The Covid 19 pandemic has affected all factions of our society. Livelihoods changed as people had to deal with job loss.

Economies and businesses were especially hard hit. For many, the long-awaited vaccinations are to look forward to as things slowly start going back to normal.

The majority of brick-and-mortar businesses have seen an especially difficult time with the pandemic. They have had to devise new ways to re-engage with customers.

One trend that seems to gain traction is video marketing. According to experts, it is expected to comprise up to 82% of all marketing strategies by 2022.

Don’t be left out. Let’s discover how you can make use of video marketing strategies to grab customer attention.

1.         Practice flexibility

Creating a well-thought-out marketing plan is essential. Businesses can stay on track of their goal accomplishment without much deviation. It keeps the action of businesses disciplined.

However, it is critical to also add flexibility to your video marketing campaigns. You can do this by speaking a language that customers can relate to.

For instance, it wouldn’t be clever to speak about collecting items and physically making orders during the lockdown.

Instead, a better strategy would be to show how customers can get what they want to form the comforts of their home.

2.         Be empathetic

Before the pandemic, it was expected for marketing strategies to guide customers through the sales funnel and eventually through the checkout process.

However, businesses have realized that the products people thought they needed took a back seat as more people switched to buying important stuff.

Through video, the clever businesses know to offer messages of consolation and empathy. It shows customers that the business cares about them and their wellbeing and is not just interested in selling their products.

As a result, customers feel more attached to the business and are more likely to become loyal clientele.

3.         Join the community against injustice

In your video marketing, few things can get your brand noticed quite like a stance on social injustice.

While many businesses choose to look the other way on issues such as gender inequality, and police brutality, for instance, your business can set itself apart by taking a stance against them too.

In this way, you are saying to the community that you are seeing what they are going through and that you are with them during their trying times.

This type of video marketing strategy can help solidify your image in the minds of potential clients.

4.         Make it mobile-friendly

If there is one thing that seems to stand the test of time especially when considering how quickly things change in the digital world, it is mobile-friendly content.

You must ensure that your video marketing strategy is mobile-friendly. Ever since the pandemic hit, the use of mobile phones has gone up tremendously.

You would miss out on a large chunk of the market if your video marketing failed to be mobile friendly and to cater to the vast majority of online shoppers who purchase their products online.

5.         Be more creative with a limited budget

Ever since the pandemic, everyone including businesses had to switch to survival mode. This meant cutting down on spending significantly and making the most of the little they had.

Brands stayed away from expensive TV commercials and focused their resources on more affordable methods of video marketing such as social media advertising.

Many businesses also switched to using mobile phones for their video marketing strategies.

It’s not enough to have your brand ably represented on social media. There are millions of brands already there, but what separates you from the lot is your unique voice that’s also audible enough to come out of the noise.

Your unique voice should be reflected in all your posts, tweets, images, and videos as you go about your routine on social media.

It should also reflect the values your brand holds to high esteem, and its unique selfless culture. And again, it’s rowdy on social media so you have to be audible which starts by amplifying your voice with some of the tips that will be shared in this post.

Get your voice amplified with the tips below.

1. Define your Core Values

You might have done this on your website, but you need to bring it down to social media. Part of being audible through the noise is making a strong statement of who you are and what you stand for as a brand.

This will help your audience identify with you better and pledge their loyalty.

Furthermore, your core values aren’t all about what you stand for or represent, they’re also about what you don’t do and what you can’t be found associating with.

You need to make this known through your social media posts so your followers know you’re the first port of call when it comes to certain areas of business that align with your values.

2. Capitalize on Similar Core Values Shared with Experts

There are experts and thought leaders who share similar values with your brand. Capitalize on them to make your voice louder.

Inject a few of their popular mantras into your posts organically and with hashtags.

Most people love to associate with the big names, and if your brand is saying something similar to what the big names are saying, use that to your advantage.

It makes your voice on social media more credible and soon your followers will begin to associate your brand with class and quality.

Since you speak the same language as some of the leading voices in the industry, they might just perceive your brand as a protege, and you never can tell how much results this will generate for you.

3. Be Selfless

Your audience needs to feel loved by their brand. This love should be reflected daily in every content that you feed them.

Although once in a while you could throw a few selfish accomplishments but make every post about your audience.

Show them how much you care. Let them understand you won’t be in business without them, let them feel that they are the live wire of the business, inflate their ego, make them feel too important, be customer-centric, and your voice will be louder.


4. What you Say and How You Say it are different

Tone matters in the few words you’ll be using to feed your audience in social media posts. What you’re saying isn’t as important as how you’re saying it. Unless it’s a video post, you can be easily misinterpreted.

Your post could be sounding harsh and too strict but the message is still there and won’t be heard.

If you’re telling someone to come to buy what you’re selling, no matter how good the product is, if you’re raising your voice with a sense of pride in your gut, the buyer will pass.

But if you come humbly with some sense of humor or jovial mood, concern, and sincere love to satiate the need of the buyer, you’ll pique their interest.

The same goes for your voice on social media. Some words are a little sensitive than others, some are too rigid and harsh, and you might be hurting your audience.

Choose your words wisely because it doesn’t matter what you’re saying, but how you’re saying it.

5. Be 70% Informal and 30% Formal

By being informal, you relate with your audience like you were their friend from college or around the hood.

Think of your brand as a person and not as a business entity to get a proper hang of how to go about this.

But then you still need to add a dash of formality so they won’t mistake you for a clown.

It’s risky sounding too informal and losing your touch with professionalism. Blend them in a 70:30 ratio and amid the uproar, some people can still hear your voice.

Business isn’t just about transactions, it can lead to meaningful relationships from an online perspective, and you need to integrate that relational aspect into the online process.

Summary

Social Media is one of the busiest places online for digital marketing. It’s rowdy and everyone’s voice is up in the air.

You need to be strategic for your voice to be heard and that involves deploying some tactics that can make your voice stand out and be heard across all platforms where you market your products.

Yelp has been around for a long time. It is over two and a half decades old, having been founded in 2004. The platform has done well to connect people to local businesses.

Customers can join a waiting list, make a reservation and purchase their desired goods and services. Let’s discover some interesting Yelp statistics to find out if it’s still relevant in the modern business world.

Yelp vs Google

Okay granted, Google takes the lead when it comes to searing for online reviews. The average star rating on Google is 4.3 compared to Yelp 3.7. The main reason why Google is ahead of Yelp is that most people are on Google and it is extremely simple to use.

To be able to stand out among the competition on Yelp, your business will need a standard rating of more than 4 stars. 4.5-5 can be considered an excellent rating.

Businesses that have a rating of fewer than 4 stars will have a hard time standing out.

What is the number of people on Yelp

Yelp is by no means underperforming with up to 73 million new monthly users on their mobile app. And it doesn’t end there, Yelp boasts over 100 million unique monthly users on their website. With numbers such as these, it is simple to see why it is such a great tool to use for your business.

Who uses Yelp?

The interesting part is that Yelp seems to be popular with customers of different generations and age groups.

• Up to 31 of all Yelp users are aged between 18 years and 34 years.
• 36% of yelp users are aged between 35-54 years
• 33% of all yelp users are over 55 years old

That said the largest percentage of Yelp users have a college background who make up over 55%. Up to 21% of users have an undergraduate degree and 19% have no college degree.

What this shows is that those who have a higher college degree are more likely and willing to leave reviews 

Yelp rates for impressions

Yelp is by no means, however the best platform for making impressions. They charge $600 per $1000 impressions. This is compared to average online advertising at $60 for a $1000 impression

Revenue

Yelp brought in over 22 million just in the last quarter of 2020. This is despite the pandemic. The strange thing is that only $4million of that revenue was from transactions.

The largest percent came from the advertising on Yelp. Even while the revenue in the first quarter of 2020 went down to $162 million as a result of the outbreak this stabilized and increased by the end of the year.

Google ads vs Yelp

Google remains to be the most popular platform that businesses can advertise their products. Even so, there is no denying the fact that millions of online shoppers will use Yelp as a great source of buying information.

While the average Google ads cost 2.69 for search, that on yelp will cost $4-$5.

Customers on Yelp

Up to 45% of customers will start by visiting Yelp before making a buying decision. This is compared to 63% of customers who say they will visit Google first then decide if they will make a purchase. Yelp, therefore, comes in the second-best option for buying information. Despite the fierce competition by Google, Yelp is also highly popular.

Trip advisor comes in at number 3 with 30% of customers basing their buying decisions on the platform. Finally, Facebook comes in at 21%.

Final Word

With the statistics we’ve mentioned above, Yelp is a huge ally in building your business. That said, Yelp is also quite costly when it comes to making advertisements. It is up to you to decide whether Yelp is ideal for your business.

Think about that time you sat down to read an interesting book or listen to a highly engaging podcast. Chances are you were so drawn into it that your brain simply lost all consciousness of your surroundings. Only by hearing a sudden noise or someone bulging into your space and calling your name did you finally snap back into reality.
That’s the power of storytelling. It draws you into this other world and grabs your constant and undivided attention. Imagine if you could use this power in your business marketing campaign to grab the undivided attention of potential customers.

Guess what… you certainly can!

And this is how.

Using storytelling to stir empathy in customers

One way that you can use storytelling in your marketing campaigns is by intending to stir up feelings of empathy in your customers.

It would be improper for any business to even attempt selling anything without first understanding what frustrations and challenges that customers are going through.

Having done this by interviewing the customers themselves, businesses can then create stories that show how using their products helped them deal with their problems and frustrations.

For instance, you can create a video that shows how the customer was frustrated with a certain issue but found a solution in the products that your business offers.

Potential customers watching this will feel empathic and are more likely to trust your brand more. You will solidify your brand in the minds of potential customers and turn them into repeat and loyal clientele.

Customer engagement

The aggressive advertising carried out by most businesses has left a damaging effect on customer’s attention span. They hardly take the time to look at an advert for long enough before shifting to the next.

Storytelling offers an excellent way to grab and maintain customer attention. And by doing so, you know that you can influence their buying decisions.

Stories can move the customer’s emotions and by this, you can steer their emotions towards purchasing your business products.

Great stories also mean great content

You can provide stories in your blogs giving your site visitors something interesting and exciting to read about.

One way that you can create loyalty is by providing free content that is also exciting and engaging.

If you are always providing top-quality content and stories, then readers will automatically associate your brand with certain things. When they need these things, it is your business they will think about first.

Creating memories

When people hear an exciting and even inspiring story, it arouses certain emotions in them. As they are reading the story, they are also creating mental images. This means that the story remains etched into their memory.

Marketers can use this to their advantage. Now that they have customers hooked, the customers will think about the brand next time they need a product.

For instance, imagine a story about a woman who lost 30 pounds of body fat in a month. Your first reaction will be wow? If you have been trying to lose weight, then this will arouse curiosity in you as you wonder how you can do that and achieve similar results.

Marketers can then use this connection to sell their products.

Final word

One thing is for sure. Storytelling works. It is that one tool that you can always rely upon with your marketing. The reason is that it appeals to the customer’s emotions and urges them towards taking a certain action. This builds trust in the brand and makes it easier to sell products to the customers.