Jasper:
Hi, there. I'm Jasper from Yellow Glove Productions, and today I'm chatting with Luke Farnworth from Luke James Digital. They're an East Midlands based marketing agency, and we're going to be talking about how you can best use video and photos in your marketing campaign.

Jasper:
So Luke, do you want to tell me a bit about Luke James digital, how you got started, your journey?

Luke:
Yeah, so we're a social-first digital marketing agency. A lot of people don't quite understand what that means, because social is a part of digital, right?

Jasper:
Yeah, something I've heard. So social first...

Luke:
So ultimately, what we see is that people go to social first, so our marketing campaigns are focused around social, as the epicenter, and then everything around that will be more digital activity to drive conversation. But what we really believe is everyone starts on social. When you pick up your phone, the first place you go to is probably Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. So we use social as the epicenter. So Luke James Digital, we work across a number of different brands, from Mr. Porky, the pork scratchings.

Jasper:
Yeah, I know it. I know it.

Luke:
Golden Wonder Crisps, Balfour Wines. Working with Stagecoach at the minute, which is really exciting. And so yeah, we're still a young agency, I think. I've got a few more wrinkles now than I did when I started out; I'll tell you that for sure. But we are only two years in, so we're still growing. It's really exciting times for us.

Jasper:
Everything's just so visual now, with is hence why we're talking about using video and photos in marketing, because I feel like you just can't not have video or good photos on your feed now.

Luke:
I agree. I completely agree. And I think it is one of the greatest mistakes of many brands, is thinking that it's okay just to put anything up.

Jasper:
Oh, God, no. I've seen some horrendous examples. It's when they try and get memes in that make no sense.

Luke:
Oh, you're making me shiver, Jasper. Stop, stop. No, I completely agree, and I think it's all about having a bit of a plan, isn't it? And knowing what your content themes are. So we usually say that it's good to have maybe three or four different content themes, and if you knew what the content themes were, you should be able to go onto that Insta page or Facebook page or TikTok and actually work out what they are, decipher what themes they're using. Otherwise, there's no strategic planning there, and it's just all a bit messy.

Jasper:
Yeah, and when one of your clients approaches you and say they want videos and photos to represent them on socials, where's the first place that you start with that?

Luke:
The customer. I think it's where a lot of agencies go wrong, is they don't think about, "Okay, what does the customer actually want? Who is the customer?" Because it's amazing how many brands you'll sit down with and go, "Okay, so who's your customer?" And you just get blank faces, genuinely, and these are really big brands that you're working with. And you just get blank faces, and you think, "Ah, they don't know." We work out who the customer is, why they're there, what their motives are to buy that product, and then we work back from there. We start putting a bit of a strategic plan together.

Jasper:
Perfect, because I know we've even had people come to us, as well, and say, "Can you do this sort of panning effect or certain things like this?" It's like, "We can do that. We can get all these great shots, but it's not going to do you any good if you don't know who you are selling to or even what you're selling. Do you just want a shot to make you look cool? What's the point in that if you don't know who that's going to be seen by and what you're selling?"

Luke:
Absolutely. I always say to clients, "We can give you anything. We can give you anything you want, but don't have everything, so be really strategic about it. Do you want that fancy shot because it looks cool, or do you want that fancy shot because actually, that's how your customer operates, and that's how your customer talks and feels?" So I think it's really important to say, "We can do anything, but don't have everything." Because what's the phrase?

Jasper:
Jack of all trades. [crosstalk 00:04:44].

Luke:
Jack of all, yeah.

Jasper:
Master of none.

Luke:
Master of none. So I think that's really important.

Jasper:
Yeah, I mean, a great example of one of our clients is [Cattell 00:04:53] Windows, and they originally had what we call a branding video from us. So it's sort of like a story told of what their brand's about, the history, how they started. All the way to things like awards. And I think it came to a three-minute video, so it's just a nice thing to introduce a new customer who's looking for what is a big purchase, like windows and doors on your house. You're going to be living surrounded by these things. [crosstalk 00:05:21].

Luke:
Spending a lot of money.

Jasper:
Yeah, a good amount of time. But after they had that brand-new video, they then had things like FAQ videos. They had more in-depth videos about certain brands they had and certain software they used. So that's an example, I feel, where they really know what their customers are looking for. And they're not just going all-out and saying, "Can we just get a video?" It's quite specific for their marketing.

Luke:
Yeah, absolutely, and I think that dovetails really nicely into how you then use those videos. And nothing breaks my heart more than someone spending a good amount of money on video and photography, and then it just sitting on a hard drive forever.

Jasper:
Oh, that's the worst.

Luke:
Well, it happens all the time, and it's genuinely heartbreaking, because you spend so much time planning and making something look great, for it to never be seen by anyone.

Jasper:
Yeah, I feel like some people just don't understand the commitment you make with videos and photos, because once that shoot day is over or the couple of days is over, you've got to make that effort to put it out and make sure that your customers are seeing it. Like I said, it can be heartbreaking when you're waiting for something to come out, and you just don't see it. But I feel like that's what you guys do. You make sure that it goes out, which is a good thing.

Luke:
Exactly, and what we do is when we get all of the assets back, I'm a big fan of sticky notes. I go old school. [crosstalk 00:06:59].

Jasper:
Old school.

Luke:
So I get all of the assets that we've got, and I will basically plot them on, I don't know, the floor, the wall, table, wherever you want to. And we plot them out, so we can start to create a bit of a plan. But it's not just the assets themselves that we're plotting. We're plotting a customer journey. So I probably bore most of my clients and my team about funnels. I'm big fan of marketing funnels. Google them, learn about them, learn how they work.

Jasper:
Yeah, something that's come about quite recently, isn't it? In the past couple years.

Luke:
Yeah, definitely, and it's becoming a real trend within agencies, to build these funnels. And to give a bit of highlight of how they work, right at the top, you've got brand awareness. In the middle somewhere, you've got consideration. They're starting to consider your brand more. And then at the bottom, you've got purchase. And recently, we're starting to see brand advocacy, or I like to call it raving fans. I want all of my customers to be raving fans.

Jasper:
Because you want to create community, don't you, with brands?

Luke:
Yeah, absolutely. So right at the top, we've got this brand awareness, which is, maybe, if I dare say, the fluffy stuff. It is not really selling a product yet, because how many times do you see an ad on Facebook and click Buy Now on the first click?

Jasper:
It's never, is it?

Luke:
You don't. You don't, because you go through this journey of learning about the brand, learning about the product. Why do you want it? What problem does it solve? As marketers, we are problem-solvers. We're solving a problem. Right down to purchase, where it's a bit more hard-hitting. It's a bit more, "Go and buy this now." So I think it's really important to build funnels in your marketing strategy.

Jasper:
Yeah, and I guess you can have that with the videos and the photos. You can have a video to introduce your brand, a video then to introduce that product, and then the final video, that's maybe an offer on that product and get people to click Buy Now. It's always really good when businesses actually make money.

Luke:
I have happy clients when they're making money. I have very angry clients when they're not.

Jasper:
That's it. So let's round up, then, with: What would you say makes a successful campaign, versus what doesn't? I guess let's start with the bad bits. What are the do-nots?

Luke:
I think the do-nots is not having a plan, not knowing who your customer is, all of your assets looking different and not having that brand feel. Get brand guidelines. Stick to your brand guidelines. And when you don't, make sure someone gets told off for not sticking to their brand guidelines. So I think that's really important.

Luke:
I think it's important to know when to move people down the funnel, because all too often, I see people getting stuck, customers getting stuck at the top of funnels and not being driven down.

Jasper:
It just becomes too much about awareness, rather than direction?

Luke:
Yeah, yeah. At no point are you actually telling people to go and buy. It's like, "What are we here for?"

Jasper:
You're making friends, but you're not there.

Luke:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've got loads of friends; no customers. So yeah, I think they're the do-nots.

Jasper:
And what are the top things that make a great campaign, then?

Luke:
I think a lot of it's about who you work with.

Jasper:
Like Luke James Digital.

Luke:
Like Luke James Digital, www.lukejamesdigital.co.uk. I think it's important to work with people that understand your brand and understand what you are trying to do. So not every client is the right client. We have clients come to us all the time, and we say, "Actually, do you know what? I think there's a better agency out there for you." And we will say, "Go to this agency or this agency."

Jasper:
That's great, yeah.

Luke:
So that's really important. I think it's also really important to have a budget, both so you don't spend too much, and so you spend something.

Jasper:
Yeah, I was going to say, and not spending too little, as well.

Luke:
We use a lot of paid media to amplify our message. So I think it's important to look at those channels. Work out what channels are right for you, because if you're selling pink, fluffy slippers, LinkedIn probably isn't the right channel for you. But TikTok might be, or Instagram might be. So I think working out your channels, working out your budget, working out how you're going to spend that on paid media. All of that's really important.

Jasper:
Perfect. Brilliant. Well, thanks for chatting with me, Luke.

Luke:
A pleasure.

Jasper:
That's been awesome. And I hope the viewers watching at home or on LinkedIn, TikTok, wherever you're watching, have actually learned something about digital marketing. And maybe rethinking how they're doing it, and maybe considering Luke James Digital.

Jasper:
As always, if you've got any questions at all about video, then just get in touch through the website or our socials. Thank you very much for watching.

Luke:
Thank you.

Jasper:
I'll see you soon.

Luke:
Thank you.

Jasper:
Perfect.