PR 2.0: The AI Revolution for Strategic Communications

AI is quickly becoming embedded in our work and our lives. There’s a lot to keep up with as new developments are coming out almost every day. In the final days of 2023, the New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming millions of articles from the publication were used to train AI chatbot LLMs without authorization. This lawsuit is a clear sign that reform and regulation are coming for the AI market, but we’ll have to wait and see how the overall impact plays out.

Despite the evolving landscape, AI technology remains a powerful tool for PR professionals. The technology has played an important role in public relations work for years in a variety of ways, including;

  • Earned media and social media monitoring
  • Up-to-date journalist and outlet databases
  • Determining brand sentiment in earned media 
  • Determining trending topics and types of content

More recent AI advancements, like deep learning and text and image generation, are changing AI’s role in public relations, reflecting the type of disruption seen in many other industries. But its efficacy depends on our ability to use it strategically and cautiously.

We sat down with Green Apple PR Strategist, Chris Song, to take a closer look at how AI is assisting PR professionals and why it will never replace them. 

The Impact of AI on Strategy

Data and output from AI are really helpful for PR teams, especially for the strategic process. A recent study released by Muck Rack shows a majority (61%) of PR professionals are already using AI or are interested in using it. That’s a 40% increase since March 2023. The report shows the most popular use of AI among PR professionals is for copywriting. But it’s also helping PR pros like Green Apple’s Chris Song brainstorm ideas, conduct research, and monitor brands.

“AI is making it easier to keep track of our clients and their brands in real-time while also cutting out the “noise” produced by incorrect or duplicated results. Similarly, it helps us keep an eye on their partners, competitors, and industries as a whole, which can inform our marketing and PR efforts.”

When prompted with appropriate inputs, AI can assist with the copywriting process by generating creative ideas and topics in the brainstorming phase of an earned media campaign. It can also sift through large amounts of earned media content (e.g., headlines, social media posts, bylines, etc.) to help PR professionals do what they’re already doing—identifying trending content and connecting with journalists (and audiences) interested in their clients’ products and services.

The Human Element

AI can help make your job easier, but it can’t do your job for you. When it comes to PR, there’s a foundational communication skill that will always need a human touch: relationship-building.

“Good relationships are critical. A lot has changed over my time in PR—about 15 years—that makes that even more true today. More traditional news outlets have smaller staffs sharing the same workload as before, which means getting through to gatekeepers is a more complicated process. On the other hand, there are more media content generators and curators than ever, so the relationships we do have must deepen while we also pursue more contacts to build trust and credibility with new and emerging voices. That’s something that AI isn’t capable of doing.”

AI has many other limitations. Having a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips doesn’t guarantee accuracy, timeliness, or the effective application of that knowledge. Publicizing incorrect data and outdated information could erode trust between PR pros and their audiences while making brands vulnerable to criticism. 

Beyond what AI does know, there are many nuances that it cannot understand: the appropriate tone and voice for a particular situation, the timing of any given earned media effort, or highly localized sensitivities based on current events and politics. Writing and creating content for people isn’t the same as writing for a search engine algorithm, and quality, human-centered writing requires both heart and hand.

Best Practices for Utilizing AI in Public Relations 

The storytelling element of PR still requires an emotional intelligence that only humans can provide. AI can help us get away from blank stares at the screen, acting as a great brainstorming tool. We’ve outlined a few best practices to keep in mind when using AI for marketing in our recent blog and have listed a few more below.

  • Double-check everything.
  • Get specific. Just like a Google search, the more information and content you put in, the more you’ll get back.
  • Don’t copy and paste.
  • Don’t allow AI to write your press releases.
  • Don’t become overly reliant on AI for ideas.

The Bottom Line

Artificial intelligence is not something to fear. Instead, it’s an exciting opportunity to improve efficiency and creativity! The concept of AI “competing” with PR comes from a misunderstanding of one or both subjects. Even in the foreseeable future, AI can only supplement the work of a PR professional. Inevitably, some professionals will rely too heavily on it, while others will ignore its utility to the disadvantage of themselves and their clients. In the end, how ethically and effectively AI is used in PR work is up to you. 

An Innovative Marketing and PR Agency

Our team of experts at Green Apple are using the latest tools and innovative approaches to tailor the marketing we do for our clients. If your business could use an updated approach to branding, marketing, and PR, we can help. Reach out to us to discover more effective ways to connect with your audience.

Harnessing AI in Marketing: How to Bridge the Gap Between Efficiency and Authenticity

AI has recently been identified as a technology that will impact almost every industry. As a marketing agency, one of the most frequently asked questions we’ve received over the past year is, “How does AI fit into our marketing toolbox?”

At Green Apple Strategy, we are continually exploring innovative tools and trends to bolster client success. Whether it’s tools like Canva, Airtable, or ChatGPT, we want to find tools that help us deliver exceptional results. The best way we can describe our approach to AI is that we use it as a tool that empowers our team to work smarter. It’s a helpful resource, but it doesn’t replace the human element of our work.

One way to think about the rapid evolution of AI is to think back to the early days of search engines. Before Google, our primary sources of information were found in encyclopedias, phone books, or word-of-mouth recommendations. While Google revolutionized information access, we never copied and pasted information from the results page. Just like a Google search doesn’t replace dissecting a nuanced text, AI alone can’t create impactful marketing. The magic lies in human interpretation, crafting engaging narratives from data, injecting the right voice, and ensuring factual accuracy. 

 

3 Benefits of AI in Marketing 

When it comes to utilizing AI in marketing, here are three benefits we’ve noticed: 

Information Architect

Imagine having a tireless research assistant who scours the internet, analyzes trends, and uncovers hidden insights. That’s the power of AI in information gathering. It gathers mountains of data and gives our team a solid foundation to build strategies. Like Google, AI becomes a starting point and a research partner that we can use to shape the informational content we gather into strategy.

 

Inspiration Igniter

Stuck in a creative rut? AI can be a secret weapon. Its ability to generate different creative formats and ideas can spark unexpected insights and take you down untrod paths. Think of it as a digital brainstorming partner. You might not always use its exact suggestions, but it’ll get those creative juices flowing, helping you break free from the blank page and land on something truly unique and engaging.

 

Efficiency Engine

Marketing agencies wear many hats. AI can be an efficiency guru, automating tedious tasks like scheduling social media posts and generating basic design elements. This frees us up to focus on the human touch—crafting compelling brand narratives, building genuine connections, and injecting your brand with that unique personality that only you can bring.

 

How to Harness AI for Marketing

As you think about incorporating AI into your marketing efforts, here are a few essential “dos and don’ts” to consider: 

Do: Use AI as a tool for ideation and brainstorming. 

Its ability to process vast amounts of data can spark innovative ideas and strategies you might not have considered.

 

Don’t: Blindly use AI-generated content for critical platforms like your website. 

Always ensure that human oversight refines and enhances the content to resonate authentically with your audience.

 

Do: Be specific and detailed in your AI requests. 

Much like a Google search, the more context and information you provide in an AI prompt, the more tailored and relevant the AI-generated results will be.

 

Don’t: Neglect the human element. 

While AI can streamline processes, always contextualize and modify the content based on a deep understanding of your audience and industry nuances.

 

Do: Embrace AI’s analytical capabilities to glean insights from data. 

Utilize these insights to refine your marketing strategies and make informed decisions.

 

Don’t: Solely rely on AI to understand your audience. 

Engage directly with your audience, gather feedback, and use AI as a complementary tool to enhance your understanding, not replace it.

 

The Future of AI in Marketing 

In marketing, AI presents a promising blend of efficiency and innovation. At Green Apple Strategy, we recognize its transformative potential for small businesses. AI can’t replace your marketing team, but it can empower and enhance it. While AI streamlines processes, the essence of authentic connection remains a human touchstone. As you consider how to harness AI’s strengths for your marketing efforts, we hope to bridge the gap between efficiency and authenticity and find a more effective way to capture your audience’s attention and achieve your marketing goals.

From Reactive to Proactive: Creating Ad-Hoc Marketing Plans

marketers planning session around laptops

There’s more than one way to bake a cake, but every great cake requires certain ingredients.

Just like there’s more than one way to bake a cake, there’s no singular approach to marketing planning. Think of it this way: every great cake requires certain ingredients. Similarly, every successful marketing campaign requires a strategic foundation. 

At Green Apple, we make sure all the key ingredients are in place through our strategic planning services. While we typically collaborate with our clients to create comprehensive annual marketing plans, we also recognize the need for short-term campaigns for specific initiatives that propel your business forward.

When To Employ Ad-Hoc Marketing 

Ad-hoc marketing planning is a more agile and adaptable approach to marketing planning that is typically used by smaller marketing teams. It involves identifying and addressing marketing needs as they arise rather than developing a comprehensive annual marketing plan in advance. This approach is often necessary for smaller businesses with limited resources or those that operate in rapidly changing markets.

Here are some instances when a responsive marketing approach is more suitable than a comprehensive annual marketing plan:

  • Launching a new product or service. When introducing a new product, service, or initiative, an ad-hoc approach allows you to focus on a targeted and short-term campaign to create buzz, generate interest, and gather initial feedback.
  • Entering a new market. When businesses enter a new market, they may not have the resources or time to develop a comprehensive annual marketing plan.
  • Facing new competitive challenges. If your business faces strong competition or emerging rivals, a responsive strategy allows you to swiftly counter competitive threats and seize opportunities as they arise.
  • Managing budget constraints. If your marketing budget is limited or uncertain, you can allocate resources more effectively by concentrating on high-impact, short-term initiatives.

In these scenarios, a responsive marketing approach provides the agility and adaptability required to navigate changing circumstances and capitalize on opportunities.

Best Practices for Ad-Hoc Marketing Planning

How can you ensure your ad-hoc planning aligns with your overall business objectives to prevent slipping into a more reactive approach to marketing? Here are a few best practices to consider:

Keep Your Eye on the Big Picture: Ensure Alignment with Your Overall Strategy

Ad-hoc marketing should align with your overarching brand narrative strategy. Before diving into the specifics of your responsive marketing plan, take a step back and clearly define how it connects with what you’re hoping to achieve overall. What specific campaign, initiative, or opportunity are you addressing? What do you hope to accomplish with this plan? 

It’s also important to note that the absence of a comprehensive annual plan should not equate to a lack of strategic direction. Even if you don’t have an overarching marketing strategy, ensuring that your marketing activities align with your overall goals is important.

Know Your North Star: Set Clear Objectives to Guide Your Efforts

It’s essential to take a similar approach to ad-hoc planning as you do to annual planning. You’ll still need to set measurable marketing goals and a timeline of when you plan to reach them. Define specific and measurable goals for each opportunity or need. Doing this will allow you to evaluate success and impact more effectively.

Prioritize Your Power Plays: Focus on Opportunities with the Highest ROI

When your budget or time is limited, you want to focus on opportunities that have the potential to make the most significant impact on your business. This could include opportunities with high ROI, a strong alignment with your target audience, or those that address critical business needs.

Walk in Your Customers’ Shoes: Understand Their Needs and Desires

Put your customers at the center of your marketing strategy and focus on meeting their needs. What are their pain points? What are their goals? What are they looking for from a business like yours? By understanding their needs, you can develop more effective marketing campaigns.

Become a Data-Driven Marketer: Leverage Insights to Optimize Your Campaigns

Refrain from relying on intuition or guesswork when developing your marketing plan. How will you track progress and measure the impact of your marketing efforts? By defining metrics upfront, you can make informed decisions and refine your plan. This will also help you to make more informed marketing decisions in the future.

Embrace the Experiment: Test, Learn, and Refine Your Approach

When implementing ad-hoc marketing plans, consider embracing the idea of the marketing sandbox. A sandbox approach means that you launch new ideas with smaller resource allocations while watching analytics carefully. This approach allows you to gather valuable data and insights without overcommitting resources. 

If initial results are promising, you can gradually allot more resources and refine your strategies based on the data from each test. This iterative approach will help you optimize your marketing efforts and maximize the impact of your ad-hoc campaigns.

Tap into External Knowledge: Collaborate with an Agency to Unlock Your Full Potential

If you find yourself stuck in a reactive approach, consider outsourcing your marketing planning or implementation to an agency. One of the most significant benefits of hiring a marketing agency is that they offer access to a broader pool of expertise, fresh perspectives, and specialized tools that may not be readily available within your organization. 

When finding the right marketing agency, you want to find a partner who can help you take a more proactive approach rather than simply offering services that meet your immediate requests. 

Empower Your Marketing with a Proactive Approach

Navigating the changing landscape of marketing requires agility and adaptability. By embracing a strategic approach to ad-hoc marketing, you can respond effectively to new opportunities and challenges while staying true to your overall business goals. 

If you’re looking for guidance and support, our team at Green Apple Strategy can help. We specialize in developing customized marketing strategies that align with your overall business plan. 

Schedule an exploratory consultation today, and let us share how we can help you achieve your marketing goals.

Marketing Planning and the Perfect Timing [A Guide]

Strategy is so important to us that it’s part of our name. So naturally, we are big proponents of planning ahead when it comes to your marketing strategy. The short answer to the question of this blog’s title is that it’s never too early to begin crafting your approach to next year’s marketing strategy. Today, we’ll take a deeper dive into the reasons why that’s true. We’ll also highlight a few factors to consider while you’re doing that advance marketing planning. 


Benefits of an Annual Plan

With sufficient planning, you can keep all of your marketing efforts organized, maintain audience engagement with quality content, and adapt to changes in your industry faster. All of this means you’ll give your business the ability to thrive and stay one step ahead of the competition. 

Ideally, a good annual marketing plan should be high-level, since things change all the time, and act as a guide for multiple stakeholders. This approach is especially helpful for large teams working to stay on the same page and obtain the same end goal. An overarching marketing plan can unite your sales team, your business development team, your in-house and outsourced marketing team, and your C-suite executives.  It’s a useful tool that can help create a streamlined and focused tactical plan that everyone can get on board with. 


Planning for the Busiest Times of Year

While long-term planning is ideal, you should plan at least six months ahead of your busiest time of year. Regardless of whether your busy season is summer or the holidays, giving yourself ample time to prepare is a sure way to drive optimal results. If you’re not sure when your brand sees the most business, it may be time to run an audit on your social media, website traffic, and other indicators of surging interest. With the right data, you can create a solid marketing funnel that can translate increased interest and search queries into qualified leads and sales. 


Strategic Planning 

Rather than using last year’s ideas or “institutional wisdom” to drive your planning decisions, embrace a mindset of data-based continuous improvement to develop a marketing plan based on your organization’s long-term strategy and vision. Data analysis can also help you hone and direct your annual marketing budget. Although it can be tempting to follow a gut feeling about where your leads are originating, the data may indicate a different funnel. For instance, while social media is essential for building brand integrity, email marketing may have more ROI in your annual revenues.  


What Happens When You Need to Pivot?

The best laid plans of mice and men… often need to be reframed in the light of your analytics! While that’s not exactly how the Robert Burns quote goes, it’s definitely something we focus on at Green Apple. The best marketing strategies are nimble and should allow you to drop one strategy or double down on an effective tactic if the data backs it. Don’t be concerned if you need to scrap your current strategy and recalibrate! That should be an expected part of the marketing planning process, and it means you’re committed to an evidence-based approach. If you need help interpreting the data or you need help collecting more information points, we’re here to help. Don’t hesitate to turn to an outsourced marketing team to support your in-house team with all the initiatives they’re launching. 


Let Us Help You Achieve Your Goals

Need some help getting started on next year’s marketing goals? Check out this Green Apple guide to start planning! Our team is here to help you build an effective strategy to help your brand achieve its business goals.

5 Keys for B2B Content Marketing Strategy that Drives Business

Sticky notes on a board

Content marketing has become a crucial component of nearly every B2B marketer’s strategy. In fact, 91% of B2B marketers say they use content marketing in their overall strategy. The good news is that content marketing has become a proven way to reach ​​customers, earn trust, and impact the bottom line. The challenge for many marketers is identifying the right tactics and channels that work for their business and within their budget. It seems like everyone is competing for attention or popular keywords, and artificial intelligence is changing content creation.

In this blog post, we wanted to explore a few best practices we’ve used with clients when it comes to developing a content marketing strategy that directly impacts business development.

1. Take time to truly understand your audience. 

The first step in developing an effective content marketing strategy is to understand your target audience. If you want your content to resonate with potential customers, you need to know who they are, their daily pain points and challenges, and what type of content resonates with them. This ensures you develop content that addresses their specific needs and interests rather than guessing if you’re creating valuable content. 

2. Make sure your content is aligned with your overall business goals.

What are you hoping to achieve this year? Are you launching a new product or hoping to increase customers in a particular area of business? If so, you should incorporate those goals as you develop your content strategy. One key factor in this approach is giving yourself plenty of runway to educate and inspire your audience to take action. As the old saying goes, the moment you’re tired of talking about it is likely the time your customers are starting to recognize the message. Give your top-of-the-funnel content marketing plenty of time to work before you start expecting results. 

3. Be strategic as you diversify your content. 

In addition to creating high-quality content that resonates with your audience, it’s important to diversify the format in which you share it. Today’s digital landscape offers a variety of channels that allow you to get more out of your content marketing. For example, you can turn a white paper into a podcast or webinar. You can break down a blog post into a social infographic. As you explore ways to diversify your content, it’s important to remember what formats your audience prefers. The good news is that diversifying your content allows you to meet the different preferences and consumption habits of your target audience.

4. Don’t forget to promote your content.

You could write the most amazing blog post in the world. But it could quickly fall by the wayside without an intentional promotional strategy. B2B marketers must ensure that their content reaches their content audience by promoting it through a variety of channels. This includes strategically thinking about how to promote content on social media, email marketing, paid advertising, and influencer marketing. Promoting your content is essential for amplifying your reach and increasing the ROI of your content marketing efforts. 

5. Let data inform your decisions. 

Measuring the effectiveness of your efforts is an essential part of marketing. But often, evaluating content marketing becomes anecdotal and causes you to question how to adapt your strategy. This is why evaluating the data and adopting a more agile approach to content marketing is key. Which content pieces are most popular with your audience? What promotional tactics seemed to be most effective? How can you use these insights to plan your content marketing and areas such as product development or customer solutions? These are all helpful questions that provide valuable insights for your business. 

Need Help with Content Marketing?

At Green Apple, we’ve used these principles to help dozens of businesses develop a content marketing strategy that creates a pipeline for business development. ​Our strategic, full-service marketing firm can help you plan and deploy an innovative content marketing approach to court customers and build brand loyalty. Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a consultation. Our team is happy to sit down with you to discuss your marketing goals and how we can help you achieve each one of them.​

7 Ideas to Get Your Employees Involved in Marketing

In today’s world, everything is marketing. Subsequently, every area of your business has valuable insights or perspectives that could be beneficial for your marketing efforts. Taking the time to get your employees involved in marketing creates opportunities to connect with your audience on a human level.

While other teams and departments might not be responsible for your marketing goals, they can all play a valuable role in enhancing brand perception, improving lead generation, and creating more meaningful connections with your customers. 

7 Ideas to Get Your Employees Involved in Marketing

Here are seven effective yet fairly simple ways to get your employees involved in your marketing efforts: 

1. Invite Your Sales and Customer Success to Speak into Marketing Messaging

No one knows the challenges that your audience faces every day more than your sales and customer success teams. Knowing these challenges—and how you’re uniquely equipped to help them—is essential for sharing a clear and compelling marketing message.

There are several important questions your marketing team can ask sales and customer service to help improve your marketing copy and connect with your audience. 

2. Equip Your Customer Relations Team with Easy Ways to Share Positive Feedback & Reviews 

Customer reviews are powerful marketing tools. Yet many marketers don’t have direct access to feedback or testimonials from customers. This is where equipping your customer relations team with resources to capture feedback and reviews can really help. 

It could be something as simple as an email template they can use to ask permission to share a positive review or implementing a customer survey platform to capture feedback.

3. Share your Team’s Expertise through Your Content Marketing.

If you offer a professional service, your team likely has knowledge and experience that can be beneficial for your audience. Finding ways to empower your employees to create content for your marketing can be a powerful way to position your brand as a thought leader in the industry and earn the trust of your audience. 

4. Build an Employee Advocacy Plan

Your employees can also be your best promoters. This is one reason why many businesses have started creating a dedicated employee advocacy program within their organization. Helping employees understand their role as brand ambassadors can create tremendous dividends for the overall health and success of your company. 

5. Make it Easy & Compelling for Employees to Share Your Social Content

Your marketing team spends a lot of time, energy, and effort to keep your social media platforms running. And yet, most employees don’t recognize how helpful and powerful it can be to simply share the content that you’ve created. While there are many reasons why people might not share your social content, the best way to overcome all of them is to create social content that your employees actually want to share.

6. Create an “Employee Spotlight Series” on Your Blog

At the end of the day, people connect with people, not brands. Consumers like hearing from real people more than sales campaigns that aren’t designed with a personal touch. Employee spotlights are a powerful way to share stories from an employee’s perspective. These spotlights can be very powerful tools when it comes to building trust and loyalty among other employees and even customers. They can also be helpful in recruiting new hires.

7. Acknowledge Social Responsibility or Volunteerism In Your Marketing

Many companies have a corporate social responsibility platform or promote ways for employees to give back to the community throughout the year. Promoting these activities through your marketing channels can be a great way to highlight your employees and create meaningful connections with your audience. When you share content that is focused on your team, employees are also likely to share the event and the content with their family and friends, generating goodwill and increased brand exposure.  

We hope these ideas create an opportunity to integrate your marketing into your company rather than keeping it siloed. Finding ways to get employees involved in your marketing can be a powerful way to leverage your company’s community to create deeper, more personal connections with your audience. 

Copywriting Tips that Inspire Your Customers to Take Action

Two Women Typing on Laptops

Inspiring customers to take action is the goal of any marketing campaign. Achieving that goal requires knowing the words that will resonate with your audience and motivate them to take the appropriate next step. This is why copywriting is such a powerful part of marketing.

There are dozens of things to take into account whenever you’re writing marketing copy. You’re thinking about your audience, the medium you’re communicating through, and what you’re trying to achieve. You’re also trying to determine what will capture their attention and keep them engaged. Most people don’t realize how challenging it is to accomplish such a feat.  

How do you inspire your audience to take the action you want in a way that doesn’t come across as a hard sell? In this post, we wanted to highlight a few tips from our writers in Orchard when it comes to creating marketing copy that inspires people to take action. 

Copywriting Tips That Inspire Your Customers to Take Action

1. Identify and solve a problem.

Great marketing copy creates tension that resonates with the audience and then provides a release. During the attention-grabbing phase, it’s essential to identify your audience’s needs or problems so that you can ultimately present a solution.

2. Use short, simple sentences.

You need to make it easy for people to read your content. This is especially true for writing copy that will be published on digital platforms. Reading from a screen is hard. When you write long, meandering sentences, your readers have to work harder to make sense of it. 

3. Don’t bury the lead.

This old adage from journalism also applies to marketing copy. While creating tension is important, you also don’t want to lose your audience’s attention. If you want to inspire action,  it’s best to get to the point. Your audience should know the next step they should take to resolve their issue within a few minutes of reading. 

4. Make sure to emphasize the benefits your customer will experience. 

A common reason marketing copy doesn’t inspire action is that the focus shifts from the audience back to the product or service. While it may be important to highlight the unique features of your product or service, your audience cares more about how it will benefit them. 

It’s important to start with benefits before you dive into whatever features you want to highlight in your copy. 

5. Read what you write out loud before posting.

The best marketing copy makes you feel like you’re having a conversation. It’s personable, relatable, and easy to follow. Reading your copy out loud before you post it is one of the easiest ways to improve your copywriting skills. 

6. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. 

Many times, marketers can be so close to their product or service that they forget what it’s like for their audience to experience it. This is where it can be helpful to take a step back and try to read your content from your audience’s point of view.

As yourself…

  • Would I click this link?
  • Would I find this helpful?
  • Would I enjoy this content?

Any response other than a quick “yes” might indicate that you need to spend more time on your copy.

7. Provide an appropriate call-to-action.

Part of our role as marketers is to guide people through the buying process. In the same way, you don’t ask someone to marry you on the first date, it’s important to know the appropriate “next step” to offer your audience. 

Writing copy that inspires customers to take action is both an art and a skill. It requires that you understand your audience’s core challenges and needs. It also involves knowing how to guide them toward the right next step. 

If you’ve struggled to inspire potential customers to take action or you suspect that your website copy might be a reason you’re not attracting new business, our team can help. You can subscribe to our newsletter for marketing tips or reach out to learn more about the ways we can support your marketing needs.  

How to use SEO Best Practices to Get More YouTube Views

Video is no longer just another tactic to help you get the most out of your content marketing. It has become an absolute must if you’re serious about getting your product or service in front of the right people. According to a recent Hubspot report, video was the most commonly used form of content marketing in 2021, overtaking blogs and infographics. 

However, simply creating videos doesn’t mean your customers will find or watch them. Developing a strategy to increase YouTube views is just as important as creating videos. This is where understanding YouTube SEO best practices come in handy. YouTube SEO, as the name suggests, is optimizing your videos to rank higher on the YouTube search engine. 

4 SEO Tips to Get More YouTube Views

If you’re looking for a way to increase your YouTube views, here are four SEO best practices as you add and upload your videos:

1. Incorporate Keywords Strategically

Keywords play a valuable role in any SEO campaign. Whether you’re optimizing your website or uploading videos, identifying the right SEO keywords for your business is the first step. When it comes to YouTube, there are several places you want to strategically incorporate keywords for your videos. You want to include your keyword in the video title, description, tags, and file name. It’s helpful to identify one or two main words that describe your video and feature them prominently in your description and title.

2. Add a Custom Thumbnail Image, Cards, and End Screens to Your Video 

The video itself also plays a key role in SEO for YouTube. A custom thumbnail image for your video can make a drastic difference in the click-through rate. 

Cards and end screens are also helpful images to create and add to your video. YouTube cards are preformatted notifications that encourage people to take desired actions during your video. End screens appear after a video finishes and tell a viewer what they can do next. Both cards and end screens can optimize the viewing experience and encourage viewers to watch another video or take further action when they’ve finished.

3. Use Subtitles in Your Video

Using subtitles and closed captions is another tip for success in YouTube search. Both subtitles and closed-caption files contain the text from the video in a transcript. This is where using keywords while talking is important. By including keywords in your video and adding subtitles, you’re able to reach our audience and increase your rankings. Make sure you provide accurate captions and subtitles and don’t indulge in keyword stuffing.

4. Create Engagement and Ask for Comments to Increase Rankings

Engagement is one of the biggest factors in your video rankings. Comments on videos also appear to be an influential ranking factor. As you create your videos, consider how you might ask for feedback or comments. Another thing you can do to increase engagement is directly replying to comments on your videos. Responding and creating a dialogue will help you create a community from the ground up. 

All these components may seem a bit complicated, but they’re incredibly easy to deploy. Remember: there’s a huge audience on YouTube, and when you optimize your videos for YouTube, you also increase your chances of your brand reaching your target demographic.

Discover our unique approach to helping small businesses optimize their SEO efforts through Green Apple’s SEO Silo.

When to Use A Professional Photographer Instead of Your Smartphone

Capturing the attention of your audience is essential for any marketing campaign. Photos and images have become essential to achieving that goal. While technology has made it possible to take high-quality photos with a smartphone, there are times when hiring a professional photographer is important. 

Over the past few years, Green Apple has worked with our clients to hire professional photographers for employee headshots, Google My Business pages, marketing collateral, Google 360° tours, and drone footage. While hiring a professional photographer can sometimes be expensive, the quality of the images often provides a greater ROI in the long run. 

Here are just a few important statistics that highlight the importance of your photography:

  • 67% of consumers say the quality of a product image is “very important” in selecting and purchasing the product. (Source)
  • 75% of online shoppers rely on product photos when deciding on a potential purchase. (Source)
  • Good visual content is 40% more likely to get shared on your social accounts (Source)

4 Reasons to Invest in Professional Photography for Your Marketing

If you’re trying to decide whether or not to hire a professional photographer for your image needs, here are four factors to consider: 

1. Professional photography helps elevate your brand. 

Poor quality images, outdated images, or obvious stock photography can hurt your business. Having your own proprietary images to communicate your unique values, services, and products are invaluable. Good photography helps people to truly get a sense of what your company offers. 

2. Professional photography helps tell your story. 

Having high-quality, personalized content to market your business is so important to standing out online. A good photographer knows what customers want and can provide ideas and insights to elevate your images. 

3. Professional photography can equip your business with marketing assets. 

Great images are a long-lasting asset that can be reused over time and repurposed for many different applications. Whether you need a new piece of marketing collateral or want to build a library of images for social media, taking the time to hire a professional photographer can be an invaluable asset. It allows you to create high-resolution images that can be used on marketing assets for many different platforms and purposes. 

4. Professional photography can help you increase conversions. 

If you want to attract attention and customers to your brand, you need to have an impactful first impression on your audience by having great personal branding photography. Professional high-quality photos allow your customers to have a better understanding of you, your products, or your services. If a high-quality photo builds brand confidence, leads are more likely to purchase from your brand. 

When to use a Professional Photographer instead of your Smartphone 

Here are a few specific times we recommend clients hire a professional photographer: 

1. Team headshots

It looks professional when your team page uses similar images. A professional photographer ensures all of your headshots are consistent — from the lighting used, the background chosen, and the size and resolution of each shot. Taking the time to hire a professional photographer for your headshots instills the value of quality.

2. Images for your new website

The images on your website make a significant impression on your audience. It’s more difficult to create a good first impression with low-quality images or stock photos. If you’re investing in developing a new website, it’s valuable to set aside room in your budget to invest in new images that support a website redesign.  

3. Marketing collateral

Brochures, catalogs, or annual reports all need high-resolution images to build legitimacy and trust. Memorable images can help you tell a more compelling story and paint the picture you’re trying to create. 

4. Corporate events

You put a lot of time, energy, and money into your corporate events or parties. Why not invest a little more to ensure it is captured through compelling photography? Photographing your parties and outings is integral to showcasing your brand as a relevant and engaged community partner.

In marketing, photos add a component to communication that written and verbal methods do not. The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words continues to hold true, even in the digital age.

5 Qualities of an Effective Marketing Agency

business meeting with people looking at computer screen

Marketing agencies exist to be a guide that meets your business where it is and helps you get where you want to go. Whether you’re looking to build a brand, increase awareness about your product, services, and mission, or drive sales through more effective marketing tools, your agency should be a partner who understands your industry and can provide ideas, tools, and resources to help you achieve your goals. 

For the past decade, Green Apple has worked with dozens of clients in a variety of industries. We’ve also partnered with other marketing agencies to help our clients achieve their specific goals. With that experience in mind, we’ve identified five qualities you should look for when selecting a skilled marketing agency.

1. Quality Relationships Across the Agency

At its core, the partnership between you and your marketing agency is a relationship. But that partnership is built on numerous individual relationships: between you and the agency representatives, between employees within the agency, and between your agency and their vendors. If there are relational issues or breakdowns, your results have the potential to suffer. 

Behind every successful marketing agency is a great team of people who have both the skills to execute strategy and a positive attitude that makes for a streamlined workflow. That includes the leadership level and those responsible for executing the day-to-day project management tasks.

2. They Understand and Can Support Your Greatest Needs

Marketing agencies come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Each has its own unique philosophy, approach, style, and strengths. One important factor we constantly focus on as an agency is our ability to truly understand what our clients need and ensure we can support them. 

This is why an agency needs to get to know the ins and outs of your business. What are your biggest challenges? What would others in your company say? Making sure your marketing agency is aware of what’s happening across your business and communicating your goals will help them identify the best ways to support it.

3. They Communicate Expectations Clearly and Mistakes Quickly

Effective agency partnerships involve constant communication. This is why asking specific questions before hiring a marketing agency can be helpful. It’s essential to know how an agency communicates with clients. It’s also important to understand how they expect you to communicate with them. Clarity is key. 

An agency should also be able to proactively and quickly own up to any mistakes. There isn’t an agency out there that doesn’t make mistakes. We’re human. But effective marketing agencies can communicate mistakes quickly and provide quick resolutions.

4. A Robust Team that Can Grow or Adapt with Your Needs

The marketing world is ever-changing, so it’s important to partner with an agency that is agile and able to adapt as your business evolves and changes. This is one thing that makes our approach at Green Apple unique. We don’t believe your business fits into a marketing mold. Instead, we mold our marketing practices around your business to help you be successful. Then, as more data comes in, we pivot, adjust, and adapt those strategies to be more effective over time. 

Often, our clients engage with us for one or two services, and our relationship grows to cover several different areas over time. For example, one of our clients started with social media and website support services. That quickly evolved into SEO and branding needs as they expanded into new markets. Now, we also assist with additional internal marketing and onboarding procedures for new employees. 

A Proven Track Record of Creating Results  

The goal of every effective marketing company should be to deliver positive results for their clients. When considering a partnership with an agency, look for case studies and testimonials to see how they’ve made their clients successful, and ask about measuring ROI. Marketing agencies exist to help brands, businesses, and nonprofits achieve something they can’t do on their own. But there are a lot of factors that go into making that happen. 

If you’re curious about how Green Apple can help you achieve your goals, schedule an exploratory consultation with our team. We would love to learn more about your business and see if we’re the right fit for you!