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Marketing is always changing.
Advertisements used to be right next to our favorite columns in the newspaper.
As we got a little more sophisticated, advertisements moved to the radio and we would listen to them in-between hearing our favorite music.
We took a large step forward technologically with TV commercials, even though there weren’t many tv channels in the early days.
The way marketing messages reached us was by a company deciding to air our message on a certain channel in exchange for money but that changed with the internet. Suddenly, everyone’s attention was wherever they decided to put it at any moment.
Gone were the days when everyone had to watch TV and see advertisements exclusively through the television.
Fast forward roughly 25 years, and we get to about where we are now with video content. Whether you’re on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitch and probably even Myspace, video content is omnipresent and we consume it nonstop.
But why hasn’t the way we use videos to promote ourselves caught up with the times?
Sure, you can make 1-commercial and blast it to the masses. Depending on exactly what you’re trying to achieve and how your business operates, that might work for you. However, for most modern-day brands, that’s probably not the best way to get the most out of video content.
If you’re interested in a better and more modern way to grow your brand or business through video content, this piece will help you understand a simple but powerful concept that will help you separate your business from the competition.
People are f*****g busy
Most people spend hours a day on social media.
Bouncing back and forth from Twitter to Instagram to Facebook within a 5-minute time span is a normal thing to do nowadays, but have you thought about what that means for your brand and getting people to notice it?
According to Forbes, we see anywhere from 4,000 – 10,000 marketing messages per day.
So sure, that video you posted on Instagram was great, but did it REALLY stand out? Is it something people will remember within the sea of messages they receive every day?
After doing a ton of observation and having conversations with friends and family, it’s clear that there’s less appreciation for every single piece of media that is shared on social networks.
We see so many good videos, photos, podcasts, blog posts, and high-quality media in general, that the appreciation for every single piece can sometimes get lost. I don’t say this to sound completely negative, because there’s actually a huge positive side to this influx of quality media.
If people are always on their phones, why not reach them more?
Let me explain…
Touch it, no Missy Elliot
When creating a marketing plan, outside of your goal and audience, one of the many things to consider is your brand touchpoints.
According to marketingstudyguide.com, brand touchpoints are:
“The interactions and exposures that a consumer can have with a brand. Brand touchpoints are very broadly defined and include both deliberate communications from a firm/brand and communications and interactions that the consumer will have with the brand as part of their everyday life.”
To explain in my own words outside of marketing babble, brand touchpoints are the interactions that your business or brand has with people. If they open your email on their desktop, see your post on Instagram, retweet your viral tweet and pick up your product in-store, you’ve just had 4 brand touchpoints with someone (which is great).
The more people see you, the more familiar they get.
In some cases, using things like retargeting advertisements, those advertisements that “follow you around the internet” can be powerful because they only appear if you looked at them somewhere else in the past.
Knowing that you should establish multiple touchpoints so that you can recapture people’s attention is step one, but you don’t have the secret sauce yet, friend. (Don’t get “lost in the sauce” after I give it to you either).
You get a video, you get a video, & you get a video!!
As I mentioned earlier, video content is omnipresent within every single online platform. Pick one, anyone.
In fact, video is basically running the internet right now and doesn’t seem like it will stop anytime soon.
It’s the best medium to get our attention.
Knowing this is key because it sets you up to think about your business or brand in a unique way. You go from thinking short-term, to making a longer yet more effective strategy.
For example, When you’re scrolling through Instagram, you can have a story video or post one to your actual feed. When you’re on Twitter, you can post to your timeline. When you’re on Facebook, you can post them to your personal page, fan page, or within an intimate (or not so intimate) group.
The point is, the ball is in your court.
You can use this combination of channels to make different types of interactions with your brand. It’s kind of like how graphic designers make different sized designs that are the same, but one is for an Instagram story while the other was designed more to size for Twitter.
Why make 1 video when you can plan a series for the week? Why make a video for Instagram when you can extend the experience to YouTube?
Get creative with creating and managing your touchpoints.
I often get asked questions like, “what’s the point of a 6-second YouTube ad?” (which I wrote about here). Well, the point of a 6-second advertisement or Instagram story is fairly simple when it’s all summed up.
People are busy.
The best way to get people’s attention today is video. It’s important to try and help people see you multiple times through video, and this will all be even more powerful if you plan out the pieces, plan out your touchpoints.
Speaking of using video…
I’m a marketing strategist/videographer who writes about marketing, productivity & wellness. That basically means you’re sure to learn a thing or two if you sign up for updates here.
Pssst… It would give me one more touchpoint with you.
written by ‘rouk