5 Leadership Strategies That Get Results

Leaders are often thrust into their positions. They are promoted; they are entrepreneurs whose businesses grow and require the employment of others. All of a sudden they must lead others, and that can be a scary prospect. If this is you, relax. Over time, you will adjust and adapt and get the help you need to become a good leader. For the moment, however, there are some things that you can do to survive. While great leaders all have a large repertoire of skills and traits, they all also incorporate these 5 strategies into their leadership approaches. So, here are those strategies – you can implement them right now if you stay mindful of the behaviors that they require.

1. Integrity

While this may not be considered a strategy per se, the behaviors that come from having integrity are. Leaders with integrity are honest with their team members. They do not cheat; they do not cut corners; they do not slough off while all others are busting their butts. Instead, they have a set of principles for work that they model for their subordinates, and then they can expect the same from those subordinates. For example, if a project is going to have big challenges and require extra hours to meet a deadline, the leader is right there, working along with his/her team. And ordering the pizza or the Chinese goes without saying. A leader with integrity is admired by his subordinates.

2. Time Management

Strategies for time management should be a big priority. How do you schedule your day? Do you have a plan? Has that plan resulted in a prioritized list of the tasks to be accomplished by the end of the day? With each new project, time management comes into play. What is the timeline for project completion? How will it be broken down into manageable tasks that are then assigned to team members? How will you monitor the time management of others as they fulfill their responsibilities? What resources can you acquire that will streamline mundane tasks and help your team members streamline theirs as well? There are many facets to time management but they all begin with one thing – a plan.

3. Communication

Like time management, there are a number of elements in effective communication and each is a strategy that you must incorporate:

• Holding regular meetings with your team will be critical to forming good relationships with them. They need to understand your priorities and expectations, and you need to know what they need to do their jobs. When in the midst of a project, everyone needs to share his/her update. If there are issues or challenges, meetings in which everyone has an opportunity to make suggestions and team members can collaborate in creative problem-solving serve to solidify relationships among team members. And your willingness to listen endears you to them. They need to have a stake, and having the ability to be totally open with you will encourage “ownership” in all that the team must accomplish.
• Meetings with individual team members is another critical element. First, you need to get a “feel” for each member’s strengths, challenges, likes and dislikes. You also need to communicate that you care about each individual on a personal level. You want them to feel comfortable addressing any issues with you openly; there are times when employees’ have personal circumstances or crises which may impact their performance. They need to know that you are a leader with empathy and a willingness to be flexible when necessary. This is how you gain loyalty and trust.
• Praise is an element of communication too. When there is a job well done, an employee wants to know that you recognize and appreciate that. Be honest about praise and provide it when warranted. And if you are not able to hand out a material reward, then give that employee something else – half a day off will do nicely.

Leaders communicate with words and behaviors. Make sure that your communication strategies are encouraging openness, an atmosphere of trust, and confidence in team members’ abilities.

4. Delegation

To have leadership skills means that you have the ability to delegate tasks appropriately. These are the strategies that you must implement:

• You have taken the time to know each team member as an individual. And because you have done this, you have the information you need to delegate tasks. When you break down a project into smaller task responsibilities, assign them according to strengths and taking into account what members like to do.
• If you find skill deficits as you monitor task completion, see to it that the individual has the opportunity for training and coaching. This sends a strong message that you are invested in your people. When they know this, they will work harder and invest themselves in what needs to be accomplished.

5. Being a Servant

Employee morale is something you never want to damage. And a large part of keeping morale high is your willingness to be of service to your team. It is your responsibility to ask them what would make their jobs easier. It is your job to find the resources they need and to work alongside them when “crunch” time comes. It is your job to turn their complaints into problem-solving opportunities. When you do these things, then you can keep your expectations for their performance high and they will do what is necessary to meet those expectations – they are loyal and committed because you are to them.

Source : http://bit.ly/1OpWOmO

5 Marketing and Branding Tips to Scale Your Online Business

Scaling an online business isn’t rocket science -- it’s actually much easier than many people believe. When you combine a winning product or service and a solid foundation to build on, the sky’s the limit. 

Use these five simple marketing and branding tips to help you scale your online business and experience increased growth.

1. Make it ridiculously easy for your customers to buy your product or service.

It’s amazing how many businesses make prospects jump through multiple hoops in order to make a purchase -- my own marketing agency was guilty of this as well, until recently. While our main offering is custom-tailored online-marketing consulting, we also offer several à la carte services.

The problem was that, previously, a prospect had to contact us via phone or our website to order one of these stand-alone services. When we did a little digging, we found that the majority of these inquiries didn’t require any selling -- people simply wanted to make a purchase.

So, we made a switch, making it easy for prospects to purchase these à la carte services directly from our website. And the results have been great so far: Sales are up since we eliminated that previous hoop that a prospect once had to jump through. 

Experiment with eliminating steps and making changes that create a ridiculously easy path to purchase. 

2. Track every conversion metric humanly possible. 

You have to know your numbers -- if you don’t know, down to the penny, how much it costs you to generate leads and sales, you will crash and burn.

Cost-per-lead (CPL): You need to know how much it costs to generate every form of lead, from email submits to phone calls. A blended CPL won’t work -- you need to be as specific as possible. If you are able to generate email leads for $1 each and phone leads are costing you $8 each, but converting at the same rate, wouldn’t it be wise to push all of your effort into producing more email leads? 

Cost-per-sale (CPS): All of your data works together. For example, your conversion rates and cost-per-lead are going to help you determine what each sale is costing you. Business 101 tells us that if the CPS, plus cost of goods sold, is lower than the sales price, it's profitable. But you need to dive a bit deeper. Where are you pulling the lowest CPS from? Can you open up the faucet to generate more sales from that avenue? 

You need to also know what your different landing pages are converting at and where your top-performing lead sources are. You are never going to find a winning combination that you can “set and forget” -- constant monitoring and optimizing are required.

3. Seek out media exposure to highlight your expertise.

Getting yourself and your brand out there is crucial if you want to scale. There are plenty of opportunities to score free media exposure if you are willing to put in a little work. 

If you aren’t already registered with Help a Reporter Out, or HARO for short, do that now. With more than 35,000 journalists seeking insights from experts, there is a very good chance you will come across several exposure opportunities if you put in the effort. Consistency is key if you want to find success using this strategy.

HARO sends out three emails daily, full of opportunities. Many people read through them for a few days and then give up if an opportunity doesn’t fall into their lap. Don't let this be you.

Instead, stick it out and put some effort into your responses -- journalists receive hundreds of replies to each request, so you are going to need to stand out. Make sure you avoid making these stupid press outreach mistakes.

4. Set up email automation sequences to nurture, promote and convert 24/7.

Every type of business can use email automation. Restaurants can build a list that automatically sends out ecoupons for specials and discounts on notoriously slow days to drive foot traffic. Ecommerce stores can create segmented lists and send special offers to customers based on their previous purchase habits.

Information products can capture an email address and automatically market to that prospect, sending enticing information and discounts, until that prospect pulls out his or her credit card and converts.

Just like every other form of online marketing, email automation requires extensive split testing and constant optimization, but when you fine-tune your efforts, email automation creates a system that promotes, nurtures and converts sales 24/7 -- even while you sleep.

5. Maintain consistent social media branding and cross promote.

Social media is such a powerful branding tool, and it’s important that you think about the big picture when establishing social accounts for your business. Using the same handle on every platform makes it easy for your customers to connect with you across all of the channels they are active on.

It will benefit you greatly if you use a handle that’s easy to remember and available on all of the networks you will be actively promoting on. For example, I use the same handle for my personal brand on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

You should also be cross-promoting your social media accounts in an effort to get your audience connected on as many platforms as possible. Someone following your brand on Twitter might not be connected on Facebook, which could be his or her preferred social network. A simple “Make sure to connect with us on Facebook” tweet could get people to like your Facebook page and then engage with a future Facebook post, leading to that hoped-for conversion.

Source : http://entm.ag/1OKErKB

Entrepreneurs: 10 Things to Do When You Feel Like Quiting

1) Go ahead and quit! It's only for a day or two. Sometimes you have to just surrender what you think should be happening today. Let go... There is is so much freedom to be found in the releasing of all your "shoulds."

2) Reach out for support from like-minded people. These people can be your spouse, best friend, religious groups, or Facebook groups. You'll be surprised how strangers can sometimes understand and encourage you better than people you've known all your life. The point is, reach out for encouragement from people who get where you are, but have the right words to push you forward, because they have been there themselves, 1,000 times.

3) Go to bed. Your body needs to heal from the stress life is applying. Plus everything looks better in the morning.

4) Keep your rituals. Exercise, gratitude, affirmations, visualizations are what got you this far. They will carry you to the finish line. Examine how these rituals are working for you: see number five.

5) Recount your victories. When David (in the Bible) got ready to fight Goliath, he reminded himself that he had already slain a lion and a bear. This gave him the reassurance he could defeat the giant at hand. What life or business giants have you already defeated? You are well able.

6) Clean your physical space. When I get stressed or overwhelmed, I clean. I used to close the shades and go to bed for days (before I had a baby). So this is an improvement. Cleaning gives you back control over your environment. Clear work space clutter. Wash up those few nagging dishes, etc. Clean till you feel free again. That's a good time to talk on the phone to a buddy too. Helps with the crazy need for multitasking.

7) Tell yourself the truth. What false beliefs made you quit? Were you telling yourself, "You can't, you'll never get there, there's too much to do, if other people only knew what a failure I am, I should be able to contribute financially to my family, no money means I'm a failure, or I can never learn it all." Wow! We are so rough on ourselves. Lighten up! Feel your feelings. But tell yourself the truth for every lie. Review number five.

8) Revisit your teaching or business philosophies. Make sure they are still true for you. Do you believe in Magic or is it just all hard work? Good question. The goal is to become more and more authentic every day.

9 )Set some goals that you can accomplish tomorrow without much effort. This restores the feeling of success.

10) Laugh. Dance. Grab a raft and ride the wave. This too will pass.

Source : http://huff.to/1N1q57h

Socializing Your Brand is Not an Option but a Must

With the increasing popularity of Facebook and Twitter, almost every single company that has a website is on social media. For some people, social media marketing is just a fad that can provide advantage while it lasts. And then there are others who think it’s a lot of hype around something that holds no advantage. However, socializing your brand has become more important than ever before. 

Is Social Really Important?

Almost a decade ago, marketers were pondering over the same question, thinking that it’s just a fad and will fade away in a few months or a couple of years. It didn’t. Social media is here to stay and has become even more powerful as more and more people network on it. If you’re looking for one good reason to get social media services for your website, we have a reference list for you.

1. Two-way Immediate Communication

If your customers are upset over something, they don’t want to wait for 30 minutes while their call is put on hold. And they don’t want a 24 hour waiting period for your email. They want a quick response. Your social media service should be active on the network and reply to complaints as soon as possible. This lets other people see how helpful you are, and thus it increases your sales.

2. Transparent Communication

When a customer brings up a complaint regarding your products or services, others can read that. And when your team replies to their concerns, your fans can see how you replied to the comment. This builds a positive brand image. When communication is transparent, it helps both sides. While you build a positive image, customers get their complaints resolved quickly – so it’s a win-win situation.

3. More Conversions

You can’t make new customers with each new post, but when you solve a customer’s complaint, other people will start liking your brand. Also, your posts and replies will reflect your brand essence. Make sure that no matter what the customers say, you have to reply with a positive tone. This will build a positive aura around your brand that will encourage conversions.

4. More Followers

When a fan experiences positive communication with your brand, they will share this experience with their friends on social media. This is the main reason this platform is called social – people discuss their good and bad experiences. If a person had a bad experience with your company, they will discuss it with their friends, and this will not be good for your brand image. When you get social media marketing services from a good company, you can turn all customer communications into positive experiences and gain more followers.

Remember, being on social media isn’t just about posting content, but also about resolving customer issues. As you answer their questions and resolve their issues, your business will be a bit more vulnerable, but if you have the right social media services, this risk is certainly worth taking.

Source : http://bit.ly/1KFfL33

Quote of the day.

How To Win The Attention Of Potential Investors

If your goal is to build a world-changing product (or to create one of those unicorns everyone is talking about), at some point you’re probably going to need the help and resources of outside investors. But pitching investors can be a painful process.

So how do you make sure your startup is one of the few companies that pique  interest? What can you do to capture the attention of top-tier investors?

To address this problem, I’ve compiled a list of things you should and should not do in order to get the attention of investors. This list is based on my psychological research in attention, my personal experience as an investor, and the experience of other great venture capitalists and angels.

Here are a few tips if you’re looking to get on the radar of investors:

What To Do

Establish your credibility up front. Journalists are taught to never bury the lede; smart entrepreneurs follow the same advice. Investor time and attention is limited, so lead your emails and sit-down meetings with the best aspects of your pitch. This gives you the best shot of getting an investment.

“Tell me the sexy stuff up front,” says Boost VC founder Adam Draper. “Do you have an all-star team? Do you have traction that makes a hockey stick? Did you cure cancer? Get the attention of the investor early, and you should be able to keep it for the rest of the meeting.”

Get an introduction through someone trustworthy.

 You’ve probably heard this one before, but there’s a reason this is the golden rule for approaching investors. 
The best investors simply have way more inbound emails and pitches than they know what to do with. Because their attention is so scarce, they build filters to protect their time and attention.

One key filter investors use is their network of trusted friends and experts. If a person has already vetted the entrepreneur and/or the idea, it’s much more likely to result in a quality meeting.

“Always, always always get an intro through a trusted source,” says Jon Soberg, co-founder and managing partner of Expansive Ventures. “Never ever send a cold email or LinkedIn request.”

Show you can sell. Josh Felser of Freestyle VC has a simple piece of advice: “Send me a personalized, thoughtful request to connect that shows that you understand how sales actually works.”

I receive hundreds of impersonal pitches daily. Some entrepreneurs send mass e-mails; others clearly haven’t done their research on my firm; I even get some entrepreneurs who address my firm or me by the wrong names.

The problem is that great entrepreneurs have to be great at sales. You’re going to have to sell a product to users, customers or advertisers at some point. If you can’t show us that you can sell, it’s a major red flag that will threaten the future of your company. Put in some real effort.

What Not To Do

Don’t go after the best-known partner of a fund. The big-name partners of a VC firm – you know, the ones with their last names in the firm’s name – are the ones who are pitched the most. They also have the least amount of time, due to their countless commitments and existing investments. It’s harder to get the attention of these investors.

“Seek out the up-and-coming partner or the one who isn’t in the limelight as much,” says Christine Tsai of 500 Startups.

Stop going after the famous investor of each firm and talk to the other partners of a venture capital firm. In the same vein, don’t ignore principals, associates and assistants in favor of partners. It’s rude, inconsiderate and short-sighted. That’s the kind of behavior that always gets discussed at weekly investment meetings.

Don’t insult your competition. When an entrepreneur trash talks successful tech giants like Uber, Facebook or Airbnb, my attention immediately turns off. Entrepreneurs should have a healthy respect for their competition.

“Facebook and Google are Facebook and Google for a reason,” Adam Draper adds. “It only shows that you don’t know your market as well as you think you do.”

Don’t send a long-winded email. Novice entrepreneurs love to send 10-paragraph emails explaining every aspect of their startups. But what sane investor has the time to read 10, 100 or 500 multi-paragraph emails every day? Unfortunately, investors don’t have enough time to read all the emails that come to them, so help us by keeping your first email short and sweet.

Lead with you and your team, the core of the idea, why you think the investor you’re pitching is a fit, and ask him or her whether he or she is interested in learning more. Sending a pitch deck is great – if the email intrigues the investor, then he or she will dig deeper. If it doesn’t excite them, then you’ve saved yourself hours and hours of time that can be spent pitching other investors.

Source : http://tcrn.ch/1i3fCzn

Content marketing probably won't help you acquire customers

For digital marketers, content is now part of the furniture. Content is everywhere and every brand owner has invested in content marketing at some point.

According to 2014 figures from the US-based Content Marketing Institute, 71% of B2C marketers use content for acquisition, the second highest score. Top was brand awareness on 79%.

Acquisition means getting something from a consumer, from a sale down to an email address. This is what starts a relationship.

But what if much of the budget spent on content was wasted, if consumers are at best only marginally interested in it? New research by the marketing organisationDMA, my employer, and The Media Octopus suggests this is the case.

The Customer Acquisition Barometer (CAB) is in its second year, looking at how, why and where consumers turn into customers. The research comes from responses from Beautiful Insights’ demographically representative YouSay panel of 1,072 people.

According to these responses, only a minority of consumers, 10%, had exchanged information with a brand in exchange for “exclusive content” over the past year, and that’s for brands they know. For brands they don’t know, this dropped to 9%.

Much more popular were loyalty schemes (46% had exchanged information with brands over the past year, down to 21% for unknown brands), competitions (33% for known brands, 23% for unknown brands), coupons (31% for known brands, 20% for unknown brands), and free products or services (27% for known brands, 17% for unknown brands).

Content barely made an impact against these more traditional forms of acquisition, and backs up our Consumer Attitudes to Privacy research, published in June, where content rated bottom in a list of inducements to share data. This automatically raises one big question: do paywalls work if customers are reluctant to exchange data for content? For acquisition, is content futile?

Now before you abandon your content marketing, a quick disclaimer. This new research focuses solely on acquisition, not retention, not engagement, not brand building.

One side-effect of the fragmenting media pie is the changing way people interact with these new media. For example, last year’s research showed social media to be somewhere only 4% of people would want to be contacted by a brand they are interested in. This year, that number rose significantly to a more respectable 13%.

Look closer and you see that for the 18–24 age group, this figure increases again to 30%. Our relationship with new media is changing.

The same may be true for content. For 18- to 24-year-olds, the proportion who shared their data in exchange for content over the past year almost doubled to 19%, and for those aged 25–34 it’s 20%.

But if content is to have a hope of persuading consumers to part with their data or money, then they need to trust that brand.

The CAB research suggests that marketers are actually retreating here, putting up barriers to consumer trust. Last year marketers were conscientious about giving customers control where possible: 93% gave clear opt-outs at every stage of their marketing, the same proportion clearly stated how customer data would be used (one of the principles of the Data Protection Act). This year those proportions fell to 56% and 62% respectively.

Finally, and this is the elephant in the room for content marketing, nobody will give anything for bad content. Those 10% of people who chose to exchange something for content – it must have been worth it.

So what should marketers do?

Trust would be a good place to start. Consumers want control over their data and their personal information, so give it to them. Content may not be a reliable way to acquire customers now, but as our relationship with content changes, so may consumer attitudes. But if those consumers don’t trust you, it’s a non-starter.

Source : http://bit.ly/1NktlgI

5 Ways Entrepreneurs Escape the Daily Grind

Even entrepreneurs have to take an occasional break.

While the life of an entrepreneur is anything but routine, sometimes we get caught in a nonstop cycle of work, work, and more work. It's exciting, important, and at times, all-consuming, and that's exactly why we have to take a step back on occasion and clear our minds. Let's step out of the norm and escape the daily grind.

1. Hone a Skill

It's true; entrepreneurs are learning every day. However, this typically means improving in one area or industry. Sure, we work in a lot if different fields, but that's no substitute for honing a skill that's independent of work. Activities like these can open an individual up to a more creative perspective and even boost entrepreneurial skills. Plus, creative activities give the mind a break from work, so this serves a way to relax and unwind.

There are a number of ways to find these opportunities. Organize a painting class with your friends or staff. Find a local dance class and invite a friend or partner. You can even sign up for an online writing or language course. Local class platform Dabble CEO Jay Swoboda suggests, "Drop your to-do list and pick up your bucket list. The opportunity to re-invent yourself and find creative inspiration can be found by supporting other entrepreneurs sharing and monetizing their skills. Go take a class." Whatever it may be, make sure it happens.

2. Get Out of the Office at the End of the Day

At some point each day, everyone needs to physically leave the office. If you're just heading home to eat and sleep before another day of work, your mind will have a hard time shutting down. There are plenty of ways to mentally leave the office and take a break from hard work. Attend a sporting event, meet friends for a happy hour at a new bar or restaurant - just get out and enjoy your evening. If you're concerned about still being productive, networking events are everywhere, and they're more entertaining than the stereotypically bad events we've heard about.

3. Cook Healthy Meals and Exercise

Take care of yourself! By getting regular exercise and eating healthy meals, professionals can accomplish more at work. Plus, client meetings over meals are rapidly becoming the norm for entrepreneurs. A home-cooked meal is a welcome break from this. "Cooking is therapeutic and the perfect solution for putting life's hectic challenges on hold," says Home Chef Founder and CEO Pat Vihtelic. "That's why we want our customers to focus on the fun part - cooking the actual dish."

Mix up your exercise routine. Try spinning if you're usually a distance runner. Take a cardio class instead of lifting alone. This shift in routine will keep you inspired and motivated without disrupting a healthy habit.

4. Collaborate and Network With Other Entrepreneurs

Invite business leaders and entrepreneurs to join you at lunch or industry events. Working with other leaders and motivators provides an opportunity to explore new ideas and get feedback on current projects or issues. There are plenty of conferences and workshops to learn new trends and meet new people in any industry, like TechWeek or Chicago Ideas Week. Block out time on your calendar each week (or even month) to attend events like these. Even easier, you can just grab coffee with a mentor or business partner to catch up and make new connections.

5. Take a Vacation--For Real 

It's difficult to put work aside and take a real vacation from a business that has become your heart and soul. However, a good leader should trust the talent of their team. Leave them to run the business for a week or two and truly remove yourself from the stress and chaos. A good vacation has benefits beyond the initial escape, and having faith in your team to hold down the fort will make them and the company that much stronger.

Source : http://bit.ly/1LUNeNW

7 essentials for gauging the real value of PR and social media

Despite what we've said elsewhere about the difficulty of determining ROI for PR and social media, gauging the value of what you do is eminently doable and highly recommended. You just have to do it right.

Follow these seven steps, and your calculations will resonate with your top executives:

1. Count all costs.

Calculate ROI as an accountant or CFO would: Use "all in" costs. Take into account all costs, not just your paid ad spending or what your agency billed you. Factor in internal time and resources, as well as any miscellaneous expenses and, of course, salaries. It's better to be accurate and transparent than appear to be fudging your numbers.

2. Be conservative with your counting.

Always err on the downside. You don't want to appear to be massaging numbers to make them look good, so take the low end of any estimate on the "results." Be conservative; let senior leaders do the inflating if they want to.

3. Explain everything.

Even if it seems obvious to you as a professional communicator, it will not be as obvious to those green-eyeshade guys. We throw around terms that CFOs may never have heard of. So make sure you can explain your "engagement index" or "quality index" to your mother before you bring it to a meeting. Always include that explanation on any chart that has an index.

4. Make sure the value matches the objectives and/or goals.

There is no point in demonstrating value in terms of leads if the goal was to change perceptions. Make sure that whatever value you are assigning reflects the goals of the program. Just as important, the value you are claiming must be relevant to the priority stakeholders or business objectives. So if saving money isn't a priority (and I've worked for clients for whom it hasn't been), then measuring cost efficiency won't be perceived as a value.

5. Don't try to measure a long-term strategy with short-term value.

Increasingly, social media is being dismissed as "not worth it" or seen as lacking a sufficient payout. The problem with this thinking is that, done correctly, social media can build long-term value in customer relationships, trust, forgiveness, enhanced perceptions and recruitment—none of which is measured by "likes," pins or follows. If the goal is building relationships, then you should measure that over time. If the goal is to sell stuff instantly, then social media probably isn't your best bet. (Hint: Email has been shown to be more effective in that regard.)

6. Don't use the lingo of accountants to articulate social change.

Unless you've done the math, borrowing the lingo of accountants will not help you articulate value to your senior management or board. Quite the opposite is true. If you use the term ROI improperly, you are very likely to confuse and frustrate your organization's leaders.

7. Don't fall for the "ROI" excuse.

Communications skeptics use "What's the ROI?" or "What's the dollar return we can expect?" as ways to resist new campaigns or any sort of change. They question the true value of these programs and seek a convenient way to reject them.

If you are feeling cocky, you might reply by asking whether they know the ROI of the potted plants in the lobby, or whether they demand precise ROI analyses for their lunches with potential big clients or donors.

The point is that ROI cannot be easily calculated for many investments, but that doesn't mean they are bad investments. So don't automatically accept "What's the ROI?" as a legitimate critique of a program that you propose. Be prepared for this tactic by presenting the value of your proposal in terms that are closely aligned with the social change and/or financial goals of the organization.

Source : http://bit.ly/1RIIaLr

Why video marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach millennials

Marketers want to reach Generation Y, and for a good reason. This demographic, born between 1980 and 2000 and now known as "millennials," will collectively spend more than $200 billion annually beginning in 2017, which comes out to $10 trillion over the course of their lifetimes.

How can businesses connect with this purchasing powerhouse? Millennials aren't as responsive to the TV commercials and print advertisements that worked for older generations. Instead, they want engagement. The good news is that they're highly engaged with video. Here are three reasons why incorporating video into your marketing strategy will help you reach millennials.

1. Move millennials through the purchase process

 

Today, millennials consume video for more than just entertainment. They use video to learn about companies and make purchase decisions. According to a recent consumer study byAnimoto, eight out of ten millennials find video helpful when researching a product or service. In fact, they're 85% more likely than baby boomers to purchase a product or service if they can watch a video explaining it beforehand.

Video helps guide millennials through the purchase cycle. You can do so in a number of ways, like including demo videos on product pages or embedding customer testimonials on an "About Us" page. For example, online clothing retailers ASOS and Net-A-Porter include videos of models walking in clothing for sale and.

Further, in the video above, New York Yoga uses video to show potential customers what it’s like to attend their classes. It's easier than ever for consumers to make purchase decisions and have intimate interactions with brands online.

2. Create buzz on social networks

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are embracing the social video trend started by YouTube in 2005. It's apparent when you scroll through your Facebook News Feed — video has taken over.Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook's content will be mostly video in five years. In June 2015, Facebook revealed that its users watch 4 billion video streams every day.

Video as a social medium is becoming increasingly relevant, especially among millennials. The numbers don't lie.

According to the aforementioned Animoto study, 84% of millennials follow brands or companies on Facebook, 75% follow them on YouTube and 47% follow on Twitter. Social media platforms have become a destination where millennials keep up with not only friends, but also companies and brands.

It's not passive, either; millennials are engaging with brands that use video. Animoto data reveals that 66% of millennial males and 60% of millennial females are more likely to comment on, share or like a brand on social media if it posts videos; 57% of millennial males and 58% of millennial females are likely to follow a company's social media page if it posts videos.

3. Drive results and keep millennials engaged

Nearly half of millennials consider companies that produce video content as experts on their product or service. As branded video content becomes increasingly popular, companies that capitalize on this opportunity will be seen as early adopters and interesting brands to follow.

Video doesn't just improve brand perception; it also drives results. In analyzing 2 million tweets posted over the course of a month last year, Twitter found videos boosted retweets by 28%. Liveclicker's "Video Commerce Report" revealed that companies that include video on product pages see a higher conversion rate and higher average order value.

Aside from the business advantages of video, brands need to understand that millennials simply prefer it to text. In fact, two-thirds of millennials said in an Animoto survey that they would rather watch a video from a company instead of reading text; nearly half said they only watch video on their mobile devices.

What's the big takeaway?

Millennials love being online and connected with their social networks. In that time, they're sharing photos and videos, commenting on social media posts, tweeting at brands and shopping online. 

As a business selling a product or service, you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't have any videos online. A simple video marketing strategy can help you meet the standards that millennials today are creating. If you're not yet using video to market to Generation Y, now's the time to start.

Source :http://on.mash.to/1LDy0gm