TechnologyAdvice
The Best Resource for B2B Software
Before/After
Client
- TechnologyAdvice
Date
- Feb 2022 - January 2025
My Role
- Video Strategy & Creative Direction
Led the shift to modern, trend-informed video formats aligned with audience behavior on YouTube and social media. - Workflow Redesign
Rebuilt the production pipeline—reducing annual output from 100+ videos to a third—while maintaining creative oversight across 7+ editorial brands and all inbound work from social and marketing. - Cross-Team Collaboration
Partnered with marketing, design, and editorial teams to align messaging, boost video performance, and ensure brand consistency. - Team Leadership
Managed and mentored a multi-disciplinary video team, conducted performance 1:1s, and implemented systems for quality control and creative upskilling. - Platform-Specific Content Strategy
Developed and executed channel strategies tailored for YouTube, Shorts, and social media with a focus on retention, engagement, and discoverability.
Building the concept
Old thumbnails from videos. TechnologyAdvice’s YouTube always consisted of simple thumbnails using the logo of the software discussed except for Project-Management.com videos which always used a picture of the host.
Note: Don’t be fooled, these numbers were acquired over the course of several years. (It’s a recent screenshot.) They also were created with paid advertising which was cancelled in 2023.
Initially videos used a formulaic layout that consisted of a slideshow format, where pros and cons were touched on for each piece of software while also not favoring any kind of software.
After Revamp
Conclusion
Over the course of several years, through ongoing collaboration and strategic pivots, we redefined how our video content was developed, designed, and delivered.
Thumbnail Strategy Redesign
We moved from generic product shots to face-forward, story-first thumbnails—often developed before the video itself. This shift raised our average click-through rate from 7.5% to 13%, well above our per-video average of 7%. The visual evolution—from plain logos on white to fully customized, topic-driven thumbnails—made our content more competitive in the feed.
Retention-Focused Storytelling
We dissected and rebuilt the “retention-style” video format to boost watch time and viewer engagement. While longform watch time remained steady around two minutes, we saw stronger performance and more immediate returns from YouTube Shorts.
Reclaiming Data-Driven Content Strategy
2022: We used VidIQ and Google Trends to identify high-opportunity topics based on search volume and competition—resulting in strong viewership.
2023: We shifted to Editorial-assigned topics, which led to underperformance.
2024: We returned to a data-led approach, combining real-time search trends and news hooks. This allowed us to generate relevant new content in a saturated niche while accounting for engagement drop-off in older, legacy videos.
Evolving On-Camera Talent
We moved away from internal hosts (who also carried production responsibilities) and instead sourced external experts to bring more authority and context to each video. That shift improved viewer trust and boosted content credibility.
Even with resource challenges—scaling from 2 sites to 15 with a small team of 5 to 7—we saw a 7% performance increase year-over-year. Most importantly, we sustained (and in some cases grew) engagement while producing only one-third the volume of content compared to prior years.
In the end, quality won. Less noise. More signal.
Turns out, fewer videos can make a bigger impact—especially when you actually make ones people want to watch.