2016 was an exciting year for Voodoo. We released many new features and loads of new content for our customers use in their campaigns. Here is a quick recap of our most popular changes and additions:

Exclusive Voodoo Telecom Prospecting Videos

Your account gained value with new videos lovingly created by Voodoo's award-winning video production team. In 2016, we proudly announced 6 exclusive videos (+ companion email campaigns) to boost your VoIP, telecom and Unified Communications prospecting efforts.

All 6 videos are available in standard personal and Digital Business Card (DBC) frames. 
 

Install Your Own YouTube Videos 

Voodoo Business Builder users now can choose any YouTube video, then frame it, share it and track it. Add any YouTube video to your Video Library, then use your branded, personalized Voodoo version for prospecting and customer nurturing.

You can even record a video on your smartphone, then instantly frame it with your logo and contact information. Click the image above to see how this feature works. 

  
Thumbnail Images for High-Impact Social Posting 

To save time with your social posts and website galleries, we've created a standard set of images for our Exclusive Telecom Prospecting Videos. Use these images in your social media accounts to increase click-through rates.



Click here to access our dropbox folder and download the image thumbnails.

We've also created a set of thumbnail images for Mitel videos.  Click here to access these images. 


 

Automatic Bounceback Handling

Voodoo implemented a new, vital, time-saving behind-the-scenes feature in all user accounts called Automatic Bounceback Handling. This essential feature allows you to:

• keep your lists cleaner
• improve deliverability rates
• protect your sender reputation
• save time!

This new feature keeps all bounced emails out of your personal inbox. It also helps keep your lists clean and gives you more accurate statistics on how your campaigns are performing. 

To learn more about Automatic Bounceback Handling, check out our blog post here. 
 

We are now at work building out new features for 2017.  If there are features or improvements you'd like to see in Voodoo, please shoot us an email: support@voodooviral.com. 

Build Campaigns, Business Builder, Contact / Database Lists, Email Templates & Image Library, eVideo Launcher, New Feature, Quick Tip, Video Library & Trackable Links deliverability, graphics, image for video link, images, non-delivery notifications, non-delivery messages, thumbnail images, prospecting videos, youtube

Do you find yourself sending the same email to a series of individual contacts over time? Then this tip offers an important time-saver!

Voodoo Business Builder accounts offer three ways to send your campaigns: Quick Send, Send Email, and Funnels.  Each option has certain benefits. In this QuickTip, we'll take a peek at all three sending options, then zero in on the best ways to send an email to one contact at a time: Quick Send and Funnels.

Voodoo QuickTip #809: How and when to use Funnels to Send to new contacts

In a previous QuickTip blog post, When to Use Quick Sends, Campaigns and Funnels, we spoke about the difference between each type of email send:

	Quick Send: This is a great tool to reach new contacts and build your contact lists every day. Use this to reach out quickly to one person or a small group and add them to a Contact List at the same time.
	Send Email: Lets you send a single-stage personalized campaign (email template) to any group with a few simple clicks. Choose automated notifications for when emails get opened and videos get viewed, plus auto-response emails to follow-up automatically.  (From the Send Email page, launch the Campaign Wizard to be guided step-by-step through the process.)
	Funnels & Forms: Here's where you'll find the real magic of Voodoo for automated and multi-stage outreach. This area is full of features for power users, allowing you to create drip marketing campaigns, capture forms and automated triggers.

You can configure each feature to meet your needs in various ways. It often seems best to use the Quick Send feature when sending a one-off email to a contact. But if you find yourself sending the same email to a series of individuals, it will be more convenient and effective to utilize a Funnel.  

Examples:

You just met two people at a one-time networking event, and you want to send them one-off email.  We recommended using Quick Send.

You often meet people at networking events or via referrals from colleagues and friends. You find yourself sending the same introductory email and video over and over again. You need a perpetual introductory campaign — one where you can keep adding new contacts to a list over time and automatically sending your introductory eVideo. ) Time to set up a Funnel.  Set the wait time to “0” so anytime a contact is added, they will immediately get the email you've selected (this is a “once and done” option). 

Advantages of a Funnel:  

Automated (Multiple) Emails
The most obvious advantage to a funnel is that you can set up multiple emails to "drip" to your contacts automatically. This is an easy way to continuously reach out to each new contact  over time.

Contact Forms
Every Funnel has a Contact Form tab. The Contact Form you create here can be used and accessed anywhere to feed new contacts directly into a funnel for drip marketing and nurturing. Contact Forms let salespeople add contacts to specific funnel lists quickly and on the go…from any web-enabled device. No need to log into Voodoo to add new contacts to a list. Simply open a bookmarked Contact Form, fill out the fields and Submit. You can easily drop contacts into your funnels, one contact at a time, automatically triggering your introductory eVideo campaign...or anything else you'd like to send! 

To learn about setting up a contact form for your funnel check out our Quick Tips blog post: Turbo-charge your Marketing with Contact Forms.

Comprehensive Reports
If you are using a Quick Send, the reports are individual for each Quick Send. In order to get all the stats, you would have to view each Quick Send report individually. 

But when using Funnels, you get a detailed, aggregated view in My Reports.  Funnel statistics show all the contacts your funnel emails are sent to in one aggregated view. It also shows how each contact responds to each email in a funnel sequence (opened, clicked, watched video).

Statistics Snapshot — overall stats for each email in the funnel: 



Statistics Details — how each contact responded to each email in the funnel:



For more information on Funnels and Forms be sure to check out Forms and Funnels and Success Automation 101.

Both Quick Sends and Funnels offer Automated Action Alerts, so you can be notified when a contact opens an email, clicks a link, views a video or fills out a survey. To learn more about these alerts visit our blog post, Automated Action Alerts. 

Business Builder users, log into your Voodoo account and take a closer look at Funnels. And eVideo Launcher users, well...Funnels are yet another reason to upgrade to a full-featured version of Voodoo.  

Build Campaigns, Business Builder, Contact Forms, Quick Tip funnels

We've all witnessed the massive growth of social media. Has your business taken the plunge?  Social media can be a cost-effective way to promote and grow your business. But creating content to "feed the beast" of social networks can be overwhelming and time consuming. In this Voodoo QuickTip we talk about how to use your Voodoo custom-framed video content, along with images (that we now provide to you) to boost social media engagement and drive traffic to your website. 

Voodoo QuickTip #712: Thumbnail Images for Posting Voodoo Videos to Social Media and Websites 

As a Voodoo user, you can post links to your co-branded and personalized videos on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. This helps you build traffic, engagement, fans, connections and followers. You can see exactly how many people clicked through to watch from each post, and you're likely to be surprised at the high view rates.

Check out this Voodoo QuickTip on How to Post Trackable, Personalized Videos to Your Social Media Accounts.

Now that you know you can easily post a link to any video in your Video Library on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, let's talk about how (and why) to add still thumbnail images to your social posts. Adding an image is one of the best ways to increase engagement with social media followers (clicks, retweets, shares, replies, comments).

According to Twitter, Tweets with photos receive an average 35% boost in Retweets. That means driving more traffic to your content, and more potential prospects learning about the products and services your company offers. 

You can also leverage Voodoo videos by posting them on your company website. Adding video to your website can increase your SEO rankings, and drive more traffic to your site.  The most flexible way is to place a small thumbnail image from the video on your website.  Link the thumbnail to one of your Voodoo videos.  When visitors click-through, they'll see a full-size version of the video playing in your company's custom frame. 

Read more about posting videos to your website in this QuickTips blog post: Using Customized Video on Your Website. 

To help Voodoo users save time with social posts and website galleries, we've created a standard set of images for our Exclusive Telecom Prospecting Videos.  



Click here to access our dropbox folder and download the image thumbnails.

We've also created a set of thumbnail images for Mitel videos.  Click here to access these images. 



eVideo Launcher and Business Builder users, start posting Voodoo videos to your social media accounts and install them on your website using the images we've created for you.

Build Campaigns, Business Builder, Email Templates & Image Library, eVideo Launcher, Quick Tip, Social Media thumbnail images, images, graphics

This is part 2 of our Using Voodoo for Funnel Prospecting series of QuickTips.  In this QuickTip, we will take a deeper look at using video to touch people during Phase 1 Pre-Sale of the customer lifecycle - specifically the Consideration and Decision stage at the middle and bottom of funnel. 

As mentioned in our last QuickTip, the Pre-Sale Funnel can be divided into the following stages: 

Build Campaigns, Business Builder, eVideo Launcher, Quick Tip, Video Library & Trackable Links funnel, video

At Voodoo, we map out video strategies in relation to the full customer lifecyle.  It's important to touch people at every stage but with minimal effort.  We've been hard-at-work developing a  library of exclusive new video content for you to use during your customer lifecycle.  

It's helpful to think in terms of the three primary phases of the Customer Lifecycle: Pre-sale, Post-Sale and Referral Generation.  Phase 1 - Pre-Sale refers to the process of finding leads, nurturing them into prospects and convert them to paying customers. This is commonly referred to as The Buyer’s Journey.

Phase 2 - Post-Sale refers to keeping current customers informed, making sure they’re happy and fully upgraded, then measuring their satisfaction. 

Phase 3 - Referral Generation involves empowering your most satisfied customers to tell others about your products and services.

In this QuickTip, we will take a deeper look at using video to touch people during Phase 1 Pre-Sale of the customer lifecycle - specifically the Awareness stage at the top of funnel.  

Awareness: Top-of-Funnel (ToFu) — The prospect has identified a problem or opportunity.  Use Top-of-Funnel Awareness videos to capture attention and establish your solution’s relevance. 

Consideration: Middle-of-Funnel (MoFu) — The prospect has named their problem or opportunity and is seeking specific solutions. 

Decision: Bottom-of-Funnel (BoFu) — The prospect understands the processes and tools needed to solve their problem or take advantage of their opportunity. 

Build Campaigns, Business Builder, eVideo Launcher, Quick Tip top-of-funnel prospecting

Do you want to enhance your Voodoo campaign results even more?  This QuickTip can you help you do just that with Voodoo's Digital Business Card. 

Your Digital Business Card (DBC) is like a personalized signature that replaces the footer of your videos' custom frame. You can add a photo, name, office and mobile number, email address and custom sales text.  Using this dynamic personalization can dramatically increase your response rates. Prospects are much more comfortable connect with a real person vs a generic email address.
Using the DBC, people know who they're responding to and it can make a big difference to your results.   At Voodoo, we generally see response rate increases between 3-7% on most campaigns.  DBC's are available to all our Business Builder Power and Turbo users.  To enable your DBC, the first step is to locate a photo that represents your professional identity and is likely to build trust among your prospects and customers. Friendly is good! Go to the Personal Settings area, access the Digital Business Card tab, and upload the photo and enter the data you want shown. Use the Preview feature at the bottom of the DBC feature page to see how your photo and frame look when framing the content in your Video Library. Business Builder Power and Turbo users, if you need help formatting your photo, or with any other part of the DBC, please give me a call or send me an email and we'll get you set up.  eVideo and Business Builder Basic users, if you are interested in this powerful feature, please just let us know! We would love to chat with you about our Business Builder Power and Turbo Systems, and show you how they can turbo-charge your results.

Build Campaigns, Business Builder, New Feature, Quick Tip personalization, digital business card, dbc

Your step-by-step guide to Voodoo Business Builder and Automated Video Communications. Learn to build an eVideo™ campaign, launch it, and automate your success.

We’re glad you’ve joined the Voodoo family, and want you to reap big rewards from your bold step into video-based online marketing and automation.

You now have the tools to automate repetitive tasks you do every day. Like explaining your products, reaching out to customers with new opportunities, making sales pitches, and answering information requests. Time used to equal money; now Voodoo does.

As your video library grows, your Voodoo system and features can help you do all that and more. Let’s get right to it. Time to build a campaign and work some Voodoo magic with your prospects and customers.

Voodoo Business Builder System

	STAGE ONE:  Customize Emails Editing and Formatting your Message Adding Customization & Tracking to your Email Embed a Video Link or Survey ink in your Email
	STAGE TWO:  Managing Your Contacts with My Contacts Create Your Test List Create new Contact Lists Import contacts from a CSV file Import from another Contact List in Voodoo
	STAGE THREE:  Build and Send an eVideo Campaign Optional Stage:  Auto Scheduler
	STAGE FOUR:  My Reports

Build Campaigns, Business Builder, Business Builder How to Voodoo Guide Business Builder How to Voodoo Guide