Including Video in Your Marketing

The #1 thing I am telling my clients nowadays is that video is king. In my own experience, adding a simple 2-minute video introduction to my website resulted in new business very quickly. I believe it is a must in order to stand out in today's competitive environment. A video helps potential customers get to know you far more than static images and text. And, it doesn't have to be fancy. My own first video is far from perfect, but it's effective: see jcarpenter.biz

Here's a great article on successful video marketing -- 

Video Marketing and YouTube for Small Business Success: Anyone Can Do It

by Marcus Sheridan

Igot a text at about 10:15 from a customer tonight. It read something like this:

Marcus, my wife and I are just sitting here watching your PoolSchool videos, and we’re ready to pull the trigger.

Of course, in this case, pull the triggermeant that he and his wife had decided to buy the pool I had quoted them a few days ago. And once again, despite being more expensive than the other quote given by my competitor, they chose us.

But this isn’t the only experience I had along these lines today. At a sales appointment this morning I had a most interesting conversation with an incredibly nice and successful guy in his late 30s who owns a prominent consulting firm.  Essentially, as we were discussing his potential pool project, he told me this (and no, I’m not exaggerating):

Dude, I’ve watched all your freaking videos. In fact, I probably hold the record for the customer who has watched the most Marcus Sheridan videos. That’s why I know when you speak you’re not full of bull#%#%. So just go ahead and tell me what I need…..

Literally, all I could do was laugh when he told me this, as I’ll never cease to be amazed by the simple power of video and Youtube marketing for small businesses.

Profound Impact

Yes, I’ve talked multiple times regarding video marketing for small businesses on this blog, but the extraordinary influence this simple and cheap medium can have on consumer brand awareness, as well as consumer confidence, may even supersede that of blogging. And as everyone knows, I stinking love blogging for small businesses.

So why is it that so many small businesses are still not leveraging video? Why are they spending thousands on website designs and redesigns but continually falling flat on their faces? The whole phenomenon is an utter mystery to me quite frankly.

Bigger Ain’t Better

Take for example the swimming pool company I beat out in the previous story. The company is the 2^nd largest swimming pool installer in the world. They have a huge advertising budget. In 2008 their sales were about $130,000,000. Notwithstanding, their website stinks. Yep, it’s an utter failure. Sure it has nice photos and pretty flash, but they don’t have a blog nor do they utilize video.

That’s right, a company with over $100,000,000 in annual sales of one of the most visually stimulating luxuries in the world (a swimming pool) doesn’t even leverage the power of video on their website. Honestly, I’m dumbfounded.

This, my friends, is why David beats Goliath everyday on the web. And it’s also why you absolutely need to decide right now that video will be your best friend. If you haven’t done so already, go out and buy a $200 camera and start recording everything.

Everything?

Yes, I mean EVERYTHING.

Just as the curse of knowledge affects regular blogging, it also greatly impacts video production. Don’t assume your customers know anything. Put your mind in theirs and start seeing the world out of their eyes. Just by doing this, and by asking yourself the questions that a consumer will always ask as they start to research your product, will give you a wealth of video subjects and ideas. But for those of you who are still a little confused as to what to show and talk about, here are 4 areas to focus on as you get started.

1. You and Your People

Your business isn’t just about its products, it’s also about you. It’s about your employees. It’s about the people that make your little part of the world go round. Look at Steve Jobs for example. Why do we keep seeing videos of Steve talking about and launching his ‘next great product’ on the internet?

The answer is simple. People like putting faces with products. That’s what we do. We like stories. We think and make decisions on logical, but also emotional, levels. Apple gets this. That’s why Jobs has an incredible cult following. And as Seth Godin would say it, Jobs has created his tribe, and boy does he know how to stay in touch with his tribe.

The same thing could be said for thousands of other great companies, but unfortunately these stellar examples are few and far between. Fact is, whether you’re a CEO or a small business owner like me, the best way consumers can get to know you and like you before they’ve ever even met you is through the power video—which is why you’re nuts if you’re not taking advantage of YouTube right now.

2. Break Down the Product

As you’ll see if you visit my swimming pool video library, everything that has to do with fiberglass pools, as well as every stage of their installation, is broken down into some form of video. Show the intricacies of your product. Show how it comes to life. Demonstrate clearly was it’s capable of.

3. Life as a Product Owner

Once the consumer owns your product, is that it? Or is there more? Just as swimming pools require upkeep and maintenance, so does just about every other tangible item that a store or business sells. With the case of my business, I made the commitment about 1 year ago that every customer should be able to go to our video library and find any answer they are looking for if a question or problem ever arises. And after 12 months, we’ve come very close to completing our goal. Can you imagine the effect this has on a consumer?

4. What Others are Saying

Testimonials are awesome. That’s why they’re in every infomercial on TV even though most of the stuff that’s sold is total crapola. There’s just something magical about hearing an ‘actual customer’ testify of the superiority of a company’s products, people, and services. So if your business’ website does not have a least one video of a customer testimonial, then you’re sadly missing a tremendous opportunity to gain further trust from potential clients and prospects.

So there are my thoughts on this awesome medium. Please believe me when I say the moment you decide to truly embrace consumer education through video and YouTube will likely be one of the top 2 or 3 most important business decisions of your life.

Retrieved October 22, 2014, from http://www.thesaleslion.com/video-marketing-and-youtube-for-small-business-success-anyone-can-do-it/

What is IMC?

I'm just finishing up my first class for my Master's degree in IMC, and it seems to me that many don't understand what it is.

To me, it's the NEW marketing and communications world that includes all the latest, greatest thinking, strategies and tactics.  It aligns with the NEW way consumers think and live.  To others, it is simply an "integration" of traditional offline marketing with the newer online marketing.  That is true, but, it really isn't that simple. The world has changed -- dramatically, and so too does how we reach it with messages.

Image via Marketing is Dead

An article in Harvard Business Review's blog from all the way back in 2012 :), explains just how much this field has changed in a very succinct way:

"Traditional marketing — including advertising, public relations, branding and corporate communications — is dead. Many people in traditional marketing roles and organizations may not realize they’re operating within a dead paradigm. But they are. The evidence is clear.

First, buyers are no longer paying much attention. Several studies have confirmed that in the “buyer’s decision journey,” traditional marketing communications just aren’t relevant. Buyers are checking out product and service information in their own way, often through the Internet, and often from sources outside the firm such as word-of-mouth or customer reviews." (Lee, 2012). Complete article.

I continue to witness in both my studies and in my business, just how difficult it is for many in the industry to wrap their minds around this idea.

Not having had my mind saturated and formed with structured lessons in traditional marketing, but rather having evolved along with the world of business as an entrepreneur over the last 30 years, I find it easy to grasp these new concepts.

I'm very glad to be getting this edgy, new degree in this edgy, new marketing industry that is "Integrated Marketing & Communications", and I hope I will continue to allow my thinking to evolve along with the world rather than insist on structure.

I'll be starting a new class on Monday that I'm very excited about!  IMC-634 Digital Video Production.  This will be immediately relevant to my business, and I can't wait to use my new knowledge!

Check out the Elysian IMC website when you get a chance, and I welcome your comments and feedback!

Practical Tips on Using Social Media

I found this article very enlightening and wanted to share!  Enjoy!  ~JoAnn

Social Media: Six Ways to Evolve in 2014

By: Gini Dietrich | December 2, 201

3

The Evolution of Social Media

Though it is no longer as intimate as it once was and not nearly as much fun, there are a few things that haven’t changed all that much and some that have gotten worse (hello, narcissism anyone?).

Way back when, we were all testing and trying new things. We were curious and willing to take some risk.

Today, we’ve become much more comfortable with our use and, in some cases, a bit lackadaisical.

Following are six ways to evolve your social media use in the next year.

The 80/20 Rule

This is a “rule” I’ve been touting since the beginning and I still believe it today: Eighty percent of what you share should be about someone else and 20 percent can be about you.

This means you are aggregating content from bloggers, journalists, podcasters, and writers whose content you agree with. It supports your thinking, the way you do business, or where you believe your industry is going.

Following this rule prevents you from creating a social network that is all about you and from becoming narcissistic. It also motivates others to want to share your content because you are so giving through your social networks.

Test Your Output

This also means you have to test, test, and test some more.

I tweet content 11 times every day. This does not include any conversations, direct messages, or things that come up throughout the day.

On Facebook, we try to update at least four times every day. On LinkedIn, once a day. And on Google+, twice a day.

We test the number of updates continuously and find this works for nearly every organization.

We have one client, though, whose Facebook posts do really well with only twice a day updates.

We discovered this when we did four a day for a week, then three, then two, and then one. Sure, it took a full month to figure it out, but now it works like a charm!

Geography Differs

Part of your testing also includes figuring out the geographies of your audiences.

Some people get on their social networks at 5 a.m. ET and then you don’t see them again until after work hours.

If you’re on the west coast, that’s 2 a.m. your time, but your east coast audiences are consuming media.

I’m a big fan of scheduling posts for that very reason. I use SocialOomph to schedule my tweets so I can hit the people in different geographies.

Don’t automate your conversations, but you can do so with the content you’re sharing.

A Conversion Funnel

This is where people still get frustrated about the value of social media.

If you think about it as a conversion funnel, it becomes less frustrating and intimidating.

The top of the funnel is the first exposure to you – in this case, your profile.

What are you sharing that is informational and valuable not to you, but to your fans and followers?

The middle of the funnel is how you earn your fans and followers. Is it by following the 80/20 rule? By sharing other’s content? By mixing in some personal with the professional?

If you’re strategic about how you earn them, you will keep them engaged, which leads to conversion and retention.

Don’t Just Broadcast

Don’t just do everything above and forget about the conversations. This means replying, reaching out, tagging people in conversations, and helping others share their content.

This is definitely a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” environment. 

But, even bigger than that, when you share content, people want to include you in their content – a link to your website, a comment on your blog post, a share of your white paper – so you will share farther and wider.

You help them, they help you, you help them.

Be Strategic in 2014

Think about how your social media efforts will continue to evolve in 2014.

Will you figure out the conversion funnel? Will you become more engaging? Will you share more about others?

Whatever it happens to be, be strategic about it. Stop and think, “To what end am I doing this?”

When you have the answer to that question, you’ll have success in your social media efforts.

Source:  http://spinsucks.com/social-media/social-media-six-ways-to-evolve-in-2014/?goback=%2Egde_94634_member_5813288081125576706#%21

How Virgin America Got 6 Million People To Watch A Flight Safety Video Without Stepping On A Plane

For another awesome example of the POWER of Online Marketing, see this article:

How Virgin America Got 6 Million People To Watch A Flight Safety Video Without Stepping On A Plane

Using Facebook for Business

Thinking outside the Face-box!  

• Where is everyone?  
• Where are YOUR customers?  
• What are they doing online?  

If you guessed FACEBOOK, statistics prove that you are right!

Image Source:  Business Insider

"Two-thirds of online American adults (67%) are Facebook users, making Facebook the dominant social networking site in this country." (Pew Internet)

"Facebook: The 45–54 age bracket using Facebook has significantly grown, increasing by 45 percent since the end of 2012. Out of all the social networks studied, Facebook dominated the older generation’s social media usage, as well as the wealthier population. Seventy-three percent of people earning over $75,000 annually have a Facebook account, which surpasses any other network by over fifty percent in the highest income bracket. Facebook is also clearly the most popular by far, and is expanding internationally—86 percent of users are now from outside the United States." (Business Insider summary)

So, how do you utilize Facebook for your business?  Take a look at this detailed social media marketing campaign using Facebook that I recently prepared:  click here.  It's full of great ideas you can use right away!

And then, if you're interested in learning more about how you can take advantage of social media tools for your business, sign up for a Free Hour of Inspiration with me here.

Thanks for reading!  Please follow my blog for more bits of inspiration on Integrated Marketing Communications!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

JoAnn :)

Business Blogging = Marketing Success!

Not sure what a blog can do for your business?  Let's start with the facts:

• Nearly 40% of US companies use blogs for marketing purposes.
• Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors.
• B2C companies that blog get 88% more leads/month than those who don’t.
• B2B companies that blog get 67% more leads/month than those who don’t.

This data (from HubSpot) demonstrates how blogging is a critical factor to inbound marketing that we can directly correlate to results.

Optimizing and promoting your blog is very important. Frequency of blogging also plays a critical role. Research shows that companies who blog atleast 16-20 times per month see the best return.

“A blog is a long-term marketing asset that will bring traffic and leads to your business. It introduces you as a thought leader in your space and allows you to earn people’s trust.”

(Hubspot)

Blogging is a great method of increasing your organic search engine traffic. Blog posts help you rank in search engines and get found when people search. They provide a great opportunity to utilize keywords that drive internet traffic your way.

A blog is a showcase of your expertise and leadership in your industry. Sharing your knowledge earns people's trust, and surveys show that 71% of people say that blogs affect their purchasing decisions.

Blogs also provide your business with added online real estate on which to place calls-to-action.

Interested in learning more? HubSpot's e-book “Introduction to Business Blogging” is a great place to start.

Need help developing and maintaining your blog? Elysian IMC provides these services. Click here for more information.

Thanks for reading!  Please follow my blog for more bits of inspiration on Integrated Marketing Communications!

JoAnn :)

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Reference:

HubSpot. “Introduction to Business Blogging”. Ebook. <<http://offers.hubspot.com/an-introduction-to-business-blogging>>