Month: June 2018

Tips to Boost Your Video Marketing

Posted on by Peter Mendez

A video is, by far, the most effective marketing tool you can work with. However, most businesses end up leveraging it improperly. You see, video marketing doesn’t end with putting up a video on your homepage. There’s a lot more that goes into a good video marketing campaign.

If you’re wondering what that could be, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve created just the perfect list for you. Take a look and make the most of the suggestions we have for you.

Use Thumbnails

We all know YouTube is the biggest and most popular video sharing platform out there. So, it makes obvious sense for you to market your videos on it. However, there are a few rules you need to follow to make your videos as effective as possible.

In this case, we’re specifically referring to the use of thumbnails. You see, thumbnails are important. This might sound ridiculous, but, the truth is the truth. People often judge a video based on what they see in the thumbnail. Your click rate depends on it.

Thumbnails are the digital equivalent of product packaging. They communicate a lot about what viewers can expect to see once they click on the video. So, your thumbnails need to be effective in that they need to draw in viewers.

So, what can you do to make your thumbnails attractive and clickable?
Well, here are a few ideas.

  • Make sure your thumbnail is in line with what people expect to see in the video. We humans aren’t known for our attention spans. The idea is to offer a seamless experience. You don’t want people to start doubting whether or not they’ve clicked on the right video.So, make sure it’s all in order. For instance, if there is a special character, product, person, or service that the video is going to discuss, make sure that’s the first thing people see on the thumbnail. In fact, if there are extremely interesting images that can be captured from the video, you can use them in the thumbnails too. This can serve as a teaser or preview as well.
  • Use images of people. You see, we humans are an emotional lot and that means we can be manipulated on an emotional level. There’s a reason why some of the most popular videos on YouTube also happen to be feel-good videos of animals, babies, and all things that put a smile on our faces or even bring a tear of joy to our eye.So, take advantage of this fact. Studies have shown that humans will often mirror the emotional state of the people they engage with. Add compelling close-up shots or appropriate screen captures to draw in people’s attention to the video.
  • Be consistent with the branding. Look at some of the famous YouTube channels that you follow and then, take a look at their video thumbnails. Do you see certain elements being repeated in all of the thumbnails? Well, we’re going to assume that you do and we’re going to answer why.Those elements just didn’t end up being repeated by default. The creators put them there to ensure brand consistency. That’s how some videos are just instantly recognizable as having been produced by a particular creator or channel.However, make sure there’s some variation as well. Adding the same background or other design elements can confuse the viewer. He/she might end up assuming that they’ve already viewed the video. In other words, be consistent; not repetitive. There’s a huge difference between the two.
  • Don’t add text at the bottom right corner. It can be tempting to do so as part of your branding effort, but any image or logo over there just ends up being hidden by the YouTube video time-stamp. So, there’s no point.Now, you don’t have to follow these rules just for YouTube. These are applicable to all video platforms. Wherever you find the need to use thumbnails, follow these tips. Now, that brings us to the second topic.

Post Your Videos on Multiple Platforms

If you aren’t seeing a good response rate with your videos, there’s a good chance that you aren’t distributing them wide enough. For all you know, your audience could be on a completely different platform or network. For instance, there’s no point of posting your videos on YouTube if your actual audience is on Twitter or Facebook.

So, distribute widely.

Write a Compelling Headline

Attractive headlines aren’t just for articles and blogs. They make your videos noticeable too. As the great David Ogilvy once said, the number of people who read headlines is 5 times higher than the number of people who actually read the content.

So, what can you do to make your headlines more “catchy”?

Well, start by using searchable keywords. Think of words that are directly related to the content. For instance, consider titles that make a promise or trigger certain positive emotions. Think of headlines that connect with the viewer on an emotional and intellectual level.

Also, don’t just settle for the first few options. You need to come up with at least 30 headlines before you can choose the best one.

Now, you’re probably going “how do I know if I’ve got a searchable headline?”. Well, there are a few things you can do to determine this. For starters, just use the search bar on whichever video platform you’re targeting. This should give you a rough idea of whether or not similar headlines have already been used.

The next step is to check if the headline sounds like it makes a promise. In other words, does it sound like the viewer is going to find answers once he/she clicks the video? Generally, headlines with “How to…” or “that will…” tend to sound the most promising.

Now, just add the subject and the solution part, i.e. How to [subject] that will [solve problem] and you’re done.

So, there you have it, some tips to make your video marketing campaign more effective. If you’re interested to know more about effectively marketing your videos, get in touch with Crafted.

Avoid These Re-targeting Fails

Posted on by Peter Mendez

There are certain strategies that should definitely be part of a digital marketer’s arsenal. Re-targeting is one of them. When used right, it can help marketers achieve some of the highest ROIs they’ve ever seen.

But, like it is with any other marketing strategy, re-targeting is often executed in the wrong manner, which, of course, leads to poor results. Well, as they say, awareness is half the problem solved and by knowing what not to do, you can make sure your re-targeting efforts are perfect.

So, here are some of the most common re-targeting errors to avoid.

Going After Converted Users

Re-targeting is a very productive endeavor and that means it can be used to hide wasteful efforts. A very common wasteful effort that marketers engage in is the re-targeting of people who are already customers.

This usually happens when the provider of a service forgets to remove or exclude certain users who may already be subscribed to the service. As a result, these individuals end up receiving the same ads over and over again.

For the customer, this is just annoying. For the business, it’s a complete waste of time and effort.
This issues also occurs when the provider makes use of a manually drafted list. Manually drafted lists are rarely updated, which results in the same individuals being targeted again.

Not Segmenting

In any marketing effort, segmentation is absolutely necessary. Whether it’s allocating expenditures or developing creative collateral, segmenting is a basic function and must be done. It’s the same with re-targeting, but that’s exactly what some marketers forget to do.

Now, though the error might not necessarily lead to loss, it definitely won’t boost your RIO and that’s the bad part.

Marketers must learn to segment for their re-targeting campaigns. There are several categories under which they can do this. For instance, they can start with behavior. Prospects can be segmented on the basis of the pages they visit and the subsequent actions they indulge in.

Apart from that, segmentation can further be done on the basis of recent visits, CLV or Customer Lifetime Value, geographic location, and even their position in the sales funnel.

Failing to Rotate Ads

The last thing marketers should be doing is showing the same ad over and over again. This repetitive action only leads to the message becoming meaningless and prospects becoming annoyed or irritated. Marketers make this mistake thinking that it can improve recall.

Well, this isn’t completely wrong. The more people see the same ad, the more likely they are to remember the brand. However, they won’t necessarily remember it in the most pleasant way. The best way to improve recall without being annoying is to show multiple ads.

This way, you share fresh messages while maintaining your signature brand image.

This is simply known as ad rotation and studies have shown that consumers take an interest in a product or service when they’ve been exposed to more than just one type of advertisement about it. Plus, the more variety there is, the likelier it is that you will better response.

It’s simple logic really. If your advertisement doesn’t get the desired response, there is no point showing it repeatedly. You need to try something else.

So, start by creating a series of ads. Ideally, about 3-5 should be good. Now, in terms of changing these ads, you do not have to rely on drastic measures. Simply altering elements such as design, text, and images should do the trick. Make sure the overall theme is in line with your brand so that it’s recognizable. There has to be consistency, which means key elements such as logos or brand colors need to be retained.

The next step is to simply rotate the ads. Run ad number 1 for a while before you switch to the rest. For example, if you’re running a month-long campaign, you can rotate the ads every 6 days or so. This way, you’ll prevent what is called ad fatigue and also draw in a new bunch of customers with each attempt.

Failure to Advertise with Relevance

Relevance is a very important aspect of marketing. It isn’t enough to advertise to the right person at the right time. Your actual advertisement needs to be convincing too. For example, if marketers start re-targeting customers with ads for products/services that the customer has not bothered to take a look, it’s bound to end in failure.

The whole point of marketing, even during the re-targeting phase, is to showcase products/services that customers have shown an interest in.

In order to avoid making this mistake, marketers have to use a certain logic and look to boost the concerned ad’s relevancy. For example, marketers should try and identify interests by looking at a user’s behavior.

Failure to Get the Frequency Right

As we discussed earlier, showing the same ad over and over again is a surefire way to annoy the customer and destroy their interest. But, that’s not the only issue. There is also the issue of frequency.

Frequency here refers to how often you run your ads. You see, even if you were to rotate your ads, you need to make sure they aren’t shown too often. Make sure you establish a limit on the frequency of the ads you run.

Customers don’t want to be reminded of the same thing time and again.

Ignoring Promotions

Now, it’s obviously not a nice idea to deliver offers and discounts every now and then. But, that doesn’t mean you don’t deliver them at all as part of your re-targeting efforts.

Offers and discounts are a good thing. It’s just that you have to know when to implement them and how often to implement them. They are particularly helpful in re-targeting campaigns. So, take the time to think things through and use such promotions when you think they would be helpful.

For example, let’s say one customer has abandoned his/her cart with high-value products. You can take this opportunity to motivate the purchase with a discount that brings down the price sufficiently.

So, that’s about it. Hopefully, these tips will help you out. But, if you still need some help with re-targeting, please get in touch with Crafted.

The New Rules of Branding

Posted on by Greg Valvano

The challenges that brands have to deal with in the modern business landscape aren’t exactly “easily manageable”. They are far more complex than the challenges that the same brands would have dealt with, let’ say, a couple of decades ago.

Today, brands are tasked with having to provide experiences of all kinds on various platforms, such as social media, mobile, and even traditional channels. Not only do they have to leverage each platform, they have to manage the various options within each platform.

If that isn’t enough, they have to engage with the customer across social, cultural, and political spectrums.

So, how do modern brands deal with such demands? Well, the only option is to become flexible, almost ambiguous. As futurist Bruce Sterling put it once, they have to hope that they’re doing the right thing, even if everyone else around them disagrees.

Naturally, this is a very “hard to swallow” pill for businesses that prioritize measurable results. Ask any modern marketer today and he/she will not deny that offering value-driven experiences to customers isn’t an easy task. There is, whether you like it or not, an inherent contradiction between the marketing function to further business goals and meeting the requirements of customers. There is a colossal difference between what motivates sales and what motivates service. The same applies to their respective outcomes. So, naturally, herculean efforts are required to align the two.

However, as herculean as it might seem, it’s not an impossible task. There are solutions available to us and one of these solutions happens to be more creative. Creativity is the ideal weapon against uncertainty and with enough of it, brands can definitely engage with their audiences better.

At this year’s South by Southwest Conference (SXSW), we got introduced to the power of experimental advertising, which showed us that the rules of branding have changed. In fact, here are those rules; rules that will shape and define branding in the near future.

Those Who Do Not Interact Will Die

The SXSW conference saw a host of brands displaying interactive marketing ideas. For instance, Land O’ Lakes Butter showcased an experience that allowed participants to interact with the exhibits and even submit donations. The goal was to provide people with insights on responsible food production and farming.

HBO set up a replica of the fictional town called Sweetwater from their sci-fi hit Westworld, which allowed people to gain an experience of what the town would actually feel like.

As you can see, interaction is one way to go about spreading the word. You see, this kind of an interactive approach boosts curiosity among people, which is exactly what you want. If you can’t provide such a rich experience, your rivals will and that’s bad news for you. Very bad news.

Curate, Creatively.

The age of “broad-sweep” marketing trickery is over. Today, it’s all about creative curation. Consumers want to be introduced to opportunities that make sense to them. In other words, you need to be more specific, which means combining cultural/social trends with marketing strategies that the target audience can relate to.

One good example of this would the LVMH Cosmetics Brow Augmented Reality experience, also offered at SXSW. The experience allowed participants to see how they would look with different eyebrows. It was a unique and insightful experience that showed just how far AR has come and what it can provide in terms of marketing prowess.

Diversity is In!

Diversity is in. Of course, it has been “in” for some time, but, this time it’s really IN! Customers belonging to various groups want their fair share of representation. As John Maeda put it in his “Design in Tech” report at SXSW, inclusive creativity is simply the smart approach. If you aren’t being inclusive in your ideas, you are leaving out a large chunk of the market and that’s a bad, bad move.

So, if you’re in charge of creating and marketing content, you need to start focusing on developing an approach that includes everybody. More importantly, varied solutions are the result of varied ideas and that’s something which needs to start right from the whiteboard. So, diversity in your own teams would be a great way to begin.

Mix Up Reality!

When we say mix up reality, we aren’t kidding. That’s an actual thing. The actual term is, of course, different. It’s “Mixed Reality”. So, what is Mixed Reality?

Okay, so imagine you’re at a clothes store and you want to try on an outfit. What do you do? You simply walk into the tryout room. But, now, you don’t have to do that. You can simply scan a QR code on the label and step into a virtual replica of the actual tryout room and your friends can help you choose the perfect dress. You can even do it from your own home.

That’s what mixed reality is and as a brand, you need to start figuring out how you can offer it.

It’s All About Specialization

Back in the day, most firms would outsource their advertising needs to an agency of record. This isn’t a bad plan. However, every company will eventually have to deal with projects that require a special touch. Such projects will often have an impact on businesses priorities, prospective partners and what not.

In other words, your brand will need to consider special expertise.

Customize, Customize, Customize

Customization isn’t a new idea, but today we are moving towards a world where everybody wants something that represents them as an individual. Not everybody is okay with the appeal of mass-produced services and products.

So, customize for the consumer. A good example of this is Apple. Apple got this right all the way back in 2007 with the iTunes store. People, instead of buying entire CDs, could now just have the songs they wanted.

People just don’t want the same thing that their neighbors have. They want to stand out. They want options.

Now, just because you’re prepared to take on the challenge of uncertainty, it does not mean that you walk out unprepared. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. Facing uncertainty is all about preparation. Your brand needs to have a purpose. That’s necessary if you want to try out new ideas without fearing the outcome. So, go out prepared and more importantly, focus on what’s most important – the customer experience.

Interested in getting your branding right? Well, why don’t you visit Crafted. We’ll be able to help you out.