The Nitty Gritty: Video Ads for Small Business
Not too long ago, larger businesses considered video ads as something that was “nice to have”, while smaller businesses would only wish they could have a budget big enough for video ads.
However, because of the rapid rise of technology and social media, video advertising has become a significant part of marketing strategy for businesses of all shapes and sizes (not to mention, budgets). Brands already embracing video ads have had a great advantage over their competition.
Soon, video advertising for small businesses will become essential. Without it, they may not be able to compete for new customers. Video ads provide so many advantages that small businesses without a video marketing strategy may very well get left behind. Here are the top three benefits and defining reasons your small business should consider using video ads.
1. Continuing to Grow with No Signs of Slowing Down
These days, video is everywhere! People watch over 500 million hours of video on YouTube each and every day. An estimated one-third of all online activity is spent watching video. That’s incredible.
Business owners should know that digital video is not just a “fad.” It’s a real trend that reflects our evolving preferences and use of technology. It shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Video uploaded to social media has also quickly gained traction. Since Facebook introduced native video in 2013, it has grown to have over 500 million people watching at least one video in a given day.
Mobile is the main reason behind this huge growth in video production and consumption. As smartphone adoption rates rose and device owners gained access to cheaper data plans, the simultaneous explosive growth in content production and audiences looking to be entertained by video created a full-blown phenomenon.
2. Video Communicates Emotion More Than Words or Images Alone
Video content combines sight and sound with motion to create a unique experience. By combining moody imagery with soothing music, for example, small businesses can make viewers feel emotion more effectively than images or text can just by itself.
Look at explainer videos for example. A two-minute explainer video is capable of delivering over 200 words from a script. It will also show deeper information with animations, and things like visual cues.
It’s also well-known that folks tend to remember video far more clearly compared to text alone. According to a recent study, the average viewer claims to remember nearly 95% of what they saw in a video compared to just 10& of what they read. That is a giant difference!
This info shows that video does more with less. Your viewers will get more of your message, enjoy it as an experience, and remember it better overall. It’s worth the money for a small business.
3. Rank Higher in SEO and Social Media
YouTube is the actually considered the second largest search engine in the world. It’s also owned by the largest search engine in the world, Google. Google’s search index algorithm gives video about 50 times higher chance of appearing on the first page of results compared to any page that just uses text or imagery.
Video search results tend to show at the very top of SERPs (search engine results pages) or near the top-five overall results. By having your video more likely to appear at the top of the search results, you can get more clicks from searchers. This is a huge advantage to pay attention to. So, using videos can help your website get ranked higher than you’d ever be able to achieve through traditional SEO alone.
There it is, folks. Three very good reasons for your small business to get into video advertising. With the technology to produce and edit high quality video at our fingertips, it has never been cheaper or easier to produce exciting video ads that only big corporations could make just a few short years ago. Remember that you can start small, experiment, and have fun. Because it can be done for cheap, or even free, you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Want to get into video ads, but not sure where to start? we can help! Contact us today to get started.
Effectively Leveraging the "Second Screen"
Let’s face it the 'second screen' is here.
We spend A LOT of time on our phones these days. Be it commuting to work on the subway, waiting for our food at a restaurant, in the grocery store line. We’re even using them while watching TV!
In fact, recent research from eMarketer found that over 177 million adults (18+) use their phones while watching TV. While that has big implications if you’re running traditional TV ads, it’s also something that brands need to increasingly think more about when it comes to the mobile experience.
According to the same study, an estimated 177.7 million U.S. adults, (or about 70% of the population), regularly use a device while watching TV. Approximately 26% or 46 million of these “second-screeners” are looking for content related to what they’re watching, but the majority (131.5 million) are not.
How do you effectively reach these people using a second screen, regardless of when and which device they’re using? How do you stand out and break through the noise amidst the choices coming from not just one but two or maybe even three devices?
The answer could be screen-agnostic strategies and leveraging existing creative across channels and screens, TV’s included. Here’s how it works: instead of customizing different ads for individual platforms, you’d create content that works across platforms to reach audiences wherever their attention happens to be at the time.
This could mean things like increasing the use of six-second spots, the video ad format of choice for social media channels, largely thanks to the “YouTube generation” and its preferences for snackable – or micro – content, for traditional TV advertising, or maybe even experimenting more with traditional 30 or 60 second spots on social media – which social platforms like Snapchat have recently begun trying.
But, it’s all still a relatively new phenomena, and part of the problem is that marketers still haven’t figured out the best ways to engage these consumers effectively. Even though consumers may be on their smartphones or tablets while watching TV, they do not yet assume that a TV ad will require them to connect via mobile, so marketers need to really educate consumers if they want this to become a reality.
To really begin taking advantage of “second screen”, testing different screen mechanics and platforms should be encouraged, but marketers should also think about how they can start complimenting mobile and tablet use with their TV ad from the start, and activate it regularly so that folks begin to expect to engage with a TV ad, and it becomes a “new norm.”
Need a strategy to reach your audience? Contact Blue Ridge today and lets see how we can help your brand achieve tremendous second screen results!
7 Strategies for Reviving a Stale Brand
The idea of commoditization transposed to brand is, in reality, what commoditization is: the (slow) death of relevant value - i.e. becoming a stale brand.
But, don't fret. There are strategies you can put in place to reverse the speed of that effect. Here are seven ways to "decommoditize" your stale brand and reassert its brand value:
1. Think of the brand/product in new ways – when you redefine what something is or could be, you reframe its context making it much easier to redefine what it can be used for. For example: when you stop thinking of milk as a drink, and start thinking of it as a food, you change the scope of what you’re working with in so many new ways.
2. Redefine who you want the brand to appeal to – if the current target audience starts valuing it less, think about other groups who might be able to use it in new ways that enable you to regain value. A good example is Starbucks. They redefined the value of coffee over time by making coffee hip, urban and tailored to the individual. In a world that believes it’s seen it all, discovery is a powerful consumer motive!
3. Change what the brand/product looks like – sometimes changing the value of a commodity can be as simple as changing how it appears to others. Think about the difference in pricing and perception between bottled beer and beer on tap. But, be careful - new packaging alone won’t make up for a product that doesn’t add value. What it can do is signal the unrealized value that you want consumers to realize.
4. Name it in different ways – If you’re selling copper and everyone else is selling copper, what can you call your copper to distinguish it from what people can source anywhere? Remember - renaming alone won’t be enough. In the case of cervena (a free meet brand in New Zealand), the change in name spoke to an idea that consumers were interested in, and eliminated the concern, especially among American consumers, that they were eating Bambi.
5. Distribute it differently – changing the distribution channel can be an effective way to transform your product into something valued by a different, more specific audience. iTunes rebuilt the music industry by reinventing the concept of the single into a single digital track and allowing people to buy the music they wanted in a new way, at a new price. Doing this will help lift up your stale brand.
6. Experiment with different price points – This is a particularly effective approach when combined with segmentation. Go after various parts of the market with products that demonstrate various levels of added value and are priced accordingly – e.g. a bulk product at a bulk price, a high end or specialized product priced at a top-end price, and a consumer focused product that may even operate at flexible price points.
7. Wrap a different story around it – New storylines can change how people perceive or view a brand or product. Increasingly, there are opportunities to link undifferentiated products to differentiating stories around environment, conduct, purpose, and cause. Once integrated of course, that storied brand has new value for different buyers because now it’s personal.
While, there are many different ways to stave off "brand decline" and restore value to goods whose value has decayed, there is no denying that the product or brand you make has a "best-before" date. You need to assume commoditization, and continually look for ways to slow its advance or reverse its influence, or it will usually always get your brand in the end.
The key to successfully staging a resurgence for a stale brand is to think of each of these tactics as a multiplier. The more multipliers you can employ at the same time, the greater the chances that you can successfully rejuvenate your brand. Contact Blue Ridge today and let's see how we can help revive your stale brand together!
Consumers Want More Than Cause Related Marketing from Brands
It turns out consumers want more from a brand than just the brand using cause related marketing to take a stance on a social cause. In fact, they want brands to help them make a difference.
That’s right! According to a new survey done by Futerra of over 1,000 consumers in the US and UK, they found that a very high number (96%) of people feel their own actions, like donating, recycling, or buying ethically sourced goods can make a difference. And over half of those folks believe that they personally can make a big difference in the world. So, why does that matter to your company?
The answer:
brands have a key role to play! Although people think they can make a difference, they want more help doing it. That’s where brands step in (maybe yours?). This same survey found an overwhelming demand for brands to step up on sustainable lifestyles. If your brand isn’t helping your consumers improve their environmental footprint and social causes they care about, you’re pretty much in danger of disappointing almost all (88%) of them. That would definitely not be good.
Over the last few years, brands have become much more confident in trying to change the world themselves. But, just talking about your own values isn’t enough. Consumers want you to help them live theirs, too! Too much of the cause related marketing or CSR activities of brands promote what they are doing, rather than reaching out and helping the consumer to make their own difference. Therein lies the difference.
So how, exactly, do brands do this?
The good news is there is no right or wrong way, and there are literally thousands of ways to do it, you’ve just got to make sure you’re engaging in these conversations with your consumers. Straight up ask them how you can help them make a difference. They will let you know. Whatever you do, ask yourself the right question… Your brand’s consumer has the right to change the world for the better – how are you going to help them?
Brand Positioning & Why it's Important
Brand positioning (sometimes referred to as a positioning strategy or brand strategy) is the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a special place in the mind of the target market, and it’s a big deal!
In fact, proper brand positioning is one of most important things you can do when it comes to your brand management. A brand that’s positioned correctly addresses important consumer benefits in unique, often compelling ways. It also helps to create an emotional connection to your consumers, and provides flexibility and a framework for future growth of your business.
The first step in brand positioning is in-depth research. With this research, you’re looking to learn:
- Consumer insight(s)
- An in-depth knowledge of your competitors and what they’re up to
- An understanding of benefits to you consumer.
After you’ve found the above, dig deeper into the benefits your brand offers consumers. How are the different from other similar brands/companies? You’ll want to single out the ideal benefit, which is the key benefit that has the following three qualities: (1) it is extremely important to the target audience, (2) your organization is uniquely suited to delivering it and (3) your competitors are not really addressing it in the proper way.
There are four key components to brand positioning:
- Target customer – the primary audience your brand is trying to appeal to.
- Brand essence – the “heart and soul” of your brand.
- Brand promise – a promise of differentiating benefits relevant to your target customer.
- Brand personality – adjectives that describe your brand like if it were a person.
It’s kind of like putting a puzzle together! All of these individual components define your brand. When put together, they form your brands positioning statement which provides direction not only for marketing and the brand identity standards, but also for all of your organization’s activities and future endeavors.
Are you interested in brand positioning and other brand strategy for your business? Contact Blue Ridge today and let's see how we can get your brand set up for success for years to come.
Marketing and Advertising are Subjective
Marketing and advertising are subjective in nature, and your target audience probably doesn’t care about how great and awesome your product is.
So how do you connect with them? You might have the biggest touchscreen in the world. The best technology. The most luxurious vehicle. That’s awesome! But the consumer doesn’t really care about these objective factors. They don't stand out in the 'noise' and cut through the clutter.
The truth is we’re not entirely rational beings (which you probably already knew) – and there have been many books and gigabytes worth of the internet devoted to trying to prove this point. In fact, if you want to get technical about it, our brains actually light up differently when exposed to the emotional vs rational... Science!
Research shows us that when it comes to marketing and advertising, “qualities like pleasure and belonging” are heavily linked to people’s brand choices. Here are eight factors that influence more than 80% of consumer purchases (in order of their impact on buying decisions):
Pleasure, responsibility, status, saving, individuality, effectiveness, belonging, and confidence. Notice: all of these factors are subjective.
Even marketing and advertising effectiveness is subject to user experience – take two near identical vacuum cleaners from two different brands and one is actually more effective than the other in cleaning a house, despite virtually identical (rational) specifications. invariably, someone will have the opposite experience and think the other vacuum is better. See – subjective.
While your company or brand might objectively have the best product or service available on the market, the longest-lasting battery, the most reliable engine, or the most qualified professionals – if you can’t or don't communicate these benefits to the audience in a way which answers the question “How will this help me to express and live who I am?”, the majority of customers will never catch on to what you have to offer.
Writer Tom Denari once wrote a great article for Ad Age that brilliantly drove home this point. in it, he wrote:
"No matter what you buy — diapers, clothing, electronics or a can of tomatoes — the brands you select affect how you feel about yourself. The car you drive makes a statement about who you think you are. So does the cup of coffee you pick up in the morning and the mobile phone you carry, even though you’re not consciously aware of it. And while this seemingly selfish, indulgent behavior might seem the sorry reflection of a hypercapitalistic culture, it’s really how we’re hard-wired.
A brand helps people fall in love with themselves by reinforcing or affirming self-image. (e.g. I’m the kind of person that uses that kind of __________.)"
Thankfully, more and more brands are starting to catch onto this idea and applying it to their marketing & advertising work. For some, it will be too little too late. For others, it could be the start of a complete repositioning or a brand revival... Which will it be for your brand? If you need help with your businesses marketing and advertising, we're here to help! Let's chat to see how we can make your brand stand out today.
