April 2024 - Page 2 of 2 - Stevens & Tate Marketing

6 Reasons You Should Leverage Long Form Video Marketing

April 9, 2024/in Articles, Direct Marketing, Directors, Inbound Marketing, Video Marketing /by Terry Becker

Video marketing has long been accepted as one of the most effective forms of content marketing. Video content is easy for people to consume on any device. It’s also arguably the best way to deliver a message in an engaging way and to establish an emotional connection. However, there’s been a misconception that short-form video content is the best way to go. After all, people generally have shorter attention spans these days. Not to mention that many social platforms, such as Snapchat and TikTok, encourage shorter video content. Yet there should also be a place for long-form video content in your video marketing strategy.

Let’s understand first what is long for video content?

Long-form video content offers a deeper and more extensive exploration of the topic, providing a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

6 Reasons To Leverage Long Form Video Marketing

The following are six reasons why you should be using long-form video marketing:

1. Deliver More Value

There’s very little time to provide useful information to viewers in a 30-second to two-minute clip. You basically have just enough time to deliver a simple message. As such, there’s not a whole lot of value in short-form videos. The only thing you can really achieve is to generate brand awareness. Long-form videos are much more effective when it comes to trying to provide value to your audience. For example, it’s difficult to create a how-to video that’s less than a couple minutes long. However, you can create a detailed, step-by-step how-to video in the long-form format.

2. Create A More Engaging Experience

Although more short-form videos are consumed than long-form videos, long-form videos drive more engagement. A video marketing study published in 2017 revealed that although 80 percent of videos are under five minutes, those videos drove less than 33 percent of overall video engagement. On top of that, 8 percent of the videos that were over 15 minutes long drove half of all audience engagement. As long as the quality of your video content is high, a long-form video is going to be more engaging. After all, it’s going to keep viewers on your site (or social channel) much longer than a 30-second video would. Not to mention that the actual content you’re delivering will be more engaging since you’re able to provide more information that’s useful to your audience.

3. Improve Your SEO

Short-form videos may get shares on social media, especially if they go viral due to their humor. However, short-form videos don’t tend to earn many backlinks. Websites are more likely to link back to your videos if they provide exceptional value, which they are more likely to do if they are on the longer side. By earning more backlinks, your long-form videos will help boost your SEO.

Similar Article: Six Types of Real Estate Video Marketing Ideas For Homebuilders

4. YouTube Favors Longer Videos

YouTube is the major video platform. Not only is it the top video hosting platform, but it’s also the second biggest search engine behind Google as well as a social media platform in itself. Long-form videos do much better on YouTube than short-form videos. There’s a reason for this: YouTube’s algorithm is built around favoring long-form content. The reason why they built their algorithm this way is that longer videos allow more room for ads. Videos have to be at least 10 minutes long before ads can be run in the middle of the video, which is why many YouTube creators do everything they can to reach that 10-minute mark.

5. Build Your Brand Authority

While shorter videos may get more views, they don’t generally help much in the way of building your brand authority. This is simply because shorter videos are limited in the amount of useful information they can convey. BY creating long-form videos, you can go into way more depth about a subject. The more in-depth your video subject matter is, the more you’ll be able to showcase your authority. This will help to boost your brand’s authority within your industry, which can help to build more brand trust as a direct result.

5 Types Of Marketing Videos You Should Think About Using

6. Convert More Leads

Building your brand authority is certainly going to play a part in converting leads. When viewers develop trust in your brand by watching your long-form videos, they’ll be more willing to convert. However, this isn’t the only reason why long-form videos convert more than short-form videos. The people who are watching long-form videos tend to be near the bottom of the sales funnel, while people who are watching short-form videos are probably still near the top of the funnel. As such, many long-form video viewers are already ready to convert.

Shorter videos are a good way to generate more brand awareness. However, long-form video content tends to be much more effective overall when it comes to nurturing leads and building brand authority and trust. As such, you should make sure to implement a long-form video content strategy if you haven’t done so already.

Maximizing Profitability: How to Calculate and Improve Customer Lifetime Value

April 8, 2024/in Directors /by Dan Gartlan

Understanding your customers is not just a necessity but a pivotal aspect of sustaining and enhancing your business. One crucial metric that can significantly impact your business strategy is the customer lifetime value (CLV). Knowing how to calculate customer lifetime value can transform your approach to marketing, sales, and customer service, ensuring you allocate resources more effectively and increase the return on your investment.

What Is Customer Lifetime Value?

Customer lifetime value represents the total revenue you can expect from a customer throughout their association with your business. It’s a forecast of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer. Understanding CLV helps you make informed decisions about how much money to invest in acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones.

The Importance of Calculating Customer Lifetime Value

Calculating CLV provides several benefits, including improved customer segmentation, enhanced return on investment, and strategic customer retention.

Improved Customer Segmentation

Delving into the metrics that underline customer lifetime value (CLV) equips businesses with the knowledge of which customers are most profitable over time. This insight is invaluable for fine-tuning marketing strategies to cater specifically to segments that mirror your most valuable customers. For example, if data shows that a particular demographic or customer behavior correlates with higher CLV, efforts can be concentrated on engaging similar profiles. This targeted approach enhances the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. It also maximizes the chances of attracting customers with a higher potential value to the business. By tailoring messages, offers, and experiences to these segments, you can ensure that resources are utilized where they have the most impact. This leads to improved customer acquisition and satisfaction rates.

Enhanced Return on Investment (ROI)

Understanding the customer lifetime value is pivotal in making informed decisions about how much money should be invested in acquiring and retaining customers. When businesses have a clear grasp of their CLV, they can allocate their marketing budgets with precision. This helps prevent overspending on low-value customers and underinvesting in high-value ones. This strategic allocation of resources ensures that marketing efforts are not just casting a wide net, but rather, are smartly invested in channels and strategies that are proven to yield the highest return on investment. By prioritizing expenditures on high-CLV customer segments, businesses can dramatically improve the efficiency of their marketing spend. This leads to a healthier bottom line and a more sustainable business model.

Strategic Customer Retention

It’s a well-established business axiom that retaining an existing customer is significantly less expensive than acquiring a new one. With a deep understanding of customer lifetime value, businesses can pinpoint which customers are crucial to retain due to their high potential value. This knowledge enables the implementation of tailored retention strategies aimed at keeping these key customers engaged and satisfied over the long term. The goal is to ensure these valuable customers feel recognized and valued. Businesses can achieve this through personalized communication, loyalty programs, and exceptional customer service. Investing in customer retention is not just about maintaining a steady revenue stream. It’s about cultivating a loyal customer base that will continue to drive profitability far into the future.

How to Calculate Customer Lifetime Value

You can approach calculating CLV through various equations, depending on the complexity of your business and the data available. However, a simple and widely used formula is:

CLV = (Average Purchase Value x Purchase Frequency) x Customer Lifespan

Average Purchase Value: Determine this metric by dividing your company’s total revenue within a certain time frame by the total number of purchases made in that period. This reveals the average spend per transaction.
Purchase Frequency: Measure this by dividing the total number of purchases in a period by the distinct number of customers who made those purchases. This metric highlights how often customers buy.
Customer Lifespan: This is an estimated duration a customer keeps purchasing from your business. It’s calculated based on historical data and patterns of customer engagement and transaction history.

Incorporating Omnichannel Personalization

One strategy that significantly impacts CLV is Omnichannel Personalization. By providing a seamless customer experience across all channels, you enhance customer satisfaction. Additionally, you increase the likelihood of repeat purchases, thereby boosting CLV. Personalization strategies can include targeted marketing campaigns, personalized product recommendations, and tailored customer support. All of these ultimately contribute to a positive and unified customer experience.

Practical Steps to Improve CLV

Enhance Customer Experience: Elevating the customer experience involves ensuring that every interaction a customer has with your business, from browsing your website to contacting customer service, is positive. Every interaction should be consistent across all channels and personalized to the customers’ needs. Tailoring the customer experience in this way can significantly increase satisfaction and loyalty.
Implement Loyalty Programs: Loyalty programs are a strategic way to reward repeat customers, encouraging them to continue choosing your business. By offering discounts, special offers, or early access to new products, you acknowledge and reward their loyalty. These programs not only incentivize repeat business but also foster a sense of belonging among your customer base.
Focus on Customer Feedback: Actively seeking and listening to customer feedback is essential for continuous improvement. By understanding your customers’ needs and concerns, you can make informed adjustments to your products and services. This ongoing dialogue with your customers demonstrates that you value their input, which can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Beyond the Basics

Calculating and improving your customer lifetime value is an ongoing effort that requires continuous refinement and adaptation. It’s about building long-term relationships with your customers, understanding their needs and preferences, and delivering value at every opportunity. By focusing on CLV, you boost your profitability. You also forge stronger connections with your customers, ensuring they remain loyal advocates of your brand for years to come.

For those eager to delve deeper into enhancing their customer lifetime value and implementing effective strategies such as Omnichannel Personalization, Contact Us for a free consultation. Let’s explore how we can elevate your business together.

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5 Types of Landing Pages To Increase Your Lead Conversion Rate

April 5, 2024/in Articles, Content Marketing, Directors, Inbound Marketing /by Nicole Wagner

Are your company website’s landing pages converting as many visitors to leads as you’d like? If you have a low lead conversion rate, one problem may be that you are not using the right kinds of landing pages. Landing pages have several purposes: to collect important information from visitors, to begin building a relationship with visitors, and, ultimately, to convert visitors to leads. Some companies only have one or two types of landing pages, and as a result, their lead conversion rates suffer.

Before exploring types of landing pages, let’s first understand what a landing page is.

What Is a Landing Page?

A landing page is a standalone web page designed with a specific purpose in mind. The purpose is typically to convert visitors into leads or customers. Unlike a general website page, landing pages have one clear goal. There are many goals landing pages can be created to achieve, such as prompting signup for a newsletter, downloading an eBook, making a purchase, and many more.

5 Types of Landing Pages To Increase Conversion Rate

Here are 5 different types of landing pages that are sure to increase your lead conversion rate.

1. Email List Opt-In Landing Page:

It’s proven that the most effective place to put your email opt-in form is on it’s own dedicated landing page. An email list opt-in landing page gives you more room to tell visitors exactly how they stand to benefit from filling out your form with their personal information. By removing pesky distractions, like navigation, a landing page urges your visitors make a decision: opt-in or miss out on quality content and offers.

2. Product Detail Landing Page:

A product detail landing page is common in the retail industry. It serves as dedicated space on the company’s website to showcase information about a specific product. Product detail landing pages are positioned within the website’s navigation. They contain information regarding the product for sale such as features and specifications. Product detail landing pages also contain customer reviews. A benefit of product detail landing pages is that there is no extra work or cost required when it comes to creating a separate page. An additional benefit of this type of landing page is that it applies to visitors who are in the awareness or the consideration stage.

Read more on Driving Website Conversions During Each Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey

You can apply this type of landing page to every type of traffic that your website generates. Most likely, any landing pages attached to your social media accounts bring visitors to your home page. This is a start, but it’s not the best option. You should make your landing page more customized and personal. A good social network landing page addresses where the visitor is coming from. It also provides information that the visitor is probably looking for. This can be information like background about the company. It can also be information about how to get in touch with the company, such as an email address, phone number, etc.

4. Content Guide Landing Page:

Inbound marketing revolves around the creation and distribution of content. If your company actively blogs, you have the opportunity to extend the reach of your blog content by organizing it with its own landing page. While the blog page on your website is useful, it probably only shows your most recent blog content. By creating topic-specific content landing pages, you can curate your blog content and showcase your best quality work to your site’s visitors. Topic-specific content landing pages engage your audience at different stages of their journey. Structuring your content like this optimizes user engagement. Additionally, it bolster’s your brand’s authority and relevance within your industry.

5. Lead Capture Landing Pages

Marketers often refer to lead capture landing pages as “squeeze” pages. The goal of squeeze pages is to capture leads without distractions. Lead capture landing pages don’t contain any exit paths or distractions such as links or navigation tools. This type of landing page should include one thing: a prominent call-to-action (CTA) button that takes visitors to a form where they are encouraged to submit their personal data. In order to coax visitors into filling out the form, you should offer an incentive. Incentives can be eBooks, whitepapers, or webinars. This strategy boosts lead generation and builds trust with potential customers. Additionally, it enhances engagement.

Use these five types of landing pages to increase your lead conversion rate.