsive design influencer marketing profile on screen. all screen graphics are made up.

Big brands aren’t the only ones who use influencers to achieve marketing goals anymore. The ability for social media personalities to drive engagement and direct attention can benefit small businesses, too.

According to a recent study, 94% of marketers from a range of company sizes found that influencer marketing programs are successful.

Because influencers can pique their audience’s interests and motivate action, campaign goals like conversions or product awareness become much easier to achieve. Twitter claims that just under half of social media users trust recommendations and product reviews posted by influencers.

That power likely explains why some business owners found that influencer marketing generates 11 times greater ROI than other digital marketing channels.

Micro-Influencers Take on Huge Importance with Small Audiences

Some influencers with a million plus followers like Michelle Phan have taken on celebrity status. They get invited to red carpet events and appear on mass broadcast TV ads.

As these average people become megastars, a clear distinction emerges between them and other influencers. Marketing experts have begun to split influencer types into multiple categories as a result.

“Macro-influencers” like Phan, Kim Kardashian and King Bach have millions of followers and a huge range of topics they cover. “Micro-influencers” have a small following of a few hundred to a few thousand people but often follow a much more niche focus.

Small businesses have realized that micro-influencers are not only cheaper to work with, but they also drive campaign goals more effectively. Micro-influencers have this power because their audience feels stronger connections and finds the content posted more directly relevant to their interests.

You can see this connection in micro-influencer engagement rates. Influencers with less than 1,000 followers can engage 8% of their audience on average, while influencers 10 million+ followers only get “likes” from 1.6% of their audience, and an even lower frequency of comments and shares.

Put simply: small business owners can work with micro-influencers to connect more authentically to audiences and drive more consistent action.

Instagram Stories and Live Video Make Engagement a Daily Affair

tablet with an instagram photo on the screen

Most brands generally avoid posting on Instagram more than twice a day, except for on special occasions. Their reasons include diminishing returns and a fear of oversaturating their audience.

But, two new Instagram capabilities have begun to change that: stories and live video.

Live video can encourage people to watch content for eight times longer compared to pre-recorded video. Instagram stories displays content that gets deleted after 24 hours similarly sparks our love of authentic experiences and our FOMO (fear of missing out).

Instagram stories provide a fun and unique way to engage followers and drive traffic to your web- site. Many businesses have yet to adopt Instagram Story as part of their marketing strategy.  However, you can be an early adopter and reap the benefits right now.

Instagram might have started as a fun mobile app, but it has turned into an extremely valuable and powerful marketing tool for companies that know how to use it.

If you create a compelling profile, use hashtags appropriately. Take advantage of new options like Instagram Stories. You can use Instagram to build brand awareness and attract new customers.

“Over 200 million people use Instagram Stories each month,” says Entrepreneur, “which is over 50 million more than those who use Snapchat — and Instagram Stories is just one year old! At this rate, nearly half of all Instagram users will be using Stories by the end of 2018.”

Businesses interested in driving attention towards certain campaigns or maintaining more active engagement with audiences can turn to Stories and Live video to accomplish these goals.

Increasing Demand for Brand Safety and Proof of ROI

The double-edged sword to influencer marketing is that some brands worry about influencers staining their reputation.

Video game streamer PewDiePie, who has the largest YouTube subscriber base of any channel, caused waves after repeatedly using extremely offensive language in his content. Brands that collaborated with PewDiePie had to cut their ties and make statements condemning his actions.

Since influencers are not brand employees, business owners invite a bit of risk when they collaborate with them.

The best way to avoid controversy is to look to influencers’ past behaviors. Ask questions before collaborating in any capacity. Make it clear that your relationship is dependent on a positive image for your business.

Similarly, tie any relationships you have with influencers to concrete KPIs, including ROI. It’s always better to start small with a relationship. After that, establish proof of ROI before committing marketing dollars to a true collaboration.

For instance, try sending an influencer a free gift or just a kind request to highlight your latest campaign. If you like what they do with the information, you can work toward more collaborative content or even an endorsement-type relationship.

Trends in Instagram and Influencer Marketing for Small Businesses Can Help Your Brand Take Off Next Year!

Remember, Instagram is not about instant conversions or links. This is about the long-term benefit, so rate your success in terms of likes, follows and comments – not profit.

Likewise, remember that this is a ‘young’ and ‘hip’ crowd. You need to get to know your actual audience, but you should also get to know the Instagram audience more generally. What you’ll find is that Instagram is a place where ‘in your face marketing messages’ don’t go down well. So, don’t do that!


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Video Marketing Continues to Dominate Into 2018 — Trends You Need to Know

Video Marketing Continues to Dominate Into 2018 — Trends You Need to Know

Nov 27, 2017 | General, Uncategorized, Video Marketing

business video marketing content online concept

When you go online, chances are that a lot of the content you see is in video format – and for good reason. Every day, approximately 100 million people watch at least one video online. So videos are an incredibly effective way of marketing your product and/or service.

If you have been avoiding making videos because you think they will be too expensive or difficult to make, it is time to rethink your marketing strategy.

61% of all businesses now use video content in their digital marketing plans. Two out of every three of these businesses are newcomers to video.

Additionally, video consumption continues to rise online. Estimates from this summer predict that overall video consumption via mobile will increase by 35% by the end of this year.

These developments foretell a new year where digital video will be more important than ever for business owners’ success. Those who take advantage of the following four video marketing trends in 2018 will likely be in for a great year ahead.

 

Video Content Marketing Becomes a Must-Have for Small Businesses

For one, people complete video content more frequently than the average non-visual, text-based blog article. According to Vidyard, over a third of all video viewers (37%) make it to the end of the video’s run time.

Nearly all mobile users who watch video (92%) have a tendency to share video content with others. Simply Measured also says that video gets shared around 12x more frequently than content links or text.

Other studies show that audiences retain video in messaging better than text.

With these advantages, businesses putting video content out there will see higher levels of engagement. They will also see higher levels of shares and conversions into their marketing funnel. Having a video component to your digital marketing strategy will become a competitive differentiator in months ahead.

Business owners looking to get into video can start by transforming existing content assets into a short (around 2.5 minutes or less) summary. Look to the assets with the most views and shares for inspiration.

 

Video Becomes an Integral Part of the Sales Pipeline

Video not only generates awareness, it can help nurture sales in both B2C and B2B industries. 65% of business decision-makers will visit a startup’s website, claims ComScore.

Offering video content helps turn what could be a pushy and person-intensive sales process into a self-service nurturing pipeline. Interested prospects can view video content hosted on websites or shared via social to learn more about products and features. As they educate themselves, they move towards the end of the sales funnel with minimal person-to-person contact.

video app on smartphone screen. watch and share digital content. flat design vector illustration

Self-guided lead nurturing not only reduces employee overhead, it also results in a more pleasant experience for leads. 19% of prospects claim they only want to hear from a company rep when they are actively considering a purchase. 40% of prospects want to be able to buy without talking to anyone at all.

Meeting this need involves considering how video assets can provide value at every stage of the sales/marketing funnel.

For instance, business owners can cultivate awareness by creating emotional or intriguing video advertising assets.

Video content marketing assets provided on their website next to text content can help buyers at the nurturing stage. In-depth explainer videos can help lay out different buying options. It can also lay out the final steps in the procurement process for those ready to close the deal.

“When you incorporate video into your sales processes, customers get what they want: a friction less, self-serve experience on their time, and on their terms,” says WireBuzz.

Think about buyer needs that were once traditionally met with person-to-person interactions. Imagine how video can replace these needs with a self-service, video-heavy customer journey.

 

Live Video, 360° Video, Slideshows and Other Video Formats Gain Traction

live video streaming from cell phone

Like everything else online, the world of video marketing is evolving. While you can still upload videos to your YouTube channel and share them online, there’s also a new kid in town – live video.

One of the most accessible options, which allows companies to fully integrate video marketing into their Facebook marketing, is Facebook Live.

Live video presents an easy, low-budget and low-concept way to create more video content for audiences. Brands can engage with audiences in a way that feels authentic and like a 1:1 conversation.

Preparing live video into your content marketing and social engagement strategy can quickly round out your assets without a massive up-front investment.

There are a lot of reasons that doing live is a good way to gain more followers. This is something that you should be investing in.

We could go into a lot of detail now about why Live might well be the ‘future’ of social media in many ways. For now, though, suffice to say that for you, it offers a unique way to communicate with your audience. This takes away the limitations of having to wait for a post or a message to be delivered.

Your audience will feel as though they’re getting real insight into your lifestyle, your business and your personality. You will be able to answer their question directly.

This is a fantastic format for a whole range of types of media. From AMAs (Ask Me Anything), to interviews and to product reviews.

young woman with virtual reality goggles in cinema

 

On the other end of the spectrum is 360° video. These assets use a special camera setup to capture a full spherical range of images. Audiences can then use a smartphone headset like the Google Daydream to tilt and move their head as the video plays, changing their viewpoint as one might in real life.

360° video results in a truly immersive and memorable experience. However, the high cost of equipment and production means businesses require an airtight strategy for converting 360° videos into measurable returns.

Formats like these lower production costs for video — especially video ads. They still provide higher levels of engagement. Best of all, they can communicate well even without sound.

Since 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, slideshow and short-form video assets provide substantial returns with a relatively minimal investment.

 

In 2018, Video Marketing Trends Will Define Small Business Success

If 2017 was a year of pioneering growth for video, 2018 will be the year people expect business owners to give their video marketing campaigns some structure.

Business owners can bring in bigger audiences than ever before. Simply by  using the above trends in combination with intelligent strategy and dutiful measurement of KPIs.

 

 


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