Blog

It can be difficult to find the ideal candidate for a specific position — in fact, in 2021, 69% of companies have reported talent shortages and difficulty hiring – a 15-year high.
Regardless of the state of the economy and your talent pool, to succeed long-term, your business should be able to hire and retain the best, most talented employees.

But hiring can be a daunting task, which is why you need a talent acquisition strategy.

To succeed long-term, it’s critical you attract and retain talented employees regardless of vacant roles. Talent acquisition can help you do this, while solving for long-term organizational needs.

Now that you understand what talent acquisition is and how it differs from recruitment, let’s dive into the most effective talent acquisition strategies.

Here are eleven critical talent acquisition strategies to ensure you’re finding the best people.
1. Align with your business goals.
Consider your business goals for the next one to five years, and use those objectives to tailor your acquisition strategy to meet those needs. While recruitment tends to focus on filling vacancies within departments, talent acquisition is more about considering how your company is going to expand long term and then finding employees who can help take you there.
For instance, are you planning on expanding into Latin America? If so, perhaps your HR department should focus on attracting candidates with international or regional experience. Or, maybe you’re planning on creating a new product, in which case, your HR efforts should focus on attracting talented software developers and coders.
Certain roles might not even exist yet, but you’ll want to consider what type of talent you’ll need to hit your business’s long-term goals. Remember, investing in the right candidates will pay off for your company, long-term.
2. Use data and marketing to create better acquisition material.
You wouldn’t create a marketing campaign without data, so why should you recruit without it?
Talent acquisition should be treated with just as much importance as any of your marketing campaigns. Convincing people to join your company is just as necessary as incentivizing people to buy your products.
There are plenty of different opportunities to use data to strengthen your talent acquisition strategy. For instance, you might use data to figure out where your top talent came from, and use that information to focus your talent acquisition efforts on certain academic programs or professional networking sites.
Additionally, your HR team should partner with your marketing department to refine job descriptions, career pages, emails, and more.
Using data, you can figure out if certain questions are deterring candidates from filling out job applications, and eliminate those questions. Alternatively, perhaps you’ll find adding images or videos to highlight company culture incentivizes more candidates to fill out job forms. Or, maybe more candidates apply for a job with description A over description B.
By using analytics and data, you’re able to ensure your job descriptions and career pages aren’t deterring qualified people from applying.
Bullhorn is designed to tackle some of the biggest tasks of talent acquisition: recruiting candidates, and sorting through the job pool. Their software was created to streamline applicant tracking systems and improve profitability for any size business.
3. Expand outreach strategies.
To find better talent, you’ll need to expand your sourcing strategies. Different skill sets require different methods of outreach. You’ll find your best marketers in a different place than your best programmers, so you’ll want to diversify your sourcing approach.
Rather than spending all your time on LinkedIn, consider other specialized job boards, academic programs, or networking events where you might find a specific group of talented professionals. For instance, SmartRecruiter is a CRM that is developed for recruiting candidates and coordinating calendars for potential new hires.
It’s critical you identify where you can find the vast majority of your top talent, whether that be professional events, conferences, online forums, or social networks. Then, focus on strengthening relationships and networking with the right people — not only will you grow your pool of potential hires, but you’ll also grow brand awareness for your company, which will help you attract talent in the future, as well.
4. Build your company brand.
Millions of millennials and older Generation Z candidates make up the current job force. This group of potential employees came of age with the internet and social media. In researching your business, these individuals look at social media accounts, websites, and job boards to understand your work culture.
When looking into your company, candidates will have questions. What is the workplace atmosphere? Do their employees look happy? Is there potential for growth? Leverage your current employees and capitalize on the instant broadcast capabilities of your website and social media. Post images and videos of your employees at work. Encourage employees to interact with your company on its platforms. Congratulate employees on internal promotions.
Note the focus on employees. A company that focuses on the well-being of its staff is a place where people will strive to work. Building your company identity to reflect a positive, expanding environment can be an effective tool in your talent acquisition strategy.
5. Emphasize the company’s corporate social responsibilities.
Companies have taken a step back from policies that only benefit them. Your company needs to focus on pursuing its goals while benefiting others. Your company’s corporate social responsibilities (CSR) are a considerable tool for attracting top candidates aligned with your organization’s values and beliefs.
Corporate social responsibilities lead to the betterment of your brand image, workplace culture, and general society. For example, while Ben & Jerry’s is known for its collection of ice cream flavors, the brand also stands out for its long-standing commitment to social responsibilities. Since 1985, Ben & Jerry’s has donated 7.5% of its pretax earnings to social causes like Greenpeace and Vietnam Veterans of America. Since then, the company has supported voting rights, racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and more. With a menu item dedicated to its values on the landing page of its website, the ice cream company emphasizes the importance of its CSR.
On the career landing page for your company, your CSR should be immediately noticeable through images and videos throughout the page. If your company focuses on diversity and inclusivity, demonstrate that. If your company stands behind sustainability, illustrate that through your content. Employees rarely want to work for a company that contradicts their values and beliefs. Use your corporate social responsibilities to attract like-minded candidates who will be passionate about working for your business.
6. Increase budget for the DE&I department.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion is critical for creating a successful talent acquisition strategy — in fact, Dan Schawbel a best-selling author and managing partner of a New York City-based HR research and advisory firm says “This year, 70 percent of job seekers said they want to work for a company that demonstrates a commitment to diversity and inclusion.
The face of the workforce has changed drastically in the last fifty years. In 2022, there are more women and minorities applying for jobs, and as stated by Schawbel, the majority of job seekers want to see this reflected in a company.
DE&I training is imperative and demonstrates that your company is willing to stay current and relevant with changing times. To see an ROI on your investment in training, prioritize retention. During the job application process, continue to eliminate biases in resume reviewing. Ways to remove biases include removing names and photos when sourcing candidates, making applications and resumes anonymous before review, and creating a diverse hiring team.
7. Offer updated work options.
The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the American work model. Talent acquisition specialists adapt their work models to conduct online onboarding versus meeting candidates face-to-face. As the workforce evolves with more technological advances, workers will strive for more work/life balance.
A professional at Goldman Sachs posted a question on the finance message board of Blind, an anonymous professional network. They asked, “Would you rather make $30k more switching to a new job that requires you to work in the office, or would you rather keep your current salary but WFH anywhere after covid?” The network found that 64% of professionals prefer to permanently work from home over a $30K compensation increase. Other professional groups who favored permanent work from home over a compensation increase include Airbnb (71%), Lyft (81%), Twitter (89%), and Zillow Group (100%).
Employees want to work from home. Remote work models lead to higher productivity. On average, workers are 13% more productive when working from home. As technology continues to advance, your company needs to adjust and consider incorporating remote or hybrid work models while also cutting costs in outdated recruitment techniques to funnel the money into talent acquisition software.
8. Design a competitive and comprehensive benefits plan.
When it comes to compensation packages, employees may be willing to accept a lower salary if balanced by comprehensive health benefits e.g. medical, vision, and dental. Employees want good health benefits, and that includes mental health.
Life inside the workplace is not all that matters in talent acquisition. Consider what happens in an employee’s life outside the business. Does your business model allow for a healthy work/life balance? Are your employees able to receive sufficient healthcare? What kind of retirement or investment opportunities do you offer? Potential candidates will ask these questions about your company. It is necessary to provide the answers with a comprehensive benefits plan.
9. Promote internal diversity.
Many industries are dominated by men leading to women feeling underrepresented within the company’s culture. While the number of women in the workforce has increased significantly over the last few decades, men still hold most positions of power. There is also a racial disparity in corporate America. When HR departments create internal coalitions to rally morale, it increases diversity and inclusion efforts from inside the workforce. To build a diverse and inclusive culture, your company needs to give a voice to people from a wide range of backgrounds.
Diversity should be a company-wide model; however, it begins at the top. Educate yourself on various cultural traditions and backgrounds. Create a workplace where different perspectives are valued and voiced. Employees tend to follow the example of their boss or manager, and setting this example can span internal diversity across your company.
10. Partner with local universities to build an applicant pool.
To build a pipeline of potential candidates, companies partner with educational institutions. It helps establish a relationship between students and future employers.
Take IBM, for example. The technology corporation has partnered with The University of Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, and Florida State University to provide access to its systems for teaching and research. IBM has also planned joint-research collaborations with Duke University and Harvard University.
Instead of waiting for interested candidates to come across the company, IBM has started cultivating relationships with potential applicants. This strategy attracts candidates after graduation and boosts company retention.
11. Add other incentives.
Large to mid-size corporations use eye-catching bonuses and employee benefits to compete in a global market to attract top talent within the industry, but financial incentives aren’t the only things that matter.
When talented candidates are comparing companies, they’re going to consider values, culture, and work-life balance, too. By cultivating an impressive employer brand, you’ll attract better talent and find more long-term success.
To succeed with talent acquisition, consider how you can reframe your branding to focus on the best aspects of your company’s values and culture. You might mention your flexible remote policy and other work-life balance perks, or your company’s emphasis on growth opportunities.
It’s important to broadcast these unique attributes through employee review sites like Glassdoor, as well as your “About Us” page on your company website. When highly qualified people are contemplating your company over your competitors, it just might be those reviews that end up convincing them.
A Talent Acquisition Strategy to Find Top Talent
Your pursuit of top talent shouldn’t solely rely on traditional, short-term recruitment strategies like sending LinkedIn messages or attending job fairs. To ensure top talent acquisition and retention, you’ll need to devise a strategic long-term talent acquisition plan.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on practically every element of our lives. The epidemic shifted how we connect daily, even with mundane chores like shopping. Shopping at brick-and-mortar stores came to a standstill in many areas — and many consumers are placing more focus on eCommerce even as stores open back up. In 2020,…
The post Is Livestream Shopping The Future Of eCommerce? appeared first on Benchmark Email.

I have a couple of questions regarding form processing in Eloqua that I was hoping someone could provide some assistance with: 1. How can form processing be set up to where when someone checks any of the interested brand checkboxes they are then segmented into lists based on their selections? 2. Once the form processing and automation is set up, is there a way to ensure that the form itself is published? 3. I believe I have set up the processing correctly so when a contact fills out a form they will be added to a “New Contacts” contact list, but this may need to be spot checked as well. Thanks! Any help is much appreciated. submitted by /u/brianhdh [link] [comments]

Wellness Wheel PLR by Firelaunchers is Finest to Boost Your Health and wellness, Improve Your Life by Understanding All The Tricks of Wellness Wheel. Health Wheel PLR features Complete Personal Label Legal Rights. This Implies Your Customers Can Market It To Others Under Their Own Call As Well As Get Significant Cash Money Roll-Into Their Pockets On Complete Auto-pilot. In short, the Health Wheel PLR evaluation is A detailed overview that will certainly aid your target market to find out how to guarantee ample health to acquire an extra improving lifestyle. As wellness wheel is an alternative model that results in an extra effective existence. Examine Right here! In other words, this is your ticket to get yourself on the path of Success, Profits, and Lasting Clients. We offer expertise for you … SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO. This Is A Faster way To Get All The Effort As Well As Have Your Really Very Own Product Ready To Offer And Build Your Checklist In An Issue Of Minutes. This Exceptional “Profit-Stuffed” Product With Private Label Legal Rights Comes Jam-Loaded With this Remarkable BenefitsL; Ready-for-market sales product reduces “Time-to-Profits.” Completely incorporated sales channel Ready-to- Resell. Hot and evergreen subject from a big niche that sells like hotcakes. Rebrand it, re-sell it as well as keep 100% profits, and so on. Simply Think of, in simply 4 actions, you’ll get “Money Credited” Messages Night And Day! All you have to do. https://tescadeux.com/wellness-wheel-plr-review/ submitted by /u/cycysimba [link] [comments]

Hi everyone! Did you know that 56% of the companies that used buyer personas generated higher-quality leads? Yes – Buyer Persona is that powerful. Having the Buyer Personas defined allows your business to: ✔️ Be more accurate about who you are reaching out to, ✔️ Be more productive, ✔️ Have a more personalized approach (aka better response rate), ✔️ And close more deals. Therefore, here is a useful guide on how you can create Buyer Personas in 6 easy steps. We’ve even included how to use them in practice for your lead generation efforts, prospecting, and outreach using automation tool.6 Key Steps To Creating a B2B Buyer Persona For Sales [+Free Template] submitted by /u/Kristina-Sky [link] [comments]

For the first time since we started analyzing the gender pay gap at Buffer, our unadjusted gender pay gap is below one percent. Although this number will certainly fluctuate with team changes, we’re proud and happy to see this progress. ❤️As a reminder, unadjusted means that we are comparing all salaries across Buffer. Adjusted is comparing two people in the same role, we don’t have an adjusted pay gap as we use a salary formula to determine compensation.Here’s a closer look at our pay analysis from 2022 and some of the elements from this past year we believe impacted this number. Buffer’s 2022 Pay AnalysisOur team size has stayed roughly the same over the last 12 months, we have 83 Buffer teammates. Of those, 37 identify as women, and 46 identify as men. The average salary for women is $136,850 and the average salary for men is $137,418, making our unadjusted pay gap percentage 0.41%.Buffer team: 83 peopleWomen: 37Men: 46        Average salary for women: $136,850Average salary for men: $137,418Unadjusted percentage gap: 0.41%*Note: We can’t share data from the folks on our team who don’t identify as men or women as it is not a representative sample so we’ve opted to leave it out of this report but that may change for future reports depending on how we collect data internally. Since 2018, this what our unadjusted gender pay hap percentage has looked like: Unadjusted gender pay gap percentage at Buffer, 2018 – 2022In 2019, our gap got worse before it got better. As we’ve reflected on this over the years, we believe this is because being a smaller company, each departure, and new hire moves the number and in 2019 we hired more women who were in lower experience levels. As a result, we widened our gender pay gap, though we improved our overall gender ratio as a company and we believe this paid off in the long-term.Here’s a look at the gender split on the Buffer team over the last five years: Gender split on the Buffer team from 2018 – 2022We also see a lot of fluctuation in between these pay analyses also due to new hires and departures. You can see over the last 12 months that every month has been quite different:Unadjusted gender pay gap percentage at Buffer over the last 12 monthsClosing the unadjusted gender pay gap at Buffer is something we’ve been working on for years and is cause for celebration. Initially, this didn’t feel like a goal we could attain given that our co-founder and CEO, Joel, is our highest-paid employee and also a man. There are a lot of factors that have made this possible, though. We’ve talked about diversifying our hiring pipeline and creating a career framework in the past. Here are a few changes that happened over the last year that we believe would have also had an impact. What changed in the last year?Buffer is made up of different teammatesHiring and departures are consistently huge factors that impact our unadjusted gender wage gap every year. Hiring: From March 1st, 2021 we hired 24 new teammates, 11 women, and 13 men.Departures: From March 1st, 2021, we had 25 departures, 15 women, and 10 men. In our analysis, we found that 52 percent of departures were above the average pay across the company while 33 percent of new hires were hired above the average pay across the company. Our executive team is 80% women As we calculate the unadjusted gender wage gap by comparing all salaries across all teams at Buffer, our executive team naturally plays a large role here as they are some of the highest paid teammates at Buffer. Over the last few years, our executive team’s ratio of men and women has always skewed slightly towards more women on the team. In the last year, our executive team has shifted to be comprised of all women except for our CEO, Joel. We adjusted our cost of livings bands We use a salary formula to determine every salary at Buffer and in April 2020 we made a big change to that formula — we went from four cost of living bands down to just two. As Joel writes in his blog post on the vision for location-independent salaries, “the change we made resulted in salary increases for 55 of 85 team members, with the increase being on average $10,265.” That’s a huge number of Buffer teammates and a large percentage of the team who was impacted. These changes were entirely based on location, every teammate in our two lowest cost of living bands was brought up to our new Global cost of living band while those in our High cost of living band remained the same. In total, 46 percent of those whose salaries was increased were women and 54 percent were men, however we did have more women in the Low cost of living band, meaning that their salary increased more on average due to this change than men. There could have been other shifts that we missed that also impacted this number, but these are three big themes. Naturally, each new hire and departure will continue to impact this number over time, so this is something we’ll continue to track and report on. We publish this pay analysis every year as we believe this is the best way to help move our industry towards positive change. We hope that as we continue to share this journey it can be beneficial to others who are working towards similar goals. ❤️View all of our past pay analyses here: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 Reach out with your thoughts on equal pay or this pay analysis anytime!

Learn how to write a survey email subject line that gets your emails opened and your surveys responded to.
You’ve probably gotten a survey email before, with a subject line that reads something like: 

 “Customer satisfaction survey.”
“Your opinion matters!”
 “Let us know what you think.” 
“Feedback about your recent purchase.”

…But how many of those do you actually open?
You already know that subject lines can make or break any email campaign you send out — particularly with survey emails, which require customer responses to be successful. 
According to a recent report, only 22% of marketers believed customer loyalty for brands has increased over the past two years. 38% of customers, however, consider themselves loyal to brands they love. This shows a very discouraging disconnect between marketers and the people they want to reach. 
So why is this happening, and what can you do to bridge that gap? Those generic “Let us know what you think” survey email subject lines might only get the attention of your angry or frustrated customers. 
Remember, the goal of an email survey is to collect honest data about a wide range of customers — happy, unhappy, and everywhere in between — and understand your customer experience from start to finish. 
10 tips for creating survey email subject lines your subscribers will open
If you’re sending out survey emails with lackluster subject lines, your data will be measly (and totally inaccurate). Don’t worry, though. Here are 10 tried-and-true tips for sending survey emails with fire open rates (plus 15 example subject lines)! 
1. Trigger an emotion
Imagine all the survey email subject lines in your inbox right now. What emotions come to mind?
Are you having trouble coming up with an answer? That’s probably because most of those subject lines don’t trigger any type of emotion. They’re forgettable. 
Just like with your other email campaigns, you want to invoke some type of emotion in your subscribers when they see that Gmail notification. Emotion always trumps rationale. “Let us know what you think” will not produce an emotion unless the customer had an extreme experience with your company. 
While extremely positive reviews are great, it can take a lot to counteract extremely bad reviews, so you want to aim for customers who had a pleasant experience but may need extra reinforcement or reward to write a review.
The easiest emotion to trigger in your survey subject lines is empathy. People tend to identify with other customers as the “us” and brands as “them.” That’s why word-of-mouth marketing is so important.
Let subscribers know that they can help their fellow comrades make informed decisions about your company or organization by replying to the survey.
2. Make sure it’s personal
“Quick customer feedback survey” doesn’t necessarily pack the punch you’re looking for. Not only is this email subject line dry and boring, but it’s also extremely robotic and impersonal. Your subscriber isn’t an inbox — they’re a human. So in your subject lines, speak to them like a person.
According to research from Accenture, 75% of customers are more likely to spend their hard-earned money with brands that recognize them by name and remember information about them. Plus, personalized survey emails are vital for understanding customer satisfaction (which = retention).
We might sound like a broken record, but it’s extremely important to use personalized subject lines. 
You can also take it a step further by sending personalized automated emails. If you’re requesting feedback about a recent purchase, make sure to incorporate the day, location, order number, and any other unique information you have to help the customer recall their experience.
Uber does a great job of personalizing their automated feedback emails with a friendly tone and specific information about the purchase.

3. Pose a question
Even if you go the route of “Well, how did we do?” you’re still engaging with the subscriber instead of simply reacting to their recent purchase. A question forms the beginning of a conversation with a real human being — it’s not simply a robotic response.
Questions are excellent survey email subject line choices both for past purchases and general surveys about your brand as a whole. Time automated surveys about products to go out after the subscriber has had a chance to experience the item.
Source
 
4. Mention the word “survey”
Specifically asking your customers to take a survey in the subject line is a great and clear CTA right off the bat.
However, you should still word your subject lines in an intriguing way. “Take our survey today” probably won’t deliver the results you want.
Instead, use personalization or some kind of incentive along with the word survey to boost your subject line’s potential.
5. …or don’t mention it at all
This isn’t carte blanche to completely dupe your subscribers. You can, however, entirely avoid even mentioning the survey in your subject line.
Get creative. Consider how you would start a conversation with a trusted friend you’re asking for advice, and write your copy from there.
Focus on developing a one-on-one relationship with your subscribers in your survey email subject lines.
6. Focus on the benefits
Following up with the previous point, you can avoid mentioning the survey in your subject lines by mentioning the benefit instead. To do this, however, you need to offer some kind of incentive for taking the survey.
For longer surveys, offer a bigger incentive—like 50% off a one-time purchase. This may seem like quite a large give, but remember the value of a customer’s time and feedback.
Even quick product reviews on your website could warrant a smooth 10% or 15% off.
7. Make sure your copy lives up to the survey email subject lines
If you make promises in your survey email subject lines, make sure you follow through with it in the body copy.
This point is crucial for several reasons:

To avoid spam filters (spammy copy = bad copy, always 
To uphold your brand’s (and email service provider’s) reputation 
Getting the results you want. Dry, boring copy won’t make people want to take your survey! 

Source
 
8. Keep it short
Over 41% of emails were opened on mobile devices in 2021, and your subject lines need to take that into consideration. Finding the ideal subject line length is tricky, but when it comes to survey email subject lines, we’d recommend keeping them short so they fit into app notifications.
How short? You should be safe with 50 characters.
You should also keep it short so that your subject line copy is concise, straight to the point, and easy to understand.
9. Encourage some kind of urgency.
If you don’t discuss anything about time constraints, your subscribers might not respond. They’ll think about responding. They’ll have every intention to respond. But they won’t actually respond.
Expressing urgency can be as simple as using the word “now” in your subject lines. You can also let subscribers know that the coupon for taking the survey will expire at a certain time.
10. Use emojis.
A report by Experian revealed that fifty-six percent of brands using emojis in their email subject lines had a higher unique email open rate. 
Emojis can be over-used in email marketing these days, but they add levity and friendliness to almost any send. In a world of bland corporate surveys with almost no pep, an emoji in your subject line can add a little spark.
Remember — not all emojis render properly based on the email client. Check to see if the majority of your list uses a supported email provider before going all-in on the emoji front.
15 survey email subject line examples worth copying
Most survey email subject lines follow a simple set of formulas: they personalize, incentivize, and/or create urgency to get folks to click in and fill out the survey. 
Here are a few examples to inspire your next survey subject line:
Examples using personalization

“[NAME], people have questions about [insert product]. Can you help?”
“Hi [NAME]. Can we talk?”
“Hi [NAME], how do your new [brand] sneakers fit?”
“Hey [NAME]. Time’s almost up to earn 50% off.”

Examples using second person POV

“Your Saturday afternoon trip with Uber” 
“Well, what do you think?”
“Your feedback makes us better” 

Examples using incentives

“Take a quick survey, earn 25% off”
“Looking for 40% off?”
“Penny (or more) for your thoughts?”

Examples that create a sense of urgency

“LAST DAY to win a $200 Visa gift card” 
“Last chance! Survey ends at midnight”

Examples with emojis

“Answer our survey, get a ”
“Got a minute? ”
“This Valentine’s Day, we your feedback.”

Start sending those survey emails
Survey email subject lines are tough because, by nature, surveys aren’t the most interesting pieces of content. Marketers really need to use their creativity to come up with something unique that will spark interest.
We could write an entire blog post on survey email copy but you need to actually get subscribers to open the email first. Otherwise, you’ve just wasted your time creating something amazing that no one will ever read. 
Focusing on your subscribers’ wants, needs, and state of mind can help you develop subject lines that hit home. Just don’t forget to A/B test a few different subject lines!
Need help creating rock-solid subject lines or embedding beautiful surveys directly into your emails? Campaign Monitor can help with customizable templates.
The post 9 Surefire Survey Email Subject Lines appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

Inclusive content is no longer considered a bonus for video marketers; Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) is an integral component of an effective video content strategy.
According to Facebook Advertising, 64% of audiences in the US, UK, and Brazil said they would like to see more diversity. Deloitte’s Heat Test Report found 69% of brands with representation in ads saw an average stock gain of 44%.
But where does one start? Diversity isn’t something you can simply check off a list — implementing inclusive content is complex. It has many facets internally and externally in an organization and includes multiple areas that must be taken into consideration when brand and marketing teams plan and produce diverse content strategies.

Many marketers are working against legacy systems and ways of doing things that have been in practice for years, if not decades or more. What can brands and marketing teams do today to start implementing successful DEI content strategies?
At Storyblocks, a rapid video creation company, we’ve released the Diversity in Video Report to help businesses and marketers implement effective DEI content strategies. Through conducting quantitative and qualitative market analysis over a period of the last four years, we could see how the DEI landscape has evolved in video marketing and determine what the key takeaways are for brands today.
About the Diversity in Video Report
Thanks to our growing diverse video content library at Storyblocks, we’ve been given unique access to what is important to content creators and brands today. Our research analyzes over 250 million searches and over 45 million downloads from our user database of businesses, marketing teams, and individual content creators from 18 industries worldwide.
In addition to these quantitative data points, the research also includes a qualitative in-depth analysis of noteworthy brand DEI initiatives over the last few years. Through evaluating what the top global brands have done to implement DEI strategies, this qualitative study shines a light on best practices and lessons to be learned from the successes and failures of the big players in the market. We include specific examples from companies like Citi, Netflix, Sesame Street, and more.
Diversity in Video Report Findings
1. Diversity doesn’t stop at race.
Diversity is often thought of in terms of race, but our research suggests that diversity in video marketing extends beyond that. Diversity has many layers and includes diversity in faith, age, sexual orientation, ability, body type, and more in addition to racial diversity.
In 2021 the top five DEI keywords and searches by all businesses were: body diversity, elderly, Muslim, general diversity, and African American.
Body diversity, particularly the representation of plus-sized bodies, is something multiple industries prioritized in 2021. This is an area of diversity that has been historically underrepresented, with most ads showing thin body types. Today marketers are approaching this differently, highlighting the importance of body diversity in content planning.
Image Source
2. There’s an increased demand for BIPOC representation in media and marketing.
Compared to 2019, there has been a 113% increase in BIPOC (Black, Indigineous, and People of Color) video searches from members and visitors, with 937,000 more searches in 2021. There has been a 195% increase in the number of BIPOC video downloads, with 2.3 million more downloads in 2021 compared to 2019.

Image Source
This increase in demand for BIPOC representation in media is likely linked to the murder of George Floyd and the vast racial inequities that led to increased coverage of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that took place in the spring of 2020.
This movement resulted in a global cultural awakening that led to a ripple effect on different facets of media and business. Similar to the evolution of BLM, demand for BIPOC representation in media is not a ‘moment’ — the movement is still continuing and growing today.
3. Demand for diversity is clear with an increase of over 100% in just two years.
It’s clear that brands and video marketers are getting the message and listening to consumers’ undeniable demands for representation. Many businesses have been prioritizing inclusion when producing video content in the last few years.
In 2021, diversity searches including race, ethnicity, ability, age, body and LGBTQIA+ increased by 104% from 2019, with 1.1 million more diversity searches in 2021 from both Storyblocks members and visitors.
Similarly, downloads of diverse content increased by a massive 191% from 2019, with 3 million more downloads of content that include more authentic representation of communities in 2021.

Image Source
What the future of diverse content looks like.
The data indicate DEI is not a trend — the increase in diverse video content creation and consumption in media is increasing. We see DEI in video and advertising becoming an intentional, thought-out practice that more businesses invest in and strategize around.
Diverse Video Content Best Practices
1. Don’t insert your brand into a community without research.
The most powerful tool to invest in when approaching DEI is research. If a community is “trending” and receiving increased attention in the media for any given reason, be careful before your marketing team dives headfirst into the conversation.
Do your due diligence and fully understand the community you are planning on representing in your content. So many failed DEI campaigns that have received public backlash could have been avoided if the research phase was done properly.
2. Have a DEI strategy in place.
Set clear and measurable DEI goals and targets that are cross-functional and involve different workstreams and teams in your organization. DEI initiatives shouldn’t just be put on a singular group — DEI should be incorporated into your company’s strategy as a whole.
When a company is serious about its DEI efforts and has a results-driven strategy, dedicating financial resources is essential, similar to how sales and marketing have quarterly and annual budgets. DEI should be no different.
3. Diverse representation needs to exist at the decision making level.
This past year, Storyblocks worked with Indigenous filmmakers to increase the representation of Indigenous communities in our libraries. We recognized our team did not have adequate Indigenous representation, so our marketing team hired a board of external advisors from the Indigenous community to act as guides on how to best communicate, understand the community’s pain points, encourage compassion and avoid harmful misrepresentation.
When aiming to create content that’s inclusive, make sure the decision makers represent who you are speaking to. Recognize when your team is not as inclusive as you’d like and reach out for third-party support to make up for the representation your team is lacking.
Final Thoughts
Armed with the information we’ve compiled in this report, you should be able to build or take a critical look at your DEI video strategy successfully. A crucial part of that success lies in you and/or your business’s ability to approach DEI thoughtfully. Learn from the successes and failures of other brands, bring in diverse voices and understand that this isn’t something you should rush to implement. Take time and care in crafting your approach.
We’re still learning lessons ourselves, and are on this journey with you. We can’t wait to see what you create.