A False Economy I NO LONGER Practice Do You?

By Willie Crawford

Many of us go out and buy some of the best software and hardware tools available. We read about some tool that could easily DOUBLE our business, or TRIPLE our productivity, so we wisely purchase it.

Many of us realize that we lack certain skills in critical areas of our businesses, so we register for online classes.

Many of us realize that we don’t really know how to use those whiz-bang pieces of hardware or software mentioned above, so we track down and register for in-depth tutorials.

Then we do the DUMBEST thing… we never go through the training. We never learn to use those tools that could easily make our lives easier, and our businesses much more profitable.

We rationalize that “we don’t have the time!”

This is one of two areas that has contributed the most to the growth of my productivity… and to my bottom line recently. I’ve started actually “making the time” to go through those tutorials and really learn to use the software or hardware tools that I have. I’ve actually made the time to go through several tutorials on how to develop critical skills that I need.

As an aside, I’ve also “made time” for more fitness, which is also essential to my long-term productivity.

How does a busy businessperson do this?

You simply put it right on your schedule… and then you do it. You allocate blocks of time for it, and then you don’t “find” something more important.

I spent 20 years and 10 months in the U.S. Air Force. During that time I spent many, many WEEKS sitting at a desk or computer, actually learning how to use a piece of equipment, or learning to do some process. I often wondered if that was the best use of my time, but I wasn’t given a choice! So, I cheerfully completed the training.

I not only learned to use my equipment, but I had to then take “practical exams” to prove that I knew how to do it.

Major corporations, governmental agencies, universities, etc, ALL put their personnel through extensive training to make sure that they actually know how to use the equipment and do the processes that are a part of their jobs.

This training is often VERY expensive.

Many of these corporations consult with major think tanks, and expensive consultants, in looking for ways to improve productivity… and their bottom lines. It’s rare that they are advised to cut training.

Many of us online entrepreneurs have never run our own businesses before, and for some reason don’t fully appreciate the value of properly training our employees (or ourselves). So, we flounder for days, weeks, then months! We operate at a fraction of our potential productivity because we never really learn to use the tools at our disposal.

Consider… if setting aside an hour a day for a week, to actually learn to use the tools that you already use every day more efficiently, would increase your productivity by 20 percent, would it be worth it?

To me, the answer is a resounding yes. Over the next year the return-on-investment would be huge.

When you consider the amount of time many of us spend on time-wasters (we all know what they are), we have to acknowledge that we really can fit proper training into our schedules. That’s just a matter of discipline.

There IS a reason big businesses and governmental agencies set aside training days, or even training weeks! Perhaps we should take our cues from them.

Just food for thought!

Oh – earlier, I said that going through the training was one of two ways that I’ve experienced the most growth in productivity. The other one was that I learned to outsource and delegate more. I learned to focus on those chores that are the highest and best use of my time, and to get someone else to do the rest. Like many, I’m still working on that one, but that’s the topic of another article anyway.

Commit to actually learning to use your equipment today.

---

Willie Crawford operates his own online businesses, brokers joint ventures, teaches online and offline entrepreneurs, and consults with numerous commercial and non-profit corporations. One of Willie’s favorite tools, used for project collaboration is called BaseCamp. It’s at http://timic.org/BaseCamp

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

MadViral online since 2005, MadViral Enterprises, LLC can help you market your business with Email Advertising, Professional Unique email design services

A False Economy I NO LONGER Practice Do You?

Killer Campaigns Volume Four: The Color of Branding

Guest Post: By Jerry Bader

Web video is a communication technique that provides a viewer-experience that delivers several big advantages over broadcast: first, the length of your presentation is for the most part a non issue other than the degree to which your content and delivery holds your audience’s attention; second, the cost to produce and present professional online video is far more affordable than broadcast; and third, Web video provides the opportunity to intellectually and emotionally engage your audience with a memorable viewing experience, and involve them physically by prompting direct-response action. On the other hand, broadcast does provide a mass audience, but not necessarily an attentive one like your website.

As we have seen in previous installments of Killer Campaigns, the commercial broadcast industry, despite its economic and time constraints, has plenty of good examples of techniques that can be used effectively in Web video campaigns, if you understand how certain elements affect an audience.

It’s easy to misread a commercial’s true marketing effectiveness and assume the big flashy special effects and grandiose production stunts are what makes a commercial work, but in fact those kinds of things generally only make a commercial more expensive. True the big-deal aspects of a production may attract attention, but it’s the small things that are the most important, the most effective and the most affordable. It’s the things you hardly notice like writing, casting, music, performance, and campaign consistency that have the most impact on a presentation’s ability to communicate, influence and persuade. It’s the production techniques to which the audience pays little attention that maximizes sale-conversions and increases the bottom-line. Take nuts for example.

Color Me Nuts

Nuts, the edible kind, not the irritating relative kind, are about as generic as you can get. So how do you go about creating a marketing campaign for something as mundane as nuts?

The Wonderful Pistachio “Get Crackin” video campaign and micro site got a lot of things right. This series of videos use the same format, style, message, and color in order to turn a nondescript, seemingly unbrandable generic product into a hip, sexy brand. Each element of the presentation re-enforces the other leaving a lasting brand impression without blowing anything up, or spending a fortune creating animated baby skateboarders.

One element that turns this campaign into a great campaign rather than just a very good one is its use of color. What could be simpler?

Pistachios Newly Weds Do It Video

he campaign’s consistent use of a signature color palette, green and black, combined with a great tagline and a series of clever sketches deliver the kind of memorable impression that prompts instant recognition and impulse-purchasing when seen on store shelves.

Pistachios Dominatrix Do It Video

One video is not a campaign, so Paramount Farms had seven different videos created, all following the same formula so the audience’s recognition and retention was enhanced and re-enforced every time they watched a new video segment.

Pistachios Mobsters Do It Video

This technique is not new; in particular Danone uses color co-ordination effectively in their television commercials to distinguish their various brands of yogurt: Activa uses a green color palette, DanActive uses yellow, and Silhouette uses purple. The Danone commercials don’t have the edginess of the pistachio campaign but their use of color is well thought-out and effective even though the messaging is pretty standard.

The edgy style, consistent format, and color branding definitely qualifies the “Get Crackin” videos as a Killer Campaign.

The Color of Money

Another campaign that makes an impression by means of its clever use of color is the Edward Jones “Join Us” campaign. If you’re not familiar with the commercials they are available on YouTube but unfortunately the embed option for them has been disabled.

These commercials were shot on a white background in black-and-white, a technique that draws special visual attention to the yellow-and-black Edward Jones logo. The whole package is very clever from the way the videos are shot, to the dialog, the music, and of course the clever use of color, or lack-there-of.

The same visual style was repurposed for a companion print ad campaign further establishing and enhancing the brand image in the minds of the audience.

Edward Jones Companion Print Ads

The Audacity to Believe

Is on Board With the Crazy Idea

Signature Color Branding

Colorcom is a color consultancy located in Hawaii and New York. According to their website, color branding increases recognition by up to eighty percent; it aids memory processing and storage; and it attracts attention, increases comprehension and mentally engages the viewer. That’s pretty powerful stuff, and you don’t have to be a mega corporation with deep pockets to implement color effectively.

Color Affects, a London-based color consultancy, explains how color affects perception on a physiological level through the electrical impulses that pass from the retina to the hypothalamus area of the brain that controls our hormones and endocrine system. The hypothalamus controls behavior patterns, sex and reproductive functions, metabolism and appetite among others.

Color By Association

Color by itself is not enough to get the job done. The pistachio campaign added the format, style, messaging and performance elements in a consistent campaign that re-enforced the message and the brand.

In the end, Web videos are not as much about making a sale as they are about making contact: contact in the sense of connecting to an audience on an intellectual and emotional level. Web videos designed merely to flog some product or service have built-in limitations, and an abbreviated shelf-life, whereas video presentations designed to engage can become eternal.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

MadViral online since 2005, MadViral Enterprises, LLC can help you market your business with Email Advertising, Professional Unique email design services

Killer Campaigns Volume Four: The Color of Branding