Saffire Blog

7 Microsoft Word Tricks!

Many of us use Microsoft Word every day, navigating and utilizing the tool in the same way we did in 1999… minus the cute paper clip guy – we sure miss that guy! The Saffire Team has compiled a list of some of the more unique tips and tricks that we have picked up over … Continue reading “7 Microsoft Word Tricks!”

Many of us use Microsoft Word every day, navigating and utilizing the tool in the same way we did in 1999… minus the cute paper clip guy – we sure miss that guy!

The Saffire Team has compiled a list of some of the more unique tips and tricks that we have picked up over the years. We recommend you open up Word when reading through the list in order to try out some of our tricks!

1. Configure Paste Options

Need to cut and paste from a bunch of documents? It can become a formatting nightmare! Word “tries” to be helpful when copied text is pasted into a document by automatically retaining the source formatting, while providing the option to change the text to match the formatting of the current document.

To avoid having to choose formatting option every time text is pasted, click File, followed by Options and then click on Advanced. In the ‘Cut, copy and paste’ heading, you can use the first four drop-down menus to set a default setting for format pasting.

While configuring these options in Word, uncheck the box labelled ‘Show Paste Options Buttons’ to prevent the formatting options pop-up window from being displayed in the future.

2. Show and Hide the Toolbar:

Have you ever been typing away and all of a sudden a random mouse click hid your entire toolbar? It’s a simple fix, but in the moment it can be really frustrating!

To get the toolbar back, double-click one of the tabs at the top of the ribbon to toggle the toolbar on and off. Also, you can use the keyboard shortcut – by simply pressing [Ctrl]+[F1].

If you want to hide it, click the up arrow icon on the far right side of the toolbar.

3. Utilize the Quick Access Toolbar:

An underutilized tool that can save a ton of time! The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) is a small, customizable toolbar that exposes a set of commands that are specified by the application or selected by the user.

The following screenshot shows where QAT can be found and edited.

You can pick from a list of 20 shortcuts like print, insert hyperlink, add table, etc.

One of the most necessary shortcuts to add is Print. This will immediately send your document to the printer.

4. Remove Formatting:

Your document can get really messy when dealing with varying fonts. If text has been formatted and you change your mind about how it should appear, highlight the section of text, and press [Ctrl]+[Space] and it will clear all formatting!

5. Adjust Font Spacing in Headings:

A fairly simple, yet forgotten feature is to adjust text spacing. Text space can be used to help ensure that a heading fits on a single line, rather than wrapping onto a second, or can be expanded to reduce the amount of white space in a line.

Highlight a line of text, right click and select ‘Font’ from the context menu. Then click ‘Advanced’ and ‘Spacing’. The ‘Spacing’ section has a drop-down where you will choose if you want to condense or expand the spacing in-between the letters. Use the up and down arrows in the ‘Spacing’ section to expand or compress it.

6. Compare Documents

There are various reasons why you might want to compare two documents. Word provides the option to open two files side by side for this very purpose. However, if you’re using a monitor in portrait mode, document comparison is less useful than having one document displayed above the other.

Open the documents you want to compare and click the ‘View’ tab on the toolbar. Click ‘View Side by Side’ button and then click ‘Arrange All’. Press ‘Synchronous Scrolling’ and you can scroll through both of your documents at the same time.

7. Paste Text with the Spike:

While the Clipboard provides a useful way to copy and move text around a Word document, there’s a little-known feature called “the Spike” that provides an alternative. Text that is added to Spike is cut from the document and there is no limit to the number of entries that can be added, meaning you can jump around the document cutting certain paragraphs, words or sentences and adding them to the Spike. You can then easily paste all of the cut text and easily paste it in the area of preference.

To add text to the Spike, highlight it and press {Ctrl]+[F3] simultaneously – this can be repeated as many times as required. To paste the contents of the Spike back into a document, you just need to press [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[F3].

Snapchat: Think Inside the Geofence

Are you still struggling on how to use Snapchat? It’s okay, it can be confusing! In fact, Snapchat has been around for over four years now and many marketers are still desperately trying to figure out how to use the platform and how to reach it’s large and growing user base. We even see Snapchat confusing technology writers like in this slate.com article, Is Snapchat Really Confusing, or Am I Just Old? One great way to dive into Snapchat marketing is for your organization to purchase a “Business Geofilter” from the app.

Snapchat has had custom branded geofilters available for a few years to large retailers, movie studios and other large budget organizations for tens of thousands of dollars. But in February of 2016, Snapchat announced that they would allow anyone, including smaller organizations, to upload geofilters starting at just $5. Geofilters are nothing more than a digital graphic that can be laid on top of a Snapchat user’s photo or video at a specific location.

These new, on-demand geofilters are divided into two categories, Personal Geofilters and Business Geofilters.

A Personal Geofilter is one that does not include any branding, business marks/names or logos and doesn’t promote a business or a brand. You might submit a Personal Geofilter to celebrate a birthday, wedding or graduation.
A Business Geofilter is one that promotes a business or a brand.

Complete Business Geofilter submission guidelines can be found here. However, the key to making a good filter graphic is to create something fun and enticing that will inspire people to place your graphic on top of their selfie! The image has to be 1080px wide by 1920px high and saved as a .PNG file with a transparent background. Many of you may not have access to photo editing software which allows you to save a transparent background. This is why we recommend sending your graphic over to one of our favorite sites, Fiverr! If you click here, you can choose from over 30 graphic designers that specialize in Snapchat Geofilter creation for as low as $5!

After you have uploaded the image, you will be able to choose your dates and the geographic area you want to target. You can drag and drop a “geofence” around the location, which will then give you a pricing estimate based on the size of the area selected and the date range.

Your submission is then sent for review by Snapchat. After approval, your filter will appear on the user’s filter options in that location! During and after your campaign, you’ll be able to receive on-demand metrics and insights on the success of your geofilter.

We would love to see what Snapchat filters your organization has used! Please post them below or on our Facebook page!

Stay Organized with Trello

Are you having trouble staying organized? Is your wall calendar just not keeping up in the digital world? Here at Saffire, we’ve started using Trello to stay organized! Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and … Continue reading “Stay Organized with Trello”

Trello uses “cards” which contain each of your tasks or ideas. In each card, you can add members, labels, checklists, any attachments and even a due date. Each card is filed under a list and can be easily moved from list to list. For example, you can have a “to do” list, “overdue” list and a “completed list” and easily move the cards to their appropriate list. Cards and lists are then housed under boards in order to stay organized and keep your projects separate. You can also add an unlimited number of members to a Trello board in order for multiple people to collaborate.

Trello boards can be extremely effective as both a meeting agenda and task tool. We use trello boards to list out our agenda in cards. Then, we take notes under each agenda item, assign a task to someone and put a due date on that action item.

Another great way to utilize Trello is to place your marketing editorial calendar into a board. You can switch to a calendar view and anyone on your team can see what posts, emails or content is scheduled to be published so your team can plan accordingly, whether that means graphic design or preparing copy for social media.

For our event planners, this can be an extremely powerful tool to help keep your event prep work organized. Tasks can easily be seen by your team such as when tickets go on sale or entertainment announcements are made. As we all know, plans can drastically change and Trello makes changes easy! Simply drag & drop a card onto a new date on the calendar and the due date will update automatically.

There are endless uses for this powerful tool! Let us know if you use Trello and how you use it!

The Three P’s to Gaining Sponsorship

Earning the Digital Sponsorship Dollar (& Keeping It!) Do you know what businesses and organizations are spending in sponsor dollars these days? Do you know what it would take for YOU to see some of those dollars? The fact is, sponsorship continues to rise! The amount of revenue is growing, but the problem is the … Continue reading “The Three P’s to Gaining Sponsorship”

Earning the Digital Sponsorship Dollar (& Keeping It!)

Do you know what businesses and organizations are spending in sponsor dollars these days? Do you know what it would take for YOU to see some of those dollars? The fact is, sponsorship continues to rise! The amount of revenue is growing, but the problem is the people who are getting that money are receiving less. More money is being spent, but it’s being distributed between fewer and fewer people.

“The sponsorship pie is growing, but being cut into fewer pieces.” – www.sponsorship.com. The largest slices are reserved for properties that can meet the high standards required by a new breed of corporate partner. These are the people who ask for SMARTER partnerships. Once again, the growth rate for sponsorship spending will surpass outlays for traditional advertising in North America. Projection for spending in 2015 is $21.5 billion!

At Saffire, we believe in the Three P’s to gaining sponsorship – Prepare, Personalize, & Provide. Preparing to work with sponsors in a digital age, Personalizing by coming up with creative ideas to market to your sponsors so they will want to partner with you and Providing them with results they need so they will want to work with you again.

Prepare to Partner with Sponsors

Consider yourself a salesperson because sponsorship is sales! Start early in the year, network, do your research, and understand your value! Be smart about what you’re offering your potential sponsor. Basic research before you meet with them is HUGE. Finding the right fit for your company can be a little tricky, but you’ll want to look for “natural fits” by things like: customers, products, geography, past sponsorship experiences and people who work there. Make it clear to them that you’re taking their partnerships seriously and you’ll do whatever it takes to gain their trust! Things like adding a logo to your site at the time of the sponsor meeting can make all the difference. How can you use your sponsors that will be the best partnership for everyone? Sometimes you’re paying them, using their product and they’re giving you sponsorship dollars. Find things you can do to support your sponsor’s business. Saffire’s tip is “People will find a way to work with people they like”. Leaving a good impression and creating bonds with people goes a long way.

Personalize your Packages tailored for each Sponsor

It’s important to make your sponsors feel special. A good rule of thumb with sponsorship packages is to give more than what they’re expecting. This will make them feel special, which will go the extra mile when your event comes around again and they are considering who to partner with. In order to do this, it’s essential to know the most basic components of your organization, which can be provided as benefits to sponsors. You can add value by offering year-round marketing, hospitality, and onsite event promotion

Put sponsors on your online! Create emails, social media shout outs, online advertisements or consider naming the event after your Sponsor. You can also have a dedicated Sponsors page on your website that features your list of sponsors. If you’re looking to get a new website and don’t have quite enough funding for it, this is a fantastic way to get it! Most digital marketing doesn’t cost you anything but time and effort. Give your sponsors space on your YouTube channel, add sponsor logos to print-at-home tickets or name your entire event after a sponsor. Other ways you can feature your sponsors offline are by creating sponsored charging stations on the event grounds, photo booths with sponsors or utilizing their services on fairgrounds.

Provide Measurable Results

Sponsors like data. Sponsors have to have that data to justify why they’re giving you so much money year after year. The best ways to show sponsor ROI are Google Analytics & Audience Survey. Audience Surveys assist and measure ROI, show recognition, attitude and the image you’re showing. Google Analytics is great, but it can be really hard to narrow down once you get it set up. Everyone should be able to get this data from your website. Show sponsors things like Total visits, Audience overview, visits on the Sponsors page of your website, engagement and clicks to leverage ideas for more success in the future.

We believe that the Three P’s – Prepare, Personalize and Provide will help you gain sponsorship (and keep it!).

Fall in Love with these Great Apps!

You know you’ve found a good app when all you want to do is share it with people! Here at Saffire, we make it our business to discover, research, test and promote apps that we think are going to improve all aspects of your life! Since social communication is constantly increasing, we want to make … Continue reading “Fall in Love with these Great Apps!”

You know you’ve found a good app when all you want to do is share it with people! Here at Saffire, we make it our business to discover, research, test and promote apps that we think are going to improve all aspects of your life! Since social communication is constantly increasing, we want to make sure that our readers are ahead of the curve. Check out these 5 apps that we think are worth your time!

Periscope

Ever wonder what it’s like to be front-row at a ZZ Top concert? Maybe you want to know how it feels like to sit inside a coffee shop in Berlin. Maybe you just want to share your grocery shopping experience with your kids! Periscope is a fun solution and showcases live-streaming videos from around the world! Not only is this a fun app to use in your free time, but it’s also another social tool to promote your event, venue or destination! Periscope allows you to broadcast your organization’s voice across the globe. Some great ways to promote your event through Periscope is by interviewing a performer or important figure in the community. You can also make major announcements like a concert lineup or even offer a special promotion. Also, anything you film on Periscope can be saved and then reused on other social media channels!

Circle Back

Have your contacts gotten out of control? Don’t wait for spring cleaning to get organized! Circle Back allows you to clean up your contacts from your phone, Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, Facebook and LinkedIn. It also SCANS business cards for an easier way to add contacts! Consider it the “address book replacement” that keeps you up-to-date

LinkedIn Pulse

Speaking of LinkedIn, you can create a custom newsfeed of your professional network with LinkedIn Pulse. Pulse instantly gives you news based on the people you’re connected to, what you follow and what industry you’re in. This app is able to quickly display content that is relevant to you. We recommend this app in the morning with your first cup of coffee!

LinkedIn Pulse

Photofy

Is your designer out of town or are you a designer looking for something easier to use? Photofy is a free photo editing app that allows you to add art and color overlays to your photos including 90+ fonts, 39,000 graphic elements and 30+ filters. The photo editing capabilities are almost equivalent to Photoshop, but made easy by immediately posting to your social media channels! This tool will come in handy when you don’t have access to your office or you’re out snapping pics and need to post them ASAP!

Photofy

Hey Lets

Ever found yourself bored without weekend plans? Eager to do something, but not sure what? Or maybe you have guests in town and you want to be sure to give the best suggestions for food and entertainment. Hey Lets is your answer! It’s an app that provides you with people’s experiences so you can enjoy a personalized feed of food, nightlife, shows, outdoor activities, travel tips and more. You can browse trending, recommended experiences and adventures enjoyed by community members you follow.

Hey Lets!

Snapchatting your Events!

Chances are you’ve seen a Snapchat photo or “snap,” with their recognizable scrawled drawings announcing everything from the silly to the promotional. While it started as an easy way to electronically send the kind of messages one would want quickly erased, Snapchat has now become a tool for savvy event marketers. With Instagram, Facebook and … Continue reading “Snapchatting your Events!”

With Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, what does Snapchat offer that existing platforms don’t? First of all, the limited nature of the content means that only those who engage with your Snapchat immediately have access to your snaps, and only for a period up to 10 seconds.

So…how does that help marketing?

Particularly for event purposes, Snapchat’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it platform provides exciting opportunities for users to generate event-specific promotional tools and original content. The Association of Surfing Professionals utilize Snapchat to engage with their audience through snaps of real-time updates of surfing contests and will even have surfing professionals send through “autographed” selfies to fans.

Snapchat’s format also allows for real-time updates to event attendees and participants – imagine being able to let visitors know a special event will be starting soon, or about a last-minute change of venue without having to draft an email. Coordination with vendors can also lead to short-term special deals (10% off funnel cakes? Be right there!). Allowing celebrities or important figures to “take over” your account can further increase your reach, and allow attendees to feel like they are intimately connected with them, all thanks to your brand! The benefits of using Snapchat year-round can keep people talking about your event all year.

Like any social media site, it’s important that your selected username makes sense related to your organization – this isn’t your personal account. It’s meant to relate specifically to your organization or event needs. As a general note, it’s always a good idea to have synchronicity between your social media usernames to help with audience loyalty and engagement.

With Snapchat, you typically have to select users to send your snaps to, so it’s absolutely essential that settings are set to display content to “everyone,” so that you never have to manually select your list (which hopefully becomes too long to look through!). This way you’ll be sure that you’re never limiting your audience (of course this does offer specialized promotion opportunities for those extra-special followers).

Be sure to let your followers on other social media sites know that you are now on Snapchat. It’s also a good idea to provide content that you don’t post elsewhere. This ensures that the audience feels like they are getting special treatment as a reward for following you.

While new social media platforms seem to be on the rise every day, Snapchat provides a great current option for event marketing, specifically in delivering premium and exclusive limited-time content to loyal followers. Start snapping those behind-the-scenes pics and get people ready for your next event today!

Connect With Your Customers through Facebook Bluetooth Beacons

If your organization has a physical location that visitors would come to, then you should be using Facebook Bluetooth beacons. These beacons help customers see more information about your organization every time they use Facebook during their visit. What’s good about it is that it’s free and very easy to set up. A few places … Continue reading “Connect With Your Customers through Facebook Bluetooth Beacons”

A few places that events, venues or destinations should place the beacons are in visitor centers, convention centers, museums, fairgrounds or event venues.

When customers visit these locations and open their Facebook App, they will see Place Tips, which contains information about the exact location they are in. When they open Place Tips, they will see:

A welcome note and photo
Prompts to like your Facebook page and check in
Posts from your Facebook page
Their friend’s recommendations about your place

This may sound like “Big Brother” is watching, but Facebook Bluetooth beacons are actually designed for privacy. They use Bluetooth technology to send a secure, one-way signal to the Facebook application on the visitors’ phones and show that location’s information. They are also designed not to interrupt the operation of your Wi-Fi or other equipment.

The beacons do not:

Collect any information from people’s phones
Change the kind of location information Facebook receives

Note: People will only receive Place Tips if they have enabled location services and Bluetooth on their phones.

Are you ready to capture more likes and interactions on your Facebook page? If so, request your beacon by going to this link: https://www.facebook.com/business/a/facebook-bluetooth-beacons

Scroll down to the bottom of the page until you see the “Request a beacon for your business” section.

Once you have received your Facebook Bluetooth beacons, the setup process is actually extremely easy! You just need to do the following:

Pull the beacon out of the packaging
Peel the sticker off the back
Place the beacon in a safe, central area

3 Lessons Any Organization Can Learn From Google

In the world of technology there are a handful of large companies that are always worth keeping an eye on as they shape, change and revolutionize the industry. Google is among the top of these organizations and in recent weeks they have made some bold moves to reorganize and rebrand. While it may seem easy … Continue reading “3 Lessons Any Organization Can Learn From Google”

In the world of technology there are a handful of large companies that are always worth keeping an eye on as they shape, change and revolutionize the industry. Google is among the top of these organizations and in recent weeks they have made some bold moves to reorganize and rebrand. While it may seem easy to dismiss the story’s relevance to your own organization, either because “they’re so huge” or “that’s not my industry,” there are some very valuable lessons that any organization could take away from Google’s restructure.

To summarize the basics of the changes at Google, they have created an Umbrella company, called Alphabet, which will oversee a collection of smaller companies that were previously all housed under the Google name. By splitting up the smaller companies, “Google” is able to focus solely on the internet services we’ve come to rely on such as Search, Maps, YouTube, Android, Apps and Ads, while the other companies, with their own tiers of management, can focus their efforts on the multitude of other entities Google is involved in (i.e. smart cars, medical research, smart home products, etc.). In the weeks following the reorganization announcement Google also announced a refresh to their logo and branding guidelines.

There are 3 lessons we can all take from Google’s updates.

Back to Basics – Remember the core of your business and ensure you’re taking steps to maintain the well-being of your base offering. The separation of the fringe products & services into their own companies will streamline Google allowing the leaders of that organization to really focus on the heart of what made Google what it is today. Keep an eye on your primary goals and consider whether new off-shoot offerings are detracting from the success of what you do best. Find a balance where innovation doesn’t interfere with your organization’s consistency in maintaining your standards and what your customers have come to expect from you.
Always Evolve – Google didn’t get to where they are today by remaining static or sticking to the status quo. They are innovators who are consistently seeking ways to grow their offering. This is a process anyone can start within their own organization to think outside the box and consider, “what can I do differently to make my customer’s experience better?” As your service evolves, consider how your organization needs to evolve to accommodate that. We’ve spoken to several leaders in the events and venues industries for our own Amplifier podcast, and there has been a consistent theme among the most successful of them to always recognize the need for change and adapt to it.
Dare to Be Different – Beyond just making changes in your organization, consider the changes you can make that set you apart from others in your industry. Allow yourselves and your teams to try new ideas. Look to other industries for inspiration and explore how they “wow” their customers. Whether you’re looking to the tech industry to modernize your gate sales, or to architectural trends to improve crowd control, or to security professionals to enhance safety, there are opportunities being developed by experts in others industries that can be utilized to improve your own organization beyond what anyone else has yet to consider.

Facebook’s Power Editor Gets an Upgrade

Here at Saffire, we love using Facebook’s Power Editor! This tool is especially helpful when creating a large number of ads, like for an event or social media campaign. The Power Editor enables advertisers to save time by creating ads in bulk as well as mass-editing their ads and posts across all campaigns, accounts and … Continue reading “Facebook’s Power Editor Gets an Upgrade”

Here at Saffire, we love using Facebook’s Power Editor! This tool is especially helpful when creating a large number of ads, like for an event or social media campaign. The Power Editor enables advertisers to save time by creating ads in bulk as well as mass-editing their ads and posts across all campaigns, accounts and pages. This tool will save you time and allows you to be more accurate than Ads Manager.

If you currently use Power Editor, you might have already known that it recently got a MUCH needed update. It now has some brand new features as well as old ones that now appear in different places. Don’t panic! The Power Editor’s design has changed quite a bit, but still functions the same. You will be a pro in now time as you just play around with the Editor.

Side Navigation

Let’s talk about the changes made. The navigation items on are now on top, displayed for easy access. The new side navigation display icons represent the campaign, ad sets and ad groups. When you click any of these levels, you’ll get all of the information on the right-hand side. You’re no longer going to see a list of campaigns, ad sets and ads on the left; so it is important to use the filtering.

Editing

One of the biggest changes in the new Power Editor is that it now has more room to show lists of campaigns, ad sets and ads. You’ll no longer see a separator between the list and the editing pane. Whether you’re creating or editing a campaign, ad set or ad, the next view will look the same. If you want to edit a campaign, just click on the pencil image on the right. The editing pane will fly out from right to left and take over the majority of your screen. Once you’re done, just click on the pencil again and the editing pane will close. For you Saffire users, this is very similar to the way that we have editing set up!

Search

The Search feature at the top left-hand corner is used to filter the list by Campaign Name, Ad Set Name, Ad Name, Campaign ID, Ad Set ID, Ad ID or Tag. You can also use the Filters drop-down menu to narrow down the list. The filtering options are categorized in the dropdown menu. Once you click on any of the options, the selected filter will appear on the right (some filters will require you to choose a variable). This feature will come in handy if you have lots of ads.

Reporting

Power Editor also has a place for all of your saved reports. To get there, click on the Reporting link at the top of the page and you’ll be able to see your scheduled reports. The list will show sample reports from Facebook as well as the custom reports that you’ve created. It also lets you generate a report while viewing a filtered campaign list under Manage Ads.

Keep in mind that trying out the new version of Power Editor will not affect anyone else who currently works on your ad account. You also have the option switch back to the older version if you’re not comfortable. All you need to do to see the old version is click on the Help drop-down at the top right-hand corner and choose “Use older version of Power Editor.”

Video Marketing for the Masses

The mere thought of a need to create a “video campaign” scares even the savviest of marketers. “Someone spare me if I had to be featured in a video!” or “I have no idea how to film videos nice enough for marketing campaigns!” they think. According to Vidyard, “The play button is the most compelling … Continue reading “Video Marketing for the Masses”

According to Vidyard, “The play button is the most compelling call to action on the web.” The video marketing pioneer just may be right—even I myself am more likely to click and watch a video than just read a bunch of text. Also, wouldn’t YOU want someone to hang out on your website for the duration of a full one- to two-minute video? 55% of visitors spend fewer than 15 seconds on your website. Think about what you can show someone in a video in two minutes versus what they could read in 15 seconds. The difference is staggering.

Creating videos to promote your brand doesn’t have to be scary! 2015 has been said to be the “year of video marketing”, so you are right on trend if you start planning now. Think about all of your marketing goals for this year. Where can you incorporate video marketing? Planning is the first step to success. If you don’t actively plan to include videos when appropriate, it will always be a “tomorrow” project.. Incorporate video marketing in to your strategies you already have in place. Use a calendar, and set goal dates for your videos to launch.

Also, make sure to incorporate videos in to your social media plan. Have you noticed lately on Facebook, how videos automatically play when you scroll by on the newsfeed? Make sure your first few seconds are super compelling since your customers are somewhat forced to watch that part as they are browsing. If the first few seconds of your video are interesting enough, people will stop scrolling long enough to watch the rest.

Once you have posted videos to your social media, make sure to go back and post them on your website too. Your website is where you earn revenue—so make sure to place videos near buying opportunities. If you sell tickets to an event on your website, make sure someone can watch a video about that event, that’s really close in proximity to the buy button. If you are trying to get facility rentals, place videos of your facilities near the rental form. If you’re selling a destination, place videos near the bed and breakfast links or attraction tickets buttons. People who watch a video on your website are up to 12 times more likely to make a purchase or complete another call to action, such as signing up for your email list, so make it easy for your customers to make the transition from videos to dollars in your pocket!

Finally, don’t get stuck on the length of your videos. If you end up with promo spots that only last 15-30 seconds, it’s totally fine! Remember, people have a really short attention span on the web, and if your videos are long, you may not actually get viewers to watch to the end. Think about Vine—an entire social media network (with 40 million users) comprised of videos that last a maximum of six seconds. 1.5 billion of these six-second videos are watched daily as of this January.

A video marketer doesn’t have to be a professional videographer. We all are almost always carrying a video camera—our smart phones! Think about small ways you can start incorporating video marketing in to your strategy, and watch your plans lead to “ACTION!”