Why Hire a Photographer

January 25, 2010 @ 10:20am

Updated — January 23, 2010 @ 3:22am

by Wilfredo Valle

Everyday we are bombarded with marketing visuals. It can be a photograph, an element of graphic design, or a video. For this blog entry, lets focus on that first item, photography. In the age of digital photography, where everyone and their neighbor has a digital camera and can essentially take a “good enough” picture for their business, I have to ask myself; Why hire a professional photographer, and what is it about a professionally photographed image that makes a business potentially stronger?

For example, as a photographer, I am constantly aware of the trends in photography being pushed by some of the big Fortune 500 companies, including Apple, Gap, Target, Macy’s, Zara, etc. The images seem simple enough; a white backdrop, one or two strobes, and a good model. The perfect combo for a great photography-based advertising campaign! But how easy it really? What kind of skill and understanding is needed to successfully pull off such a campaign? Simply owning the tools and becoming a shutter bug isn’t quite enough.

So how does a professionally photographed image become important to a company? Well, for starters, the obvious is that the people who stand behind the cameras are thinking in layers; after years of training and years of experience, what you are really paying for is not the final image, but rather the journey, the process to the final image. What businesses should consider is not just the final product, but how we get to this final product. Concept, creativity, and skill are all reasons why companies such as the ones named above produce such memorable and clean photo campaigns.

A few weeks ago I conducted a one on one training session and I remember saying to my client that what differentiates the working photographer from the occasional photographer is that the images you see produced by a working photographer is deliberate, not mere happenstance or a mishmash of happy accidents (though that can happen at times). A single good photograph for the most part can be done by anyone with any camera, but to produce a successful photo campaign requires someone with skill, creativity, commitment and an excellent understanding of the clients needs.

My suggestion for any company looking to incorporate photography into their marketing plans; don’t settle, photography done well is a proven tool. A single image might not be enough, so think in terms of a photo campaign in such cases.

Look around at advertising by Nike, Apple, and Gap; the images they use are all part of a larger campaign. They are unified and simplistic in getting their messages communicated to the viewer. One of those messages includes “our products are great, look!”.

Also, find a photographer that you can bond with; relationships are huge. A happy client + a happy photographer = happy results.

Tags

advertising, campaign, corporate photography, digital photography, photographer, photography campaign, professional

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The Last Wave?

November 5, 2009 @ 12:40pm

Updated — November 16, 2009 @ 3:25pm

by Austin Edgington

Every twenty five years or so, a really big communication wave comes along that sweeps innovation and change into our lives. The first one I remember occurred when network television replaced radio as a focus for info-tainment and created modern advertising; so nicely portrayed by the butt puffing men of Mad Man. Yes, I’m old enough to remember when a ‘Winston tasted good like a cigarette should,’ and other tobacco pedaling jingles. In the 80’s, cable TV launched and undermined the network’s dominance by decimating advertising revenues with lower costs and wider choice of programs, characterized by re-runs, ESPN, and faux news show.

Then Web 2.0 crashed on our shores a few years ago, washing in social media and revolutionary web platforms like Facebook and Hulu.com. What’s interesting about this shift is the audience social media created. Techies, artists, writers, housewives, students, innovative business leaders, anyone with an opinion and others looking for connections beyond their daily toil flocked to Vox, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, Linked In, and more. They formed communities, groups, relationships, and trust arising from dialogue among one another in ways not imaginable by marketers in the past. It’s weird, it’s wonderful and it’s happening now.

The reality is that this new media, a term I use to describe the aggregate of social media and new web offerings, has disrupted marketing. For example, blogging news sites like the Huffington Post changed the way public relations is conducted. Social utilities like Facebook allow businesses to easily run ads and changes the way ad agencies can reach target audiences, while social media platforms like Vox, where people from tight, trusted neighborhoods converse about everything from their parents divorce to whether to purchase a VW or a BMW…changed web marketing as we knew it.

The traditional paradigm of engaging customers based on creating awareness, to create interest, which leads to a desire that prompts a consumer to purchase has been replaced by a new model that has more steps, but, paradoxically is more immediate and happens virtually 24/7.

In the new media model consumers take different steps purchasing. We call it the “Five R’s”;

• Referral – A potential customer can easily be referred to your product or service by a friend or neighbor from their social network, and often the customer has never met the friend or even know their real name.
• Research – Based on their online buddy’s referral (or not), they can research your brand on Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Conversely, you must now research where they are, what sites they travel, and what they have to say about your brand to be effective in reaching them.
• Relationship – In doing so they may develop relationships with other brand users and further discuss brand attributes. They are developing a now have a relationship with your brand and are arriving at the purchase decision.
• Reliability – Now the ball is in your court, and you must easily, seamlessly capture the purchase, facilitate the delivery, and follow up with customer service. This is more and more becoming what is known as the annoying ‘pile-on’ method, which often erodes your credibility. Comcast will drive you nuts with this approach after a botched service implementation.
• Responsiveness – Being responsive to your customers needs in a reliable manner is most important. Drop the ball on this and immediately negative responses will begin to emerge on the very sites you are searching for customers. Two great examples of doing this right are Zappos and Amazon.

With the current wave washing away the way marketing has been conducted in the past, which is often last month in new media time, the question often posed by clients is: What’s a marketer to do? The answer is innovate. As the late great Hunter S. Thompson once quipped, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Marketers need to look the weirdness of social media in the eye and turn social media pro. They need to think like those they wish to engage and go where they are; and do so with the credibility and authenticity the defines the trust that hinges the culture of the new media together. If you’re a CEO you will get much more mileage out your blog or tweets if you pen them yourself, even if you are not a witty communicator like Tony Hsieh of Zappos. The medium is the message, and authenticity rules the message.

The way to ride this wave is to embrace change, innovate, and partner with those who are riding it with knowledge of the waters they navigate and an eye on the future. After all, in new media time, it will soon be the last wave.

Tags

bing, Communications, facebook, google, marketing, social marketing, social media, twitter, web 2.0, yahoo

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Is Starbucks Diluting It’s Brand with Via?

October 7, 2009 @ 11:07am

by Mason Razavi

When Starbucks announced that they are launching their version of instant coffee, a thought went through my head: Good job Starbucks, way to take the “luxury” out of “luxury brand”. Known to many as providers of premium coffee, and to others still as simply carrying a premium price tag, entering the instant coffee market seems like a diversion from Starbucks’ overall plan of being the top coffee vendor in the world.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, it’s become trendy to slam Starbucks by making a snide comment on paying $5 for a cup of coffee. I always found that statement slightly inaccurate; after all, can a triple grande non-fat, no whip, peppermint zebra mocha (my old supervisor’s drink of choice) really be considered just another cup of coffee?

Still, Starbucks has made efforts to downsize their organization and readjust their strategy to provide some lower priced options. Most notable was that they began to offer breakfast combos including a hot drink and a meal item for around $4. Now with their instant brew, Via, Starbucks takes another step in becoming a value-driven retailer.

One has to wonder how much this will impact Starbucks’ image in the long term. I once read something intriguing in a book on management and motivation about how you should play to your strengths instead of trying to be everything to everyone. Stick to your guns, do what you do best, and get even better at it. In another book I read that was geared to songwriters, the author very specifically and emphatically noted that it is paramount to make 1 or maybe 2 styles your own, and not try to become the be-all and end-all of songwriters who can write beautifully in every style. To that end, is Starbucks diluting it’s own brand by trying to be everything to everyone?

After all, people don’t drive BMWs because they’re practical, they don’t buy Tiffany’s because they’re affordable, and they certainly don’t wear Diesel jeans because of some “everyman” sort of image. People certainly don’t visit Starbucks for affordable, practical coffee buys. Most people walk into a Starbucks knowing what it is and expecting to spend a few bucks.

With the economy being the way it is, it’s certainly not a bad idea for Starbucks to reposition themselves as value-based retailer, or at least to have those options, and I trust that greater minds than mine are concerning themselves with the long-term affects of such decisions.

For what it’s worth, yes, I tried the taste challenge, and yes, they did taste remarkably similar. And no, unfortunately I’m not getting paid to say that.

Tags

branding, marketing, starbucks

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To Tweet or Not to Tweet

September 10, 2009 @ 3:11pm

Updated — September 10, 2009 @ 3:14pm

by Mason Razavi

I’ve had a few people ask me about the frequency of tweets lately. Usually they’re wondering how often their business should tweet, and if they really need to let the world know that they like the  sandwhich from Vinnies, but could have done without the pepperoncinis. Of course I tell them that would be ridiculous…the word ‘pepperoncini’ takes up far too much real estate in a tweet.

Poor humor aside, the question of how often you make contact on Twitter is a valid one, particularly for businesses who count each tweet as a marketing effort.

As a general rule of thumb, if you’re unsure, play it safe and tweet less. People on the web are usually pretty sensitive to spam and information overload, so if you overdo it, you’ll find people quickly losing interest.

Let’s say you have a new promotion that runs for a few days. Let people know no more than 2-3 times a day. Make sure you phrase your messages a little differently each time. This is a subtle indicator that there is an actual human being on the other end, which is always well-perceived by consumers.

What if your promotion is one day only?  I would recommend no more than once per 2 hours tops throughout the business day.

Then there are tweets that describe events in your personal dealings throughout the day. Depending on the size of your company, and whether or not your Twitter strategy focuses on your personal brand or the company brand, you may want to post tidbits from your personal daily life. When done judiciously, it adds a human element to your company and allows people to more closely identify with your brand. When done in excess, you look like an attention-starved teen without a prom date. Feel free to post a tweet about things like your business lunch, a conference you’re attending, your graduate level classes, or anything of the like. Suffice it to say, personal talk should be present, but kept to a minimum.

Of course, there are many other times you’ll want to communicate through Twitter, and there is just not enough space here to break it all down. If I were to summarize it is the most boneheaded way possible, I’d say to tweet when you have something interesting to say. Advice so simple, it’s frustrating. However, if some companies (and individuals for that matter) would keep that little nugget of wisdom tucked away in their noggins, Twitter would be a better place.

All that being said, it’s important to remember that there are no hard and fast rules. The best way to figure out the optimal rate of contact is to keep your finger on the pulse of activity, monitor how people respond to your messaging, then make adjustments on the fly.

Tags

tweets, twitter

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Ice Cream Sundae: An Email Marketing Blog

August 31, 2009 @ 11:09pm

Updated — September 1, 2009 @ 6:29am

by Mason Razavi

On the surface it seems simple, doesn’t it? You throw together a few lines of copy, your company logo at the top, and oh, don’t forget that list of email addresses you bought from a guy in an alley. Slap on a button to “Buy Now!”, and, oh, that subject line….how about “SAVE 10% TODAY!!!!!!!”

Not so fast. A well-crafted email can be a sweet treat, no different than the most inviting of desserts: the ice cream sundae.

Let’s start with the copy. Rich, flavorful, melt-in-your-mouth copy is the foundation, like a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. You copy should be sweet, simple, and provide a scrumptious place for toppings to lay. Don’t go rocky road, or neopolitan, or Cherry Garcia. Instead go with vanilla bean – not bland vanilla, but delicious creamy vanilla with specks of the bean. In other words, be brief, get to the point, but give it just a touch of excitement, enticement, or pizzaz to spark the reader’s interest.

The hot fudge, yes, that is the call to action button. What do you want your readers to do? Buy something? Take a peek at your new video? Donate to charity? Make sure your call to action buttons appear at least twice in the email – probably once at the top and once at the bottom (for those who actually read the whole thing…chocolate sauce drizzles all the way to the bottom, you know). Sure, the ice cream is good, but it’s the chocolate sauce that calls people to action.

Next, the whipped cream and sprinkles that make up the HTML email template. Just as fluffy whipped cream and colorful sprinkles excite your eyeballs and make you jump for joy, so it shall be with with an irresistible, visually delectable email template. Your company logo embedded in the attractive header, the sidebar with quotes, links, and promos….whipped cream and sprinkles make it all the more fun.

The cherry on top? Of course, the subject line. Perhaps the most important part of your email, a poorly written or spammy subject line will get as many people interested in your email as there would be people lining up to grab a sundae with a moldy yet mysteriously half-eaten cherry on top. Don’t type in all caps, don’t put 135 exclamation points in there, and stay away from cliches like “buy now”, “X% Off”, “Refinance Today”, or any other trite, rotten cherries. Even if your sundae, er, email makes it past the recipient’s spam filter, chances are that they will never be read with such subject lines. A marachino cherry is not only eye-catching, it is a sweet way to start a sundae. Make sure your subject lines are equally appealing at under 60 characters (the less the merrier, for the most part), and give people a reason to open your email.

Put it all together and you’ll have a delicious treat that will get the attention of your audience.

I’ve combined my advice and my vice in an effort to educate you, may it serve you well.

Tags

email marketing, ice cream

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Twitter Goes Down; State of Humanity Threatened

August 6, 2009 @ 11:13am

by Mason Razavi

It was a dark morning. For starters, it was cloudy. That doesn’t happen in California. Ever.

Then the news hit: Twitter is down. Twitter. Is. Down.

Upon hearing this, I rushed to the street, to see hundreds or more people fleeing their homes, grabbing one another, shaking each other by the shoulders, asking how this could be possible.

I drove through Cupertino and Mountain View and discovered that buildings once occupied with quiet cubicles, bothersome copiers, and endless meetings on riveting topics such as enterprise-level IT security were now in ruins. Office chairs torn to shreds, shattered glass everywhere, and the lowercase letter ‘t’ that is emblematic of the Twitter brand sloppily tagged onto the walls of once towering buildings that were filled with Silicon Valley’s brightest.

All along I sensed that everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it finally did. News started spreading around town (without Twitter?!) that Facebook was also experiencing problems. Stunned, I stood in the middle of the seemingly war-torn street, my jaw agape, contemplating the meaning of the events that had transpired.

I had to make a split decision. Knowing that chaos would ensue, I packed some canned food, a bottle of penicillin, my BlackBerry, and some raw fish (Pompano, to be exact) I managed to steal from Marina Food in Cupertino, and fled town. I quickly realized that I was not alone; hundreds, no, thousands had setup camps outside of the bay area, in desolate areas such as…..whatever is east of the Bay Area.

As I prepared to plan out the rest of my life as a nomad, I got a text on my BlackBerry. “Hey, it’s Mark. Twitter’s back up, and Facebook seems to be working intermittently”.

Oh.

I dusted off my dockers shirt, did my best to straighten out the crease in my slacks, and started to make my way back to the office. I looked up and saw that the sun was starting to creep out from behind the clouds. That’s not even me using a clever literary device to imply hope and well-being, seriously, it just got sunnier, check the weather report. “Everything is going to be ok”, I thought, “everything is going to be ok”.

Tags

facebook down, twitter down

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Observations from Hearing Alan Cohen of Cisco Speak

July 16, 2009 @ 3:21pm

Updated — July 24, 2009 @ 3:22pm

by Mason Razavi

I recently attended an event in Mountain View in which Alan Cohen, VP of Enterprise and Mid-Market Solutions for Cisco, spoke his mind about the nature of contemporary business communications. The meetup was billed partly as a networking event and partly as an opportunity to learn about emerging social technologies in enterprises, so naturally I was compelled to go. Unfortunately, the event turned out to be little more than a recital of the obvious mashed up with some advertising and seed-planting for Cisco products.

Don’t get me wrong. Alan Cohen is a talented and charismatic speaker who seemed to have the audience in the palm of his hand. As I am someone who truly appreciates talented performers, watching him deliver his piece was in this sense a delight and an education in itself.

However the content was….shall I say, lacking? Allow me to summarize:

“Meetings are boring, and people fall asleep during them. Big companies are inefficient, as they spend too much time trying to get information from one place to the next. Email kinda sucks. Not important. Sorta annoys me. Human interaction is important. Face to face contact is important. That’s why Cisco makes this really neat video stuff that lets you do that, and in the near future we’re coming out with some more neat video stuff that lets you do that even better. Awesome, huh?”

Alright, I might be simplifying just a tad. Still, talking about the sloth-like path of information within  giant corporations and how meetings are boring and inefficient is not exactly groundbreaking news.

I was lured to the event with advertising that teased potential attendees by asking if Twitter and Google Wave were the future of enterprise-level communications. My disappointment stems from the fact that I was expecting to actually hear what tools, specifically, were going to change things, and not just some stats and filler about how you only retain 10% of what you read and how 39% of people admit to falling asleep in meetings, and how Cisco is going to save Mother Earth and all its businesses.

In the end, I have to say that observing Alan Cohen’s delivery and the Thai food provided were the true highlights of the evening, even if the noodles were a bit cold.

Tags

Alan Cohen, Cisco, Communications, Enterprise, Google Wave, twitter

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Email Marketing + Social Marketing ≠ Spam

July 13, 2009 @ 3:45pm

by Mason Razavi

I recently had a conversation with someone who asked if I thought that social media marketing should be considered spam. He posed an argument including the fact that people buy accounts and followers, and also that email marketing, which is in the same vein, is widely considered to be spam.

I began to think about some misconceptions regarding social network marketing and email marketing and how they might be thought of as spam. I thought I’d take a moment to clear that up for you – free of charge!

First of all, let’s talk email marketing. There are pretty strict laws in place about who you can and cannot contact with email. People have to opt-in to an email list before receiving contact. This is contrary to traditional direct mail marketing, where it’s standard practice to mail-bomb an entire neighborhood unsolicited. So, if people are asking for it, how can it be considered spam?

Secondly, social media marketing is anything but spam. Again, people choose who they want to hear from. Not only that, but companies that execute a smart social marketing plan can actually make it fun (say it with me: fun) to hear from them. The result is that sometimes people add certain profiles to their friends lists to appear cool, kitschy or irreverant. For instance, someone might add Family Guy, Pepsi, and Marvel Comics to their web 2.0 circle just for kicks. I’ve never seen anyone do that with spam!

Social marketing and email marketing campaigns, when well executed, are fun, interesting, entertaining, and provide value to fans. Still, even if it’s done poorly I don’t know that there is a case you can point to and call spam.

Tags

email marketing, social marketing, spam, web 2.0

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NFL Says ‘No’ to In-Game Tweets

July 10, 2009 @ 4:59pm

by Mason Razavi

The NFL has banned its players from in-game Twittering, citing a rule they already have in place that prohibits cell phone usage during games. In doing so, they might be missing a golden opportunity.

On one hand, you have to side with the NFL. Giving a bunch of rowdy, adrenaline-pumped, larger-than-life professional athletes a forum to say whatever they want to the entire world during the heat of battle, with all the raw emotions that go with that – you can see how that might quickly turn into a PR nightmare.

Top that off with coaches who would likely not want their players diverting their attention from the game at hand, and you can see where this might start to make sense.

However, the NFL is missing out on a ton of fun. And really, isn’t that what sports is all about?

Imagine a player telling the world what he feels like as the final seconds tick off the clock to a superbowl victory. Or loss. Perhaps you could envision an injured player taken off the field letting the world know first hand that he’ll be ok. The possibilities are limitless.

My suggestion to the NFL would be to give a few key players the privilege of using Twitter during games. This could serve a similar function as an isolated camera that follows a single player during a game, and is similar to the “mic’d up” idea that some sports leagues (including my beloved NHL) have used to get prime audio clips from players during games.

In the end, it’s all about entertainment, and fans are increasingly searching for behind-the-scenes coverage on what players are doing and saying before, during, and after games. The occasional tweet would only be the next step in taking it to an online format.

Tags

NFL, twitter

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Review: Seesmic Desktop

June 30, 2009 @ 2:46pm

by Mason Razavi

In the world of Twitter desktop applications, Seesmic Desktop has shown that it is perhaps the most valuable of them all for the novice Twitterer and the so-called power user alike.

The first thing that sets it apart is the ability to manage multiple Twitter accounts. There are some others that do this as well, but just this one feature whiddles down the list of competitors significantly. Perfect for business users that have a personal and business account, as well as the split-personality sociopath who wants so bad for people to think they really are Brittney Spears, being able to manage multiple accounts in one place is a major plus. Additionally, you can also dedicate a pane to updates on Facebook, which is a nice touch.

It is a cinch to view, manage, and reply to responses in all of these accounts. For example, one smart feature automatically selects the current account with which to provide a response. User lists and searches can also be saved for future reference, a nice touch indeed.

A button to shrink text as well as the ability to add short links through bit.ly, digg, and is.gd round out a nice set of options for Seesmic.

One of my favorite things? The look. Perhaps not as important as the functionality of the application, it is none the less significant for the design of something that is meant to be stared at to be at least somewhat pleasing. Seesmic Desktop offers a slick and contemporary look that compliments my Mac desktop nicely.

If you’re looking for a feature-packed, easy to use Twitter application, I highly recommend giving Seesmic a try.

Tags

Seesmic Desktop, twitter

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