Read Time: 4 Minutes

You consume adverts, video content, and social media posts from the big established businesses with millions sitting in the bank on the daily.

These established brands plaster impressive content over every platform you spend your waking day on, just to keep them front of mind.

You like their marketing, a lot, and you decide to use their latest advert as inspiration for your next big marketing campaign.

Here’s why that approach is a huge waste of time and money and could end up damaging your business’s online presence.

Let’s take brands like John Lewis, Coca-Cola, and McDonalds.

Brands that many would consider to be at the top of their game, and invest millions into the promotion of their brand online.

The average consumer would have seen at least one, if not all, of these adverts over the last 12 months. They’re impressive. Their visuals are second to none, and their stories are incredible.

But here’s why you don’t want to use them as inspiration for your next video marketing campaign.

• 1) They play it safe

The established players have the upper hand over you.

They’ve already established themselves with a strong foot in the market, so much so that most everyday consumers will be aware of their products, and services.

They don’t need to reinvent the wheel and aggressively market like you do. Instead, they can continue to play it safe and let word of mouth passively promote their new product launches or services.

Unlike you, they can comfortably play it safe.

• 2) They have larger budgets than you

To be candid, they have much more money than you to play with.

In my experience, in most of the 250+ businesses I’ve worked with over the last five years, their marketing team have curled up into a ball after receiving a quote to create a completely bespoke video for £10,000.

Whilst most businesses operate with a small marketing budget of between 3-7% of their revenue, for the established players, whilst this is still a small portion of their revenue, this adds up to hundreds of millions for their marketing budget and creative spending.

They can afford to create visually incredible, and powerful story-driven videos with premium quality, actors, sets, and the rest.

But you can’t, and you’ve got to make every penny count.

If you’re aiming to create a John Lewis advert on less than a £7M budget - yes, that’s how much this video costs to make - then you’ve got to have your expectations set in terms of what’s realistic to achieve.

• 3) They’re market leaders, not start-ups

They aren’t fighting for attention in a competitive market like you.

Most of the time they are at the helm of that market, and the market evolves around the products and services they release.

For you, it’s a completely different story.

You’re fighting the constant battle of creating content and marketing material that (1) stands out (2) grabs attention faster than your competitors (3) offers something more unique than the competition (4) positions you as the better alternative - I could go on.

This means that you can’t afford to spend large amounts of money on general “We’re still here if you need us” content like the established players can comfortably afford to promote.

Instead, here’s what I would be doing if I were the CMO of a start-up, regardless of the product, service, or industry:

• 1) Be bold in my approach: I would focus on bold messaging, and bold content for social media and paid advertising. Boldness enables me to stand out and actually get noticed in a feed crowded with generic, done-before fluff.

• 2) Stop looking at big brands: Big brands are great, but not for inspiration. I don’t have their budgets to work with, and I need to focus on finding uniqueness and creative ways to create content that aligns with my company, not theirs.

• 3) Employee a full-time videographer: With the demand for video increasing, I would hire a full-time, in-house videographer to create always-on content about the business. Consistently creating content that feels authentic and highlights the true personality and quirks of my business.

• 4) Create new styles of content: I’m in the testing phase still, and that means rather than sticking with ‘safe’ done-before content, it’s time for me to push the boundaries and explore every possible content avenue. Podcats, video adverts, social media series, and the rest. Invest more into what works, and quickly cut what doesn't.

• 5) Be hyper-targeted with my audience: I can’t afford to talk to the general population of consumers. I need to talk directly to my customers and address their pains, their problems, and their desires. But I’d do this in a unique way that sets me apart from my competitors. Perhaps leaning into humour, entertainment, and having an element of playfulness in the early stages.

Following the big brands, and using their large-scale campaigns and videos as inspiration for your next, with a budget of £5,000 isn’t going to achieve your visions of grandeur.

Instead, lean into what you can do, right now.

Uniqueness, boldness, playfulness, and the luxury of testing.

TLDR 💁🏼‍♀️

• Established brands play it safe due to their strong market position, but you can’t afford to do that as a start-up, or SMB.

• Market leaders have significantly larger marketing budgets, making premium content creation easier for them.

• Top-tier brands don't face the same competitive challenges as startups, so it’s unfair to compare your marketing to theirs.

• Startups must focus on bold messaging, uniqueness, innovative messaging, and creativity in content creation.

• Hyper-targeting your audience and experimenting with various content styles are essential strategies for startups with limited budgets.

 Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:

1. Book a {60 MINUTE} Content Power Hour with me, and unlock the secrets to making your social media videos stand out online as I tweak your approach, and analyse how to improve your current videos.

2. Don’t have time to create great videos yourself? Focus on your business, whilst we focus on creating the videos that you’ve always dreamed of. Get in touch to find out more.

Until then, I’ll see you in next week’s newsletter!