The 2024 Hubspot State of Marketing report is out and there are interesting takeaways. While there doesn’t seem to be a clear winner of which activity/trend/channel for ROI, I believe there is, and this analysis will reveal what that is.
A caveat here is that I will be using a video centric lens as it is my expertise and believe that it is there where we find the solution to this tie. I have analysed this report for you based to see what worked in 2023 and what marketing professionals are planning in 2024.
What is clear in the report is that marketing budgets are tight and put under the microscope in this cost-of-living and inflationary economy we are living in. I want to bring focus to this chart:
The left chart reveals that marketers nearly equally divide their focus between challenges such as trends, customers’ needs, sales and marketing alignment, and the lack of quality data hindering traffic and lead improvement in their marketing plans.
On the right, it does look pretty evenly split with what activities or channels has generated strong results as well; with short-form videos edging slightly in-front of the rest.
Analyzing the challenges, I can summarize that quality data is essential, as emphasized by many marketing experts. It enables understanding customer needs and trends (that is, knowing where your customers are going), aligning sales goals and marketing strategies. Proper alignment between marketing and sales goals based on this strategy should result in increased traffic, leads, and ultimately, conversions and sales, if executed effectively.
So what is the best way to find out what your customers’ needs are? Well, ask them directly, or ask your current customers what their needs are to succeed or be happy in the coming year.
No one knows what your customers need better than your customers.
What if there is a way that you can get that information and in getting this information, also gain valuable marketing assets at the same time…. I’ll get to that after we look at what activites have delivered positive ROI, because I believe they are related. If you look at the “top 3” activities: Short-form videos, Brand and Culture content, and influencer marketing, you’ll notice that there is an overlap. Short-form videos is a format of providing information, and what you want to achieve with the short form videos are brand awareness, or to serve a marketing goal like providing product or service information.
If you are making videos for the sake of making videos… STOP wasting your money.
There was a time when the trend was just to make video because the more videos you have for a specific SEO keyword, the better your SEO. Please do know that Google has cotton on to that and it is now the quality of the content that matters more than the quantity.
Failure to pair your video content with what your customers are interested in, will result in Google not ranking it.
Ensure that your video content answers customers’ needs, and is part of a considered marketing plan to resolve your customers’ pain points. Which loops us back to the point about having good data to determine what your customers need.
SO, it feels like a catch 22 situation. How do you make good video content without knowing what your customers need?
Or is it?
As I mentioned, the best way to find out customers needs is to ask. You could of course send out questionaires and surveys to existing and potential customers, and maybe get some replies. But guess what, you can use the opportunity to also build on your existing relationship with current customers while asking them what their pain points are, and get short form videos that showcase your brand or culture, and give it an influencer marketing spin all in one go.
HOW?
With a Case Study video. Let’s look at what a case study video is about:
- Asking what your current customer’s pain point is, and what they see are the pain points going forward or in the coming year
- How your product or service helped them resolve their business or personal problems previously, and how they hope to use your product or services to answer their next set of problems; or what they hope your business can provide to help them resolve their problems.
- Showcase your brand and your business culture as told by a real person who represents a cross-section of your potential client base. Hence using this real customer as an Influencer.
The information in points 1 and 2 is rich data because it is spoken by your target audience; and it goes into real information about what works, what doesn’t, and what they hope to achieve
By recording this case study as a video or even in audio, it can then be re-formatted into various short-form marketing videos that addresses potential customers’ needs, using the “voice” of an “influencer”.
Before you say that I don’t understand what or who and “Influencer” is, let me give you a definition that I am using, and by the way, it is not always a TikTok/YouTube/Instagram “celebrity” with a million followers. SproutSocial give a really good succinct definition that I will use today: An influencer is someone in your niche or industry with sway over your target audience.
So an influencer for a flooring specialist is another flooring specialist, not TikTok “Fitness” expert who as nice floors. Someone with sway is a person who has the credibility of expert knowledge in the industry, either because of the work they do, or their years of testing and analysis of products or services in your industry.
Your customers are your best influencers because they represent the target audience you want to reach, and they would represent an expert in the industry.
To determine if there’s a clear winner evident in the Hubspot report, I believe that by combining the top 3 trends that generated strong ROI, reveals the winner: short form videos serving as influencer marketing vehicles that showcase brand values.
In other words, a Great Case Study or Testimonial.
