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What’s Your ESP? 5 Ways To Find Out

What’s Your ESP? 5 Ways To Find Out

by | Jul 14, 2019

Not sure? Here’s how to find out…

What did you think when you saw “ESP”?  Extra-sensory perception?  That’s certainly the common use of the abbreviation.  Or did you wonder if I meant “USP” – unique selling proposition?

What I’m going to talk about has nothing to do with the supernatural (well, maybe just a little) –  and it’s definitely related to your USP – but with a clever twist.

ESP = Emotional Selling Proposition.   What on earth does that mean?

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Marketing – it’s all about emotion.

Every business needs clients, customers or whatever you prefer to call them – the people that buy your products or services.   These people don’t care what you do.  All they care about is how you will solve their problems.

I’m a scientist, so I like scientific explanations –  here you go:

There are three sections to the brain:  outer (new), middle, and reptilian.

The youngest part of the brain is the outer layer. It is responsible for such things as processing the written language, complex thinking, calculating, and rationalizing your decision.

The middle section of the brain processes emotional responses.  It gives you a gut feeling on your decision.

The oldest part of the human brain is the reptilian area (known as the amygdala)

The amygdala is responsible for instinct and survival.  Its main focus is to avoid pain – you’ve heard of “fight or flight”. This area makes our decisions.

The brain accounts for only 2% of our body weight, but uses 20% of the body’s energy.  Our bodies are optimised to conserve energy – hence the brain will only activate all its regions when it’s a case of survival –  and avoiding pain…

When writing marketing copy, creating graphics or videos, we need to think about what drives a customer to buy – and crucially, what initially attracts their attention.  We need to get the reptilian brain activated!

Accentuate the…. negative??

You’d think focussing on the positive aspects of your product or service would be the best place to start, wouldn’t you?

You certainly need to do that, but NOT at the beginning of your marketing piece.  Remember “fight or flight” and the reptilian brain?

Start with a negative.  Focus on the pain – not necessarily physical pain, but the bad feelings someone might have when they NEED what you offer.

Start by asking a question like “Are you struggling with xxxxx?”

Then;  “When you work with us, you’ll feel relieved because xxxxx”  (that’s the simplified version, you’d want to flesh it out a bit!)

Negative emotions are the most powerful trigger to the reptilian brain.

Your Ideal Client

I’m sure you’ll know what I mean –  you’ve probably heard countless times that you can’t market to everyone. Try to do that, and you end up attracting no-one.

Looking at this from an emotional standpoint, it becomes a bit more straightforward than the usual method of researching and creating a very specific “avatar” –  although it’s definitely still a good idea to do that.

When you think about your prospects (potential clients), what are they struggling with right now?  What would they do anything to fix?  Crucially, what EMOTIONS are they experiencing in their current situation?

Worry? Fear? Panic? Stress? Frustration?

Identify the problem and demonstrate the solution.

Almost certainly they will be feeling one of those negative emotions – which is why they are looking for a solution.  Your job is to identify this and describe exactly why your product or service is the answer. 

The way you do this is to start by portraying the negative emotions.  Think about the questions you’re most commonly asked, and imagine the emotions that prompt those questions.   As an example, an accountant might say “Are you feeling frustrated because you’re paying too much tax?”  or “Are you confused over who you can claim as a dependent for tax purposes?”

Now, offer a bit of reassurance –  show them you understand their problem completely.   And then demonstrate how the problem will be solved when they buy your product or service, by portraying the positive emotions that will result:   relief, peace of mind, sleeping better – and so on.

Finally, tell them what to do next (the all-important Call To Action that is so often forgotten).

When you follow this process, you’ll find marketing a whole lot easier because you’ve identified your ESP!

Your prospects will feel able to trust you –  you’ve demonstrated that you understand exactly what their problem is and shown them a simple solution.   Now it’s your responsibility to follow up and close the sale.

Putting it into practice…

Here’s another thing about the amygdala… because it’s the most primitive area of the brain, it responds in a primitive way.  Our ancestors were hunters – their survival depended on quick response to any threat (that fight or flight thing again!)    Threats tend to move – think sabre-toothed tigers…

What I’m getting to is that the human brain is hard-wired to respond to movement.  What moves and can be used in our marketing?  Video of course –  and let’s not forget gif images.  There’s a lot more to gifs than those silly ones you see on social media –  they can be a great promotional tool for your business.

I hope this has given you a few ideas and ways to improve your marketing strategy.  As always, I welcome feedback so please feel free to leave a comment below.

Need Help?

Want a bit of help identifying your ESP?  Book a 15 minute free, no-obligation call with me HERE.  We’ll explore the emotions your potential clients might be feeling, and discuss your solutions.

Or ask me about a bespoke whiteboard explainer video for your business that focuses on situations and emotions, ideal for getting your prospects excited about working with you.

Here’s an example:

Did you know that gifs could be used to promote your business?   They are image files, so they’re really easy to share on social media, embed in emails or even add to your website.

is your marketing boring?  

Ask me about having one created for your business.

Why not say hello on my Facebook page too? 

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Keep In touch

If you’d like to receive occasional emails with useful hints and tips for your online marketing, simply add your details on the right and click SEND.
Unsubscribe at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of every email. Your details will be stored in my email marketing software but will never be sold to third parties. For full information on how your data is processed, please see the Privacy Notice.

Copyright © 2019 Naomi Jane Johnson t/a Value Added Video
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6 Reasons You Need Content Marketing To Build Your Business

6 Reasons You Need Content Marketing To Build Your Business

by | Jul 8, 2019

Why content marketing?

You’ve probably seen the term everywhere in the last few years, but do you know what content marketing is?
The Content Marketing Institute defines it thus:

Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.

There are several ultra-important words in this sentence – my picks would be: relevant, consistent, attract, audience, profitable. 

What does content marketing actually involve?

Most small businesses with an online presence have at least a vague idea of the concept of content marketing. In practice, it’s the process of publishing e-books, videos, articles, images and any other type of content online to market a business or product.

There are a couple of problems, though. Much of the content marketing advice you’ll read online comes from digital marketing agencies, and it’s often overwhelming for a small business that doesn’t have a marketing team. How on earth are you supposed to pump out all those videos and e-books when you’ve products to sell and customers to keep happy?

In a fit of enthusiasm, you create a PDF and then post about it a little on social media. This doesn’t work, which means you don’t get the results you expected and – understandably – you now feel despondent about the whole idea of content marketing.

But the bottom line is that content marketing IS important and well worth getting to grips with. Let’s look at some of the reasons why:

Great content is valuable for SEO.

These days, search engine optimization has to start with quality content. True, you still need some keywords and backlinks to your site to do well in Google searches, but the days when just keywords and backlinks worked are long gone.

Google is pretty smart these days – it understands questions and longer phrases, so a long string of keywords at the bottom of your web page won’t help, and could actually get you penalised.  I’m amazed that some websites still have this – and “keyword stuffing” just looks so obvious and unnatural!

Google also looks at other factors such as your social media activity, and the relevance of your content. By that I mean how good you are at answering questions that people are asking – and searching for the answers – in Google.

And while we’re talking about SEO, let’s not forget Pinterest. Pinterest is actually the 2nd largest search engine (behind Google and YouTube which can be considered a single entity). Research has shown that 84% of Pinterest users have buying intent – dramatically different from social media users.  Many businesses ignore Pinterest – potentially a serious mistake! 

DOWNLOAD MY FREE GUIDE TO PINTEREST MARKETING FOR BEGINNERS 

Content brings you traffic.

You need content to encourage visitors to your website, for example a Facebook page post or an Instagram image. Then you need content to let them get to know, like and trust you. Posting regular blogs and videos will be a valuable contribution. If they like what you publish, they’ll come back for more.

It’s an ongoing process; you need to be publishing content such as social media updates on a daily basis, or several times a day – and blogging regularly (I’d suggest at least once a month, but find your own comfort level).

Ideally,you should be creating other types of content such as videos, slideshares, infographics regularly too. Don’t forget that one piece of content (e.g. a blog post) can be repurposed into other forms such as video, slideshare, downloadable checklist etc.

When you understand how to extract the maximum value from your content, it won’t seem like such hard work.

Content brings you leads.

 Once you’ve captured attention with your content you’ll need more to generate leads. You can do this by exchanging a useful checklist or guide (yes, this is content too!) for your visitors’ email addresses. Think about the questions that your clients ask you most frequently, and create a guide, checklist or cheat sheet that answers these questions – all you need is a Word document, made into a pdf and uploaded to your website.

Set up your email software to deliver this as a download when someone enters their email address, and bingo – job done and a new subscriber on your list.

Content builds trust.

There are millions of websites out there, why should anyone buy from yours? You need to make a connection with your visitors, to show you understand them and can be trusted to deliver exactly what they need.

Guess how you do that? Yes, with content – relevant content that answers their questions and addresses their concerns, making you the go-to person in your niche. When that happens, watch your business become profitable!

Content grows your brand.

If your content has a consistent message that’s congruent with the rest of your business then your content will tell the world about what you do, how and why.

People will be attracted to you because your message triggers an emotional response, making them feel “I need this”. Quite simply, emotion is the fuel for every successful marketing strategy. 

Content helps you sell.

There is an art to writing product descriptions and articles that sell. It’s all about emotion! But to make your sales content work at its best you’ll need to deliver it to your audience when they are 100% ready to buy. How do you know when that is? If you’ve been nurturing and tracking their progress using content marketing, then you’ll have all the information you need.

As you can see, there’s a bit more to content marketing than posting on social media and updating your website a couple of times per year. If done well it can bring you traffic, leads and sales. Off you go…

Questions?  Post them below!

Ready to get started?

All types of content are essential to marketing these days but it’s time-consuming to create those images and videos if you’re new to the whole concept of content marketing.

Take a look at these Viral Content Templates that help you create eye-catching, highly engaging graphics for social media. They’re designed for busy business owners just like you, to save you lots of time and effort! All you need is a free Canva account.

Why not join my Facebook group where I share lots of ideas, tips and resources to create visual content for your business?

Or, if you’re looking for an alternative to social media – with no algorithms blocking your links, and no need to worry about follower numbers or engagement – my free guide Pinning To Win (for beginners to Pinterest marketing) is definitely worth a look!

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Keep In touch

If you’d like to receive occasional emails with useful hints and tips for your online marketing, simply add your details on the right and click SEND.
Unsubscribe at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of every email. Your details will be stored in my email marketing software but will never be sold to third parties. For full information on how your data is processed, please see the Privacy Notice.

Copyright © 2019 Naomi Jane Johnson t/a Value Added Video
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How To Create An Animated Logo Using Powerpoint

How To Create An Animated Logo Using Powerpoint

by | Mar 19, 2019

How To Create An Animated Logo With Powerpoint – in minutes!

You’ve probably noticed that video is everywhere – more and more business owners are realising that it’s pretty much an essential part of any marketing strategy these days.  If you’re creating videos regularly for your business, that’s great.  But are YOUR videos getting lost in a sea of sameness?  With so many videos now being shared on social media, it’s important to ensure that yours are seen – what are you doing to make them stand out and get noticed?

An animated logo – often called a logo reveal or logo stinger – is a simple way to add your branding and identity to every video you create and share online, either at the start, the end, or even both.  And it’s very easy to create your own logo animation in just a few minutes, using a tool that the majority of PC owners have access to:  Powerpoint.

Yes, our old friend Powerpoint has capabilities you probably hadn’t dreamed of – it’s by no means limited to creating those same old presentations that cause people to fall asleep in meetings and workshops.  I’m sure you’ve heard of Death By Powerpoint 😏

Get 16 Powerpoint Templates to create your own promotional videos 

CLICK HERE

Add Branding – Get Your Videos Noticed

If you want to be seen amongst the ocean of video content, your videos need to stand out and be unique to your business.  An animated logo adds a touch of essential branding!

As well as adding your animated logo to existing videos,  use it as a standalone clip to share on social media – it’ll work well on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.  It’s even possible to upload videos directly to Pinterest nowadays.

You could also convert it into a gif and include that format in your emails (gifs are equivalent to images and they’ll autoplay wherever placed).  Try the EZGIF site –  it makes the process very straightforward.

So how do we create a logo animation in Powerpoint?   The simplest way to explain is in a video –  watch below to follow the process step-by-step as I produce a simple animated logo and tagline.  Why not add music to your video too – there are many places you can download royalty-free tracks, including YouTube’s own audio library  (select “attribution not required”)  and Facebook’s “Sound Collection” –  find this under “Publishing Tools” in your own Facebook page.

 

Get 16 Powerpoint Templates to create your own promotional videos 

CLICK HERE

Over To You

I hope I’ve inspired you to try creating your own animated logo! I’d love to see what you produce –  why not share in the comments,  or message me on Facebook.

Need A Bit More “Wow”?

Want even more visual punch to your logo reveal? Message me to get started.  I’ll need your logo in png format. Not sure what that means?   Just ask, I’m here to help 🙂

Have you joined my Facebook Group, VISUAL MARKETING IDEAS FOR YOUR BUSINESS?   I’d love to see you there!

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create an animated logo with powerpoint

Copyright © 2019 Naomi Jane Johnson t/a Purrfectly Social
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Facebook Ads For Accountants and Bookkeepers – How To Get Started

Facebook Ads For Accountants and Bookkeepers – How To Get Started

by | Jan 29, 2019

Need More Clients For Your Accountancy Practice?

Can you say for sure that you’ll never need to find new clients for your accountancy or bookkeeping practice?  If so, click away now!

You’re well aware that clients come and go for various reasons,  so it’s important to keep your funnel, pipeline, or whatever you prefer to call it, topped up with new prospects.

Are you taking advantage of the largest available online pool of clients?  It’s called Facebook.

Facebook has over 2 billion monthly users worldwide –  and is used at least once per day by around 44% of the UK population

Statistically speaking then, it’s safe to assume that a good percentage of your potential clients use Facebook on a regular basis.  Your job is to get your message in front of them – and nowadays, that can be somewhat of a challenge.

That Algorithm Stuff…

The answer isn’t to post a stream of “buy my stuff” updates, but I’m sure you knew that.

At the start of 2018, Facebook made a major change to its newsfeed algorithm – that complicated bit of tech wrangling that controls what individual users see in their newsfeed.   It’s impossible for facebook to show each user every single update from their friends, groups they’ve joined and business pages they’ve liked. 

There’s simply too much content on Facebook now – it has to be controlled, and Facebook chooses what we see based on our interactions, what we’ve liked, shared and engaged with.  Mark Zuckerberg has said repeatedly that Facebook is all about friends, family, and the “user experience” –  meaning that business updates are way down the priority list.

Posts that get little engagement are downgraded – and “buy my stuff” posts nearly always get little engagement, so you get the picture.     Facebook users aren’t on the platform to be sold to, they’re there primarily to interact with friends and family.   Once you understand this,  marketing effectively on Facebook becomes easier.

Your Facebook Page

I mentioned above that posts from business pages have a low priority in the newsfeed.  That doesn’t  mean you should abandon your page and start using your profile to promote the business (contravening Facebook’s terms and conditions).  It’s important to post regularly on your page –  at least 3-5 times per week, although the ideal frequency varies –  do whatever works best for your business.  Try Likealyzer –  it’s a useful tool to check your page performance.

Share a mix of updates –  useful hints and tips, your blog posts (you do have a blog, don’t you?), industry news,  videos and images.   No more than 20-30% should be directly promotional.

If you post nothing for weeks on end, it doesn’t look good when a potential client lands on your page –   they’ll probably click away immediately.  And Google does index Facebook Pages, so an active page is more likely to show up when someone searches your business name (try it – logged out of Google – does your page appear?)

A Smarter Facebook Ads Strategy

It’s unlikely most of your potential clients will discover you on Facebook without a bit of prompting.  You can do plenty to maximise your organic reach by joining a few groups where those prospects are likely to hang out, joining in discussions, answering questions and showcasing your expertise (NOT by promoting your services, except when it’s permitted, or when someone asks you for details).  Facebook groups have certainly been a valuable source of business for me over the past few years –  I put a lot of time and effort into my group activity and this gets me results.

But let’s cut to the chase.   To get in front of more of your ideal prospects on Facebook, you need to run ads.  Facebook Ads, while not as simple and cheap as they were a few years ago, are still the most cost-effective form on online advertising, and the targeting options are mind-blowing.

Having said that, it’s by no means simply a matter of throwing an ad up and expecting clients to fall over themselves in the rush to work with you.  You need a strategy and an understanding of Facebook users’ behaviour.   We’ve previously mentioned that Facebook is all about friends, family and the user experience.  What that means is that people are on Facebook to relax, interact and have fun. They don’t want to see a stream of blatantly promotional posts from businesses.   They’re not actively looking for your services –  this is in contrast to Google Ads, where you’d place an ad based on the search terms someone would use when they knew they needed an accountant –  they’d be in buying mode at that stage.

Facebook Ads are a longer game – you need to raise awareness and build trust through your ads – direct sales are difficult, especially for B2B / service businesses.  In fact the process is similar to business networking.  I’ve met many accountants at the networking groups I go to; networking often works very well for them if they attend consistently and regularly (consistent and regular are the keywords!).  That’s fine if you only want to work with local people.  Nowadays though, with the advent of cloud accounting, you aren’t limited by location, your clients can be anywhere in the country or even in the world.   Let’s look at a few ideas for finding them.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE FACEBOOK ADS PLANNING CHECKLIST

Start With A Video

A video is usually a good starting point when targeting a cold audience (people who’ve never come across you).  Create a short, eye-catching video (no more than 60 seconds)  with one core message that focuses on a particular benefit to a potential client.  Think about the questions that come up most frequently –  what are your clients’ pain points,  how would they feel if you could solve that one thing that keeps them awake at night?  Remember, emotion is the primary trigger that drives us to buy.  
Here’s a whiteboard animation video I created recently for a management accountancy practice. 

Solving those pain points will most likely be along the lines of:  freeing up time so they can concentrate on their work, not doing the books; taking away the untidy pile of paperwork and receipts cluttering their desk or van; removing the stress of navigating the HMRC website on 30th January.  Get the idea?  You are offering them better sleep, less worry and stress, and giving them back precious time to spend with family.  All of these are powerful emotions and when your message resonates with someone, they’ll be far more likely to pick up the phone.

Watching a video requires no commitment from the viewer –  they may well visit your website after watching, but equally (more likely) they may not.  All you need at this stage is for the video to impinge on their consciousness…

and bear this in mind…

a webpage with video is 53% more likely to appear on page 1 of Google

Set Up Your Ad Campaign.

Once you have your video, go into Facebook Ads manager and create a campaign with the Video Views objective.   At the ad set level, choose your targeting –  either local or national, perhaps with a couple of keywords such as “small business owners” and / or “self-employed”,  or other keywords appropriate to the clients you want to work with.

 

Save the audience so you can re-use it in future ad campaigns.  Choose your budget (I usually recommend starting with £5 per day) and select the placements (where you want your ad to appear).

Click “Publish” –  this will take you to the ad level where you will upload your video, write the copy for your ad,  add the URL of the web page you want to send viewers to, and select a Call to Action button (“Learn More” is often a good choice).

You can preview the ad by scrolling through the various placements – when you’re happy with everything, click “Confirm” to start the review process.  This can take anything from a few minutes to several hours – once your ad is approved, you’ll get a Facebook notification (and probably an email, depending on your settings) and the ad will start to run.  Keep an eye on its performance in your Ads Manager dashboard – bear in mind you should leave a campaign for at least 48 hours to “settle” – don’t be tempted to tweak anything during this time.

Here’s a fun animated video I recently created for a bookkeeper. 

Don’t want to do video?  Instead, direct traffic to your latest blog post, making sure it closes with a strong call to action –  and create an audience of people who visit the blog. (see following section)

CLICK HERE FOR DIY VIDEO TEMPLATES 

Further Ad Tactics.

Like I said before, Facebook Ads are a long game –  there are no quick fixes.  Once you’ve raised awareness of yourself / your business, start asking for a small commitment.  Again, this involves some preparatory work, but even if you never run an ad again, doing this now will give you a valuable marketing asset.

Create a lead magnet –  a free, valuable piece that people can download from your website in exchange for their email address.  I know, GDPR…  however, my understanding is that as long as you make it completely clear that by giving you their email, they will be added to a mailing list but are able to unsubscribe at any time – AND you include a link to your GDPR-compliant privacy policy  at the point of subscription – you are within the regulation.   NB please take advice from a laywer if necessary.

Your lead magnet could be a guide, checklist, cheat sheet, video series – almost anything, as long as it’s quick and easy to consume (just a few pages is ideal) and offers genuine value to a prospective client. 

Once you have this organised, you’ll need a landing page on your website with an optin form, to “sell” your lead magnet (making it clear why someone should bother to download).    You can then use this as the basis of a new Facebook Ad campaign, sending traffic to the landing page and gaining new email subscribers (and website visitors for your custom audience) and boosting awareness further.  The audience for this campaign could either be people who watched your video (if there were a good number) or a new audience with different interests / demographics to your first one.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE FACEBOOK PIXEL GUIDE

Ready To Get Started?

Are you inspired to get Facebook Ads working for your business?  Most accounting services have a major digital component these days,  so it makes sense that your digital marketing and advertising should keep pace.  Done properly, Facebook Ads are an efficient, cost-effective route to gaining new clients and keeping engaged with current clients.

Already tried ads?  Let me know in the comments how they’ve worked for you!

Need help?  I have several solutions:

In-depth video tutorial (1 hr 20 mins) – Facebook Ads For Beginners

Pixel Installation – Free Cheat Sheet

Pixel and Custom Audience Setup – install pixel and set up 3 essential custom audiences (message me for setup)

One-to-one training (in-person or via Zoom)

Done-for-you campaign setup and management

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Copyright © 2019 Naomi Jane Johnson t/a Purrfectly Social
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Video Marketing Doesn’t Work

Video Marketing Doesn’t Work

by | Jan 15, 2019

Video Marketing Doesn’t Work

You run a business and you’ve heard that video is essential these days if you want to be noticed online.   You’ve tried creating a few short videos to promote your products or services, you’ve put them on your website and shared them on Facebook.  What happened? Nobody got in touch, let alone bought from you.

So that means video marketing isn’t worthwhile?

Well, not exactly.  Video marketing is the same as any other type of marketing.  It works when you have a plan and a strategy – and crucially, when you join up all the different strands of your marketing.

 

Emotion and Attention

It works when the content of your videos appeals to the emotions of your viewer  – emotion is the primary buying trigger, whether you want to admit it or not.  We buy emotionally, and justify the decision logically –  our brains are wired that way.

It works when you TELL people what to do when they’ve watched the video –  a call to action is vital.

It works when you grab people’s attention in the first 5 seconds of your video.  The average online attention span is less than 8 seconds.  So make sure there’s an eye-catching visual right at the start.

It works when you share your videos across your website and all your social media platforms, with accompanying text that gives people a reason to view.

Video marketing works when you integrate it into every other aspect of your marketing strategy on a REGULAR basis.   One video every 6 months isn’t going to make an impact. You need to be sharing videos at least weekly, preferably more often.

What Sort of Videos Should I Create?

Right, we’ve cleared up any confusion as to whether video marketing works –  let’s take a look at the types of video you SHOULD be creating for your business.

Note that you don’t have to get in front of a camera yourself, although it’s very important that your potential clients should get to see you in person at least on occasion.  I completely understand that being live on camera is way out of many people’s comfort zone – mine too! The good news is that any of these marketing videos can be created using other formats such as animation, styled slideshows, or even a combination of “talking head” and the others.

  • Educate viewers about your products or services. Tell them about the features and/or benefits of using your products/services. Let them know what it is you’ll receive when you make the purchase.
  • Do product reviews. Take one of your products or services that would interest your market and do an in-depth review of its features, benefits, pros, and cons.
  • Grow your potential customer list.
    Create a video that encourages prospects to give you their name and email by offering them something such as a report, an e-book, a newsletter, a tutorial video, a webinar, etc. Determine what it is your prospects would find useful and design a giveaway around it.
  • Telling a story is a great way to get people to relate to you. Weave in lessons that your viewers can take away. Try talking about a past event that shaped who you’ve become, or how you run your business today.
  • Debunking myths in your industry and offering real examples to show why they are myths is a popular video topic. You’ll educate your viewers and give them the facts.
  • Take your viewers out of the office in to your natural surroundings and behind the scenes. Introduce your family if it’s appropriate.
    Show your viewers what’s meaningful to you.
    You could tie in some business secrets such as how and why you set up your own business. Take a little time to work out the best behind the scenes content to share.
  • Ask questions and provide the answers. Ask your viewers if they have any questions and then include them with the answers in your next video. These are great ways to start a conversation and launch a discussion.
  • Discuss different case studies and the results of these case studies. Show a case study of a customer who followed your directions, used your product, or used your service – and the outcome.
    Or share testimonials from some of your happy customers.

These eight ideas are a great way to get creative with your marketing videos – let’s take a look at how to get started…

Video Creation Tools

There are now scores of apps and software packages that allow you to create eye-catching videos –  at a wide range of prices!  Here are a few I’ve used or investigated:

Whiteboard animation:  Explaindio, Videoscribe, Easy Sketch Pro, Powtoon, Doodly  
For whiteboard animations that I create regularly for clients, my go-to software is the generally recognised industry standard, Videoscribe. Nothing else produces truly realistic drawing effects.  

General Animation: Animaker, Biteable, Moovly
I regularly use Biteable to create my “budget” animations – it’s very cost-effective and produces great results.

Slideshow: Adobe Express, Animoto, Magisto, Promo, Ripl (iOS, Android)
Adobe Spark is my personal favourite – even the free option is good and very easy to use.

Video From Blog Post:  Lumen5 is an innovative web-based tool that enables you to input the URL of a blog post and create a video using text and images.

Don’t forget that you can create videos in Powerpoint, Keynote or even Google Slides.  All of these allow you to add animations, and export to video format.  Many of my videos are done with Powerpoint – and I also have a pack of DIY Powerpoint templates that anyone can use to create fabulous promotional videos.

I’ve only scratched the surface with these – more are appearing all the time so it’s worth keeping an eye open.

I love helping businesses to get the best from their online marketing. Please contact me if you need further advice on creating videos.  Not happy doing it yourself?  Check out my done-for-you video packages here.

Why Ignoring Visual Content Will Cost You Sales

Why Ignoring Visual Content Will Cost You Sales

by | May 30, 2020

Stand Out And Deliver Lockdown may be easing now but some things haven't changed - and aren't likely to in the foreseeable future... We live in an increasingly fast-paced world.  People nowadays expect instant answers and solutions to whatever they’re seeking. Social...

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Secrets Of Social Media Engagement

Secrets Of Social Media Engagement

by | Jan 2, 2020

Social Media Engagement- the Holy Grail of Online Marketing I'm a driven visual content creator.  This is something I've discovered only in the last couple of years or so.  Thinking back, I can't recall many days during this time when I haven't created at least one...

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Facebook Marketing – You’re Doing It Wrong!

Facebook Marketing – You’re Doing It Wrong!

by | Dec 1, 2019

Facebook… the mere mention of it triggers strong opinions, whether or not you’re a small business owner. Hardly surprising, given the controversy surrounding the world’s largest social network in recent years. Despite this, business owners still flock to Facebook with...

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What’s Your ESP? 5 Ways To Find Out

What’s Your ESP? 5 Ways To Find Out

by | Jul 14, 2019

Not sure? Here's how to find out... What did you think when you saw “ESP”?  Extra-sensory perception?  That’s certainly the common use of the abbreviation.  Or did you wonder if I meant “USP” – unique selling proposition? What I’m going to talk about has nothing to do...

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