May 2012 - Hopping Mad Design

Cold Call Never Again

Because the cold calling market is so saturated, you may have to make well over 100 calls to get even the smallest nibble. And, even when people say yes to receiving information from you, they are doing this just to be polite to get rid of you. Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because someone says yes to receiving an email from you that they are at all interested. The lesson from this is that you do not have to put yourself through the misery of cold calling anymore. There are now thanks to advances in technologies and the internet, new ways to reach out and get new business. Following are a few great new marketing ideas that you should start implementing into your business, rather than spend fruitless, miserable hours speaking to people who do not want to be contacted. By adopting these strategies you should start to see results immediately and in turn see sales and revenues rise. Save your nerves and reduce your stress by never having to cold call again.

Get a new website design for your business.

This is a no brainer. All businesses need a website, and if you have not got one yet, then you are really doing damage to your business. A website is now the fundamental cornerstone of your business and it is the first place that consumers, new clients ( if they can find you ), will turn to, to do a bit of research about you and your product or service offering. If you cannot be found online then you are a ghost and you might as well close your doors. Unless of course, you have such a great name that people come to you purely out of your reputation. Most businesses and companies are not in this fortunate position and need to have a web presence that clearly reflects their business, their personality as well as a strong visual presence to attract users.
Alternatively, if you currently have a website and you find that it is not working for you ( perhaps it is a few years old) then think about getting a complete website overhaul. In fact, you should be looking at refreshing your site annually. There are huge benefits to this which I will discuss later on in this article under SEO.

Times change and so does the consumer base and this has to be reflected in your online image, that is your website. If your look and feel does not evolve with the market then you will and this is a certainty, loose business to your competitors that may have a funkier, more stylish look and feel. Think of it like a hotel. If you are on holiday wouldn’t you prefer to stay at a modern hotel with all the add on facilities, like a gym, pool, internet access, rather than an old 1970’s style hotel with a old bed and fan. People gravitate to more modern, contemporary and dynamic styles and your website design is no different. A new look will impress your old clients and attract new ones if your marketing strategy is right. If your site is optimised for the internet and online rankings then you should start to see your listing rise on Google and this in turn will bring in the inquiries, meaning you never have to cold call. All you need to do now is find the right website design studio to turn this into a reality. A word of note here; be extremely careful about who you align yourself with when it comes to web design companies. There are just so many web companies online that making the right choice is going to be fundamental in the way your site is perceived and ultimately its success. Keep these points front of mind when looking for a web studio:

– find a web design company that is prepared to have a face to face meeting and go over a proper design brief. Remember, your aim is to get the phone ringing again and to do this you need to deal with people that know how to design a sales driven website.

– Don’t just go with the cheapest option. There is, I know the temptation to say to yourself that times are tough and you need to trim down on marketing. But, this is the opposite. Spend more money on your marketing, including your website and get it properly done. Cheap and fast web solutions are absolutely pointless and will do nothing to lift your online digital profile. Might as well forget the whole exercise and go the beach instead of wasting your time. Only a web studio that has a credible design history with a solid design back ground should be offering advice to you. Anyone else is just there to take your money, and deliver sub standard web templates that will only turn people off. Being tight now, will just cost you more money in the future. So open those purse strings and get real about web design and about what’s feasible for your business.

– Speak with your web designer/s and explain to them clearly that you are having issues with your current site or that you need a site to get inquiries happening. Be honest and open about your expectations and try to be as clear in your brief as possible. Also, be very open minded about what can be done and be prepared to accept the fact that you might have to completely change your image both offline and online. The aim here is to bring about changes that will have a positive impact on your business, so be accepting of the advice as you should be dealing with professionals who do have the answers. Being negative, close minded or taking the easy cheaper path is not the way to go at this stage. Adopt a broader, open minded philosophy and be aware that you will have to take risks and be bold to turn the slump around.

Think about your branding

Think about the following questions carefully:
What does your marketing or sales material say about you and your company?
Is the logo a relic from the past, handed down over generations?
Is the owner reluctant to make any changes to the logo because hes scared to do anything.
You don’t want to get any new brochures printed because you got thousands printed 10 years ago and there are still some left in the basement.
You got your cousin to design a logo 5 years ago free of charge but it does not look professional.
Our older clients like our marketing and sales brochures so changing them might offend them.
If these sound familiar then you are fooling yourself that you can get out of cold calling. Sitting with old and out dated collateral just further distances yourself between your business and a new market base.
A good idea is to chat with a graphic design company to discuss ideas and see how you can give your company branding an overhaul and bring it into the 20th century. I have seen so many examples over the years here at Hopping Mad Designs the power and positive benefits to a business just by simply giving the logo and some sales material ( brochures, flyers, business cards ) a new revamped look. It really can give your business a complete revitalised and energetic overhaul it needs to again be competitive.

Have you heard about Social Media?

Your kids are on it, your staff are on it but your business is not and this is a big issue. No one has explained social media to you and just the thought of it makes you uncomfortable.
Lets draw another comparison with other technologies. Look at email, slow to take on board but after a while everyone had one. It was common place and part of the business process. If you didn’t have a email address you were a dinosaur. Email is so common place that sending things via snail mail is now becoming more uncommon. This is the same with social media, slow to begin with but this will eventually outstrip all marketing mediums and platforms. If you are the type of person who wants to stick your head in the sand, hoping it will go away then you are wrong. And I must emphasise wrong. The uptake of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google + will mean that most marketing campaigns will be conducted online and through these sites.
The barriers to entry of are easy and you can have your own business Facebook page up and active within a couple of minutes. Rather than be afraid of these new technologies, embrace them and look to them to reach out to a whole new potential client base looking for your product and or service.

Does the word copywriter mean anything to you?

If not, then you should really familiarise yourself with what they are al about and what they can do for your business. If you were responsible for all the content that has gone on your marketing and sales material, then it may be a good time to read it again and see if it is still relevant. If is isn’t, then you may need to engage a copywriter or wordsmith to look at all the copy on all your material. If business has slowed down, then it might be that your communication is out dated and poorly written. A professional copywriter with a strong B2B background could just be the tonic to get things moving along just that bit faster. This can be especially true for the website where well worded content can have a huge impact on your search engine rankings.

Have you implemented a search engine marketing campaign yet?

This is an absolutely mammoth area and if you have not implemented an SEO campaign then you are really doing a disservice to your business. SEO is the technique of ranking your website on the major search engines and is really the best marketing tool available today for you to generate new business leads. SEO is something that only a company with heaps of previous experience can implement and before you embark on choosing a SEO company, you really need to take heed of the following few points to avert any disasters.
– never go with the cheapest SEO company. Generally speaking, if they are cheap, then they are cutting corners and will not do a proper job for you./ Plus they may be using really bad SEO techniques which could cause you to incur a online penalty.
– Make sure that the company you deal with can show you their past SEO work and make certain that they are able to point out their own online rankings.
– Never sign a contract with them and only go on a month by month basis.
If done correctly a search engine campaign should and will in most cases get your business ranking very high on page 1. This I believe is your most powerful weapon and you should do everything possible to ensure that this SEO campaign is started without any delay.
You will see the difference this makes to your business and once ranking you will notice those inquiries start flooding in. So if you are at the stage of thinking about cold calling, then don’t worry. Put all that negativity behind you and forget about ever having to do it again. SEO is the real answer and if you start this today you will be one step closer to ditching cold calls forever.

If you are thinking about cold calling and have just read this article and want to learn a little bit more about other much more effective options available to you then please give us a call here at Hopping Mad Designs on 02 9360 8514. After speaking with me for just 5 minutes I can guarantee you that you will ditch cold calling forever.

The Best Search Engine Optimisation Company in Sydney

Hopping Mad Designs has helped businesses throughout Sydney + Australia with their search engine optimisation, ensuring that their website appears at the top of the Google ranking for their main keywords.

We have a team of search engine experts who really understand all there is to know about SEO.

FOR THE BEST SEO ADVICE CALL 02 9360 8514

WE OFFER YOUR BUSINESS A COMPLETELY FREE WEBSITE AUDIT and CONSULTATION

So many SEO companies will over promise and under deliver. They will say anything and offer the most ridiculously cheap SEO packages just to LOCK YOU into a fixed contract that is very difficult to get out of. We NEVER do this.

We look at your website and offer you constructive SEO advice and offer you a complete fixed price, without ever locking you into long term contract.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION EXPERTS WORKING WITH US.

Hopping Mad works with a few of Australia’s best search engine optimisation SEO experts.

This is very clear if you look at what we have been able to achieve shown in our own amazing rankings and those of our clients.

When you partner with Hopping Mad Designs to run your SEO campaign, you will notice the difference that we can make for your business. We will literally blow your competition out of the water by ranking you so far up those rankings. Don’t be fooled by those cheap and nasty Search Engine Optimisation companies. They offer false hopes and promises.

WE ARE RELIABLE AND TRUSTED BY BUSINESSES THROUGHOUT SYDNEY

Over the past couple of years the SEO industry become tarnished by bad operators.

Working with Hopping Mad Designs means you can rest easy in the knowledge that you are going to be working closely with an SEO industry leader that has been in business since 1998.

What this means for your business is that no matter where you are currently ranking online or whether you have had a bad past experience with a SEO provider, we are able to turn this around for you and get your online marketing campaign back on track in a professional and very timely manner.

DONT GO WITH CHEAP SEO COMPANIES

!f you are even remotely tempted to go with a cheap SEO servcie provider, ask yourself one question. If they are going to cahrge you say $200 per month for your search engine optimisation, then wouldn’t you expect that they do only 2-3 hours work on your site per month?

A decent SEO strategy requires a minimum of 10-15 hours work per month ( depending on the keywords you want to rank for), which is certainly not achievable with such a low budget. Pay peanuts you get monkey’s, but in the case of SEO; pay peanuts and you will get a SEO penalty from Google.

So, basically to get a decent result you have to pay a reasonable amount.

5 Corporate Blogging Tips

1. Create strong, attention grabbing BLOG headlines.

The relevance of a headline must be noted as this is the first thing that your client will see. If the heading has something interesting to say, it will grab the attention of the reader ensuring they will click on the link and read more. Keep it simple but words like: ‘ 10 best tips ‘ , or ‘advice on how to’ will work really well. People love to read things in point form so having a heading with words like ‘ 5 ways to help’ are great attention grabbing headlines.

2. Look at a much broader blogging approach

Try not to focus too heavily on your product or service. People will get bored and eventually switch off. Corporates should think of things that would interest other like minded business people. If you are an accountant for example, you don’t have to write about taxation rules all the time, but perhaps look at other topis like: 10 ways to save on your tax bill, or 5 tips to help reduce bad debts. It is articles like these, that might not be 100% related to your business, but are still relevant to the business community are interesting enough for a quick read. Variation in topics and writing style will keep people coming back for more.

3. Engage with People who Comment On Your Corporate Blog

If you have made the effort to write a blog have some interesting articles for people to read and comment, be sure to engage with these people. Having a real person at the end of the blog and actually communicating with them is a fantastic start at engaging with potential new customers. If they like you blog and have commented, or asked you a question be sure to respond to them in a timely manner. The way you behave here may in turn result in you picking up a few new clients. Obviously, if you get nasty or malicious spammy comments, just delete these immediately as engaging with these people may cause issues for you.

4. Implement Social Media Icons.

Your blog is all about sharing ideas, and communicating with your client base. You really need to take this one step further and encourage your readers to share the content. This is easy to do. All you need is some + 1 , Google +, Facebook Like icons or even a Pinterest badge to get people engaging with what you have to say. You will find that given this opportunity, readers who do like your content will be more than happy and cooperative when it comes to passing it onwards. Also make sure that your blog design Sydney has been proferssionally designed – this will keep your corporate branding consistent. If you do do not know where to go then why not give us a call here at Hopping Mad Designs.

5. Never Give Up Blogging.

If you have made the effort to start a blog and want to have a bit of a following then you have to keep up the process of blogging. Starting it and then picking it up randomly will only confuse people, who are expecting to see your articles on a regular basis. One really good point to note is that corporate blogging is great for your search engine ranking. If Google sees that your website has been updated with fresh new content, then your articles are more likely to get indexed and ranked. Obviously, Blogging is only one component of search engine optimisation, but it is really a great way to stay on top of your competitors who may already have been blogging for years.

DON’T WRITE BLOGS FOR GOOGLE’S SAKE! – writing blog articles for the search engines is not on. If you write blogs with spammy repetetive keywords in the hope of helping your overall SEO, then this won’t work – write ONLY for your readers and the rankings will follow – this is a very important tip!

If you can’t understand why all your main search terms and keywords have been and are still being dominated by your rivals, then the answer is a combination of SEO and corporate blogging…..STARTING you blog now and being really active in this space is a great marketing move for your company!

If you feel that all this corporate blogging is too hard, you may like to employ a copywriting person that can help you get your content out there. Companies like us, at Hopping Mad Designs are able to help you facilitate this blogging process at rates that may even surprise you.

Benefits of Corporate Video Production

Probably the main reason that Corporate Video enhances your business is that your target audience simply loves video.

You are a consumer yourself, so think about the last time that you clicked on a play button to receive your information effortlessly.

People absorb information in various formats but with an ever-increasing amount of information to contend with on a daily basis most find that to sit back and watch a few minutes of quality video far more productive and enjoyable than reading massive blocks of text.

This is the reason that video is the fastest growing marketing tool in history! The statistics speak volumes when it comes to understanding exactly the impact of video marketing in 2022.

Can you believe that YouTube didn’t exist 15 years ago?

The story of YouTube’s stellar rise from inception in February 2005 to the initial sale for $3.5million in November 2005 is nothing short of astonishing. By July 2006 YouTube was achieving 100million views a day. People and consumers love videos.

Also read: 10 Content Marketing Predictions for 2022

Video dramatically increases trust

Trust is an essential ingredient to do business with you. Oberlo tells us that with the increasing demand for video content, it’s no surprise that such a large percentage of marketing professionals claim to use video as a marketing tool.

The single factor which will cause a consumer to do business with you is trust. The main roadblock to a consumer doing business with you is a lack of trust. Apart from actually sitting “B2B” or “Belly to Belly” with every potential client, video is the only way to take yourself into the home or office of your prospect. It is clear that the video presents people and products in ways that text and photos simply can’t.

Provided that you choose great quality video production, the video will break down obstacles for your potential clients. They will feel they know you, like you and trust you or your product.

Our Corporate Hopping Mad video clients love it when they eventually meet with clients and they say: “wow, I feel we’ve known each other for ages!” Their clients have already “met” you via your videos and they have engaged your services based on the sense of trust created by your Corporate Videos.

People buy with emotion and video invokes emotion

The same may be said of photos, but the big advantage of video is that it seamlessly presents a sequence of photos to a viewer. The standard rate of images in the video is 24per seconds. So each second is like looking at one photo. This is why the impact of 1 to 2 minutes of video is just so great! U.S Marketing Researcher Dr James McQuivey said it best: 1 Minute of the video is worth 1.8million words.

Visitors to websites with video stay

Visitors stay on average for 6 minutes as opposed to just 1 minute for those without video. Crazy Egg elaborates on this by saying that according to The Aberdeen Group, businesses that utilize visual engagement tactics see an 83% increase in annual revenue compared to their competitors. Websites that relied on visual engagement in addition to copy saw their conversion rates more than double.

This statistic doesn’t mean that you need to produce videos that are 6 minutes in length! Indeed the best online videos are short, sharp and succinctly scripted and run for just 1 to 2 minutes in total. What this statistic tells us is that once a visitor views a video on your website they stay longer. They have become engaged in a more meaningful way than text could ever achieve. They stay, they research and they are more likely to immediately buy your product or service. If they are not ready to become a buyer, you are guaranteed they will be more likely to remember your company than if they hadn’t watched a video and this will increase their likelihood of becoming a future customer.

The video brings a viewer closer

Video not only bring a viewer closer to doing business with you but also brings more traffic to you.

Fish where the fish are! Or in other words, attract customers to your website by being prominently placed where the fish are looking. The two main search engines that the fish use are Google and YouTube. Both are video focused! Google weights video in at 50x the importance of text-only and this means that your message is 50 x more likely to pop up on page 1 results on Google and therefore bring in more viewers/prospects.

You can see that we have started our own YouTube Channel here.

In summary, Corporate Video will deliver more traffic to your website. Professional Corporate Video will also engage your visitors and create more buyers out of those visitors.

The keyword here is “Professional” and so it should be noted now that not all videos will engage your customers. In fact, some videos will turn them away for good!

Have you ever turned a video off?

It’s time to examine the ingredients for a great online video.

Let’s assume that you are a business owner or sales marketer of service or brand. And let’s assume you want Corporate Video that converts lead to sales.

How to create a Corporate Video that converts leads to Sales.

Professionally Produced or Home Made?

Do you remember when people used to invite friends around to watch a slide show of their holiday or have your parents ever told you about their experiences with this? The amateur slideshow night! This was about the meanest thing that people habitually forced their friends to endure.

Well, the thing is…producing your own “Corporate Video” is akin to locking your friends up to watch your holiday slides. It’s awful and it ruins relationships!
Your business reputation is on the line here. Most professional companies have invested carefully in their brand, their website and their Corporate marketing message. And then a guy from HR offers to “Point and Shoot” the Company video on the new Camcorder he just bought Duty-Free in Hong Kong.

Have you seen these videos? They are usually unscripted, they’ve got a grey or greeny miasma tone. The sound is atrocious and they are full of “umms” and “ahhs” because no one knows how to edit them.

These videos are often 10 minutes long even though the only people who will ever endure for this long are the guy in the video and the guy who turns the camera on (and maybe but not always their Mum’s)!

The only difference between this and the friends’ slide show night is that the viewer can turn these videos off! And they do.

YouTube has a great little function under Analytics called Audience Retention, which shows you exactly at what point in a video that viewers turn off. With these amateur productions, it’s usually before the 10-second mark.

Professional Corporate Video requires more skill than point and shoot!

The key ingredients to Professional high conversion video production are:

#1: Pre- Production

No actor or director would ever turn up for shooting a movie without preparation. This phase of professional video production is known as pre-production.
Pre-production consists of scoping to determine the precise purpose and target audience for a video. This is then followed by scripting and or storyboarding. Amateurs so often proclaim: “I don’t need a script, I’ll just wing it”

Winging it nearly always amounts to a finished product that no one but your nearest and dearest will watch.

At HoppingMad we ensure that we scope the purpose of your Corporate Video and we offer professional scripting services so that you will never have to “wing-it”.
The great news is that thorough pre-production results in better quality video. The video that your clients want to watch and video that converts your viewers to customers

#2: Professional Camera

Just because the sales guy in Hong Kong told you that the camcorder shoots in HD (high definition), does this mean that it is a Professional Camera? Your camcorder doesn’t care about mood or the character of the subject in the frame, so it can only ever hope to deliver less than average results. If you want your videos to look like they have been professionally filmed, some of the things you will want in a camera are settings that will help you take control of the environment you are shooting in. Even professional cameras have the Auto mode function, but this will definitely not work in all settings and environments. If a camera setting is on automatic, it will arrange all 4 components (exposure, shutter speed & depth of field and ISO) to the best of its ability, but this may mean that the end result may be too grainy (ie the ISO is too high); the film looks jumpy (shutter speed is too high); there is no depth of field or too much in focus, or it is over or underexposed in certain areas eg. a person in the video is too dark because the camera is balancing for the amount of light coming in a window or door. Understanding how to expose the amount of light in a room; how much depth of field you want in focus; the number of frames per second to shoot at and the ability to saturate colours are all important features a professional camera will allow you to manipulate. A professional camera will also allow you to use different lenses and filters to create more interesting film techniques. At HoppingMad we work with the highly acclaimed Canon 5D Marks II & III Cameras. These phenomenal cameras have been used to film major movies such as Black Swan.

#3: Professional Camera Operator – cinematic techniques

At Hopping Mad Designs we use professional Camera Operators who do your brand justice.

Understanding how a professional camera works allows for more cinematic techniques. A professional cinematographer will understand all the different elements and techniques in creating an interesting video. These can include techniques such as bridging shots, rack focus, different camera angles, eye-line matching, fade-in, fade-out and Mise-en-scene to name just a few.

Let’s look at the “rack focus” technique. Rack focus is the technique of changing the focus of the lens when filming. For example, when you may be focused on an image in the foreground and the background is blurred, then slowly blur the foreground and focus on the background. It is usually a very subtle technique that gently draws your attention to another person or area of a video that you didn’t know you were being directed to. An interesting video sequence is cut together from shots recorded from various camera angles using a variety of lens sizes. Looking for a variety of camera angles before you start shooting will ensure you can capture what may be an ordinary scene and make it much more interesting.

Understanding how different shutter speeds affect the film quality of a video is a very important part of creating a quality video. Have you noticed that you feel uneasy when watching re-enactments from shows like Australia’s Most Wanted? It’s not just what is happening in the scene that will make you feel uneasy, it is the fact that it is likely to have been filmed using a higher frame rate per second than is pleasant to the eye.

We make understand what frame rate you should be filming at and don’t simply set the camera to automatic, because the last thing you want to do is have people watching your video feel like they are watching a horror movie!

#4: Professional Lighting

Professional lighting is the next important aspect of filming that affects the overall look and feel of a video. If you have noticed the proliferation of amateur videos that pop up every second on YouTube, you will have noticed that many of these are filmed in a dark messy room, either on a camcorder, iPhone or webcam. You will also remember that you probably didn’t give the video much more than 10 seconds to grab your attention.

Setting up lighting for an interview will usually require a 3 point technique: Key Light, Fill Light and Backlighting. The Key Light is the main light on a subject. It is usually placed at a 45-degree angle to the camera. The Fill Light is usually from the side of the subject which will soften shadows and illuminate areas that are not covered by the key light. Backlighting is the main source of light that is behind the subject, which is silhouetting it and is directed toward (but not at) the camera.

This 3 point lighting technique will create mood and interest on the subject’s face, without creating shadows that make the person look tired. If you are thinking of getting testimonial videos to promote your business make sure you capture their enthusiasm forever. The last thing you want is a person raving about you and people not wanting to be engaged by it.

#5: Professional Sound Equipment

Every iPhone, camcorder and professional camera have internal sound recording capabilities, but are these good enough for recording your message? Have you noticed the “tinny” sound that you hear on amateur videos? This is usually because the camera that was used to record the video also recorded the sound using an internal microphone.

Most of the videos that are created for you and your business will be crucially dependant on the quality of the sound that is captured at the time of recording. Whether it is the vital dialogue, key selling point, memorable quote or even just the atmosphere of the occasion, the sound will play an essential part.

The correct microphone is an essential component of shooting a high-quality video. To get a great result for your video you need to plan for your sound carefully before you leave for your location.

If shooting outdoors, the sound may be affected by how windy it is on the day. Microphones will have to have what is referred to as a “dead cat”. A dead cat is a grey fluffy cover for your microphone that reduces wind noise.
Whilst much can be done in post-production to fix up sound recording, at HoppingMad we ensure that you start with a good quality microphone.

#6: Professional Camera Mounting Equipment

A high-quality camera support system can make a positive impact on your videography. Each camera angle should be determined by what works best for the framing of the shot in different scenes. You can manipulate a scene or image by using different heights and angles to create interest. A good quality tripod will have an indicator bubble to show you if the tripod is level.
Other camera mounting equipment also includes a Dolly which is a set of wheels and a platform upon which the camera can be mounted to give it mobility. A dolly shot is a shot that is taken from a moving dolly. A more affordable option however is a Glider which can be mounted on your tripod. Your camera is then mounted to the glider and moved along so that it looks like the camera is moving, without the shakey imagery you would get if you simply walked with the camera in your hand. You can take footage at different levels and angles to create interesting footage that can then be edited in post-production.

#7: Professional Editing

Professional editing ensures that there are continuity and a logical coherence between shots. Editing requires trimming, splicing, cutting and arranging clips across the timeline as well as colour manipulation, titling, visual effects and mixing audio in conjunction with the image. In brief, beautiful editing requires skill and years of training and practice.

The foundation for a good video is that all pieces of the puzzle fit together: pre-production preparation including scripting and storyboarding, using a professional camera and equipment including sound and lighting, and cinematic techniques that create interesting shots that can then be edited to form an interesting video that people want to watch.

If doing it yourself sounds too complicated and you don’t want to tarnish your brand with an inferior video that people simply turn off after 10 seconds, then make sure you give us a call and we can discuss how this can be achieved for you. While it may all sound very complicated for an amateur, at HoppingMad we can make your professional video production seamless!