New Blue October Music Video for The Chills

by Jon Ray on Jul 25 in Music Video

Directed by: Jeff Ray

Produced by: Jon Ray & Nick Yedinak

Our new video for Blue October’s single, The Chills had its World Premiere on VEVO, today. A big Thank You from all of us at Papertank Productions to all of the amazing people who were involved in making this video. Thanks!

New Videos for The Soldier Thread & Kiano

by Jon Ray on Jul 13 in Music Video

The Soldier Thread – Matador:

Kiano – Hula Hoop:

Let us know what you think.

What we can learn about marketing from a 7 year old

by Jon Ray on Mar 02 in Marketing, PR

What can we learn about marketing from a group of 7-year olds?
I was driving out of my neighborhood in Austin, TX yesterday when I stumbled upon a group of young entrepreneurs with a sign reading, “The Best Lemonade in Austin!”

Wow! The BEST lemonade? That was an offer that I couldn’t refuse. I pulled over and was enthusiastically greeted by the three marketing moguls. “Hello, sir! How are you today?”

What wonderful customer service, I thought. I said that I was having a wonderful day and that’s when the older of the three (7 and a half) gave me their pitch. “Today we have lemonade and cookies, each for a quarter and if you buy both you get a basketball card.” His female business partner chimed in, “The cookies are delicious!” She spoke with such genuine enthusiasm, I couldn’t resist. In the end I walked away with a cup of lemonade, a cookie and a Fleer, Marvin Williams, basketball card. As I approached my car the third kid shouted to me, “Thanks! Tell your friends!”

Once back in the car, I took a sip of the lemonade…DELICIOUS! I bit into the cookie…soft oatmeal, raisin, chocolate chip greatness! I was thrilled with my purchase. This really was the “Best Lemonade in Austin.” There was no buyers’ remorse in sight. I immediately texted five friends that lived in the area and told them to be sure and stop by the lemonade stand if they were out and about in the neighborhood. As I drove off, I saw more cars drive up to the stand. These kids were creating a buying frenzy!

So here’s the five marketing secrets that we learned:

• Create Perceived Value. Perceived Value is the difference between a sign that reads, “Lemonade” and “The Best Lemonade in Austin!”
• Customer Service is key. You might be able to get them in the door, but if they don’t feel comfortable once they are there, it will be hard to close the sale.
• Stand behind your product. Create an intimate relationship with your product and then get excited about it. Enthusiasm sells and if you’re excited about your product, that excitement will begin to spread.
• Make your product great. All the advertising in the world is not going to help you if you have an inferior product. Before you spend money advertising your company, spend money making sure your product is great.
• Ask for referrals. If you’ve been successful in implementing the above four strategies, you won’t even have to ask for referrals, but it never hurts. Your customer will be much more likely to tell people about your company if you just ask them to do so.

So, there you have it. Five marketing strategies to bring more business to your company from a group of clever 7-year olds. And all is cost was 75-cents (plus a hefty cash tip for the good advice).

Are you interested in discovering more ways that you can build a great word-of-mouth business? Fill out our contact form. We’ll be in touch soon.

The upsell: Do you want fries with that?

by Jon Ray on Mar 01 in Marketing

The title of this blog post is probably the most well-known up-sell of all time. McDonald’s has sold billions of hamburgers, making them billions of dollars. But, a simple question like, “Do you want fries with that?” which takes no more than five seconds, has easily made them billions more than hamburgers alone.

Up-selling is one of the easiest ways to increase revenue, because you’re taking someone who has already agreed to buy your product and offering them just a little bit more. This weekend I was buying a new golf bag (a treat for consistently breaking 90). I had no intention of buying anything else, but when I got to the counter with my bag, the clerk asked me if I needed any golf balls or tees to go with the bag. A logical question, seeing as I had mentioned that I was on my way to the course. So, I decided that yes, I did need some golf balls and tees. With a simple question, the clerk had turned my $150 purchase into a $180 purchase. A seventeen percent increase in revenue! The key was that he wasn’t pushy. Had I said no, I don’t think he would have tried to convince me otherwise. But, I did need golf balls and tees and because he reminded me of that, I spent an extra $30 in his store.

At Papertank Productions, my media production and marketing company, it is standard operating procedure to offer additional services to our clients. Many people come to us for video production, but end up buying video production and a marketing strategy for their video. Rarely, does someone just want a video once we pitch our marketing campaign for that video. It’s a simple up-sell that takes almost no time at all, but it raises our bottom line significantly and adds value to a product that our client was going to buy anyway.

How can you start up-selling in your business? How much more revenue could you bring in by simply asking, “Would you like _______ with that?”

Embrace Bad Press. Never Ignore It.

by Jon Ray on Feb 28 in PR

This might be the worst picture ever taken of me.

When your company winds up in the gossip rags…
If you know anything about me it’s that I am obsessed with all things celebrity. I’m the guy holding up the line at the grocery store, because he’s shamelessly flipping through the latest edition of US Magazine. I’ll admit it, I’m a subscriber to both What Would Tyler Durden Do? and Perez Hilton. We’ve even had one of our videos on Perez Hilton. I just love gossip. But, many times I feel sorry for the celebs that are targeted in the many gossip rags. Too often does the press just take the worst photo of you and publish it. Anyone who has ever been the subject of a photoshoot knows that for every good picture there are, at least, ten bad ones. The picture of me above is one of the “bad ones.” So, what happens when your company ends up in the spotlight for something not so attractive? Do you run and hide and let the press have their way with you, do you lash out at the people making you look bad, or do you roll with the punches?

Right or Wrong, Talk to the People
People aren’t stupid and information spreads fast. So, if you’ve made a mistake or your company has some poor light being shed on it, the worst thing you can do is not comment. Too often, whether it be a scandal, a mistake, a random mishap or a bad photo of you on Sunset Blvd, I see companies and people brushing the media away and not owning up to the truth. In our media ripe world, your story is going to get out there no matter what you do. So, you might as well tell your side of the story, so that someone else doesn’t make it up for you. But, don’t backlash against those people calling you or your company dirty names. Instead, roll with the punches and make light of the situation. Admit you’re wrong or weren’t at your best for once and the public will have mercy on you. But, admit you’re right, when you’re obviously not; or choose not to comment, when you’re obviously at fault and the public will crucify you. Look at the A&P Supermarket Ganster Rap Parody Video lawsuit and you’ll see a PR nightmare because “Corporate America” is suing two kids for being kids and making a video. If A&P wanted this thing to go away quickly, they picked the wrong way to go about it. Had they just fired the kids and been done with it, I wouldn’t be writing this post right now.

How do you handle press, good or bad?
I’m a big fan of spinning anything negative into a positive, which is pretty easy to do. The public is surprisingly forgiving as long as you’re honest with them. It’s only when you try to hide the truth and then are outed that they go for your throat. So, how do you handle less than perfect media coverage? What ways are you spinning negative into positive? Is your company afraid of admitting that it isn’t perfect? Guess what…no one is.

Does your marketing buzz or bust?

by Jon Ray on Feb 27 in Marketing

I had a phone conversation today with a colleague regarding what “Buzz Marketing” was and how to best implement it into a campaign. This is an interesting question, in which, there are many schools of thought. Many people go about buzz marketing, or word-of-mouth campaigns in a way that does more harm than help. With so many other people putting their two bits in about buzz marketing, I decided I’d go ahead and lay out my theory on building buzz with your marketing campaign.

Grab Attention and Keep It
It sickens me when I get a message through Facebook, Twitter, or e.mail that claims to be someone that I know or that is interested in something that I supposedly like. Automation is not the way to build a buzz campaign. If you ask me, the best way to build word-of-mouth or buzz is simply by engaging your audience in a fun and creative way. Don’t tell them what their supposed to think or believe, but rather set into place a system that they want to believe in. Give your audience something they want to talk about. Forcing a message is never the way to go about spreading news of your product or service. If you truly want people to talk about your product then make it the best it can be and then when it comes time to promote it, create an event or presentation of some kind that is worth talking about. When I was in school, to raise money for new computers, we had our principal promise that she would put her desk on the roof of the school and use that as her office. Each $10,000 that was raised through various fund-raisers would result in another day on the roof. The media loved it and more importantly, ALL of the students wanted to see their principal conducting business from the roof. In two weeks we raised nearly $70,000 and our principal spent a lot of time on a windy roof. That’s what buzz marketing is all about!

Use advertising to generate press for your product.
Let’s face it, there is WAY too much advertising for someone with a small ad budget to break through all the noise. Even those companies that do break through, aren’t seeing the returns that they could see if they would just refocus their ads. Too often are people with ad budgets wasting them away, when they could see plentiful returns. The key is grabbing attention, as mentioned above, and then capitalizing on that attention, or raising awareness to others through your advertising. If I’m Red Bull and I advertise that “Red Bull Give You Wings” there’s a good chance that the average reader is going to skip over that ad. But, if I’m Red Bull and I advertise, “Red Bull Flugtag: A contest to build the most outrageous machine that you can possibly think of…and then fly it into a lake!” Now, I have something worth talking about! An ad for something like Red Bull’s Flugtag generates a lot more buzz between people, but more importantly, gets the press writing about Flugtag. And consumers are always going to trust the press more than they trust traditional advertising. Make your product newsworthy somehow and then promote it through good advertising and PR.

Engage the consumer even after your campaign is over.
I see so many campaigns that spend millions of dollars building a customer or fan base in a certain demographic and then the next year roles around and they start from scratch. You should constantly be nurturing those that are gracious enough to give your company or product the time of day. Many campaigns run for 60-90 days (if that) and then leave their fan base high and dry, longing for more. A great way to remedy this is to build your product the best it can be, create a way to promote it that is newsworthy, couple that event with appropriate advertising and then continue to engage your consumer with branded content and relevant information on the web. It could be as simple as a blog that is updated three times a week or get as complicated as offering five new branded content videos every single week. The key is to take the attention that consumers are granting you and keep it. I might see an ad campaign that I really like, but not be in the market for their product at the time. Three months pass and the campaign ends with no attempt to keep me informed on what is happening with the brand. Six months later, I’m in the market for that product or something similar, but have forgotten about your brand. But, had you merely kept an interesting blog that was relevant to me and reflected why your brand is great, then maybe I would have bought from you. Maybe 100,000 people in my demographic would have done the same. Don’t abandon those who have been so kind to grant you a little bit of their attention. It’s rude.

A Quick Recap
In the end, I’ve been talking about ways to build buzz about your product without spending too much money. I’ve also highlighted some ways you can spend a lot of money and see little, if any, return. To recap, here are the main points you should consider when putting together a marketing and advertising strategy:

1. Build your product or service to be the best it can be.
2. Create a way to promote it that is newsworthy.
3. Couple an event or promotion with appropriate advertising and PR.
4. Continue to engage your consumer with branded content and relevant information on the web.

If you just use this as a guideline when putting together your next campaign, you’ll find that you can stretch your ad dollar significantly and start building relationships with your customers that last longer than any 60-day campaign could ever hope to achieve. Your customers are people. They want to know that your company is run by people. So, make your campaigns about people communicating with people, and you’ll have more customers than you ever thought possible.

How to create a marketing strategy for your band

by Jon Ray on Feb 26 in Marketing

Dressed as my alter-ego, Michael Sugarberry, to start conversations about our band promotion packages with industry folks at all of the SXSW parties.

It amazes me how many bands out there do not have the slightest clue how to promote themselves on the internet. With so many tools available, it is flat out irresponsible to not have an internet marketing strategy for your band. Seeing as a great deal of the marketing consulting I do is for various bands and creative artists, I figured I’d give all of you out there a free look at what I suggest to any artist during my initial consultation with them. This advice, for the most part, could easily be transferred to any small business looking for inexpensive, but effective ways to utilize the internet and grow your company.

Your Band is a Company
As much as you want to focus on the creative side of your project, you have to realize that your band is a company and should be handled as such. So, first things first, consult with a media attorney and decide the best entity for your band. I won’t get into too much detail on this, because I’m not qualified to comment on it other than this: having a business entity, even if it’s just a sole proprietorship, will allow you to deduct relevant expenses on your tax return. It also makes you legit in the eyes of investors, labels and the government. Again, consult an attorney. The SBA (Small Business Association) can offer you business counseling to help you through this process.

Now that you’re a real business, you need to think about the best way to go about marketing and growing your company.

Your Marketing Strategy
The internet is full of inexpensive or free tools to help you promote your band, you just have to know the best way to use them all to compliment one another. Here is a list of ways to use the internet to become a huge rockstar:

• Build a website. You can’t expect for any record label or investor to take you seriously without having a website for you band. Sure, a MySpace profile is another great tool on the internet, but it should be used to drive traffic to your website. A good website doesn’t have to have all of the expensive bells and whistles, it just needs to have a striking photo of your band and some good information. It should also have links to the rest of the things listed below.
• Blog your Band. This is a great way to build your fan base and while it’s something that can be done within the MySpace platform, you’ll want to setup your own blog, either on your website, or at a separate URL that your website and MySpace profile points to. An interesting way to raise your ranking in Google is to build all of these tools at separate domain locations and then link them all back and forth between each other. But, if you have a blog, you need to always be updating it. The more often you update, the more often your fans will check back in with you and share you with their friends. Read my post on starting a blog for more information.
• Make a Video Podcast. A great way to share what’s going on with your band is to have a video podcast. You don’t have to do this everyday, but once or twice a week is a good way to provide fun content for your fans. It could just be a video of your band practicing, or a video promo where you tell your fans about an upcoming show. Or just fun footage from your tour. Get creative with it. If you need a camera there are many inexpensive options, the Flip Camera is a cool camera that makes importing to your computer easy and is lightweight and easy to carry around. You can host your videos on any of the video hosting websites and the more you upload each video to, the more audience you’ll reach.
• Make an audio podcast. This is very similar to the video podcast, but provides yet another way to give your fans consistent content, thus strengthening their relationship with you and your music and making it easier to sell albums, merchandise and tickets to your shows. This is a good format to suggest fans ask you questions, to which you record your answers. It also helps to have a moderator or someone interviewing you to help the conversation go on smoothly.
• Where’s your press kit? Very few bands that I come across have a press kit at all and those that do don’t have a very good one. Higher a graphic artist to help you design a press kit that is visually stimulating. The kit should include all of the following:
  1. Detailed description of the band and music.
  2. Testimonials from fans, but more importantly other members of the press.
  3. High resolution photos of the band. Included posed photos and live photos.
  4. High resolution video clips that can be downloaded for use in television stories.
  5. MP3’s of full or partial songs.
  6. List of scheduled shows.
  7. Contact Information.

  Take all of these files and compress them into a .zip folder and put it on all of your webpages and profiles as a downloadable link. This makes it easy for the press to write a story about you and press leads to more press. When writing your bio, you’ll want to write it as if it is an article itself. This allows reporters with busy schedules to simply copy and paste material into their publication.

• EPK. Electronic Press Kit. This goes a little bit further than the press kit listed about. What I like to do is get professional interview footage of the band answering a series of relevant questions. We then shoot three mini-music videos, each only 20-seconds (after-edit) in length. Then, we have an editor cut all of the interview footage in with the three mini-music videos. This gives the appearance that you have three full-length music videos, when really you only have three 20-second music videos. It’s simply a technique that gives your band higher perceived value.
• Live Music Videos. This should be a no brainer. Get a friend with a video camera to film ALL of your live shows. Even if you just set up the camera at the back of the venue on a tripod the whole time, this is another great piece of content to promote your band to your fans and spread the word. Another good idea might be to broadcast your show live via BlogTV or Ustream, but if it starts to affect the number of people who show up to the actual venue, you’ll want to do it less frequently.
• Music Videos. If you’re using all of the above tools correctly, you’re probably building a sizable fan base and hopefully making a little bit of money. Now, you need to go out and shoot a professional music video. A music video is the ultimate promotional tool, when used correctly. There are numerous outlets for your music video to air on public access television and a good music video can even land on sites like Fuse and MTV2. A music video is a great way to build perceived value around your band and another good reason for the press to write about you. It doesn’t hurt to tag something onto the end of a video that gives details on how to purchase your album, as well.
• Sell Merchandise. Hire a graphic artist or design them yourself, but get merchandise. I’ve seen bands make thousands of dollars each show just by selling out of their three t-shirt designs. If you don’t have merchandise to sell, you’re missing out on a lot of money. I personally like to find a good local vendor and have designs printed on American Apparel t-shirts. You can charge more money and again, it’s all about perceived value. Don’t forget about bumper stickers, posters, sweat bands, hats, lunch boxes, toothbrushes, etc., etc.
• MySpace and other social networks. I’ve saved this for last, because it seems to be the most obvious to most bands. If you don’t have a MySpace page and you’re in a band, then go and get one now and stop living under a rock. It is probably the greatest promotional tool available to you as a musician and it’s completely free! Now, as I mentioned earlier, don’t use this as your main band site, use it as a tool to send people to your website and other sites carrying all of the above content. Other social networks that you should be on include, PureVolume, Facebook, MP3.com, Music Gorilla and Twitter. Again, all of these sites should be used to drive traffic to YOUR website.

The idea behind all of the above suggestions for promoting your band is to create a conversation and relationship with your fans. There are a lot of bands out their and people’s attention can be diverted pretty easily. But, if you fans get to know the people behind the music, then their loyalty to you is going to be much stronger than if their just fans of the music. Give your fans something extra, give them a reason to tell their friends about you and respond to their comments and questions. Create an on-going conversation with your fans and you’ll find they are much more supportive of your music and creative efforts.

All of the above can be slightly modified for ANY creative artist or company. The end goal is to reach out and humanize yourself or your company to your fans and customers. Show people what goes on behind-the-scenes and you’ll reach rockstar status in no time.

How else are YOU promoting yourself as a band or company? What success stories do you have in building a loyal fan or customer base? Share your success stories in the comments section of this post. Proper promotion is all about building a strong conversation and strong relationships with the people who care about your band, music, company or product. How are you building those relationships?

5 ways to Be Yourself and Boost Blog Traffic

by Jon Ray on Feb 25 in Social Media

I’ve learned blogging by reading other bloggers. I love reading informative blogs and over the years many have reached out and embraced my eagerness to learn. But, I think something all new bloggers have to think about is this, “Are we blogging our thoughts, in our own words, or are we regurgitating things that we read elsewhere?” I like to think that I’m putting my two cents in and adding to the conversation, but still feel that I and others just getting started could add a little bit more of ourselves into our posts.

I’ve always been a huge Seth Godin fan. I’ve read all of his books and have read his blogs for years (before I even knew that what I was reading was a blog). I love it when Seth releases limited edition copies of his books, enclosed in a collectors milk carton (Purple Cow) or cereal box (Free Prize Inside!). So, naturally, when I decided I wanted to start blogging, I called on Seth’s advice and sent him an e.mail that read something like this:

I’m new to blogging and I’m not sure I’m going about it the right way. I read hundreds of blogs a day and try to model my blogs after those I read, but I’m still just kind of winging it. Do you have any good resources that might encourage me to blog in a better way, or understand the intricacies of becoming a part of a blog community? How do so many bloggers know each other? Do they just comment on each other’s blogs and then become active readers?

To this Seth sent me back this short e.mail that made me grin:

Hi, Jon Ray. I think you should blog the way you want to, not the way others say. There are some terrific books out there, but you’ll do better if you ignore them!

I think that is great advice for anyone who is just starting out as a blogger. It doesn’t matter how everyone else blogs, because blogging is all about communicating ideas the way you want to communicate ideas. I think for a while I was intimidated by all of the other bigger bloggers that had larger readership than me. I didn’t want to break out and do anything that other people weren’t doing. But, that goes completely against who I am. I’ve always made a name for myself by going against the grain and screaming louder than others. So, a couple of months later, I sent the same e.mail to several other bloggers that I had grown to admire.

Chris Brogan is a social media and networking expert specializing in the use of digital tools to build and strengthen online and offline communities. You’ve, no doubt, heard me mention him before. Chris is one of a handful of GO-TO guys when it comes to social media, blogging and building communities. I’ve learned so much from his blog posts that reaching out to him seemed to be the next natural step in becoming a better blogger.

This is how Chris responded to my e.mail:

Hi Jon–

This is a great story! I love hearing about your stellar rise. This is amazing stuff, and I’m so excited you reached out.

Your blog looks great! I have a quick change I’d recommend: that stellar graphic at the top (Jon Ray: referring to old blog site) of the blog eats up the entire “above the fold” area of my screen. I can ONLY see that striking image, and not see the blog text below. You might consider slicing it, or otherwise reformatting to show me at least the first headline on your blog (the way newspapers are set up).

Your posts were great. BTW, I’m a big fan of Wes Anderson movies, and I hadn’t seen or heard about The Darjeeling Limited yet, so I got so excited when I saw the movie poster. (Jon Ray: Thanks to Chris Thilk at MMM for showing it to me!)

The best post on your page was the Joe Vitale one, because it had something personal mixed in, but the posts where you talk about the films and things you’re interested in are helpful too. (Jon Ray: One of the few posts where I blogged the way I wanted. Thanks, Seth!)

NEXT LEVEL STUFF

I love that you do pictures with every post. You’ve got “reporting” right down. Now, the next level. Your site is entertaining.

Now, make it useful. Can you show people WHAT in these clips is turning you on? Can you talk about the film techniques or how someone could reproduce some of it? Can you give people something USEFUL they can do with the stuff they watch on your site?

That turns your site from a “sit back and watch” to a “take this and do something.” And that, to me, creates sticky.

Engage your audience more. Ask them for their favorite whatevers, mixed in with yours. Show them a clip you like, and challenge them to find what they see in it. It wont happen overnight, but they’ll get there.

Add your blog to your signature file on emails. More and more people are looking for blogs to better understand the person they’re dealing with. And it gets the name out there more.

I love this. PLEASE stay in contact with me.

-Chris Brogan

WOW! Chris Brogan, who I was initially intimidated to talk to, wrote ALL THAT back to me in an e.mail. Since that e.mail to Chris, I have sent many back and forth and continue to learn from him everyday. Thanks, Chris! But, Chris made some good points that I have never really taken to heart. This is one reason for this post.

Here are 5 things you can implement into your blog to make it more informative and more entertaining based off of advice from Seth, Chris and all of the other bloggers that have held my hand, while I figure out this Web 2.0 thing:

1. Blog the way you want to blog. Don’t worry about how others are writing their blogs. Make your blog your own.
2. Blog with something personal mixed into your post. There are plenty of blogs that regurgitate ideas and information. But, the reason that big bloggers get big is by always sharing that information from their own point of view. People like people. So, show your readers that you are a real person and not just an information bot.
3. Make it useful. Sharing information on events and content that you enjoy or have found useful is great. But, why did you enjoy it? How is it useful? And how can the reader take what you’ve just told them and somehow apply it to their situation?
4. Start a conversation. Your blog is a conversation that is started by you, but should be continued by your readers. Engage people in thinking and action and get them talking. Then, sit back and listen to what people have to say.
5. Have fun! There’s no point in doing anything that isn’t fun. I think I started out blogging because that’s what you were supposed to do in “Web 2.0″ It never occurred to me that maybe I wasn’t blogging for the right reasons.

Seth Godin had an interesting post on his blog, which you can read here. He begins by saying this:

I’m working today. In fact, if I’m conscious, I’m working. That’s largely because it doesn’t seem like ‘work’ today. I’d write this blog even if no one read it.

The point is that blogging should be fun. I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know many wonderful people through their blogs and the conversations that they are starting. You can easily tap into the that same knowledge base by starting your own blog. What are you waiting for?

What am I missing here that you would add to this post? Why don’t you share with all of us how YOU engage your readers and add personality to your blogs? What stories do you have about your blog’s success?

Creating a web series that people will watch

by Jon Ray on Feb 24 in Video Production

Let’s talk about good practices and strategies to make your video web series pop and rise above the clutter of the web.

The Difference between Video Blogs and Webisodes
Let me clarify what I’m talking about when I say Webisode. For me, a webisode is like a mini-television series that is broadcast over the web. Unlike a television series, though, these webisodes can be put together quickly and easily with just a slight amount of planning. A webisode could be footage from your last tour, combined with footage of you talking about the tour. The key is to always overlap some of the footage of you talking into the camera with footage that relates. You can take a look at a few of the web series we’ve put together recently if you’re curious.

100% Talking Heads = 100% BORING!
Anyone can create a video blog and talk into their webcam about any of an infinite number of subjects. If you’re someone with an opinion that people respect, then this might work for you. But, if you’re a new company, artist or blogger, you might need a little more than just a point, shoot and talk kind of video blog. I’m talking about creating Webisodes, which turn your one-take speech into a multi-faceted reality series for the web. Just overlaying some b-roll on top of you talking into the camera to break the piece up and make it more interesting can make your videos watch-ability increase tenfold. We live in an ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) society, so give us cuts to interesting footage that goes along with what you’re talking about. Even a cut away to a photo utilizing the Ken Burns’ effect is much more visually stimulating than watching you sit in your poorly lit home office. Take your talking head and make it more entertaining. A small amount more of effort gives your video higher production value, which makes you look better and gives people a reason to sit through your entire web monologue.

Add a little drama
This may not work for everyone, but for creative artists I think it’s a great angle. Add a little drama to your webisodes. Sit down and turn your TV to any channel and there’s probably an 80% (speculation) chance that you’ll land on a reality television show. Watch this show and make note of the ways they add tension and drama to the show. Now, implement these techniques into your own webisode. Here are a few techniques you can steal from reality TV:

• Add music to create emotion.
• Make each episode about a challenge that you’re trying to overcome and conclude with you overcoming it.
• Don’t be afraid to show your faults. Everyone has faults and humanizing yourself allows your fans to relate with you and gets them in your corner, rooting for you to succeed.
• Tell us what’s on your mind. Don’t put on a front. Be real with us.
• Create a story arch for each webisode. Act I. Act II. Act III.
• End with a cliffhanger or a preview that makes us want to tune in next week.
• Bring up something controversial.
• Bloopers can be funny to tag on to the end.

All of these things can add appeal to your webisode and keep viewers coming back for more.

We want your expertise!
If you’re a company, as opposed to a creative artist, then you’ll probably want to take a different approach. In your case, you can teach us something that you’re an expert in and show us how to do it. Show us how to setup an office computer network and cut to b-roll footage of someone actually completing each step of the process. Give us a complimentary webisode where you give a client a consultation, so that we know what to expect when we meet with you. Teach me a few strategies for day-trading the stock market. Whatever your expertise, share it with the world and add visuals and b-roll that corresponds with whatever expertise you are sharing.

The Quick Cut – Editing Your Footage
Of course, the biggest obstacle for you is going to be finding an easy to use editing software that doesn’t cost you much. Collecting the footage for your piece is easy if you’ll just carry a small video camera with you from time to time. Now, you need to edit the footage together. There are a million great options, but you might consider iMovie (Apple), Final Cut Studio (Apple), PowerDirector (PC), Adobe Premiere (PC), or any number of other editing applications. The key is finding an editing software that you are comfortable with and then with a little practice you’ll be pumping out killer webisodes by the dozen!

So, start shooting video, get creative and have fun! The possibilities are endless for creating webisodes and content for the internet. How will you promote your self/band/company with online video? What tools are you incorporating into your online video creation process? What did I leave out that you feel is important? Stay tuned to see some of the webisodes we are creating for our clients over the next few months.

An open letter to local businesses: How social media brings you traffic

by Jon Ray on Feb 23 in Social Media

Hello, internet!

This is Jon Ray from Papertank Productions and as you may or may not know, the way we produce and receive media is changing. No longer can companies blanket their message over the masses and expect people to respond favorably. There are just too many other brand messages to compete with and not enough people are listening to traditional forms of advertising and marketing. Society has been programmed to ignore traditional advertising and marketing and they’ve gotten pretty good at it. The question now becomes, “If my message isn’t being heard, how can I gain traction in a world teeming with competing brand messages?” And the answer is “People.” Start listening to people and you’ll be amazed at what they say.

Are you remarkable?
For too long, advertising and marketing campaigns have been void of a personal touch. In the old world of media, brands could get away with avoiding personal contact with their customers. The best advertising won out and it wasn’t really necessary to reach out on a more intimate level. But, those days are over.

Today’s consumer looks for brands that are remarkable, but more importantly people that are remarkable. Today’s consumer wants to see the face of the company they are buying products or services from, they want their opinion heard. Whether your service or product is good or bad, your customers are talking and people are listening. Millions and Millions of people are listening. What are your customers saying about you? Are you listening? Have you joined the conversation?

At Papertank Productions, we’re designing social networking and media campaigns that drive traffic to your business, while allowing you the opportunity to communicate with your current customers and future prospects. There’s a giant new community out there and we think you should be a part of it. Our social networking and media campaigns will put you front and center.

So, what is a social networking and media campaign and why is it a valuable tool in my marketing strategy?

Well, first off, let’s talk about what social networking is?

We all know what a network is. It’s any netlike combination of filaments, lines, veins, passages, nodes or the like. A group of transmitting stations linked by wire or microwave relay to broadcast the same program simultaneously is a television network. Our transportation systems are a network of roads or railing. A network of veins and arteries is found in the human body. Networks are everywhere and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals succeed in achieving their goals.

So, what is a social network? A social network is a network of people tied together by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, ideas, financial exchange, friends, kinship, dislike, conflict, trade, web links, airline routes, etc., etc. The list goes on and on and on. Because many social networks are searchable and allow you access to this information, it’s never been easier to find the right conversation to join. You can even start your own. Social networks can help you target a specific demographic with your marketing and spread word-of-mouth praise for your company. They raise public awareness about one or all of the projects you are working on. They help you find new markets, design and develop your next product, streamline your workflow and most importantly get to know and understand your customers better.

Here’s how social media marketing works:
I log into the social network of my choice or multiple social networks and setup a profile. Now, I search for people I know and see that Dusty has a profile too. I click ‘add as friend’ and now Dusty and I are e.Friends. Now I have a question about software development. In the real world, I might call Dusty and ask him if he knows anyone that can help. Dusty would refer me to Stacy, who might refer me to Zander, who would refer me to Larry and Larry would answer my software development question.

Now, let’s see how that formula is applied to social networks. Now that Dusty is my e.Friend, I can see who all of his friends are and who their friends are and so on and so on. I see that Larry is a software developer, so I send him a message directly, rather than being routed through two other people before Larry can answer my question. Thanks, Larry! Social networks streamline how I find people and information. But, we’re just getting started.

Let’s say that I want to share information on how my company can save you thousands of dollars a year off your electricity bill by installing features that make your house more energy efficient. I write something up, put together a video or make an audio recording and then upload it to my profile. Now, everyone that is one of my e.Friends can see that I’ve uploaded new media content and they go to watch it. They are excited about how much money they’re going to save and want to share it with their friends, so with the click of a button they add it to their profile and favorite it. Now, all of their friends can see that they have new content, so they go and take a look at it. As more and more people get excited about saving thousands of dollars every year off their energy bill, they get your video out to more and more people, who spread it along further and further. By utilizing these social networks, I’ve given my media content the potential audience of hundreds of millions of people.

Now let’s say that I have a company. I can create a fan page or profile for my company and then invite people who watch my video to become a fan. Not only does this boost my self-esteem, but it now allows me to communicate on a more intimate level with potential prospects and all of their e.Friends can see that they are now a fan of my company. My fans can even invite their friends to become a fan of my company too. And why wouldn’t they? My fan page has all kinds of useful information about green building, being energy efficient, saving money and the world! People can ask me questions about how my company operates, start an open forum about subject matter related to my company and even make suggestions as to services and products I should add. If my content is compelling and I have enough of it, I can keep prospects in front of my brand name for hours at a time and when they do finally call or message me about purchasing my product, I’ll already know who they are and they’ll be a much more qualified prospect than a random person off the street would be. I sure am grateful for all the business my e.Friends keep sending me!

Where do you find the people who will love your company?
I know what you’re saying, “But, Jon. I don’t have any friends and that makes me sad.” That’s okay. We’re here to help! Now that you’ve got a profile on one social network, we’re going to get you setup on all kinds of other social networking sites and make you popular. One way we’ll do that is by creating compelling content and distributing it all over the web. We’ll use that to drive traffic to your social network profile and get you some friends. But, don’t just sit there like a bump on a log and think that compelling content alone is going to make you the popular kid in school. Sure, compelling content is important, but compelling conversations are even more important. So, that’s what we’ll do next. We’ll get you set up with a blog that will allow your proverbial voice to be heard. Once your blog is kickin’ we’ll scour the web for other blogs or people that are talking about similar issues and subject matter. Once we find them, we’ll comment on some of BloggerA’s posts and add to the conversation. We might even link back to your own blog and continue that conversation there. Now that BloggerA has been conversing back and forth, we could invite him to become our e.Friend or even a Fan of your company. There are links to the social networks that you belong to on your blog, so BloggerA might add you as a friend before we even ask. Now that you and BloggerA are buds, we might mention him in a couple of the posts we write on your company’s blog. In return, BloggerA writes about your company in one of the posts on his blog. Thanks BloggerA! Fortunately for us, BloggerA has 500 subscribers to his blog and now, they all think your company is really cool. So, now they subscribe to your blog too. Some of them even become your e.Friend and now you have lots of Fans. As you get to know each e.Friend they begin talking about your company in their blogs and telling all of their friends how great your company is. Now you have a lot of subscribers to your blog, even more e.Friends, a lot of fans and they’re all talking about your company. Suddenly, you have more traffic going to your website and more business than you know what to do with! Well, that’s a good problem to have!

Does advertising still have a place in social media?
So, so far, so good. You’ve beefed up your staff to handle the influx of business you’re getting and everyone seems to like your company. You’ve even found that the conversations people are having with you has not only improved your customer service methods, but has made your entire workflow easier. With all the extra time you’re saving and money you’re making, you decide you want to reach out to even more people and figure out how your company can help them too. So, you decide you want to buy some advertising. WHAT!?! “Jon, you said advertising was dead, belly up, cold, defunct, extinct, inanimate…oh, sorry, am I rambling?” “Isn’t advertising against the rules?” No, being lame is against the rules. Advertising can be a good thing if it adds value to the community. So, how do we add value…with compelling content and a listening ear.

We can buy social ads that are targeted by age, gender, location, interests, and more. Those ads can even be paired with related actions from a user’s friends. So, if Jeff visits your company’s Fan Page and becomes a fan, we can assume that Jeff’s e.Friends might be interested in your company, as well. We can buy targeted ads that will now show up in the news feed of each of Jeff’s e.Friends. Let’s say we’re still looking for people that want to save the world one energy efficient house at a time, but they need to live in the Austin, TX or surrounding areas and be a college graduate. We query the social network for profiles mentioning the environment or green living that are in the Austin, TX area. Now, instead of buying a bunch of ads and blanketing every profile in Austin, we can purchase ads to show up only on this targeted demographic of earth lovers. Ideally, this targeted demographic is much more in alignment with your company’s cause and therefore will be a much easier sales conversion. Because you’re not wasting money on unqualified ads, you can now spend more on generating qualified prospects.

Creating a softer sell that produces leads
“But, it’s still an ad, Jon and people don’t like ads. I don’t like ads. What say you to that?” That’s true, many people don’t like advertising, but the reason for that is because most advertising tries to tell you to do something. And people don’t like being told what to do. That’s why we design your social ad campaign a little differently. We use your ads to start conversations and ask questions. Running an ad that says, “Buy a Green House!” isn’t going to generate many leads. But, an ad that asks the question, “How would you save the world AND put more money in your pocket each month?” is a softer sell and would generate more qualified leads. With informative video and other content on your website and fan page, you’ll find that people actually start to chime in and give their opinion. Starting a conversation is the first step to closing a sale.

Don’t tell your customers what to do. Try listening, first.
Advertising and marketing is no longer about telling people what to buy, it’s about starting your own conversations and adding to others. When, instead of telling a person to do something, you discuss it and figure out where they’re coming from, you’ll find that they hold you in much higher regard. Social ads can help you be a part of more conversations and if you’re listening, those conversations can lead to a lot of positive opinions, a lot of raised awareness, and a lot of sales.

Keeping the momentum going
“So, Jon, what’s next?” Wash, rinse and repeat. Great! You’ve built a successful network of e.Friends and are converting each one into sales. Those sales are turning into referrals faster than you ever thought possible and business is good. Let’s keep that momentum going! We’re going to go through your profile and give it a good wash and rinse. We’ll constantly make sure we get rid of any extraneous or outdated material and then we’ll add new media. The more often new media is updated, the more often your company is in front of your prospects eyes. We’ll make sure that your company is always in the spotlight. Our social networking and media campaigns are designed with your ideal customer in mind. We want to like people so that people will like you.

Monitoring and adding to millions and millions of conversations online every day is a big job, but it’s one of the most important jobs out there for your company. If you’re interested in learning more about how one of our social networking and media campaigns can add value to your company, feel free to contact me through our website, follow me on Twitter, message me on Facebook, comment on this blog, e.mail me or just go old school and call me on the phone. Do people still use those?