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So, you want to push the envelope with Instagram video but you don’t have the budget, resources, or expertise to get the job done, right?

Wrong.

Sure, you may have noticed an array of dazzling and creative Instagram videos on the platform, but don’t let mega-brands with huge video teams and endless budgets get you down.

Carving out your piece of the pie doesn’t have to be scary, time-consuming, or even expensive. In fact, there are a ton of tips and tricks you can use to produce noteworthy video content without all the fuss. 

Don’t believe me? Let’s walk through it …

How to Make Great Videos for Instagram Without Breaking the Bank

Step 1: Set an explicit goal.

Before diving into your video project, ask yourself what your goal is. What do you hope to achieve with this particular Instagram video? The tone and overall aesthetic of your video will likely change depending on your end goal.

Are you trying to hype up your unique company culture? Grab your phone and start shooting your video. These types of videos shouldn’t be overproduced. Check out this quick and easy video we made on a Friday afternoon at Wistia:

 

Friday afternoons

A video posted by Wistia (@wistia) on Aug 7, 2015 at 1:54pm PDT

Start by outlining what it is you want to achieve, like drumming up engagement on your profile, for example. Then, make this goal extremely specific by picking a benchmark — 500, 1,000, 10,000 views.

Remember to choose a goal that is achievable for your brand. If you’re just getting started on Instagram and only have a handful of followers, don’t expect 1,000 views on your first go-round. Set realistic, measurable goals so that when you go to make another Instagram video in the future, you’ll have a benchmark for success. Give yourself a deadline and hold yourself accountable to it by telling a coworker or two. 

Step 2: Lighting your shoot.

You don’t need to own a top-of-the-line lighting kit to make people look great on camera. There are, however, some basic lighting tips that you can’t afford to live without. This advice works particularly well if you’re shooting a talking-head style video with a backdrop and a subject that’s standing in one place.

• Avoid shooting video under overhead lighting. That might sound tricky in your office space, but try to avoid it if possible. This type of lighting creates “raccoon eye” shadowing, which doesn’t make anyone look great. Have your subject move around until you find the sweet spot.
• Embrace natural light if you have it. Does your office have a lot of big windows? Is the sunshine just pouring in every day? Stand near a window for the shot, but remember to always keep the light in front of you, not behind you.
• Get crafty! If your subject is looking a little harsh with your current light setup, create softer light by bouncing a light source off a reflector, like a piece of white poster board. Block out unwanted light in your space by covering your windows with some black plastic and save some cash. If your budget allows for it, spring for blackout roller shades.

Want a semi-professional light setup for under $100? Try out the Cowboy studio lighting kit. It’s $68 plus an additional $26 for new bulbs. This particular kit sets up in just a few minutes and is super easy to assembly and operate — great for beginners.

Step 3: Shoot your footage.

When it comes to shooting your footage, there are a few key tips to keep in mind. Try to incorporate these best practices into the Instagram videos you make and you’ll be on your way to success.

• Diversify your shots. Just like with any video, you’ll want to mix up your shots in order to capture your viewer’s attention. Grab your phone and record a number of short clips that help tell your story. If your video is longer than just a few seconds, change up your shots so your viewers aren’t just staring at the same talking head for a minute and a half.
• Show, don’t tell. As a marketer I’m sure you’ve heard this phrase before. Think about writing a blog post or essay, it’s helpful to be descriptive in order to paint a vivid picture in your reader’s mind. This same rule applies for Instagram video. Obviously the platform itself is a visual one, so play it up. Show them what your product actually looks like. This really simple video from Clockwise Tees highlights their product both beautifully and effortlessly. 

 

Flock together.

A video posted by CLOCKWISE (@clockwise) on Aug 26, 2015 at 1:48pm PDT

• Use your judgement. If you’re shooting a silly company culture video, you should feel free to take some liberties with steadying your shot. Walk around with your phone and capture the best shots without worrying about stabilization. However, if you do plan to shoot talking-head videos, interviews, or fancier product shots, use an iPhone tripod adapter. At Wistia, we like to use the Joby GripTight Mount: it’s lightweight, pocket-sized, and will only set you back $20. Plus, this mount fits onto any standard tripod and comes in three different sizes.
• Be selective.  Remember that you only have 1 minute to share your story, so save your long-form content for your site. Company culture posts tend to perform well on this platform because they fit in with the types of content other people are already sharing. Plan ahead around events and functions – if you know there’s always a company-wide outing during the summer, add shooting an Instagram video into your editorial calendar for that month. Not everything is video-worthy, but if you can come up with a fun, creative angle for what you’re promoting, video can help get the job done!

Step 4: Edit.

Now that you have all your footage together, it’s time for the edit.

Don’t have expensive editing software on your laptop? Not a problem.

Editing videos within the Instagram app itself isn’t the most seamless experience, so if you’re stitching footage together or going for anything other than just a quick trim, you should edit the footage in a third-party app. Here are some apps we’ve found particularly useful:

• iMovie ($4.99) | iOS. iMovie‘s advanced features include the ability to access your movies across iCloud, which could be beneficial if you’re sharing your work or pulling from multiple sources. Unlike many other video editors, it comes at a price, but for a one-time purchase it could save you some headaches in the long run.
• Splice (Free) | iOS. This app was made by GoPro, so you know it’s legit. Splice has a five-star rating and comes equip with cool features such text overlay, video splicing, and narration, music, and sound effect functionality.
• Magisto (Free) | iOS & Android. Magisto is a simple yet powerful editor that makes it really easy to create professional videos. Choose music, customize the theme, and splice shots until you’ve created the perfect mix. 
• Vidlab (Free with in-app purchases) | iOS. Vidlab is a great editor for social video. Add still photos to your videos, filters, sound effects, or even install your own fonts to match your brand. Just remember, don’t get too carried away with all the editing options. Try using only one or two features at a time in order to keep your video looking authentic.

3 Ideas for More Interesting Instagram Video Content

We’ve covered the basics for shooting Instagram video, but now it’s time to get a little more creative. Let’s walk through best practices for time-lapse, super slow motion, and stop motion videos for Instagram:

1) Time-Lapse

While there are specific apps you can download to achieve this aesthetic (Android users: check out Lapse It and TimeLapse), iPhone users can record time-lapse videos right from their device. To access the time-lapse feature on iPhone (iOS 8) simply open your camera app and swipe to the feature.

When shooting, we recommend mounting your phone on a tripod, locking the focus and exposure, and putting your phone in airplane mode. It’s best to reserve time-lapse shots for environments where there is a good deal of movement.

The Arizona Ice Tea brand takes matters into their own hands by pushing around a cart with their product on top and asking their audience to share their own time-lapse story — what a great engagement tactic.

 

#AZ24BDAY | CHALLENGE 16 –> That feeling when the AZ hits your lips… Make us happy for our Bday and show us a #hyperlapse of how you enjoy your AZ. Make sure you’re following us, tag @drinkarizona in the post, and use #AZ24Bday. Official rules: Link in bio

A video posted by AriZona Iced Tea (@drinkarizona) on Apr 26, 2016 at 5:49am PDT

2) Super Slow Motion

Want to experiment with slow motion video? While iPhone 5s and the Google Nexus 6P for Android were the first models to introduce slow motion mode directly within the camera app, other smartphone users can look to apps like Slow Motion Video FX and SloPro to achieve a similar effect.

Lululemon does a great job of utilizing slow motion video on their Instagram. Check out this simple yet powerful video:

 

The team with all heart. If anyone knows the importance of having the right partner, it’s pro beach volleyball players @JakesGibb and @caseypatt. Find out what makes their partnership work—watch the full film, link in our bio. #vidasuada

A video posted by lululemon (@lululemon) on Jun 27, 2016 at 8:05pm PDT

3) Stop Motion Animation

A full-blown, 20-minute stop motion video can take a long time produce. Luckily, Instagram videos provide just one minute of footage to showcase your stop motion skills.

To do this, shoot individual photos of each frame by using your phone’s built-in camera. Once you’re done shooting, import everything into your editing app of choice (iPhone: Stop Motion Studio | Android: PicPac Stop Motion & TimeLapse) before uploading to Instagram. 

We recorded this introductory video for our stop motion guide to highlight just what you can do with this type of animation, check it out:

 

 

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Ready to ‘gram?

Any business can take advantage of video on Instagram, it’s just a matter of experimentation. Remember to keep your technique varied so that you can identify which types of videos perform the best, and don’t forget to revisit your KPIs. 

Follow these best practices and you’ll be on the track for success in no time. Iterate on your videos and let your creativity flow.

Remember: Instagram is all about keeping things lighthearted and fun, so don’t overthink it. 

In 1955, a middle-aged milkshake machine salesmen came upon something odd.

At a time when his industry was taking a dive, one restaurant ordered enough machines to make 40 milkshakes at once. He was so curious that he bought a plane ticket and flew from Illinois to California to see what kind of restaurant would make such a purchase.

What he discovered would change the world forever. When Ray Kroc walked into the McDonald brothers’ restaurant in San Bernardino, California, he was blown away. Unlike the popular drive-ins of the time, McDonald’s only sold hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, drinks, and milk shakes. Its narrow offerings were all produced in an assembly-line-style system.

Source

Immediately, Kroc envisioned opening up a thousand of these little restaurants across the country. When he found out that the McDonald’s brothers weren’t interested in pursuing the idea alone, Kroc bought the rights to the McDonald’s method.

It wasn’t the quality of the fries and the burgers that made McDonald’s valuable; it was the system and processes they had created. And the rest is history.

An Inbound Marketing Agency Is No Different

Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth Revisited, writes, “If you are going to create a business that serves your life, you must create an organization that will stand on its own. You need a model that is systematized so that it functions the same way every time.”

For an inbound marketing agency to grow into a robust business, there needs to be systems in place that manage delivery. These systems should be driven by standardized individual processes.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a one-man shop or a thriving agency with a full-time staff, it’s critical to document every aspect of your operation.

If processes only exist in your head and in the minds of your team members, then business growth is capped by your team’s existing capacity.

Marisa Smith knows what it feels like to build a business that is capped by her existing capacity. Smith’s story as the CEO of Whole Brain Group is a story of survival and discovery.

When the economy took a turn for the worse in 2008, she shifted the focus, and the agency became primarily a WordPress web design agency. This move proved to be the right one.

After success with early clients, she then expanded the agency’s services into social media marketing.

But she soon realized something wasn’t working. Projects were great, but there was no way to forecast revenue. The business was growing, but capacity wasn’t expanding.

It was time for another shift.

This time, Whole Brain Group shifted toward inbound. They wanted to offer a well-rounded suite of services to their clients. They also wanted to have a better idea of what their agency income would look like.

This shift brought with it the move to the retainer model.

Where Is That Greener Grass?

Each shift or change in business practices an agency goes through brings the optimism of a new opportunity. Leaders say things to themselves such as, “Things will be different this time” and “We won’t make the same mistakes we did in the past.” This mindset helps for a while, but soon they discover that reality isn’t that easily changed. 

And when success happens, it can cause the core issues that were never solved to become even more pronounced. The more you grow, the faster you eat away at your capacity. With no overflow space, it’s only a matter of time until the system starts to break down.

Smith and the core team at Whole Brain Group felt this. Although they were experiencing some success, they knew there was a better way out there.

What they were missing was clarity.

It is hard for a team to hit a target when everyone is shooting at a different mark.

Marisa set out on a mission to create clarity with her core team and get everyone rowing to the same rhythm.

Maximizing the Power of a Team

Rowing is a beautiful sport.

Driving into Philadelphia from the north, you take Schuylkill Expressway. The traffic on this highway is horrendous. The only positive part of the experience is the view.

As you approach the city, you get a view of historic Boathouse Row. For years this has served as the center for rowing life in America.

Source

If you drive past at the right time of day, you can see a team practicing on the still water. It’s almost magical.

Source

Each member of the team fits into their seat.

Each knows their job.

Each performs their role.

Each knows the roles of their teammates.

It is by maintaining perfect unity that the boat crew maximizes their efforts. It is only when they hit the perfect rhythm together that they can achieve their goals.

If just one rower moves out of rhythm, it can knock the oar of a teammate and cause a devastating chain reaction.

Smith knew that if her team couldn’t hit their rhythm as a team, all hope was lost. This set her on a journey of discovery. The result was implementing a framework — a seven-step process — for clearly running her agency.

This process, outlined below, will help you and your team follow a similar path. It will take a lot of work, shared buy-in from team members, and time to see results, but take heart. It’s worth the journey. 

Step 1: Create a Shared Team Vision

Getting the team to hit stride can feel elusive. The reality of agency life is that everyone is busy, and you don’t have the time to focus on internal operations. The key to breaking the cycle is recognizing that your agency is your most important client.

Start by getting away from the office for a while to unplug, think, and discuss the vision of the agency.

During this time together, have an open conversation. This isn’t a time for the owner or CEO to present his thoughts. This time is best spent in collaboration.

Facilitate a conversation to discuss what your agency looks like now and how you want it to look in the future. Write down all the ideas and begin to draft a one-year and three-year vision for the agency. Don’t move forward until you create something the entire team agrees on. 

By getting agreement from everyone on the team, you’re creating a vision with shared ownership. If you’re going to expand your capacity as an agency, you need everyone to buy-in.

With a shared vision established, core team members will be more motivated to participate. Creating the vision will be the easy part. Implementing the steps to achieve that vision is where the real work begins. You want a trusted team with skin in the game at your side as you move into the implementation phase.

Step 2: Clarify Expectations and Roles by Creating an Organizational Chart

In my experience, I’ve found that few things are more stressful than the mystery of the unknown. If everyone operates in a bubble and “just does their job,” you’re heading for major conflict.

In The E-Myth Revisited, Gerber tells the story of Harry. Harry is the first hire at an organization. He has 22 years of experience keeping books for other organizations. When Harry first arrives on the scene, it is a glorious time. For the first time in the history of the company, the owner can hand off the work he hates doing.

Soon, the owner starts handing off more key activities to Harry. Harry is experienced, and he knows what he is doing, so the owner pays things no mind. Harry continues to take on new projects and responsibilities. 

And then it happens. A customer calls to complain. A vendor stops taking the company’s orders because they’re tired of not being paid on time. The owner realizes that by blindly trusting Harry, he has put his business in serious jeopardy.

Gerber says “It’s called management by abdication rather than by delegation.”

If you’re not careful, you can abdicate the control of your entire business. But there is a way around this trap.

Start by breaking down the roles within your agency. Even if you haven’t filled them yet, organize the roles within an accountability chart. One person may fill several roles today, but it is important to outline what the future looks like. 

Here is an example of the organizational chart we use at DoInbound: 

See full-size image.

One agency owner who has seen the power of this strategy is Michael Rose. Michael is the co-founder and CEO of Mojo Media Labs.

When speaking of organizational structure and the impact it has on a team, Rose said, “Defining responsibility within a given role creates clarity where people can apply creativity, skillset, and experience to do their job.”

Providing structure isn’t restrictive; it’s freeing to a team when it is applied properly.

(Check out these organizational charts from inbound agencies.)

Step 3: Define Your Core Values

After you determine the vision for the agency, it’s important to outline the core values that will get you there. These are the traits that are ingrained in the DNA of your organization.

Here at DoInbound, we’ve defined our core values as:

• Fulfillment
• Integrity
• Helpfulness
• Ownership
• Positivity

We strive to have these core values influence every decision we make as a core team, every marketing campaign we create, every interaction we have with prospects, every platform change we make for customers, and every engagement we share with the inbound community. You can see a deeper explanation for our core values here.

Live by them. Die by them. Service by them. Hire by them.

Core values lead to the creation of a culture code. This is an example of your core values spelled out for current and future team members to review and understand.

Patrick Biddiscombe is the CEO at New Breed Marketing, an example of an inbound agency that does this right. Biddiscombe and his leadership team built the New Breed Culture Code, inspired by Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness, when there were around 20 people on the team, and he wishes they had it in place earlier. The Culture Code has turned out to be a great recruiting tool because it sets the expectation for the type of person they hire — what qualities they look for, their values and priorities, etc. 

Step 4: Create Your Unique Approach

The inbound agency space is becoming more crowded by the day. For the community to continue to grow at this pace, agencies need to do a better job of defining and executing on their value proposition.

You can solve this by communicating your agency’s approach to servicing and delivering work. This helps clients visualize the journey that is ahead of them and to commit to the months of work it could take to see results.

This also helps you to gain the trust of your clients who will begin to see you as a true business partner. 

Here is a simple example of what this can look like: 

Here we have shared what an onboarding process looks like. The client can see each step in the process, and they know that there is a “method to the madness.”

With the clear vision in place, you can now begin marketing your services more as products.

Your prospects might know that inbound works, but they don’t understand how to organize all the possible marketing tactics into a list of what they should do and when they should do it. This is your job. You’re the expert. You can outline the journey that will help your clients achieve their goals. 

Not only does this help when communicating with your client, it also helps your agency to create the organizational structure necessary to deliver on that marketing journey.

Step 5: Document the Key Activities That Drive Your Business as Templates

Delivering on a unique approach requires documented processes.

Think back to Ray Kroc and the McDonald brothers. If the process for running that first restaurant only lived in the McDonald brothers’ heads, there would be no system to sell across the country.

You need to think the same way as an agency.

Start by assigning ownership to each area of the business. Have leaders outline the key areas and document the essential processes based on the organizational chart.

The more streamlined your processes, the more profitable you are. Start by:

• Creating a list of all the deliverables you offer as an agency.
• Breaking down each deliverable into a list of tasks.
• Assigning ownership to each task and a budgeted amount of time is should take to complete.
• Creating a checklist that outlines the process from beginning to end.

Here is an example of how this works inside DoInbound:

 See full-size image.

Documenting processes frees up the time of more senior and experienced employees. By constantly having people ask them how to do things or where to find things, they’re not able to spend time working on more valuable strategy work or solving complicated problems for clients.

And when there are documented processes, team members who are working on implementation spend less time looking for solutions and more time focused on solving client problems. (Grab a copy of our blog post deliverable template as a Google Doc template.)

Step 6: Think & Work in 12-Week Periods

Annual goals suck. Just think about your last New Year’s resolution. When you create the resolution, things are so bright and optimistic. But December is so far away!

It takes incredible discipline to break this big goal into meaningful milestones to make sure you’re making consistent progress toward the goal.

Tony Robbins has said that “Men consistently overestimate what they can do in a year and consistently underestimate what they can do in a lifetime.” Hitting big goals requires a long-range view. But achieving those goals requires a short-term execution plan.

Thinking in 12-week periods brings those long-range goals into view. It’s easier to create an action plan that only spans 90 days. People can stay motivated to keep moving toward that goal.

This is an important framework to help your internal and client-facing operations run more efficiently. Here’s how:

1) Internal Operations

When meeting as a core team, it is important to create a list of key initiatives that will move the company toward the one- and three-year goals. Consider this within the Eisenhower Decision Matrix: These are the things that are important, but not urgent.

Steven Covey famously shared the rock analogy: When you’re trying to fill a jar, it is important to place your largest rocks in first. These are the important, but not urgent, initiatives. Then around these large rocks, smaller stones fit. Around the smaller stones, sand fits. Around sand, water.

Placing the most important things first makes sure that the whole team is working toward the one- and three-year vision during each 12-week period.

There are two resources that have been very helpful as we’ve worked to implement this framework for our companies: 12-Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months and Traction: Getting a Grip on Your Business. These books are required reading for an agency seeking to scale.

By creating a rock list, assigning ownership to core team members, and tackling those in 12-week periods, you keep the agency moving toward the one- and three-year goals.

2) Client-Facing Operations

Ever had trouble keeping your clients focused?

It seems like they’re always coming to the table with new and exciting ideas. Or they’re just coming with confusing demands. Either way, they have ideas that they expect you to prioritize and mix into the deliverables you’re already creating for them.

This process leads to conflict and client fires.

If you’re not able to follow your proven process, then you’re not going to put the client in the best position to succeed. At the same time, you need to make the client feel heard. So, how do you find the balance?

Planning your client campaigns in 12-week periods allows you to quickly create and test hypotheses. The 12-week period is far enough in advance that you’re not panicking to create content to get it out on time. It’s also close enough to learn lessons from data and make tweaks to the next campaign.

Adding your client requests to an “icebox” or backlog of ideas to be preserved until the next strategy planning session helps them see how their idea fits into the larger picture.

When you’re planning the next 12-week campaign, you can review the goals and ask if the idea is still a priority. This is your opportunity to share with the client that their idea will suck resources. If they really want to implement it, it is going to divert resources from other deliverables that can help them meet more important goals.

Following this agile structure helps you and your team easily pivot based on data. It is also structured enough to not be sidetracked by the whims of your client, and it keeps the team moving forward together towards the mutually agreed-upon goals set at the beginning.

Step 7: Implement a Standardized Meeting Agenda

Maintaining clear expectations is one of the greatest challenges facing an agency. This struggle only gets more intense as you continue to grow.

There are expectations to maintain between prospects and sales, clients and account managers, and between core team members and the rest of the agency.

One great way to help maintain clear expectations for all parties is to implement a standardized meeting agenda.

The structure provided in a standardized meeting agenda is freeing — and structure is your friend.

This is a strategy that builds in value over time. It is awkward to follow at first, but over time it becomes more and more ingrained in they way you do business.

This meeting agenda benefits your agency in two ways:

1) Internal Meetings

In Traction, Gino Wickman lays out the outline for a Level 10 Meeting Agenda. This structure helps everyone attending the meeting to efficiently work through the large picture “rocks”, dig into the the weeds of personal to-dos, review the company score card, and provides a time to discuss big issues.

With an standardized agenda, you can prevent meetings from spiraling out of control. 

2) Client-Facing Meetings

Bringing this process into your client servicing strategy helps maintain healthy relationships. We found this to be true as we grew GuavaBox. This has also been helpful to many of the agencies that use DoInbound.

The best part is that this is relatively simple. The first step is meeting regularly. It may sound intense and time-consuming, but implementing a weekly call is the best place to start.

You may say that you don’t have anything important to share each week. That doesn’t matter.

During this time, you should follow a standardized meeting agenda:

• Open with chit-chat and relationship building.
• Review the key metrics you’re measuring.
• Review what happened in the past week.
• Review what is happening in the coming week.
• Review the status of tasks on each parties’ plate.
• Check for any objections or issues.
• Set follow-up tasks where necessary.
• Rate the meeting.

This doesn’t need to take three hours to complete. You can knock this out in 10-15 minutes, but the value is immense.

Training your clients to follow this process will help them achieve their goals faster. It will also help you identify issues long before they become a big deal. This will help you make the necessary tweaks to keep the client relationship on track.

It’s a Process

Building a system that can be repeatable and scalable isn’t easy. When Ray Kroc walked into that restaurant back in 1955, he had a vision of what could be. It took years for that vision to be fully realized.

Creating a system to run your agency is never complete. You’re always going tweak and adjust things as you learn through experience.

As Smith, Rose, and countless other successful agency owners will tell you, implementing a standardized agency structure is freeing — and it’s well worth the work. 

What if we are approaching agency new business all wrong?

We marketers help our clients generate awareness and new sales every day, so when it comes to driving new business for ourselves, no wonder we apply what we know best. As a rule, us agency folks place a lot of importance on outbound sales and inbound marketing. It’s where we look first when the well is dry. But are those two channels the most lucrative to help grow (and sustain!) our firms?

As it turns out, the answer might be “no.”

Data from the Agency Management Institute shows that only 1 in 40 new business reps works out. And among those who do make it for the long haul, they take about 12 months to even pay for themselves. It’s a tough dang job, which leads to a revolving door when the unspoken truth is that the best agency sales person is most likely the owner.

And we all sound the same with our four-step processes, integrated approach, and “award winning” creative. (Bleh.) The fundamentals of digital might work well for your clients, but unless you’re extremely differentiated, aiming to compete in SEO or PPC with the agency down the street is becoming a futile exercise.

So what if there was a better channel to generate leads and sustained revenue for your firm? What if you didn’t have to pay for an expensive sales guy and try to outbid your rivals in search? There’s even a chance you’re already good at this “unsung hero” and just not focusing enough attention on this unheralded source.

Introducing the 3Rs

You might have heard about 3Rs in grade school when it comes to reading, writing, and arithmetic. But for marketing firms, relationships, reputation, and referrals can be an unrivaled source of new business. 

When thinking about 3Rs at the highest level, we’re talking about a collection of strategies aimed not at marketing to your prospects, but creating more opportunities for them to find you.

Author and agency advisor David C. Baker writes: “The more prospects learn about you on their own, already aware of your expertise and primed to hire your firm, the less time and money you need to spend on selling your services. The easiest way to achieve that is to be viewed as a thought leader among those prospects you serve in the marketing field.”

Well said.

While 3Rs should exist as a pillar within your marketing funnel alongside inbound marketing and outbound sales, chances are it’s already driving the bulk of your sales. We analyzed four years of business development data here at Industrial Strength Marketing and found that 65% of new deals and 80% of revenue had been driven via 3Rs (sadly, without us even properly acknowledging it until last year). Our growth has truly stemmed from people we already know, people who hear or see us organically, and people being sent our way. So now we have a plan in motion to further maximize these results.

In doing a quick straw poll of agency owners — firms big and small, from New York to Austin — this 3Rs truth seems to hold true.

“Most of our growth has been through existing clients,” said Keith Miles, partner at Nashville-based McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations. “We do have an active marketing committee on the lookout for new business, but organic growth has clearly been the most productive for MP&F.”

Strangely though, in chats with other principles, few of us have seemingly commemorated — much less focused on — these critical channels. So how do you amplify this source of clients?

Just like any strategy you’d recommend to a client, you need to make a plan for it, and devote sufficient time from your team. So let’s kick-start your own 3Rs (relationships, reputation, and referrals) program with these staples.

1) Speaking and Writing

At the center of any 3Rs plan is a concentrated effort to establish a face for the agency and get that person out into the wild as much as possible. Whether it’s the agency owner or another partner or two, key folks from the firm should be speaking at conferences, penning white papers and articles, and generally demonstrating consistent thought leadership via as many channels as possible.

But this high-priority tactic shouldn’t stop at the top ­– all experts within the firm should have a mandate to get your message out there.

“Everybody should write — speaking is only a fit for some folks,” Baker writes. “But you won’t ever reach your potential unless you write, regularly and thoughtfully. That’s how you get smart, develop a point of view, attract opportunity, and move up the value chain.” 

2) Client Nurturing

When agencies hit a dry spell of sales, we often lose track of our existing client relationships in favor of finding new ones. And you know that it costs five times (to up to 25 times) more to gain a new account than it does to retain an existing one. If you’re already speaking and writing to generate new business, be sure your client base receives your thought leadership, too. Via that content, see if there are ways to become a megaphone for your clients’ successes and insights — they likely have a lot to say as well. And finally, increase the number of touch points and quality of interactions with your most valuable accounts, even asking these key allies if they wouldn’t mind referring business. When they do, don’t forget that a nice bottle of booze or a small gift goes a long way in getting more nods in the future.

3) Public Relations

This might be a “no duh” channel for our clients — especially for you PR firms out there — but how much are you focusing on publicity for your agency? In most cases, it’s the “cobblers’ kids” thing. If you have the PR capabilities in house, be sure that machine is working for you. Or seek out a local PR firm to barter with. If you’re a digital shop, chances are they could use your help and vice-versa.

4) Webinars

There’s no better vehicle to establish thought leadership than hosting a webinar series. If you’re specialized in a particular industry or marketing vertical, there will be folks who want to hear from you (especially if you’ve done the legwork of building credibility through writing and speaking). Make your webinar private behind a registration gate to capture information for future marketing initiatives. You can even turn it into an on-demand offer for a future campaign.

4) Board Involvement

Another avenue for 3Rs success involves joining and actively participating in a couple of key community organizations as a board member. Every non-profit and industry association in town has either a board of directors or board of advisors, and these groups are an excellent avenue to meet potential clients. Or, at the least, you’ll meet other well-connected individuals who can refer you to folks within their network.

5) Awards

Some firms live and die by the awards they win — we’ve all seen the agency lobby with a trophy case full of ADDYs. But small firms that traditionally don’t bother submitting often miss the real benefit of winning awards: free press and exposure to a brand new audience. Instead of focusing on insular competitions about the work itself (who needs another trophy anyway?), think about awards like your local business journal’s Best Places to Work list, which have broader exposure than the local advertising newsletter.

Do you know how much of your new sales are coming from one of the 3Rs? If not, consider reviewing your previous year’s account wins or start tracking now. You might be surprised by how much of your revenue base is the result of relationships, reputation, and referrals.

Then, consider how you can monitor and maximize the most lucrative channels to build a more predictable and profitable new business engine. 

It’s no secret that the way people buy has fundamentally changed over the years. 

These days, people are conducting their own research, reading product reviews, and seeking out recommendations before making a decision, and online communities are beginning to play a role in this process.

With 74% of business buyers conducting more than half of their research online before making a purchase, B2B communities like G2Crowd or GetApp can be used to educate prospective customers and help them make better buying decisions.

These forums provide people with an opportunity to learn from existing customers experiences and offer space for community feedback that can be used to bring trust and authenticity into an otherwise stale procedure.

If you are launching a new community or refreshing your existing community, taking time to prepare a plan is crucial for ensuring success. The best way to start off is to determine why you are building the community to begin with. Reasons may range from you are trying to support your existing business or marketing efforts to wanting to counteract negative reviews and identify passionate fans.

Either way, there are two questions you should consider when creating an online community:

• Why should I engage with my customers online?
• What’s the best platform to do it with?

To walk you through the process of setting up an online community in more detail, keep reading. 

Free vs. Owned Community Forums: What’s the Right Move?

Although social media networks and community platforms can seem to be interchangeable, there actually is a clear distinction. A social media network could be composed of users who have nothing in common (only using the platform because their friends are on it), while communities revolve around a specific issue.

There are “free” platforms like Facebook and Google+ which offer community-like features, however using them has its pros and cons …

• Pro: It’s free and comes with a built-in audience.
• Con: You don’t own your database and are beholden to Zuckerberg and friends.

Then there’s the owned platform like a community forum. This is a place that is owned by the brand and offers all the benefits of the social media platforms with much more control and flexibility on how you communicate with your members. In addition, you have tighter controls over your branding and messaging without having to compete with other’s noise.

Community platforms allow you to go beyond the limitations of social networks. Features such as deeper analytics, single sign on (SSO), gamification, more access to your members and custom design allow you to create a better experience for your fans. If you require a secure, private area for your fans to interact with one another, this might be your best option.

How to Launch a Successful Online Community

1) Choose the right platform.

There are two types of forums: one revolving around shared interest and the other that is more informational in nature.

With a shared-interest forum, you’re bringing together people who happen to be interested in a common topic where they can explore and connect with each other on a larger range of topics. Collaboration between members is key here.

Informational forums are largely used when you want to create a space for the community to search for and share content related to your product, service, or designated topic in one location.  

Once you’ve identified the use case and the type of engagement you’re after (i.e., customer support operations or brand loyalty), you’ll want to start looking at detailed features that would support your community goals. These can range from:

• Deeper analytics
• Ease of use and good user interface
• Customer support
• Platform flexibility
• Integrations
• Mobile

2) Develop the launch framework.

When determining what business problem you want to resolve with your community, consider the following. 

Are you looking to:

• Increase your customer satisfaction ratings?
• Decrease costs related to customer support?
• Increase demand of your product/service?
• Identify and mobilize influencers and advocates?
• Increase collaboration?

What is your use case? Will you use the information gained internally, externally, or a combination of both?

Knowing these answers will make it easier for you to identify why you are launching your online community and help you align its purpose to your intended goals.

3) Identify key stakeholders.

After determining the need for forming your community, your next step is to identify your company’s stakeholders. You can consider three categories of stakeholders:

1. Those who will be managing the community. For external facing communities, this group of stakeholders may include the community manager, marketing department, and/or customer support. The stakeholders may vary greatly for internal communities.
2. Those who will be impacted by the community. If your community is external facing, marketing is generally involved because the answers you are seeking will have the most impact on them. If there is feedback from the community regarding product improvements, product management may also be involved.
3. Upper management. This stakeholder is the person who is responsible for the community and all that are affected by it. Usually, an executive could be an operations manager or a CMO who oversee all digital experiences.

Another way to go about identifying stakeholders is to lump the role of the community manager along with the social media management role. Your marketing team, operations department, customer service, or perhaps a specially created department may be put in charge of the community launch. In this instance, each department is likely to put focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) that are meaningful to them.

Marketing KPIs

• Market share
• Customer sentiment
• Mobilizing influencers and advocates
• NPS – Net Promoter Score

Operations

• Operational efficiency
• Reducing support costs

Customer Service

• CSAT – Customer Satisfaction Score
• NPS

Product Management

• Product testing
• Market research
• Beta testing
• Customer feedback

Typically, only one person will be tasked with the community launch. However, by leveraging resources and other talent within your company, your launch can be less stressful and more successful.

4) Set up the community.

Making a decision on what platform to use for your community is the first step. If you are launching the community on your own or taking a team approach, you will want to make sure that you or your team are familiar with the software you will be using. This is a good opportunity to play with a demo or go through some hands-on training. 

After you and your team have a good understanding of the software you will be using, you can move on to making some setup decisions, including:

• Keeping your community pre-launch private. You do not want outsiders having access to your community until you are ready, so make sure to enable your privacy settings.
• Displaying a list of recent discussions for the forum on the “homepage view.” New members or first time visitors may be more apt to join in the discussion if they see what is trending in your community.
• Creating your initial categories. Remember, your initial category list is not carved in stone and you should avoid creating too many categories at the start. Keep it simple and let your categories evolve. This will help keep a handle on discussion noise.
• Reviewing the sign-up process for members. The easier the process is, the more likely people will want to sign up for your community. You should consider a setting up a single sign-on (SSO). It is also important to thoroughly test your sign-up process before the pre-launch.
• Defining the roles your staff and members. Decide what roles will be included within your community, such as moderators or super members. Consider who on your staff will be the community’s admin, moderators, or community manager.
• Assigning permissions for roles. You will need to assign and test permissions to the roles you create. For example, you may restrict new accounts from posting pictures or links.
• Deciding which features will be enabled. This includes plug-ins, add-ons, and other features that are integrated into your online forum. Some features may not be needed right away, but others may be crucial to getting your team the data they need.
• Setting up gamification. Start thinking about the perks you want to reward your members with. This could be badges or other types of recognition for different achievements, such as being a beta-tester.
• Implementing your theme. You will want to tie your forum into your brand. Do not settle for impersonal default settings. For example, utilize your company’s color scheme and add other personal touches.
• Configuring spam controls. Take advantage of your software’s spam controls. Test the controls against a baseline of your trusted users. Adjust the settings as needed if you find that valid content is being labeled as spam.
• Setting up outgoing email. Decide what email address will be used for forum notifications. Review your welcome and registration emails to make sure they say what you want.
• Testing. You need to test everything before over and over until you are happy with all the parts of your forum. As you get closer to launch-time, your testing should become more stringent. Consider all types of probably scenarios and prepare yourself beforehand that not everything will be perfect. Get ready to decide on a launch date.

5) Begin your soft launch. 

Once you are satisfied with the workings on your community, it is time to get ready for a soft launch. The purpose of a soft launch is to get your community ready for your full and public launch.

A great example of a soft launch is from BigFish Games with the introduction of their new game: Dungeon Boss. While preparing for the launch, they placed their app in the Apple Canada store and drove users to their community forum in a closed and private environment. They got a lot of feedback, some of which was incorporated into the Dungeon Boss game title. Consequently, when they launched worldwide, it became one of their most downloaded games.

Your soft launch should occur in three stages:

• Preparing for the Soft-Launch. At this point, your community should be ready to be launched. All test content has been removed and any known issues have been fixed or have been scheduled to be fixed. It is time to pre-populate your community with quality content that will spark discussion and make good use of your existing content. Start off with at least 10 discussions using your existing material. Recruit your colleagues to get the ball rolling with these discussions. Tone is important, so you will want to set the right tone before moving on to the internal soft-launch.
• Internal Soft-Launch. The purpose of the internal soft-launch is to identify problems using trusted people from your organization, colleagues, and friends before your forum goes public. While they are trying out your community, they can provide you with valuable feedback and report errors they find before moving to the full launch. This phase will allow your moderators an opportunity to learn how to use the tools that will be used in your forum. Any training deficiencies should be addressed and additional training provided if needed. Request feedback from your internal users. Then, set a deadline to move to the next phase: your public soft-launch.
• Public Soft-Launch. This launch should be limited to a select audience that you will encourage to give you feedback on your new community forum. To form this group, try requesting volunteers from trusted customers, creating a banner on your website, or including a mention of it in your company newsletter. During your public soft-launch, address the following questions:

1. Who should you include in this group?
2. What problems do you want to solve while in this beta stage?
3. What is needed to transition the community to live status
4. What is your hard deadline to take your community to fully live?

Your goals should include:

• Getting the public involved
• Refining your community
• Receiving feedback
• Ensuring that your moderators and team are comfortable with the platform

6) Promote your community.

Once you have your date set, it’s time to get the word out to your target audience. The best way to do this is to take advantage of your existing presence online. Promote your launch all over your website, through email communications, and by having your sales team and customer service reps tell your existing and potential customers about the launch.

Here are some more tips that will help you drive the first 100 members to your community:

• Invite your contacts. No, it’s not always fun to bombard your family members, friends, or professional contacts about something you’re working on … but it works.
• Discuss with everyone and anyone. Get in the habit of talking to people everywhere you go, especially if your community is centered around a broad product or service that has value for many people. 
• Enlist the help of new members through gamification. Ask your growing, early group to help you broaden the network by inviting their friends, colleagues, and digital connections. You can encourage this through contests or reward systems integrated into your platform.
• Partner with influencers. Collaborating with a related and complementary company can be an effective way to promote your new community and welcome new members who like both products and services.

Make sure you have configured all your Google and Webmaster tools accordingly. Provide a sitemap and make your community visible. If you have completed all these steps, the odds are that your online community launch will be successful. 

What tips do you have for launching an online community? Share them below.