Video – Content Gold When Done Well

By Jonny@threesides | Published: May 20, 2013

Do you read Mumbrella? We found a great article published on it that showcased a range of videos produced by a bunch of creative agencies throughout Australia and shown at TedxSydney 2013.

I watched all these videos and for me they were inspiring, conquering video is a goal of mine. I would love to be able to one day create good, innovative and inspiring videos.

Here is one of my favourites from the article, the expressions on the kids faces cracked me up.

Video title – The First Taste

Here is a video I created to showcase some of my Jewellery prototypes for my side business Knave & Fables:

Probably not as inspiring as Tedx videos but I am proud of it regardless. Video content is something I want to get better at creating, I think even the shortest videos can say a lot when produced well.

When we need professional video done  - we go to the professionals….  Here’s one of the examples of a project we worked on with newcast that involved the Canberra raiders and menslink

 

But if you have the DIY video bug and just need to get started here are some tips for creating video:

1. Make a start – getting started as with most projects your unsure about always is a hesitated step. A good way is to start by creating a plan e.g. Step 2

2.Make a small video plan with what you want to achieve. Include a script if you’re adding a voice and choose some locations that you think might suit.

3. Do some research – I always find saving a bunch of videos on file that you like helps with guiding you creatively, especially when you’re new to this.

4. Once you have a plan get started filming – get the right gear together – you’ll need a camera, some talented people, a script and editing software at the very least.

5. Edit as little as possible – you can always delete and re-film if necessary but getting something captured is a great start.

 

Good luck with the video production and send me any links of your creations, I would love to see what you have created.

Jonny Day – Professtional Marketer, Amateur Video Producer

Posted in media, User Generated Media, Video, YouTube | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The evolution of Facebook Advertising: Video – Like or Dislike?

By Nicola @ Threesides | Published: May 8, 2013

Facebook Like or Dislike

The latest buzz on the global marketing streets is that Facebook has announced that from July this year they will be launching video advertisements which will appear in users newsfeeds.

With pressure on the company to increase revenues this really is no surprise, but will it be annoying enough for users to ‘dislike’ and move away from the social network … probably not.

The plan is that the newsfeed video adverts play automatically, but without any sound.  If the user chooses to listen then the advert will start from the beginning.

It will be interesting to see how Facebook users react. On the one hand it could be seen as a good thing and reinforce messages seen and heard across other media such as television, on the other hand it could be really irritating be seen as more unwanted junk clogging up a perfectly good news feed. It could even fall foul of the ‘banner blindness’ scenario where users just don’t even acknowledge that an advert is in front of them.

As a business it sounds like a great opportunity, especially if video is already part of your content strategy. It is reported that the charge to display a video advert will be in the ‘low $20s’ per thousand video views, which makes it another affordable channel at your disposal to share content, or it could even be a cost effective alternative to existing broadcast marketing activities.

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Part 3 of 3: How to improve your email marketing campaign results

By threesides | Published: March 1, 2013

You’ve worked on building your email list, you’ve tried a few different ways of improving your enewsletter content but you’re not sure you’re getting the best possible results.  You’ve been analysing your reports and you want more. You’ve been bitten by the email marketing bug.  I know what that feels like.

So here goes.  Here are my Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Email Campaign Results.

1.  Create a regular schedule of emails and stick to it so your subscribers know when to expect to hear from you.

2. Get current with your enewsletter content.  Identify trending topics and relate your content accordingly (e.g. a fresh food supplier might send a campaign highlighting the ethical production of their meat during news trends about overseas animal processing)

3. Think about the day of the week and time of day that you send emails and what is likely to work best for your product and customers.  Test the results of changing your send time.

4. Explicitly ask your subscribers to share your campaign or article through their social media channels.  You might be surprised by their reaction.

5. Segment your subscriber lists and personalise your email campaigns for interest or gender or location.

6. Share your campaign to your own social media channels (unless your email subscribers receive exclusive offers).

7. Run an A/B test on your next enewsletter campaign to actually test out some of these things and identify what works for your subscribers.  You can test different subject lines, different enewsletter content and more.

8. Ask your subscribers for feedback on what they want from your emails.  Do they like incentives and special offers, or do they just love those quirky stories or images you sometimes include?

9. Try something out of the box.  I once came across an email campaign from a graphic design business of two people with photos of their personal items which subscribers then had to identify who it belonged to.  It was a quirky way for their clients to get to know them better and they developed at least one new client (me!) through their unique, fun and different approach.

10.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Test, test, test!  The beauty of email marketing software these days is that you can get detailed reports on who’s opening your emails, clicking links, sharing campaigns, and what devices they’re using to view your campaign.  Try new things and look at what works for you and your customers.

Good luck!

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Part 1 of 3: Build your client lists for better email marketing

By Kathryn@threesides | Published: January 25, 2013

Client databases are the bane of many a business person’s life.   Common scenarios include having multiple lists in varied locations, lists full of inconsistent information, handwritten lists awaiting data entry (never gonna happen!) and great big lists that have grown old and mouldy from disuse.  Others still don’t collect any information from their customers at all.

A solid customer database is a powerful marketing tool that you can use to sell your products & services, get your customers to interact with your brand and encourage them to tell their friends all about you.  We all know that it’s easier to retain an existing customer than get a new one and they’re a lot easier to keep if you know who they are!

If there’s one thing I want you to take away after reading this blog, it’s to put a simple plan in place to collect the same information from all of your customers (both existing and potential) in a single, electronic database that you commit to use for the good of your business.

When you are deciding what information to collect from your customers, think about what is important for you to know so that you can engage with them on a deeper level.  Is it important to know what they are interested in, with a plan to engage with them on that topic? To know which of your stores they shop at, with a plan to tell them about upcoming events at that store? Their gender or date of birth, so that you can tailor your messages accordingly?

When you’ve decided what you want to know, consider all points of customer contact within your business and leverage them to acquire that information.  With a particular focus on enewletters, here are a few tips for building your lists:

• Optimise the location of your enewsletter signup on your website.  Consider a pop-up window on entry to your site to encourage sign-ups.

• Ask at bricks and mortar store checkouts if customers want to join your email list.  Input their information immediately or have a device at the checkout where they can enter the data themselves.

• Make every form a subscription form: Make sure that every form your customers see has an email subscription opt-in box.

• Provide reasons and value for customers to sign up to your enewsletter, along with incentives (eg. subscribe and receive x % off your next order).

Stay tuned for my next blog, which will focus on optimising your enewsletter content.

Posted in Electronic Direct Marketing, Enewsletters | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment