MARKETING
How To Find Ideas That Differentiate Your Content
Let’s play a word association game. When you hear, “Start with why,” what comes to mind?
If it’s Simon Sinek, you’re not alone. Since 2009, his TED Talk has been viewed over 60 million times, and his book Start With Why made bestseller lists.
Mark Levy, founder of Levy Innovation, helped Simon conceive Start With Why.
A self-described differentiation expert, Mark helps corporations, brands, and thought leaders develop the idea they’ll be known for.
He shared the process he uses with clients in his Content Marketing World 2022 presentation, How To Come Up With Your Big Sexy Idea.
Differentiation requires more than an idea
Differentiation generates attention, awareness, and recall that can lead to business opportunities. It can apply to a business (i.e., broad) or a piece of content (i.e., narrow).
The “big sexy idea” becomes your signature.
“The idea calls up the person, and the person calls up the idea,” Mark explains. “Anyone who comes across the idea has to seek you out because you embody that idea. You represent that idea in people’s minds.”
Your big sexy idea becomes your signature. The idea calls up the person, and the person calls up the idea, says @LevyInnovation via @CMIContent. Click To Tweet
How does differentiation lead to business opportunities? People make snap judgments. If your signature idea connects with a target audience, they’re more likely to start a conversation with you or contact your business even though they know little else about you.
But it’s not enough to be known for the differentiating idea. Mark says you need to be the definitive provider of it. You need to represent the full potency of the idea, not a pale diet version that could have come from multiple people.
Simon does that well. What I remember most from his Start With Why TED Talk wasn’t the three-word tagline. It was his repetition of this line: “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”
If we learn to start with WHY, and share the reasons that we’re passionate for our work, we give people an opportunity to connect with us on a deeper, more human level. People don’t buy what we do, they buy WHY we do it. pic.twitter.com/w6N1PG69oO
— Simon Sinek (@simonsinek) August 5, 2021
For me, that combination cemented the association between the concept and Simon.
Examples of personal and brand differentiation
Mark offered another example of a person closely associated with a differentiating idea. Mel Robbins is an expert in change and motivation who became known for The 5 Second Rule. Her big sexy idea is that we’re all just five seconds away from a different life.
Mel introduced this idea in a TED Talk, as Simon did, and later turned it into a best-selling book.
According to Mel’s website, “The 5 Second Rule is the secret to changing anything about your life. You can use the Rule and its countdown method to break any bad habit, interrupt self-doubt and negative self-talk, and push yourself to take the actions that will change your life.”
While Simon and Mel’s big sexy ideas apply to individuals, Mark says that the concept works for companies and brands, too.
An example of a big sexy idea from a B2B marketing company is FlipMyFunnel. Conceived by Terminus co-founder Sangram Vajre, FlipMyFunnel evangelized account-based marketing (ABM). (Terminus is a vendor of ABM software).
The FlipMyFunnel idea fueled annual conferences, a Slack community, and a podcast. Although the events and podcast have ended, the phrase “flip my funnel” still calls Sangram Vajre, Terminus, and account-based marketing to mind. More powerfully, I still use the phrase to explain ABM – pursuing focused, named accounts rather than targeting a broad audience.
How to create your big sexy idea
To create a big sexy idea, Mark encourages teams or individuals to try his two-part “envy” exercise. Here’s how it works.
Step 1: Get angry or envious
Think of a time when you came across an idea and thought, “Wait a second, that’s my idea.” You might have gotten angry and felt envy. Mark felt this when he came across Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, a book published in 2007 by brothers Chip and Dan Heath.
Mark had been speaking about some of the same principles the Heath brothers covered. The brothers didn’t steal his work – they didn’t even know about Mark. Still, Mark became angry that his ideas had been unintentionally coopted.
Mark says an emotional reaction (e.g., anger or envy) can be revealing. Stop and ask yourself:
- What’s happening in this situation?
- What am I thinking in this situation?
Your answers can generate ideas that will lead to your big sexy idea.
So think of an idea that you envy and write it down.
To find your big sexy idea: Think of an idea someone (or brand) is known for that made you feel like it should have been yours, says @LevyInnovation via @dshiao and @CMIContent. Click To Tweet
Step 2: Make the idea your own
Next, build on your idea to make it unique and differentiating. In doing so, it might morph into a new concept. Mark helps illustrate this with a story.
A few years ago, Mark had an opportunity to submit a response to a Fast Company writer who was doing an article about how to be a good business conversationalist.
Mark knew that dozens of experts would send answers to the reporter. He also knew that if his answers sounded like everyone else’s, he had little chance of being quoted. He decided his response didn’t have to be better than the others – it just had to be different.
Mark compares the concept to a foot-high deli sandwich. It’s not necessarily a better-tasting sandwich, but its uniqueness draws lines of people waiting to buy and take photos of it.
Mark’s response to the Fast Company writer differentiated itself from the others, and it worked. Over 60% of what he submitted appeared in the article.
Here are the three questions essential to refining your big sexy idea:
- What do I know about this subject that 80% of the market doesn’t?
- What does my audience know but haven’t thought to say?
- What does my audience need to know?
To differentiate your #Content, think about what you know that 80% of the market doesn’t, says @LevyInnovation via @dshiao and @CMIContent. Click To Tweet
Your big sexy idea is not for everyone
By this point in the exercise, you’ve recalled seeing someone publish or promote an idea similar to one of yours. If it made you angry that someone got to it first, you’re probably on the right track.
You’ve also improved on that idea by adding elements that you know more about than other people, that people know but haven’t thought to say, and that people don’t know but need to know.
At this point, you might feel the urge to broaden your idea to appeal to everyone. But that would be a mistake. As Mark explains, “A large population would twist you into a pretzel – into something you’re not.”
Instead, Mark says, think about your idea the way The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia thought about the band’s music: “Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.”
Now, go find your big sexy idea.
Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
MARKETING
YouTube Ad Specs, Sizes, and Examples [2024 Update]
Introduction
With billions of users each month, YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine and top website for video content. This makes it a great place for advertising. To succeed, advertisers need to follow the correct YouTube ad specifications. These rules help your ad reach more viewers, increasing the chance of gaining new customers and boosting brand awareness.
Types of YouTube Ads
Video Ads
- Description: These play before, during, or after a YouTube video on computers or mobile devices.
- Types:
- In-stream ads: Can be skippable or non-skippable.
- Bumper ads: Non-skippable, short ads that play before, during, or after a video.
Display Ads
- Description: These appear in different spots on YouTube and usually use text or static images.
- Note: YouTube does not support display image ads directly on its app, but these can be targeted to YouTube.com through Google Display Network (GDN).
Companion Banners
- Description: Appears to the right of the YouTube player on desktop.
- Requirement: Must be purchased alongside In-stream ads, Bumper ads, or In-feed ads.
In-feed Ads
- Description: Resemble videos with images, headlines, and text. They link to a public or unlisted YouTube video.
Outstream Ads
- Description: Mobile-only video ads that play outside of YouTube, on websites and apps within the Google video partner network.
Masthead Ads
- Description: Premium, high-visibility banner ads displayed at the top of the YouTube homepage for both desktop and mobile users.
YouTube Ad Specs by Type
Skippable In-stream Video Ads
- Placement: Before, during, or after a YouTube video.
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
- Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
- Square: 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect Ratio:
- Horizontal: 16:9
- Vertical: 9:16
- Square: 1:1
- Length:
- Awareness: 15-20 seconds
- Consideration: 2-3 minutes
- Action: 15-20 seconds
Non-skippable In-stream Video Ads
- Description: Must be watched completely before the main video.
- Length: 15 seconds (or 20 seconds in certain markets).
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
- Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
- Square: 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect Ratio:
- Horizontal: 16:9
- Vertical: 9:16
- Square: 1:1
Bumper Ads
- Length: Maximum 6 seconds.
- File Format: MP4, Quicktime, AVI, ASF, Windows Media, or MPEG.
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 640 x 360px
- Vertical: 480 x 360px
In-feed Ads
- Description: Show alongside YouTube content, like search results or the Home feed.
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
- Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
- Square: 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect Ratio:
- Horizontal: 16:9
- Square: 1:1
- Length:
- Awareness: 15-20 seconds
- Consideration: 2-3 minutes
- Headline/Description:
- Headline: Up to 2 lines, 40 characters per line
- Description: Up to 2 lines, 35 characters per line
Display Ads
- Description: Static images or animated media that appear on YouTube next to video suggestions, in search results, or on the homepage.
- Image Size: 300×60 pixels.
- File Type: GIF, JPG, PNG.
- File Size: Max 150KB.
- Max Animation Length: 30 seconds.
Outstream Ads
- Description: Mobile-only video ads that appear on websites and apps within the Google video partner network, not on YouTube itself.
- Logo Specs:
- Square: 1:1 (200 x 200px).
- File Type: JPG, GIF, PNG.
- Max Size: 200KB.
Masthead Ads
- Description: High-visibility ads at the top of the YouTube homepage.
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher.
- File Type: JPG or PNG (without transparency).
Conclusion
YouTube offers a variety of ad formats to reach audiences effectively in 2024. Whether you want to build brand awareness, drive conversions, or target specific demographics, YouTube provides a dynamic platform for your advertising needs. Always follow Google’s advertising policies and the technical ad specs to ensure your ads perform their best. Ready to start using YouTube ads? Contact us today to get started!
MARKETING
Why We Are Always ‘Clicking to Buy’, According to Psychologists
Amazon pillows.
MARKETING
A deeper dive into data, personalization and Copilots
Salesforce launched a collection of new, generative AI-related products at Connections in Chicago this week. They included new Einstein Copilots for marketers and merchants and Einstein Personalization.
To better understand, not only the potential impact of the new products, but the evolving Salesforce architecture, we sat down with Bobby Jania, CMO, Marketing Cloud.
Dig deeper: Salesforce piles on the Einstein Copilots
Salesforce’s evolving architecture
It’s hard to deny that Salesforce likes coming up with new names for platforms and products (what happened to Customer 360?) and this can sometimes make the observer wonder if something is brand new, or old but with a brand new name. In particular, what exactly is Einstein 1 and how is it related to Salesforce Data Cloud?
“Data Cloud is built on the Einstein 1 platform,” Jania explained. “The Einstein 1 platform is our entire Salesforce platform and that includes products like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud — that it includes the original idea of Salesforce not just being in the cloud, but being multi-tenancy.”
Data Cloud — not an acquisition, of course — was built natively on that platform. It was the first product built on Hyperforce, Salesforce’s new cloud infrastructure architecture. “Since Data Cloud was on what we now call the Einstein 1 platform from Day One, it has always natively connected to, and been able to read anything in Sales Cloud, Service Cloud [and so on]. On top of that, we can now bring in, not only structured but unstructured data.”
That’s a significant progression from the position, several years ago, when Salesforce had stitched together a platform around various acquisitions (ExactTarget, for example) that didn’t necessarily talk to each other.
“At times, what we would do is have a kind of behind-the-scenes flow where data from one product could be moved into another product,” said Jania, “but in many of those cases the data would then be in both, whereas now the data is in Data Cloud. Tableau will run natively off Data Cloud; Commerce Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud — they’re all going to the same operational customer profile.” They’re not copying the data from Data Cloud, Jania confirmed.
Another thing to know is tit’s possible for Salesforce customers to import their own datasets into Data Cloud. “We wanted to create a federated data model,” said Jania. “If you’re using Snowflake, for example, we more or less virtually sit on your data lake. The value we add is that we will look at all your data and help you form these operational customer profiles.”
Let’s learn more about Einstein Copilot
“Copilot means that I have an assistant with me in the tool where I need to be working that contextually knows what I am trying to do and helps me at every step of the process,” Jania said.
For marketers, this might begin with a campaign brief developed with Copilot’s assistance, the identification of an audience based on the brief, and then the development of email or other content. “What’s really cool is the idea of Einstein Studio where our customers will create actions [for Copilot] that we hadn’t even thought about.”
Here’s a key insight (back to nomenclature). We reported on Copilot for markets, Copilot for merchants, Copilot for shoppers. It turns out, however, that there is just one Copilot, Einstein Copilot, and these are use cases. “There’s just one Copilot, we just add these for a little clarity; we’re going to talk about marketing use cases, about shoppers’ use cases. These are actions for the marketing use cases we built out of the box; you can build your own.”
It’s surely going to take a little time for marketers to learn to work easily with Copilot. “There’s always time for adoption,” Jania agreed. “What is directly connected with this is, this is my ninth Connections and this one has the most hands-on training that I’ve seen since 2014 — and a lot of that is getting people using Data Cloud, using these tools rather than just being given a demo.”
What’s new about Einstein Personalization
Salesforce Einstein has been around since 2016 and many of the use cases seem to have involved personalization in various forms. What’s new?
“Einstein Personalization is a real-time decision engine and it’s going to choose next-best-action, next-best-offer. What is new is that it’s a service now that runs natively on top of Data Cloud.” A lot of real-time decision engines need their own set of data that might actually be a subset of data. “Einstein Personalization is going to look holistically at a customer and recommend a next-best-action that could be natively surfaced in Service Cloud, Sales Cloud or Marketing Cloud.”
Finally, trust
One feature of the presentations at Connections was the reassurance that, although public LLMs like ChatGPT could be selected for application to customer data, none of that data would be retained by the LLMs. Is this just a matter of written agreements? No, not just that, said Jania.
“In the Einstein Trust Layer, all of the data, when it connects to an LLM, runs through our gateway. If there was a prompt that had personally identifiable information — a credit card number, an email address — at a mimum, all that is stripped out. The LLMs do not store the output; we store the output for auditing back in Salesforce. Any output that comes back through our gateway is logged in our system; it runs through a toxicity model; and only at the end do we put PII data back into the answer. There are real pieces beyond a handshake that this data is safe.”
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