Category: Marketing Automation

You made it (almost)! After networking and sending countless resumes, you’ve finally landed a job interview. Of course, you want to be prepared, so you did what most candidates are recommended to do — you looked up “most common interview questions.”
The key to a successful interview is preparation, so it’s important to look up interview questions so that you can go to the interview with your answers already in mind. This will boost your confidence and increase your chances of a second interview, as well as help you get the job. To help you along, I’ve put together a list of common interview questions and some tips to craft winning answers.
Want to jump to a specific question? I’ve got them linked for you below:
“Tell me about yourself.”
“Why do you want to work for this company?”
“Why are you the best person for this position?”
“What are your strengths and weaknesses?”
“What’s a professional achievement you are most proud of?”
“How do you handle stress and pressure?”
“Tell me about a time you had conflict with a coworker or colleague, and how did you overcome it?”
“Tell me about a time you failed at work and how did you handle it?”
“Why are you leaving your current job? / Why have you left your most recent position?”
“How do you stay organized?”
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
“What are your salary expectations?”
“Do you have any questions for me?”

What are common interview questions?
While every interview is different, most interview questions will focus on:

The skills and experience you’d bring to the company
Your work ethic and whether you have a growth mindset
How you deal with difficult situations
How well you’ll fit within the company

HubSpot’s Senior Manager of Content Meg Prater says she looks for empathy, coachability, and growth mindset when interviewing a candidate.
“Has this person demonstrated that they’re a good colleague?” she explained. “Has this person demonstrated that they can constructively give and receive feedback? And does this person actively look for ways to expand their skills and deepen their understanding of their role or industry?”
To prepare, research the company and, if possible, the person who is interviewing you. You’ll also want to re-read the job posting so you can be sure your answers align with the job requirements. For additional information on how to stand out in the interview process, here are some tips from our former manager of campus recruiting Colleen Grant.
Common Interview Questions and Answers
The questions asked during an interview will vary depending on the role you’re up for, however, the following questions are pretty common in interviews and should give you an idea of what to expect.

1. “Tell me about yourself.”
My mind would always go blank when asked this question. What should I say? What do you need to know? Who am I? To avoid an existential crisis in the middle of your interview, think of the answer as your elevator pitch.
You don’t want to speak at length about your personal hobbies and passions, but you also don’t want to give a dry runthrough of what’s on your resume. Instead give a pitch that is concise, persuasive, compelling, and explains why you’re the perfect candidate for the job.
Start by speaking a little bit about your current role and include any experiences or wins that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. Then provide some background as to how you got there, once again focusing on experiences that correlate to the interview. End the pitch by tying all that information together and explaining why you are perfect for the role.

2. “Why do you want to work for this company?”
This question helps the interviewer determine if you’ve actually done your research on the company. According to LinkedIn, 47% of candidates are rejected because they only have a vague idea of their company and the job role.
To beat the statistics, do your research and find something unique about the company that really interests you. For example, during my interview with HubSpot, I pointed out the company’s one-of-a-kind culture code as a huge motivator for wanting to join.
My answer showed that I did my research beforehand and that I had a genuine interest in being a part of the team. When researching, look for items such as the company’s mission statement or any news articles about recent accomplishments.

3. “Why are you the best person for this position?”
Every candidate thinks they’re the best for the job, but what makes you stand out above the rest? Be prepared to confidently state the experiences and accomplishments you have that prove why you’re perfect for the position.
To prepare your answer, review the qualifications and requirements listed in the job description, and craft your answer so that it aligns with what the interviewer is looking for.

4. “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”
Focus on one or a few core strengths you possess that are relevant to the role. Back these strengths up with specific examples. For instance, if you’re going to say that you’re a great multi-tasker, bolster your answer by mentioning a time you successfully juggled multiple projects at once. If you’re a self-starter, talk about a time you successfully took on a project or task without having to be asked.
Now, how can you mention a weakness without tarnishing your image as the perfect candidate? Start by choosing a weakness that will not prevent you from succeeding in the role. For example, if it’s a writing job, don’t say you struggle with spelling.
Be genuine with your answer and choose an actual weakness. This is the time to show your potential employer that you are self-aware and always looking to grow. Maybe you struggle with multi-tasking or asking for help when you need it.
After choosing a weakness, be prepared to explain how you’ve worked to improve. Don’t underestimate your capabilities, but don’t come off as arrogant either.

5. “What’s a professional achievement you are most proud of?”
To prepare for this question, think back to a moment where you achieved amazing results at your previous job. Don’t be shy about your accomplishments, because this is the perfect opportunity to show what the company gains from hiring you. A simple way to approach this question is to use the STAR method: situation, task, action, and results.
Give the interviewer background context by describing the situation and the task you had to complete. For example, “At my last job, I was an account manager and I was responsible for managing several high-profile clients.” Then you would describe what you did (the action) and the result: “In one quarter, I used my SEO knowledge to boost my clients’ web traffic by an average of 25%.”

6. “How do you handle stress and pressure?”
Deadline pressures, frustrated clients, and an uptick in responsibilities are common occurrences at most workplaces, so it’s important to show the interviewer you can keep a level head in any situation.
Avoid saying you’ve never or rarely experienced workplace stress. Instead, relate the question to a time you were stressed on the job, then explain how you overcame it or used it to your advantage.
For example, I’m very candid about telling employers that I keep stress balls on hand and that I always take a moment to do deep breathing exercises when I’m feeling overwhelmed. I also approach deadline pressures as a challenge to complete projects faster — and I love a challenge. There’s no shame in experiencing stress, it’s all about how you respond to it.

7. “Tell me about a time you had conflict with a coworker or colleague, and how did you overcome it?”
This question helps to determine your communication, people skills, and self-awareness. When answering this question, avoid bad mouthing the coworker you were in conflict with, instead focus on the heart of the problem and how you resolved it.
Prater told me this is actually her favorite question to ask during interviews:
“The answers to this question tell me a lot about the candidate’s ability to problem solve and their self-awareness. Most of us have worked with someone we didn’t quite get along with,” she said. “I love to hear how folks navigated those situations and identified ways to better understand the other person and better themselves.”
Rather than saying, “I had this incredibly rude coworker at my old office,” say “I worked with someone whose communication style was different from mine.” Then, explain how you both reached common ground: “I realized that face-to-face communication was more helpful to us than email communication, since tone can be lost or misconstrued in texts. So, I decided to schedule weekly coffee meetings to ensure we were on the same page about the project.”

8. “Tell me about a time you failed at work and how did you handle it?”
Yes, you want to convince the interviewer that you’re the best person for the job, but no one is perfect. Your answer should highlight that you can take responsibility for your mistakes and that you won’t put the blame on others.
Perhaps you missed an important deadline at your previous job. You can use that situation as an opportunity to share how you accepted feedback, learned from the issue, and developed a system of organization that keeps you on track with deadlines.
For this question, it’s important to demonstrate self-awareness.
“When all answers focus on outside factors rather than how the candidate handled situations, I get concerned,” Prater said. “Things often happen outside of our control — but tell me what you learned from that situation and how it has informed your actions/work moving forward.”

9. “Why are you leaving your current job? / Why have you left your most recent position?”
The most important thing to remember when answering this question is to be honest while avoiding a negative spiral about your current or previous employer. Focus on your excitement for new experiences and the professional goals you’re working toward. Saying you want to face new challenges, be closer to family, or apply your skills to a new field, are all acceptable answers.
If you were laid off from your current job, you can be honest and say your position was eliminated due to a merger, budget cuts, or restructuring. If you were fired, responding with “Unfortunately, I was let go,” is also fine. Of course, the latter will result in the interviewer asking why you were fired. Tell the truth, because you never want to get caught in a lie, and be sure to frame it as a learning experience.

10. “How do you stay organized?”
Employers want to know you can be trusted to stay on top of all of your responsibilities, especially if the role is in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment. Explain your method. Do you use calendars, sticky notes, digital folders, spreadsheets, or organization tools like Trello or Hootsuite?
Prepare a clear and concise answer that shows you’re dependable and will have your new tasks under control.

11. “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
It’s important to be honest and specific in your answer. When crafting your answer, make sure you:

Keep your expectations realistic for your career
Show that you are an ambitious person and that you’ve given a lot of thought to your career path
Highlight how the new position aligns with your ambitions

And if you’re not sure what the future holds — that’s okay too. You can tell the hiring manager that you’re still figuring things out, but express that you are confident the position will play an important role in building your future.

12. “What are your salary expectations?”
This question definitely requires research ahead of time. Use sites like PayScale or Glassdoor to find out what similar roles pay, then factor in your experience, skills, education, and cost-of-living. If you choose to answer with a number, give a salary range that is somewhere in the mid-to-high point of what you’re looking for.
You can also flip the question back to the interviewer by saying, “That’s an excellent question — if possible, it would be helpful to learn the range for this role.” You can also delay the salary conversation by saying you’d like to learn more about the role or the rest of the compensation package before discussing pay.

13. “Do you have any questions for me?”
The answer to this question should always be yes. Before the interview, you should have already done your research on the company and the role. That research should be used to help you form questions that will give better insight into the job and team. Questions targeted toward the interviewer are especially helpful.
“I don’t expect a candidate to be an expert on the role or even the company, but I appreciate when a candidate has done some basic research and asks me thoughtful questions that go beyond, ‘What do you like about working at [company name]?’ or ‘What would success look like in this role?’” Prater said. “Those are important questions, but I love when a candidate digs a little deeper as well.”
If you’re working remotely, you may also want to ask the following questions:

Would you be working traditional office hours or are there special hours for remote workers?
How much of the team is remote?
How does the team communicate?
What does team building look like for remote staff?

Interviews can be nerve wracking, but you’re likely to succeed if you take the time to plan ahead. When you research and form your responses in advance, you’ll be able to approach the interview with confidence. If you’re still nervous, remember they chose to interview you for a reason — they already see your potential.

If you’re looking for a video marketing guide, you’re not alone. 79% of marketers who aren’t using video plan to build a video strategy in 2022. And 99% of those who already use video are planning to use it more.
There’s no strategy like video marketing for educating, generating leads, and converting customers.

Brands need a video marketing strategy — this idea isn’t new. What has changed is how important video has become on every platform and channel. So what do you think you know about video marketing, and what do you want to learn?
Video production is more cost-effective and easier to accomplish than ever. Today you can shoot in high-quality, 4K video, even with your smartphone.
But between strategy, equipment, and editing software, video marketing is still pretty complicated. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about video marketing strategy or use the links below to jump to a specific section.

The Importance of Video Marketing
Video marketing started in earnest in 2005 with the launch of YouTube. Google bought YouTube in October 2006, and by 2009 there were seven different ad formats on the platform.
As the technology to create quality videos gets easier, it’s become more popular with marketers. But that’s not the only reason video is the dominant form of communication today.
First, there was the rise of smartphone technology that made watching videos easier and more convenient. Then the pandemic boosted online media consumption by 215% in the U.S.

Fast forward to 2022, and audiences are spending an average of 19 hours a week watching videos online. Ignoring video marketing is no longer an option for brands who want to excel.
Video marketing encourages social shares.
Video is the second most popular content type on social media for increasing engagement.
Platforms like YouTube and TikTok have always been about video. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook are focusing on video. 
Even platforms that don’t offer native video uploads emphasize the value of video marketing.

Tweets on Twitter get 10x more engagement.
68% of video marketers plan to use LinkedIn video this year.
People watch almost a billion videos a day on Pinterest.

Video marketing improves SEO and boosts conversions and sales.
31% of marketers add video to improve SEO. Websites see a search engine boost when they add video because it increases page quality and the time visitors spend on the page.
More than 60% of marketers say their customer acquisition cost has gone up. At the same time, 83% of video marketers say that video helps them generate leads.
That’s because video hasn’t only transformed how businesses market and consumers shop; it’s also revolutionized how salespeople connect with and convert prospects and how service teams support and delight customers. In short, video is incredibly useful throughout the entire flywheel — not just to heighten brand awareness.
Video can be a versatile tool for salespeople throughout the entire customer buying journey, and it can do much more than increase engagement. Backend analytics also help salespeople qualify and prioritize cold or unresponsive leads.
Video marketing appeals to mobile users.
Mobile users are a driving force for video consumption. According to a Statista study, 77% of those surveyed use a mobile or tablet to watch online videos. And Facebook says it’s 1.5x more likely for people to watch video every day on a smartphone than on a computer.
Video marketing is great for educating and building trust.
While 91.9% of users are content to watch any type of video at all, 31.3% want how-to videos and another 29.8% want educational videos.

The options are also endless for service teams — onboarding videos, knowledge-based videos, meet the team videos, support video calls, and customer stories are just a few ways that video can create a more thorough, personalized customer support experience.
And users aren’t just learning from brands. Millennial and Gen Z users are different, but most of them want to learn from each other. According to HubSpot Research, consumers and customers prefer lower quality, “authentic” video over high-quality video that seems artificial and inauthentic.
This is part of the reason influencer marketing has grown from $9.7 in 2020 to an estimated $16.4 billion in 2022.
Video is within reach for businesses of virtually any size — team and budget alike. The data is clear. To succeed, your business needs a solid video marketing strategy.

Before you set up, record, or edit anything, start with a video marketing strategy. Why? Because every decision made during the video creation process will point back to your video’s purpose and what action you’d like your audience to complete after watching it.
Without a clear purpose agreed upon by your team, you’ll find yourself in a whirlwind of re-shooting, re-framing, and editing. That wastes a lot of precious time. So, begin the process with a clear strategy.
1. Choose your target audience and find out where they spend their time.
The popularity of video and user-generated video content means that you need to target a specific audience with each video. If you don’t already have strong buyer personas, start creating them now. If you already have a set of buyer personas, make sure to update your personas to include the most recent video research.
2. Connect with stakeholders to align on a plan for the video.
There are typically a lot of players when making a video. How can you ensure they’re all aligned?
Create a questionnaire using Google Forms or SurveyMonkey and pass it along to the stakeholders of the project. This way, you can ask the same questions of everyone and keep their responses in one place. At this stage, it’s important to agree on a clear set of goals. Is your video marketing to increase brand awareness? Sell more event tickets? Launch a new product? What do you want your audience to do after watching the video?
3. Set a timeline and budget for your video.
Think of video as a shorter, quicker, and less expensive version of your favorite film. While a video needs fewer resources to succeed, it can still be a time-consuming and expensive process. You can save time and money with planning and project management.
Create a clear timeline for every step of the process and plan for occasional delays. Even a small video production relies on the skills of many different people. So, you want to make sure that even with unexpected challenges and changes you can still deliver your video on time.
4. Choose the best platform to distribute your video.
Before you start making your video, think about where you’re going to broadcast it. YouTube SEO is becoming as important as website SEO. source Think about what people on that platform are looking for. You’ll also want to consider:

Average view time
Size and sound limitations
Communities
Budget
Promotion

While videos are often used for advertising, a video doesn’t just promote itself. Some platforms have built-in vehicles for promotion, while others will need you to put in some time and effort to get more eyes on your video content. This list of video platforms can help you decide what platform is best for your video campaign.
5. Develop messaging and choose the right types of video for your personas.
It’s important to communicate a message with your videos. If you’re not sure where to start, use one of these examples of marketing videos to inspire your video strategy. If you’re not sure what kind of message is best for customers at different stages in the buyer journey, align your video messages with the flywheel.
With your budget, skills, and resources in mind, think about the creative roadblocks that might arise. Do you need a designer to create lower third graphics? Are you going to create an animated video or a live-action video?
6. Decide which metrics you want to track and how you will measure success.
Before you dive into production, you need to define your video goals and find the best metrics to help you understand whether you’ve accomplished those goals.
You can default to using the metrics available in your platform of choice. But this can make it difficult to figure out if your video strategy is performing over time. It can also make it difficult to measure the effectiveness of multichannel video strategies.
Instead, choose several key performance indicators that correspond with your video goals. This list of metrics is a good place to start if you’re not sure where to start with tracking your video marketing.

Your Video Marketing Guide Through the Flywheel
Too often, companies jump at the opportunity to create their first video.
They spend the whole budget on an explainer video for their homepage, but as soon as the project is complete, all future video plans screech to a halt.
Other businesses churn out a slew of social videos. But they often just copy fads they’ve seen, so their videos don’t connect to their audience’s challenges or habits.
Video marketing can’t be an impulsive guessing game. Instead, you need to create a comprehensive video marketing strategy that applies to every part of your flywheel.
Start with the inbound methodology.
The inbound methodology is the marketing and sales approach focused on attracting customers through content and interactions that are relevant and helpful.
Each video you create should address your audience’s challenges and provide a solution.
In the following sections, we’ll cover the types of videos you should create for each stage in the flywheel. To start, plan to create at least two videos for each section.
Don’t forget to include call-to-actions to help lead your audience through their purchase journey and into the role of “promoter.” Over time, you can improve based on conversion rates and the content gaps you discover.

Attract
When you attract, you’re turning strangers into visitors. Consumers at this stage are identifying their challenges and deciding whether they should seek out a solution.
So, the videos you create should empathize with their problems and introduce a possible solution with your product or service.
The goal of this kind of video is to expand reach and build trust. Because you are looking to garner shares for your video, you may want to focus on entertaining and evoking emotion. It’s also important to provide enough information to establish authority on the topic.
Examples of videos in the “attract” stage include:

Short videos that show off your brand’s personality
Thought leadership videos that show your leaders are a source for industry news and insights
Brand films that share your values and mission
Explainers and how-to videos that provide relevant tips for solving your audience’s pain point

As you attract a new audience, avoid speaking too much about your product. Instead, let your brand values and personality take center stage.
Because these videos can live on a variety of channels, keep the strategies of each platform in mind. This overview of video and social media platforms can help.
Convert
Once you’ve attracted video viewers and website visitors, it’s time to convert these visitors into leads. With most inbound marketing content, this means collecting contact information with a form.
Video can aid this process by offering a solution to the buyer’s problem. The goal of videos in the convert stage is to educate and excite.
“Convert” videos may include:

A webinar filled with tactical advice
Product demos sent by email
Landing page promotional videos
Case studies
In-depth explainer and how-to videos

For example, while an “attract” video might provide a quick tip for nailing a sales pitch, a “convert” video could be an animated explainer video that breaks down the inbound sales methodology.
Close
You’ve attracted a new audience with your videos and converted the right visitors into leads. Now’s the time to close these leads into customers.
At this point, the consumer is weighing their options and deciding on the purchase. So the goal of these videos is to make your audience visualize themselves successfully using your product or service.
There’s a reason that 88% of marketers report positive ROI with video. Videos can explain how a product works and trigger emotions in ways that a product description can’t.
Great “close” videos include:

Testimonials of customers with relatable stories
In-depth product demos
Culture videos that sell viewers on your quality of service
Personalized videos that explain exactly how your product could help their business

Delight
You closed a sale, but video can also improve the post-conversion stage of your flywheel.
During the “delight stage” of the inbound methodology, your goal is to continue providing remarkable content to users that add value to their experience with your product or service.

You also want your customers to tell their connections about their experience or promote your brand themselves. So, the goal of this type of video is to encourage your customers to embrace your brand and become brand evangelists.
Your first opportunity to delight comes directly after the purchase. Consider sending a thank you video to welcome them into the community.
You can also send an onboarding video to get them rolling with their new purchase.
Then, build out a library of educational courses or product training videos to cater to consumers who prefer self-service or simply want to expand their abilities.
As you develop your video marketing strategy, there are other types of marketing videos you can create for every stage in the flywheel.

12 Types of Marketing Videos
Before you begin filming, you need to decide what type of video you want to create. Check out this list to better understand your options.
1. Demo Videos
Demo videos showcase how your product works — whether that’s taking viewers on a tour of your software or unboxing and putting a physical product to the test.

Learn how to use video in each stage of the buyer’s journey.
2. Brand Videos
Brand videos are typically created as a part of a larger advertising campaign, showcasing the company’s vision, mission, or products and services.

The goal of brand videos is to build awareness around your company and to intrigue and attract your target audience.
3. Event Videos
Is your business hosting a conference, round table discussion, fundraiser, or another type of event? Produce a highlight reel or release interesting interviews and presentations from the gathering.

4. Expert Interviews
Capturing interviews with internal experts or thought leaders in your industry is a great way to build trust and authority with your target audience. Find the influencers in your industry and put these discussions in front of your audience.

The video above is more than just a surface-level interview, it’s a deep dive with industry experts offering concrete takeaways for viewers. Don’t be afraid to get tactical with your interviews — your audience will grow from your hard work.
5. Educational or How-To Videos
Instructional videos can teach your audience something new. These marketing videos can also build the foundational knowledge they’ll need to better understand your business and solutions. Your sales and service teams can use videos like this as they work with customers.

6. Explainer Videos
This type of video can help your audience better understand why they need your product or service. Many explainer videos focus on a fictional journey of the company’s core buyer persona who is struggling with a problem. This person overcomes the issue by adopting or buying the business’s solution.

7. Animated Videos
Apple created this animated video to share its carbon neutrality goal.

Animated videos can be a great format for hard-to-grasp concepts that need strong visuals or to explain an abstract service or product.
8. Case Study and Customer Testimonial Videos
Your prospects want to know that your product can solve their specific problem.

One of the best ways to prove this is by creating case study videos that feature your satisfied, loyal customers. These folks are your best advocates. Get them on camera describing their challenges and how your company helped solve them.
9. Live Videos
Live video gives your viewers a special, behind-the-scenes look at your company. It also draws longer streams and higher engagement rates.
According to Google in 2021, 85% of people have watched a live stream in the last year. And live-stream interviews, presentations, and events encourage viewers to comment with questions.
10. 360° & Virtual Reality Videos
With 360° videos, viewers “scroll” around to see content from every angle — as if they were physically standing within the content.
This spherical video style allows viewers to experience a location or event, like flying down a hill with Olympic skiers.
Virtual reality (VR) allows viewers to navigate and control their experience. These videos are usually viewed through devices like an Oculus Quest 2 or a Valve Index.
11. Augmented Reality (AR) Videos
AR videos add a digital layer to what you are watching.
For example, you can point your phone’s camera at your living room and AR would allow you to see how a couch would look in your space. The IKEA Place app is a great example of this.
12. Personalized Messages
Video can be a creative way to continue a conversation or respond to someone through email or text.
Use HubSpot Video Hosting or Loom to record yourself recapping an important meeting or giving personalized recommendations. These videos create a delightful, unique moment for your prospects and can drive them deeper into the purchase journey.
Now that you’ve planned your video marketing strategy, it’s time to start making your first video.

There’s a lot that goes into making a video. This section will walk you through the detailed process of creating and publishing a video for your business.
1. Script your video.
While there’s a time and place for videos to be off-the-cuff , most video marketing needs a script.
If you skip this step, you’ll find yourself editing more than you need to, releasing a video longer than it should be, and probably losing your audience along the way.
Start writing your script the way you would begin a blog post — with an outline. List out your key points and order them logically.
Try drafting in Google Docs to promote collaboration and real-time commenting. Use the “Insert > Table” function to create a two-column script. Write your audio script in the left column and insert matching visual ideas in the right column.
Two-column scripts are a common practice in television because they help you organize how the audio and visual parts of your script work together.

Don’t make the viewer wait until the end to understand the purpose of your video. They won’t stick around. Be sure to include a message near the beginning that states your video’s purpose, especially for educational and explainer videos.
As you begin creating videos, you’ll notice a key difference between video scripts and your typical business blog post — the language.
Video language should be clear, relaxed, and conversational. Avoid using complex sentence structures and eloquent clauses. Instead, connect with your audience by writing in first person and using visual language. Keep the language concise, but avoid jargon and buzzwords.
Most video scripts are probably shorter than you think. Keep a script timer handy to check your script length as you write and edit. For example, a 350-word script equates to a video that is nearly 2 minutes long.
Words on paper sound different from when they’re read out loud. Try organizing a table read of your script before you start filming. The point of a table read is to smooth out the kinks of the script and nail down inflection points.
Have your writer and talent gather around a table with their laptops and read the script multiple times. This is a great time to make script changes so that the language sounds more natural.
2. Set up your studio.
When you begin creating your in-office studio, purchases can add up quickly. You might need a camera, tripods, lights, microphones, and more.
But setting up your studio doesn’t have to be overwhelming. There are plenty of cost-effective ways to create professional videos in your space.
Basic Equipment
You’ll usually want to shoot with a tripod. Tripods will help you maintain a steady shot.
The type of tripod you choose should depend on the camera and lens you’re using.
If you’re recording with your phone, you can use a table mount like the Arkon Tripod Mount or a full-size tripod like the Acuvar 50″ Aluminum Tripod. For a DSLR, Manfrotto makes a variety of trustworthy tripods starting with the Manfrotto BeFree and increasing in quality and price from there.
You’ll also want to stock up on camera batteries and SD cards. Recording video will cause you to run through these quickly.
Audio Equipment
While many cameras have an internal microphone to record audio, you’ll want to invest in some quality sound equipment.
Most internal microphones aren’t powerful enough to adequately record audio.
When you’re shooting with your iPhone, there are many easy to use and inexpensive microphone choices. For example, the Movo VXR-10 PRO microphone will give you a plug-and-play solution for capturing audio on the move.
There are even more options for recording audio with a DSLR. You’ve likely seen many videos that use a lavalier microphone — the small piece that clips below the collar of the talent’s shirt.
Lavaliers can be wired or wireless. But lavaliers can be uncomfortable and distracting for the talent (who has to have a wire threaded down his or her shirt) and for the viewer (who has to see a microphone for the whole video).
Instead, try recording with a shotgun mic. They’re reliable, remain out of the shot, and record background noise in a natural-sounding way.
To set this up in your office studio, you’ll need a shotgun mic like the Rode VideoMic NTG. You’ll also need:

Shotgun clips
A light stand
XLR cables
A Zoom H4N recorder

The Zoom recorder will allow you to record audio separately on an SD card and adjust the gain for the space you’re shooting in.

These audio purchases may sound expensive. But a shotgun mic setup is a sound investment that will last for years. If you’re looking for a more cost-effective solution, the Rode VideoMic is a great alternative.
Lighting Equipment
You have a camera. You have audio. Now, let’s talk about lights.
To outfit your studio without breaking the bank, head over to your local home improvement store. Pick up extension cords and a few clamp lights with bulbs. You’ll also need three light stands, which are available on Amazon.
Three-point lighting is a traditional setup for video lights. It involves three lights placed strategically around the subject. This approach creates a soft light that makes your subjects look their best on camera.
First, you’ll need a key light. Place this at a 45-degree angle to the left or right of the subject. Lift the light above their head and aim it downwards.
This light should be bright enough that it could be the only light in the scene.
Next, place the fill light at a 45-degree angle on the other side and lift it close to or just above eye level. The purpose of the fill is to soften the shadows created by the key, but without getting rid of them completely.
The fill should be dimmer than the key light. If you have to use the same type of light for both, scoot the fill back and diffuse it by clipping a clear shower curtain onto the clamp light with clothespins.
Finally, the backlight will add a third layer of dimension. Move your subject away from the background. Lift a light above the subject’s head and place it behind them and off to the side so it’s out of the frame.
Aim the light at the back of their head. This creates a line of light that separates them from the background.

Setting Up Your In-Office Studio
Once you have all your equipment, you’re ready to create your office studio.
If you can create a studio, you’ll save hours of prep time for each shoot. You can turn any room into a great studio, just make sure it isn’t too empty. You can bring in a couch, chairs, or blankets to minimize the echoes in the room.
Try to find a room with minimal noise. Think about buying photography paper to create a background that’s a little more appealing than a white wall.

When it’s time to shoot, turn off the overhead lights. With your three-point lighting setup, there will be no need for harsh fluorescent lights.
Show your talent that you value their time, and don’t ask them to wait while you turn lights on and test your camera. When everything is in place, you’re ready to move to the next step.
3. Prepare your talent.
If you have experienced, confident actors in your company, you’re lucky. Video talent is a rare resource. But with a little bit of coaching, you can help your teammates thrive in front of the camera.
Don’t forget that getting in front of the camera can be scary. Give your talent the script early and let them know they don’t need to memorize it.
Instead, place a laptop below the eye-line of the camera. Break the script into short paragraphs and record each section until you capture a great take. Plan in advance for extra footage or screenshots. You can have your talent read those lines directly off the laptop like a voice over for those sections.
4. Plan your shot list and get used to your equipment.
Before and during your video shoot you’ll want to maintain a list of shots you want to get and an inventory list to make sure you cover every aspect of the plan.
For example, if your marketing team wants photo stills from your video shoot to use for the blog, get those photos before breaking down the set. This will help your team get more value out of your time and resources.
You may not be familiar with everything it takes to get great shots for your video, so let’s go over some basics.
Composition Basics
Composition is one way to create a visually powerful video. The rule of thirds is a simple composition technique that can improve your videos. In this technique, you’ll place key elements at the intersection of two horizontal and two vertical lines, like in the example below.

In this example, the kitten’s eye lines up with the top horizontal line on the right. This is a good screen composition for interviews.
For this “talking head” shot, you can also improve your composition by leaving some empty space between the person’s head and the top of the screen.

Image Source
Another way to improve the look of your video is to include b-roll. B-roll is the supplementary footage included as a cutaway.
This might include shots of:

A customer service rep talking on a phone
A designer editing your website
Visuals of your office
Screenshots of your product

The key with b-roll is to make sure every piece enhances the story. Create a shot list of more b-roll ideas than you think you’ll need and mark them off as you record them.
When you’re collecting b-roll, include a mix of shots from varying angles and distances. Try a mix of the following common video shots.
Establishing Shots
These are wide shots that allow the viewer to see the entire scene. These are great to use at the beginning of a video or scene.
Medium Shots
These are shots like the one in the interview example above.
Close-ups
Close-ups are tightly cropped shots zoomed in to show detail. These might feature someone’s hands typing on a keyboard or pouring a cup of coffee.
For practice, try telling a story with your b-roll and planning out a shot sequence.
For example, your subject might open a door from the hallway, walk into their office space, sit down at their desk, open their laptop, and begin typing.
A shot sequence showing this 10-second scenario could include six or more different b-roll clips.
Create Continuity
Continuity is the process of combining shots into a sequence so that they appear to have happened at the same time and place.
A key part of continuity is making sure any extra objects in the scene, like a cup of water on a desk, stay in the same place through every one of your shots.
Understand your camera.
Fear of new equipment can keep businesses from video marketing. But learning to shoot video doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
You probably have a great, easy-to-use camera right in your pocket: your iPhone.
Recording with Your iPhone
Before filming with your iPhone, make sure your device has enough storage. And don’t forget to enable your iPhone’s Do Not Disturb feature to avoid distracting notifications while filming.

Once you open the iPhone’s camera, flip your phone horizontally to create the best possible viewing experience. Then, move close enough to your subject so you don’t have to use the zoom feature — it often makes the final video look pixelated and blurry.
Your iPhone might do a great job of focusing on the subject when you take photos, but when it comes to video the camera will adjust as you move around the scene.
To solve this problem, lock the exposure before you press record. Hold your finger down on the subject of the video until a yellow box appears with the words “AE/AF Lock.”

Shooting with Prosumer and Professional Cameras
While iPhones are great for filming when you need to or getting used to video, you may want a more advanced tool. There are a ton of digital cameras to choose from. These are a few options we like.
If you’re interested in going the prosumer route, take a look at the Canon PowerShot ELPH 360. The GoPro HERO 10 is also fun for adventurous shoots with lots of movement.
Considering the expense of a DSLR camera, research your choices and read plenty of reviews. Top cameras (from most expensive to least) include the Sony Alpha 7 IV, Nikon D810, and Canon EOS R5. For a more cost-effective choice, check out some of these DSLRs.
If you’re not sure which type of video camera will work best for you, there are some key differences to consider.
Prosumer cameras are easy to use. They’re perfect for someone who wants the option to just press record. Most have a fixed lens because these make it easier to see what you are recording.
Professional cameras, like DSLRs, give you fine control over the manual settings when you’re recording video. They allow you to create the shallow depth of field (background out of focus) that people rave about.
DSLRs are small, work great in low light situations, and pair with a wide range of lenses — making them perfect for video. But, DSLRs do require some training and you may need to buy more add-ons, like lenses.
Understanding Your Camera’s Manual Settings
If you choose a DSLR, there are a few settings you need to understand before your first shoot.
This is a high-level overview of each setting. There will be a different method for adjusting these settings based on your specific camera. If you want to learn more, refer to your camera’s instruction manual.
Frame Rate
Most videos have a frame rate of 24 frames per second (fps) or 30fps.
Video experts often credit 24fps with a more “cinematic” look, while 30fps is more common, especially for videos that need to be projected or broadcast on a larger screen. Ask the end-user of your video what they prefer. Then, be sure your resolution is at least 1920 x 1080 to maintain quality footage.
Once you’ve set your frame rate and resolution in your camera’s settings, it’s time to get to know your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. These three variables work together.
Be sure to turn your camera to manual mode to control these settings.

Aperture
Aperture refers to the size of the opening in the lens. Like a human eye, a lens opens and closes to control the amount of light reaching the sensor. Aperture is measured by f-stop. The smaller the f-stop number, the more open the lens is. A larger f-stop number means the lens is more closed.

What does aperture mean for your video? When a lot of light comes into the camera, you get a brighter image and a shallow depth of field. This is great for when you want your subject to stand out against a background.
When less light comes into the camera you get a deep depth of field and can focus across a larger portion of your frame.

Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is a term from still photography. When taking a photo, shutter speed is the length of time the camera’s sensor gets exposed to light. Think of it as how quickly or slowly the camera blinks.
If you want a perfectly timed photo of a hummingbird frozen in time, shoot with a fast shutter speed If you want to shoot an image of blurred headlights at night use a slow shutter speed.
Shutter speed is measured in seconds, or in most cases, fractions of seconds. So, 1/1000 would be faster than 1/30.
But what does shutter speed mean for video? To pick the right setting, you’ll have to do a little math.
Here are some common shutter speeds and how to calculate them:

At 24fps, 24 x 2 = 48, equalling a shutter speed of 1/50
At 30fps, 30 x 2 = 60, equalling a shutter speed of 1/60
At 60fps, 60 x 2 = 120, equalling a shutter speed of 1/20

Remember, this is just a guideline for choosing shutter speed. There’s always room to tweak shutter speed to achieve the desired effect.
ISO
In digital photography and videography, ISO measures the camera sensor’s sensitivity to light.
On your camera, you’ll see the settings referred to with numbers in the hundreds or thousands (e.g. 200, 400, 800, 1600, etc).
The higher the number, the more sensitive your camera is to light. The lower the number, the less light-sensitive it is.
ISO also affects the graininess of the image. Low ISOs produce a crisp shot, while high ISOs create a more noisy, grainy shot.
When choosing an ISO, consider the lighting. If your subject is well-lit, like when you’re outside, you can get by with a lower ISO, around 100 or 200. If you’re indoors in a low-light situation, you’ll need to bump up the ISO — just be careful of how grainy it makes your shot.
This is how the three factors of the Exposure Triangle work together. When you have a low-lit situation, for example, you may choose a lens that can shoot with a low f-stop to let more light into the camera and avoid making the shot too noisy with a high ISO.

If you’re just starting out with manual video settings, don’t get overwhelmed. It takes time and a lot of practice. While understanding aperture, shutter speed, and ISO can help you shoot great videos, there is one more important factor: white balance.
White Balance
White balance tells your camera the color temperature of the environment you’re shooting in.
Different types of light have different colors. For example, incandescent bulbs (like what’s in most living room lamps) have a warm color. Fluorescent lights (like office lighting) are a little bit cooler. Daylight is cooler yet.
Before you begin recording, you have to adjust your camera’s white balance according to your setup.
Most cameras have an auto option, presets, and a custom setting for white balance. Try to avoid auto white balance and opt for a preset or custom setting instead.

To understand the importance of setting your white balance, take a look at these two photos. The space is lit with yellow fluorescent lights. You can see how the appropriate setting looks natural, while the daylight setting adds a blue tint to the scene.

Focus
Focus is also important to keep in mind. With a DSLR, you can shoot with autofocus or manual focus.
Manual focus is usually best. Use the (+) and (-) buttons to enlarge the viewfinder and move close to your subject’s face. Then, adjust the focus on the lens.
For shooting setups like interviews, make sure the subject’s eyelashes are in focus — that way, you can be certain your footage is clear and sharp.
5. Shoot your video.
Recording a video is tricky because you need to balance many different ways of thinking. A great video should have:

An emotional draw
An interesting storyline
Strong visual cues
Compelling sound
A clear message and call-to-action

To accomplish this, you need to be a coach. Balance critical feedback with support and encouragement after each take.
This is why conducting a table read during the scripting process is so important: It’s easier to give feedback when there’s not a camera in the room.
Try to get a little silly during the shoot or your talent will be on edge and uncomfortable and it will show in the footage.
In the hectic rush of shooting a video, it can be easy to forget crucial details. Video marketing is more than the art of communication. Marketers creating video marketing also need to:

Stick to a budget and schedule
Work with the cast and crew to follow a plan
Maintain clear communication
Factor in extras like props and special effects

So, while you’re maintaining the fun level on set, pay attention to the little things. For example, make sure all your mics are on and watch for any lighting changes.
Record each section many times and have your talent experiment. When you think they’ve nailed the shot try to get one more.
If you can, try to circle back to the beginning of the script at the end of your recording. Chances are your subject got more comfortable throughout the shoot. Since the beginning is often the most crucial part of the video, record that section again when they’re feeling the most confident.
Shoot for the edit.
Some video marketers are better at recording while others are better at editing. It’s a good idea to understand the process and pain points of each.
For example, as the person behind the camera, you may believe you collected ample footage and asked all the right interview questions. But to the editor, you may have gotten too much of one type of shot and missed out on some that would make their job easier.
So, shoot for the edit. Remember that you’ll need to edit all the footage you record. This can help you make decisions that will save you countless hours in the editing room.
There are a few different strategies for shooting with the edit in mind.
1. Leave a buffer at the beginning and the end of each clip.
This can keep you from cutting too close to an important shot.
2. Record extra footage for jump cuts.
As a producer, your job is to capture plenty of b-roll to make sure your editor never runs out. In the section on preparing talent, we talked about recording your script in short sections.
If the editor stitches these sections together, the subject’s face and hands might abruptly switch between clips. This is called a jump cut, and you can see an example below.
Extra b-roll can help mask these jump cuts so that your video looks and feels more natural to viewers. Another way to mask jump cuts is to shoot with two cameras. This strategy is helpful if you’re recording an interview without a script.
If you plan to shoot with two cameras, try this setup:
Make Camera A a traditional, straight-on shot. Then place Camera B at a 30 to 45-degree angle.
With this setup, the editor can flip between these two views to make the cut appear natural. You can see how to cut these two camera angles together in the example below.

A note about shooting with two cameras: Your editor will need to sync the footage between the different views. To help them do this, clap your hands loudly in the view of both cameras right before you ask the first interview question. Modern editing software has auto-sync features, but this loud clap will help you initially line up the clips.
3. Mark your good clips.
Even if you’re recording a scripted video, you might have to record a section 10 or more times. This can be a lot of footage for an editor to sort through.
So, when your subject nails a take, wave your hand in front of the lens like in the example below. Then your editor can look for this visual cue when they review your footage.

6. Edit your video.
This phase will sometimes overlap with your video shoot, but not always. During this stage, you’ll edit a rough cut of your video, and forward it on for stakeholder reviews.
Some videos go through several editing reviews before they get to the final product. This is also the phase where the team adds visual effects, music, and sound design.
Let’s walk through these important steps for editing your video.
Organize your footage.
File organization can be boring. But it’s essential for video marketing.
As you organize your video footage, there are a few things to keep in mind.
First, video format files are incredibly large, so it’s unlikely you’ll want to store them on your internal hard drive. You’ll quickly run out of storage, and your computer’s processing speed will begin to lag.
Instead, invest in an external hard drive like one of the Lacie Rugged models and store your project files on this hard drive. This method also makes it easier to collaborate with teammates because you can easily share the drive.
Second, video editing programs are very particular about where you keep your files. If you don’t stick with the original file structure, you may get a lot of error messages.
On your external hard drive, think about creating a separate folder for each project.
Within this folder, there should be a prescribed set of “buckets” to store your video footage, audio, design assets, and more.
For example, when you import your footage from your camera, place it in the “footage” folder on your hard drive.
Then create a template project folder that you can copy and paste for each project using the image below as a guide.
It’s also important to back up your files. Without backups, you’ll risk losing hours of video footage. It’s not unusual for video marketers to have an external hard drive for everyday work, another for backups, and a third set of backups in the cloud with Dropbox or Google Drive.
Edit your video.
You’ve filmed your video footage, now it’s time to talk about editing.
Video editing can be confusing. But there is a range of great options for video editing based on your skill level, operating system, and budget, including free programs and mobile apps. Let’s go over some of our favorites.
Intermediate: Apple iMovie
iMovie is Apple’s video editing software. iMovie is simple, user-friendly, and free on all Apple products. iMovie allows you to create and edit your videos by cutting together clips. iMovie also makes it easy to add:

Titles
Music
Sound effects
Basic color correction
Filters
Special effects

It also has helpful templates that simplify the editing process. The platform supports high-quality clips like 4K video footage and makes it easy to share your work directly to a video hosting platform.
This software isn’t commonly used by professionals, because it has limited access to advanced color correction and editing features. But iMovie is a great option if you’re just getting started.
Advanced: Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro is a leading video editing software program used by amateurs and professionals. With a customizable interface and advanced editing tools, the platform is an industry-standard for video editing.
Premiere makes it easy to collaborate with other editors, organize your material, and sync with other programs in the Adobe suite like After Effects and Photoshop. The platform supports high-quality footage (4K and higher) and includes advanced, built-in color correction and grading tools that set it apart from cheaper or free software like iMovie.
The only downside to Premiere is the cost. A year-long subscription to the latest Premiere Pro CC costs about $240. If you’re new to video editing, you may want to experiment with a less expensive tool like iMovie or Adobe Premiere Elements before investing in the Premiere Pro. If you’re trying to decide if this software is your best option, you can check out some Adobe Premiere Pro tutorials here.
Choose your music.
Music is a powerful tool that can alter your video’s mood and tone. The right music can elevate an at-home project to a professional piece of content. The right music and sound effects can help keep your viewer’s attention, evoke emotions, and define your overall editing style.
Adding music to your video marketing takes more than one step, so let’s walk through the process.
1. Set a music budget.
Before you start filming, set a music budget and research your local copyright laws. Copyright law can be difficult to decipher, especially when you’re dealing with digital content. Most music isn’t free. If you use another artist’s music without permission or proper licensing, you risk video removal and legal action.
2. Figure out what music your target audience responds to.
Think about your audience and the overall feel of your production. While some videos feel unfinished without background music, others just need a few tunes to tie the project together. Pay attention to videos that have a similar style to see how other brands use music.
Are you targeting a small audience that will appreciate the newest hip-hop track, or do you need something that will appeal to many demographics? Are you creating a practical tutorial or an upbeat event recap? Be sure to choose music that lines up with audience expectations.
3. Decide what kind of music and sound effects you’ll need.
Next, think about the purpose of the music. Do you need background music or something with real impact? Will you be narrating or speaking in the video? If so, don’t let the music get in the way of your content. Sometimes the best music is the music you don’t remember at all.
Finally, decide whether you want to add intro and outro music. Intro and outro music can serve as a theme for your content. These are a great choice if you don’t need music throughout your entire video.
Bookend music can help set the tone for your video, naturally split your content into chapters, and leave your viewers feeling they had a complete experience.
If you’re looking for music for your video, you have a couple of options. You can pay a composer to create an original score, but most video marketing uses royalty-free music.
Royalty-free songs aren’t free to use; they’re quality songs available for a single flat fee. This means you don’t have to worry about paying extra licensing fees or royalties in the future. YouTube, Pond5, and PremiumBeat are all great sites to find royalty-free music.
4. Choose the right song.
After you know what type of music you need and where to get it, it’s time to start analyzing potential songs.
Consider the song’s pacing. Songs with a steady rhythm are easy to change to suit your video style.
Try to choose simple songs that are easy to loop. And think about whether instrumental music or something with digital samples is best for your audience. The wrong song can make your video feel unprofessional and out of date.
Record your voice over.
Once you have your video footage and music it’s time for voice overs.
A voice over is the narration that’s not spoken by someone on-camera. Voice overs are an effective tool that can help make your content more relatable, emotional, and fluid.
You don’t have to hire a professional to record a great voice over. Below are a few tips to capture audio on a budget.
If you can’t go to a professional studio, try to pick a quiet room away from distracting sounds like sirens, opening and closing doors, and people talking on the phone.
Try reading your script aloud in the space, and pay attention to the room’s acoustics. Does your voice echo or sound muffled? If so, consider recording in a different space or adding furniture to fill in the room.
Do a practice read before recording.
Read through your script a few times and take note of any difficult pauses, transitions, and words.
We recommend running through your script a few times, especially the first few paragraphs, to ensure that your voice is fully warmed up.
You’ll also want to invest in a good pair of headphones because they make it easier to hear recording errors. For example, if you hear popping or hissing sounds, try standing further away from the mic or invest in a pop filter.
Record, test and listen.
Think you can record the perfect voice over in just one take? Even professional voiceover actors can need 10 or more takes to record a voice over. That may seem like a lot, but it’s easier to get a new take of audio than it is to try and fix a voice over during the editing process.
On the day you plan to record, be sure to avoid wearing noisy clothing or jewelry. Also, use a stand, laptop, or teleprompter while recording so you aren’t rustling through a printed script.
Remember to relax, read slowly, pause, and take breaks while recording your voice over. Sometimes all you need is a sip of water to get back on track.
You’re ready to publish your video. You shot the footage, edited it together, and added sound. Now it’s time to export your video and get it online so your audience can start viewing, sharing, and engaging with it.
Now it’s time to post your video.
7. Upload Your Video
Your video is ready, but you need more than a brilliant video to get eyes on your video marketing. Every video hosting platform will have slightly different requirements, but let’s talk about a few things you should know before you upload your first video.
Video File Formats
There are many file formats for videos, and you want to be sure that your favorite platform supports your format of choice. These are some common formats that most platforms accept:

MP4
MOV
WMV
AVI
FLV

Other file formats for videos include:

MPEG4
MPEG PS
3GPP
WebM
DNxHR
ProRes
CineForm
HEVC (h265)

After you export your video in the right format for upload, there are some extras you can add to your video upload that will make it easier for your audience to find your videos organically on platforms like YouTube.
Add Text
You’ll want an eye-catching headline and a description for your video. Your description can be up to 5000 characters, and the keywords in your title and description can make it easier for your audience to find your video.
Visual Add-ons
Design an eye-catching video thumbnail image. You can also design and add unique end screens and cards to increase video engagement.
Closed Captions
Some platforms let you add closed captions to your videos. There are many free captioning tools you can use to create captions that will make your video marketing more accessible. When you upload you’ll just need to choose the language and upload your file.

Video Hosting Platforms
Video marketing isn’t just about what people are watching, it’s where they’re watching. There are many places to host videos online, and in this section, we’ll talk about some of the best ones.
YouTube
When you ask your friends which online video platform they use, the answer you probably hear the most is YouTube.
YouTube is the largest video hosting platform, second largest search platform, and the most visited website in the world.
Every single day, people watch over five billion videos on YouTube. It’s also free to upload your videos to YouTube and optimize them for search.
In addition to its massive audience, YouTube offers several other features that make the platform a good choice for hosting your video.

Build an audience of subscribers. Because you can host YouTube videos on individual channels, users who follow your channel are more likely to see other videos you upload.

Organize your videos into playlists. You can add videos in your channel to playlists. This makes it easy for your audience to search within your content.
Target and engage a specific audience. As a social platform, viewers can engage with your videos by liking and commenting on them, providing you another chance to interact with your audience. YouTube also offers a variety of advertising strategies for more sophisticated targeting.

Although YouTube offers the benefit of reaching a large audience with no cost to upload and host videos, there are several downsides to the platform.
While video ads can be a great tool for promoting your content, the number of ads on the platform from other advertisers can detract from your viewer’s experience.
Vimeo
If your friends aren’t watching YouTube they’re probably using Vimeo, the second largest video hosting platform.
Vimeo’s audience is much smaller than YouTube’s, with 1.58 million subscribers in 2021. But there are still many benefits that make it a favorite for content creators and viewers alike. These features include:

Fewer Ads and Commercials. Vimeo has limited ads and commercials that would otherwise detract from your viewers’ experience.
More Professional Content. Videos on Vimeo also tend to be higher quality than on YouTube, and the audience on the platform is likely to be more professional.
More Options for Businesses. Vimeo offers several different premium account choices for businesses. The premium accounts provide more storage, advanced analytics, customer support, player customization, access to lead generation tools, and much more. Besides premium accounts, Vimeo also partners with businesses to produce quality marketing content.

If you’re looking to showcase high-quality, artistic content, Vimeo might be the platform for you. But if you want to increase your reach, let’s explore some other platform options.
Vidyard
Vidyard is an online video platform for business. They offer tools to create, host, and share videos to enable sales and service teams to connect with customers.
Tools that can enable your video success on this platform include:

Native publishing. This platform allows you to post and update video content to multiple online channels from a central location.
Data Reporting. Their tool also offers analytics of viewer insights. That data can connect directly to your marketing automation software or CRM. For example, if that prospect you’ve been monitoring views your latest case study video, they’ll let you know right away.
Video personalization. Vidyard also helps businesses personalize videos with the viewer’s name or company. This is a creative addition as you work video into your marketing and sales strategies.

Video Marketing for Social Media
Now that we’ve covered the biggest video hosting platforms, let’s drill down into best practices for social media.
Expect viewers to watch your videos without sound.
Did you know that Instagram was the first social channel to show silent, auto-playing videos? This type of video is popular on social media because it makes it easy for viewers to watch videos when they are in public.
Here are a few best practices you can use to make silent videos engaging:

Start with action to grab your viewer’s attention.
Videos that feature people speaking are great for landing pages or your website, but try to stick to visually stimulating videos for social media.
Add text or include captions so that viewers can follow along with or without audio.

Short videos are best.
The most popular videos on social media vary in length by platform. While some strategies call for a longer video, shoot your video in a way that makes it easy to break into more bite-sized pieces. This will help you get more traffic and engagement from your video marketing.
Grab attention fast.
When you’re posting to social media, your video content is competing with a lot of information on the screen. If your viewers are watching from their mobile devices, there’s even more competition. So, it’s a good idea to get into your content quickly and to make it clear what your video is about in the first 8-10 seconds.
Shoot video that works on many different screen sizes.
As you shoot your video, be sure to compose each shot for a range of screen dimensions and shapes.

For example, your audience can watch a widescreen video on their mobile phone while scrolling on Facebook or LinkedIn, but the same video might cut off important visual information if it’s posted as an Instagram story.
Follow best practices for each social media platform.
Facebook Video Best Practices
In 2016 Facebook emphasized video content with a dedicated video tab, and the platform’s focus on video has grown from there.
Using video on Facebook seems to give brands greater reach in the newsfeed. This is probably because they emphasize viewer engagement in their algorithm. And according to recent Biteable research, their video ad test got 480% more clicks than a still image. This shows that audiences are currently more engaged with videos on the platform.
Brand awareness videos that are light-hearted and entertaining tend to perform well on Facebook. They also offer a detailed best practices guide that outlines how to succeed with video on the platform. It includes recommended video length and priorities for mobile viewing.
Their goal is to better surface videos that are most relevant to the viewer. This means that creating the right content for your audience is more important than churning out videos to keep up with what’s popular.
It’s also a good idea to upload videos directly to Facebook because their algorithm considers a user’s previous video-related actions when determining what videos to show them on later visits.
Instagram Video Best Practices
Instagram’s latest strategy is prioritizing video and social selling. This makes it a perfect platform to launch your latest marketing video.
To impress viewers on Instagram, offer your viewers something they value. IG’s content best practices recommend videos that are consistent, original, and full of personality.
There are four different video formats on the platform:
Reels
Reels are 15-30 second videos that you can edit with in-platform tools including:

Timed text
Filters
Timer and speed controls

This IG video format also lets users add sound to their videos from an in-platform audio library.
Stories
Stories are 15-second videos, or 15-second sections of a longer video, that disappear after 24 hours.
You can also save Stories to your profile. Stories give brands a chance to post direct links that make it easier for people who see your products on Instagram to start shopping.
Instagram Video
Instagram video replaced IGTV in 2021. These videos can be as long as 60 minutes, which gives you a lot of room to experiment.
Instagram offers live video too.

Instagram is also the most popular social media platform for influencers. You may want to work on some collaborative videos if you want to make the most of Instagram for video.
Twitter Video Best Practices
Daily video views on Twitter increased 95% from 2020 to 2022.
Brevity is a core factor on this popular channel. So, when teasing a blog post or piece of content on Twitter, always keep your video short and to the point.
Short clips that are easy to consume tend to perform the best. According to Twitter, short means 6-15 seconds. They don’t recommend you make videos longer than that.
If you want to get a little more experimental with using video on Twitter, you can try making custom videos to engage with your audience. Personal, one-on-one response videos are a smart way to make your brand more human while building personal connections with your followers.
Some other recommendations from Twitter’s team include:

Try pinning your video to the top of your profile for some added exposure.
Show your logo and keep a permanent placement in the upper-left or upper-right corner of the frame
Open your video with your products and services

LinkedIn Video Best Practices
LinkedIn users love video and video has been a focus on the platform since 2017. This is a professional platform and users spend a lot of time networking and searching for jobs. Keep that focus in mind as you create videos for LinkedIn.
For example, if you have a time-saver or just learned something new that might help other people in your network, video is an effective medium for sharing that knowledge.
Industry news is another relevant topic on this platform. If you have thoughts on a recent announcement or news article, let people know what you’re thinking in a video.
And if your company has some news like a great recent hire, a video can offer a personable take that you can add to a press release.

If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out these ideas:

Showcase new technologies in video format
Offer tutorials on how a new physical product works
Broadcast from industry conferences and events

TikTok Video Best Practices
TikTok hit 1 billion monthly active users in 2022 and the most popular app in the U.S. in 2021. While this app started as a spot where Gen Z teens could learn the latest dances, it’s become a force for users of all ages.
Trending content with a high number of views gets priority with TikTok’s algorithm. Frequent posting, humor, and authenticity are key on this platform.

If you’re interested in advertising as well as organic posting, they have a helpful guide for top niches like gaming and ecommerce.
Pinterest Video Best Practices
Pinterest added video to their platform in 2016 and added live streaming in 2022. Pinterest loves creativity, and they recently launched Creator awards to emphasize this focus.
If you’re not sure if Pinterest is the right platform for your audience, take another look. Product searches increased by 20x in 2020 on the platform, and 75% of surveyed users say they’re always shopping.
So, promote a new blog post, engage with your audience, or even drive viewers to a landing page with Pinterest videos.
To drive traffic on Pinterest, create videos that encourage viewers to act, whether it’s saving a pin, reading a blog, or buying a product. Don’t forget to include visual cues for your brand and to create consistent and visually stunning videos for your pins.

Live Video
Live features on social media let users post live video streams of what they’re doing at that very moment.
And live video is more popular than ever. According to Statista, live streaming is the video content of choice for over 30% of viewers.
Most social media platforms offer live video streaming, including Facebook and Instagram. To get the most out of live video, make sure you’re maintaining the same production values for your live video as your pre-recorded videos. High-quality live videos will set you apart from other videos on social media.
For example, If you’re recording live video footage on the go, keep in mind that background noise is easily picked up by microphones. You may want a more controlled environment if you’re recording a more serious or professional broadcast.
Here are a few more tips to make your live videos stand out.
Think about timing.
Keep in mind that your live video will be broadcast from the platform itself, so that’s mostly where you’ll be promoting your broadcasts. Do some research on your target audience to find out when they’re most engaged with your posts.
Even if some of your followers miss out, most apps will save your videos to the app by default. You can delete them manually if you want to but they’ll usually be available for viewing by your followers after your live stream ends.
Come up with a compelling title.
Your title should describe what your video is and why people should either tune in now or replay your stream later. Adding the word “exclusive” to your title lets users believe they’re seeing footage no one else has seen before. This can make your video more exciting for potential viewers, so they’re more likely to tune in.
Respond to comments live.
On many platforms, people who are watching your stream in real-time can comment and “like” the broadcast.
Other viewers can see these comments and the number of likes your video has. Acknowledge or respond to these comments on the live broadcast to encourage engagement. This makes the experience feel like more of a two-way conversation.
Experiment and keep an eye on your data.
Be sure to experiment with different ways of using live video and what types of content your audience likes most.
Most platforms will offer data that you can analyze to figure out what works.

Video Marketing Distribution
During this final phase, you’ll share your video with the world. Some videos will be broadcast on many platforms, while others will be just for a specific platform or campaign.
Channels for Video Marketing: Owned
Owned marketing channels are properties that you have free access to and can control. These channels give you the freedom to experiment with your video content and test what works before investing in paid channels.
Besides organic social media, think about posting on these channels.
Website
Adding relevant videos to your website can bring a boost in traffic. It also offers an opportunity to educate prospects about new products and the best ways to use your products.
For example, this video for stovetop cookware went viral because it showed people a helpful product feature they didn’t know about before.
Blog
Many of the most popular blogs teach readers something new. Adding a video to your most popular blogs can give viewers another way to quickly learn about a topic and another way to engage with your brand. Videos can also improve traffic because of their influence on SEO.
Email
Email clicks go up by 300% when you add video to your emails. If that’s not enough, videos convince people to buy a product or service and they can decrease the number of incoming support calls. This makes them excellent add-ons for customer and prospect emails.
Channels for Video Marketing: Paid
Paid channels aren’t an extra anymore, they’re a necessity, and brands new to paid media need to be smart about where and how they go about it.
Marketers’ top priority is generating leads, and 86% of marketers say that video is effective for lead generation. Whether you’re posting retargeting campaigns or using PPC to build your audience, videos can help. And paid social media ads aren’t your only option.
But what are the best choices for paid media placement?
Display ads
Display ads are text, image, or video advertisements that compel the viewer to click to a landing page and take action like signing up for a free trial or buying a product.
Outstream Video Ads
Outstream ads are video ads that automatically play on mobile devices in a large format player. Users navigate to them in on-page, banner, and text content. For example, news websites and blogs often feature outstream video ads.

Instream Video Ads
Instream ads are the opposite of outstream ads. In instream video ads, the advertisement is part of existing video content, like a TV commercial.
Instream ads play before, during, or after other types of video content.
Interstitial Video Ads
These popup video ads are another consideration. In these ads, a user can navigate past your ad by clicking the ad or closing it to continue what they were already doing.
Native Advertising
Native ads will match the look and feel of the media format where they appear.
For example, if you sell sunglasses and partner with a bathing suit company, you can place an ad on their site.
Native ads feel more natural than some other paid ads. They can be expensive, but also have high conversion rates because they often align with something the viewer is already looking for.
Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is like native advertising because it matches the tone and feel of where it’s placed.
It’s media that a business pays for, but it’s created and shared by another brand or publisher.
Influencer Marketing
You can ask influencers to create your videos or collaborate with a favorite influencer to create videos together. From there, you can decide which channels are best for distribution. This is an excellent strategy to grow your brand reach.

Defining Your Goals and Video Analytics
Before launching any marketing campaign, it’s important to decide your primary video goal. You built goals into your initial video marketing strategy, but these goals can sometimes change during production.
It’s a good idea to pick out just one or two goals for each video. Any more than that, your video will seem unfocused, making it difficult for viewers to understand what they should do next.
For example, a single video can bring awareness to a new product and your brand, but adding the story of your founder to that same video could be too much.
Next, let’s talk about metrics. Understanding video analytics will equip you to define and measure your success.
When you post a video, it’s easy to get obsessed with one metric — view count. While view count can be an important metric, other metrics may be more relevant to your campaign.
As you choose which video analytics to track, try not to collect more data than you can analyze. Choose the metrics that are most relevant to your video marketing goals.
These are some popular metrics you’ll see when you publish and track video.
View Count
View count is the number of times users have seen your video. It’s also referred to as reach.
This metric is great to track if your goal is to increase brand awareness. But it’s important to remember that every video hosting platform measures a view differently.
For example, most articles state that a view on YouTube is 30 seconds while a view on Facebook is only 3 seconds but no one is really sure. So try to read the fine print before reporting on your video view count.
Play Rate
Play rate is the percentage of people who played your video divided by the number of impressions it received.
This metric helps figure out how relevant or appealing your video is to your audience. If thousands of people see your video, but only a handful of people play it, it’s probably time to optimize your content.
Social Sharing and Comments
If you’re on social media, you’re probably familiar with sharing and commenting. Social shares and comments are good indicators of how relevant your content is to your target audience.
If a viewer watches your video and takes the time to share it with their network, you probably created a great piece of content. Social shares are also important because the more times your viewers share your video, the higher your view count will be. If your goal is to reach a lot of people, social shares are a good metric to track.
Video Completions
A video completion is the number of times users play your video in its entirety. This metric can be more reliable than view count when trying to gauge your video’s success.
Completion Rate
The completion rate is the number of people who completed your video divided by the number of people who played it.
Completion rate and other engagement metrics are a great way to gauge a viewer’s reaction to your video. Do you have a low completion rate? Are people all dropping off at a certain point? This might be a sign that your video content isn’t resonating with your target audience.
Click-Through Rate
Click-through rate (CTR) is the number of times users click your call-to-action (CTA)divided by the number of times it’s viewed.
CTR is a great indicator of how effective your video is at encouraging people to take your desired action. If your CTR is low, consider revising the design or copy of your CTA.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the number of times visitors completed your desired action divided by the number of clicks on your CTA.
If your goal is to have your viewers complete an action like signing up for a free trial, try adding a video to your landing page to see if your conversion rate increases.
Bounce Rate and Time-On-Page
Are you thinking about adding a video to a web page? Take note of the page bounce rate and how long people stay on the page before you add the video. Be sure to check the metrics after you place the video to see if your video changes the way people interact with your other content.
How to measure the effectiveness of your video marketing strategy.
Measuring performance on each platform and channel provides valuable information. This can help you decide whether a video is the right content type for your audience.
Across all platforms, in addition to the metrics above, be sure to measure views over time to determine the lifespan of your videos. You may find that you need to refresh your videos every few weeks or months to stay relevant to your audience.
Keep tracking and comparing engagement with your videos. This will help you find which topics encourage the most sharing and have a better lifetime value.
Ready, Set, Action
Video marketing can be overwhelming at first, but with a little practice and patience, you can easily produce high-quality video content that is unique to your brand.
Pick up a camera, start filming, and watch your engagement levels increase. It’s time to make video a key part of your marketing strategy.
Take one step at a time and keep learning. You never know how a new idea or strategy can help you meet your goals.
Editor’s note: This post was originally written in August 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Despite being a small business, it’s still possible to develop an SEO strategy that helps you stay competitive in your market.
Read on to learn everything you need to know about small business SEO, why it’s important, and how to develop a strategy for your business, no budget required.

It’s important not to confuse small business SEO with local SEO, as local helps businesses appear in location-based searches vs. general results. However, some small businesses may hope to leverage local traffic, so, if this is you, your small business strategy will include local steps. We’ll discuss this further below.

Is SEO good for small businesses?
SEO is critical for small businesses as it helps you generate organic traffic without spending money on advertisements in SERPs or other channels. When your site shows up in search rankings, you become competitive and drive more traffic, which, in turn, helps you generate engagement, make sales, and build a customer base.
Not optimizing your site can mean that your competitors are the only ones showing up in results, and your target audience might not even know you exist.
Let’s go over how to do SEO for a small business. Let’s go over how to do SEO for a small business.
SEO Strategy for Small Business
Small business SEO doesn’t require a large team to get things up and running, nor does it require a significant budget. Many of the steps you can take are free, and you can handle them yourself.
Let’s go over how to do SEO for a small business.
1. Conduct keyword research.
Keyword research helps you find the right words to use on your website when writing about your content, giving titles to your pages, and even picking your URLs.
You’ll uncover the most relevant words to use on your website when writing about what you offer and search terms that audiences tend to use when looking for products like yours. As a small business, your keywords should help you champion your unique offerings and stand out in your niche.

 
The easiest way to conduct keyword research is to use a keyword research tool, like Google’s free Keyword Planner.
2. Build a logical site structure.
An important factor in ranking your site highly in SERPs is creating a Google-friendly site structure with schema markup and structured data.

Schema markup is code you add to your website to give more information about your listings. It can help you rank higher in search results and drive clicks. For example, you can add a star rating schema to your listing so browsers can see that you’re highly rated and worth checking out.

Structured data is how you organize and tag text on your website, and it helps crawlers understand the context of the information on your site pages. So, for example, you’d use product page structured data for product description pages.

You also want your website to have a logical structure for site navigation, including internal links. This helps Google navigate through the different pages on your site and understand what’s what. The image below is an example of a high-quality website structure.
3. Optimize your on-page SEO.
On-page SEO includes elements like meta tags and image alt text. These things explain to Google what’s on your site and give searchers more information about what they’ll find.
1. Meta Tags
Meta tags are crucial for small business SEO. Since competition may be big, using exact meta descriptions and meta tags helps Google surface you in the right results for queries most relevant to your business.

Meta titles are the headings you use to describe what’s on your page content. When you write them, aim to summarize the main topic of your page with a related keyword.
Meta descriptions give a summary of your page explaining your business. This summary is only visible in search results and, when writing, aim to include your target keywords.

The image below is a search result card for Marcy & Myrtle, a small coffee shop in Brooklyn. It features a meta title, Marcy & Myrtle: Fresh Coffee & Baked Goods, and a meta description: Marcy & Myrtle provides you with fresh coffee, delicious pastries, and great service in a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere.

2. Image Alt Text
Image alt text describes the images on your site, giving more context to your content. Image alt text can also help you rank in image packs and image search results.
Image alt text also ensures your website is accessible, as screen readers can use your descriptions to describe an image on a page.
Syndicated is a movie theater and restaurant, and the image below is an image from its website advertising its Sidewalk Cinema series. The alt text reads, “Shot of the Sidewalk Cinema at night showing Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.”
The alt text uses relevant keywords related to the offering, sidewalk cinema, that will surface the business in relevant queries.

Image Source
4. Get backlinks from relevant sites.
A great way to build authority in SERPs as a small business is to get backlinks from relevant sites, as Google trusts sites with high domain ratings. You also build trust with audiences if they find links to your site on pages they trust.
Here are a few strategies for getting backlinks:
1. List your business on related directories.
Submit your links to directories related to your business, but make sure they’re legitimate. Listing your site on spammy and fraudulent websites will cause more harm than good.
LinkedIn is a great directory for small businesses to list on, regardless of niche, as it’s a credible source with a high domain rating. Awoke Vintage is a small business in Brooklyn, NY, that has created a business profile on LinkedIn.

Image Source
2. Submit your site to local listings.
If you rely on local traffic, submit your NAP (name, address, phone number) to local directories. Many local directories are sources of authority, so having your business on them builds credibility. Some examples of directories include :

Facebook Pages
Google My Business
Apple Maps
Yelp

Here’s a list of the best online directories for local businesses.
3. Place your link on all your profiles.
If you have multiple social media accounts, place a link back to your website in your profile. For example, you can include your link in the descriptions of your YouTube channel or in your Twitter bio.
5. Technical SEO
As a small business, you might not have a lot of content on your website. However, you still want to monitor technical SEO to ensure your site runs and is easy to navigate. Some key elements to focus on are:

Secure Sockets Layer to signal to Google that you provide a safe browsing experience.
Optimizing page speed by compressing images and large files.
Ensuring your site code isn’t messy and has a logical structure for crawlers to easily navigate through your site and learn about it.
Optimizing for mobile with responsive mobile design so visitors can easily browse and have a delightful experience regardless of device.

6. Write good copy.
You might be thinking, “But I’m just a small business! I don’t have that much to write!” and that’s okay. You don’t have to write a lot, but you want to ensure that all copy on your site is good in that it includes your target keywords. This will help visibility because Google learns which search queries are relevant to your business and when to surface you in results.
7. Continuously monitor your SEO.
Part of your overall SEO efforts is continuously monitoring your website. You can run SEO audits periodically to check up on each of the elements we mentioned above, and you’ll figure out if there is anything that needs fixing.
8. Optional: tell Google where you are.
If you rely on local customers and local traffic to generate revenue, you want Google to know to surface your location in relevant queries by adding local business structured data to your site. You’ll also want to optimize your Google My Business profile.
SEO will help you stand out as a small business.
Small business SEO is free, and it also helps you appear in the same SERPs as your competitors. An optimized site can help you stand out and draw in qualified customers that are already looking for what you offer.

When it comes to email design, captivating imagery and visual content are important in getting the attention of your target audience. Enter the GIF. A GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) may appear as no more than a short goofy animation meant to make people laugh. Still, these pieces of content bring variety and a lot of…
The post 3 Ways to Create a GIF for Your Email Templates appeared first on Benchmark Email.

 

 

In our last marketing insight, we paid closer attention to conversion rate and its fundamental meaning for eCommerce—after all, an online shop with millions of visitors that does not sell is just a website. Today, we will show you 10 practical ways to push the conversion rate higher and higher every month. 

 

Calculating the conversion rate

 

As we said in the aforementioned article,theconversion rate (CR)is the percentage of visitors landing on your website who complete the desired action.

In eCommerce, conversion means the percentage of website visitors who purchase something from your online store in a set period of time.

Here’s a quick example: If your online store is getting 5,000 visitors and 50 conversions for a set period, that means your store’s conversion rate is 1%.

Simple as that! Divide conversion into visitors, and you have your conversion rate.

As with all marketing metrics, CR is something you can—and should—work on. This is called conversion rate optimization. We wrote this article to show you how to do it with SALESmanago.

 

10 outstanding ways for conversion rate optimization

 

Personalized content may be more valuable. Zero-party data help personalize the website.

 

80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences (Epsilon). This means an 80% greater chance for conversion!

Among the various ways of personalized content delivery, there is one that’s very radical—personalization of the whole website. With the Personalized Website you can make your website visitors feel at home with real-time personalization and significantly lower the bounce rate. The feature enables you to replace general offers with ones tailored ideally to each and every customer.

To personalize the content, you will need data about your visitors’ preferences and profiles to help them find what they came for. This will be first-party data—information about products viewed and purchased, for example, but also average purchase value. But this is only the tip of the iceberg of the data you can collect about your customers.

Using the Customer Preference Center, you can collect, manage, and action zero-party data—information about the needs and preferences that the customers reveal about themselves. All these data enriches 360 customer profiles. This way it supports website personalization. 

Another great source of zero-party data is a Wishlist, a part of the Personal Shopping Inbox. 

 

Gather the most valuable customer data. Use a two-step newsletter sign-in

 

Implementation of the two-step newsletter sign-in form provides the company with a more coherent development of the client database. It also allows gathering detailed data on more engaged, valuable clients. In the first step, we only ask for an email address. In the second, the clients may give us all the useful details if they so desire. 

The solution shortens the conversion path and enables the acquisition of more declarative customer data. Focusing your efforts mostly on the engaged visitors should make it possible to turn them into customers fairly quickly.

Along with Customer Preference Center and Wishlist, this is also another great source of zero-party data, which can then be actioned, for example, in website personalization.

 

Use social proof argument for anonymous traffic conversion.

 

It is not uncommon that a visitor will browse your website many times over and will not feel the urge to create an account, staying anonymous. You can use various incentives to encourage such a visitor to register. You can also get straight to the conversion and make a little push toward purchase even in the case of anonymous visitors.

The Social Proof feature enables you to put some healthy pressure on anonymous site visitors. The module displays in real-time the number of visitors currently watching the product our client is interested in. This boosts the attractiveness of the offer and supports active sales. 

Of course, you can use an intuitive social proof widget editor to create your own notifications that perfectly fit your store’s design and decide on the display options.

 

Personalize coupons.

 

This solution will appear once more in this article in the specific context of rescuing the abandoned cart, but its effectiveness in itself is well worth mentioning. 

You can create coupon codes that customers can use at checkout for a limited time and get a specific amount off or a percentage of the purchase. Having a coupon code that expires drives urgency, and visitors will more likely go through with the purchase and not get distracted.

 

Send messages at the optimally chosen time. Choose the communication method preferred by the consumers.

 

Not only coupons but all types of creative messages are proven ways to draw visitors back to the website and convert them into customers. But it is also possible that your message will just irritate visitors. How to avoid such a situation?

Using the Customer Preference Center, you are able to ask the customers how often, on which days, and even at what hour they want to receive information about your offers. Providing information that was actually ordered by the visitor, you simply fulfill your part of the deal instead of spamming potential customers or wasting a message sent in their busy time. 

You can also enable visitors to choose their preferred channel:

EmailWeb PushSMS

 

Retain clients’ interest in watched products.

 

When the visitors leave your website, you should not let them forget about the products that caught their attention. 

Implementation of the real-time product recommendation within the site not only broadens the campaign range. The intelligent product recommendation, driven by the AI Copernicus, implemented in the recommendation frames form, will surely help to turn some of your visitors into customers.

Of course, the more you know your potential customers, the better. If a registered visitor has left information about their preferred price range, but the watched products were significantly above this range, you should use recommendation frames to suggest similar products that the visitor can afford.

 

Use web push notifications to personalize messages to anonymous clients.

 

But there are also ways to personalize the message to anonymous visitors.

Web push notifications is one of the key features offered by SALESmanago. It enables you to reach both your potential and existing customers by offering them personalized content. 

Dynamic web push notifications allow you to send fully personalized web push notifications with product recommendations. This new feature gives you the possibility to send dynamic web push notifications as 1-to-1 or mass messages.  

 

Use live chat software.

 

The Live Chat helps your visitors find answers to their questions. Meanwhile, you are gaining insight into what they are doing on the website. 

If you decide to use Live Chat, provide your live chat consultants with useful information on participants’ profiles and preferences. 

Do not let the software go into the mode that says you are currently unavailable and that they can leave a message. That sends a bad signal. It would be better to not implement at all if you can’t be there when they want to chat. What this does, though, is build a direct communication line from your potential customer to you.

 

Avoid failure one step from conversion. Rescue abandoned carts with a two-step process.

 

According to Baymard Institute, 69.57% of online shopping carts are abandoned. This means, that for every 100 potential customers, 70 of them will leave your website without purchasing.

This means failure one step from conversion. But you can still save the purchase.

The saving process is driven by the recommendation system. The module is alerted when the cart is being abandoned. In this instance, it sends the client an email containing a list of the abandoned products. It also contains the recommendations frame with content matched by the AI on the transaction data basis. 

The system also monitors the client’s reaction. If the transaction is still not completed within a given time, the client receives another message, this time containing a discount coupon. The two-step model effectively delivers motivation at a crucial moment in the decision process.

 

Use A/B testing to see how it affects conversion.

 

All your marketing actions should impact your conversion rate. Why not test them to see which ones provide you with the best results?

With our A/B/X Testing & Optimization feature, you can analyze and improve the performance of all of your campaigns to make sure you have the best possible content delivered at the best possible time. The system has you define the KPIs for tests and set up rules, and it will do the rest of the analytic job for you. 

 

To sum up

 

SALESmanago is tailored for eCommerce. For this reason, many of our features are centered around conversion—because we want your website to be a fully functional online store. 

Check out the pricing plans in SALESmanago, and see what you can gain through each of them to improve conversions in your eCommerce!

 

Hey, does anyone know of an automation software which allows you to practice it in sandbox environment? Something similar to Salesforce’s trailhead practice environment for admins. submitted by /u/4enthusiastia [link] [comments]

As marketers find more innovative ways to attract audiences, video has become a meaningful part of the strategic conversation.
Video marketing is no longer an “up-and-coming” content strategy. It’s here, and it’s an increasingly powerful way to communicate your brand story, explain your value proposition, and build relationships with your customers and prospects.

The HubSpot Blog surveyed 550 marketers to learn about the latest video trends. The most recent data shows that video content isn’t just effective — the demand for it is growing at an impressively rapid pace. Here are the key video marketing statistics you should keep in mind to inform your strategy.

General Video Marketing Stats

36% of marketers say the primary goal of their company’s video marketing efforts is to increase brand awareness and reach new audiences.
37% of companies exclusively create video content in-house, 14% rely on an agency, and 49% share a mix of both in-house and agency-created video content.
69% of marketers say their company owns the production equipment used to create video content.
The most popular video editing software is Adobe Premiere Pro, which is used by 61% of marketers.
44% of marketers use an iPhone as their primary camera for video content.
88% of companies surveyed have a team dedicated to creating video content, and 45% of companies with dedicated video support have a team of two to five people.
81% of marketers say their primary company has a budget specifically for video marketing, and 52% of marketers said their video marketing budget remained the same for 2022.
42% of marketers surveyed say creating video content through an outside agency has resulted in better videos.
69% of marketers claim the biggest benefit of creating video content in-house is having more creative control and flexibility.
When asked what the biggest benefit of working with an agency to create video content is, 68% of marketers point to higher-quality videos that look more professional.
77% of marketers say their company uses YouTube to host marketing videos.
14% of marketers say their company spends between $7,000 to $10,000 to produce a video.
When asked how long it takes to create a marketing video from start to finish, 30% of marketers say it takes two weeks.
According to 65% of marketers, production (filming, lighting, and audio) is the most expensive part of the video creation process.
38% of marketers say pre-production (ideation, writing the script, and casting) is the most time-consuming part of the video creation process.
74% of companies optimize videos for silent auto-play.
78% of companies leverage accessibility features in video content. The most common accommodation is video captioning, which is used by 65% of companies.
31% of brands publish two to four videos per month.
29% of companies started prioritizing video marketing in 2019.
When asked what the three biggest challenges are when creating video content, the top responses were lack of time to create video content (39%), difficulty creating an effective video strategy (33%), and inadequate budget to create video content (31%).

Video Marketing Performance Stats

According to marketers the top three most important factors for creating effective video content are capturing viewers’ attention in the first few seconds (36%), effectively promoting videos (36%), and keeping videos concise (33%).
The most effective video promotion strategies according to marketers are promoting videos on social media platforms (63%), adding videos to the company website or blog, optimizing the title and description for SEO, and running paid ads for videos (47%).
44% of marketers describe creating video content as somewhat easy.
59% of marketers found video marketing to be somewhat effective for reaching their company’s overall business goals.
47% of marketers say video marketing is moderately important to the overall marketing strategy at their company.
55% of marketers claim video marketing has an average ROI, and 41% of marketers report video marketing having a high ROI.
32% of marketers found the most effective way to generate leads from marketing videos is to place links to landing pages on social media video ads.
The top metrics marketers use when measuring video content performance are view count (44%), watch time (43%), and engagement (41%).
36% of marketers say the optimal length of a marketing video is one to three minutes.
39% of marketers report that short-form videos generate the biggest ROI.
64% of marketers surveyed claim say the optimal length of a short-form marketing video is 20-60 seconds.
41% of marketers found the average watch percentage of their short-form videos is between 61-80%.
26% of marketers say the optimal length of a live video is seven to nine minutes.
40% of marketers claim the biggest benefit of creating video content is to help customers understand its products and services. 36% of marketers say the biggest benefit of video content is that it gets more engagement than other types of marketing.
68% of marketers say content showcasing their products and services generates the biggest ROI.
Per 63% of marketers, content related to cultural moments and news stories generates the most video engagement.
59% of marketers have created a video that has gone viral.
According to marketers, the most important factors in creating a viral video are making relatable content (28%), keeping videos short (27%), and capturing viewers’ attention in the first few seconds (26%).
24% of marketers say funny content is most likely to go viral.

Social Media Video Marketing Stats

According to 58% of marketers, short-form videos (such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts), are the main video format they leverage in their roles.
The top channels for sharing or hosting marketing videos are social media (76%), blog or website (55%), email (44%), and Vimeo (31%).
67% of marketers say sharing marketing videos on social media (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok) has the biggest ROI.
The top social media platform for sharing videos is YouTube (70%), followed by Instagram (60%) and TikTok (35%).
54% of companies plan on increasing their investment in videos for TikTok this year.
64% of marketers say their company has the highest engagement when sharing marketing videos on Instagram.
According to marketers, the top social media platforms for generating leads from videos are Instagram (66%) and YouTube (59%).
56% of brands plan on increasing their investment in videos for Instagram this year.
When posting marketing videos on social media, 55% of marketers say they leverage a mix of organic and paid content.
27% of marketers said YouTube is the platform they plan to invest the most in for sharing marketing videos in 2022.
When comparing the two platforms, 78% of marketers said YouTube was more effective for reaching overall business goals, compared to 8% of marketers who felt Vimeo was more effective for reaching business goals.

As online platforms and consumer habits trend towards video, brands will need to invest in the medium to keep the attention of audiences and grow their reach.

Google is not a social media channel per se, but one of its features, Google Web Stories, is similar to the stories format that you’d see on popular sites like Instagram.
It poses a unique opportunity for creators, so read on to learn all about Google Web Stories, what they can do for your business, and how to create them and make an impact.

Table of Contents:

What are Google Web Stories?
Google Web Stories Examples
How to Make Google Web Stories
Best Practices for Creating Google Web Stories
Google Web Stories SEO Checklist

What are Google Web Stories?
Google Web Stories are interactive, video-first pieces of content that creators can use to share information with audiences through tappable pages featuring audio, images, and text. The Web Story format was formerly known as AMP Stories.
Google says that styles that work the best with the format are first-person narratives, evergreen or updating stories, live stories, educational and experiential stories, and quizzes and polls.
Web Stories appear in standard Google Search results and as carousels in Google Discover, and you can also add them to a newsletter and link to them from your social media accounts. The image below shows a Web Story in Google Discover on the left and Google Search on the right.
Web Stories are also individual pages on your website, so they can be indexed and surfaced in relevant results. You can feature them as individual pieces of content within your website or embed them like podcast episodes or YouTube videos. The video below from Google for Creators goes into more detail.

Google Web Stories Format
Web Stories have three parts: a poster, a cover page, and story pages.
The poster is the first thing someone sees in your Story, and Google describes it as the packaging. Your cover page is the first page of the content of your story, and story pages are where you begin to tell your story and narrative with video, text, and your preferred assets.

There is only one poster and cover page per story, but you can have multiple story pages.
Can you monetize Google Web Stories?
You can monetize Google Web Stories with AdSense, Ad Manager, and display ads. You can also include affiliate links as attachments or CTAs.

Google Web Stories Examples
1. INPUT – Ford’s Mustang Mach-E 1400 Prototype

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This Web Story begins with what feels like a real-life experience as a car zooms across the screen and speeds across a race track. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E 1400 Prototype is a standout Web Story because of its expert use of video to draw users in.  It embodies the video-first elements Google recommends and continues to be interactive throughout the rest of the piece.
2. Nylon – 10 Black-Authored Books To Add To Your Summer Reading List

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Nylon’s 10 Black-Authored Books To Add To Your Summer Reading List Story is an excellent example of expertly using attachments and shoppable links to inspire interaction with viewers and make the user experience seamless. Viewers can tap through and read summaries of each book and, when interested, can click a link to be automatically directed to a site where they can purchase the book.
3. Vice – The Burger Sisters of Kenya

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The Burger Sisters of Kenya is a Web Story about two sisters who own a famous burger food truck in Kenya. This Story is a great inspiration as it features a first-person narrative that feels like a conversation, high-quality video and visuals, and it minds accessibility with captions and audio transcriptions.

How to Make Google Web Stories
This Google format can bring various benefits to your business, like sharing a unique and engaging brand story with your audience, inspiring engagement with interactive elements, driving traffic to your different channels, and the ability to monetize and generate revenue.
Let’s go over how to make them.
1. Storyboard your narrative.
The first step is to storyboard and draft a narrative. Google created a storyboard script template to use to draft your Web Story narrative.

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2. Choose an editor.
After you’ve created a final draft, pick the editor you’ll use to create your Story. If you have developer skills, you can follow a tutorial from AMP that will guide you through the process of creating a Story with custom functionality.
If you don’t have developer skills, you can use one of the recommended no-coding necessary editors.
If you’re a WordPress user, you can use the Web Stories Plugin.
Google Web Stories Plugin
The Web Stories for WordPress plugin, built by Google, will help you easily create and publish your Web Stories on your WordPress site. The editor includes templates, a drag and drop builder, space for custom branded elements, and you can grab existing assets from your WordPress Media Library.

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3. Create your Web Story
Once you’ve chosen your editor, begin building your Web Story.
4. Test your web story before publishing.
The final step is to enable your Web Story on Google, and this requires testing it with various tools.

Test if it is AMP valid using the AMP test tool or AMP Test Validator.
Check if your Story can be indexed by Google using the Sitemaps Report and URL Inspection Tool.
Check if your story renders appropriately for different devices with Chrome Developer Tools.

To embed a Web Story on your WordPress site, you’d use the Web Stories block. If you’ve created your Web Story with any AMP tools, you’ll receive an embed link that you can paste within your site code.

Best Practices for Creating Google Web Stories
Let’s go over some best practices for creating your Web Stories.

1. Champion video-first storytelling.
Google meant for Web Stories to be video-first. It favors video over all else but welcomes audio, images, and animations that help you create a narrative. You can include text, but when you use it, aim for less than 280 characters, or approximately 40 to 70 words per page.
2. Use engaging elements.
Stories are meant to be interactive and engaging for users, so aim to use interactive elements.
The best way to do so is to have multiple story pages so you capture viewer attention and get them excited to tap and learn more. You can also include interactive quizzes and polls, CTAs, and links to different pages to increase viewer interaction with your content sources.
3. Use your brand identity.
Stories show up in SERPs and Google Discover, so you want to include your unique brand elements, so audiences know it’s you.
4. Ensure your stories are AMP valid.
Web Stories run on the AMP framework, so they need to be AMP valid. We recommended various testing tools above, so make sure to use them throughout your process to ensure your Stories can appear on the web.
5. Make your Web Stories accessible.
Although you want to champion visual storytelling, your Web Stories also need to be accessible. Add alt text to your images, transcribe audio, use subtitles and captions, and add metadata to your Stories to ensure everyone can benefit from them.
6. Be mindful of Google’s SEO standards.
As mentioned above, Web Stories are pages on your website. As a result, you want to be mindful of SEO best practices when creating your Web Stories so they can be indexed and ready to appear in SERPs.

Google Web Stories SEO Checklist
The same standard SEO best practices apply to Web Stories. If you already have an SEO strategy for your business, reference it throughout your process. However, there are key Web Story SEO factors to be aware of.

You want to add metadata to all elements of your Web Story, as it will speak directly to search engines and discover features that want to learn what’s in them. You can optimize for this by following along with AMP metadata guidelines.
Your Web Stories are pages on your website, so you want them to be self-canonical. Each of your Stories should have a link rel=“canonical” to itself.
Story titles should be shorter than 90 characters.
Add Web Stories to your site map and don’t include noindex attributes. You can check if you’ve been indexed using the Index Coverage Report.
All Web Stories need AMP structured data.
All Images need alt text to improve discoverability, and video needs subtitles.

Over To You
The story format provides similar benefits on Google as it would on your other channels, so it’s worth considering. If you’re ready to use the feature, leverage the instructions on this list to begin creating a unique, interactive piece of content that is sure to delight your audience.

Leadership isn’t just about control — it’s also about actions and behaviors. As a leader, do your current leadership behaviors align with both your and your team’s goals? And does your behavior boost your team’s morale or bring the mood down — resulting in high turnover and less efficiency? To help you answer those questions, we’ve put together a breakdown of the kind of conduct that leaders should exhibit.
Leaders who don’t possess these behaviors may struggle with completing objectives, maintaining a healthy work environment, or managing their team members.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at 30 examples of leadership behaviors that will benefit both you and your team.

Effective Leadership Behaviors Examples
1. Compassion
Compassion means having sympathy and concern for others, especially when they are experiencing misfortune. Leading with compassion builds trust and promotes collaboration. Your employees will feel more comfortable confiding in you about issues that may be disrupting their workflow.
2. Adaptability
An excellent leader is always prepared to shift priorities and processes to adapt to changing market conditions. New viral social media sites are popping up every day. State-of-the-art technologies are always in development and changing the ways consumers interact with products and services. Adaptable leadership means working to keep up with these changes and ensuring that your business model is always up-to-date and evolving.
3. Coaching mindset
Having a coaching mindset means wanting to help your employees improve their skill set and grow both personally and professionally. As a leader, you should also act as a mentor by taking the time to get to know your employees and their goals to help set them up for success. Consider having training sessions that focus on specific areas of the business or set aside time for your employees to shadow colleagues in different departments — based on their interests.
4. Active listening
According to a 2021 global survey by The Workforce Institute at UKG, 74% of employees say they are more effective at their job when they feel heard. That same study also showed 88% of employees whose companies financially outperform others in their industry feel heard compared to 62% of employees at financially underperforming companies.
Active listening means giving the person who is speaking your full, undivided attention. In tandem with listening to their words, you’re also analyzing what’s being said —paying close attention to the content, intentions, and emotion of the speaker. Employees appreciate this because it means they’re not only being heard they’re also being understood.

5. Motivation
You can’t expect your team to be motivated to reach new heights if you aren’t. Leaders set the tone for their team’s morale. Being a motivational leader means showing enthusiasm for the company’s future. It also means setting the vision for the company and getting team members equally excited about what’s to come.
6. Self-awareness
Being a self-aware leader means understanding your character and feelings. Knowing your character is important because it means you are aware of your strengths, weaknesses, and the way you respond to situations. This provides a foundation from which you can work to make improvements where need be. Being aware of your feelings also allows you to approach situations with clarity and a calm mind.
7. Confidence
In order for your team to believe in you, you must first believe in your own leadership abilities — that’s why confidence is key. To build your confidence, repeat positive affirmations to yourself, practice good posture, speak clearly, and make eye contact while speaking. It’s easier said than done, but with good practice and repetition, your confidence will grow and your team will notice.
8. Assertiveness
Assertive leaders stand up for themselves, others, and what they believe in —but being assertive does not mean being “pushy” or “disrespectful.” Stand up to others while remaining calm and positive.. Be direct and clear in your communication, and don’t just passively accept unfavorable responses.
9. Time management
An effective leader knows how to use their and their team’s time wisely. Leaders properly manage time by streamlining workflows to make processes more efficient. They also implement detailed plans that prioritize important tasks and take the amount of time it takes to complete them into account.
10. Detail-oriented
Completing a project on time is important, but timeliness means nothing if the project is riddled with errors or missing key components. A true leader pays close attention to detail to ensure high standards of quality are met. However, that does not mean a good leader lets their attention to detail interfere with important developments —it simply means they use their attention to detail to deliver thorough results.
11. Communication
As a leader, you must be able to clearly articulate your objectives. Communicating effectively means you can spend less time repeating yourself and more time taking action. So make sure your verbal communication is easy to understand. Another aspect of great communication is understanding how your team prefers to communicate. Do email updates help? How about weekly scheduled Zoom meetings and town halls? Pay close attention to the types of communication that yield the best results and implement them into your strategy.
12. Accountability
Accountability doesn’t just mean holding someone else to task for their behaviors —it also means holding yourself accountable. No leader is perfect, and part of establishing trust with your team is taking responsibility for your own shortcomings. If you missed a deadline or forgot to update your team on a project, take ownership and make a point to do better. Your team will respect your honesty and reflect it by holding themselves accountable as well.
13. Dependability
A dependable leader can be trusted to do what they say they’ll do, when they say they’ll do it, and the way it needs to be done. This instills confidence in the team and can inspire them to do the same. A leader who lacks dependability can shake a team’s morale, reduce efficiency, and lose out on important opportunities.
14. Proactiveness
Proactive leadership means taking the time to plan, improve your team’s processes, and put initiatives in place to prevent problems before they arise. As a proactive leader, you should identify areas of risk for your team and work to minimize negative impacts or remove them altogether before issues pop up.
15. Planning
The key to being proactive is to plan. Plan the route to meet your goals and what you’ll do after. Plan for when things go right, and plan in case a project fails. Devise a plan for how each member in your team will contribute to the company’s objectives. Remember, if you stay ready, you’ll never have to get ready.

16. Problem solving
A leader must be able to find solutions to difficult or unpredictable problems, and in an ever-changing professional landscape, unpredictable problems happen by nature. A good leader also understands that they must also utilize the strengths of their teams to get over hurdles.
17. Responsibility
Responsible leaders own the fact that they have an obligation to make tough decisions, lead, and are in control of their team. They do not shy away from responsibility or accountability — and they’re not afraid to be decision-makers.
18. Goal-Oriented
As a goal-oriented leader, you must set clear and realistic goals for both yourself and your team — and be driven to achieve them. Consistent goal setting builds motivation and pushes the team to achieve important objectives and meet deadlines. To maintain a goal-oriented outlook, you must approach each task with a positive attitude.
19. Purpose
Purpose goes hand-in-hand with goal-setting. As a leader, you must have a clear future envisioned for your team that drives everyone forward. Where do all your goals lead to? What drives you to succeed and is that purpose clear to your employees?
20. Commitment
No matter your objective as a leader, reaching it requires commitment. A committed leader will give their time and energy to their company, team, and goals. Their go-getter attitude will also inspire their team to be committed to their tasks as well.
21. Resilience
Being a leader isn’t easy. Sometimes plans fail, markets shift, consumers change, and frustrations can arise. However, a resilient leader finds the strength to persevere through uncertainty or disappointment and helps their team stay the course to their goals.
22. Transparency
Lack of transparency can create distrust between you and your team. To be a transparent leader, you have to make yourself clear and easy to understand. You must also ensure the words you say match your tone and body language to avoid confusion. A transparent leader may not be able to tell the team everything, but they don’t leave questions as to what they can or can’t share.
23. Personal fulfillment
A leader gets a sense of personal fulfillment when a project is completed successfully. That personal fulfillment is the result of alignment between their drive, purpose, and desire to achieve their goals alongside their team.
24. Reflection
A leader who practices reflection is an efficient leader. Reflection allows leaders to look back on previous experiences, learn from them, and make improvements going forward. As a leader, getting external feedback on your decisions can sometimes be difficult. Therefore, practicing self-reflection and taking careful consideration of your past actions can be great ways to help yourself expand your skill set.
25. Empathy
An empathetic leader is able to understand or feel what another person is experiencing by figuratively putting themselves in that person’s position. Being in tune with your team’s feelings and concerns can help you adjust expectations, get to the heart of certain issues, and instill trust. To build empathy, step outside your comfort zone and ask “How would I feel if this were happening to me?”
26. Constructive feedback
The individual members of your team have their own goals — just like you. As a leader you should be comfortable giving constructive feedback to your team members to help facilitate their growth and improve performance. Constructive feedback is informative, issue-specific, based on observation, and is delivered in a way that is not meant to offend or deter. Instead, constructive feedback is delivered to encourage a positive outcome.
27. Empowerment
Empowering your team means delegating specific tasks to team members and giving them authority over those tasks. This shows that you believe in your team’s capabilities and trust them to take charge of projects when necessary. This form of empowerment can also help team members broaden their skills and boost efficiency.
28. Interactive
Leadership isn’t just about keeping to yourself and making decisions solely on your own. It also means working with your team. An interactive leader keeps open lines of communication with their team, connects individuals to their teams via team building, and embraces new perspectives with enthusiasm.
29. Influential
In order to lead, an effective leader must exhibit high-influence behaviors that have an effect on the character, beliefs, actions, and development of their team. With words and examples, leaders set the tone for how projects are executed and have the power to change direction if need be. With low-influence behaviors, leaders will have to work harder to be heard and to have projects completed to their liking.
30. Emotional Intelligence
Empathy, self-awareness, reflection, and compassion are all components of emotional intelligence. Any emotionally intelligent leader is aware and in control of how they express their emotions. By being in control of their emotions, an effective leader can handle their relationship with their team judiciously and respectfully. Emotional intelligence creates a healthy work environment in which everyone feels validated, heard, and respected.
If you don’t possess all the above listed behaviors, don’t worry. These are behaviors that can be honed over time with practice and initiative. Write down the behaviors you wish to develop, and start crafting a clear plan to do so. There is no better time to get started than the present.

Learn how to write great out of office messages and see 16 examples that will inspire you.