A website video is just the tip of the branded-content iceberg

Gone are the days when a single video on your website would help you stand out. Brands have been using video content to capture the attention of consumers for decades. Perhaps a friendly lizard and a slightly annoying duck come to mind? The concept of the company website itself emerged in the mid-90s, and by the turn of the millennium, it had become a basic requirement for anyone running a business. What began as a novel way to explain what your business offered is no longer enough. Today, in addition to a website, you must develop a strong presence across multiple social media channels and a well-orchestrated content marketing strategy to help you share information and engage prospective customers and clients. [si_guide_block id="85104" title="Download FREE Resource – Top 10 common content marketing mistakes" description="Grow your audience and build interest and leads by…

Chart of the day: According to research by Salesforce, over half of ad spend is allocated to Facebook (including Instagram) or search marketing (Including Google search)

In the previous year, 30% of ad budget was allocated to Facebook and Instagram and 28% was allocated to Google and Bing paid search ads. Facebook budget is expected to increase slightly by 1% to 31% and search budget allocation is expected to stay the same at 28%. Compared to other channels such as youTube, Display, and Linkedin, Pinterest and Snapchat etc. Facebook and Google are dominating the ad space with most ad budget allocated to them. Next year, 66% of digital ad spend will go to Google, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. Over the last year, 65% of businesses have increased their video advertising budget, with more money going on video on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. …

The latest trends and innovations using VR / AR and interactive video to keep an eye on in 2018

Video is by no means a new marketing innovation, but it seems to be on the rise and considered the number one content consumption channel. It is still regarded as a highly popular method to distribute content to increase engagement rates across all digital channels. According to HubSpot's State of Inbound 2017 report, video is the main disruptor for marketers, yet YouTube and Facebook video are the 2 most popular distribution channels that marketers want to introduce into their strategy in the next 12 months. However, it is important that these trends that are most popular are developed further with new and innovating ways to keep consumers engaged. [si_guide_block id="79375" title="Download Member Resource – Marketing Technology and Media Innovations guide" description="The…

Chart of the Day: Importance of video in digital marketing

As marketers find newer, more creative ways to attract audiences, video usage is becoming a key scope of interest for revenue growth. Video is no longer considered a niche skill or category when trying to expand the types of content that your company can produce. The costs and skills required for video production have gone down tremendously in the past years, making it a highly efficient way of communicating your brand’s story. Alongside the power of visuals, videos can also be used to create an engaging narrative that not only draws the audience in but also helps build relationships with your consumers and prospects. “The State of Video Marketing 2017” study reported that for the fourth consecutive year, over 90% of participants have said that video is becoming more and more important as a form of marketing content. …

Interview: Itamar Ben Hemo, CEO of Rivery

One of the many recurring questions we get asked at Smart Insights and in our member's Facebook group is, is there one platform that tracks and manages all ads and content across various distribution channels? Monitoring performance of campaigns all in one place is a burning desire for many marketers - the idea being that it's much simpler than having separate tools. Our essential digital marketing tools wheel highlights the different options available across the Smart Insights RACE framework to help you review where you could make better use of these tools across the customer lifecycle. A new data consolidation platform, Rivery, has launched a tool that collects data from all sources, including advertising, social, Google, email, internal data etc.) so it can then be streamlined and manipulated from a single source. We spoke to CEO…

More and more businesses are embracing the concept of big data versus treating it like just another buzz-phrase.

Once heralded as “the next big thing,” adoption of big data analytics is at an all-time high with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. With big data and business analytics software projected to reach nearly $200 billion in revenue by 2019, it's clear that the business world's decision to bet on data has paid off so far. So, what's the catalyst for such rapid adoption in the first place? After all, not all data is created equal and the need for massive numbers varies from company to company. According to a 2017 big data survey conducted by NewVantage, the top reasons for big data initiatives include decreasing expenses, exploring innovation opportunities and launching new products and services: Although big data…

How you can use Shopify to build your ecommerce business

When it comes to building websites for your business with so many options to choose from, sometimes it’s so overwhelming that you are tempted to just purchase from the first website you go to. You should buy your website from Shopify as this is the easiest, cheapest and most convenient way for a business to set up a store and start selling their products and services online straight away. If you're not tech savvy and you want your own e-commerce store, and have outgrown marketplaces like eBay or Amazon, and just starting out, go with Shopify. Last month, the leading multi-channel commerce platform, Shopify announced in a press release that it now powers more than 500,000 businesses in 175 countries around the world. Since 2012, the number of merchants on the Shopify platform has grown annually at an average rate of 74%, and these…

Plus examples of what make an effective explainer video

Oscar Wilde used to say that experience is the name we give to our mistakes. However,  you don’t need to be as seasoned as good ol’ Oscar to know that. When it comes to video marketing, you can’t afford to make those mistakes in the first place. Especially when it comes to creating explainer videos. Developing explainer videos capable of summing up who you are in under 90 secs can be truly challenging. You can’t go into it blindfolded and full-out swinging – you need to have some certainties from the get go. But before diving into the specifics and giving you some much-needed insight on the things that you should never do, there’s a question that perhaps you might be asking yourself right now:

Where exactly do explainer videos fit into my marketing strategy?

Well,…

Use video to enhance your digital marketing strategy

Days of old fashioned mass ads “spray and pray” approach to advertising are long gone now and what the modern day advertisers need today is more precise targeting. Video is one approach you may not have considered. Video advertising today is organized more along the lines of a precise laser, rather than of an advertising equivalent of “shotgun” marketing. If the leads are what you are after in your online business, with 61 percent of successful businesses stating that they use video as a marketing tool. The very same tool helps them carve out revenue for themselves, as the research done by Eyeview demonstrated that using video on a landing page alone can increase conversion rates by 80 percent. The future of advertising is here and it offers lucrative propositions for those who can recognize it for what it genuinely is. Brain as an Additional…

6 top tips for creating a strategic social video on a budget

It only takes one train journey or a merry stroll through our towns to notice people of all demographics are glued to their phones. Much of the content they’re consuming is video and not just any video but mobile first video on social channels. In the marketing world, whenever video is mentioned there is a misconception that it’s budget breaking and therefore it’s overlooked in favour of less engaging formats. However, there are a number of cost saving hacks, which can be applied at different stages of the marketing funnel. These range from the use of phone footage and user generated content (UGC) through to ad spend and obtaining efficiencies through effective targeting. With that in mind, let’s explore how to incorporate video into your social strategies, even on a small budget in order to meet your objectives. [si_guide_block id="53829" title="Download our…