Website design and SEO strategy go together and can seamlessly drive more of the right traffic back to your website. We will talk about your website’s basic requirements and share some pro tips for maximizing your organic and paid traffic and driving your content to a higher ranking in the SERPs. SEO alone won’t accomplish this if your website is not well designed. You want to avoid losing your hard-earned organic traffic due to poor web design, and driving your paid traffic to a site that is not optimized is wasting your time and money. 

Some design elements can even interfere with your SEO efforts. When designing a website with SEO in mind, a designer must think about the back-end – architecture, navigation issues, search engine direction, and the front end. The front end is what we see and the general usability of the site. Both aspects are equally important. The days of the designer taking the lead to create an aesthetically pleasing design without regard for SEO and usability are long gone. A good web designer will take a more complete approach and understand both design and SEO. 

What are the basic SEO requirements for your website?

Some basics are mandatory for an SEO friendly website. Your design must provide excellent customer experience with an easy-to-read design. Here are some top considerations:

• Sitemap: If you want to optimize how search engines crawl your site, give them a roadmap by supplying a sitemap. A sitemap guides them through the site and content and tells them what pages are most important. They also contain metadata about your pages to help them rank. 
• Mobile-Friendly: The importance of a website that is mobile-friendly can not be overstated. It has been a huge factor to Google for years now and introduced mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor in 2017. Desktop visitors have been declining for years while mobile visitors continue to grow. Check your metrics now if you haven’t. Over half of today’s web traffic is from mobile devices, either phones or tablets. If your site does not load quickly and correctly and quickly on mobile, your bounce rate will soar, which can cause your ranking to drop. 
• Readability: Your site’s design can have a significant impact on your content and how you present it. Google rewards meaty and longer content. If your font is difficult to read, or you show long blocks of content without breaks and visuals, the user will abandon you. Too many hyperlinks can also be damaging. Remember, they came to you for the answers. Think about the color of your text and your background. If you have an older audience, increase your font size, and keep it simple. Think about line length and spacing. This all will contribute to overall usability. 
• Website speed: If your site loads too slowly, you will lose visitors. Period. Page speed is also a ranking signal, so be sure you are optimizing your images, monitoring plug-ins that slow you down, caching, and watching your metrics. If your website is not loading in two seconds, it is too slow. Page speed matters to your users and Google. Google will crawl fewer pages on a slow site, so you will have fewer pages indexed. And don’t forget about website security and using “HTTPS” encryption.
• Trust: User trust is everything, and it takes time to build. Your user wants to come to a clean and modern site that is simple to navigate, and that provides the information, product, or services they are looking for. Don’t make a bad impression with a sloppy or poorly designed site. 

How do search engines rank webpages and deliver SERPs?

Learning SEO at a professional level can take years, but you should not move ahead without basic knowledge of how search engines rank pages. It is a combination of classifying a query, determining the context, and which signals matter most. 

Search engines rank pages to make the web as usable as possible for the user. Work with the assumption that you are trying to satisfy the search engine’s user, and we must establish the trust that we can answer the queries sent to us. If you fail the search engine, that will impact your ranking moving forward.

The steps to ranking a page is a basic process that every query goes through. They will first classify the query in buckets like local, unseen, adult, question, or YMYL. There are numerous classifications. They will then apply some kind of content to the query to determine what factors come into play to help determine relevant factors. They look at what signals are most important. The algorithms are doing the work! They will also look at the layouts and choose what to include on the SERP. 

What can metrics and data tell us?

If you genuinely want to improve your SERPs ranking and drive increased traffic, you need to understand your website’s data, and your campaigns can tell you. Study where your site visitors are coming from and what happened when they got there. This is your best roadmap for improvement. Pay attention to your metrics, monitor them regularly, and learn from them, making adjustments to your site as you go.

A bounce rate that is too is high is sending you a message. Some potential answered could be that your content does not deliver on the intent of your keywords, or maybe a landing page could better warm your traffic up. 

Is your referral traffic spiking? Drill down on your analytics to see where it is coming from. What are the demos of people coming to your website? These metrics will help you better target your campaigns moving forward. 

What is your most popular content? Does it drive repeat visits? An understanding of what content resonates with will tell you a lot about your target audience and maybe show you the assumptions you’ve made about them are incorrect. 

Watch your data for insights, and watch your data for trends over time. Algorithms change over time, as well. Stay up to date on those and look there for significant or abrupt changes in your traffic. 

What are some web design elements that work against your SEO strategy?

Some web design elements disrupt SEO. They may work against crawlability, readability, navigation, or usability. A good marketer will learn to spot and correct these conflicts. Listen to your clients and listen to the data. In general, these flaws are the result of site redesigns without studying your analytics. 

Here are some design techniques to avoid:

• Navigation: Navigation that is not intuitive is a big one. Some outdated strategies are mega menus, using search to build categories instead of filters, dropdown navigation that doesn’t link to the main category and force a sub-category selection. 
• Design: Some design elements don’t help push the user through the experience and can frustrate the user and make them go off the site. Some elements to avoid include the infinite scroll, huge images at the top of the page, failing to use the alt text option for image uploads, or sliders down the side of the page since all images must load first. 

How do you avoid having a website that works against your SEO strategy rather than supporting it? Study your analytics. Work with a professional that understands SEO. The more SEO they know, the better your result will be. Discuss your analytics, your target audience, and your goals for the site. Build with scalability in mind, and remember that your site is an investment, so don’t make your decisions on price alone. Study your metrics, test, and adjust as you learn.

The linguistic history of “brainstorm” is brief but worth noting. A noun (brainstorm), an adjective (of or related to brainstorming), and a verb (to conduct or practice brainstorming”), “brainstorm” originated in the 1890s and was defined as “a transitory disturbance of cerebral activity,” and, “a sudden mental aberration.”

Since brainstorming has evolved to mean “a conference technique of solving specific problems, amassing information, stimulating creative thinking, developing new ideas, etc., by unrestrained and spontaneous participation in discussion.”

If you’ve ever participated in a creative brainstorming session, you may believe the original definition of brainstorming is more accurate than our more modern one. Having a storm in your brain does not sound like a good thing and our reflex to apply the scientific method to every subjective endeavor is not unlike trying to lasso a tornado.

Brainstorming is our attempt to structure what was once considered mental aberrations but is now considered great ideas that could go viral.

Step 1: The Pitch Sheet

The first step to take an idea from concept to reality is to write a logline. The material goal of your brainstorming sessions is to produce a pitch sheet that guides the entire production of your company video.

A logline is a sentence that tells your entire story. Writing a logline is difficult, but the process of writing and re-writing it serves a critical purpose. A well-conceived logline provides a common starting point for the creative team and, to continue with the storm motif, is the lasso you use to reign in an otherwise uncontrollable force.

It seems counterintuitive to brainstorm about a single sentence, but once you have the perfect logline, the result is more creative space for your team to operate. Here are three examples of loglines from classic feature films:

• “The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.” (The Godfather)
• “During the early days of World War II, a cynical American expatriate struggles to decide whether or not he should help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape unoccupied French Morocco before the NAZIs capture them.” (Casablanca)
• “A young man is transported to the past, where he must reunite his parents before he and his future cease to exist.” (Back to the Future)

Here is a logline for Apple’s “1984” Super Bowl commercial:

• “An individualist free-thinking Olympic athlete runs through a dystopic, conformist, state-controlled future of George Orwell’s iconic novel “1984” and liberates the world’s creative forces with the introduction of the Macintosh personal computer.”

Here is a digital marketing logline for an animated “explainer video” that highlights a brand’s charitable foundation that promotes a set of values, not a product.

• “A suburban husband and wife make a wrong turn in their car and take a journey through underserved parts of their town, learning empathy for their neighbors and collective responsibility for lifting struggling local communities.”

It may take an entire brainstorming session or two to hone your logline. Be patient. Everything that follows is dependent on getting your logline right.

Step 2: The Facilitator

Someone must organize and steer the chaos. Brainstorming sessions are a free-flow exchange of ideas, but it is much more difficult to capture and transform those ideas without a team leader to chair the meeting and facilitate the creative process.

The Facilitator should be the person with the temperament most suited to the task, not necessarily whoever is the highest on the org chart. The Facilitator is not making decisions about the creative content. They keep a cumbersome collaborative process moving. It is easy to spend too much time on bad ideas that end up a waste of time. Keep the creative juices flowing and avoid awkward silence.

The Facilitator may also have the common brainstorming challenge of leading virtual brainstorming sessions with virtual teams. A virtual brainstorming session flows differently than teams that brainstorm in person.

The Facilitator needs to be adept at a range of disciplines to pull it off. It is difficult to gauge whether a remote team is communicating the right way to produce actionable ideas. Mitigate issues with a greater focus on team bonding and research any virtual brainstorming tools that may be right for your circumstances.

Step 3: Recorder

The most skilled communicator on your marketing team should be assigned the role of Recorder. Documenting what occurs during a brainstorming session is more complex than taking minutes at a quarterly board meeting. To track and connect creative ideas takes diligence and three-dimensional thinking.

Ideas that gain momentum early on may be scrapped by the end of the day. A word or phrase tossed out and dismissed may return and become the cornerstone of your video. If you aren’t tracking a list of ideas with notes (e.g., wild ideas, brilliant ideas, unusual ideas, etc.), you may not have the most successful brainstorming session you can.

Along with the Facilitator, the Recorder keeps things moving. Visibility is the best way to keep team members connected. If the Recorder writes the big ideas with the most traction on whiteboards or giant post-its, the creative team sees concepts and themes take shape, or conversely, why a particular line of thinking does not accomplish the desired messaging.

If your team has access to a smartboard, there are many creative brainstorming tools online to help document creative ideas.

Step 4: Check Your Ego at the Door

If you want to decide everything and make everything the way you want, make a billion dollars. If you’re going to make a compelling marketing video that exceeds client expectations, you must work inside a collaborative framework. Not every idea is going to work, and some of those non-starter ideas may be yours.

The benefits of team brainstorming outweigh the results when one person brainstorms. Your average person may have innovative ideas and creative solutions that only a group setting that fosters effective brainstorming techniques can draw out. Creative video ideas – fresh ideas – come from a storm, yes, a storm of ideas.

Do not skim over this step with a perfunctory “yeah, yeah, yeah.” Interpersonal conflict during the brainstorming process can be a poisonous pill and doom your end product. When people argue about ideas, some may take criticism personally, and the creative process balkanizes.

Or two competing ideas have strong support. In which direction should the campaign go? In the best interests of the group’s mission, the Facilitator should establish rules of civility and ensure that the creative team works in harmony toward a shared vision.

Step 5: Equal time

Video production is top-down like a military dictatorship. Brainstorming activities should be the opposite.  Give equal time and measured consideration to each team member’s ideas. Lightning strikes when you least expect it. When your entire team floats and considers a wide range of opinions, your story will be better.

You want your creative team to share ideas and to focus on the quality of ideas, not the quantity of ideas. A range of viewpoints will improve your message and the story you tell to deliver it.

There are many ways to structure equal time, and no brainstorming exercise is better than the other. Team members can show up with an idea to present. The Facilitator can periodically go around the conference table and allow each person to say what they are thinking (Round-Robin Brainstorming).

Summaries generated and distributed to each team member allotted time to offer their suggestions. It does not matter how you democratize the process, effective brainstorming benefits from enthusiastic participation.

Step 6: Institute a “magic wand” policy

There are so many obstacles and changes any creative campaign will undergo during its life cycle; strive to make initial brainstorming sessions free of restrictions. Ideas should be offered and discussed on the merits of the concept only, not potential limitations in the future like budget or the sudden undiscovered creative genius of your advertising partners.

Save the “You can’t do that because…” for later. There will be plenty of them. Brainstorming sessions are not the time for making bottom-line business decisions. The Muses cannot be caged.

Step 7: Periodically revisit your logline

As creative campaigns evolve, you may need to institute some good old-fashioned corporate change management. Remember, the material goal is to have a pitch sheet with a dynamite logline and synopsis. Once you have the perfect pitch sheet, your campaign can enter the production phase by hiring a professional screenwriter. Until then, continue to revisit and revise your logline and synopsis.

Step 8: Learn to let go

As a collaborative creative team member, you most likely let go of at least one of your favorite ideas during brainstorming. Your co-workers did too. When the brainstorming sessions are over, and you’ve decided upon a direction, the marketing team must turn the reins over to other skilled professionals who will put their creative stamp on the project.

Any artist will tell you their work is like a child. Sending that child off into the world isn’t easy. You must believe that the next wave of artisans will love your story as much as you do and take good care of it. A simple leap of faith sounds easy until you hear the universally loved funny moment your team spent a week crafting, ended up on the editing room floor. Let it go.

Conclusion

Digital video advertising is the crown jewel in the marketing crown, providing outstanding and measurable ROI. Video email marketing and explainer videos are two examples of how digital video reinvents itself to take advantage of the medium’s excellent results.

The video process starts with your creative team tackling the basic building blocks of storytelling – a compelling logline and synopsis. Through effective brainstorming, a brand’s message can begin its remarkable creative journey from concept to going live.

“There is only one kind of story: a hero’s story.”  – Joseph Campbell

Storytelling is essential to your video because the most effective way to communicate your message has been pre-determined for thousands of years. From the moment King Gilgamesh slays the serpent in the goddess Inanna’s Huluppu tree in the ancient Sumerian poem, “Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld,” the hero’s journey has been the blueprint for every story to this day.

So whether it’s the “Epic of Gilgamesh” or an animated explainer video, storytelling is what makes the message memorable and effective.

Joseph Campbell’s “A Hero with a Thousand Faces” is the unofficial bible of professional storytellers. In this seminal work, Campbell lays out his theory of the “monomyth,” a storytelling structure shared by ancient myths from different places and cultures worldwide.

Campbell argued that the secret symbolic language in our myths, or stories, is a part of what makes us human, and we are hardwired to make sense of ourselves and the world in which we live by tapping into “the hero’s journey.”

The hero’s journey is a pattern modern writers call “the rule of three,” or telling a story in three acts. If you’re shooting an epic feature film or a thirty-second spot for YouTube, your script will be three acts. Campbell’s three acts are The Separation (Beginning), The Initiation (Middle), and The Return (End).

As the hero moves through the narrative arc, they experience seventeen stages that complete the journey. It is unnecessary to explain the seventeen stages for our purposes, only that the same seventeen stages are in every story.

The Customer is the Hero

In your video storytelling, the hero is your customer, and their journey is to discover your product, service, cause, or organization. The hero must always be your customer, not your brand. Your brand takes the active role as mentor or guide, a critical character in the hero’s journey to freedom.

To know your hero’s journey, you must know your customer. If you’ve done your research, you have a demographic and psychological profile of your customer, but those are still only first impressions. Only storytelling can take that raw data and create a memorable character that connects with customer experience.

The hero’s journey in video content must happen in 15-seconds to 1 minute. In addition, the storytelling must be precise to be effective. To that end, Separation, Initiation, and Return can be funneled through two standard plot lines, Slaying the Monster and The Quest, which are popular video storytelling techniques.

Once again, our modern techniques derive from the “Epic of Gilgamesh.” Gilgamesh and Enkidu go on a quest for glory and slay multiple monsters. Then, after The Gods kill Enkidu for slaying one of the monsters (The Bull of Heaven for those keeping score), Gilgamesh goes on a quest for eternal life.

Slaying the Monster

Defeating some monster is the most common plotline your video can have. But, do not confuse “most common” with “unoriginal.” The viewer does not see the archetypal quest to slay the monster, but it is the symbolic story told. In this story, the regular life of your hero, your customer, has been disrupted by a problem they can’t solve.

This problem separates your customer from the people they love or things they love to do. However, supernatural aid in the form of a brand’s product or service. The product or service solves their problem, reunites them with their loves, and changes their life for the better.

Allstate Insurance’s Hero vs. Mayhem commercials is a masterclass in slaying the monster. Your hero, who is your customer, has a significant problem. A fast-talking and hilarious villain named Mayhem, who wreaks havoc in crazy entertaining ways, disrupts their otherwise peaceful life.

Your hero protects their family with Allstate Allstate insurance, which gives him freedom from the financial burdens of unforeseen disasters.

The Quest

In this plotline, the hero goes on a quest. King Arthur and his knights go on the Quest for the Holy Grail. Your hero, who is your customer, also goes on a search for a Holy Grail in your video. Your product or service acts as a guide to that grail, which can be anything depending on your line of business.

An even more nuanced way of telling a quest story is to make the hero’s journey about meta-themes that express values instead of a specific product. For example, the hero goes on a quest for a healthy lifestyle, not to buy a particular pair of shoes.

The Quest is in every car commercial. The hero, who is your customer, goes on a journey in a car to find the holy grail of speed, freedom, and, for lack of a better term, sex appeal. The vehicle allows the hero to attain the lifestyle they have always wanted.

Conclusion

Excellent videos are powerful marketing tools that connect with potential customers on an emotional level. Digital video is the current unchallenged king of content marketing. Visual stories have high conversion rates traced to storytelling’s emotional impact on the viewer.

Storytelling video that sticks to the blueprint and makes the average person a hero is a winning marketing strategy.

The answer to the question, “Should we produce our brand’s video in-house?” is always a resounding “No!”

In the digital age, everyone is Steven Spielberg. Kids with smartphones and ring lights develop global social media followings and become their brand in thirty-second bursts. Videos, whether produced and stylized or candid and raw, go viral, and for a flash and a bang, the subjects have the attention of the world. Making a stand-out buzz-generating video seems so easy and economical.

Producing a high-quality video “in-house” is not easy or economical, and “in-house” is a euphemism for Do It Yourself (DIY), which is a great way to go if you’re into arts & crafts but a terrible direction if you’re producing a video. Film/video production is a complex creative and technical discipline that requires advanced levels of expertise to do in a way that delivers positive ROI and drives sales and elevates brand awareness.

Consider that even big Hollywood movies with big budgets that employ the best above and below-the-line talent money can buy do re-shoots because one of the thousand things that must go right before, during, and after the camera rolls went wrong. And if you don’t know what above-the-line and below-the-line talent mean, your production won’t make it five feet past the starting gate before it has to be put down.

Before producing a video “in-house,” brands should consider the following five questions.

1. Do you know what a producer does?

A producer is an actual job title. Hollywood producers have their guild and everything. If you plan to produce a DIY video, knowledge of a producer’s job duties is an excellent place to start. It is an easy description. Clear your calendar because a producer does everything.

Making a video is like putting together a round puzzle with 1,000 pieces that are the same color – it is difficult, time-consuming, frustrating, challenging, and rewarding. Still, if even one piece is missing, you don’t get the whole picture. A producer is in charge of every element of the puzzle – from script development to distribution.

Any video project is made in three stages: pre-production, production, post-production. The producer oversees each stage of the video production process. A producer, simplified:

• Pre-production: creates a budget, develops script from concept to final draft, hires scriptwriter(s), hires director, cast, and other above-line talent, hires production crew, and manages all matters related to the video before shooting.
• Production: “the shoot” is the director’s domain, yet the producer ensures production is on time and budget, reviews daily footage, and is the final authority on-set production-related matters.
• Post-Production: oversees the editing, delivery of the final product, and distribution.

During these three phases, the producer is also in charge of human relations, many fragile (ever work with an actor or actress before?), and disaster management. Every production has at least one disaster.

If a brand moves forward with making its video, somebody, or a group of people, must be in charge of everything a producer would generally do. Therefore, companies should do an honest and realistic assessment of the time and effort required to produce a video in-house and the unique, often unforeseen challenges it poses and weigh them against the current needs of its business.

Considerable creative, technical, and administrative resources are needed to create compelling branded video content. Producing in-house means existing staff will be pulled from their day-to-day duties for the duration of the production.

Making professional-quality videos is not something a junior staffer can orchestrate on his or her lunch break. A full-time dedicated production group is needed to shepherd a video marketing campaign from concept to screening.

Producing in-house may save a few dollars on the balance sheet, but it is a mirage. Lost productivity from re-assigned staff and an end product that looks and sounds like novices slapped it together leaves your brand with at best a marginal video and, at worst, unusable content that is a complete financial loss.

2. Do you know how to create a film/TV budget?

Any time a motion picture camera rolls, whether digital video or IMAX, a unique visual language is spoken embedded with a dramatic code as ancient as human civilization. That language costs money and lots of it, and to unlock the code requires trucks full of special video equipment, audio equipment, lighting, and editing equipment.

If you don’t speak the language, how are you going to create a budget? If you don’t know what a piece of equipment does or how to use it, how will you know the actual equipment cost or need it? A production budget requires specialized knowledge of video production costs.

Lots of Hollywood Math goes into a production budget too. For example, you may budget $5,000 for the art department. The art department is full of people with advanced degrees in art history, and they know how to do whatever it is you want for $4,000. The crew will spend the extra $1,000 on a wrap party at the closest tequila bar. That’s Hollywood Math.

Here’s another one. Crafts Services. Second, only to the director, craft services may be the line item in the budget most responsible for the success/failure of a shoot. Craft services are the entertainment industry’s term for “eating.” The word “craft” did not spring out of nowhere.

It should indicate an expectation that food preparation during the shoot is a highly specialized skill, and the budget should reflect that. Even if you have a low budget, especially if you are on a low budget, this is not the area to skimp. Take care of your cast and crew on a shoot, or your production will face a mutiny.

Your company may have an entire department full of talented financial professionals who whip up quarterly and annual budgets in their sleep. Still, if directed to handle the finances for video production, the learning curve may be much steeper than you realize.

Producers know how to speak “production,” and seasoned Production Managers are well versed in the tricks of the trade, like the fact your wardrobe head will return 75% of what they purchase, which means your production will have a well-informed budget based on reality.

3. Do you know how to write a script?

You don’t, and you can’t learn it online. The script is a blueprint. Without a blueprint and sound structural engineering, your building will collapse. Without a script and sound story structure, a story will collapse.

Branding is storytelling. A brand’s message must be on the page. A professional screenwriter knows overall story structure, tone, pacing, dialogue as theme, set-ups and payoffs, when all-hope-is-lost, and how to rally the hero to victory during the final battle.

Don’t fall into the trap that the 30-second video you’re going to run on YouTube is different from Titanic. It’s not. Everything you see in Titanic is in the script, and everything you see in your video should be in the script too.

Do you know how to turn a script into a shooting script, so the cast and crew know what they’re doing or distribute last-minute on-set script revisions? Script continuity? The life cycle of a hand doesn’t end when the writer types, “THE END.” As words become footage, the script enters a vital production phase that only people who understand the intricacies of the transition can manage.

4. Do you know how to direct a movie?

It is impossible to produce a great video from a bad script, but it is possible to take a great script and make a wrong video. It is a statistical fact based on box office sales that no one is more responsible for the success or failure of a feature film than its director.

The director is in charge of putting what’s on the page onto the stage. The director has the creative vision to translate words to film and draw out the best performances from the cast and crew.

A skilled director knows how to shoot any type of video – live-action video, corporate training video, explainer video, business videos, animated videos, online video, etc. He or she knows how to use a green screen and, like the producer, is a pro at disaster management.

Creative disasters may include cast conflicts, equipment failures, inclement weather, or some random variable that impacts your most important shot. With all due respect to your marketing team, the ultimate goal is to produce the type of content that will knock people’s socks off, and the director is the only person who can make that happen.

5. Do you know the basic principles of video and sound editing?

Your raw video is not a video until skilled artisans called video editors to study every take and assemble a powerful visual story with a solid emotional impact with your brand at its center. The editing process is grueling and requires advanced knowledge of video editing and video editing software.

From a technical perspective, sound and video editing must be seamless, or the overall production will be cheap, campy, and ineffective. Your video marketing strategy will fail if the viewer can’t hear because of background noise or choppy editing.

The post-production team also includes professionals who create special effects, sound effects, graphics & motion graphics, and music that helps your video increase viewer engagement and brand awareness. Failings in any of these areas will sink your message. 

Conclusion

A video’s production value is not determined by its budget or other resources (e.g., celebrity spokesperson) but by professional staff who know the trade tricks to create media magic.

It does not matter how great your concept or tagline is or if you have $1 million to spend on a commercial running during the Super Bowl. If you don’t have the right video production team, your investment may be in jeopardy.

If you decide to produce your brand’s video with an in-house team, consider the enormous creative, technical, and administrative talent needed at every production stage to ensure a successful shoot.

Hiring a video production company that offers the full range of video production services mitigates the many creative and financial risks involved in creating video content guarantees professional-grade technical proficiency, all of which allow your brand’s message to shine through.

The words you’ll hear in advertising circles, again and again, are OTT and Connected TV (or CTV). So what exactly are they? These words are often used interchangeably, but that is incorrect. To keep it simple, OTT is the delivery mechanism for TV content online, usually streaming or video on demand, “over the top” of traditional providers. CTV is the actual divide used to watch TV content online, such as a smart TV, Roku, or gaming console. 

OTT subscriptions and CTV ownership are skyrocketing and are the next best opportunity for marketers. It is an opportunity to reach viewers in a highly targeted way and touch them across multiple devices. This gives them a chance to nuance the messaging across devices and along the journey and moves customers from the no-touch device of a TV to an actionable device. 

What is linear TV, and what is the difference?

Linear TV is the traditional way of watching TV, and wherein a viewer watches a program on the channel, it is presented at a scheduled time. You watch “The Voice” at its scheduled time each week. This is linear TV. 

Linear advertising refers to a schedule in which ads are scheduled for a specific time, so viewers must tune in to a particular show to see the ads. By comparison, non-linear advertising means creating demand and preference for your product by participating in the consumer’s life by following his habits. 

Another term you will hear is Advanced TV. This is all non-traditional TV and the umbrella term for OTT/ connected TV and Addressable TV.

CTV in advertising is skippable online advertising targeted to relevant programming and audience groups. CTV refers to any TV connected to the interest and access content beyond what is available by the regular cable providers. 

Why are so many viewers moving from traditional TV to CTV?

The growth in CTV viewing is exponential and continues to grow. Consumers are flocking to CTV after being tired of paying for channels they don’t watch, lack of choice in programming, and cable’s escalating costs. OTT content is served on the viewer’s schedule, which is very appealing and also offers a wide variety in programming, subscription costs, and on the whole, is more affordable. 

As more and more viewers convert to OTT, advertisers invest more and more of their budgets to these platforms. They are quite simple, following the audience. 

Connected TV Advertising Basics to get you started today

Connected TV is here to stay. So it’s time to learn your Roku from your remote. This is a whole new world letting advertisers take advantage of precise targeting and tracking. So we know CTV is television content streamed over the internet vs. by satellite cable network or device. 

CTV advertising is purchasing ads that display over these internet-powered streaming devices and apps. The precise targeting it brings along with cross-device marketing makes it very popular.

Devices that can serve CTV content include your laptop, cell phone, Smart TV, Roku boxes, and Amazon Frie sticks. Even many game consoles can deliver d CTV content and ads. 

CTV ads are sold through automated software that maintains and tracks data while sending out the ad. Think about the algorithms that Facebook uses when sending content to you. You define your audience and choose whether to work with a tech company or buy your own. The ad is produced and shown per those specs.

Metrics include numerous data points like frequency of viewing, reach, the percentage of your target audience that sees it, CPP, or cost per point, which shows the cost using the gross rating point GRP).

With the big players /like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu producing great scripted content, CTV is exploding. Add to its popularity with millennials, with 67 percent in a house relying solely on CTV for their TV entertainment. 

Ad quality and quantity on CTV are advantageous to advertisers because they’re getting better content and more relevant experiences. They also experiment with formats like animated or interactive ads. All of this leads up to an excellent completion rate for CTV ads. 

The metrics that advertisers can garner also help measure campaigns’ effectiveness beyond what was ever previously possible in TV, based on clicks, views, and conversions. And when the viewer logs into a mother device through google or Facebook, advertisers can target more precisely based on demographics, location, interests, and online behavior. 

With broader reach, all of this targeting can be more efficient than traditional TV campaigns, And the waste is significantly reduced. 

What are some limitations of advertising with OTT and CTV?

OTT advertising is not without challenges. The multitude of platforms and potential audience overlap makes it difficult for media buyers to make strategic decisions. The metrics and attribution of conversions across multiple devices can be very overwhelming. So the learning curve can be steep and costly. A good agency will have the necessary tools and understanding to launch you into CTV.

Why you must bring CTV advertising into your marketing mix now

In 2020, the nationwide lockdown during COVID-19 created a massive surge in OTT and CTV viewing. CTV viewing has risen from 2.7B hours during pre-pandemic to 3.9B hours within just a few weeks. That is an increase of 81% year over year. Liner TV has dropped while CTV remains stable. 

What is the future of video advertising?

You don’t need a crystal ball to understand that for now, OTT and CTV are the way of the future. The technology and tracking area still being played out, but it will continue to grow and morph and become more complex and targeted. Video advertising has come a long way since the three choices of ABC, NBS, and CBS of years ago. 

All signs point to the growth continuing, and any savvy marketer will want to jump in with both feet now. The time is now for brands to jump in to take advantage of the many new targeting options and engage with their new targeting options and expand that audience. 

Hulu self-service ad platform offers targeting by gender, age, location, interests, and show genre

Advertising is only as effective as its capability to get the branding or retail message in front of the right audience. Once a consumer is aware of a brand, the next step for an advertiser is to get them sufficiently interested to respond to a call to action. It is a fact that video ads constantly outperform static ads on every platform. For years, businesses have been able to buy ads using the self-service model on the dominant digital advertising platforms like Google and Facebook.

Recently, however, relative newcomers including streaming service Hulu are offering their own self-service ad management tools, which are being enthusiastically received, especially by smaller, local brick and mortar establishments who depend on consumers within a certain geographic area or DMA. A self-service tool like Hulu’s Ad Manager provides a powerful suite of advanced advertising solutions with which a marketer can deliver an enhanced viewer experience.

Since making its debut last year, Hulu’s self-service advertising solution has become a huge hit with small to medium-sized businesses who, thanks to this platform, are now able to place their ads in the same streaming media space normally reserved for only the largest brands.

Hulu describes their Self-Service Ad Manager as a self-service advertising solution that enables an advertiser of any size to target specific audiences, upload video ads and then measure the analytics in real-time. Advertisers can now customize their ad budgets according to their means with a minimum campaign spend of $500 per campaign. 

In addition, they can forego broader scattershot strategies like geotargeting in favor of zeroing in on true potential customers by ZIP code, interests, and show genres. Finally, this service allows for easy tracking of the status of the campaign including ad-spend and impressions on a user-friendly dashboard. With its budgetary flexibility and ease of use, Hulu’s Ad Manager lets advertisers monitor up-to-date campaign status, budget, and impressions on one user-friendly dashboard.

Businesses can oversee every aspect of their campaigns from beginning to end, with the option to stop, pause, or cancel them at any time. In short, Hulu Ad Manager is an easy-to-use self-service solution that allows businesses of all sizes to stream their ads on some of the most popular shows in the world.

Add in the fact that it costs nothing to sign up, there are no additional fees, plus the minimum ad spend is only $500 and it’s no wonder that both digital marketing agencies and business owners are diverting increasing amounts of their advertising budgets to the Hulu streaming platform.

For smaller businesses who don’t have the bottomless advertising budgets of the giant corporations, a platform like Hulu’s Ad Manager is a gift that came at a particularly opportune time as it became available in March of 2020 just as the country was becoming aware of the severity of the pandemic. With quarantines forcing the vast majority of the population to stay home, subscriptions to streaming services and the consumption of streaming content skyrocketed, making CTV and OTT advertising an essential part of any marketing strategy.

The main reason agencies and businesses are so enthusiastic about Hulu’s Ad Manager is that it allows advertisers to target audiences through streaming TV advertising by gender, age, location, interests, and show genre with a super-affordable buying minimum of $500. However, the self-service ad placement platform comes with a wide variety of other benefits. Hulu’s Ad Manager also allows selection by state, DMA, city, and ZIP code.

Finally, when utilizing Hulu’s Ad Manager, users can purchase and place their ads without a sales team. However, they do have access to a dedicated customer support center. The platform will also benefit advertisers by providing a framework that exposes viewers to a wider variety of ads as well as a more relevant ad experience.

To run an Ad on Hulu, users must create campaigns that outline the who, what, when, where and, why of the brand. At the center of the campaign is the creation and uploading of the video ad. As of now, Hulu Ad Manager supports video ads between 15-30 seconds in length. After ads are uploaded they are screened through both automated and human-review processes. 

Social media advertising indicates the number of views but not whether they are views by people who are within a business’s target demographic. Advertising on Hulu provides an option for smaller-sized businesses to circumvent this problem and maximize the value of every ad dollar.

People are familiar with the Hulu brand and because of the programming, they are aware of the extent of its reach. Businesses also see an advantage with advertising on an established platform like Hulu because it implies a connection that adds to the legitimacy of the business. Furthermore, on Hulu, viewers cannot click through and skip ads. That combined with Hulu’s high level of viewer engagement means that people in targeted areas will undoubtedly see ads and learn about the brand.

Hulu has been a household name for quite some time, with a massive audience and instant brand recognition. This has significantly contributed to the popularity of Hulu’s Ad Manager. The high-quality content on Hulu attracts a certain kind of audience which is conducive to audience targeting.

Since in most cases, businesses have already established a precise audience profile and now want to reach that audience on a larger scale, Hulu’s Ad Manager provides a golden opportunity to do so. Since its inception, user feedback has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic about all the products available in Hulu’s self-service advertising solution.

Customers rave about the platform’s ease of use especially when it comes to ad creation and placement.  With broadcast television, the broad audience makes advertising cost-prohibitive for smaller local businesses. The Hulu Ad Manager geo-targeting capabilities and affordability provide a way for advertisers with limited budgets to be both efficient and effective with their ad dollars.

Streaming TV platforms like Hulu have become the go-to infotainment option for an ever-expanding and actively engaged audience known as “Generation Stream.” Advertising on Streaming TV presents an opportunity for businesses to put their brands in front of these targeted viewers and deliver the advertising message in an extremely effective way.

Whereas advertising on TV used to be reserved exclusively for the biggest advertisers and their million-dollar budgets, Hulu’s self-service Ad Manager has made advertising on streaming TV an effective and affordable method for smaller businesses to expand their reach and stand beside their larger competitors. Hulu’s self-service Ad Manager is one of the latest ways technology has leveled the playing field so that everyone can compete. 

How To Create Personalized Video Content To Connect With Your Target Audience

Streaming television content is on the rise. Connected TV (CTV) was expected to take off last year even before the arrival of the coronavirus. However with the pandemic forcing the public to remain at home for extended periods of time streaming consumption levels rose beyond all projections.

The average time spent viewing CTV increased 81% since last year. Today 80% of households in the US have at least one CTV device and 75% have at least one CTV service.

Due to the pandemic, eCommerce, which has already irrevocably altered the retail landscape, has increased to unforeseen levels as people were forced to order almost everything online as opposed to visiting physical retail locations. Now it seems there’s no turning back as consumers are expected to spend an all-time high of over $700 billion via eCommerce in 2021.

Since a typical viewer watches CTV content while in possession of their mobile devices, OTT/CTV has become an increasingly attractive method to generate eComm traffic.

CTV Marketing Basics

Consumer behavior and attitudes evolve, advertisers must adapt their ad strategies to keep pace. As a result of these shifts in consumer behavior, media buyers have already begun reallocating their ad dollars towards CTV in order to benefit from its hyper-targeting capability. This also necessitates a change in the creative process so as to develop interactive experiences and personalization at scale.

With any new medium comes a new set of best practices as advertising is no longer a one size fits all game. To take full advantage of the opportunities CTV brings, there are certain case-specific creative considerations for producing CTV/OTT video ads. A great deal of effort goes into using data to identify and connect with target audiences.

However, in most cases, advertisers are using the same commercial message with all consumers across all platforms. That kind of standardization no longer applies as CTV and streaming become an integral part of the media landscape. It is now necessary to put just as much effort into the creative side in order to communicate a story that every targeted user will find engaging.

Successful dynamic creative optimization depends on three critical components: data, content, and the ability to incorporate them into a cohesive marketing strategy.

With the technology currently available, it is possible to create a highly relevant customer experience and then modify it to form alternate versions based on a variety of real-time metrics.

LEVERAGING CTV TARGETING CAPABILITIES TO A/B TEST

Like many other digital marketing channels offers enhanced targeting and testing capability. However, the hyper-targeting and personalization capabilities of CTV give brands a singular opportunity to place especially relevant content in front of target audiences. 

Another consideration is the opportunity to conduct A/B testing for specific audiences in order to learn what is effective. The best way to take advantage of CTV advertising is to fully utilize its targeting and testing capabilities to run several versions of the creative.

While the prospect of generating multiple creatives for the purposes of A/B testing may seem prohibitively expensive, it is actually possible to do it in a cost-effective way. With a minimal amount of extra effort during the pre-production phase, it’s entirely feasible to produce multiple versions of video creative tailored for select viewing audiences.

Adjusting elements like talent, music, graphics, and messaging allows advertisers to generate hyper-relevant creatives for the audience they are targeting. It should also be noted that cost-effective solutions can be found in existing videos that can be shortened and repurposed to create a multi-purpose inventory of ads for CTV.

Live-Action vs. In-Studio Production: Which is better for CTV?

When it comes to CTV creative production, advertisers have two main options. Each has its own advantages and drawbacks. The first option is an original production with a live-action shoot. While you can get exactly what you want visually, this method is usually more expensive as it requires a studio or shooting on location, talent, props, lighting, sound recording, etc.

The second option is to produce creativity in the studio using pre-existing assets and a wide variety of post-production tools like AfterFX, Cinema4D, and Adobe Premiere. While this solution does have a few limitations as compared to a live-action shoot, the in-studio technology does allow for a large amount of creativity at a significantly lower cost.

In the ideation phase, consider if live-action or in-studio animation will be the best fit for your brand and your target audience. Connected Television advertising is an effective platform for both in terms of delivering a relevant story.

10 Tips For Creative CTV Production

• Be authentic and stay true to your brand identity. 
• Regardless of whether your goal is acquisition, awareness, or conversion, it’s important to always introduce yourself as you are putting your message in front of potential new customers.
• Remain mindful of the story you’re telling and make sure the narrative is consistent in all versions of the creative.
• Highlight core values and unique selling propositions. 
• Even a simple storyboard can get the entire production team on the same page.
• Grab attention with unusual or eye-catching visuals. Use humor if appropriate.
• Keeping the logo and URL on-screen for the duration of the ad and include a clear call to action. CTV advertising is not clickable but studies have shown that most people watch streaming content with a digital device in hand or nearby. 
• Leave space for customization. Consider having your talent recording multiple script options or record variations on your voiceover.
• Gather all of the footage you may need in a single shoot and then craft iterative versions of your creative(s) through post-production editing. 
• If relying on pre-existing assets, use motion graphics and animation to keep the content dynamic in order to heighten engagement. 

As the presence of connected TVs and the consumption of streaming content increase in US households on a daily basis, brands have a unique opportunity to change the TV advertising game.

Data-driven creativity creates more engagement with consumers, making campaigns more effective. Studies reveal that a majority of consumers are comfortable with ads that are customized and are increasingly expecting tailored experiences.

In addition to making their spots more effective based upon the data collected, brands can now obtain valuable insights regarding which offers are popular with different consumer groups.

Now more than ever, it is vital for brands to be able to quickly adapt their marketing strategies so that their messages address consumers directly and intuitively in order to establish a connection and build a relationship.

Digital video is the current undisputed champion of the digital marketing world. Any content strategy and email marketing campaigns should focus on video. Among digital trends, marketing budgets for 2021 reflect video’s supremacy and will continue throughout the foreseeable future.

The statistics do not lie, and they are too numerous to list in full. Here are just twenty reasons why digital video advertising is the present and futures:

1. 86% of businesses use video marketing. (Wyzowl)
2. Over 75% of digital video marketers report an increase in sales tied to video campaigns.
3. Advertisers will spend up to $37 billion on digital video advertising in 2021 and $45 billion by 2025. (Statista)
4. In 2021, individuals will spend 100 minutes a day watching online video content. (Marketingcharts.com)
5. 80% of U.S. consumers pay for streaming services.
6. In 2020, 78% of people watched online videos every week, and 55% said they watch them daily. (Social Media Week)
7. By 2024, U.S. video ad spending may increase to $12.66 billion. (Statista)
8. 95% of viewers retain more of a content’s message when watched in a video. (Wordstream)
9. By 2027, digital video advertising is forecast to reach $34.6, a growth rate of 12% from 2021 to 2027.
10. Video click-through rates in email marketing content increase 200%-300%. (Forbes)
11. 98% of people like watching new product or service videos more than other methods of communication. (Wyzowl)
12. 97% of people say Explainer Videos lead to a better understanding of a business, product, or process. (Dubb)
13. 90% of people prefer to watch video content on their mobile devices. (Wyzowl)
14. 90% of consumers buy products that include promotional videos. (Dubb)
15. 84% of people buy a product or service after seeing relevant content in a brand’s video (Wyzowl)
16. Conversion rates increase 80% with a marketing campaign or website homepage that includes video. (Dubb)
17. 64% of business owners believe explainer videos help increase sales. (The Draw Shop)
18. Video content increases brand awareness by 52%. (Thomson Reuters)
19. Engagement per post is higher with video content.
20. In 2021, YouTube, the largest video streaming platform, has 2.3 billion active users worldwide.

The message is clear. Digital video, and its innovative companion features, are the definitive medium for a brand’s digital marketing strategy. Its supremacy will continue to grow as high-speed internet reaches more communities and mobile networks upgrade to faster standards like 5G. A company should instruct its marketing team to focus its marketing efforts on video content.

2021’s Top Five Digital Video Advertising Trends

A brand should not base its advertising strategy on a content marketing trend,  a video trend, or any trend that does not demonstrably increase the percent of people who engage with its product or service. Digital marketing trends become standards, and these are the top innovations that should keep you busy in 2021.

1. Mobile
2. Vertical Video Ads
3. User-Generated Content
4. Instructional Videos
5. Interactive Videos

Mobile

Smartphones continue to have a profound impact on human behavior worldwide. The devices themselves continue to improve the smartphone user experience.

The cellular networks that allow content to flow to the furthest corners of the Earth continue to get faster and more reliable, all Goldilocks conditions for mobile digital advertising, and mobile video advertising in particular.

On average, U.S. adults spend almost four hours a day on their smartphones and nearly half of that time watching videos.

The number of mobile users may swell as high as 295 million by 2023, so it’s no wonder that by 2024 global mobile ad spending is projected to reach $8.92 billion. Mobile searches that include video results have also increased, and users click on the video before anything else.

But it’s not just the eyes on the screens. People interact with their mobile devices in a different way than their desktop computers or tablets. Advertising is most effective when the brand reaches its target audience.

Still, a brand’s message and values can be even more memorable when delivered seamlessly with the platform on which it runs. Digital marketers should customize advertising campaigns to target mobile users.

Vertical Video Ads

Vertical video advertising is a trend that leverages the rise in mobile use and social media networks. “Vertical video” refers to the ad’s format. In mobile parlance, vertical videos are in Portrait view.

Standard video formats are seen best in Landscape view. Most people prefer the Landscape view, but they use their phones in Portrait view when navigating the web, or their social media feeds on their phones.

Social media marketing should adapt to accommodate mobile user viewer habits. Social media trends toward increased connectivity, and a higher percent of consumers on social channels engage with content when seen most conveniently.

Instructional/Explainer Videos

America is a DIY nation. Over 85% of Americans use YouTube to learn how to do something, and YouTube is just one indicator of the collective drive to acquire new skills. People seek out many types of instructional (or explainer) videos on different websites and streaming platforms.

A great example is a recipe. Take the consumer journey. Someone searches for a fish taco recipe. The results include many sites with mouthwatering recipes, but some sites have a recipe and a video that show the viewer how to prep and cook the recipe.

More often than not, users choose the option with the instructional video. In this example, a business can use targeted branded content advertising on these instructional videos or produce the instructional video itself.

Brands have the opportunity to move into the instructional video digital space and establish authority in their field. Beyond purchasing ad space to run a digital video ad or advertising in someone else’s instructional video that targets your brand’s demographic, instructional videos produced “in-house” allow the brand to show its customers how to use its product and live the lifestyle associate with it.

User-Generated Content

Online content generated by the end-users (UGC) already has a significant impact on businesses – ask anyone with a review on Yelp, CitySearch, social media channels, blog posts, or any other industry-specific review site. What people say matters to a business’s reputation and its bottom line.

A hundred positive user-generated reviews of a company or product may not be enough to offset one negative review. Since many people believe UGC over even the best-branded content, positive UGC leads to sales, and negative UGC leads to potential customers taking their business elsewhere

However, UGC must be authentic. You can’t package UGC. Brands must create the digital space for users to create positive social media posts for their product and have a strategy to push that marketing message across digital (and traditional) media channels.

A great example of UGC is Instagram Stories (or Facebook Stories),  Instagram Reels, and Instagram Live. The user generates video content, and ad content is a companion to the internet user’s personal experience. Through video, users can create a virtual event about a product in a much more effective way than the brand itself. Think of your average testimonial.

In traditional print or digital channels, testimonials come across as scripted false praise with a random name attached. Put a natural person in an actual video talking about their genuine experience with a brand’s product, and the potential reach and ROI are limitless.

Interactive Videos

The biggest video marketing tool is interactive and should be a part of any content marketing strategy. Marketers work overtime to figure out new ways to engage their target audience with its product or service. A video ad can send the viewer through layers of companion ads that ultimately prompt action that increases the likelihood of a sale.

Interactive video can be the ultimate customer journey. For example, a brand reaches a potential customer through video content created or promoted through influencer marketing. Establish the customer relationship on a personal level that increases the likelihood of further engagement.

Conclusion

Digital video marketing trends are just that – trends – but a brand with an online presence and intelligent video marketing strategy can turn active users into loyal customers with customer engagement, high-quality content, personalized content, and other forms of content.

Ad networks like Facebook Ads, Google Business, Google Ads, Google My Business, and other B2B marketers report that video content has the highest engagement rates.

Whether your business is focused on conversion rate optimization, SEO strategy, or promoting valuable content across channels, your brand can enhance its customer base’s digital experiences (and mobile experiences!) by incorporating video ads.

Digital video ads are a vital part of any digital marketing mix. Video has spectacular ROI, a broad reach, and considerable savings over traditional television advertising.

Video views trump static images. Digital video engages viewers and prompts them to action at a greater rate than other forms of content.

This proven success has made digital video advertising very competitive, leading to innovative ways to leverage the unique topography of the ever-evolving digital world.

Streaming content continues to increase among web and mobile users, and the number of online marketing channels that support video advertising, such as mobile devices, continues to multiply.

Since digital video marketing is popular and effective (e.g., increases conversion rate) in comparison with other forms of advertising, has a lower advertising cost vs. traditional television commercials, and has deep market penetration as a multi-channel advertising platform, an intelligent digital advertising strategy requires that marketers understand the common types of digital video ads.

Linear vs. Non-Linear

All digital ads are linear or nonlinear, which is the video ad format.

Linear video ads play before, during, or after the main video content. Linear ads are the most common type of ad and the format to which most viewers are familiar. Television commercials run in this format.

Linear video ads also mimic television ads by running in the same video player as the main content. Typical spots are 15 to 30 seconds long. Linear ads are part of the program. In most cases, the viewer does not have a choice.

Nonlinear video ads play at the same time as the main video content. Nonlinear ads lure the viewer away by opening and running the entire ad in a new video player or click through to a business website.

When clicked, nonlinear ads will stop the main video content and play instead. Many nonlinear ads include a close button (x) and automatically size down to give the viewer an uninterrupted stream of the main video content. The choice is with the viewer.

Types of Linear Ads

Linear ads are called “in-stream” video ads and are divided into before, during, and after.

Pre-roll: The digital video ad plays before the main content “rolls.” For digital marketers, the pre-roll is prime time. Viewers must sit through the ad to watch the main content they’ve sought out. In some cases, a viewer must watch a full 30-second spot before the main content starts (non-skippable), but in other ads, viewers must only watch 5 seconds before choosing whether or not to continue (skippable).

Mid-roll: The digital video ad plays during the main content, sometimes more than once. When these ads play, the main content stops “mid-roll,” the advertisement plays, and then the main content resumes “rolling.” Like pre-roll ads, mid-roll ads can be skippable or non-skippable. Mid-roll ads are intrusive and stop the main content’s action but receive the most views because viewers typically wait until the (non-skippable) ad is over and the main video resumes.

Post-roll: The digital video ad plays after the main content concludes. As you can imagine, this post-roll is the opposite of prime time. Think of the moment a movie ends and the end credits scroll up the screen. The theater empties – fast. That digital video equivalent of that moment is the post-roll. However, if played right, a business can still push its brand and engage potential customers.

Each time a viewer watches a video on YouTube or On-Demand, regardless of platform, you will encounter in-stream linear ads. When done right, a brand’s video ad will be heard as well as seen, so the in-stream video becomes in-stream audio on audio streaming services such as Spotify or Pandora.

Types of Nonlinear Ads

Nonlinear video ads have an added layer of complexity because they can be “in-stream” or “out-stream.” Each category has its subtypes of ads.

Nonlinear: In-Stream

Like linear ads, nonlinear ads are “in-stream” but compete with the video’s main content for the viewer’s attention using a variety of devices, the main two of which are “overlay ads” and “non-overlay” ads.

Overlay Ads

An overlay ad is as it sounds – the ad lays over a part of the video content, typically the bottom quarter of the player.

Non-Overlay Ads

Non-overlay ads run at the same time as the video.

Nonlinear: Out-Stream

Out-stream digital video ads are stand-alone branded content that run “out-stream” or outside of the video player. Out-stream videos can be placed anywhere and remain non-intrusive and effectively communicate a brand’s message directly to the consumer.

On the page, the viewer can launch the ad or navigate away from the ad if they do not want to see it. Other nonlinear features, like overlay ads, can also be used out-stream.

Types of Out-Stream Ads

Out-stream ads are based on placement, or where they appear and run on a typical web page/ad network, and can auto-play or require action by the viewer to play.

In-page: Ad networks like Google Ads and Facebook Ad sell multi-sized placements of stand-alone video players for the sole purpose of running a digital video ad.

In-banner: Banner ads are the billboards of the internet and typically play in a static web banner or mobile app, except in the virtual world, you can manipulate their size by automatically collapsing or expanding them or allowing the viewer to do so. When a banner expands, it takes up the page, and digital marketers can pile on overlay ads, branded video players, and various other features to increase brand awareness and drive online sales.

In-text: Auto-play video ads placed inside an article, blog post, or user-generated content. The video player is visible to the viewer as he or she scrolls through the text, auto-plays once 50% of the player is visible, and auto-stops when the user scrolls past it.

In-feed: Digital video ads for social media marketing. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, Snapchat, and other social platforms have a content feed that includes social media ads. For example, if a viewer on Instagram is watching Instagram Stories story ads auto-play between content. Social networks that have story features usually have stories ads.

Interstitial: Ads that run between two content pages.

Nonlinear: Interactive

The most effective nonlinear digital video ads for audience engagement are in-stream interactive. Like other nonlinear ads, interactive ads compete for the viewer’s attention and stop the main content from running.

Suppose the viewer chooses to follow the ad. In that case, everything in the marketer’s arsenal – video, animation, graphics, buttons, tag lines, and other visual content – can become interactive elements to prompt customers to click a link that goes to a business website, enter contact information to receive a discount, or whichever angle to promote brand awareness and increase sales.

The Future of Digital Marketing is Video

The online world is fluid and changes at a rapid pace. Digital marketers must be one step ahead of consumer trends and technological features, like expandable ads, to unlock the internet’s full advertising potential.

Video advertising dominates the current landscape. Video has an economy of scale unrivaled by traditional advertising and other forms of digital advertising.

The digital video player is the new battlefield in the old war. Studies consistently show that digital video’s demonstrable ROI is unmatched, and its use by consumers and marketers alike will only increase.

If done right, a brand’s digital marketing strategy that combines business objectives, campaign objectives, advertising goals, creative elements (e.g., captivating images, organic posts) with the power of video will delight customers and exceed advertising objectives.

A brand’s investment in online content such as an Explainer Video or social media platform pays off in reaching its target audience. It creates a permanent library of digital assets that are accessible by active users well in the future.

Understanding the basics of digital video ads is the start of mastering advertising’s most advanced brand-building tool in history.

Branded content is the next phase in video marketing

Content strategy and management platform, Semrush defines Branded Content as “…content that speaks the values and the vision of your company…”, that “generates a conversation and an emotional response.” “Branded content is an experience… that relies on storytelling tools and techniques.” Branded content is beyond the sale. It seeks a deeper connection with the customer.

Video content is a proven foundational tool of any brand’s digital marketing strategy. It has developed into a standard with its complexities, advantages, and challenges – all worth mastering as the data supports video’s dominance as digital marketing over other types of content. High-quality video content optimized for online and social media platforms increases brand awareness and conversion rates, reduces bounces, boosts search engine optimization on Google (mainly if you use Google-owned video platforms such as YouTube), drives organic traffic to your website, is mobile-friendly (no more skewed margins!), and has a demonstrable positive effect on customer retention (that means repeat sales).

Now it’s incumbent on marketing teams to take their video content marketing strategy to the next level. Brand awareness and the package of advantages noted above, which already have a proven, groundbreaking ROI, are now the stepping stone to leveraging video’s unique storytelling powers to engage customers on an emotional level that make them connect with your brand’s values.

 

5 Ways Branded Video Content Can Grow Your Business

1. The Return On Investment (ROI) is spectacular.
2. Video is a storyteller’s medium.
3. DIY approach is cost-effective and scalable.
4. There is a video content category for every business.
5. Creates and nurtures community.

1. The ROI is spectacular

As is, video is a proven winner. The numbers do not lie. Here are just a few.

200%-300% – increase in click-through rates with video in marketing emails. (Forbes)
98% – people who like watching new product or service videos more than other methods of communication. (Wyzowl)
97% – people who say explainer videos lead to a better understanding of a business, product, or process. (Dubb)
95% – people who retain the message of a video more than other methods of communication. (Wordstream)
90% – people who prefer video streaming on their mobile devices. (Wyzowl)
90% – target audience who buy products that include promotional videos. (Dubb)
84% – people who buy a product or service after seeing a  brand’s video (Wyzowl)
80% – increase in conversion rates with a marketing campaign or website homepage that includes video. (Dubb)
64% – business owners who believe explainer videos help increase sales. (The Draw Shop)
52% – increased brand awareness with video content. (Thomson Reuters)

It’s not a contest. Video content rules the digital marketing toolbox. Branded content appeals to potential customers in a different, more personal way, and video is the most effective type of content to inject a brand’s values into a customer’s experience.

2. Video is a storyteller’s medium

Branded content is a story that creates an emotional response, and there is no better medium to achieve that end than video. Whether it’s a 15-30 second video on TikTok, influencer video marketing on Instagram Live, or a long-form video on YouTube, the brands (and influencers) that tell the best, most authentic story that aligns with its vision and values will rise to the top. For example, consider the simple online search for a recipe. The journey most likely ends with the searcher following an instructional video to whip up his or her next culinary masterpiece. Yet, these types of videos barely harness the true storytelling power of the medium in the way branded video marketing strategy can achieve.

3. A DIY approach is cost-effective and scalable

Professional video production is low cost and is forever. A brand’s values told through a compelling video will resonate with a wider audience long after its debut. An effective way for a company to spread its values and create growth is to put its own social media channels and other platforms through strategic paid campaigns. A short, inexpensive but meaningful video pushed through as many online and mobile channels as necessary will yield instant, measurable results. A YouTube channel, Video On Demand, a Video Ad, an animated video, influencer marketing, are all a type of video that can drive a wide range of customer interactions and engagement.

4. There is a video content category for every business

From the traditional commercial “spot” to the highly effective “explainer” videos, there are types of videos that fit every business. A retail business may use video for customer testimonials or a start-up company for a product demonstration. An iconic venue can connect with its community with a behind-the-scenes video, or a Fortune 500 company can stand out with a company culture video. Branded content takes this already personalized strategy one step further. A How-To Video is an opportunity to build a customer base and reach a larger audience. Regardless of the type, types, videos, and used, branded content can transform the ordinary into a memorable, relationship-building experience.

5. Creates and nurtures community

The difference between a sale and an experience is a sense of community. For the most part, people patronize local, regular businesses – from restaurants to dry cleaners. These places are in the customer’s immediate area and build loyalty through repeat business characterized by familiarity, authenticity, and a feeling of being connected to the fates of the people who work there. Brands that create branded online video content using traditional storytelling techniques can recreate the close and special relationship people have with the businesses in their communities.

Grow Your Business with Branded Video Content

Video’s visceral connection with customers generates buzz and engagement that can help any business grow its brand in an organic way that achieves long-lasting loyalty based on its culture, values, and mission. Video with branded content can drive a customer’s long-term relationship with a brand and drive future growth.

Programmatic Display Advertising, or Programmatic Advertising, is not some new digital marketing trend or advertising technology, but a slow-rolling earthquake that’s shaken everything up.

The future of digital marketing has been Programmatic for so long it’s hard to determine when the future became the present, but what can be said with certainty is that a Programmatic Advertising Strategy is the most dominant force in digital marketing. Statista projects that 2021’s programmatic ad buys may hit $127 billion, which is $35 billion more than predictions made just several years ago, driven by the ever-increasing use of social media platforms, mobile platforms, and multimedia content such as video. Other recent reports from industry trackers state that revenue from programmatic ad buys now 80% of all digital display advertising revenues. 

What is Digital Programmatic Display Advertising?

Programmatic Display Advertising is everything a digital marketer needs to grow its brand and reach its audience – targeted, multi-channeled, and automated. Programmatic Display Advertising uses technology to purchase and manage digital ad spaces like over the top (OTT), social networks, mobile, digital video, and display and gives the brand an advanced level of control and increased levels of security. As digital ad spaces multiply, governing large digital marketing campaigns becomes more complex and laborious. Leveraging technology to automate complex functions, programmatic campaigns give marketers the tools to gain visibility and actionable insight into their target audience and the freedom to unleash their digital strategies.

 How does Digital Programmatic Display Advertising work?

While Programmatic Display Advertising may seem complex, the process is simple and straightforward. 

1.  You buy ad space through an ad exchange (e.g., Google Ad Exchange, AdSense, or Microsoft Advertising).

2. Using real-time bidding software (RTB), you bid for digital ad spaces against other marketers. Just like any other auction, the highest bidder wins. If you want to automate bidding over multiple channels, demand-side provider software (DSP) can be employed. 

3. Each time the ad is displayed, you pay.

These are the top five reasons advertising agencies are making programmatic ad buying a significant part of their media mix.

#1: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI is the driving force behind Programmatic Advertising’s remarkable features and what makes it such a digital marketing success story. Companies can more cost-effectively leverage their consumer data and connect with an audience that is ready to buy their product. Multi-channel, real-time reporting, granular targeting options, and budget and spend optimization are all built into an AI system that is constantly improving itself to meet the business objectives the company sets. Better reporting, ad fraud protection, and brand safety are just several areas in programmatic advertising’s AI-centered capabilities that have resulted in major systemic improvements over traditional media buys.  For example, programmatic advertising software can block fraudulent bots, prevent your ad from running next to undesirable content that may be hurtful to your brand, and return real-time reporting data on campaign effectiveness that can be optimized to increase your reach, connect with more customers, and grow your business.

#2: Targeting

By far, the most significant characteristic of Programmatic Display Advertising is its ability to break down the barriers that traditionally separate a marketing team from its target audience. Instead of casting a wide net and pulling up plastic bottles, tires, and coat hangers with your prize lobsters, you’re sending out millions of fishing lines at once, each with its own unique “smart lure” custom made to hone in on one individual customer. Targeting methods allow marketers to reach the exact audiences they want to reach at a fraction of the price and at a scale previously unimaginable. Layers can be location, demographics, metadata, interests, education, or gender, or any other relevant identifier. With this increased insight and smart strategic planning, targeted ads can be more relevant, contextual, and organic. Ads that are disruptive to the user’s regular behavior (e.g., auto-play ads) or infringe on user privacy leave a negative impression, impair the user experience and may dilute attempts to build a strong brand. With increased, more personalized targeting, there is less wasteful advertising and more control over to whom your ad is displayed.  Brands executing their digital marketing strategy with programmatic campaigns have more demonstrable success reaching who they want, how they want when they want. 

#3: Multichannel Automation

Automating your digital advertising campaigns across multiple digital channels benefits the management of online marketing in so many obvious ways. It reduces human error, eliminates manual time-consuming processes, and boosts online visibility. Programmatic Buying far surpasses the reach of traditional online advertising channels such as AdWords and Bing as they only display your ads on their network of sites. For example, when you run a programmatic advertising campaign on AdWords, your ads will only be seen on websites that are part of the Google Display Network. Programmatic Buying pushes your high-quality content across Google, Facebook Advertising, social media channels, Smart TV, and any other programmatic advertising platforms that align with your digital marketing efforts. Another power of the programmatic ad campaign is the sheer scope of its scalability to increase your online presence. The power of programmatic allows you to reach, or even retarget, a vast number of internet users wherever they may go. 

#4: Real-Time Flexibility

One of the most powerful tools of Programmatic Display Advertising is its real-time functionality – whether it’s real-time bidding on advertising space during a real-time auction, reporting that gives valuable insights into user interests, projections, spending trends, measuring a campaign’s performance, or making adjustments as ads run, the real-time abilities of programmatic platforms give marketers a competitive edge. They can proactively build and improve their online presence and marketing efforts instead of waiting until the end to see what worked. Gone are after-action reports. Now real-time optimization is the standard. This added freedom comes with an extra degree of complexity, but managing a suite of mission objectives in real-time empowers brands to be nimble and adaptive to a rapidly changing marketplace.

#5. ROI

For the above reasons and more, Programmatic Display Advertising maximizes conversion rates and ROI. An automated, multi-channel, AI-driven ad run with real-time flexibility eliminates a bloated layer of intermediaries and human negotiations (up to 60% of a digital marketing budget), thereby reducing unnecessary overhead, allowing marketing dollars to be spent in a more intelligent and effective manner. This means an impressive return on investment. Programmatic marketing is so cost-efficient in comparison to traditional marketing; even a modest budget can produce exemplary results. There is little wonder why Digital Agencies are committing more and more of their overall digital marketing budget to Programmatic Advertising Campaigns. With its endless feedback loop of real-time rich customer data and optimization recommendations, ad runs can be tested, measured, and refined while producing greater returns. With cost transparency, ad campaigns can be designed to target impressions to the most actionable people, and savings can be reinvested into the marketing plan.

There is always some form of advertising that small businesses can use to boost brand awareness and sales

Most businesses, large and small, start as a proposal to investors or banks. There is always a marketing section because promotion leads to sales. A well-conceived advertising strategy planned long before doors open or anything goes live may be the difference between success and failure to attract significant capital.

Large businesses have the resources and staff to make significant investments in advertising. Many small businesses do not, especially when building brand awareness is the most needed. Once up and running, many small businesses do not know how to run effective advertising campaigns or decide not to invest in that area.

Small businesses also encounter other barriers to advertising. They must navigate the new complexities of an increasingly diverse landscape of marketing channels, each with their language and metrics for success, which can seem intimidating or cost-prohibitive with no apparent link to a tangible return. However, no business can grow in a vacuum. There is always some form of advertising that small businesses can use to boost brand awareness and sales.

Advertising is your business making a first impression

Through advertising, you can communicate everything about your small business – location, phone number, website, products, services, and industry-specific information like menus. All the different advertising options, from a local newspaper to a social media post with an international reach, options old and new may benefit small businesses the most if applied in a strategic way that reaches the business’s target customers.

More than that, advertising is the first impression your business makes on the world. Whether it’s a tote bag you hand out to strangers or a TV commercial, you will build customer loyalty if you create a memorable experience associated with your brand. It is true that modern marketing is complex and best managed by educated and trained professionals, but for a small business that may not know where to start, here are some marketing basics.

1. Establish an advertising mission objective: Every promotion has the same goal – to boost brand awareness and sales. A business should determine a specific mission objective that guides its marketing plan to achieve targeted and measurable results with favorable ROI. For example, suppose your small business is a restaurant located on a beach boardwalk. In that case, your objective may be to increase sales by a certain margin during summertime when the area is ripe with tourists and develop a different campaign during the “off-season” to draw in locals. Each approach requires a customized approach using both common and unique channels to leverage the various medium’s marketing reach.
2. Create a budget: Decide what your overall investment in advertising will be. Do your research. See where and how competitors in your market advertise to get a general idea of what head-to-head ads will cost. As you work your way through the advertising basics, you will identify the traditional or digital mediums that will optimize your results. It may be many inexpensive ads or two bank-busting ones. It does not matter as long as the advertising has the intended effect defined in your advertising mission objective.
3. If possible, hire professionals: An investment in an advertising agency specializing in the recommendations that comprise the rest of this list may be the best way to manage your marketing efforts. Experts will know advertising law, advertising costs, Bureau of Consumer Protection regulations, consumer protection principles, email marketing strategy, social media strategy, SEO marketing, digital marketing strategies, PPC advertising, Co-Op advertising, and other specialized marketing activities limitless potential best realized by professional advertisers.
4. Determine your target audience: Until you know who you want to reach, you won’t determine the most effective and cost-effective ways to reach them. Allocate dollars after due diligence, vendor shopping, whatever it takes to maximum effect for the minimum investment. Get the demographic data. Know their habits. Know where they congregate in the natural and virtual world. Imagine going on the customer journey.  The more you know about your existing and potential customers, the more personalized your approach and message can be.
5. Invest time and effort to learn the various advertising channels: Every advertising avenue has its advantages, disadvantages, and cost structures. Get to know the multitude of marketing channels as well as your target audience. Think of yourself as a matchmaker, setting up your advertisement with prospective customers. What is the best avenue that will provide the maximum ROI? One size does not fit all, and a campaign does not need to saturate every possible channel to meet your objectives.
6. Choose your marketing mix: There are so many traditional and digital advertising avenues to consider that it may seem overwhelming. However, once you understand your mission, have a budget, and know your target audience, it will make the process of determining your optimal marketing mix much more straightforward. Here is a list of many of the ways your small business can advertise.

• Business Website
• Word of Mouth
• Television
• Video Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
  • YouTube
  • Facebook/Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok
  • Snapchat
• Google AdWords
• Google Ads
• Google My Business
• Online Marketing
• Consumer Reviews
  • Yelp
  • CitySearch
• Pop-up ads and banners
• Pay Per Click Advertising
• Search Engine Optimization
• Mobile Advertising
• Radio
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Direct Mail
• Email Marketing
• Email Newsletters
• Blog Posts
• Trade shows
• Trade publications
• Billboards
• Signage
• Leaflets
• Public transportation
• Movie theater advertising
• Local online and print directories
• Novelty items (e.g., pens, totes)
• Business card
• Coupons

Talk about an all-you-can-eat buffet. Now choose five. That’s not a serious statement, but you get the idea. Your marketing mix may be all or one of the above. An effective marketing strategy matches the medium with the ideal customer and budget, which takes time and effort, but if you get the marketing tools right, your business will benefit.

1. Develop your campaigns: DIY, ad agency, or your girlfriend’s mother. Now that you have a marketing mix, somebody, or some people, must create the mind-blowing ad campaigns that will catapult your business to success. Here is an additional opportunity to consider hiring professionals who specialize in telling a brand’s story through content marketing, digital marketing, or business marketing and have the talent and experience to develop creative ideas into intriguing advertising that will reach a wider audience.
2. Choose your timing: Depending on your business type and its resources, you may not need to advertise year-round or have the money to afford to do so. Determine when an advertising campaign will have the maximum benefit to selling your product or service. It may be seasonal, or a specific holiday, or game day, or Wine Wednesday. Make your ad spend go as far as possible while achieving the maximum results.
3. Monitor and measure your results: Nobody gets everything right all the time. Your advertising strategy should undergo periodic and scheduled reviews to determine which mediums and campaigns have had the most impact on your mission objective – sales. A business should get the data, analyze it, and make informed course corrections to sustain the desired level of exposure. Seek out customer feedback through customer interactions, customer inquiries, and a proactive customer relationship management strategy. Online analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics) are easy to obtain. Plow through those metrics and KPIs and see where the chips fall.
4. Innovate: A campaign that works one year may not work the next. Constantly seek new ways to improve and promote your business that aligns with your mission objectives. Make sure you have relevant content, and your advertising messages are current. Customer retention is an ongoing process, and advertising is

The best way to build a brand and customer loyalty is to provide an excellent guest experience

No amount of clever marketing and advertising dollars will boost your brand and sales if you don’t deliver on the promises you make about your business. Happy customers are repeat customers and act as goodwill ambassadors of your business. High-level customer service creates a memorable and positive customer experience.