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Take Content Beyond the Buyer’s Journey by Playing Nice [11 Expert Tips]

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Take Content Beyond the Buyer's Journey by Playing Nice [11 Expert Tips]

A content marketing strategy based on the buyer’s journey isn’t enough.

Why? First, prospects often encounter content from your brand that the content marketing team didn’t create. Second, the journey shouldn’t end when they become customers.

Buyer engagement today requires a circular approach to content as your journey with the audience isn’t linear and shouldn’t end with the purchase. And that holistic view requires companies to better organize their content operations.

Buyer engagement today requires a circular approach to #content. Your journey with the audience isn’t linear and shouldn’t end with the purchase, says @AnnGynn via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

The marketing department often owns content operations within a company. But success requires close collaboration with other internal teams (such as sales and customer service) and a willingness to extend content beyond the marketing and sales cycle.

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It takes work –and teamwork.

But how do you get everyone (content, marketing, sales, customer support, and more) working together to give audience members, prospects, buyers, and customers the content they need? We asked experts presenting at the upcoming ContentTECH Summit for advice. Here’s what they suggest.

1. Reflect and collaborate

Listen to the other teams’ needs and concerns. Get familiar with the content and its purpose. Recognize that other teams come from a different tradition and way of thinking about content. Then look for the commonalities. Everyone wants accurate, quality, useful content. They want users to find, understand, and use the content. Work toward this shared goal. – Regina Lynn Preciado, senior content strategist, Content Rules

Other teams come from a different way of thinking about #Content, but they want buyers to find, understand, and use it, too, says @contentrulesinc via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

2. Stay humble

Respect is earned, not given. If you want sales and customer service to follow marketing’s lead, recommendations, ideas, etc., listen before speaking. Approach every discussion from a mental place of, “Hey, I might be wrong.” Stay humble – humble people hear more than proud people. And often, what they hear is the difference between the other party wanting to follow them or fighting them each step of the way. – Tom Martin, president, Converse Digital

If you want your sales team to follow your lead on #Content, stay humble. Humble people hear more, making others want to follow – not fight, says @TomMartin via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

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3. Stop trying to win

Don’t go in looking for a turf battle. Instead, aim to align around the big picture: If content marketing is successful, buyers should be more qualified, and customer service should be less pressed by basic questions. Ask: What are the factors that would make their jobs easier? What questions can content address and explain to improve their work? – Zontee Hou, director of strategy, Convince & Convert

Align around the goal: Successful #ContentMarketing means more qualified buyers and fewer basic questions for customer service, says @ZonteeHou via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

4. Work transparently

Seek feedback from others before making any grand pronouncements. At least appear as a collaborator before deciding what other teams must or should do. Add transparency to any decisions that affect others, so they understand the whys without begrudging the hows. – Gavin Austin, principal technical writer, Salesforce

Be transparent about #Content decisions that affect other teams, so they understand the why without begrudging the how, says @GavinAustinSays via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

5. Understand multiple roles, but don’t take on everything yourself

To be a great marketer, you must understand what it takes to be a great salesperson or a great designer. You don’t need to take on these roles yourself, but it’s important to respect the process of these roles, understand the roadblocks folks in these roles might face, and respect the time it can take to deliver success in these positions. Mutual respect goes a very long way in earning the trust of your colleagues, but it will also help you set stakeholder expectations and inspire your teammates to deliver success. – Amy Balliett, senior fellow of visual strategy, Material

Great marketers understand what it takes to be a great salesperson or a great designer. You don’t have to do the work yourself – just respect your colleagues, says @AmyBalliett via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

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6. Create a shared vision

If marketing is to lead content operations, they need to create a shared context for other internal teams like sales and customer service. Each has its targets, but you can translate them into a common vision. – Tim Hanse, principal consultant, Crossphase

To lead #ContentOps, create a shared vision with sales and customer service teams, says #TimHanse via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

7. Ask, then produce for the entire journey

[Create]  a simple but scalable way to get feedback. We should be creating content that works across the entire customer journey, from awareness to expansion and advocacy. Nothing frustrates a customer service rep more than seeing just top-of-funnel content being produced. We need to know the most crucial steps in the customer journey to plan and map our content strategy properly. – Randy Frisch, president and co-founder, Uberflip

Create #Content that works across the entire customer journey. Nothing frustrates customer service teams more than seeing only top-of-funnel content, says @randyfrisch via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

8. Unite on the goals

The best way to collaborate with other internal teams is to identify common goals everyone can work toward. Of course, there may be some specific goals unique to each department. But having that shared vision is crucial to enabling cooperation. – Jeff Coyle, co-founder and chief strategy officer, MarketMuse

A shared vision is crucial to enabling cooperation, says @jeffrey_coyle via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

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9. Develop familiarity and knowledge

There are several things you can do to gain respect – the most important is regular and collaborative communication. Socialize your success around the business. Use your content expertise to develop personas for each of your internal stakeholder groups and address their pain points in your content strategy.

Show them the questions your audience is searching for, where your company’s answers are falling short, how you can fix it, and the specific benefits of doing that. Run an analysis of your content inventory’s performance highlighting where competitors are pulling ahead (a little bit of rivalry can go a long way). Set up content attribution modeling showing the single customer view, where your eventual purchaser has interacted with your content on the path to purchase. Keep internal teams in the loop with monthly reporting on content performance specific to their pain points. Give tangible examples of how content is supporting their goals. – Karen Hesse, founder and CEO, 256

Keep internal teams in the loop with monthly reporting on #Content performance. Give examples of how content supports their goals, says @256media via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

10. Invite other teams into your content

You can partner with internal teams. For example, in the case of podcasting, bring in members of the other teams as regular guests, so they feel a partial ownership of the podcast. Look at the eBay for Business Podcast, for which we are a partner, as a good example of this. – Rob Walch, vice president of Libsyn enterprise and platform partnerships, Libsyn

Bring members of other teams into your #Content, so they feel ownership, says @podcast411 via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

11. Keep an eye on customer happiness

Marketing is about keeping customers happy during the entire cycle of the customer journey – from the moment a lead approaches the company, to making a purchase decision, to resolving issues and conflicts after the deal is closed. This requires tight interaction and integration between all teams, including marketing, sales, development, customer service, and so on. To make sure that the customer has a unified experience at each stage of the customer journey, all the teams need to exchange and share knowledge about the customer’s needs.

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If the customer is provided with a fantastically convenient way to make a purchase, but the delivery team messes things up by shipping the product to the wrong address and customer service demonstrates indifference to the problem, the overall customer experience can hardly be called successful. By providing insights into customers’ goals and behavior at all stages of the customer’s journey, suggesting ways to tailor the company’s offerings to customer’s context, and gathering analytics, marketing teams can become the secret ingredient that bridges all other teams, from development to after-sale support. – Alex Masycheff, CEO, Intuillion

#Marketing can become the secret ingredient that brings other teams together to create an optimal customer experience, says @DITAToo1 via @CMIContent. #ContentTECH Click To Tweet

Be the secret ingredient

Will your content team seize the opportunity to unite the company’s content and create happy customers all along the lifecycle?

Extending content’s impact beyond the sales funnel demands leaders who can make all the cogs in the wheels fit together so the prospect-turned-buyer-turned-customer moves along smoothly.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

Want to learn how to balance, manage, and scale great content experiences across all your essential platforms and channels? Join us at ContentTECH Summit this March in San Diego. Browse the schedule or register today. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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YouTube Ad Specs, Sizes, and Examples [2024 Update]

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YouTube Ad Specs, Sizes, and Examples

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!

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Why We Are Always ‘Clicking to Buy’, According to Psychologists

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Why We Are Always 'Clicking to Buy', According to Psychologists

Amazon pillows.

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A deeper dive into data, personalization and Copilots

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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.”

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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.”

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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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