Financial Advisor Marketing Strategies

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In an increasingly competitive landscape of more than hundreds of thousands of financial advisors, it can be challenging to stand out and differentiate yourself by simply offering comprehensive financial planning and great service. One of the most crucial but difficult tasks is not just perfecting their craft, but figuring out how to get new clients and ultimately grow your business. An advisor needs to learn how to effectively market their services and communicate their value to audiences that they might do business with. Here are a few strategies that will help you.

Know your niche market

You should be able to describe your target audience to anyone with such clarity that they should be able to visualize it. Research and learn more about the demographics as well as psychographics. You cannot be delusional enough to believe you market to everybody. The riches are always in the niches and you need to specialize in knowing your ideal client. There are a host of options to choose from- retirees, divorcees, company executives, dentists or plumbers. The idea that casting a wide net will inherently translate to more business is wrong.

Listen to what your clients have to say

A client-centric approach never fails. Your current and past clients are a group your marketing team should focus on since if you’re not reaching out to them, you can be sure your competitors definitely are. Send out thank you letters or birthday cards that are sincere. These will go a long way in getting your clients to give you referrals. Additionally, address every complaint that you receive from unhappy clients and resolve them promptly. Let your clients know that you value their input and they will be more likely to do business with you again.

 

Know how much money you make per direct outreach

You are blessed with the incredible ability to control your income! Figure out the number of calls it takes for you to make an appointment and then the number of appointments it takes to get a client. If you know how much you make per client you should be able to quickly figure out how much you make per phone call. If you want to make some extra money,  pick up the phone. You ideally need to keep track of- the number of calls you make, the number of completed calls and the number of appointments you set. While implementing these marketing ideas, knowing your numbers can be highly motivating but also discouraging along the way. Don’t let it get to you.

Focus on conversions

Channelize all your energy towards your site’s user experience, traffic is great but ultimately worthless if it’s not converted into paying customers. You should strongly consider hiring a web designer who will make your site easy to navigate, to follow information with ease thus ensuring enhanced user experience. Your clients do not have the time for financial jargon, broken links or an outdated website. Have your contact information on every page and take extra care to maximize your “above the fold” use.

The ideal thing to do is to work with a marketing agency. If you have been looking for one, you’ll quickly learn that no two agencies are the same and none can guarantee results. It’s also a time-consuming process. But for the sheer efficiency and seamless operations, you might want to consider a financial advisor marketing agency for your next campaign.

 

 

 

 

Could you Sponsor an Athlete? with Andrew Stallings

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While sponsoring Tiger Woods or Roger Federer is most likely way outside of your budget.

Athlete sponsorship can be more accessible than you’d think.

On this episode, I chat with Andrew Stallings from the Athelo Group, about how he identifies opportunities, what areas are undervalued, and why the talent story is more important than their Instagram followers.

Andrew Stallings, Founder / Head of Partnerships of the Athelo Group, is a 10+ year Sports and Entertainment Professional that has worked in many realms of the industry from Media (SiriusXM Radio) to Sponsorship and Brand Strategy (Octagon / AB InBev).

After working with a wide variety of pro athletes for several years, I discovered a need for niche category athletes in terms of 360 management, creative strategy, and partnership consulting + execution.

With Athelo Group, we pride ourselves on working with athletes in Action Sports, UFC, Motorsports, and other rising properties by offering a vast and extended array of services that are beneficial to both the athletes we represent and brands we consult for.

Follow their journey on Facebook & Instagram. Follow Andrew Stallings on Twitter.

Professional Services Digital Marketing

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The internet is significantly accessible today and the constant internet usage among adults has been steadily increasing. This has radically transformed the way people shop rendering offline marketing completely ineffective. Digital marketing encompasses all marketing efforts that use the internet or an electronic device. helps you connect with your audience where they are spending most of their time on the internet. More and more businesses are now leveraging digital channels like social media, search engines, email, etc to connect with prospective customers

How to formulate an effective digital marketing strategy?

In order to come up with a well laid out digital marketing strategy, you will need to make use of a spectrum of digital tactics- from the website itself to digital advertising, online brochures, email marketing, the business’ online branding assets and beyond. You may need to leverage the most efficient services to have a clear picture of how every digital marketing campaign supports their overarching goals depending on which you can support a larger campaign through the paid and free channels at your disposal.

Digital marketing includes a host of strategies like- Search Engine Optimization, Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing, pay per click, affiliate marketing, native advertising, marketing automation, email marketing, online PR, inbound marketing.

Why does your business need digital marketing?

Digital marketing has come of age. Its fundamentals have been established. Did you know that digital ad budgets are now a majority of total ad spend? More than half of the marketers are equipped with a transformative initiative to make marketing more digital. You need an integrated plan to engage and grow your audience.

Envisioning your Goals

By building an effective and proper strategy you will give your employees and the brand direction and goals. Without an effective strategy, you will lack a sense of purpose or what you want to do online. Availing professional services may help you with a well-defined marketing strategy that will help you define your target audience, construct a concise digital program and run a successful online campaign.

Making your brands more interactive

Certain campaigns like blogging, social media marketing, text messaging, improving search results, online advertisements, affiliate marketing, and email marketing can assure a more personalized experience for your customers. A reliable digital marketer will know how to keep audiences informed and engaged by leveraging things like infographics, client stories, and short videos. You cannot undermine the ability of internet marketing tools to interact with targeted audiences in real-time.

Enhancing your reach

Rely on effective digital marketing solutions to strategically focus on reaching and increasing the visibility of your brand. Define your goals, KPIs, and tactics and document them down the line.  Nothing gives better exposure and builds a more effective brand recognition than digital marketing. It makes use of effective result-driven strategies that entice more and more people to take a favourable action your business intends them to take.

The Internet of Things is a global ecosystem of interconnected devices- gadgets, appliances, tablets, and smartphones that interact with each other via the internet. Streamlined digital marketing solutions will prepare your business towards this eventuality, one that will permeate every aspect of your lives in the near future. In order to survive, you must ensure inclusion in this highly interconnected grid. Avail state of the art digital marketing services to implement proven strategies that attract highly targeted traffic and not necessarily more traffic, opening new doors of opportunities for attaining business growth.

 

Digital Marketing for Financial Advisors

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Elite professional financial advisors realize that distinguishing themselves from competitors demands dedication, innovation, efficiency and the willingness to go beyond the norm. The perfect digital marketing solution will bring the same attitude to your marketing strategy by developing customized web assets that distinguish you from the pack and represent you (and your practice) with the highest possible level of professionalism and finesse. You shouldn’t have to settle for “canned” web themes and content being used by every other attorney or advisor. It’s time you reach your audience with the right content and a fresh approach.

How will digital marketing help your firm?

Reach your target audience

While formulating your digital marketing strategy, it’s vital that you provide the right information to the right people. An experienced team of copywriters and marketing professionals will be able to efficiently customize your message and strategically deliver it to your clientele through a host of diverse channels. If your present marketing efforts are not accomplishing this, needless to state, you’re leaving money on the table. What’s the result? More referrals more lead to more repeat business and higher profits!

Reduce your seminar costs and efforts

Long gone are the days of spending a lot of money and resources each month to try and fill the seats at your seminars via direct mail. If you are still doing it, you owe it to yourself to become fully informed about the different cost-effective and time-saving ways in which digital marketing will up your game. Leverage the power of the internet to reach more and more people every day for less money. You advise people every day on how to protect their assets. It’s finally time you implement a vehicle that is more efficient than direct mail. Social media platforms will engage with your audience, resulting in a higher level of credibility seamlessly.

Map your progress through feedback

The most significant benefit of digital marketing is not just that marketing your financial services digitally but you can get proper feedback and insights from your digital marketing campaigns which traditional marketing doesn’t allow. You can interact with your audience, know their preferences and grievances and address them efficiently. Additionally, if your clients have a positive experience with your service they are more likely to recommend you to their friends.

Google reins

It is important to boost your Google rankings and this cannot be stressed enough. Why? 3.5 billion Google searches are made every day. Additionally, Google happens to own 92.42% of the search engine market share worldwide. With statistics like these, you have to determine immediately how to rank high in Google to be discovered by prospects and increase SEO rankings by driving traffic to your site. An effective digital marketing strategy will prove to Google that you have click-worthy and relevant content that searchers would want to see.

Also, ensure you check out your analytics frequently to determine how your blog, website and social media channels are performing. There are a host of tools that you can use in Google analytics. The key, however, is to know which ones to explore so that you get the results you are aiming for.

Digital marketing is perhaps the most effective way to reach potential clients. Your digital marketing approach will make or break your business’s success hence it’s imperative that you are well invested in terms of resources, time or efforts in a well thought out, comprehensive, profit-driven digital marketing strategy. It, however, is a work in progress and not an overnight phenomenon. It will probably take months to begin seeing the consequences of your marketing efforts. If something needs fine-tuning, now is the time to get that together.

Marketing Tips for Accountants

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The only difference between high growth and average growth accounting firms lies in their marketing solutions. The former invest more strategically in groundbreaking marketing solutions and, as a result, are able to achieve extraordinary growth rate. They leverage M&A, strike the right balance between traditional and digital channels, focus on differentiation as their top marketing priority and build visibility around their subject matter experts. In short, your marketing decisions are likely to dramatically affect the profitability and overall growth of your firm.

Your business can easily emulate high performing CPA firms. Don’t you want to know what high growth firms do differently? We have a few tips to help simplify marketing for accounting firms.

Identify your target clients

Not all clients are created equal. You can categorize your existing customers and contemplate on all the factors that determine what your best customers look like. It is imperative to recognize who they are before you set out to chase after them. Monetary factors may not always place a prospect on the list. Sometimes trade-offs may be involved. It’s okay to want to do business with less profitable customers because you are not just building partnerships, but relationships. On the contrary, you also may be capable of charging a premium.

Take the demographics of your target audience into consideration while marketing and make your marketing efforts visible.

Network with Qualified and Trusted Professionals

Your competitors may have an edge when it comes to services you do not offer like recruiting needs, technology, legal representations or investment advice. Every firm has its own primary area of expertise but you must assist them with referrals’. Redefining business alliances may be a good thing – you may receive mutual referrals from them. You are at liberty to partner with general bookkeeping practices or less specialized payroll.

Invest in the right cloud-based applications

Effective and intelligible use of cloud-based applications while marketing for your accounting firm may help you reach a broader target audience effortlessly and stay ahead of the curve. They will additionally manage your campaigns, analyze your progress, automate key tasks and simplify procedures to enhance the manner in which your firm operates. These applications will make your customers lives way better, sure. But marketing your use may also be seen as a competitive advantage.

Never stop using creative content

Good content takes you far, there is no way around it. Explore innovative marketing ideas that start an accounting blog, create educational videos, appealing infographics, webinars etc. When it comes to content, the possibilities are endless, so pick whichever conveys your message the best. Tailor your website or blog so that they are local search friendly and make your write-ups local specific by addressing glaring issues related to accounting and finance in your community. Dedicating a part of your marketing efforts to offer to your community can positively impact your brand. You may also want to analyze how visitors get to your site, tweak it accordingly for optimal performance and repeat until you are satisfied with the outcome.

Sometimes it can be very difficult for accounting firms to rise above the noise of others vying for client attention, making it more relevant and important than ever for firms to effectively focus on intelligible marketing strategies that will create more personalized experiences for their audience. Marketing for accountants ultimately boils down to one very simple rule- be consistent. The impact of these tips and other strategies may not always be measured easily or recognized immediately but they are bound to make a significant difference over time.

Financial Advisor Marketing

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As more and more advisors are delivering comprehensive financial planning and wealth management services the key to growth as a financial advisor is not to be better but also different and your marketing solution provider should understand that. Financial advisors need to develop an effective brand for their firm by identifying the significant qualitative factors that make an advisor’s practice unique and targeting the not already overtly saturated client segment. These are branding strategy elements that help any financial advisor create a compelling, relevant message that will elicit client management from the type of clientele you have chosen to serve.

Why do you need an effective financial advisor marketing strategy?

In the initial years of this profession, advisors were able to perfectly differentiate the brand of their advisory firms by relying principally on language like “fiduciary”, “knowledgeable”, “trustworthy” to distinguish themselves from the insurance company salespeople and broker-dealers who are often poorly trained. But thanks to the rapidly growing number of CFP professionals who provide fiduciary best-interests advice based on their years of experience in providing customized financial planning advice, such terms have been rendered ineffective. At most, they only describe table stakers – a bare minimum criterion that any financial advisor is expected to possess.

With more and more advisors continuing to move into fiduciary advice while pivoting away from products/services, it must be challenging for talented advisors to deal with this crisis of differentiation and market themselves in a way that stands apart from the rest.

Financial advisor marketing best practices

SEO

People with a direct need for financial advice search by tens of thousands with nearly 20,000 searches for terms related to “best financial advisors near me” per month. It’s crucial to optimize your website and achieve positive SEO results by leveraging the intent of the potential customers to find you as their financial advisor and channeling them to seek your services. Simple SEO tools and techniques can be beneficial for financial advisors to develop their very own leads through organic internet searches.

Branding message

Leverage the best marketing solutions to develop a brand message if you wish to hone your existing client segment. It’s important to invest the effort, time and resources required to develop a genuine, relevant and compelling branding message. This will help financial advisors find their marketing efforts to be way more effective because it will serve to highlight their specific value proposition to a specific clientele and ultimately enable you to spearhead the competition and grow a successful practice in a highly competitive marketplace.

Networking

Networking translates to building relationships that establish you as a credible expert in the community. Implement strategies that will help you reach potential clients and connect with the members of your niche. You can help small businesses connect with other businesses, hosting various events like an expo featuring local businesses that provide products and services to a common target and creating an “insider’s” directory of businesses that your clients trust. Effective networking means providing others value.

The financial planning industry has witnessed significant growth. To gain a formidable share in this rampantly growing market, financial advisors must establish themselves as trusted partners in managing their client’s assets and effectively market themselves to potential clients. Needless to state, with the ever-increasing awareness on the significance of fiscal security, it’s imperative that financial advisors are more aggressive in creating opportunities for their firm. With stellar marketing solutions, you will see the difference in no time.

 

 

Recruitment Marketing

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The lines between recruiting and marketing are becoming increasingly blurred as talent management is rapidly going digital. The easy access to information and the shift in workforce demographics, backed by the rise of social media have transformed how candidates view and approach employment prospects. Candidates now easily can gain insights into an organization’s culture, benefits offered etc. it’s time for talent acquisition leaders to start thinking differently.

Recruitment marketing is the new HR discipline that will give employers a competitive edge in engaging quality candidates. You need to invest in recruitment marketing tools and recruitment marketing automation solutions that will help you do more with less time.

What is Recruitment Marketing?

It is the process of building and communication organization’s employee value proposition and employer brand to attract and hire top talent.  Strategic and tactical implementation of effective recruitment marketing strategies helps you to attract and nurture talented individuals to your organization by marketing to them, by encouraging you to build positive relationships with candidates who fall within specific talent pools. If executed properly, recruitment marketing will generate increased interest, better quality hires and improved candidate experience.

The principles of modern marketing like analytics, omnichannel communication, technology-enabled automation and hyper-targeted messaging to engage and nurture passive talent are involved in efficient recruitment management procedures. They take a holistic view of operationalizing the candidate journey the same way marketers approach their buyers’ journey, given the parallels between candidate and consumer behaviour.

 

What are the components of recruitment marketing?

  • Employer branding- the process of communicating an organization’s culture and value proposition to potential candidates.
  • Inbound recruiting- creating engaging content, profiling current employees, maintaining a company blog etc to attract candidates towards open job opportunities.
  • Target candidate talent acquisition- the process of identifying and categorising potential candidates based on the available positions. Advertising and other marketing strategies can be tailored towards these specific categories of applicants.
  • Social media recruiting- social media platforms have made it convenient and easier to recruit top talent with just a click.
  • Candidate engagement and experience- qualified candidates must be kept satisfied, interested and in touch. This is usually achieved through career opportunity newsletter, email campaigns, timely open feedback and regularly updated career site openings.
  • Recruitment analytics-tracking and analyzing data like specific channel conversion rates, number and source of applicants, hire rates per source, employee referral program performance, qualified applicant return etc. You will be able to understand what strategies are helpful and which ones require improvement.

The significance of recruiting top talent cannot be stressed enough. You need to recruit efficient staff who will constantly challenge you on a daily basis in a constructive way enabling you to delegate a lot more efficiently while delivering stellar services and meeting deadlines. Your main objective is to drive skilled, talented individuals to apply to the open positions.

The hiring funnel is made of six stages- awareness, interest, active search application, evaluation and hire. Recruitment marketing which focuses mainly on the top half of the funnel in order to drive candidates further down the talent pipeline is gradually emerging as a core competency that’s become required of every recruiter. Ultimately, the success of your strategy heavily relies on the effective use of recruitment tools and data analytics. However, the adoption of advanced technology, especially a disruptive one demands a well thought out change management strategy and implementation plan. Don’t forget to calculate pre and post-conversion rates, cost and time to hire while comparing them against industry averages.

ChatBots are so hot right now, but most are poorly created – I talk with Chat-bot expert Sean Melis of BotHello

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There’s no denying it, chatbots are a thing. If you conduct any kind of business online, you’ve looked at or thought about introducing a chatbox. And if you spend yourself any time online, you’ve no doubt encountered one.

But the problem with chatbots are, for the most part, they’re implemented poorly. You know, the experience, you ask a couple of questions, you fall slightly outside of that decision tree that somebody built and the chatbot doesn’t know the question and you’ve got to send an email and the entire experience makes you feel a little bit flat.

It’s a bit like if we go back to the early 90s and noughties with those phone bots and trying to get through to the bank and get to the right department and you find yourself screaming down the phone because they couldn’t understand you or your strange Australian accent.

But right now we’re living in a world where we all have a smartphone with some kind of voice bot in our pocket. We have a Google Home or an Alexa device in our kitchen, in our bedroom.

So we know this is where we want to go. We just want to make it a good experience. And that’s what we’re talking about in today’s episode. How to build great chatbots, what makes the difference and how to use them in your business, not just for customer service, but also for business and marketing.

This week, we are joined by Sean Melis, the Co-Founder of bot • hello.

We’re a team of dreamers, creatives, and nerds who are still shocked that we build chatbots for a living.

We actively discuss and embrace the exponential change society is going through as a result of technological innovation; and want to do everything we can to ensure our clients are taking full advantage of it—particularly in conversational AI. It’s an incredibly exciting space to work in, and we’re genuinely passionate about discovering new ways in which our clients can leverage and maximise the opportunity of engaging with these technologies early.

We also get a real kick out of watching our friends, family, and clients smile whilst using our chatbots. So we’ve made it our mission to help brands bring joy and personalisation to their customer interactions.

Your strategic partner, from design to deployment—and beyond. We equip businesses with the tools they need to survive in a world of exponential change. We are an innovation strategy company that has the ability to deliver solutions in-house and at scale. We don’t just tell you the solution to your problem, we build it and implement it for you.

Follow their journey on Facebook, Linkedin, & Instagram.

Marketing for Accountants

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Thanks to rampant globalization, a growing economy and a complete tax environment, accounting services are in high demand. Regardless of the size and type of business, marketing has emerged to be the “go-to” way to win prospects and nurture every small and large company. Marketing for accountants is as crucial for your firm if not more as it is for most experts out there. What can you do to retain clients and win new ones? Make sure your firm is at the top of its game while taking new industry trends and ideas for business development into account.

Carving out a niche, developing a good referral program, establishing an online presence through effective social media marketing and creating a diligent marketing strategy are useful tactics that may help you win clients for your accounting business. Your accounting firm can easily be a robust, high growth business. State of the art marketing solutions for accountants understands the significance of developing your position as an industry expert, establishing a strong online presence while ensuring that you consistently assess your efforts against your investment.

What is accounting marketing?

We are witnessing the evolution of accounting marketing from a relationship-driven, geographically limited discipline to a skill and expertise based multifaceted strategy that leverages the latest technology and techniques to target specific customers. This approach is very impactful when it comes to a firm’s visibility, reputation, service offerings, new client acquisition, client retention, recruiting and pricing.

Marketing is however not the same as sales. The latter is the process offering a specific set of tailored services to address a specific prospect’s needs and convincing them to make the purchase while marketing is the process of generating awareness for the services offered by the firm and encouraging qualified prospects to reach out in case they wish to be furnished with more relevant information.

Devising your Marketing Strategy

First, you need to know who you are talking to, following which you can feed that precious insight into your carefully drawn marketing strategy. Take your time and invest judiciously when it comes to defining marketing goals and the methods you’ll use to accomplish them. Whether you are just getting started or you have spent a formidable budget on marketing each year, ensure you have a properly researched and well-documented marketing strategy before you to keep you grounded and motivated.

A formal marketing plan for your accounting business is the best way to organize your efforts and ensure they are channelized into something productive. A plan should briefly touch upon- business targets, vision, and mission, overarching goals, your unique selling points (USPs), a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis.

How will a marketing channel help your firm?

It’s time for you to incorporate some inbound marketing tactics. It’s important to understand what kind of information your clients are seeking and how you can best deliver it, in a cost-effective, time-saving manner. There are a number of marketing tactics at your disposal- referral programs, social media, email marketing, content marketing and thought leadership. Determining the right tactic depends on your company’s audience, budget, resources, etc.

Finally, do not undermine the significance of compelling content, website design and development, online marketing graphic design, and video production. Come up with innovative and convenient ways to introduce your firm and everything it stands for.  Combine interviews, client testimonials and introduce key members of your team. Your customers need to believe in you and your service before they make a purchase. Make that happen with a stellar marketing strategy.

Marketing for accountants needs to be simplified and strategized. Building an accounting company is not an easy task. There are plenty of wrong ways to market a CPA firm. Making your first steps in marketing can be challenging and overwhelming but this is the only way to ensure recurring client relationships. Throughout all marketing activities, however, use analytics to guide you towards better decisions and the best results.

Video Marketing for founders with Amir Bazrafshan

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What did you think of the latest Gillette “We Believe: The Best Men Can Be” ad ?

What about Nike‘s “crazy women” ad?

Why is one ad, so much better than the other?

“To any founder listening to this……. go back to why you started, and the mission that you’re on, find your purpose, and then create content that’s in line with that.”

Wise words from Amir Bazrafshan Managing Director at Apricot Video Marketing

You can hear the full episode here, where we discuss:

  • The basic level of quality needed for video campaign – however using your mobile phone is fine
  • Sound – the unsung hero of a good video
  • Building conversion funnels into your videos
  • Using YouTube for brand hero content
  • Video case studies and how to build rapport between the subject and the viewer
  • using emotion to justify an emotional decision
  • We talk the emotion in the latest Nike commercials
  • purpose marketing and how brands are getting it wrong
  • The Shoe Dog Book by Nike’s founder
  • We talk about not confusing tactics with strategy
  • Why view count is one of the least important metrics for video
  • Should you do direct to camera or use stock video
  • How do you hire someone to hep you with video

Episode Transcript


0:00 – 05:07
Video is one of the hottest trends in marketing right now. And it’s easy to see why last year four point six billion video ads watched online and those same videos produced twelve hundred percent more shares than text any midges combined on social media, but video is much more than just a tactic in this podcast, I discussed how video is the ideal medium to live your brand message. Why is it that your business? Does what it does? I’m Jerry Doyle. And this is the practical podcast, bribing you mock knee experts from around the world to help you advance your business. That’s getting today is episode talking about video marketing. So welcome to this week’s episode and this week we are joined by a Baz Zaref Shan from Aprecu video marketing old way over in the UK. Welcome in me to the Shire. Hey, Jared, thanks for having me van testee. So so as a citizen, I’m glad to have every British person. I can on the show I lived in Britain for ten years. So it’s great to have somebody from the other side of the weld sharing their insights and this week. We gotta be talking about video marketing, which is near and dear to my heart, and he’s one of the trending topics for all forms of online marketing on but also marketing general, so this should be fantastic episode to help you help your business utilize these new formity marketing, which I’m going to be honest is probably quite daunting when you get started. But hopefully, the end of this podcast amaze going to be able to share some insights for us, which makes it same a little bit less daunting. So I’m going to jump straight in. With the through the first question the same question. I asked every week. I think he’s going to be bit different for you woke with focused on here is trying to understand if there’s any kind of competitive advantage or difference that a founder of a small startup company can bring to video marketing to compete with the businesses because obviously we’ve got massive differences in budgets. He so what can a small business or a founder of a small business due to possibly can pay with the kind of budgets that a lodge organization might happen meal? Yeah. As really good Arabia question. And I think what it comes down to it. Would it comes a few different things invisible? Am I think he comes down to the ability to humanize yourself, and what is that you will doing as startup as new company and the ability then to get the out at scale. Zero cost. I oblivious your website uploading it to teach eve and an and been able to measure the the impact of those videos. Against you know, what the competitors are actually doing as well. Right. So humanizing it and being real is is one competitive advantage. Do you do you look at this and think there’s a minimum level of quick or production that someone needs to do? Or is it depend on guess on the the company what you’re trying to portray video. Yeah. I think I think there is like a a critical mass, shall we say of a of a quality that you need. I think because we will say yes to HD even full K on our mobile phones. Now that does need to be a basic level of production quality. But I’m although I run a video agency. I’m not a an equipment snow, and I think is absolutely fine to to use your mobile phone slum is a sound is pretty decent. So you’re not lot outside the winds blowing give it God Bill to. Hey, you and actually sound is one of the unsung heroes of good quality video. So if you’re in a quiet room where even. If you wearing headphones mcferrin attached to it, and if you will create some some social vide, for example, that’s a really good way just to just to get started. Unlike I said, it really puts a personality to to the brand and it puts a face to to the website to the proposition and. Let’s not forget people people buy from people from human beings. Even in like, a B two B context is still people within the businesses the buying. And I think that does doing youth. There’s lots of different kinds of videos, you can create but just doing the simple kinds of videos can really help to to to give you the edge, especially when you’re starting out. If you don’t have big budgets to invest in your marketing. It can really it can really help you to make the connection to the people that the matter the can then they can help to implement your your message. Yeah. I think that’s really good advice. I am I often get frustrated when I say small business websites and small business. It’s a business of one. And you see a website tasteful and say, we do this Al company thinks this stop and think to myself, it is just one person.
05:07 – 10:07
Like, I think bay who you AVI human be real because that show competitive advantage or a faceless lodge organization. You’re a real person. So I guess in video that’s that chance to bring that personality full would and not hide who you actually are behind, you know, the idea of being be corporate productions, so I think that’s a really good advice. Now, the other thing you mentioned that was just around the different types of videos. So obviously, there’s a lot of different types of videos. What springs to mind is the idea of like the first feeder, which is often the explain of video? And then of course, you’ve got I’m trying to think of the other kinds of videos, you what maybe you could maybe can jumping inside. Give me told me the different kinds of video is that people rejecting. No, I quite let you struggling to think of them to be honest with you. So so to to think, I think the best way to think about types of video when we’re talking about tops video with the talking tactically, and I’m always cancelled talk about tactics because tactics will only work in relation to a specific strategy. But for now how about inside an Allen to the question. So if we look at a funnel approach to tomorrow ting, you the toll middle in the bottom of the funnel. So who looking at the top of the funnel. We’re looking at a wins. So social video is good for for wetness. You’ve gone. Content that is native to to YouTube. So I think YouTube platform, but I think it has its purpose in it shouldn’t be the automatic Goto place for bleeding all of your video continent. Cannot cheat work against you in some ways which can address a little bit later in the Trump. So I think you teams good full. I would say brand Herro content. It’s likely to be Tena purposes will shed educational content as well even video even video books. Peachy Friday has when it’s Facebook, sit alongside YouTube. It’s it could be this morning, specifically, different medium, isn’t a. Yeah. It is different medium in each platform will have a different psychology. So people go on for different things a niece of how to address that within the design of the video the you’ll kind of alluding to the full. So when people go onto Facebook than not specifically going on to watch a video, you have to bed by mind. When people go into each exactly what they’re trying to do. Right. That’s that’s their objective. So it makes it a little bit more straightforward. And do you think people on YouTube a generally looking for information sometimes I’ll look into into time? But sometimes I actually specifically specifically looking for information, whereas Facebook, it’s almost always just entertain me. I don’t know if there’s a big difference in the sake between the two platforms, but that’s my. Yeah. Immature interpretation of why people use them. No. I think I think that’s pretty Royal in. So if you look at what YouTube is it’s effectively search engine full video with some. Social elements tacked on like likes and comments of it’s not I wouldn’t call it a social platform. First influences a search engine. So what do we do when we go to a search engine like Google where we’re looking for something we often have something that we’re searching for we have an issue that we want to solve a problem that we won’t kind of Coleman nuts. The primary tool that we use and YouTube is no different is just a video full of that. So for example, you know, last year I had an injury during jujitsu Maturan doctor. So I went on THE the some exercises to do that can help the injury to I would not go onto Facebook and look for solution to my my groin injury. This wouldn’t happen. And I think that’s an important distinction. Because like I said when you thinking very tactically about a case what videos who would make him which platforms. You’ve got to bear that in mind, right? If you won’t decree optimal media content. Yeah. I know I distracted the conversation and let us off on a little tangent there, but we were talking about attention. You know, the so the funnel. And so in some ways Facebook is gripe that attention because people are saying, hey, entertain me. Keep me something. That’s flashy. That’s gimme he is exciting. So if I’m going to produce an attention video Facebook is probably not a bad platform for that. Whereas on slightly further down YouTube a bit more about you know, fact, it’s about satisfying problem and curiosity, and you’re in your naturally further down that that buying funnel so different platforms play anymore. Yeah. That’s still say it’s still still the issue with top of the funnel. Because what we won’t be doing through the down the funnel. Typically, another constitutes every kind of busy. But typically won’t people to be going on our website because we won’t conversion bear an inquiry sale subscription, something, right? So we asked to be able to draw people give people a reason to go to to the website.
10:08 – 15:00
So good quality middle of the funnel content, which is the consideration stays, right? So people have done some sun some home with the Dunston research. They understand what that problem is in looking at solutions now, and I think really good quality case study videos, not testimony. But Kate case is a really good assets to to invest in even if you do them yourself. I mean, a want to make sure that. Talk about on this podcast is applicable several news, that’s listening know that everyone has bullets, but you you come to yourself so long as you get the structure, right? And I think the benefit of doing a good quality case today is that it it. Consult of be like a bit of a magic trick in the if you if you do it. Well, you can actually create a repeal between the subject of the case study, which would be client that you service really really well in the happy with the new nickel could story tell in the person watching it. So what you’ve got Stutz that saw the objective. What you want to do is make people feel safe that somebody like me is that a stimulus problem NF had an awesome result by using this particular this particular business, or this particular predatory also this and not solve the crooks of the case study video. Yeah. And it’s econ. Yeah. I was gonna say it’s I think it’s much more compelling using video. A medium for them. Because you know, the typical Saudi is the, you know, two or three pages of stats and long text on a page or scrolling page multiple pages videos. I think of the advantages is passive one and two the other one is you can just put Cy much information into a video without overloading somebody so he can deliver a lot more contents. I’m guessing that’s probably one of the main reasons why videos, I popular right now. Maybe they’re the two main reasons she sort of agree with that. Or am I or am I million miles off with why videos, maybe what then I think? So I’ve I’ve read, you know, in the early days of April, I will hold my hand up and say, I did paper-based PDF case today. And I think. I think it comes down to what we’re trying to do. So you know, what’s it for what we’re trying to do is fundamentally persuade people where the best solution to that problem? And if we’re in the game of persuasion. Stott’s on and data isn’t sways. If it’s very logical. And very rational won’t. What is persuasive stories in the motions? Right. And that’s the edge clear advantage. The good quality video hats because you can stir up emotions you can create report literally within a few seconds. If it’s done correctly, really really economy can be very compelling. Whereas if you’ll using something more data driven it has its place in the sales cycle. But it’s it’s more. It’s more to justify people use logic to justify emotional decision and sales all sales is emotion surgery was amid it’s a post rationalization why purchase that cop because have remarried that brandishes because of it’s not it was entirely driven by the gut not the head. And then I just want wanna ten irrational based when in reality, I’m entirely emergent with my precious decisions. Yeah. I I I saw her is a new Nike ad out of the moment around. And women sport. And I think Serena Williams the voice over for it. And I must have seen it shed ten times. Now on my social made like on Facebook, my personal vice book page, and you can just see people’s comments. It’s like I was crying half. I throw it this. Is it you know, and people just making those comments, and and I watched it. Yeah. Like it’s emotional right from the start. They absolutely Nile it anything yet. That’s exactly what you just express. It’s emotion is a great story aligns with the brand, obviously. But the predisposition to purchasing a particular brand of shoes can be made at that point. There’s no point we’re not he sat there and spoke about, you know. Yeah, they also stopped shoes from rubbing on the tennis court flow. Yeah. That wasn’t mentioned. It was not performing. It was not, you know, they’re even dropped the whole Nike air, and you know, all the springs, it’s now just entirely emotionally lead. How as a founder or someone who may be doesn’t have that autistic finding that body? So you can watch great ad like that guy. That was amazing. I didn’t really consider myself an odyssey in that sense. What’s the best way? To actually go about building that emotion and other causes. I mean, obviously, I could high you April, and you could do it for them. But other other other maybe the axle callsas and things people could do to be a little bit smarter back out of a national storytelling yet.
15:00 – 20:04
So I’d always Tokyo to avoid tax because I I don’t believe in myself. I think I think I’m glad people took night because they all the agencies that produced those videos all just fantastic in this. So. So consistent with the quality. And also the impacts of the videos is as well, I think that absolutely fantastic. The thing about those videos, and we cannot shoot no matter what business where we cannot learn from them. The thing about those videos assist. So on brand. And they the rule the rule. Two nights mission is to inspire athletes all athletes are on the world and they define asleep. As if you have a body that you are not fleet. Right. So that’s what they’re trying to juggle addressable market. If you have a body you’ll pot about. Right. Right. And it’s it’s there why that comes through the imagery the video’s even in the innovation in the products. And if you’ve read shoot oak by Phil Knight, the founder of nyc. No, I haven’t. Yeah. It it was one of the best books. I’ve read in less clears read it last year. And it’s it blew me away. You just understand the the guy that started the company to sell. I mean, that’s be honest commodity because you can buy you can buy them from you know, you can buy them from supermarkets now different different different ruining cheese. He was on a mission. And he really believed he was hit a purpose in really believed him so to any found a li- listening to this even if you work in a really terse technical area, I’m not saying you should prompts aim to create video content is gonna make people crying, but get go back to why you’ll starting why you started what you started. And the mission your own find find your purpose, and then you create content this in line with. I think the whole purpose driven marketing it’s been misunderstood. And. Terribly in the last eighteen months also with people under the Gillette at for example, is a really bad example, actually is a good example of bad mortgage because would’ve sat down with the ad exists. We need to we need to do some purpose marketing and they’ve got it completely wrong. They need to do is go back to their roots really figure out their identity. What is it? They stunned full which equals that brand and create content. It’s tied directly into that. And that within itself is a really strong differentiator when you’re creating video content. That’s a fantastic breakdown of those Gillette ads. I as a marketer for loss of opinion, paces back and forth. But I think if so succinctly explained why greats people is because you look at it on one side you go. It’s a great ad. And it is a great, Ed. But it’s just we don’t believe that. That’s Gillette purpose emission. They went. The rises wearing created to kind of create a better, man. It was you know, what they mission was. But it definitely wasn’t that. Because we’re running on. We saw the Gillette hats from the last twenty years. And that’s what they were that wasn’t the position I would taking so. Yeah, you don’t get to turn around and change you you’ve used right away. So it’s interesting. No, no, nothing kind of a larger Paul logic coming to mate on Gillette from two lights, which have facial hair. If we don’t if we can say will a brand like Gillette’s peppis will mission is that then walked in Wilno. We should be able to even though I don’t, you know, I don’t use Gillette’s raises of seen. I’m on social media. Among among Facebook, watch TV, there should be speaking that to us. It should be. We shouldn’t not know. Fantastic advice, the promo code now is I’m talking to you about this an absolutely he’d get into purpose and storytelling. And then I’ve just thought to myself about video marketing, so I’m gonna I’m gonna make a mental note, we’re gonna come back, and we’re going to do storytelling, and we’re gonna run a whole podcast just on storytelling and get the feeling we could go on for a while. So really back into to video and just staying a little bit on Kohl’s. I’m curious around lengthens moving video, and you know, obviously, they’ve just had it recently that had video, and it seems to be working quite well, some Cain guest. The double question one is how you saying that evolve. And what are your thoughts on the new link team live that apparently is coming out? And how do you think that’s gonna play out? Yeah.
20:04 – 25:02
Well, again, it’s it’s a tactic. Yeah. I think it Lynton video Lincoln live. It’s it’s it’s tough take. And I always think that there’s a danger of being distracted by the newest tactics. When it might not be on on strategy was said earlier was tucked takes around league gonna be useful within specific strategy in a stress strategy is only good in relation to a specific goal. And it’s so the way that we structure I will get about two Minton Promessi, but I need to kind of take a step out. I to make make make sense. So I think what I’ve noticed from we’ve worked with our shares in startup some brownie companies over the year is that a big one of the big differences between startups in my experience in the big businesses is thoughts startups, so busy starting know trying. Get critical mass sales in trying to do everything they come to promote themselves. They forget to strip to their work in terms of goal, which is the overarching Fain strategy, which is a broad approach, which if happens increases chances of hitting that goal and an attack takes which the little steps that you take to to kind of meet strategy Whitson helps you get you go. Now, if if Lynton. Is going to be something a platform where your audience all that’s going to help you execute fulfill strategy than I think it’s gonna be a wonderful wonderful innovation and a wonderful development platform because you know, it’s to be it’s it gives you their contact with people that can really help to influence in the buying process. You can network really well in there. And I think that it could be a really good move and to give the people the embraced platform that need that platform, the tools again to humanize themselves to create that kind of repeal to really develop the relationships in a very human human way, it’s going to be able to irrelevant to somebody that is strongly in the beat seep places prep school Amazon shop props they are selling on Facebook on Instagram shopper fly wherever. And then those seats is it’s not a handle there. But you see the situates. So it’s very contextual. That’s what I’m trying to say. Because I don’t want someone. To listen meets say, oh, it’s a great tool for someone. That’s irrelevant to to go out and try because we’ll that doing then is wasting valuable time on something. That’s just not going to give them any any results. Fantastic advise. I I look I couldn’t agree more. I think it’s a lot of the time in PayPal or potential clients approach may in know, they want some help there often approaching me we tactics to recently that Facebook trickle that link trick in what can we do a little bit more than you just use sort of boil it down you try to turn them around to saying that it’s about the overall strategy. What what are you trying to achieve as much as a couple of weeks on on Instagram? And then you kind of find out, whether it’s, you know, for may I find out whether it’s a client that I really want to work with if they still hung up on the tips of the Drake’s thin, that’s probably not the the the right person. And I think it’s interesting that that’s your approach with video because I think video on the way you articulated his perfect. It’s video is a great lady him to deliver pesonality to live a passion. Create emotion. Because because you can communicate so much information site quickly. And it’s so real to you imagine for most businesses, especially small businesses that those videos a’done person talking to camera or do they actually try to sort of film things film, people slide images in in terms of like, you know, how a lot of small businesses tackling this because I say a lot of businesses will do stock footage stock video and try to incorporate that and try to pace it together and making us video or you saying that the most success is coming from people keeping it real using themselves and not try to reproduce it. Yeah. So we’re in the realm of presentation in style now. And that’s that’s really something that. It has to be a week some of our clients do their own videos. We support them into a thing we say to them. It’s just keep it. Simple. Keep it manageable fisa process you’ll doing so let’s keep it keep it reading really simple and something that’s going to be sustainable. Not just say, you know, if you do it absolutely knock you out for few days. And I need is going to be pulled off doing again. There’s no hard and fast answer. I can’t say that yet, you know, talking to come ROY is going to I’m, you know, a wish, but it’s just it’s it’s such a nuance space old of business is not just walked video marketing. And I think what people need to do is find a style that works for them that they’re comfortable with.
25:03 – 30:00
And then experiment, you know, us as a starting point. And then experiment and. When when when you looking measuring video if you count is one of the least important metrics, it’s never really a KPI. The what is important is engagement that you getting on the on the video? So you could try and experiment with a couple of types of video crops. You’re using stock footage invoice aver will maybe you all talking to come and just experimenting with the move recourse of you know, two or three months. Both approaches have low cost both approaches is a simple to to to do. And what you gotta do is let just really feel your way into it in the sea way getting the biggest response. And then when you’re getting something works, and then you down makes a lot of sense. So if I’m if I’m listening to this center, I’m struggling a little bit in thinking still to daunting. I think definitely need to hire expanding to speak to somebody can help me out. His there some questions that you can provide listeners with that. They can ask someone who that. So basically, they looking to hire someone to help with marketing how? Are there some answers authorities from questions that they can ask that have really helped weighed half the people who know the marketing from the people who have just added to a menu of different things that they can do yet. Totally. So know, the many many many countless numbers video production companies in videographers at very very talented ones about around says is there’s lots of people to choose from. If people just wanting literally just wanting video content the net fine using over for the fine using video production company. If that wanting something that’s going to potentially help them move the needle business that going to include some kind of strategy in meason than video marketing agency, I would suggest is to ask about talking about strategy. So what kind of strategy seem wyking in particular context? Yeah. You can take a look at people’s work as as oppose without some secondary to how a weekend to be. Measuring success these videos, and what are we gonna do if the not hitting if an performing because ultimately any business, whether you’re a startup were very. A very big businesses been going for for for a long time. It’s an investment that you make an investment has to be looked after. So as you would when you’re investing anything, you wanna know how you measuring it. And what are we going gonna do if what we second won’t in isn’t isn’t happening up that advice? I think fought too many companies brief out some form of video creative and get some of that comes back. That’s absolutely beautiful in stunning in Mainz zero to the business. We’ll try no difference to what they’re actually going to achieve. Yeah. The ad looks great. It’s a typically flawless, but it had some actually driven anymore revenue. So that’s fantastic advice. And also, I’m sorry just just to jump in. Because I know that it’s going up to view count again view count an ego really really closely related. I know are full for that all the time. I look I look at the stats like something back into us. We just have to see how many people viewed it. I know. I mean, unless let’s get it straight. I mean, unless the view count is zero then it’s important because he’s you know, doing something, right? And you need to do some more commotion. So the reason I bring this up is because we’ve had clients that said, okay. So we’ve had this production company that said that the that avenues of had millions of us collectively over the last couple of years and not sounds really really impressive. It’s a while. We’re gonna get visa gonna get ambles. And it’s not about the number of us. It’s about the right people what genial content for the right reasons. And then doing something that you want him to do after. So it’s it’s it’s in which the mall strategic thoughtful approach, you can adieu on YouTube is thirty seconds. Roughly, I think view on Facebook is about three seconds at least it used to be. So so I could literally take mama Bowe phone record thirty seconds of making, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Which is what I do kind of. To YouTube pull fifty pounds behind it to boost the post, and I could get a few thousand diesel not overnight. But it’s just gonna be views the loss for three seconds. So what value is content? What value is these adding the win the so-so insignificant? The watching such a small portion of the video it really really is.
30:01 – 35:07
Doesn’t mean anything what encourage people to do is is ask people. Okay. So. What difference if you’ll is is your video content? Major clients. Have you mentioned that in the past is the increase could bosons that you can talk to you about. It’s been an increase in queries. You can talk me about on average. How much of you’ll video content of people watching so percentage of the videos of people watching? That’s there the really meaty questions, which I bet. Eight percent of people are asked what know the answers to unfortunately, because we’re still at quantity time in video marketing. But the the answers that people should not yet. It’s it you’re entirely riot. For some some businesses, particularly if your business to business, and you might have a high value by customer any takes one customer to properly engage with you’ll be content, and he can cover it self and it can be hard to quantify. But for Mehta magic moment is always when someone you speaking to someone you sort of a new business meeting or you think somebody might be on happen. And then they quote you back to yourself because they’ve watched BDO that you’ve done. And then you realize that moment it’s like, oh, I’m gonna win. This like this is why we’ve definitely got a good relationship because whether they were attracted by the video will not the reality is if they watched a half hour episode if you jabbering on on on YouTube, and they’ve sort of listen to the entire episode, and it’s like yohaf Marion GmBH already so. And that’s that’s the value of that kind of content is available can absorb get to know you build a relationship bond. Well before you actually sit down and talk about doing business. So yeah, you know eats. I like to think I think like that. I don’t watch the views, but. A got us. I I still get a little egotistical tickle when I say something. In two thousand guess but credit vice so conscious of time, and and it’s gone really quickly. Because I’ve just I was looking I had so many more questions. I wanted to ask you, I think what am I I think as a last question I want to ask you is this something that you thinking at the moment. Some who you believe that you find almost nobody else agrees with you at the moment. Yes. So there are a couple of things and the first one is this going to what we said about view count and people placing too much emphasis on that. When I say, you’ll view count isn’t important know. You know, get some strange looks and you shake shakes of the head. But that’s fine. Because on the surface of it does make it does make sense on the fifth when you scratch beneath the surface and look things in detail. The not duck so full is appalled. And I think I think the other thing is when people again get too tactical too quickly. So we will have. So we will have. Potential customers come to us and say they’ve go ideas for this video this video in this video, and we talked to him about two in what we do. We find out is no coherent strategy, pinning those ideas together, so even videos works, there would be no discernible positive impact on the business. So. Physically had come to you with almost to fully informed idea about how they want to tactically deliver the marketing campaign when I say much better off coming to you with a strategy in an objective, and then leaving you to work out. Exactly how to execute it that exactly we, you know, we even get decide room times this video needs to through minutes, which is which is crazy when you think about it because it just needs to be as long as it needs to be. You know, you you tell the story in the stop so. Yeah, I I always pushed back combing talking tactically too early. What we need to do is go to the impacts that you will. Video content to make install stall from that. So impacts will go strategy. And then you can we can stop talking about time to vent chest to advice. I must say I’m hearing you explain these things in one of my brain, I’m going this is exactly right. And the other part of my Brian’s going to do that at all charity, you run straight for the tactics as well. He might be a horrendous client, but fantastic. Thank you so much. And I I’m I’m looking at this list of questions that I’ve gotten thinking, I didn’t even get any of those questions. So I’m definitely gonna hit you up to come back on again. I think I’d love delve into the whole storytelling stuff because that was a really interesting tangent. We took this. I’m Cain to do that about for people that are listening, and I sort of. Yes, are like what I may have to say I’d like to know more. What’s the best? Why they either getting contact with you find more of your words of wisdom’s or videos of wisdom’s that you might have. Yeah. Right. So. I own Twitter. Obi on in a space in a little patch of time where I’m not being overactive on. If won’t go question. I always respond. A my handle is at April coats on the school Imia, which is a m I all in its April fruit.
35:08 – 36:36
And if people want to check out our website, it’s just Dewey Toledo agriculture media marketing dot com, and if they send an Email Gertz studio, which will get forwarded to two million again on any questions that people want. They want took expand on anything. Explain anything in more clear way than that’s fun fake. And hopefully, when we when we post here percent, I always posted I linked into your questions jump on the late in because I think as we said route of the stop there the engagements way more important when it comes to marketing so wreck into the judgment on on social media as much as anybody. So I’m gonna thank you so much for your time early appreciated. I know it’s my evening. Your morning, and that’s the one is the internet. We’re not the same place. But we can be actually think you time you wisdom, and I look forward to speaking. Joe again, some point later on this year, you’ll very well. Thank you for having me Jisr. Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. I hope we’re able to provide you with some great marketing ideas, it’ll really help your business as always if you’d like to support me and the show just jump onto Janes or wherever you’re listening to this podcast and write and review those reviews really make a difference and help me reach a broader audience if you’d like to connect the best way to find me on the linked in following me on social media, which is connecting. And if you put ideas for future episodes or your Marketa, can you would like to appear to Peter up beside just hit me up on leaped in as well. I’d be happy to have a chest. Thanks look forward to speaking with you next week.