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When news surfaced last week that activist investors were taking the unusual step of pressuring Coupa Software to not sell for less than $95 a share, it got our attention. You don’t normally see investors sending a letter asking a company to hold off on a sale. It’s typically the opposite.

But today, the company announced that Thoma Bravo was acquiring it for $8 billion. That works out to $81 a share, which still represents a 77% premium for shareholders, but well below what HMI Capital was asking for in a letter made public earlier this month.

The letter believed published rumors that another private equity company, Vista Equity Partners, was in the hunt to buy it, but in the end, Thoma Bravo was the buyer along with a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) also participating in the deal as a minority investor. Thoma Bravo has a long history of acquiring mature enterprise software companies and taking them private.

Coupa, which makes spend management software for large businesses, has been having a rough year in the stock market, like many SaaS companies, feeling the wrath of investors looking for profit over growth. The company’s stock price was down 64% year-to-date and was down over 2.5% in pre-trading, suggesting that perhaps investors aren’t happy with the deal.

Company CEO Rob Bernshteyn put a happy face on the deal as you would expect, saying that customers can expect a similar level of service, regardless of who the owner is signing the checks.

Roger Siboni, Coupa’s lead independent director said that the company took into consideration the current economic climate and decided it was a deal worth taking. “The Board evaluated the transaction against the company’s standalone prospects in the current macroeconomic climate and determined that the compelling and certain cash consideration in the transaction provides superior risk-adjusted value relative to the Company’s standalone prospects. The Board is unanimous in its belief this transaction is the optimal path forward and in the best interest of our shareholders,” he said in a statement.

While the board of directors has unanimously agreed to the terms, it should be interesting to see if the shareholders are as friendly to the deal when they meet early next year. It would seem that HMI Capital, which owns 4.8% of the Coupa stock, will lead the charge against the deal if the letter the firm published is any indication of its feelings about the company being undervalued at this price.

Should the deal pass muster with stockholders and regulators, it is expected to close in the first half of 2023. Surprisingly, given HMI’s letter, there is no go-shop provision with this deal, which would allow Coupa to keep looking for a better deal.

Thoma Bravo snags Coupa for $8B despite activist pressure to hold off for higher price by Ron Miller originally published on TechCrunch

We all know that content is king when it comes to SEO. However, winning SEO strategies today demand more than just good textual content.

Good content today also includes video. A video SEO strategy is no longer optional to driving growth — it’s absolutely necessary.

So what’s an SEO strategist to do? How do you nail down a comprehensive strategy that will impress your boss and get results beyond your client’s expectations?

Video drives traffic and leads

Let’s get down to the basics for a second. Digital consumption is growing at an ever faster clip. People have access to more information than they ever did before, which has led to an inundation of content. Because content is plentiful, people don’t take that long to decide whether your content is worthy of their time.

One of the fastest ways to get people to notice your content is through video. In fact, the human brain processes images tens of thousands of times faster than text, and viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it on video compared to 10% when reading it.

What’s more, studies have shown that video consumption is not just for entertainment and amusing pet videos — 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video. Not only is it effective as a marketing tool, it also drives traffic and leads — 86% of video marketers say video has increased traffic to their website. The primary source of that additional traffic is, of course, Google search.

Getting a sustained jump in web traffic is every SEO strategist’s dream, and video is no-brainer way to do it. Take a look at what happened when we placed high-quality, relevant videos on a client’s website:

Why is video good for SEO?

These days, SEO is so much more than matching search queries to keywords on a page. Google aims to deliver content that best satisfies the user’s needs and considers the entire user experience. Google’s search quality evaluator guidelines place importance on the following when determining the quality of a website:

The purpose of a page.
E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness).
Main content.

Considering these points is essential to creating a good user experience with good content.

How to implement a video SEO strategy

The right video SEO strategy for you will largely be determined by the type of content you currently create for your user base. It’s worth taking the time to perform a content audit and determine the type of content you have. This can be the basis for your video content strategy.

This is also a great way to identify where you might have any gaps in your current strategy. Video can help fill that gap as well.

Watch out: A common mistake when implementing video SEO is creating a video that isn’t in line with your strategy at all. Instead, the video becomes something you do simply because you think you should. Whatever your growth goals, ensure the video(s) you create are a part of the greater strategy.

Different types of videos include:

How to implement a video SEO strategy by Ram Iyer originally published on TechCrunch