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Q&A with Tyler Lessard, VP Marketing, Vidyard

Tyler Lessard, VP Marketing of Vidyard has been recently named as an Epic Marketer by Marketo. In this interesting Q&A, Tyler takes us through his marketing journey and shares with us the value of technology in an era where videos are not just visually replenishing, but are also empowering the customer service teams in more ways than one.

MEDIA 7: What were you doing prior to your current position?
TYLER LESSARD: Prior to joining Vidyard as VP Marketing, I spent 10 years at BlackBerry, building out their developer relations program and global partner community. It was an incredible opportunity to learn the importance of relationship building and strong storytelling on a global scale, and the need to simplify how we articulate and position the value of technology for line-of-business customers.

M7: What are the changes that video hosting and management have undergone over the past couple of years at Vidyard?
TL: In recent years we’ve seen the conversation with businesses change from “why should I invest in video” to “how do I unlock the power of video across my marketing, sales and customer service teams”. This has driven us to focus on delivering new solutions through the lenses of these key audiences and what they are really trying to achieve.

We’re now helping marketing teams increase audience engagement with personalized and interactive video experiences, boost conversion rates on digital channels with optimized video experiences within their websites and email marketing, and accelerate deal cycles using video engagement data within their marketing automation platforms to qualify prospects. We’re helping sales development reps stand out and increase their response rates using personalized video messages sent via our Vidyard GoVideo app. And we’re helping customer service teams reduce call volumes and increase customer satisfaction with video-based knowledge articles embedded within customer communities. It’s all about helping businesses leverage video in new ways to improve the customer experience and generate more revenue.

"We always need to be searching for that next idea, that next channel, and that next message that will help us stay ahead of the market and build trust with our audiences."

M7: What’s top of the list for what Vidyard wants to achieve this year?
TL: A big priority for Vidyard is to make it as easy as possible for marketing, sales and customer service teams to create, access, share and track rich video content from within the applications and workflows they already use today. We’re now doing this through integrations with key platforms such as Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot, SalesLoft, Outreach, InsideSales.com, Zendesk and others. In 2019 we’re looking to expand this community further to enable any business professional to embrace video as a better way to communicate and deliver information.

"The most important thing for today’s marketer is to never stand still."

M7: In what way will Vidyard’s collaboration with SmartBug Media change the video experience for HubSpot users worldwide?
TL: In 2018, Vidyard launched a strategic partnership with HubSpot to power their new HubSpot Video solution for marketing, sales and customer service. Now that the solution is available to HubSpot customers, partners like SmartBug Media are critical to helping them learn how to use video effectively and how to take advantage of these new native tools. From how they create video content, to how they optimize them for conversion, to how they track video engagement data within HubSpot CRM, partners like SmartBug Media will help customers make video an integrated part of their own marketing, sales and customer service processes.

"Vidyard delivers hyper-personalized experiences, right down to personalizing the content itself, to stand out from the other noise in the market."

M7: You have been named as an Epic Marketer by Marketo last month. That’s indeed a great achievement, Tyler. What efforts do you take to hone your marketing skills?
TL: The most important thing for today’s marketer is to never stand still. It’s easy to get caught up in “what has worked before” and “this is how we do it”, but we always need to be searching for that next idea, that next channel, and that next message that will help us stay ahead of the market and build trust with our audiences. I’ve embraced video myself as a content medium to share ideas and connect with customers. We deliver hyper-personalized experiences, right down to personalizing the content itself, to stand out from the other noise in the market. And we stay close to the latest trends and technologies to understand how we can stay one step ahead.

ABOUT VIDYARD

Vidyard is the video platform that helps businesses transform communications and drive more revenue through the strategic use of online video. Going beyond video hosting and management, we help businesses connect with more viewers through interactive and personalized video experiences, learn powerful insights on their viewing audience, turn insights into action with enterprise integrations, and prove the impact of their video programs.

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