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How Short-Form Video Alters Marketing Evaluations

You may know that I have fully embraced short-form video during the past couple of months. This was not an easy transition. I had to overcome so much of what I thought I knew about marketing and advertising to do it.

Throughout this pivot, it’s become obvious to me that there are so many “old school” marketers and advertisers who just don’t get it. But, I fully understand and appreciate why they don’t get it because I was one of them until recently.

Maybe you are in this group of resistant marketers. Allow me to attempt to explain your reservations before arguing why you’re wrong (in the nicest, gentlest way possible).

First, I’ll tee this up with what I’m doing right now — a strategy that will feel wrong to many.

What I’m Doing

After years of prioritizing my blog (I haven’t abandoned it!), I now focus first on short-form video. I make time for recording and editing videos. At least one video will be published to TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts, and LinkedIn on most days.

My short-form videos are not promotional. They are created with the goal of solving a problem. The vast majority of them are tutorials or discussions of an advertising tactic (mostly Facebook ads, but some TikTok, too).

Each video is a minute long. There is no call-to-action button. No link in the description. Just helpful info.

Okay, maybe not 100% non-promotional. Of the more than 100 short-form videos I’ve published in two months, a few discussed what happened during one of my weekly webinars, strategy sessions, or one-on-one sessions. So, these were at least loosely promotional.

But those videos make up the extreme minority. And you can bet they were far less popular than the others.

The Argument Against It

The old-school marketer in me resisted this approach for years. Not just because I was intimidated by getting in front of a camera and the perceived work involved to do it well. I couldn’t get over the hurdle related to measurement.

I’ve been asked several times during the past couple of months questions related to ROI. How much revenue is this generating? Is it leading to positive ROI?

I understand. For years, I only cared about driving traffic to my website. I valued the traffic because traffic is what fed my funnel. More traffic, more people on my email list, and more customers.

These things could be measured pretty easily because I was sharing links. I knew how many people clicked those links, and I could often figure out how many of those clicks led to purchases.

But, links aren’t added to these videos. I’m not able to track what people do after watching them. Realistically, they aren’t immediately going to my website because there isn’t a link.

I’m spending a couple of hours per day creating these videos. Time is money. I am not tracking (able or willing) whether anyone watching these videos is then buying from me. Without links, that’s not possible.

Why not just add a link? Well, that misses the point. We’ll get to that point.

But, the argument is made that such efforts are a complete waste of time and money. If you can’t connect a marketing effort to revenue, you shouldn’t do it. It was a failure.

Right??

My Goals

Understand that it’s not that I don’t have the goal of making money. I just don’t care whether I can tie revenue to these efforts.

My goals for this approach can be summed up like this…

Build my brand. Establish and reinforce expertise. Be top-of-mind. When someone has a Facebook ads-related problem, they think of me.

I built my brand years ago. I established my expertise. But the truth is that I started to lose that fresh polish. I wasn’t in your feed every day because I refused to play the algorithmic game. And ultimately, I was no longer top-of-mind.

I don’t need any encouragement or reassurance. I understand I lost some of that. It was my own fault. And it was largely because I didn’t evolve with video.

My videos don’t need to remind you every day that I have a website. They don’t need to push my products in your face constantly to get you to buy them.

I want to be present in your feed, but I don’t want to be annoying. I want you to look forward to seeing me there. It’s not like the commercial that you can’t get out of your head.

I want to own the most-followed account for Facebook ads strategies, tutorials, and advice — on TikTok and everywhere. That isn’t the case right now because I relied far too much on the success of my website to carry me.

This doesn’t happen by creating videos that push my products. This happens by being useful.

The Difference with Video

Look, we know that video is different for marketers than links. Many of those differences are negatives related to tracking. But, there’s also a huge benefit in our favor.

Videos can initiate a relationship that written words struggle to create.

With videos, you see a side of people and brands you wouldn’t normally see. Connections can be made. You come away feeling like you actually know this person.

This connection grows with each video.

Measuring Results

This approach can be maddening, I know. I’ve been putting in countless hours the past couple of months refining my process and learning what works and what doesn’t work. And it absolutely is challenging to stay motivated when you don’t know that it’s helping.

Initially, my reassurance to keep going was a small, daily reminder. I’d consistently get comments on my Facebook Reels from people saying that they were happy to see me in their news feed again. That I helped them years ago but they haven’t seen my stuff in forever.

I hadn’t gone anywhere. But, it was obvious. Until this new effort, I was no longer top-of-mind.

Those little reminders were nice. But we needed something of substance. That substance has repeated itself the past couple of days.

In two days, four separate people have told me the same thing. They were inspired to buy something from me because of my videos. In each case, they followed me years ago, and then I disappeared. The videos moved the needle.

Not any particular video. Just the collection of videos. The constant, subtle reminder that I could help them.

Those four people combined to buy three memberships (two annual) and 12 one-on-one sessions (this is not a misprint, they booked in advance).

Without the videos, none of this would have happened. I’m confident of that. They are confident of that, too.

My Challenge to You

Because these four people told me this, I can connect the videos to revenue. But without their friendly words, I would have no idea. And it would have been easy to get frustrated. But we can’t. We must see the bigger picture.

I hope you’ll join me on this journey. I challenge you to look beyond the way we have always done things.

Some efforts don’t need to be tied directly to revenue to be worthwhile. Some efforts merely set the stage. They make the purchase possible, even if the effort itself didn’t direct that purchase.

I encourage to create videos — even most of your videos — that only aim to provide value. No direct and obvious goal of a sale.

Things are changing. If you want to show up on short-form video on TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts, you need to consider how people consume that content. Don’t force them to click links because of your need to measure your impact.

Watch Video

It’s only natural that I have a quick video that discusses this topic, too!

@jonloomer

Two examples of the amazing impact of short-form video.

♬ Vice (Hip Hop Instrumental) – SickBeats

If you haven’t yet followed me on TikTok, make sure you change that.

Your Turn

Obviously, this applies more to info marketing than it does to e-comm, but I’d argue there’s room in e-comm strategy for this as well.

Have you come around to this marketing approach? What do you think?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post How Short-Form Video Alters Marketing Evaluations appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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Stop Wasting Money on Ads and Start Attracting Audiences with Content Marketing

Advertisements are pricey. While they are a “necessary evil” for any marketing strategy, ads can burn through your entire budget faster than you can say “help!” Enter: content marketing.

Content marketing is a cost efficient way to get your name in front of prospects most likely to convert.  By creating and publishing your own content using proper SEO practices, you can cut down your advertising costs for good.

SearchEngineJournal.com says:

Organizations now have content teams with specific people and resources focusing exclusively on creating content, using it to engage specific audiences and drive business.

Having a designated team doesn’t fix all of your problems though. Over 54% of the companies surveyed claimed their biggest content marketing challenge is creating content that generates leads.

Here’s a quick brush-up on content marketing from Ahrefs to get your creative juices flowing:

Quick Takeaways:

  • Companies spend A LOT (even too much) on advertising
  • Content marketing is an effective tool to reduce spending and increase traffic on your site
  • Providing content people want to read is the most important part of the puzzle

So is content marketing that difficult? Well, it can be – but it is worth the effort. Content marketing is sustainable and gives the benefit of offering exponential growth to your brand.

There are some rules and guidelines you should follow to give yourself the best chance for optimal SEO rankings:

How To Effectively Use Content Marketing

Create must-see quality content

At the end of the day, content marketing is a business opportunity. How can you publish pieces that get the most out of this opportunity? You have to be relevant, credible, and aware of your prospects’ thinking processes.

Think about what your target audience is asking themselves on a daily basis. If your business was in power tools, your prospective clients might be researching DIY how-to projects around the house.

Publishing content like “10 ways to modernize your bathroom” or “Tools you should go buy TODAY” is a great way to build a portal directly to your site for an ideal prospect that you couldn’t get from a traditional ad.

These prospects are more likely to convert than say, someone who is not in the market for a drill seeing your advertisement on a banner ad. Creating organic interest in your product drives up your credibility, and thus your brand authenticity with a prospect.

Follow a distribution plan

Source: Ingram Content Group

Creating content is all well and good, but ultimately means less if you aren’t sharing it everywhere you can. A good first step is a social media audit. Where is your company plugged in – more importantly, where do you have a voice?

By keeping up on your social media presence, you are also opening an avenue to get your content in front of your customer’s eyes. Posting your new content across different platforms gives you a variety of outlets to send the same message to different people.

Not to mention, an open comment section is a place for your community to discuss ideas and connect with each other. This organic engagement is important to the viewership of your content and the overall value of your brand.

You don’t just have to use social media! Content marketing automation has made it easy to send out newsletters across different platforms quickly and easily. Places like Mailchimp and Constant Contact can keep your reader lists organized, not to mention provide excellent metrics for analysis.

Measure your efforts

Source: E-Commerce Germany News

What’s the point of putting in all this effort if you can’t tell what’s working? When creating your content marketing process, you have to define your key performance indicators (KPIs).

Examples of KPIs include:

  • Measuring how a content marketing campaign impacts your sales team’s productivity
  • Understanding the percentage of customers that were marketing-generated and what business was earned from content marketing
  • Measuring hours of work put into content marketing vs money put into ad spending

After you define your relevant KPIs, you tackle key these metrics to support your conclusions:

Traffic:

Traffic is about pageviews and users. Services like google analytics can give you an accurate read of this data. It also helps you see where exactly your views are coming from. This will show you where your efforts are succeeding and where there’s room for improvement.

Conversions:

Views are great, but what happens after the initial click? Conversion rate shows how many prospects are becoming customers. This metric is the real meat and potatoes of your content! Converting prospects should be your number one goal with content marketing.

SEO:

Seeing how your organic search rankings are performing is crucial to a healthy content marketing strategy. Keywords drive your content, because the higher you rank with keywords, the higher you are on Google’s search results. Be honest, when was the last time you clicked the seventh link down?

Put it all together (get help if you need it!)

You CAN and SHOULD use these tips to improve your content marketing. By creating quality sustainability, you can increase traffic to your site and awareness of your brand.

If you have a small operation, or simply don’t have the time to put into a content marketing campaign, hiring help could be the option for you. Hiring quality blog writers to work for you can be an important addition to your marketing team.

That’s not your only route though! You can also hire a marketing agency to create and curate content for your website. Many companies have experience with a wide array of clients, providing valuable insight you might not get from just hiring one or two writers.

Regardless of which way you go, content marketing is here to stay. If you’re only pouring money into advertisements, you’re missing out on free engagement with the most important people to your business – your customers.

Do you want to use some of the marketing strategies seen here on MIG’s site but need some help or advice? What luck! Marketing Insider Group has a team of 35+ experienced writers ready to produce content for YOUR business. Check out our weekly blog content service or schedule a free consultation.  If you’re ready to boost your revenue and cut down on ad spending, let’s talk. Get started today and generate more traffic and leads for your business!

The post Stop Wasting Money on Ads and Start Attracting Audiences with Content Marketing appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

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