Videomaker Community Forums » Tag: branding

Videomaker Community Forums » Tag: branding - Recent Posts http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ Videomaker Community Forums » Tag: branding - Recent Posts en Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:13:38 +0000 EarlC on "Marketing Challenge for All" http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/marketing-challenge-for-all#post-67422 Sat, 23 Apr 2011 14:20:57 +0000 EarlC 67422@http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ This is nothing I haven't written about before, either here or on my video marketing and production blog at <a href="http://www.eccomeecgo.blogspot.com">E.C. Come, E.C. Go</a>, established in 2004 and still going strong ... well, fairly strong ;-) I want to refresh my tried and proven series of direct-mail postcard marketing programs with independent professional video services providers who actively read <a href="http://www.videomaker.com">Videomaker.com</a> and the forums who may, or not, be enjoying a steady stream of inquires, phone calls, e-mails or website visitors. Ignore what you've previously experienced, read or heard about direct-mail marketing. Open up your vision and THINK about what I'm going to share with you. Then, let's see HOW MANY of you are willing to commit to a 90-day, six-month or, dare I hope, one-year experiment with me. Let's see HOW MANY will actually take up this challenge. Then, in 30-days, 90-days, so on and so forth, maybe we can get discussions going here based on reports from those who start, come on or drop off, and see what each of you did, how far you took it, and the results ... positive, negative or neutral. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT EARL? Any of you who have read my marketing articles know I am a firm believer of small direct-mail postcard campaigns focused on specific areas of interests — dance schools, school events, collective or specific youth sports such as baseball, basketball, swimming, soccer, etc. and many, many others. What I mean by "small" and "focused" is less than 100 units per campaign, and as mentioned above, postcards designed to appeal to a specific area of interest. HERE'S THE CHALLENGE! DO A GOOGLE SEARCH or use any other method of identifying ANY facility, school, organization, club or group(s) of interest within your service area. Get addresses and as often as you can, GET SPECIFIC NAMES! Someone to address that postcard to: the counselor, owner, director, choreographer, events planner, organizer, etc. DESIGN A POSTCARD with minimum wording, a call to action and a promise you can keep — a special price, special offer, something unique and appealing that addresses the "what's in it for me" question that EVERYONE you try to sell something to will ask, and not always ask aloud. COMMIT TO MAILING a minimum of ONE postcard a day, on average, (that's right JUST ONE, although MORE is better) and stick to the commitment. It takes only minutes to come up with 30 or so viable addresses, and often names, for most active events for this. Ten minutes, or less, a day if you ONLY look for one, identify it, address the postcard, stick a stamp to it and put it in the mailbox. KEEP A RECORD of what happens. What interest group(s) you selected. Who you mailed to. How many you mailed. How many responses you get. How many sales, gigs or opportunities you received. Then come here and give us all your updates for the duration of your commitment, be it 30 or 90 days, or longer. YOU WILL ENJOY a better than 5 percent response ratio. I've been doing this for years and I've averaged an eight percent or better level of response to each direct mail campaign and batch. I've ALWAYS done better than break even when factoring in my costs and time, always getting MORE business income than what I invested. Yes, a REAL R.O.I. (return on investment). THE SECRET TO SUCCESS is as follows: Persistency, consistency, commitment WILL generate responses. You ARE gaining eyeballs, and TELL yourself this until you believe it, even if you DON'T receive ONE response over a 90-day period. People WILL read your postcard, many of them will save it for reference purposes because even if they don't perceive a need today, they will want to keep it as a resource for tomorrow's, next week's or next month's special party, event, or even to replace a videographer they've become displeased with, or one that has flaked out on them. These reasons and more have resulted in our getting gigs over the period of the campaign. Keep your records because you WANT to repeat mailings, either with the SAME direct-mail piece, or a revised one, but still with your prominent business name branding present so you continue with the association, visibility and linkage, and familiarity that comes from repetition. DON'T however, overdo it by getting rambunctious and saturating your addresses with something tantamount to SPAM or JUNK MAIL. That is counter productive, guaranteeing a negative return and direct-to-trash response. Make your content simple, compelling and ALWAYS include a call to action: "CALL NOW!" "E-mail TODAY!" "BOOK YOUR EVENT before the date is lost!" so on and so forth. I've included a poll here. Hopefully a good number of you video enthusiasts who are seeking ways to expand, build or develop your business base will take up the Marketing Challenge for ALL and we ALL will learn from the results and responses here over time. Just DO IT! EarlC on "Plan NOW for 2011!" http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/plan-now-for-2011#post-65180 Sat, 29 Jan 2011 09:42:10 +0000 EarlC 65180@http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ Summerrose, check in at <a href="http://www.eccomeecgo.blogspot.com">E.C. Come, E.C. Go</a> where friend, associate and fellow Videomaker Forums member Heidi Mueller (also a supporter of and participant in the ongoing branding and marketing program <a href="http://www.videostorytellers.com">Video StoryTellers!™</a>) is currently into Part 3 of an ongoing Roadmap for Beginning Videographers that provides invaluable resource information and good, common sense advice. My video marketing, business and production blog has been active since 2004 and there's a wealth of ideas and proven concepts there, as well as business opportunities, to learn from. Feel free to become an "EC Reader" so you'll know anytime something new is posted. Currently, there's easy-to-find serious information on Video StoryTellers!™ and <a href="http://lulu.com/spotlight/Earl">"They Shoot Funerals, Don't They"</a> a complete guide to marketing and producing funeral and memorial videos for serious income at the blog site as well. Summerrose on "Plan NOW for 2011!" http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/plan-now-for-2011#post-65177 Sat, 29 Jan 2011 06:25:41 +0000 Summerrose 65177@http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ This is great info! Glad to see it on here, so I can make a note of it for later. I need to read how others are able to successfully create and stay in business. Thank you Earl. EarlC on "Plan NOW for 2011!" http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/plan-now-for-2011#post-64491 Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:04:28 +0000 EarlC 64491@http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ Thanks Derek, for the nod. I really appreciate it. Oddly enough, on some forums where I share such things as planning, focusing, marketing and organizing I get blasted by people who think none of this is important, citing that they get all they can handle simply through referrals. That's well and good for the possible 2 percent who can claim that position, but for the rest of us it's all about the eyeballs. The MORE people who know about us and what we can do, the MORE effort we put into helping them find us, the better growth we will experience even in trying economic times. Derek Sine on "Plan NOW for 2011!" http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/plan-now-for-2011#post-64347 Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:06:06 +0000 Derek Sine 64347@http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ As always great post Earl! EarlC on "Plan NOW for 2011!" http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/plan-now-for-2011#post-64274 Sat, 18 Dec 2010 13:06:41 +0000 EarlC 64274@http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ You've got plenty on your mind this next few weeks, but it's not too early to start making plans for your video business operations and marketing strategy for 2011. As soon as you read this, and if you feel ANY inspiration at all, pick up your <a href="http://www.apple.com">iPad</a>, laptop or other computer, open your <a href="http://www.circusponies.com">Circus Ponies</a> or other planning software, or grab a pencil and a tablet and start your outline. Before simply continuing with what you already are doing. For some this is perhaps enough, for others more will be needed to continue to survive the coming year, much less anticipate or consider growth, even expansion of your video business operations. There will ALWAYS be weddings, or maybe not. But let's just say your wedding business operations are where you want them to be and the referrals are pouring in. Whether you're full time or part time in the video business, there are things you can plan for now that will help you achieve your 2011 income and business goals. STEP ONE Go through your 2011 production calendar and note all the holidays and special days: Valentine's Day, President's Day, Tax Day (just kidding), <a href="http://corelannvideo.com/easter.mov">Easter</a>, <a href="http://corelannvideo.com/memday.mov">Memorial Day</a>, Mother's Day, Father's Day and all the other days of observation. Copy them to your planning program. Aside from weddings, what other possibilities are there for these special days? • <a href="http://eccomeecgo.blogspot.com/2008/10/make-money-with-video-greeting-cards.html">Video greeting cards</a> • Personal documentaries • <a href="http://eccomeecgo.blogspot.com/2008/12/money-maker-day-in-life-videos.html">Day in the Life productions</a> • Community programs & observations • How to videos on unique Easter egg decoration, cake creation or sugar molds • Patriotic themed productions • Small and independent business promotions and web video • <a href="http://www.videostorytellers.com">Video StoryTellers!</a>™ STEP TWO Do some research to identify where, how and to whom you can market for these and other video production/product concepts. A good Google search will generate an abundance of opportunities, groups, clubs, organizations and even generate some new ideas for marketing and potential clients that you never thought of before. Go with the flow and develop some concepts. You don't have to flesh them out now, simply get them down so they will not elude you later. Make your list and check it twice later. • Potential new businesses that might be receptive to video in their marketing • Groups, clubs and organizations that could use video in promoting their programs • Those small businesses that might have never pursued a video or Web presence • Church groups planning for their silver, golden or 100th anniversary celebrations • Memorial themes recognizing members who have died • Other potential avenues of video need that might often be overlooked STEP THREE Jot down some quick notes as they pop into your head. They don't have to make sense, but believe me when you begin working on some freestyle thinking like this little nuggets will get discovered. These can often wind up being nothing more than fool's gold but a few are diamonds in the rough, if you'll kindly overlook the cliché. Decide your best approach after the holidays. • <a href="http://eccomeecgo.blogspot.com/2008/11/direct-mail-does-pay-off.html">Develop a direct-mail strategy</a> • Expand on this, or that idea or concept • Can I make this happen • Is this too big for my operation • What can I do NOW • What do I need to work on long term • How saturated is the market for this Within the first 10 days of the New Year you'll want to visit those notes, concepts and ideas and make an actual action plan for 2011. Action can often accomplish more than reaction, so YOU be the one to get things started. It's never too early to begin a campaign but we often start too late. February 1, is not the time for mailing out promos or social networking or advertising for Valentine's Day special proposal DVDs (relationship photos put to music and ending in "Will You Marry Me?") or for developing and selling personal Valentine's Day "Roses are red, violets are blue ..." video DVD cards. It may, in fact, be too late already, but if you get something going during the first half of January, before heads and hearts start leaning toward February 14th and boxes of candy, you can probably open up a whole new approach to speciality video production. Remember: If you market, you will make it © Earl Chessher, 2010 <a href="http://www.eccomeecgo.blogspot.com">E.C. Come, E.C. Go</a> fjclaus on "Ground floor op for new vid businesses" http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/ground-floor-op-for-new-vid-businesses#post-63125 Sun, 31 Oct 2010 13:22:24 +0000 fjclaus 63125@http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ This is a great opportunity. I know about a dozen opportunities in my area alone for this. If you are looking for an opportunity to break into videography, or to expand your business, check this out. EarlC on "New Producers Featured this Month" http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/new-producers-featured-this-month#post-62809 Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:36:48 +0000 EarlC 62809@http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ <a href="http://www.wichitavideoworks.com">Wichita Video Works</a> is the featured producer at <a href="http://www.videostorytellers.com/VST/Story_of_the_Month.html">Video StoryTellers!™</a> this month, with two GREAT interviews, not only in content, but in quality of technique, framing, lighting and audio. Check them out. Everybody has a story and VST helps save, share and preserve them one at a time! The minimum a VST associate can make if he/she works the program is $26K a year. For more information about the program and how you can become a part of it, visit <a href="http://eccomeecgo.blogspot.com/2010/09/50-off-global-program-through-december.html">The Blog</a> today. Thanks to Pat & Judy Handley for having the vision and participating in this worldwide video branding and marketing program! EarlC on "Global Branding, Marketing Program Growing" http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/global-branding-marketing-program-growing#post-62270 Sat, 25 Sep 2010 12:42:19 +0000 EarlC 62270@http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ Anyone on EARTH who wants to expand their role as an independent professional video services provider, or kick off a new video production business with a service that will boost their startup income potential should <a href="http://eccomeecgo.blogspot.com/2010/09/50-off-global-program-through-december.html">check this out</a>! NOW, through December 31, 2010 persons coming onboard with this worldwide branding and marketing video program can do so for HALF the regular investment. Earl Chessher - Video StoryTellers!™ EarlC on "Ground floor op for new vid businesses" http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/ground-floor-op-for-new-vid-businesses#post-61501 Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:37:02 +0000 EarlC 61501@http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ Two days left for a great ground floor opportunity for folks just getting started in a video production business. See <a href="http://www.eccomeecgo.blogspot.com">E.C. Come, E.C. Go</a> to find out what you need to know. EarlC on "Study Resources, the Competition!" http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/study-resources-the-competition#post-44373 Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:24:41 +0000 EarlC 44373@http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/ Â Study the bounty of web site resources, and your competition! See what is working for them, what you can also offer, and how you can make something work for YOU in the video production business. <a href="http://www.eccomeecgo.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.eccomeecgo.blogspot.com</a>