YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, with over 2 billion monthly active users. That’s a lot of potential viewers – and customers – for your business! One of the key components to optimising your YouTube channel for maximum visibility is crafting an eye-catching, keyword-rich video description. Here’s how you can get started.

Make it Relevant & Engaging

Your video description should accurately reflect the content of your video, provide additional context, and be written in a way that encourages viewers to watch your video. It should also include targeted keywords that are relevant to both your industry and the content of your video. This will help ensure that viewers who are interested in learning more about SEO will find your video easily when they search on YouTube.

Do Keyword Research

Keyword research is an incredibly important step for writing a successful YouTube description. By using the right keywords, you can increase viewership and boost engagement on your channel. To do this research efficiently, start by creating a list of relevant words or phrases related to your video content. These could be topics, titles, ideas or anything that comes to mind. From there, use online tools like Ubersuggest of SEMrush to check which words have the most search volume so you can optimise your descriptions accordingly. Once you’ve found the right keywords, use them strategically in both title and description to attract viewers who are highly interested in your videos!

Include the most important information above the fold

Good YouTube descriptions can make or break your video. It’s essential to include the most important information right at the top so viewers don’t have to scroll down to find out what you’re talking about. This can help keep their attention, and prevent them from moving on to something else. Try focusing on the main thoughts or ideas you want them to take away instead of giving them every last detail; this will give viewers a succinct starting point that they can use to decide whether they’re interested in watching or not. Make sure that whatever you write is engaging and relevant, too—you want people to actually read your description!

Include time stamps

Including time stamps in YouTube descriptions helps make videos easier to navigate. Instead of having to search a video for the information you need, simply click on the time stamp and you’re taken right to that section of the video! For long or complex videos, this can save viewers a significant amount of time. Time stamps also helps when someone is sharing a video with others, as it makes it easier for those who watch it to fast forward straight to the points they need or want. All in all, using time stamps in YouTube descriptions offers an important convenience for people who use videos as part of their daily lives.

Include Links & Calls To Action

In addition to making sure your description is informative and engaging, you should also include links back to your website and other social media platforms where viewers can learn more about you and/or connect with you further. You can also use this space as an opportunity to make a call-to-action (CTA) inviting viewers to follow you on social media or join a mailing list so they don’t miss out on any future videos or announcements from you.

Be Mindful Of Character Count Limits

It’s important to keep in mind that YouTube has character count limits for descriptions – 5,000 characters. As such, it’s important not to get too wordy with your descriptions but rather make every word count by being concise while still providing enough information that viewers know what they will be watching before they start watching.

A well-crafted YouTube video description can mean the difference between success and failure on this platform – it helps increase visibility while helping potential customers better understand what they can expect from viewing your videos. With some practice and experimentation, you can create descriptions that attract new viewers, drive traffic back to other parts of your website or social media profiles, and keep people engaged with all of the amazing content you create!

Small Films is a video production company in London. Our team of videographers, editors and animators create all sorts of videos, including awesome product videos, testimonial videos, explainer videos and animations that can help bring your brand to life. Do get in touch; we’d love to hear from you!

Whether you are a marketing manager, CMO or an aspiring marketer, you may find yourself wanting to learn more about this ever-evolving field. And there is no better way to do so than by reading books written by experts who have been in the trenches and know what it takes to succeed. Here are the Small Films team’s favourite books about marketing that you should check out.

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout

This book is considered a classic for good reason. It explains why some products become successful while others fail and how to ensure that your product stands out from the competition. From positioning to pricing, Ries and Trout provide an invaluable guide for any marketer looking to make their mark in this competitive landscape.

Made To Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

This book looks at why some ideas have staying power while others fade away quickly after they are introduced. It also provides valuable insights into how marketers can communicate effectively with their audiences in order to make sure their messages stick. 

Blue Ocean Strategy by W Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne

This book is focused on disruption rather than incremental changes, which makes it an ideal read for those looking to shake up the status quo in their industry or sector. It focuses on how companies can create new markets instead of competing in existing ones, as well as ways businesses can differentiate themselves from their competitors without relying on traditional methods such as price wars or advertising campaigns. 

Contagious by Jonah Berger

Contagious looks at why certain ideas spread like wildfire while others never get off the ground—and what marketers can do to ensure that their content goes viral instead of lying dormant in obscurity. It’s essential reading for anyone interested in understanding why some things catch on while others don’t, as well as what they can do differently next time around in order to get better results from their efforts. 

The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott  

This book is considered one of the go-to resources for marketing professionals. It covers topics such as creating attention-grabbing content, leveraging online channels like blogs and social media, and using analytics to measure success. It’s also chock full of examples from successful companies that have used these strategies to their advantage. 

Resonance by George Hughes

We couldn’t write about our favourite video marketing books without including Resonance, written by our founder, George.  Resonance is a guide to creating video content that actually resonates with your customers. Content that will make them fall in love with your brand every time. In this book, you’ll learn how to create a bullet-proof roadmap from idea through to launch, a step-by-step process to create the ultimate briefing document, and the strategy used by the top 1% of marketers to consistently get results with video.

Content Rules by Ann Handley & C.C. Chapman  

This book is all about creating great content that resonates with your audience. From writing blog posts and creating videos to crafting emails and designing infographics, it provides actionable advice on how to create content that stands out from the crowd. Plus, it includes tips on how to optimize your content for search engine optimisation (SEO). 

Permission Marketing by Seth Godin     

This book focuses on the concept of “permission marketing”—the idea that companies need to earn customers’ trust before attempting to sell anything. Through this approach, companies can build relationships with their customers before asking them for anything in return. Godin explains how permission marketing works using case studies from well-known brands like Amazon and Dell, making it an essential read for any marketer looking to increase customer loyalty. 

How to get to the top of Google by Tim Cameron-Kitchen

If you’re looking to climb the rankings on Google, Tim Cameron-Kitchen’s book ‘How to Get to the Top of Google’ is worth checking out. With its straightforward advice and industry insights, it gives readers an in-depth look at what it takes to reach the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). Featuring several case studies from companies that have seen success in SEO, ‘How to Get to the Top of Google’ provides an approachable system for making yourself more visible on Google.

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout

This follow-up to The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing dives deeper into the concept of positioning and how it can be used to create a unique brand message that resonates with customers. It’s essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how marketing works at its most basic level. 

These books cover everything from positioning strategies and communication tactics all the way through to understanding why certain ideas go viral while others don’t even get off the ground – making them essential reads for any aspiring marketer out there! So if you’re looking for a good place to start when it comes to learning more about marketing, these books should definitely be on your list!

Small Films is a video production company in London. Our team of videographers, editors and animators create all sorts of videos, including awesome product videos, testimonial videos, explainer videos and animations that can help bring your brand to life. Do get in touch; we’d love to hear from you!

Testimonial videos are a great way to not only demonstrate the effectiveness of your product or service but also build a connection with your potential customers. After all, who better to sell a product than the customers who have used it and had success with it? Let’s take a look at how you can use different types of testimonial videos to create maximum impact. 

The Traditional Testimonial Video 

A testimonial video from the Small Films team for Everhot

This is usually the most common type of testimonial video. It involves having someone explain why they love your product and how it has helped them in some way. These types of videos can be used as part of an ad campaign, on social media, or even on your website or blog. To make sure that the traditional testimonial video stands out from other similar videos, consider making it more visual by adding b-roll footage of people using your product or service. This helps give viewers something interesting to look at while they hear about how great your company is! 

Employee Testimonial Video

Employee testimonial videos are one of the best ways for businesses to demonstrate first-hand what it’s like to work there. They offer a personal insight into life in the workplace and showcase real employees who benefit from the company culture and environment. As well as being a great way to build trust and credibility, they can also be used to point out specific areas in which a business excels so prospective employees know they’re making the right decision when joining.

>> Read our article: Employee Testimonial Videos (2022 Guide)

The Interview Testimonial Video 

This type of video takes the traditional testimonial video one step further by allowing you to ask questions and dive deeper into what makes your product or service unique. You can use this type of video for longer format content, such as webinars or longer blog posts. It’s also perfect for social media platforms like Instagram stories, where you want to provide more detail about why customers love what you do and why they should choose you over competitors. 

The “Behind The Scenes” Testimonial Video 

This type of testimonial video is perfect for showing off what goes on behind the scenes when creating your product or service. Customers will get a chance to see how their favourites are made, as well as get an insider view into how you work and interact with each other. This helps create an emotional connection between customers and your brand that will last long after they watch the video. Plus, these types of videos are also great for organic reach since people love getting an inside look at businesses they support! 

>> Read our article: 50 Questions to ask for Customer and Employee Testimonial Videos

Watch our Founder, George, discuss the power of testimonial videos

There are plenty of ways to use testimonial videos to help boost sales and engagement with potential customers. Whether you opt for a traditional testimonial video that focuses on direct customer feedback or go for something more creative such as “behind the scenes” content, there’s no denying that using videos in your marketing strategy can help increase conversions and drive sales growth. So if you haven’t already done so, now’s the time to start leveraging this powerful tool!

Small Films is a video production company in London, that specialises in testimonial videos. Our team of videographers, editors and animators create all sorts of videos, including awesome product videos, testimonial videos, explainer videos and animations that can help bring your brand to life. Do get in touch; we’d love to hear from you!

Looking for a top food photography studio in London? The Small Films team has compiled a list of our favourites, complete with all the info you need to make an informed decision. So whether you need stunning images for an advertising campaign or want to deliver food filming for your social media content, these studios will be sure to have your food whetting your audience’s appetite. Now that you know where to go, it’s time to start planning those delicious photo shoots!

 

Factory Studio 

Factory Studios is a photography studio based in Westpoint London. Featuring four 700 sq. ft. food photography studios, there’s plenty of choice for your filming needs. Housed in an art deco converted penthouse, each of their studios has a fully fitted kitchen, east and west-facing windows to ensure you’re getting the best lighting, and its own private roof terrace.

Opening hours: Monday – Friday: 08:30 – 17:30 (can accommodate weekend hire)
Closest station: Acton Central
T: 07535890298
E: jude@factorystudio.co.uk
A: 39/40 & 36/37 Westpoint, Warple Way, W3 0RG
Website: factorystudio.co.uk

 

The Rustic Kitchen Studio

 

The clue is in the name of this studio setting – a beautifully designed, natural-looking space for your food photography needs.  With step-free access for loading and unloading, it’s also a convenient spot for those shoots that require lots of equipment. Well equipped with everything you need for a food photography shoot and with a backdrop of exposed brick walls and wooden countertops, the Rustic Food Kitchen is a top spot for food filming. 

Opening Hours: 9 am – 6 pm
Closest station: Clapham Common Station
T: 07882852809
E: info@kitchenstudiohire.com
Address: Unit 7 & 8, Battersea Business Centre,  99-109 Lavender Hill, SW11 5QL
Website: https://www.kitchenstudiohire.com/the-rustic-kitchen-studio 

 

> Looking for food filming support? The team at Small Films has shot content for the likes of Aldi, Livia’s, Gressingham Duck and Mallow & Marsh. Do drop us a line if we can help. 

 

 

Studio Kitchen (Crixus Production)

 

With a fully functioning rustic kitchen and large Victorian windows bringing in swathes of natural light, the Studio Kitchen is a great space for food photography and filming. In the studio space, there’s a slide-mount lighting rig designed for mounting lighting with extra precision. Every detail has been stylishly thought out, from the black concrete kitchen surfaces, the wooden herringbone backboard and the reclaimed Georgian floorboard shelving. 

Opening hours: 24 hours
Closest Station: Woolwich Dockyard
E: office@crixusstudios.co.uk
T: 020 8050 8034
Address: Crixus Studios, Dockyard Industrial Estate, 11D Block 1, London SE18 5PQ
Website: https://crixusstudios.co.uk/

 

69 Drop Studio

 

Located between Whitechapel and Aldgate East is this East London food photography studio. Purposefully built for food photographers, food stylists and food and drink video production companies, the space is 1335 square feet with a brand new fully equipped kitchen. The space can be used for both daylight and blackout food photography shoots. 

Opening hours: 9 am – 9 pm
Closest station: Aldgate East
Address: 69 drops studios. 77 Greenfield Road Whitechapel London E1 1EJ.
Email:  info@69dropsstudios.co.uk
Tel: 020 7426 0736
Website: https://www.69dropsstudio.co.uk/

Brockley Studio

 

Located only a nine-minute train journey from London Bridge, Brockley Studio is a food photography studio with a professional kitchen and onsite parking. Key features of the space include a state-of-the-art Siemens steam and 4D fan-assisted oven, an on-demand Quooker boiling water tap and a Siemens dishwasher. 

Opening hours: Monday — Friday 8 am — 6 pm (weekend by arrangement)
Closest station: Brockley
E: info@brockleystudio.com
T: 020-7635-5790
Address: Unit D, Damsel House Dragonfly Place, Brockley, London, SE4 2FN
Website: http://brockleystudio.squarespace.com/

 

>> See our Food & Drink videography 

Narroway Studio

 

In the heart of Hackney, Narroway Studio is a creative food space and daylight photography studio. It’s a collaboration between photographer Issy Croker, stylist and art director Emily Ezekiel and food writer and stylist Anna Jones – all of whom have worked in the food and drink field for over ten years. The small but flexible 550sqft space includes everything from a beautiful homely kitchen as well as a large dining table and work area.  

Opening hours: Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm
Closest station: Hackney Central
Email: hello@narrowaystudio.com
T: 07756 113627
Address: 422a Mare Street, Hackney, E8 1HP
Website: https://www.narrowaystudio.com/


If you want to ensure your food looks as good as it tastes, then these are the best food photography studios in London. If you’d like support with your food filming needs, then the Small Films team are expert in food & drink video production. We’ve worked with the likes of Aldi, Plenish and Gressingham Duck, so we know what makes a mouth-watering food film.  Do drop us a line, we’d love to help. 

For better or for worse, we live in an age in which the smartphone reigns supreme. Smartphone subscriptions rose from 3.7 billion in 2016 to 6.3 billion in 2021, an increase of 71% in the space of five years; this rapid rate of growth shows no signs of slowing, with subscriptions expected to exceed seven billion by 2024.

It should come as no surprise, then, that mobile now accounts for more than half of internet traffic and the majority of video traffic: 63% of YouTube viewing time came from mobile devices in the second quarter of 2021. Advertisers poured ever-greater sums of money into mobile video marketing as portable device usage skyrocketed, and there is little doubt that this trend will continue. Of the $295bn that is expected to be spent on online video advertising in 2026, it is forecast that more than $227bn, or 77%, will be allocated to mobile video ads.

In this article, we’ll examine some of the recent developments in the booming sector of mobile video advertising. Let’s take a look at the mobile apps that are most popular amongst certain demographics, get to grips with the video formats that have enjoyed the highest levels of engagement and explore how marketers have responded to these developments.

Short-form video ads are the stars of the small screen

One of the key mobile video marketing trends to keep in mind is the increasing use of short-form (10-60 second) vertical videos. This is due, in large part, to the ascent of the TikTok mobile app and the increasing use of TikTok ads.

Much has been made of TikTok’s addictive appeal. Vast numbers of Zoomers, as members of Generation Z are affectionately known, spend their waking hours consuming content on TikTok and uploading video clips of their own to the platform. According to leaked documents, users spend almost an hour and a half each day on the app, and 42% of these users are aged between 18-24.

TikTok’s runaway success in the short-form video space has spawned a number of attempts by its competitors to catch up: YouTube and Instagram introduced Shorts and Reels respectively in 2020. Whilst YouTube has enjoyed a certain amount of success and plans to start running ads on their Shorts, Instagram has struggled; internal Meta documents have revealed that Reels engagement is less than a tenth of that of TikTok. As a consequence, TikTok has, according to media buyers, received the biggest share of the budgets allocated to short video ads, and it is projected to generate more online video advertising revenue than YouTube and Meta combined by 2027.

Needless to say, TikTok – and the short-form video medium that it has pioneered – have triumphed. TikTok achieved the highest growth (29%) in overall ad spend in the third quarter of 2022, and the amount that brands invested in short-form video on Instagram and Facebook surged by a whopping 754% between Q2 and Q3 of 2022.

Expect to see more businesses use TikTok videos to enhance brand recognition and awareness in the years ahead. Frank’s RedHot ads are a good example of how brands can use viral jokes in order to blend into TikTok’s culture, as this Tell Me You’re Hot In-Feed Ad demonstrates.

Find out more about how Food & Beverage brands can use TikTok to market their products, and check out our TikTok Guide for Brands.

The live stream has gone mainstream

 

Live streams represent a golden opportunity for marketers to forge a more intimate bond with prospects and interact with potential customers in real time. As such, streaming platforms such as Facebook Live lend themselves naturally to businesses seeking to enhance brand awareness, boost sales and provide product demonstrations.

Much like TikTok, live streaming exploded in popularity during the Coronavirus lockdowns: there was a 300% increase in live streaming events between March and August 2020, driven in large part by people seeking out raw, authentic human connection during periods of social isolation.

This culminated in social media companies launching livestream shopping, or live shopping, platforms. Instagram rolled out Instagram Live Shopping in August 2020, enabling brands to sell their products during live Instagram broadcasts. More recently, YouTube partnered with Shopify, an eCommerce platform, to add live shopping tools to its platform in July 2022, and TikTok introduced live shopping ads in August 2022.

Live shopping has triumphed in the Chinese market, and it remains to be seen whether it will take off in the West. However, given the substantial investments that have been made recently by YouTube, TikTok and Amazon in their live streaming shopping features, it seems likely that live streaming and mobile-first live shopping platforms will remain a significant part of the mobile video marketing landscape.

It’s Game On for In-App Mobile Video Advertising

As lovers of the Candy Crush Saga will attest, mobile games are delightfully addictive. Gaming apps are the most popular app category in Google Play Store, and whilst mobile game revenue is expected to decline in 2022 following a couple of years of rapid, lockdown-driven growth, the mobile gaming market is expected to begin expanding again before long.

Of the various ad formats that have been used in mobile gaming apps, rewarded video ads have emerged as one of the most effective forms of in-game advertising (IGA). They offer app users a reward in exchange for watching a video or engaging with a playable ad (interactive video ads that allow users to get a taste of other mobile app games by playing a short preview).

Rewarded video ads are favoured by game developers, ad publishers and even the gamers themselves. This innovative ad format is a fantastic example of how video ads can enhance, rather than obstruct, the mobile gaming experience whilst also delivering a high ROI.

Conclusion

Given these developments, there’s no question that this is a very exciting time indeed for the world of mobile video advertising. We hope that this information helps inform and inspire your next mobile video marketing campaign.

Small Films is a video production company in London. Our team of videographers, editors and animators create all sorts of videos, including awesome product videos, testimonial videos, explainer videos and animations that can help bring your brand to life. Do get in touch; we’d love to hear from you!

Mark Leruste talks to our Founder, George Hughes about how important it is for businesses to have purpose when they’re trying to make their mark on the world. Mark Leruste is the founder of the The Unconventionalists, a training and coaching business set up to help people in leadership roles better serve and manage their employees. He’s a renowned public speaker hosting and speaking at thousands of events worldwide and his training and coaching videos have been viewed over one million times on social media. Not only that but he also has his own podcast with 100+ episodes and 70,000+ downloads inspiring countless people across the world.

To listen to the full episode see below:
iTunes: apple.co/2mdud3j
Spotify:  open.spotify.com/show/70lXwMVGGC7rGN4eukv8GY

George: So Mark Leruste, thank you very much for coming down. It’s great to have you here.

Mark: It’s an absolute pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.

George: You worked for the Movember Foundation, didn’t you? So, tell me all about that.

Mark: Today, this does not sound pioneering in any kind of way, but back in 2011, no one was doing video CVs. And so I had this idea, I’m going to do a video CV, and that’s how I’ll be able to talk about what I do, what I’m about and then it just went viral. I mean one of those kind of crazy, you know serendipity moments where people were tweeting Oprah. Long story short, I got a job interview with JC, one of the co-founders, and he gave me the job on the spot. I joined in 2012, and I stayed as country manager for four years where I helped raise 2.8 million euros for Men’s Health. We got 110 thousand people sign up and won a bunch of awards.

George: So what happened next then? So after Movember, was that when you started to kind of go on your own? 

Mark: Yeah, I did pretty well on Movember and throughout my whole career. I spent almost ten years in the corporate, non for profit sector, predominantly in sales and fundraising. When I was at INSEAD, I was generating six million euros of revenue per year. Whole different story when it was about my company and me. I think I found myself on a Friday afternoon, you know, I recently took a mortgage out before I quit my job. I’m sitting on my flat on the floor, and I’m crying out “what the hell have I done?” like all this money that I’d saved is just drying up clients aren’t responding as quickly as I thought they would, and it all started because of a podcast. I mean, this is the irony of it all, is that in 2015, I had this idea it’d be cool to broadcast conversations with people because I think it could inspire and help other people, and then podcasting wasn’t what it was today five years ago. And the next thing I launch this podcast, it gets a bit of momentum, and I thought I could do this full time and mix my coaching and podcasting and I gave a talk about finding meaning and purpose in your work, and what I wished I’d known and I’d learnt before I quit Movember and it went down really well, and that’s when I thought whoa, wait a minute actually companies are made of people, and people still need to be seen, heard and appreciated no matter where they are.  And some people think that becoming an entrepreneur is the only way to do that, I don’t. I think you can do that absolutely by working in an organisation. You do not need to start your own company in order to feel fulfilled. It feels like in today’s world, it’s really important to give purpose to your employees. They take jobs for different reasons these days; it’s not just I’m going to do a job for 40 years that I hate just so I can get a pension and make enough money so I can go on a holiday and then retire it’s not like that anymore, is it? Well, so here’s the interesting thing I get brought in a lot to do work with Millennials. One of the things I always say when I go into companies, and when I first introduce the kind of concept of it, I say well in order to understand a generation, you need to understand the context in which it grew up and the environment in which it grew up and what are the big events that shaped its culture, its DNA and the value system. If you look at Millennials, I think one of the things that’s really underrated in terms of what impacted us as a generation. We got hit with the global financial crisis, so what happened is two fold. One, it meant that financially we were worse off than any other generation in the past. I mean from 2009 to 2014. There was a depreciation in salaries by 14%, and it still hasn’t recovered. still behind seven percent than it used to be pre-crisis. But more than that, and I can speak from a personal experience, my dad had worked for like 25 plus years in this company, right. He worked weekends, he worked evenings took minimum holiday and 2008, was made redundant from one day to the next and what I saw was and I think what my generation saw, what our generation saw was. oh this promise that if I give you my life and soul to work, then I will get loyalty in return, and I will be able to work here for 30 years and then retire that was gone. It was gone. The promise was broken. The trust in what we used to believe as trustworthy big institutions such as banks disappeared then it became, what do I really want to do? Because if I’m going to do something and I might lose the job one day to the next, it might as well be something that I enjoy, and so a lot of people don’t understand that, especially when you look at older generations around calling millennials entitled, lazy, unfocused. I’ve experienced everything but the opposite of that. I guess ultimately, it’s about for the company is all about attracting the right talent and retaining that talent so you don’t get that churn that’s commonplace now. 

Well, I think one of the challenges I often say you often get talent through your PR but you retain talent through your culture and often I’ll get a question from one of the managers or executives you know, when I go do talks at conferences or workshops. They’ll say so, how do I get people to trust me more? I want my people to trust me. I think I said, well, there’s a really quick hack, narrow the gap between who you say you are and who you actually are and narrow the gap between what you say you’ll do and what you actually do narrow those two things and your team will be able to trust you more.

George: So how do you navigate that? Because I feel like if you’re coming into a company and you’re trying to find their sense of purpose, but you might find a few problem individuals that are causing the issues in the first place.

Mark: So, I don’t work with a company where leaders don’t have skin in the game. Simple as that. If the leaders aren’t in the room, I’m not working with them. Whatever you do internally will spill out externally people who have purpose, people who have a mission, people who are happier, who feel that they can bring their full selves to work will be nicer on the phone to people they’re speaking to will be nicer to their colleagues, will be nicer to potential customers and that’s just going to be felt, and kind of spilled over and you could start off by saying why is it that you joined this company in the first place? What excited you when you started off this job what was it about this mission that and I we still honouring that or have you changed? Who would we not be serving by stopping our business? Who would we be neglecting if we don’t do this work? What if your mission as a leader, the only mission you had was to leave your people in a better place than you found them and what if you, as someone working on the organization, your only purpose was to leave this organisation in a better place than you found it? How differently would we take responsibility, you know? And the other thing is, you know, as a leader in an organisation you’ll know this, you’re responsible for people, they’re humans and we somehow, don’t know why this happens, and it really is a pet hate for me, we forget that. So, we live in a digital world. If you’re a brand, a business, an entrepreneur, and you’re trying to get an edge. what would be your one piece of advice? Be really clear about why you exist and why it matters. I cannot underestimate how many people don’t even know how to answer that question. And so, people focus on tactics, people focus on channels, people think that their problem is that they don’t have a YouTube channel, people think that the problem is that they don’t post enough on Instagram, and so the go to the how really quickly they’ll start pouring cash into marketing campaigns and branding, but they’re not clear about their core, about what they stand for. So the first thing is get really clear about who you are and why that matters, then get really clear about what your values are. Now, values you could go with the whole classic authentic, transparent, honest, you know, accountable, or you can go about what is really what we stand for because it’s going to filter our customers, is going to filter our partners is going to filter everything we do. Get clear about your values. And then you want to talk about, how do we communicate that in a way that makes people feel involved and engaged. The digital world is a great, great world. It’s an amplifier. So what are you amplifying? Imagine broadcasting static noise on a really, really loud speaker. How do you think people are gonna react to that? I think we really need to bridge the gap between how we show up in the world and how we show up internally. My dream is that if I went to an organisation, they’re exactly who I would expect them to be.

Olivia Wollenberg of the food brand Livias talks to our Founder, George Hughes, about how important social media has been in the rise of her business. She leveraged her Instagram followers to get the word out about the company’s products. Livia’s offers an array of wonderful treats, from Nuglets and Millionaire Squares to Biccie Bombs and Dunks. They are all made from natural ingredients, vegan, and free-from gluten, lactose and refined sugar. And they taste delicious.

In the Big Chat series, George explores all the different ways that brands, businesses and individuals can get an edge in today’s fast-paced digital world. He meets with an array of talented experts from a variety of disciplines, including marketing, sales, content creation and business strategy. All of them have a different angle on what it takes to supercharge your business. If you are looking to give your business or yourself an edge, then this is the right podcast for you.

Listen to the podcast in full

iTunes: apple.co/2mdud3j
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/70lXwMVGGC7rGN4eukv8GY

George Hughes: So tell me in a nutshell, who is Olivia? What is Livia’s?

Olivia: I am the founder and CEO of Livia’s. I was diagnosed with intolerances to wheat, and dairy and at the time there was nothing in the market that really tasted good, felt indulgent, and I had this idea for delicious, indulgent treats made from wholesome natural ingredients. I feel like often the sort of free-from section of the supermarket is often filled full of sort of boring stuff that nobody really wants. It’s kind of like there’s sugar-free and there’s nothing nice about it. Things that don’t really taste good. A lot of the time, it’s kind of like rabbit food.

George: Do you think the success of Livia’s is in part due to that sort of movement of healthy eating and people being conscious of what they’re putting in their bodies and not wanting refined sugars and all that nasty stuff?

Olivia:  I definitely think so. I started Livia’s at the right time I started promoting it at the time when clean eating was becoming really really big but what I did instead was talk about natural and wholesome ingredients rather than talk about it in the way of being clean. I had no funding when I started the company, but I started an Instagram page and that’s how I’ve done all of my marketing and advertising pretty much still to this day. I tapped into the clean eating trend and the wellness trend and I often do talks about wellness but for me, wellness is about balance and it’s about our campaign “better treat yourself” rather than about being clean eating.

George: How important do you think social media has been in terms of the growth of the business?

Olivia: Social media has transformed our business. I always explain that in our company, there are products at the core of the company, and then around the company, there is this halo of social media because I, like many other people, when they start a business, you don’t have huge amounts of funding. But I saw that I had to build that following, and I needed something to back up what I was doing and what my mission was. I was driven around by my parents right at the beginning delivering these products to anyone and everyone who had some sort of social media presence. One day I delivered them to Vogue, and an hour later, I looked at my phone. I had thousands of notifications, and I’d gone from maybe a hundred and seventy to three and a half thousand followers, and it was because Vogue had posted about the delivery that they had gotten that morning. So that’s how I first got my meeting with Selfridges and Planet Organic, and then because I had that one endorsement, social media just grew for me.

George: Setting up any business, I would defy anybody to say it’s been easy, you know, it’s a difficult thing to do. But as you say, there are highs and lows, what would you say has been your biggest high?

Olivia: The biggest high, I mean I’ll never forget when our products launched first of all in Selfridges when they had a barcode on them, and people could actually like scan them. Coming into an office like this every morning is a huge high, and seeing the team that I’ve built and the fact that I’ve created jobs for people and jobs that people love.

George: How important do you think the fact that we now live in a digital world is helping food and drink brands to get traction?

Olivia:  I think for people who are starting companies who don’t prioritise social, they’re missing a trick. We speak to the retailers, and we say look, this is what we can do for you on social like we’re speaking to 130,000 people that you’re not speaking to yet, and the retailers love that. In terms of the digital aspect of what you do, what sort of advice could you give to other businesses that are trying to do a similar thing? Makes sure that everything ties, so it’s not like what you’re saying online is completely different to offline, and your packaging needs to say all the same things that you’re saying on social as well. So you need to make sure that it will really tie together. You need to look at your website. You need to look at consumer journeys. You need to look at how you’re speaking to your customers through digital. So the surveys that you’re doing just be on top of every single touch point. 

George: Do you have quite a good sort of strategy in terms of how you plan out your activity online? Or is it kind of haphazard, you’re just going every week, week to week or do you sort of have campaigns?

Olivia: There’s a bit of both, so we have kind of major touchpoints that we want to talk about and shout about it. But at the same time then, if I’m out and about and there’s something that I want to post about, it will never be like, oh, let me just look at our social media calendar and see if this fits in because then you lose that authenticity. If you were going to give other brands marketers one piece of advice so that they could an edge in a digital world. What do you think it would be? Everyone likes to create a story about everything, and if you’re giving it to them, you’re kind of solving the problem. Keep genuine, keep authentic. Don’t try and do quirky things with a brand all the time. Make it more about a personal story. I’m all about stories. But I think that being genuine is absolutely critical.

Listen to the podcast in full

iTunes: apple.co/2mdud3j
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Small Films is a video production company in London. Our team of videographers, editors and animators create all sorts of videos, including awesome product videos, testimonial videos, explainer videos and animations that can help bring your brand to life. Do get in touch; we’d love to hear from you!

Mark McCulloch is the founder of the Brand and Marketing agency Supersonic, inc. He comes from a 20 year background in marketing, working with some amazing brands, including Costa, Gails Bakery, and Iberica, and he was Head of Marketing at Pret A Manger and Yo Sushi. He’s also the host of the hugely popular The Spectacular Marketing Podcast, where he’s interviewed some amazing people from the hospitality sector to talk all things marketing.

His podcast, the Mark McC Supersonic Podcast, started in April 2019, and he’s continuing his great work in this space.

In this episode of the Big Chat podcast, we talk about all things digital marketing and how important it is to have a strong digital presence in today’s world.

Hear the full episode on
iTunes: apple.co/2mdud3j
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/70lXwMVGGC7rGN4eukv8GY

George Hughes: So you started off with a passion for music, and you maybe thought that was the direction you’re going to go in, but you’ve actually landed in food and drink as being your main specialism. I know that’s not everything you do. Do you think that’s just an organic process, or was it something that you just really enjoyed working with those sorts of companies and just kind of embraced it?

 

Mark McCulloch: Well, it was quite interesting. I think from being where I’m from in Scotland, you know, the plate is beige and it’s maybe mostly fried stuff and coming to London early sort of opened my eyes. I started to really enjoy going to restaurants and seeing all the different food types. And I think the fun bit for me was like this was another world and a class system as well.

George: You’ve got 20 years of digital marketing experience, is that right, maybe more?

Mark: Yeah. Well, I guess I’m a mix of brand marketing and then digital, social, maybe slightly later on. But yeah, it happened quite early in terms of digital stuff.

George: What was it like working at Yo Sushi?

 

Mark: My role and my brief were “make us cool again.” So we did quite a lot of good things. A  huge food overhaul and menus with a bit of branding, but then we got into social media early. I think people quickly started to believe in social because they could see us standing out from the crowd, you know, we were picking up more awards, we’ve got more followers, we’ve got more engagement. You know, it’s really going extremely well. It just meant that your C-suite were believers, and then once they are believers, they start asking about it and start getting curious about it, and they want to see it in marketing plans and what you are doing. And at that time, you could stand out organically really easily. So when you are sending out a promotion that you’d send out a newsletter with a dwindling database in terms of engagement, you are getting high engagement, you know, from all the posts that you put out. It seems like a lot of times, it is about getting that buy-in from the C-suite from the sort of older generation who are in those positions of power. I think Gary Vee said this about, you know, the minute that that sort of generation gets replaced with more of the digital native generation, suddenly everybody’s going to fully embrace digital. But at the moment, there’s still a lot of resistance to it. Lately, we would have said in our industry in food and drink, and I mean in restaurants and in coffee shops and all that, we’re really a generation behind. The CEO is a sixty-year-old guy who usually doesn’t get social, he’s not on Facebook therefore, no one else should care. Would you ever consider hiring someone in a company that can’t use email? That can’t use a computer? It’s the same with social. It’s just part of life. You need to know the basics of all these things because the way it’s moving, it’s moving to personal brands, and it’s moving to companies with faces rather than just brands. It’s almost that if you don’t have a good social presence or a good digital presence, then it’s really impeding your ability as a company. Well, I think one of the biggest problems is the lack of measurement. If you put the right measurements in place to do brand tracking. What do people think of you? You actually look at the comments that are going on, and you answer them. They might be quick to respond on TripAdvisor, but they haven’t looked at their Facebook comments for four months. We’ve got more tools in our box to reach more people. I just think so many people are using it wrong. 

George: What would you say are the most common mistakes you see brands making in the food and drink space when it comes to their digital offering?

 

Mark: It’s just all far too promotional. It’s all about now, now, now, now, the next day, the last 15 minutes. They are menu engineering to see how much cost they can take off the plate to then make the commercials work and that just makes me cry inside. Most people don’t have that level of investment to then help them make the right decisions, you know to invest, they will cut rather than invest. In today’s world, those sorts of mistakes can be fatal for a business. I mean, we’re seeing it all the time at the moment. Really big institutional businesses just disappearing off the face of the map. You know, because they’ve just made really poor choices and they really haven’t kept up with times. I mean, death is coming quicker than ever. You know, for brands that aren’t getting it right. Most people should have been… all people should have been thinking like an e-commerce person from day one. 

George: What would you say that the brands that are really doing well at the moment but keeping it within food and drink? What do you think it is they’re doing right that’s keeping them going from strength to strength?

 

Mark: Taking marketing seriously and brand seriously. They’ve dug down, they’ve got through some hard times. If there are hard times, they’ve maybe got sort of more understanding investors and partners that keep investing to know they’ll come good. The obsession with great quality products, the obsession with the right site, the obsession with the best people that they could possibly hire.

So they’re bringing in marketers that are well versed and well trained. But not only that. They’re not then beating them down to their way they’re learning from them. But it always starts with brand. You know, how do your culture, your products and services and your reputation knit together?

George:  If you’re a small brand, if you’re a startup, if your emerging company, what would be your sort of top bits of advice for them to get a bit of traction with their digital marketing? 

Mark: You’re being brought up in this age. So I think already usually the people running the business, founding the business, you know, the people that you’re hiring, you’ll be more obsessed and more switched on to hiring someone that is digitally minded, and you’ll be thinking about that more. The age that we live in now with all the iPhone Apps and you could run everything from your phone. It’s not that hard. So I would invest as much as you can in the amplification of your business. How important do you think content is for brands in terms of photos, videos, blogs, articles, newsletters all that sort of thing?

George: Do you think it’s very important as part of your marketing suite?

 

Mark: It’s everything. You know, and I think when you think about how we consume things now, we’re basically content consumers now and experience consumers rather than ad consumers and product consumers. So it’s moved up a level, you know, you want to have the text, you want to have the image, you want to have the photo. Hopefully, if you’re starting a business, you’ve got a partnership, you’ve got, you know, one of you is kind of the here and now, and then one of you is like a future person.

Listen to the full Big Chat podcast
iTunes: apple.co/2mdud3j
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Prefer to watch on YouTube?

In this episode of the Big Chat podcast, our Founder George Hughes is joined by Lisa Targett. Lisa is the Chief Revenue Offices for the influencer marketing platform Tribe. Tribe is a unique self-serve marketplace that makes it easy for brands to connect with everyday influencers.

Lisa was listed in the Drum’s 50 under 30 and named one of Diversity Journal’s ‘Women Worth Watching’ in 2018. Widely acknowledged as a thought leader, Lisa has delivered keynotes at major marketing events and frequently comments on industry news for international publications.

In this podcast, we explore the world of influencer marketing. So if you’re keen to learn more about this type of social media marketing, then listen to the full-length podcast. Read below for a snapshot of our interview with Lisa. 

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3gu05Y7
iTunes: https://apple.co/3gqmx4f 

 

George Hughes: You came to the UK, and one of the first jobs you did was working with Franks, which is an Australian men’s swimwear brand. What brought you from there to where you are today? How did you make that transition into the influencer world?

 

Lisa Targett: My background has always been in digital marketing and digital advertising, and I think very naturally, we saw an emergence of where consumer eyeballs were, and attention and trust was, and if you’re any kind of digital marketer that knows that you’re trying to elicit some sort of response from an audience, make them feel something about your brand and potentially sway them to consider your product, you’ve got to go where the trust is, and you’ve got to go where the eyeballs are so that slowly led me down the path of working with creators and I’m so glad it did because it’s such an exciting space.

 

George: For anybody that’s not familiar with the company and how the platform works, just explain to us how that actually works. 

 

Lisa: Tribe is an influencer marketplace, we’re a self-serve marketplace that connects brands with everyday people to celebrate them through beautiful content. So it’s a content upfront model which hasn’t been replicated globally, which gives brands a huge amount of brand safety on one side, they see the content, they can vet the influencer, they see the caption, they avoid any PR crises that could be imaginable. And on the influencer side, it’s great because at the end of the day, they’re professional content creators. They’re creating content all the time, they’re crafting content all the time, if they’re authentic with their audiences and they are real customers then they’ve got no issue with going out, shooting a piece of content, owning the product, these are things that they’re happy to do and happy to spend their money on if they’re genuine about it. So what we’ve created is this two-sided marketplace that self-polices for as much integrity in this category as we can pack in there. 

 

George: There’s a really vast breadth of knowledge about influencer marketing to the point where some people know nothing about it, other people are in advanced level five, they know how to use it to the nth degree like I’m sure you do. Give us an overview of what is an influencer, how many people do you have to have to be an influencer?

 

Lisa: Our platform starts at three thousand followers, so if you have three thousand followers on either Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, you can freely submit to any brand brief. We chose three thousand as a semi-arbitrary number, but also we thought even for one post you’re reaching a significant amount of people. An organic reach actually starts to drop off on Instagram specifically as your audience grows and your engagement drops,  because if I comment on Kim Kardashian’s post, she’s not responding, and by the time I’ve actually written it probably a hundred thousand more comments have appeared or something, and I just get lost and actually people just don’t feel they can be part of those communities whereas with my friends and family it’s far more interactive, it’s back and forth.

 

George: The rise of influencer marketing, I mean just the rise of influencers in general, it’s been such a bizarre phenomenon in a way, what do you think has been behind this trend?

 

Lisa: We were able to start freely posting media so the democratisation of media was the catalyst for all of this. That I can set up a camera in my bedroom and post things to YouTube, and people watch them has meant that all of a sudden, we’re not all gathered around the television at night together, we are consuming media in a really fragmented sense and what was happening is people’s voices were being heard, and everything turned from being broadcast media that was forced at me to this world of opt-in media where I get to choose who to follow, and I get to choose who to unfollow as well and where I spend my time, and if you’re holding someone’s attention, you have influence.

 

George: What do you think about the negative connotations that sometimes are assigned to influencer marketing? How do you navigate that side of things? 

 

Lisa: With clarity for both brands and influencers, and for me, the most exciting bit about being a two-sided marketplace is we have that responsibility to educate both sides equally. For me, the entire category will disappear if it lacks authenticity or impacts the trust and the social nature of the channel, the first thing is around being a real customer, being a real advocate. At the end of the day, there are a billion users on Instagram alone, you’re going to find enough real brand advocates that are going to recommend your product to their followers. I suppose this is also about influencers being protected, so they don’t get exploited by brands. We’ve seen a couple of influencers become poster children for things that they didn’t think they were doing wrong. What they found was a product that they really love, that when they were making a specific claim about it would actually endanger other people, and that’s the kind of natural problem you get on influencer marketing which is you’re working with everyday people you’re not working with professionals, so we quality check all of the campaigns that come into the platform to make sure that they adhere with all advertising regulation even if that regulation hasn’t been applied to influencer marketing specifically. 

 

George: What do you think is next for the world of influencer marketing?

 

Lisa: I think we’re going to see more and more brands using customer-generated content across their entire branding ecosystem in partnership with some of the hero storytelling that they’re doing from an above-the-line perspective, I think personalisation from an advertising-targeting perspective will get better because people will be able to leverage all of their different customers’ styles and voices in their advertising. But I think taking a step beyond all of that, Facebook and Instagram are always going to be the ones that are driving the best performance marketing for a brand. They’ve got precision targeting, they’ve got the tools, they’ve got the scale to drive outcomes for brands, and they’re never going to allow that to happen from a third-party perspective. Influencers will play a massive role in driving a multitude of digital shop fronts on Instagram essentially, and that’s what it will become.

 

George: What would be your one piece of advice for brands if they’re looking to get an edge in today’s world? 

 

Lisa: Right now, it is so competitive for any brand online, they’re either fundamentally changing how they’re producing products, they’re either having to fundamentally change their supply chain model to be more sustainable, more ethical to align with customer values, they’ve got issues with trust, and while all of that’s happening, they’re making these monumental shifts into the digital age. My advice would be to centre yourself around the consumer so that you can move faster and trust a little bit more in the instant feedback that you’re getting. We do sentiment analysis on every campaign where we can pull through all the comments, not just if people love the campaign or not and love your brand, but specifically, what they’re liking I think the brands that are winning quickly are doing that very well.

Listen to the full Small Films Big Chat podcast over on iTunes or Spotify.

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Small Films is a video production company in London. Our team of videographers, editors and animators create all sorts of videos, including awesome product videos, testimonial videos, explainer videos and animations that can help bring your brand to life. Do get in touch; we’d love to hear from you!