Archives par mot-clé : video

Add the Power of Video to Your Email Marketing

Video Marketing, , , ,

Compare analytics and open rates from before video use and after

If you haven’t already been using videos in your email marketing, implement it in one of your upcoming campaigns and then compare the difference in open and click rates. This will help give a fair assessment on key factors like: Whether the video content and design or layout is working for your audience, whether you need to change the format and structure of the video presented in the email, etc.

Don’t stop after the first try

If at first you notice no significant rise in number of clicks, conversions or open rates, try to change the layout or content flow (text) of the video, then try implementing it again and compare results. There could be other points to think about if your Vmail doesn’t work the first time. Reassess the length of your video, was it too long? Was it not long enough? Was it share-worthy content? Or, how can you tweak it to make it more social-media-share-worthy?

Break the monotony

An email marketing campaign needs a good mix of formats like text, video, GiFs, memes and illustrations depending on the audience, the message and where the prospect is in terms of the sales funnel. Marketers should not force fit videos, but leverage the power of showing over telling at the point where it could best impact effectiveness.

Colby adds, “At this point in time, video is one of the most shareable, engaging content mediums out there. In fact, according to Social Media Today, 50% of marketers who use video in email see increased click rates, sharing, and forwarding. But make sure to follow best practices: Because of limited email client support, we wouldn’t recommend directly embedding a video in an email marketing campaign. Instead, use a thumbnail image or GIF that links out to a mobile-optimized landing page.”

Video + Email: a powerful performance boost

The use of tools, tech and creativity that is complimented by real-time analytics allow marketers a strong base to assess performance of their email campaigns instantly. This gives them the chance to constantly refine their strategy and improve ROI to optimize results. Moreover, the 3 elements of – technology, creativity and easy-to-use tools have combined to enable marketers today to create interesting interactive elements that can drive a performance boost to every email marketing initiative.

Let’s look at this example, shall we?

Asana, a business productivity tool uses interesting video-based emailers to help their new subscribers transition from email to the tool. Imagine being in the shoes of an employee whose company is transitioning from email to a productivity tool. Wouldn’t it just save you a whole lot of time to go through a video tutorial that’s delivered straight to your inbox?

What the future holds

Colby says, “Soon, we’ll see interactive email really start to catch fire. Whether it will be done well, with purpose, or poorly as the hot new thing to imitate (likely both), you’ll see start seeing it more and more in your inbox.”

EJ McGowan, General Manager at Campaigner adds, “One thing we will see a lot more of in email marketing in the future is artificial intelligence. For email marketing, AI promises even more personalization for subscribers, which can ultimately boost interaction, engagement and conversions for businesses. As AI integrations and applications become more commonplace, their use cases and benefits will extend from enterprises to small- and medium-sized businesses, leveling the playing field and helping them compete.”

“Personalization is already a critical email marketing element and something we will see to an even greater degree in the future. In our digital age consumers expect to be catered to in a manner that is relevant, authentic and shows a brand truly understands them. The fact of the matter is that if marketers are not consistently delivering new, personalized content, consumers’ interest will begin to stagnate and they will eventually unsubscribe. Email content is going to continue to be more personalized as senders are able to gain access to more information from different sources. Additionally, receivers of email will be able to customize their experience by choosing how often and even when they want to receive content.”

“Cross-device marketing is making its way into the spotlight. It’s becoming increasingly less common for a consumer to make a purchasing decision that involves just one device — a trend that is expected only to be magnified with coming generations. Therefore, it’s crucial for brands to craft extensive cross-channel strategies spanning all devices and multiple platforms. We’ll see more emails crafted for optimal experiences across desktops, tablets and smartphones to create a fluid and seamless reading, browsing and shopping experience.”

So are you all set to amp up your email marketing with the use of rich videos?

Fact-checking President Trump’s speech on his tax plan

Video Marketing, , , ,

President Trump on Wednesday delivered an address on his “principles” for a tax plan in Springfield, Mo., though he provided few details. He also shifted from extolling how well the economy is doing to language that suggested the United States was suffering terribly. As usual, some of the president’s  facts and figures were a bit fishy, so here’s a roundup of 10 of his claims.

“In the last 10 years, our economy has grown at only around 2 percent a year.”

This is misleading. By going back 10 years, Trump includes the worst recession since the Great Depression, which brings down the 10-year average. This chart shows that that quarterly average since the recession was well above 2 percent, even hitting 5 percent in the third quarter of 2014. The GDP growth rate for the United States averaged 3.22 percent from 1947 to 2017.


Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

“We just announced that we hit 3 percent in GDP. Just came out. And on a yearly basis, as you know, the last administration, during an eight-year period, never hit 3 percent.”

Trump plays some sleight-of-hand with the numbers. He first cites an annualized quarterly figure — 3 percent GDP growth in the second quarter of 2017 — and then compares it to what appears to be calendar-year figures for former president Barack Obama.

As the chart above shows, the economy grew better than 3 percent in eight quarters during Obama’s presidency, most recently in the third quarter of 2016. (Technically, this is known as “annualized quarterly change” or SAAR — seasonally adjusted at annual rate.) Trump gets his terminology wrong, using the phrase “yearly basis,” which could mean from the third quarter of 2015 to the the third quarter of 2016, which case Obama easily exceeded 3 percent numerous times. On an annual basis, Obama’s best year was 2015, when annual growth was 2.6 percent.

“If we achieve sustained 3 percent growth, that means 12 million new jobs and $10 trillion of new economic activity over the next decade. That’s some numbers.”

With this statement, Trump downgrades promises he made during the 2016 campaign — he said he would achieve 4 percent GDP growth and 25 million jobs over 10 years.

“In 1935, the basic 1040 form that most people file had two simple pages of instruction. Today, that basic form has 100 pages of instructions, and it’s pretty complex stuff.”

Trump is correct that in 1935, the basic 1040 individual income tax form had two pages of instructions, but this claim needs historical context.

There are many reasons the instructions were so simple back then — including that just about 4 percent of the population paid the federal individual income tax. In 1935, the individual income tax largely was a tax on the wealthy. In fact, the top rate in 1935 was 63 percent — and President Franklin D. Roosevelt raised it to 75 percent later that year.

This changed with World War II. “Driven by staggering revenue needs, lawmakers in both parties agreed to raise taxes on everyone: rich, poor, and — especially — the middle class,” wrote John Thorndike, director of the Tax History Project.

“The tax code is so complicated that more than 90 percent of Americans need professional help to do their own taxes.”

This is misleading. The 90 percent figure he is referring to includes people using tax software, such as Turbo Tax, which helps people file their taxes on their own. According to the National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2016 report, 54 percent of individual taxpayers pay preparers and about 40 percent of individual taxpayers use software that costs about $50 or more.

Yet later during the speech, he made it sound as if the “professional help” is only referring to hired accountants: “That is why tax reform must dramatically simplify the tax code … and allow the vast majority of our citizens to file their taxes on a single, simple page without having to hire an accountant.”

“Our last major tax rewrite was 31 years ago. It eliminated dozens of loopholes and special interest tax breaks, reduced the number of tax brackets from 15 to two, and lowered tax rates for both individuals and businesses. At the time it was really something special … In 1986, Ronald Reagan led the world by cutting our corporate tax rate to 34 percent. That was below the average rate for developed countries at the time. Everybody thought that was a monumental thing that happened. But then, under this pro-America system, our economy boomed. It just went beautifully right through the roof. The middle class thrived, and median family income increased.”

Trump heaped praise on Reagan’s Tax Reform Act of 1986, which simplified tax brackets and eliminated tax shelters; it also lowered the top individual tax rate to 28 percent but raised the capital gains rate to the same level, giving them parity. But this is a rather strange flip-flop because Trump always has been a fierce critic of the bill, blaming it repeatedly for the savings and loan crisis, a decline in real estate investing and the 1990-1991 recession.

“This tax act was just an absolute catastrophe for the country, for the real estate industry, and I really hope that something can be done,” Trump told Congress in 1991. In a television interview with Joan Rivers, he said: “What caused the savings and loan crisis was the 1986 tax law change. It was a disaster. It took all of the incentives away from investors.”

Trump also frequently attacked one of the Democratic sponsors of the bill, Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), such as in a Wall Street Journal commentary in 1999. “Mr. Bradley’s last big idea to be enacted into legislation was also one of the worst ideas in recent history,” Trump wrote, saying Bradley was responsible for the elimination of a tax shelter for real estate investments. (He said the good parts of the bill could be attributed to Reagan.)

“We lost the jobs. We lost the taxes. They closed the buildings. They closed the plants and factories. We got nothing but unemployment. We got nothing.”

As Trump frequently notes, the unemployment rate in July was 4.3 percent — the lowest level in 16 years. So this overwrought language seems misplaced.

“We have gone from a tax rate that is lower than our economic competitors, to one that is more than 60 percent higher. … In other words, foreign companies have more than a 60 percent tax advantage over American companies.”

The United States certainly has one of the highest statutory corporate tax rates in the world, currently pegged as high as 39.1 percent when including state taxes. (The federal rate is 35 percent.) Trump says it is 60 percent higher than “our economic competitors,” comparing 39.1 percent to the average rate for the other members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which is 25.5 percent when not weighted for GDP. (It is 29.6 percent when weighted for GDP.)

But the official rate does not necessarily tell the whole story. What also matters is the actual tax a company pays, after deductions and tax benefits. That is known as the effective tax rate, which can be calculated differently depending on the survey. According to the Congressional Research Service, the effective rate for the United States is 27.1 percent, compared to an effective GDP-weighted average of 27.7 percent for the OECD. “Although the U.S. statutory tax rate is higher, the average effective rate is about the same, and the marginal rate on new investment is only slightly higher,” the CRS says.

The Congressional Budget Office, when it examined the issue, said the U.S. effective tax rate was 18.6 percent, which it said was among the highest of the biggest economic powers, the Group of 20.

Trump, naturally, used the numbers that suggest the difference is really huge.

“Today, we are still taxing our businesses at 35 percent, and it’s way more than that. And think of it, in some cases, way above 40 percent when you include state and local taxes in various states. The United States is now behind France, behind Germany, behind Canada, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and many other nations.”

As we noted, the statutory federal corporate tax rate in the United States is 35 percent, making the United States the highest among G-20 countries, including the countries Trump listed. But the effective corporate tax rate in the United States in 2012 was 18.6 percent, making it the fourth highest among G-20 countries, behind Argentina, Japan and Britain, according to the CBO.

“Because of our high tax rate and horrible, outdated, bureaucratic rules, large companies that do business overseas will often park their profits offshore to avoid paying a high United States tax if the money is brought back home. So they leave the money over there. The amount of money we’re talking about is anywhere from $3 trillion to $5 trillion.”

There are no official, current numbers on the profits held overseas by U.S. companies, just estimates. The White House would not respond to a query on where Trump is getting these numbers, but his high-end figure appears to be an exaggeration. The Internal Revenue Service in 2012 said the figure was $2.3 trillion, and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that it had risen to $2.6 trillion in 2015. There are other estimates as well, but none top $2.8 trillion, according to PolitiFact.

 

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Federal Judge Blocks Texas’ Ban on ‘Sanctuary Cities’

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Judge Garcia appeared to block three provisions of the law, including one that stated that local government entities and officials may not “adopt, enforce or endorse” any policy limiting the enforcement of immigration laws.

Lawyers for those suing the state said prohibiting local officials from endorsing a particular viewpoint violates the First Amendment. Judge Garcia wrote that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed with that argument when the case goes to trial.

“The government may disagree with certain viewpoints, but they cannot ban them just because they are inconsistent with the view that the government seeks to promote,” Judge Garcia wrote. He added, “SB 4 clearly targets and seeks to punish speakers based on their viewpoint on local immigration enforcement policy.”

Some of the law’s most contentious provisions allow police officers to question the immigration status of a person whom they have arrested or detained, including during routine traffic stops, and create a system of harsh penalties for those who try to “materially limit” immigration enforcement, including removal from office for elected or appointed officials and criminal misdemeanor charges for sheriffs and other law enforcement officials.

In his ruling, Judge Garcia said that the law’s provision banning policies that limit enforcement of immigration laws was unconstitutionally vague and failed to define the specific prohibited conduct. The provision, the judge wrote, “ascribes criminal and quasi-criminal penalties based upon violations of an inscrutable standard, in a manner that invites arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement against disfavored localities.”

Texas vowed to appeal Judge Garcia’s decision, setting the stage for the case to be heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, one of the country’s most conservative appeals panels. Judge Garcia, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, was a Democratic state lawmaker in the 1980s.

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Critics of Senate Bill 4, including the police chiefs in Houston, San Antonio and other large cities, said it would open the door to racial profiling of Hispanics and prevent legal and undocumented immigrants from reporting crimes to the police. Latino and civil rights groups call it a “show me your papers” law that echoes the one enacted by Arizona in 2010 that led to lawsuits and boycotts.

Supporters of Senate Bill 4 say that opponents have distorted its intent and potential impact. They said the law has a provision specifically prohibiting racial profiling and argued that a Supreme Court ruling in 2012 that upheld part of the Arizona law put the state on solid legal ground. The Trump administration’s Justice Department has also defended the Texas law, filing statements of interest in the case.

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“U.S. Supreme Court precedent for laws similar to Texas’ law are firmly on our side,” Mr. Abbott said in a statement. “This decision will be appealed immediately and I am confident Texas’ law will be found constitutional and ultimately be upheld.”

Civil rights lawyers and Latino groups praised Judge Garcia’s ruling, calling the law racist and unconstitutional.

“The court properly struck down virtually all of what was perhaps the harshest anti-immigrant provision in modern times,” said Lee Gelernt, who is the deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project and who represents the border town of El Cenizo and other plaintiffs in the suit.

Judge Garcia upheld the law’s provision that police officers can ask about the immigration status of those they detain or arrest. But he blocked the provision mandating that local jurisdictions comply with immigration detainer requests from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Judge Garcia said that by prohibiting local officials from declining a detainer request, the law also prohibited officials from questioning whether there was probable cause to support the detainer requested.

In his statement, the governor suggested that the judge’s blocking of that provision would make Texas less safe. “Because of this ruling, gang members and dangerous criminals, like those who have been released by the Travis County sheriff, will be set free to prey upon our communities,” Mr. Abbott said.

Critics of the law, however, including local officials in San Antonio, disagreed. “The city and the San Antonio Police Department have cooperated and will continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement’s reasonable requests,” San Antonio’s city attorney, Andy Segovia, said in a statement. “However, SB4 attempted to remove any discretion from local law enforcement in how to best serve the residents of San Antonio.”


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Launch of TubeTrackr Marks New YouTube Marketing Platform

Video Marketing, , , ,

Though VidCon 2014 has come to an end, the new developments announced there continue to rock the digital world. One of these is the launch of TubeTrackr, a platform for marketing on YouTube created by Singapore-based startup iLathys.

Offering a dashboard to monitor channel as well as individual video performance, the marketing platform presents creators with tools to help track rankings of their videos based on keyword and to assist with finding channels that target audiences similar to their own, to generate opportunities in cross-promotion.

“While videos represent a growing part of the content viewed and shared online, there is a scarcity of affordable online tools for organic video marketing on YouTube”, stated JC Bougle, TubeTrackr’s co-founder. “We started to develop TubeTrackr for our own video marketing needs and then decided to make it available to others.”

iLathys Pte Ltd, TubeTrackr’s creator, develops web and SaaS platform. It was created by the co-founders behind fewStones Pte Ltd in Singapore.

How to Make Videos an Integral Part of Your Content Strategy

Video Marketing, , , ,

Content marketing today, needs visual elements for it to garner interest and generate engagement. With Facebook driving content engagement through videos, visual content has found a new avenue that content marketers can explore to the hilt.

For a content marketing strategy to succeed, it must offer consumers what they are looking for, when they want it, and how they want it. Content interactions are now taking place through smartphones and tablets, and as the cost of video digital technologies goes down, the possibilities of interactions and engagement for even small business marketers through video are infinite.

Growth of video content

Incorporating video into your content marketing strategy is a must, as these statistics show:

  • By 2019, 80% of all web traffic would be driven by video.
  • Landing pages with embedded video on them lead to 80% increased conversion rate.
  • The click-through rates of marketing emails go up by a whopping 300% when a video is added to them.
  • Purchasing decisions of 90% of customers revolve around product videos.
  • After watching a product video online, 64% of customers are likely to buy that product.
  • YouTube reports that every year, consumption of video on mobile is growing by 100%.
  • Video content is currently used by 87% of online marketers for their digital marketing strategies.
  • One-third of the time spent online by people is on viewing videos.
  • 59% decision-makers of companies prefer watching a video over reading a blog post or an article.
  • 35% of online ad spending is accounted for by video ads.

As a marketer, ignoring the above numbers would mean rendering all your content marketing initiatives void.

Advantages of video content

Improving brand recall

The video makes it easier for customers to remember the content, and 80% of customers recollect a video they have watched over the course of a month. If customers remember your video content, it means they remember your brand as well, which further results in more leads and sales. With customers willing to share a video they liked, the online presence and reach of your brand also get enhanced.

Make sure that your videos are in sync with your business needs and brand strategy. This makes customers remember your video for longer. Sticking to the same voices, logos, and colors used in your articles or blogs for your video content as well goes a long way. Even though videos work differently from text-based content, a specific recall of your brand’s format and style is essential in your online videos.

Better SEO optimization

Relevant, high-quality video content leads to significant improvement in the SEO of your site with more homepage visitors. 65% decision-makers in businesses visit your website after they have watched your video, while 39% get in touch with a vendor after watching a branded video. When you add videos to content offerings, website, and landing pages, it becomes easier for you to increase click-through rates and the SEO value of your company.

Cross-device performance

The advantage of video content over other formats is it doesn’t need to be device-responsive. If the content format cannot adapt to a browser or device, conversion rates, and traffic dip. Video content can perform across smartphones or desktops, and their wider reach and user-friendly format will ensure better conversion rates.

Enhanced brand messaging

The addition of video to a brand’s digital strategies offers great opportunities to elevate your messaging and build a persona for your company. Branding ideas and designs render well in videos and with advanced features like AR/VR now coming up in video marketing tools, it’s easier to create differentiated brand identities for easy recall by customers.

Video content creates better engagement

Estimates suggest that 92% of people share a video once they see it. Also, a video is shared 1200% more than text and links put together. A video post engages 60% of viewers more than a text-based post. When your videos go viral, you can engage with a new, wider spectrum of audiences and extend your brand resonance.

Handy production tips to get your video content right

The success of an effective video marketing content often lies in the backend production practices followed before the video even reaches the audience and is viewed. Ensuring the below checklist of production essentials is adhered to while incorporating video into your content strategy can help for a better video output:

  • Clearly, define your audience
  • Get complete clarity on the message you want to deliver
  • Plan and fix your budget
  • Always have a script in place and keep revising it until the messaging is accurate
  • Ensure your video has greetings and a warm (or cool) sign off
  • Average human attention span is 8.5 seconds, so get to the point before that
  • Be clear and wise on the duration of your video
  • Stay real, original, and transparent with your video content
  • Storyboards and shot lists always help in saving time
  • A production schedule is a must-have
  • Estimate time with upper limit considerations
  • Decide early whether you want to shoot on-location or in studio
  • Visit the locations beforehand and not on the day of the shoot
  • List down your equipment requirements after considering your inventory equipment
  • The best company representatives need to be involved
  • Keep your call sheet handy
  • Imbibe a team spirit so that your entire production unit feels like one team

The above will ensure your team has a seamless production experience, which will clearly reflect on the quality of video content that’s put out.

How to incorporate video into your marketing in a structured way

Audience or consumption-based funneling can give great direction to structure your video marketing strategy to fit well into your marketing campaigns. Brand films, educational videos, documentaries, explainer animations, and videos with entertainment elements should be aligned with the top of the funnel audiences. The middle of funnel audience videos would include product, culture, and case study videos. And, since the bottom of the funnel videos has a narrowed down audience, FAQ and instructional videos should be aligned for their consumption.

The above structuring not only delivers the relevant video content to the right audience, but it also allows you in strategic targeting. While an instructional video has higher chances of consumption from a key decision-maker, an entertaining video is likely to be viewed across demographics. You can, therefore, segment the audience. The former can be a potential buyer but the latter can be your ticket to increase brand awareness and recall.

Videos in landing pages and emails

Having a video embedded in an email or landing page improves engagement drastically. Marketing teams can either have an internal team to manage their email and landing page videos or opt for SaaS vendors or third-party service providers if they have budgets and the quantum of deliverables justifies the investment. Most platforms have similar offerings and are quite user-friendly, and marketing teams can choose based on their requirements and budget allocations.

It’s quite simple to add video to emails and landing pages via YouTube or embed your own videos using a URL. There are settings within various software that allow you to auto-play and edit videos within the tool. Marketers need to take care that no major edits are made in the videos after it has reached or has been viewed by a large audience. This is where you should patiently wait till the next campaign, and make changes in terms of any mistakes or misalignments that occurred in the content of your previous video marketing campaign.

Leveraging the immense possibilities

Owing to its built-in value, simple accessibility, and viral nature, video marketing is an outstanding way to increase your brand’s visibility. Video marketing is a truly incredible way to develop and deliver content that is highly-personalized and impacts audiences in real time. Videos also have the power to evoke strong emotions, and they can result in improved sales and brand association. There are no brownie points for guessing that brands can enjoy substantial online attention through video content that is easy to interact with, accessible, and rich in information.

The real world has enough examples of brands and marketers, who have increased the ROI on their campaigns using video marketing. Gamification of video content is also a great way to boost engagement. Few takeaways from successful video campaigns include ensuring that your video has elegance, appeal and the ability to get the attention of viewers and keep them engaged. Knowing that the emotional content of your videos is what will draw customers or buyers and ensure the feel-good within video content is how you can fashion an apt video marketing strategy.

To learn more about ‘How to Make Great Videos and Incorporate Them into your Marketing Campaigns’ hear speaker Stacy Adams, Head of Marketing at GoAnimate at her session during Content Marketing World Forum on September 6 at 12:20 pm at Cleveland, Ohio Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland. The session will cover why it’s critical for marketers to make their content resonate in a sea of messages competing for the attention of your prospects and customers, as experts estimate that most Americans are exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 advertising messages each day. Using video as part of your content strategy is critical in arresting attention and engaging your audience. And, it’s easier and more cost-effective than you think. In this session, you will learn how to easily create videos that drive campaign results and focus on:

  • Key production elements to consider.
  • Best practices for incorporating video into your marketing.
  • How to add video to email and landing page editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Content Marketing World 2017
Where: Cleveland, OH, USA
When: September 5-8
Register Today: http://bit.ly/MTA_CMW

Content Marketing World is the one event where you can learn and network with the best and the brightest in the content marketing industry. You’ll leave with all the materials you need to take a content marketing strategy back to your team-and-to implement a content marketing plan that will grow your business and inspire your audience.

We offer more than 150 sessions presented by the leading brand marketers from around the world covering strategy, integration, measurement, and more new ideas that you can shake an orange stick at. 

Use code MARTECHADVISOR to save an extra $100 on registration.To see what #CMWorld is all about, check out this video: https://youtu.be/AgRee6sqags

YouTube Hires Tom Blessington to Lead Brand Strategy and Integrated Marketing

Video Marketing,

YouTube has hired longtime marketing executive Tom Blessington as Vice President, Brand, Media Experiences, where he will oversee the online video giant’s brand strategy and integrated marketing campaign across all of its business areas.

Blessington will report to YouTube Chief Marketing Officer Danielle Tiedt and will be based at its San Bruno, California headquarters. He will start in the middle of September.

Blessington was previously managing director at Wieden+Kennedy’s Portland, Oregon headquarters, where he spearheaded campaigns for major companies including Levi’s, Chrysler/Dodge, Facebook, Target, Sony, American Express, KFC, Verizon, Samsung. Prior to that, he set up several regional offices at Wieden+Kennedy, including Amsterdam and New York. Before Wieden+Kennedy, he worked at the Los Angeles office of TCD, where he ran the billion-dollar Nissan and Infiniti account.

Also Read: ‘Karate Kid’ Gets a Sequel With Original Stars – On YouTube Red

YouTube is increasingly positioning itself as a competitor to traditional TV networks, already releasing 37 original shows on its YouTube Red subscription service and recently announcing a slate of ad-supported programs viewable for free, featuring some of the platform’s most popular names including Ellen DeGeneres, Kevin Hart and the Slow Mo Guys — and making it a good time to tap a veteran ad executive.

“It’s a great honor to get the chance to help build, from the inside, one of the world’s most important and culturally influential brands,” Blessington said in a statement. “I couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come.”

“Tom is well known for his culture-shaping, innovative marketing campaigns,” Tiedt said in the statement.  “We can’t wait for Tom to bring his breakthrough ideas and rule-breaking spirit to YouTube.”

10 Highest Paid YouTube Stars of 2016 (Photos)


  • Highest Paid YouTube Stars

    Forbes released its list of the highest-paid YouTube stars on Monday, with the top ten earning a total of $70.5 million over 12 months.

    Getty Images


  • Colleen Ballinger

    Colleen Ballinger, $5 million

    Getty Images


  • Rhett and Link

    Rhett and Link, $5 million

    Getty Images


  • German Garmendia

    German Garmendia, $5.5 million

    Getty Images


  • Markiplier

    Markiplier, $5.5 million

    Getty Images


  • Tyler Oakley

    Tyler Oakley, $6 million

    Getty Images


  • Rosanna Pansino

    Rosanna Pansino, $6 million

    Getty Images


  • Smosh

    Smosh, $7 million

    Getty Images


  • Lilly Singh

    Lilly Singh, $7.5 million

    Getty Images


  • Roman Atwood

    Roman Atwood, $8 million

    Getty Images


  • PewDiePie

    PewDiePie, $15 million

    Getty Images



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Gamer PewDiePie tops the list with $15 million paycheck

Forbes released its list of the highest-paid YouTube stars on Monday, with the top ten earning a total of $70.5 million over 12 months.

Collaborating for Success in Southern Luxury

Video Marketing,

Morar_SpearsIn the following interview, Destin, Fla.-based Scenic Sotheby’s International Realty Founder/Co-Owner/Broker Blake Morar and Top 250 Agent for Sotheby’s U.S. Jonathan Spears discuss marketing luxury, including through social media and video, and more.

Number of Offices: 3
Number of Agents: 42
Region Served: Destin, Fla.

How did you first get into real estate, and what led you to Scenic Sotheby’s Intl. Realty?
Blake Morar: I graduated from college in 1996 and explored various sales positions in pharmaceuticals, but I always loved real estate. My first closing was in 1997. I bought the company in 1999—the owners were looking to get out of the business, but I believed in it and continued to grow the company. Sotheby’s approached us in 2010, and we were curious to learn more. As our market became more sophisticated, and developed, the Sotheby’s brand became relevant. We became part of the Sotheby’s brand in January 2014.

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Jonathan, when did you join the firm?
Jonathan Spears: I got into real estate right after the BP oil spill, so I was knee-deep in the recession here focusing on the foreclosure side. I wanted to get more focused on luxury real estate and have the opportunity to help customers in a way that I hadn’t seen before. I really wanted to tap into a firm and a market that could help me grow my business and my customer base. I joined the firm in January 2015.

What sets your firm apart in the marketplace?
JS: One way we set ourselves apart is our investment in videography. We tap into our local producers and parlay it through the brand exposure that Sotheby’s provides. Through our YouTube page alone, we’ve got videos with 200,000 views. Our ability to take a property and tell a story is so important, and having that channel to leverage is everything.
BM: When we met with Sotheby’s, we could tell they had that marathon mindset versus a sprint mindset. The power of their marketing exposure and how that translates to qualified leads and happy sellers exceeded our expectations.
JS: We have a pretty incredible buyer database. I’ll bring a property to a sales meeting pre-market and find a buyer for it.

What’s your unique value proposition for agents?
BM: We support our agents’ marketing efforts and treat our agents like clients. We’re arming them with the ability to handle their own clients, and part of that involves our collaborative culture. We provide a very engaging, very interactive environment, and our agents and their peers help advance that scenario.

What are the particular needs of your clientele?
JS: My customers require 24-hour service and constant availability. A lot of them become like family because of the constant communication. Meeting their demands and being available is so important.
BM: When dealing with the upper end of the market, we’re the boots on the ground for them. Ultimately, they’re looking for results, and we need to make sure our marketing machine is in shape, along with our systems and processes.

How do you creatively market the firm and its listings?
BM: We’re always looking for opportunities to leverage video, as people will give that a lot more attention than something static. We also publish a comprehensive market report in digital format, which we leverage through social media.

What are your plans for growing the firm path forward?
BM: We’re always looking for seasoned agents who are interested in collaborating with professionals and tapping into the platform we’ve established. For us, growth means bringing on the right people.

Maria Patterson is RISMedia’s executive editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at maria@rismedia.com.

For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.

How Top Gun inspired Wootag founder to put ‘human touch’ into video marketing

Video Marketing,

An engineer-turned-ad tech developer has spoken of his hope to restore “the power of human touch” in online retail by allowing users to directly interact with – and purchase from – a video they’re watching

Raj Sunder founded the Singaporean-based start-up Wootag two years ago after becoming inspired while watching Tony Scott’s Top Gun and wanting to learn more about the iconic aviator sunglasses worn by lead actors Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer.

After pausing the film to Google the sunglasses, Sunder had a Eureka moment and was inspired to create a tool that would allow users to be able to click on an item without interrupting the video’s play.

The technology works through brands or agencies uploading their videos to a self-serve platform, which allows them to single out specific items in the clip where users can click a call-to-action such as ‘Buy Now’.

The video will continue playing while users can either decide to keep watching or click through to the retailer’s site.

Taking advantage of brands’ increasing demand to see greater return on investment from their online marketing efforts, Sundar persuaded Unilever to test out the tool on toothpaste brand Pepsodent’s Facebook page.

Following the trial, Pepsodent signed up Wootag for a year. Its early success helped draw the attention of marketers from Johnson Johnson, L’Oreal and Zalora and Wootag has since rolled out the business across six markets in Asia-Pacific.

Speaking to Mumbrella Asia, Sundar said: “The first idea is to create a human touch when you watch a video. If you like something in the video, you should be able to ‘grab’ it and maybe buy it. You are driving human touch within a video, finding out who is touching and making it personalised. The touch leading towards a business objective: a retail sale or the drive to an offline store.”

So far the technology is available on Facebook videos, Google Display Network and a number of brands’ own websites. However, YouTube and Instagram currently have their own interactive technology. Sundar said he learned “a lot” from the latter platform.

Concerns related to investing in digital advertising have escalated over recent months after Procter Gamble publicly cut US$140 million from their digital budget due to concerns over ineffective ads and bot fraud. In a recent report published by NewBase, marketers in Asia-Pacific said that ROI and accountability was the second most important priority for 2017. 

Digital video viewership  is also expected to grow by 10.3 per cent and half of the world’s 1.10 billion is expected to come from APAC this year. With that in mind, Sundar said marketers have become more stringent when it comes examining metrics beyond just ad impressions.

“A video may have got thousands of impression, but of those 90 per cent may not have really consumed it. One of the metrics we track is how many watch the full video and when people ‘drop off’ the video. What duration does the product show up in the content? And how many people watched that point? Marketers here are looking beyond just the number of impressions being served. They’re really starting to get this now.”

Meanwhile, Omnicom Media Group chief innovation officer for APAC Guy Hearn argued that it was too early days to say whether clickable videos was the next big marketing step. However, e-commerce players in China have already adopted such approaches and ground currently remains “fertile” for innovation in this region, he said.

“As with all new approaches, the ROI or impact on consumer perception of the brand can’t be known without trial, so a test and learn approach is needed to determine this and also the impact on the consumer experience. But it seems certain that giving the consumer the power to purchase directly from content will become an expectation,” Hearn added.

Wootag itself has seen significant growth since it first launched. Sundar said the company achieved S$50,000 revenue in the first year and S$200,000 in the second. He added: “Right now I would say we are growing 15 per cent in terms of month-on-month revenues.”

However, due to what Sundar described as a “contraction” in the South-East Asian market, the company will now be exploring more opportunities in the United States.

He added: “There is a good enough in-bound traction for now; we just need to start aggressively scaling.”


North Korea: What are the military options?

Video Marketing, , , ,

A missile is seen taking off from a grassy field in a burst of burning fuel and smokeImage copyright
KCNA

Image caption

North Korea’s official news agency distributed this photo, purportedly of the rocket launch

President Trump has said « all options are on the table » after North Korea fired a missile over Japan. So what could military action against Kim Jong-un’s regime actually look like?

As a ballistic missile passed over the Japanese island of Hokkaido residents were warned to take cover.

The launch was a provocative act, which has been followed by warnings from the North Korean regime that it was just a « first step ».

The UN and several nations have imposed sanctions on North Korea, while President Trump said he was considering the next steps.

But while the US has unrivalled military strength, the range of options it actually has against the hermit country are limited.

Option 1: ‘Enhanced Containment’

This is the least risky but arguably least effective option available since it would simply build on deployments that have long been in place and have had little success in deterring North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programme.

The US could move additional ground forces into South Korea, including ground-based missile defences such as the controversial Thaad system, heavy artillery and armoured vehicles, to demonstrate its willingness to use force to back up its demands.

However, South Korea has halted the current Thaad deployment and is strongly against any increases in US ground forces, because of concerns about provoking the North.

Indeed, North Korea would almost certainly interpret such moves as a prelude to a ground invasion, given its reactions to annual joint exercises between the US and South Korean militaries.

China and Russia would no doubt strenuously object too and both have the power to make life difficult for the US in other areas such as Eastern Europe and the South and East China Seas.

The US Navy could increase its presence around Korea, sending more cruisers and destroyers able to shoot down ballistic missiles and, possibly, deploying a second carrier strike group.

Alongside the naval options, the US Air Force could bolster its forward-based airpower, with more attack fighter squadrons, support tankers, surveillance aircraft and heavy bombers at bases in Guam, South Korea itself and Japan.

However, the US Navy and US Air Force are both extremely heavily tasked around the world and are feeling the strain of well over a decade of continuous high-intensity deployments in support of operations, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

More importantly, perhaps, time is on North Korea’s side, since an enhanced US military presence would not itself force a halt to its rapidly maturing nuclear weapons programme and ballistic missile testing.

And any statement of intent to shoot down North Korean ballistic missiles which travel outside the country’s airspace would itself require a major increase in US Navy presence around the peninsula.

North Korean has a large ballistic missile arsenal and US interceptor missiles are extremely expensive and available in limited quantities aboard each ship.

It would, therefore, be possible for the North to overwhelm and deplete the US Navy’s stocks, leaving them vulnerable and forced to return to port.

Such a policy would therefore represent an extremely expensive and probably unsustainable challenge to North Korea, as well as a dangerous escalation towards direct military conflict.

Option 2: Surgical strikes

The US Air Force and US Navy possess the most advanced surgical strike capabilities on Earth.

Using volleys of precision Tomahawk missiles fired from submarines off the North Korean coastline and attacks by B-2 stealth bombers against key North Korean nuclear sites and ballistic missile facilities may seem like an attractive proposition, at first glance.

It is undoubtedly the case that heavy damage could be inflicted on high value targets, with deeply buried and hardened underground facilities vulnerable to the 30,000lb Massive Ordinance Penetrator bomb.

The immediate danger to US aircraft would depend on many factors, including the amount of warning North Korea received, the number of strikes flown and the contribution of non-stealth aircraft within range of its defences.

However, the state of North Korea’s air defence network is very hard to determine since it is a mix of Soviet/Russian, Chinese and home-grown surface-to-air missile and radar systems acquired over 50 years.

The defences are among the densest on Earth, but they have been modified and upgraded to an unknown degree and their readiness is difficult to assess.

If the US lost aircraft to enemy fire or accidents it would then face the nightmare scenario of having to try to rescue its aircrew, or abandon them to a very public fate.

Image copyright
Reuters

Image caption

The missile launch caused shock across Japan

Far more significant, however, is the fact that even successful strikes on nuclear and missile sites, command centres and even the leadership itself, would not stop North Korea retaliating.

The People’s Army would still have the ability to inflict almost inevitably devastating damage in immediate retaliation against South Korea – a key US ally.

It consists of over a million regular soldiers and, by some estimates, over six million reserves and paramilitary troops.

A huge number of conventional and rocket artillery pieces, mostly dug in near the demilitarised zone, include hundreds which are within range of parts of the South Korean capital city Seoul, which is home to around 10 million people.

Even the US military would take days to fully eliminate just these artillery batteries, which would be able to fire tens of thousands of shells and rockets during that time.

The catastrophic damage that these batteries would inflict on a crowded modern city, as well as the South Korean military forces, is why the South Korean government is opposed to any pre-emptive military action against North Korea.

Even without a usable nuclear weapon and without actively invading South Korea, the Kim regime could inflict devastating damage and probably end the US-South Korean alliance as we know it.

Option 3: Full scale invasion

Given the sheer size of the People’s Army, the power of its artillery, its dense air defences and South Korea’s reluctance to support any US military action, this option is extremely far-fetched.

Any attempt to actually invade North Korea would require months of visible US military build-up, full-scale South Korean participation and a way to guarantee the neutralisation of North Korea’s mysterious nuclear capabilities.

It would also cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides.

North Korea’s missile programme:

  • North Korea has been working on its missile programme for decades, with weapons based on the Soviet-developed Scud
  • It has conducted short- and medium-range tests on many occasions, sometimes to mark domestic events or at times of regional tension
  • In recent months the pace of testing has increased; experts say North Korea appears to be making significant advances towards its goal of building a reliable long-range nuclear-capable weapon
  • In July, North Korea launched two missiles which it said were Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) capable of hitting the US; experts believe they put parts of the US in range
  • There is no consensus on how close North Korea is to miniaturising a nuclear warhead to put on a missile

Have North Korea’s missile tests paid off?

In addition to heavy artillery bombardments, the People’s Army has long trained for large scale commando infiltration into South Korea, using low, slow-flying biplanes which are hard to detect on radar, small boats and midget submarines.

These would add to the chaos and loss of life in the event of any large scale conflict, and ensure that the comparatively fewer, albeit much higher-technology US and South Korean forces would be stretched painfully thin.

The last time the US and its allies advanced into North Korea, during the Korean War in 1950, China entered the war on the side of the North to prevent the establishment of a unified Western-aligned Korea on its land border.

Such a development is still something which China is not prepared to contemplate – the main reason it has propped up the Kim regime for so long.

Finally, even if somehow these huge problems could be overcome, a successful invasion of North Korea led by the US would leave it responsible for rebuilding a shattered country.

North Korea has existed in an unparalleled state of psychological manipulation, chronic economic hardship and isolation for over 60 years.

The monumental task of reintegrating East Germany after the Cold War pales in comparison.

The reality is that none of the military options available to the US for dealing with North Korea come without high costs and significant risks – considerations which it will have to weigh up against uncertain and problematic potential outcomes.

About this piece

This analysis piece was commissioned by the BBC from an expert working for an outside organisation.

Justin Bronk is a Research Fellow specialising in combat airpower and technology, at The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Follow him @Justin_Br0nk.

RUSI describes itself as an independent think tank engaged in cutting edge defence and security research.

Edited by Duncan Walker