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Build a Global Brand on a Budget

3 minute read

Phil Nottingham shares his insider tips regarding brand budgets and solutions. As the brand and video marketing specialist at Wistia, Phil is no stranger when it comes to creating content and the importance of distribution.

Don’t miss out on any great actionable ideas and real-world applications shared during this presentation!

If you’re saving the video for later, here are some highlights as food for thought.

Phil starts with the importance of Brand Marketing in 2020 and what it means to him.

Right off the bat, Phil acknowledges the problem of how hard and expensive brand building is.

Times have changed, and marketers had to adapt, adapt, and adapt all year long. Without any in-person conferences, in-store experiences, or sporting events to promote, brand marketing during COVID-19 has largely affected every company. Less outdoor media exposure has ultimately led to more social media competition as well.

Phil explains how Disney recently aired their holiday short film, and of course, it went viral. Smaller companies don’t have the budget to gain the same results as Disney and can’t wait around hoping to go viral.

Despite common belief, going viral doesn’t necessarily grow your brand. The number of impressions is not always equivalent to the number of people impressed.

The first solution to going global involves different kinds of Content Marketing.

Wistia understands how important and challenging it is to catch a viewer's attention and essentially create “love at first sight.”

Phil states a solution of shorter videos can create better outcomes for marketing. I can only reiterate what Phil has said to an extent, so refer to the on-demand recording for a visual case study on ad spend and how many impressions they gained. Wistia knows what they’re talking about. They won the 2019 Webby Awards for “Best Video Series,” beating Uber and Google!

Some keywords Phil defines are brand awareness and brand affinity:

  • Brand Awareness: people know you
  • Brand Affinity: people like you

There is an important distinction here, and brand affinity is what you should strive for. Track down who your most engaged customers are and cater to them. These dedicated customers not only voluntarily choose to watch your brand’s content, but they also spend significant time on it.

Gaining new customers is always a plus, but don’t forget about the ones you already have and make them a priority as well.

Next, Phil examines the importance of New Metrics to Measure.

What are your goals for engagement views? Wistia’s documentary proves less is more when it comes to engagement. Metrics about impressions, views, etc., may not matter as significantly when they’re higher in numbers.

Wistia’s analysis of brand search increased by 11% from a lower number of engaged views. How is this possible? This lower number of customers watched more than 25% of the video. Their goal wasn’t met in terms of numbers, but their traffic was up notably.

Again, I don’t want to spoil it for you. Watch the webinar to see the depth of time spent on two different content types: 1,170 blogs vs. 4 videos. The results will shock you! Phil’s vision of less is more has come full circle here.

The final solution is understanding a Fresh Approach to Distribution.

Phil states the main issue lies in allowing Facebook and Google to own brands. They control our audience and ultimately make more money from companies. The final solution is to think differently and market like a media company, such as Netflix.

Social media shows off snippets of content to gain reach, but the end goal is to drive them back to your platform. Phil emphasizes how important it is to think about audience development rather than content distribution.

Once you own the distribution channel, you own the audience data.

How do all these concepts translate to real-world applications?

Phil provides a fresh approach to the changes in marketing caused by the global pandemic of 2020. The case studies he includes are very eye-opening and address the upcoming trend of videos going into 2021.

In these solutions, Phil focuses on the best ways to create, measure, and distribute content. Find out how Wistia managed to create brand affinity and how they emphasized measurement rather than reach.

As a bonus…

Start by re-evaluating your measurements and think about the dedicated customers. Going global on a budget is possible! Work smarter, not harder.

Video content is inevitable, so why not be ahead of the game? In this sense, there is no one size fits all as every brand is distinct in what it offers, but remember the possibilities of different content marketing and the impact of owning a distribution channel.

If you want to get all the details on applying this to your brand, check out the webinar, and enjoy.

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