In this guide, we’ll discuss why video storytelling specifically is an effective marketing tool for companies, including some of its main benefits. 

What is Video Storytelling?

Video storytelling is a marketing strategy that uses the video medium to paint the narrative of a certain product, brand, or service. 

Compared to storytelling in the written format, videos can be much more engaging and compelling. Marketers have many more tools and devices at their disposal with video storytelling, such as lighting, music, characters, and other visual and audio elements. Thus, it becomes easier to elicit emotion and create an immersive experience that’s memorable to potential customers. 

Rather than promote the brand’s offering outright, marketers using video storytelling can integrate it into the overall message or narrative of the video. This helps to indirectly illustrate why the product or service addresses the audience’s pain points, which can be more effective with certain audiences. In other words, it allows marketers to “show” rather than “tell” potential customers why their product or service is so great. 

The Benefits of Using Video Storytelling in Marketing

Here are some of the reasons why companies choose to use video storytelling as a powerful marketing tool: 

Brand Familiarity 

Video storytelling allows organizations to showcase the brand’s personality and ethos more clearly than in a written format. This helps audiences connect with your brand in a way that can establish trust and loyalty, making them more compelled to buy from you compared to other options on the market.  

Differentiation

Especially for companies operating in a crowded marketplace, effective video storytelling can clearly differentiate them from their competitors. It can help them leave a lasting impression with potential customers, which further supports brand awareness.  

Better Engagement

A well-constructed marketing video can help to grab the attention of your audience, stimulating more of their senses than written words alone. Color choice, pacing, lighting, dialogue and voiceover are all specific elements marketers can adjust to evoke a desired emotion or response from their audience.  

Higher Conversions

Better engagement can result in better sales performance for the company. Recent data from the University of Southern California supports this, explaining that a consumer’s emotional response to an ad has a greater influence on their intent to buy than the ad’s content. 

Another report shows that 93% of marketers believe video converts better or the same as other forms of content. So, it’s a highly effective tool that should be in every marketing department’s strategy. 

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Written by Bailey Schramm in partnership with designer furniture retailer Bauhaus 2 Your House

The post The Power of Storytelling in Video Marketing appeared first on COLDEA Productions, LLC.

Capturing Buyer Interest: How Video Marketing Draws Eyeballs

Video marketing excels in drawing buyer interest far more effectively than traditional static images. The dynamic nature of video content allows potential buyers to experience a property’s ambiance and dimensions in real time, which can be important in forming a first impression. As viewers are guided through each room, they gain a deeper appreciation of the property’s unique features and the lifestyle it promises. Further, statistics show that properties featured in video tours receive more views and longer engagement times compared to those presented only in photos. In some states, like California, it is expected that the property will have a video showcasing it.

Telling a Story: The Narrative Power of Video

Video marketing harnesses the power of narrative to transform a simple home listing into a compelling story that resonates with potential buyers. Videos allow for the integration of music, voiceovers, and sequences that showcase daily life, which can evoke feelings of aspiration and belonging. This method proves particularly effective as buyers envision themselves in the home, influenced by the carefully curated scenes that suggest a desirable lifestyle. These emotionally charged narratives are important in swaying buyer decisions, making them more inclined to pursue a property that feels like a dream transformed into reality.

Wider Reach, Bigger Impact: Video Marketing’s Expansive Audience

The expansive reach of video marketing significantly amplifies the visibility of real estate listings across various platforms. Videos are shared and viewed on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, where large audiences spend a substantial amount of online time. Furthermore, the engaging nature of video content ensures that these listings capture more attention than traditional formats, keeping viewers interested and more likely to interact with the content. The strategic use of these platforms multiplies the impact of marketing efforts, drawing more potential buyers and boosting the chances of a quick sale.

Showcasing Property Features Uniquely: The Visual Advantage

Video marketing offers a distinct visual advantage that highlights the key features of a property in a way photos alone cannot. Through video, potential buyers can experience the true flow of a home’s layout, the interplay of light in various spaces throughout the day, and the lushness of the landscaping—all pivotal selling points that static images might only suggest. This immersive view helps viewers visualize living in the space, appreciating features like the echo of footsteps on hardwood floors or the views from a balcony. These colorful, moving images create a realistic sense of the property, providing a more comprehensive understanding and appreciation of what the home has to offer.

SEO Benefits: Boosting Visibility in Home Listings

Video content significantly enhances the SEO of home listings, making them more visible and accessible to potential buyers online. Search engines favor websites with engaging content like videos, which tend to keep visitors on the page longer, signaling quality and relevance. Incorporating videos into listings boosts their rankings in search results and increases the likelihood of clicks and shares. Optimizing video content with the right keywords, tags, and compelling descriptions further enhances visibility, drawing more traffic to the listing.

Behind the Scenes: Making a Compelling Real Estate Video

Creating a compelling real estate video requires thoughtful preparation and technical know-how. Selecting the right equipment is essential, from cameras that capture high-definition footage to drones that provide aerial shots of the property. As an illustration, setting up proper lighting can dramatically improve the quality of the video. It’s essential to consider the angles from which each part of the property is filmed to ensure a comprehensive and attractive presentation.

As realtors prepare homes for filming, organizing spaces becomes essential, often necessitating the assistance of professional storage services to ensure each room appears perfect on camera. Therefore, partnering with companies like Royal Moving and Storage California can streamline this process, allowing realtors to focus on creating a video that highlights the property’s best features. Whether managing bulky furniture or delicate decor, reliable movers play a pivotal role in the video production process, ensuring every scene is set to impress potential buyers.

Real Results: Case Studies on Video Marketing Success

Exploring real-world examples illuminates the tangible benefits of video marketing in the real estate industry. Numerous case studies reveal properties sold significantly faster and at higher prices, largely due to strategic video marketing. These case studies typically feature homes that stood out with professionally crafted videos showcasing everything from panoramic views to intricate interior details, which resonated deeply with potential buyers. These success stories underline common factors such as high-quality visuals and engaging narratives that captured the essence of the properties. Highlighting these aspects provides a blueprint for effective video marketing. It inspires confidence in realtors considering this approach, demonstrating the clear competitive advantage and return on investment that video marketing can offer.

The Impact of Video Marketing: Enhancing Home Sale Success

The impact of video marketing on the success of home sales is both profound and measurable. This dynamic tool displays homes in their best light and significantly broadens their exposure across digital platforms. As potential buyers increasingly prefer video over traditional media, homes featured in engaging video tours are more likely to attract attention and prompt action. Also, drone footage is exploding in popularity, and you should use this trend to your advantage. This marketing strategy effectively communicates the unique value and lifestyle a property offers, making it easier for buyers to create an emotional connection even before they visit in person.

Conclusion: Sealing the Deal with Video

The impact of video marketing is revolutionizing how real estate is sold, delivering significant advantages to both sellers and buyers. For realtors, adopting video as a core part of their marketing strategy is no longer just an option but a necessity in a market that values innovation and engagement. In short, real estate professionals who leverage video effectively find themselves at a competitive advantage, achieving quicker sales at potentially higher values. Hence, embracing video marketing is essential for anyone looking to succeed in the ever-evolving world of real estate sales.

The post The Impact of Video Marketing on a Home Sale Success appeared first on COLDEA Productions, LLC.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing involves the strategy of sharing any form of media that serves the purpose of promotion while also being informational and entertainment purposes.

Content marketing can be any of the following:

• Social media posts
• Blogs
• Informational articles
• Videos
• Email
• Print promotions
• Newsletters

Marketing Content Strategies for Accounting Firms

Accounting firms can use several marketing content strategies to help enhance, optimize, and grow their business. Some of the marketing content strategies an accounting firm can use are:

Optimize Your Website

Tap into your accounting technical skills and optimize your website. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a beneficial content marketing strategy that can help get your accounting firm’s website to the top of the search ranking.

SEO works by interpreting the keywords, page titles, meta description, and other data on your website and categorizing it by how relevant it is to a person’s search.

For example, if someone types in “ tax accounting firms near me,” and your website doesn’t pop up on the top of that person’s search results, there’s a reason for it. Your website isn’t as optimized as it could be.

Tips to optimize your website

Optimizing your website is an important, effective marketing content strategy that will help more clients find your company online as well as bring your website to the top of search engines’ search rankings.

Create authentic, purposeful keywords.

Keywords are what Google uses to search for sites when a person conducts a search in their search engine. When using keywords, think about the keywords your clients would use to find you. 

Some examples of great keywords an accounting firm can use on their website so customers can find them better are:

• CPA
• Accountants
• Bookkeeping
• Income tax
• Tax return
• Tax
• QuickBooks
• Audit
• Payroll

Aside from using single keywords, your accounting firm can also use keyword phrases, such as “small business accounting firm,” “accounting services for your small business, “ “B2B accounting”, or “generally accepted accounting principles.”

Use backlinks

Backlinking webpages means linking your site to other sites. Gain backlinks by collaborating with other companies or causes and asking to link their website to yours.

Remember that backlinks are the third most important factor in Google’s ranking system. You must use backlinks correctly and authentically. 

Adding as many links as possible can hurt your website’s status instead of helping it. More is not better. Backlinking is a marketing content strategy that needs to be carefully considered as it’s conducted.

Optimize your website metadata.

Metadata is the information you provide about your website so Google and other search engines know what your website is about.

Your website metadata includes your website page titles, the description underneath your website header detailing what your website is, and keywords.

Optimize page titles

Incorporating keywords into your website page titles will help optimize your website. The trick to optimizing your page titles is to keep the keywords minimal and don’t over-optimize them. Otherwise, your practice will be deemed as “keyword stuffing,” and Google will consider your website spam.

Get creative with your page titles to make them authentic; however, keep them relevant to your clients’ searches to find your business.

Reduce page loading times.

There is nothing more annoying than clicking on a website to find out the information you desperately need and having a website take minutes to load. You can reduce your webpage loading time by doing the following things;

Reduce image size

Keep all the images on your website at 1920 pixels wide and 1080 high or under 200 KB or smaller.

Keep file sizes small.

The more content you have on your website, the bigger the files your website contains. This slows down your website and can frustrate visitors. To prevent larger file sizes, break down your website and only create webpages that are necessary to get your point and brand across.

In other words, don’t overwhelm your website or visitors with multiple web pages so navigating through your website is hard. Be concise and to the point. Only provide the necessary information. Everything else should be organized through social media posts, websites like Yelp, or newsletters.

Another way to optimize your website is to add a section on one of your web pages where your website visitors can sign up for a monthly newsletter or weekly updates about your company.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a content marketing strategy that can help keep your clients informed about your company. Many accounting firms and other businesses opt to create an e-newsletter to inform and educate their clients and involve them in current events within their company.

Tips on creating a newsletter 

Create catchy headlines

Capture your audience’s attention by creating catchy headlines. Match those headlines with read-worthy content.

Create read-worthy content

Content is key in a newsletter. Creating read-worthy content will keep your audience engaged and keep them from deeming your newsletters as spam.

Make your content informational and informative.

Update your audience about new things happening within your company. Ensure you have enough visuals to tell a story. Take photos or even provide videos.

Newsletter design

Ensure your newsletter is designed to fit your brand. Also, make sure the design of your newsletter is clean, and the color scheme isn’t overbearing.

Be consistent

When sending your newsletters to your subscribers, ensure you email them consistently. For example, if you plan to create a weekly newsletter, send it on the same day of the week.

For monthly newsletters, send your newsletter around the same time of the month, either at the beginning or end of the month. Just be consistent.

Other tips for creating flawless audience-engaging newsletters are to have more content than promotional material. This will help keep your audience engaged in your business and not feel bombarded by advertisements.

Also, test your e-newsletter before sending it to your subscribers. Test and send your newsletter to a personal or work email to ensure it works properly and appears how you want it to. Adjust as needed and get a second, or even a third, opinion before sending your final draft.

Ensure to incorporate keywords and catchy headlines in your finished, polished e-newsletter.

The post Marketing Content Strategies for Accounting Firms: A Roadmap to Success appeared first on COLDEA Productions, LLC.

Collect customer data

No matter what marketing approach you take, collecting customer data is an essential step. You can do this process in a couple of different ways. Some of the more efficient ones are:

• Online surveys: This is the easiest way to collect customer data. You can create an online form that will be presented to the user while they are browsing your website. It can happen when they hit the home page, search for specific items, or make a purchase. You can also send survey forms via email one to two weeks after purchase to ask for feedback.
• In-person feedback: If you own a retail store, you can hand out feedback cards to your clients and ask if they can fill them in. Or, you can leave them throughout the store or at the checkout. This is a very personal approach, and it requires a lot more engagement on the employee side. They need to know how to approach customers properly without seeming too pushy or invasive.
• Website analytics: If you are running an eCommerce video marketing strategy, a good thing about online businesses is that every click your customers make gets recorded. You can analyze the most important metrics, like visited pages, clicks, views, and so on, to better understand your customers.

You should also do your best to record the name of the person leaving the feedback. That way, you have specific data tied to that customer, which will help you during the content creation process.

Once you have collected enough customer data, you can analyze it to outline the most important information. That is what you will use in your personalized video marketing campaign.

Segment the audience

While it is sometimes possible to target one specific customer, when we talk about creating a campaign for broader audiences, it is necessary to segment them into different groups based on the collected data. You can do customer segmentation based on the following:

• Demographics: Age, gender, education, income, etc.
• Geolocation: Country, city, region, neighbourhood, language, culture
• Purchase behaviour: Type of purchased products, money spent, type of viewed products, etc.

These are just a couple of examples. Segmenting customers into these groups is crucial because then you can create tailored content to match that group of customers. For example, if you are selling clothes, you will have to split your customers into different groups based on their years and create a unique marketing approach for each group.

Create personalized video content

All the steps we have covered are crucial for the video production process. If you do not know what your customers want, you cannot create engaging content. Now that the base is covered let’s see how to create engaging and personalized video content.

First, think about the type of video you want to use. Some types include product reviews, customer testimonials, tutorials, how-to guides, etc.

It is also important to consider the length of the video, which will directly depend on your audience. For example, if you are targeting a business person, you want shorter videos with relevant and valuable material. They do not have time to spend on long videos with a lot of fluff that only have 5 minutes of watching content.

If you want to target teenagers, it is a good idea to consider shorts of 5-10 seconds or minute-long videos. Their attention span is short, and they will quickly switch to something else if they are not entertained in the first few seconds.

When creating content, we must also mention that you want to use the best video editing software. This is necessary to ensure high quality. While there are many different tools to create quality content and a variety of some of the best video editing software, you need to consider the features you need and also the pricing.

The final step is to develop the type of content you want to present. This will substantially depend on your research and the segmented groups. Keep in mind that each group must feel that tailor-made touch. You will need to mention a specific location or a different segmentation factor, depending on the group you are talking to.

Optimize content for different platforms

This is another crucial step. Think about what you are trying to achieve with the video. While you are marketing your products, it is also important to think about how the audience will react to videos and whether they will share them or not.

For example, creating a 5-minute video for YouTube might not go for Instagram or TikTok video marketing. You will need to make it shorter to fit the format of that specific social media platform. This is where another segmentation group comes into place. You could do a survey to learn what social media apps your customers use the most. Based on the result, you will have to optimize your content for that many platforms.

Perform A/B testing and measure the results

The final step in any marketing campaign is testing and tweaking the ads. Once you have your videos made, you want to do A/B testing. That means you should post two similar videos with one small difference. Observe the reactions and see which one has the better result.

For example, today, creating short videos that loop is very popular so that you can watch them continuously. The first sentence in the video should be the continuation of the last sentence. A good idea would be to create a looped video and a non-looped video and see which one performs better.

Utilize a personalized video marketing strategy to grow your business

Once you develop a personalized video marketing strategy, you should build a template for future use. Remember the process, and try to improve it every time you create a new video. If you invest your resources into personalized video content, your business will have a high chance of success!

The post How to Use Personalized Video Marketing for Better Engagement appeared first on COLDEA Productions, LLC.

1. Risk – How Much You’re Willing to Risk Is Determined by Your Risk Tolerance

You need to understand that risk tolerance is different for everyone. Your age, income, and financial goals will determine your risk tolerance. 

If you are younger and have a higher income, you may be more willing to take on more risk than someone older with less income. If you’re saving for retirement, it’s important to have a low-risk investment portfolio because the last thing you want is to lose money at this point in your life when your time horizon is longer than when saving for short-term goals like paying off debt or buying a car.

You also have an individual personality that determines how much risk you are comfortable taking; some people are very conservative, while others will take any opportunity they can get their hands on.

2. Goals – As You Plan Your Strategy, Think About Your Investment Goals

It would be best to consider your investment goals before selecting a portfolio. Think about how much time it will take to achieve them, and don’t be too ambitious or conservative. If you want to retire in 20 years and have no current savings, there may be better strategies than aggressively investing. 

On the other hand, if you have saved enough money but plan on retiring early (say at 50), then investing more aggressively now could put you at risk of outliving your money later in life if something unexpected happens in those last few years before retirement.

Generally, there are two types of investors: those who want high returns and those who wish to have low risk (and correspondingly lower returns). Your investment goal will determine which type of investor category matches up best with how comfortably risk-averse or aggressive your personality is and how much time is left until retirement/an emergency fund goal date arrives.

3. Diversification – Investing Across Asset Classes and Within Asset Classes

Diversification is important because it reduces risk. Most investors would take a slight reduction in return instead of taking on more risk, even if that means missing out on some gains.

You should diversify across different investments, such as stocks, bonds, and real estate. If you’re going to invest in just one type of asset class, it’s best to spread the money around, so you don’t put all your eggs in one basket (i.e., investing all your money in just one stock).

Consider These Factors Before Investing

Investing can be complicated, but by considering the four factors above, you can map out a sound strategy for investing that works for you. 

Investment is more than simply buying stocks or bonds. It’s also about what kind of risk you’re willing to take, how long until your money is needed and what sort of investments fit into your portfolio. Once these questions have been answered, it’s time to start building your portfolio.

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Written by Geraldine Orentas in partnership with silver wholesaler, Silver Superstore. 

The post 3 Key Factors to Consider When Investing appeared first on COLDEA Productions, LLC.

Why Video Marketing is Efficient for Business Owners?

Video marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach out to customers and promote your business. Customers can see products in action, learn about new services, and get help picking the right product for them. Additionally, video marketing allows you to create a more personal connection with your customers, building trust and loyalty. 

Here are five reasons why video marketing is powerful for businesses: 

1.  Video Marketing Is Engaging: Videos are more engaging than any other type of content because they allow customers to see products in action and hear about new services in a way that’s easy to understand. 
2.  Video Marketing Is contagious: Studies have shown that when people watch videos about something they’re interested in, they tend to become more interested in that thing as well. 
3.  Video Marketing Is Personalized: When you create a video that’s customized for your audience, it becomes much more likely that they’ll take action on it. 
4.  Video Marketing Isn’t Complicated: Online videos are easier than ever to create – and customers love them! It’s no wonder why so many companies are turning to video marketing. 
5.  Video Marketing is Just as Effective as Traditional Marketing: In fact, it can be more effective. When a person engages with your video, they’re more likely to spend money on your product or service than someone who just saw it on a billboard or in print. 

TikTok for Marketing: Pros and Cons

Video marketing is growing in popularity, and there are many platforms out there to choose from. While some are better for certain businesses than others, what’s the most powerful for a business?

Pros of TikTok for Marketing:

-TikTok is very user-friendly. Anyone can start using it without any prior video editing experience.

-It’s versatile. You can use TikTok to create videos specifically for Instagram, Facebook, or even YouTube.

-The platform is growing fast. In 2018, it was estimated that TikTok had 200 million monthly active users. That number grew to 1 billion this year.

-TikTok videos are short and sweet. They’re easy to share and hard to forget.

Cons of TikTok for Marketing:

-There isn’t a lot of room to be creative with TikTok videos. They need to be short and sweet, and they can’t be too complex or technical. This makes them more suitable for simple marketing campaigns rather than more elaborate strategies.

-TikTok videos don’t usually have a lot of SEO potential. They’re short, which makes them hard to optimize. The videos also don’t have a lot of relevant keywords that users can use to find them.

-TikTok videos are only available on mobile devices and work best on smartphones. Since they’re always streaming and there isn’t much storage space, you need to be able to take your phone with you at all times. In a world where people are constantly searching for new ways to communicate and share information,

Why Start Using TikTok for Marketing?

While it may not be as well known as some of the other social media apps out there, TikTok has become one of the most powerful tools for marketing businesses. Here are five reasons why: 

1.  TikTok is easy to use: If you’re already using Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, then you’ll have no problem uploading and sharing your TikTok videos with your followers. Many business owners find that they spend less time editing their videos and more time engaging with their followers. You can convert the ai video generator from your other social media platforms and use the preferred video type for that platform.
2.  There’s a huge audience for TikTok videos: According to studies, TikTok has a monthly 1 billion monthly active users as of the data for January 2022.
3. TikTok videos are shareable: Unlike some other forms of video content, like YouTube videos, which need to be edited before they

What can you do to make it more engaging?

1.  Make a video case. Before you start filming, make a case for why video is the best marketing medium for your business. Convince your team and clients that video is not just another way to produce content—it’s an essential part of your strategy.
2.  Use video to explain your product or service. The video should help customers understand what you offer and why it’s valuable. Use videos to showcase how your product or service works, demonstrate how it can solve a problem, or show off customer testimonials.
3.  Use video to engage customers on a deeper level. Video can be used to build trust and connect with customers on a deeper level than text or images can alone. Use videos to show employees interacting with customers, show how your product or service makes people’s lives better, or show off how you’re solving a specific problem.
4.  Use video to build relationships with customers. Video can help you build stronger relationships with your customers. Videos can be used to educate your customers on specific features of your product or service, show how your team works, and emphasize the merits of using your product over another product.
5.  Use video to promote sales. Video is increasingly being used by companies to increase website traffic and drive more sales.

Conclusion

In the end, the most powerful form of business is video marketing. It can grab and keep people’s attention for extended periods and can be used to build brand awareness and create customer relationships. Video marketing is also cost-effective, which makes it a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes.

The post TikTok and Video Marketing is Very Powerful For A Business appeared first on COLDEA Productions, LLC.

When you have a clear workflow and chart of the video production process, every team and individual will better understand their roles and responsibilities. Having everything outlined will prevent tasks from falling through the cracks, and you’ll be more prepared to stay under budget and meet deadlines. All of this will help you have a high-quality video in the end.

1. Pre-Production

Pre-production is a critical stage in video production. Here’s when you lay out the foundation for your video. Poor pre-production can become expensive down the line and impact the quality of your video. Here you’ll do all the prep work you need to produce a video.

The pre-production stage includes:

• Completing a creative brief that outlines the innovative ideas, defines the objectives and messages of the video, identifies the audience, and proposes the budget and timeline for the production.
• Writing the first script and storyboard to have an overall idea of how the video is going to flow and visualize each scene better.
• Planning and scheduling the production to ensure everyone is aware and in agreement with their deadlines.

2. Production

The production stage is where all the planning you’ve done so far comes together. You need to be on top of your pre-production timelines and plans to ensure production goes according to plan. Depending on the type of video you’re doing, production includes:

• Shooting the footage
• Conducting interviews
• Record any voice-overs and audios

3. Post-Production

After all the hype of the production comes post-production. Here’s where all the film and audio you’ve done so far come together. During post-production, producers, editors, and designers come together to mix and organize all the files you have in a way that makes sense. The video goes through various rounds of revisions until it’s sent off for final approval. The post-production usually includes:

• Editing the video, interviews, voice-overs, and audio files
• Gathering feedback from the team
• Making revisions as needed

4. Promotion

An often left-behind portion of the video production flow chart is the publishing and promoting phase. Depending on the goals and strategic vision for the video, your publishing phase will look different. However, this usually includes:

• Formatting and hosting the video in your desired location
• Setting up tracking analytics to measure ROI
• Marketing and distributing the video

Then, you also have to think about how the video will be promoted. Some popular ways to promote videos include:

• Sharing them on social media
• Distributing them through paid ads
• Using PR to spread the word to different outlets
• Buying TV ads
• Incorporating the video into marketing materials

Building a Video Production Flow Chart

Video is a versatile marketing tool that can be transformed to meet different strategies. Big or small, building a video production flow chart is the same and equally important. Focusing on these stages is critical to have a successful video marketing campaign.

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Geraldine Orentas is a writer from Happy Writers, Co. in partnership with personal and business checks retailer Checkworks.

The post Video Production Process Flow Chart appeared first on COLDEA Productions, LLC.

That’s right. In today’s overstimulated society, you can have a great product to sell, but if you don’t market yourself properly, you’ll end up as just another one of those forgotten fails. The good news is that there are lots of experts only too glad to share their marketing wisdom with today’s eager business owners.

Of course, you want to start out knowing that there is a demand for your product, that you’re targeting the right niche audience, and that your messaging is clear, honest, and inoffensive. But, then what? That’s where the experts come in. So, whether you’re selling the world’s fastest running shoes, a revolutionary technology, or a service that just can’t be beaten, pull up your chair, and learn from the best.

Marketing Strategies for Win #1: Use inbound marketing like a boss

Everyone talks about inbound marketing, but few actually take the time to learn enough about the subject to really make a difference. That’s why this video is my first recommendation. We all know how important inbound marketing is, but how many of you really know what it is, how to do it properly, and where to go next?

This video really takes you in-depth into the topic, walks you through the stages of attracting, convert, close, delight, and more. One thing to note, this video is an hour long. You can listen to it on a faster speed to cut down on the length, but the value you get from it is really worth the time investment. And remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Marketing Strategies for the Win #2: Piggyback on other people’s successes…and failures

Smaller businesses (or bigger businesses that haven’t grown into themselves yet) don’t always have the budget that billion-dollar corporations do for marketing, but they really don’t need it. One of the easiest ways to propel your business forward when you’re just getting started is to market your brand off of the coattails of another, bigger company’s actions.

Now, there are plenty of examples that you can find to use a larger business’ success to make some noise (posting a useful guide on a successful blog, offering a free trial from an established Facebook page, etc.), but if you really want to be creative (and get noticed), why not take advantage of a company’s faux pas? 99designs did just this perfectly. A few years back, Gap tried rebranding by launching a new logo. Long story short, the logo was terrible, and fans were appalled. Gap took a lot of heat, got loads of bad press, and took a dive in their stocks as well.

But 99designs, a small logo design company, saw this as a golden opportunity and ran with it. They launched a competition urging designers to help Gap out by coming up with a better logo design they could use instead of the flop. Now, people were already talking about the Gap blunder, so when the competition launched, tens of thousands of people already tapped into this Buzzfeed eagerly jumped into the competition, giving 99designs huge coverage. That’s smart marketing.

In this video, Randy Komisar, a wildly successful venture capital partner, and entrepreneur talks about how he used failure to propel himself and many other companies forward to even bigger successes than before. Take a look.

Marketing Strategies for Win #3: Better their lives in some way

We can’t have a marketing roundup without including something from the master, Steve Jobs. In this video, Jobs gives over his million-dollar message to any company out there: marketing is about values. Everyone wants to solve their problems, and your job as a marketer is to prove to the consumers that your product does just that. And the way the big dogs make this happen (and the way even little dogs can become successful in their own niches) is by showing that they care and that they’re there to make your lives better in some way.

Jobs go through the big brands and products and show us their secrets, show us how they promote betterment not statistics, numbers, or specs. Nike doesn’t tell us their sneakers are made of premium grade rubber. They SHOW us how great athletes are, their prowess, their power. And those athletes wear Nike. Show people that your brand can make their lives better, and you’re golden.

Marketing Strategies for the Win #4: Link out to other credible resources

Another marketing giant of today, Neil Patel, gives beginner marketers a great and super simple tip to start building your audiences. It’s a really short video, only a few minutes long, and in it, Neil talks about this idea: linking out to credible resources. He even says that you should link out to competitors when it is relevant. What?! I know it seems really counterintuitive to drive traffic away from your site and to competitors, but here’s the logic.

Your brand is new, and nobody knows who you are or what you’re about. You post an article on your blog, and you offer good information. Hey, this guy knows what they’re talking about. You add in a link to a useful tool that your competitor has. Wow, they’ve even got a tool I can use. Suddenly consumers are getting to know you, and what they’re getting to know is that you’re someone who they can turn to for useful information, helpful tools, and genuine value.

So yeah, that’s worth all the linking out you do big time. What’s more, many people will appreciate the attention and link back to you in one of their articles, giving your site more attention and credibility. The bottom line, linking out to credible resources (even competitors) builds trust, reliability, and value.

Marketing Strategies for Win #5: Utilize educational marketing to position your brand

Something interesting has occurred over the past few years. Consumers are no longer going to websites to see what the brand has to say about their product. Instead, customers are looking elsewhere for their information. They’re going to review sites, they’re scouring the internet, they’re doing research. While this might not seem like a big deal (after all, customers are still buying products at the end of the day), this is actually a major shift that marketers need to address.

These days, consumers don’t want to be sold to, they want to be informed. They want to be given information, so they can make their own choices based on education. So, the smart marketer will give consumers the information they’re looking for to make a good decision on their own. Enter education marketing.

By giving over the information consumers are looking for, this does several things:

1. Establishes you as an authority
2. Shows customers that you’re there to help
3. Lets you give over your message sincerely
4. Creates buyer trust
5. It creates a deeper relationship with your customers. After all, you’re not the seller, you’re an educator

Here’s a short video clip that helps explain the concept perfectly. With educational marketing, you answer questions and give genuinely useful and good content. Use all the tools in your toolbox (blog posts, ebooks, videos, etc.) and give over as much valuable information as you can. And then they’ll come running with wallets open!

Marketing Strategies for Win #6: Use emotions

Most people go through life sort of on autopilot. We get up, go to work, do our thing, come home, take a shower. Rinse, repeat. There isn’t much that shocks us out of our status quo, but one thing does. Emotions. Complex emotions are what separate us from other species (sorry cat lovers, read the studies), they’re what make our days good or bad, humdrum or meaningful. Emotions make things, experiences, and people stand out in our minds.

And that’s what brands need to take advantage of. The power of emotions is so compelling that major companies use them to propel their brands forward. Coke is a perfect example of this. The brand sells a fizzy drink that’s terrible for our health and rots our teeth, but that’s not what people think of when they hear Coke. Check out their commercials and this video that explains them. You’ll see a lot of these messages:

• Friendship
• Happiness
• Relaxation
• Holiday festivities
• Success
• Spreading joy
• Sharing
• Family

Coke isn’t selling a drink, they’re selling positive values. And that’s something everyone wants to buy.

Marketing Strategies for Win #7: Leverage influencers marketing

Influencers are major players in the world, and marketers would do well to take advantage of them. These players tell thousands, if not more, people what’s cool, what’s new, and what’s worth buying. In this quick clip, Neil Patel shows us how and why to leverage brand influencers for marketing success.

Marketing Strategies for Win #8: Social media marketing, a new twist

Gary Vaynerchuk takes the idea of social media marketing and totally spins it on its head. I mean, he has a fabulous delivery whenever he speaks, but this video gives you one of the biggest key factors in marketing success. In fact, this is probably the best message any marketer (heck any person) can hear to influence their marketing campaign success.

In this video, Gary tells you all about his secret power: it’s called optimism. He doesn’t just take a head in the clouds type of mentality. Really, he talks about how to use all the marketing techniques, all the business opportunities, all the technologies, and everything that comes into your hands properly. Oh yeah, and then he talks about social media marketing and what a valuable tool it is when used properly. Check it out.

There you have it. Eight of the best marketing tools and tricks you can use (along with helpful videos in case you can’t stand reading this again and again) to make your business boom.

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