Work with people you want to work with

“So when we are in a situation where we are in a working relationship, we are invested. We are deep in it and we want this project to be a success!”

Ken Beasley shares the desire he and the team at Aid&Abet have for client success as it creates a lasting relationship to further grow business with that client.

Ken is the managing director of Aid&Abet, a strategic branding design agency specializing in elevating food and beverage brands.

Listen again as we discuss how he transitioned from working at non-profits to agencies because of his passion and energy to work in that world and to lean on your experience and ability to learn when dealing with imposter syndrome to take on challenges that seem out of reach. We also talk about how sustainability has been a key trending attribute for brand positioning for food and beverage brands.

The full episode is available to listen here: Marketing & Branding Trends In The Food Industry, Transitioning from Non-Profits to Agencies, And Dealing With Imposter Syndrome

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Creative Haven (@creativehavenofficial)

How using cartoon characters are bound to boost your marketing strategy

How would you like to create content that is understandable and engaging to your target audience? Adding cartoon characters as part of your post can be a viable tool to boost your marketing strategy. Boost your brand recognition, customer connection, and creative freedom when you use characters as part of your brand. Here’s why using cartoon characters is an excellent option to increase the engagement of your social media posts.

The content you post on the blog, email newsletter, or social media is for sharing information or news with your target audience. Your content has to be attention-grabbing for your viewers to read, view, or interact with your content. If you need more customers to interact with your content, using cartoon characters will help make your content more engaging and entertaining. A cartoon character is a useful marketing tool that will grab your audience’s attention first; they will continue reading your piece since it’s related to their pain points. According to research done by 3M Corporation, the brain processes visual media 60,000 times faster than text. Cartoon characters are helpful in this regard because they can keep viewers entertained as they view the content.

Content characters are a beneficial engagement tool in your marketing strategy because your target audience will have someone to relate to, connect with, and introduce your topics in a less complicated, visually stimulating way. Also, depending on your topic cartoon characters can address sensitive topics without it disturbing any viewers. A character made to represent your brand solely will help increase your brand recognition and help share your brand values because viewers will be able to point out your brand and products from the character and understand your values better. Feel free to place your characters in your ads, videos, and presentations. The more you include your character in your posts, the more of a positive impression and association it will have on your audience and further stand out from the competition.

Credit: UpCounsel Using Cartoon Characters for Business: What You Need to Know

Connect with your Superfans

“Make it up, send it to them, see what they think. And then start growing that, and using the data that you’re getting from the sales and across the board, and always bringing that to new buyers.”

In this clip from episode 68 of our podcast, NewPoint Marketing president Patrick Nycz shares how to use focus groups for your loyal customers or superfans to gain more insight into your target audience and increase sales.

Listen to this episode again as we talk about how a 360 review in his early career forced him to become a better leader and marketer and the importance of surrounding yourself with people who can mentor and assist you in growing your brand. We also discuss why you should invite loyal customers to a focus group for needed insight into what consumers want to buy to increase future sales.

Find episode 68 on Apple Podcasts Career-changing 360 Review, Benefits Of A Focus Group, And The Importance Of Surrounding Yourself With The Right People

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Creative Haven (@creativehavenofficial)

The secrets to creating engaging videos

How do you keep your viewers glued to your video? What tools or strategies should your business implement to increase the engagement of your video? An engaging video is one of the key reasons why viewers stay focused on a video that has grabbed their attention. It’s one of the reasons why metrics such as click-through rate increase because something about that video persuades them to learn more about the company’s products or services. If you’re wondering why you need engaging videos and how to implement them into your strategy, stay tuned for some tips.

If you want your video watched, your video has to be relevant to your audience. The topic has to be relatable, solve your audience’s problem, and be interesting to your audience. If the content is not relatable, then it is less likely to be watched by your target audience. Even if the content is relatable, make sure it is told with a storyline, eye-catching thumbnails and graphics, titles, and descriptions to show your audience your video is relatable to them. It’s good to know your audience and diversify the type of videos you’re creating so that they are a mix of informative and entertaining videos. 

There are two strategies to making engaging videos. The first strategy is the active strategy. This strategy gives your audience a task to interact with your video. Some active strategies are to plan how they’re going to engage, interact, connect, and follow through with the article. This type of strategy works well when you’re educating your audience on a certain topic. For example, you’ll need to plan how you’ll teach them the material, how they’ll interact with the video through a survey or quiz, how they’ll continue to learn about this topic, and ask them to show you their results.

The next strategy is the passive strategy. This strategy relies on storytelling to grab the audience and share a message about your products, brand story, or business. For this strategy, talk with your audience in a conversational tone; as if they were your friend. This further increases the relationship and trust with your audience. You also have the opportunity to evoke emotion by being humorous, and energetic. Include jokes, B-roll, music, animation, heartfelt messages, and any emotion that will help push your message through. However, know when to include certain emotions and humor into your videos. Implement any of these strategies, passive or active, to create engaging videos for your business. 

Credit by: Matt Pierce Making Engaging Video

Marketing & Branding Trends In The Food Industry, Transitioning from Non-Profits to Agencies, And Dealing With Imposter Syndrome

Listen to our latest podcast episode with guest, managing director of Aid&Abet, Ken Beasley! Aid&Abet is a strategic branding design agency specializing in elevating food and beverage brands.

Join the discussion as we discuss how he transitioned from working at non-profits to agencies because of his passion and energy to work in that world and to lean on your experience and ability to learn when dealing with imposter syndrome to take on challenges that seem out of reach. We also talk about how sustainability has been a key trending attribute for brand positioning for food and beverage brands.

The full episode is available to listen here: Marketing & Branding Trends In The Food Industry, Transitioning from Non-Profits to Agencies, And Dealing With Imposter Syndrome

How to increase engagement in virtual events

Have an event coming up? Wondering how to use video for your benefit? We have become versatile in how we interact with one another. If you need to know how to create exciting virtual events, we’ve compiled a guide on transforming your in-person events into virtual events.

Webinars bring educational and interactive content straight to your attendees’ devices. Include a pre-event post and a follow-up post after the event to keep them engaged throughout the webinar period. If you’re hosting a sales meeting, bring visual elements and video templates along in your video. These elements don’t take away from the meeting purpose and also encourages clients to continue with the sale.

Make things exciting for employees during company meetings by including an exciting meeting invite, incorporating a trivia game of information mentioned in the meeting, and offer an attendance certificate to show how valuable their presence is. Any event, whether it is a job fair, conference, or college opening day, has the opportunity to engage, inform, and inspire its attendees. A video added to your promotional post on social media and posting clips afterward helps your brand awareness and content library. The goal is to make your virtual events more engaging by using an exciting invite email, fun video templates, and interesting games that lead to an overall captivating video!

Credit: Hanna Abitbul 6 Ways to Leverage Video for Your Virtual Events in 2021

Know why videos on your landing pages have lasting benefits!

So far, we’ve talked about the benefits video marketing has on your business. We’ve discussed the importance video has when displayed on your website and landing pages. Now let’s discuss further the benefits of displaying videos on landing pages. During a digital marketing campaign, creating a landing page guides your customers to a call to action or ongoing offer on your site. Including a video on the landing page increases the conversion rate. 

Videos provide a substitute content medium to text-only landing pages. When your visitors click on your landing page, you want them to understand and act on the information on the page. Unfortunately, too much text can lose your visitors’ interest. Help your viewers retain the info on your landing page by using video. Videos help you compound all information about your product and services into a video that is not only engaging but also informational. 

Think about the goals you have set for your landing pages. Overall, you’d want to increase engagement and conversions. Well, video helps your company accomplish those goals. Videos keep your visitors on the site much longer than a text-heavy page. Video brings sound and visuals to your pages and draws your visitors to learn about your products or services. For engagement, many businesses invoke emotion and showcase products up close to get the audience to convert. Using these tools and videos on a landing page will help you increase conversions up to 80%!

The more consistent, engaging, and informational videos your viewers see from your company, the more they’ll be able to recognize your brand from others. Brand recognition is important for consumers and companies alike as consumers want to be confident they can trust the brand they’re interacting with on the page. Companies value brand recognition as a tool to continue to build trust with their audience. Videos on landing pages deliver positive results to a company’s engagement rate, conversion rate, and brand recognition. Start integrating videos onto your pages!

Credit: Macy Storm 4 Benefits of Using Videos on Your Landing Pages

How To Optimize Your Video Conversions

In this video, you'll learn the best ways to increase your conversions for your video content.

I know I can say this because I’ve worked with the world's top brands like Spotify, Colgate, HBO, plus multiple Ad Agencies that have taught me a thing or two on creating video content that increase conversions.

These tips have helped me create video content that's helped me drive sales, traffic, and conversions for myself and my clients.

If you stick around until the end of this video, you'll learn everything you need to increase your video content conversions and conversion rate optimization so you can create videos that get the results you want!

If you want to learn more about how video content can grow your brand online, click the link in the bio.

Why video editing is a crucial step in video marketing

How vital is editing in your video marketing strategy? You can shoot videos that answer your customers' questions, demonstrates how to use your product or service, deliver brand news, and ease the employee onboarding process. However, if the video has any unnecessary pauses or too many transitions, then you may lose your audiences' attention in the message. A drop in engagement is what your company does not need in your video marketing strategy. Good video editing makes a huge difference in the content of your videos. Here are the five benefits good video editing has on your videos.

Video editing is part of the post-production process of video production. It is what brings all elements of your video together in one seamless professional engaging video. Well-edited videos make all the hard work of writing a script and shooting the video worth it, especially when reviewing the video analytics. Video needs to capture your attention in the first 10 seconds and be clear throughout. Proper video editing that includes effective transitions and cuts out long pauses will ensure professional high-quality videos viewers will keep watching.

Just like the content you post on your website, email newsletters, and social media, videos are a representation of your brand. A poorly edited video does not boost your brand authority and promote your message to your viewers. High-quality videos help spread your knowledge while increasing your brand awareness. Consider investing in video editing software or hiring a video editor to save you time to edit your message rather than reshoot the same message due to mistakes. With an estimated 82% of internet traffic is in the video, video marketing is not going away any time soon, so tailor your content for well-edited, polished, engaging, and targeted videos.

Credit: Digital Media Thoughts 5 Benefits of Good Digital Video Editing for Your Marketing

Use video marketing to boost your industry thought leadership

Are you a marketing executive and are struggling to share your knowledge with your audience? Do you have hopes to become a thought leader in your industry? While there are many forms of content to use to become a knowledgeable leader in information about your industry, video marketing is a surefire way to create thought leadership for your brand.

If you’re looking to improve your reputation, increase sales, and increase your customer’s trust in your brand, then video marketing can help accomplish your goals. Videos are a very accessible, versatile, and shareable content medium that allows you to share engaging, informational, and educational content to your audience. Videos are present on landing pages, email newsletters, blogs, and social media: allowing you more opportunity to reach and engage with your audience.

When it comes to the content in the video, create videos that engage your audience and showcases your knowledge and expertise such as subject matter expert interviews, discussions, presentations, and vlogs. Now that you have an idea of what type of videos you need to create to become a trustworthy authority figure in your field, create a comprehensive marketing strategy that contains relevant video topics, a consistent content schedule, knowledge of when, where, and how to post based on the platform and target audience.

Credit: Written by Torrey Tayenkaya How to Use Video Marketing to Become an Industry Thought Leader

Create a compelling video using these strategies from viral videos!

Are you running low on ideas for your next video? Wondering what tactics and strategies these companies used to create their viral video ads? Your videos don’t need to be made to go viral, but learning how these companies went viral can be helpful if you’re looking to add the tactic to your video marketing strategy. In this article, we uncover the types of videos and strategies that were used to go viral.

If you’re one of the 85% of companies, according to Wyzowl, using video in their marketing strategy, then you’ll understand how valuable videos are for your company and your audience. Your video has to be engaging with your audience. Most viral videos are entertaining and appeal to the emotions of the viewers. Some use humor to talk about their product or brand, while others go for a shock factor. Storytelling is a great route to consider to share your values in either an empowering, inspirational, or personal way. If you’re creating a product video or sharing your brand story, think about how you can create a scenario that highlights one or more of the pain points, features, or benefits of using your product or the brand mission statement. For example, instead of showing how the blender operates in Blendtec’s “Will it Blend?” series, the company took a different approach and blended unusual items that revealed the strength and power of the Blendtec line of blenders.

The production value does not need to be high to get your message across. In fact, Android compiled clips of different animals playing together and ended the ad with their campaign message. The message ties the brand with the video and makes excellent use of emotions to increase the engagement of the ad. Whether you choose to create videos that are creative, humorous, out-of-the-box, include interesting characters, or invoke storytelling, remember your goals and brand values and you’ll have impactful and entertaining videos for your business.

Credit: Uros Stanimirovic  10 Best Viral Marketing Videos of Recent Times

Meet Them Where They Are

“Because if you deeply understand a customer and understand way beyond your product or service, then you can build a program for them.”

Laura makes a fantastic point about how businesses need to understand their customers first to build their brand in this clip from episode 48 of our podcast! Laura Sheridan is the founder of business consulting company Viva La Brand.

Hear more from this interview as we discuss important topics such as copywriting, speaking in your customers' language to be relatable, and understanding your current customer’s needs to adjust and strengthen your marketing strategy to attract potential clients.

We also discuss the definition of branding, recognizing which needs your company is fulfilling with surveys, and the importance of building a network with other professionals to grow your company.

The full episode is available at Creative Haven under Apple Podcasts here:The Importance Of Copywriting, Understanding Your Customer, And The Definition Of Brandin‪g‬.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Creative Haven (@creativehavenhub)

What's Trending For Video Marketing in 2021?

Video continues to be the content medium used in industries ranging from insurance firms to charities. As video continues to be rampant with consumption in 2021, it is time to monitor which video marketing trends will be present this year.

Social media platforms continue to offer new features to their platforms. LinkedIn introduced two new features added at the end of 2020 to join the channels with prominent social video and live-streaming abilities. Strategize how using LinkedIn Stories and LinkedIn Live can help your professional videos. Increased social media use calls for more opportunities to appeal to your audience. With most users using multiple platforms to communicate with others, your company should also branch out onto the social media platforms and create content that reflects your brand and product offering in different video formats and aspect ratios.

Regarding your video creation process, expect to see more industries adapting and improving the work from home video content approach with podcasts, Zoom calls, and live events. Adaptation is key, and if you’re struggling with how to inform your consumers about a product or service, then incorporate explainer videos into your video marketing. According to Google, about 70% of viewers watch YouTube videos to assist in a problem they have. Use explainer videos to guide your audience to make the right decision for them. Continue to test and monitor these trends while promoting valuable and relatable content.

Credit: The Animation Guys 2021 Video Marketing Trends To Look Out For

Top reasons to include animation in your video marketing strategy for 2021

By now, you should know that video has been a present force in how consumers connect and become knowledgeable of your brand. As marketers and small business owners, fine-tuning your marketing strategy is another part of the process of a successful video marketing campaign. If you’re looking for more ideas on video marketing, look no further than animation. Animation has always been a popular video style in cinema. So why not use animation in your own explainer videos? Doubtful? We’ll reveal the top reasons to include animation in your video marketing strategy for 2021.

It’s important to note that video marketing will be incredibly important this year. If the average person watches 100 minutes of video a day and there is a 14% increase in video strategy implementation from 2015 to 2020, according to a Marketing Charts survey and HubSpot, then there’s no reason not to explore how your video marketing strategy can succeed in 2021.

Explainer videos are powerful on their own: your company becomes an educational source to your consumers, which further increases the trust and relationship between consumer and company. Add animation to the mix, and viewers will want to see what’s next in-store. This does well for brand awareness and helps you stand out from the competition. Explain your brand story, products, or services without feeling like you’re not connecting with your audience. An animated explainer video has engaging visuals, voice-overs, and music for your consumers to watch, understand and retain the information about your product or service.

Including an animated explainer video in your video marketing strategy demonstrates the effort your company makes to present complex topics that are meaningful and informational to the consumer. The eye-catching visuals in your thumbnail may stop consumers mid-scroll, but the visuals, voice-overs, and music will keep them watching.

Credit: Ripple Animation Why 2021 Will Be the Year of Animated Video Marketing

The Importance Of Copywriting, Understanding Your Customer, And The Definition Of Brandin‪g‬

On this episode of our podcast, we have Viva La Brand founder Laura Sheridan! Viva La Brand is a business consulting company that focuses on brand and marketing strategy.

Our discussion explored why copywriting and speaking in your customers' language is important and understanding your current customer’s needs to adjust and strengthen your marketing strategy to attract potential clients.

We also discuss the definition of branding, recognizing which needs your company is fulfilling with surveys, and the importance of building a network with other professionals to grow your company.

The full episode is available at Creative Haven under Apple Podcasts here:The Importance Of Copywriting, Understanding Your Customer, And The Definition Of Brandin‪g‬.

Winning Tactics for B2B Video Marketing

Tired of using text as your main content medium? Struggling with how to incorporate videos into your strategy for your industry? Whether you're at the beginning of your video marketing journey or have been creating videos for some time, add these tactics and advice to improve your strategy.

Plan to create videos that are high-quality, useful, eye-grabbing, and relevant to your consumer. Your consumer will want to know what your company is offering that is different or better than the competition and a poorly executed video will not do well with your audience. Monitor the trends in and out of your industry, but don’t be so quick to replicate them. Instead, create a strategy that focuses on the trends suitable to try out on your company. You could also recycle old or exclusive content and transform it into a new video. Try your hand with the rising popularity of short-form video content. This type of content is excellent for Q&As or a FAQ session to boost engagement as your viewers will have their questions answered promptly.

Overall, videos create an experience that allows your customers and viewers an insight into the brand, the products, and the company's operation. Open yourself up to the possibility of using humor and creating emotional connections with your viewers. This a great opportunity to create how-to videos, share your mission statement or interviews with your current customers. Your consumers aren’t just looking for a company to solve their problem, they’re also looking for a company that goes above and beyond to show how their products or services solve their problem without needing to read a product explanation about it. Videos are a valuable strategy that can increase loyalty, engagement, and sales to your brand. For more examples of what you can create with videos, follow the examples in the article below.

Credit: Written by: Jess Ostroff 8 New B2B Video Content Marketing Trends

Here Is What You Should Do For Your B2B and B2C Video Marketing

Still thinking about incorporating video into your marketing strategy? Are you wondering how video is making an impact in B2C and B2B marketing? Video marketing is increasingly becoming the medium marketers use to share their message with their consumers. Due to its popularity, there have been changes in how consumers and viewers react to the company’s offerings. Before we go into depth on the changes facing the B2B & B2C sectors, let’s dive into the benefits of video marketing these companies have experienced.

Videos are full of possibilities in the eyes of marketers. The outward goal of spreading the message is visible to the consumer. But the underlying goal in the same video is to increase the brand awareness to the viewers who watch the video. Videos create a cost-effective experience for the consumer that combines different mediums (text, images, audio) in a short timeframe to provide information to the viewer on your brand values, your products or services, and your brand story. It’s all about connecting potential customers and current customers to your brand story. That connection, backed by the storytelling strategy, has proven to increase ROI as 80% of viewers recall branded videos. An increased brand awareness, conversions, and low cost in video advertising all mean well, but how does that correlate to B2B and B2C companies?

B2C companies are focusing on the storytelling aspect of video marketing. Consumers want to be able to envision themselves using the product or service. One way companies are serving this change is through influencer marketing and interactive product videos. If consumers see an influencer unboxing and demonstrating how a product is used and incorporated into their lifestyle consumers will start to picture themselves using the product. Video testimonials and immersive product videos also are on the rise in B2C companies. In B2B companies, videos are created based on the stages of the sales funnel. Live videos and webinars are also an option to connect with your audience, while repurposing content from the blog can provide a B2B company with content lined up ready to reach an audience on different platforms. Videos are not going anywhere anytime soon, so as these changes are changing how marketing operates, adapt to the changes with video marketing by your side.

Credit: Written by Modern Diplomacy How Video Marketing Is Changing B2B & B2C Marketing

Find a good marketing team

“You need good content. you need good stories, but you also need data driven decision making and strategic media buying and understanding of earned and paid media…” 

In this clip from episode 44 of our podcast, Reed Shelly offers his advice to businesses looking to grow their brand through content marketing. 

Reed is the Marketing and Operations Executive of Brand X Consulting: a full-service marketing and operations consultancy.

Revisit this episode on Apple Podcasts; we cover many topics such as his transition from TV to digital content and how to recognize a good idea; create a structure, and produce it consistently. We also dive into why brands should have data-driven decision-making and strategic media buying.

The full episode is available at Creative Haven under Apple Podcasts here: TV vs. Digital Media, Working Creatively With Producers, And The Three Essentials Of The Digital Age.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Creative Haven (@creativehavenhub)

Follow the Strategies these B2B Companies made to Perfect Their Video Marketing Strategy

In the B2B sphere and are curious how other companies are doing with video marketing? Do you need to tweak your video marketing strategy to boost more sales and conversions? Here are six companies that are just the source to guide you in your video marketing strategy implementation.

From HubSpot to Taulia, each company tackles video marketing in a way that engages their audience, tells a story, and reveals their brand’s personality. HubSpot and Cisco create niche problem-solving-oriented videos related to their sales funnel. Intel focuses on storytelling, while SAP uploads videos with the buyer persona in mind. Don’t be afraid to use humor and be unique in your videos, as Taulia’s parody video and VeriSign’s series of viral and entertaining videos still get their message across to their audience. Their videos show more of their brand than just the services they serve.

Upload the tutorials, case studies, and explainer videos to multiple formats and channels while displaying your brand values and voice in a recommended 60-90 second video length. As you review these six examples, take note of which tactics you want to incorporate into your own strategy.

Credit: Written by: Upland 6 Examples of Perfect B2B Video Marketing

TV Vs Digital Media, Working Creatively With Producers, And The Three Essentials Of The Digital Age

Listen to our latest podcast episode featuring Reed Shelly! Reed is the Marketing and Operations Executive of Brand X Consulting: a full-service marketing and operations consultancy for small, medium, and early-stage companies. Reed also worked in the TV and animation industry as an executive and writer.

Our interview covered many topics such as his transition from TV to digital content and how to recognize a good idea; create a structure, and produce it consistently. We also dive into why brands should have data-driven decision making and strategic media buying.

The full episode is available at Creative Haven under Apple Podcasts here:TV Vs Digital Media, Working Creatively With Producers, And The Three Essentials Of The Digital Age.