While perusing the web this morning, I came across a Canon DSLR video featured on the blog of Philip Bloom. For those not in the know, Philip Bloom is a thought leader in the Canon DSLR video community, as well as an accomplished DP, Director and Producer.

We love the Canon 5D/7D look. We love that it can save up to 85% on production costs on commercial productions as well as our custom video productions. What caught my eye about the video I saw on Philip Bloom’s blog, however, was how a single man captured the street level action at the recent "Royal Wedding of The Century." Of course, I am talking about the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton.

This was shot using a manfrotto 290 series tripod, Canon 50mm, 16-35mm and a Tamaron 70-300mm lenses, and a Canon 7D:

The Canon 7D so beautifully captured the essence of the people participating in the event, it’s easy to forget that a single man with a very simple setup was able to achieve 35mm-like quality shots.

There’s the real beauty for the new cinematographer: the ability to capture life’s messages as they happen, practically in the palm of your hand. No crew needed, Mother Nature provides most of the lighting.

Of course, when we shoot our short films in our Canon camera classes, we often use a full set up. And lighting. But because of the huge sensor in the Canon 5D and 7D, we have the option of a very light crew and virtually a backpack’s worth of equipment.

Do you have a short film using the Canon DSLR? We’d love to see it. Send it to info@theassociation.tv and we’ll pick a few to feature in upcoming blogs.

Note: This is Part VII in an seven-part series I’m writing about Press Releases. Press releases are possibly an overlooked item in the enterprise social media toolbox, so I’m going to cover a few points and talk about how I’ve used them successfully for client campaigns.

Tracking Results: Where Performance is Measured, Performance Improves. A company considering a press release campaign, whether it’s 1 release or 10 releases, should have some way of measuring the results. Typically these results will be expressed in terms of visibility for certain keywords. When it comes to visibility online, one must pick one’s battles. Online that battle means showing up when people are typing in certain keywords.

Make sure whoever writes your press releases can give you a follow up report on what happened. How many keywords got your press release to the 1st page of Google, Yahoo or Bing? How many search engines featured the press release on the first page? How many other sites picked the release up? Your press release professional should be able to provide you with a formal report showing similiar numbers.

Pretty much anyone can write a press release and figure out how to get it distributed with today’s online tools. I’m not saying it’s hard to do. But pretty much anyone can paint an abstract oil painting too. The quality may be horrible…and typically you get what you pay for, so keep those two points in mind. Especially when it comes to investing in the long tail keyword research.

Ideally the best measure of success would be the sales results. But sometimes just better visibility or reputation management is the goal, so knowing those results are important. If your corporate social media campaign budget doesn’t allow for anything fancy, at the very least set up your own schedule to check keywords and record the results yourself. You might be surprised at what you find out!

Good luck and see you on the 1st page!

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Polly morgan visits the Canon Boot Camp in Prague

I figure that most people are pretty aware that there is a “generational gap” in the world of online marketing. Anyone over the age of 35 is probably having a tougher time understanding and shifting with the tides of marketing, as things go digital. There’s even a new name I heard that describes the younger set, “Digital Native.” It’s a great description.

But what about all us non-digital natives?

How do you understand something that you can’t really see or touch? Marketing online is a bit like being on a Ghost Hunter’s TV show. Talking to things that aren’t there, or are they? Is my marketing really working? I have a hard time even describing what it’s like for older marketers. But I finally came up with a description.

For many business owners who have had a website for the past few years, they understand the importance of having a presence online. However, they may be getting visitors and NO sales. Why is that? Weren’t we supposed to just build a website, and everyone would just show up and buy something? How come “someone” shows up, but they don’t take that next step?

Many “effective marketing plans” fall down right at that spot. Visitors arrive, and they are standing on the edge of a cliff, except they don’t see the chasm between them and actually signing up as an actual lead. If this is happening on your site, what you are missing is a conversion process. That conversion process is the virtual bridge between a visitor to one of your web presences, and actually buying something.

The first step of this conversion process is really understanding your target market. What do they need? What does your consumer analysis tell you about the people that would buy from you, if they could find you?

Are your website visitors falling into a chasm? If there aren’t any sales coming from your website or blog, but you have some consistent volume of online visitors, why yes, they are! That means the content of the site needs an overhaul, probably, as well as implementation of a conversion process.

Too much sheet…   

Each morning my wife and I, upon arising, make our bed together. For some unexplained but persistent reason, there is always a lot more cover on my wife’s side of the bed than mine. Every morning, for decades now, I’ve been going through bed-making training.

Each morning we make the bed.  My wife, being a tidy homemaker wants to be sure that the length the sheet hangs down is exactly even on her side of the bed as on my side of the bed.  This is in case Martha Stewart drops by.

Maybe some of you go through this ritual in your life. I’m resigned to it.  Here’s the conversation each morning as we make our bed.

“I need more sheet,” she says.

“You want me to give you more sheet?” I say.

“Yes.  I want you to give me more sheet.”

“I thought I had already given you too much sheet.”

“No. I want some more sheet.”

That’s how it goes.  Recently, we had a big breakthrough. Here’s how it went:

“You gave me too much sheet, Honey,” I say.

“You want me to take some sheet back?”

“Yes. I want you to take back that sheet.”

She smiles triumphantly.

“You can’t take my sheet, can you.”

“No,” I answer.  “There’s only so much sheet I can take.”

The only time I don’t get sheet from my wife is when we stay in a hotel. The maid makes the bed.

THE MORALE OF THE STORY IS….

If you want to get less sheet from your wife, take her on a trip.

(This story is rated by Flesch-Kincaid at 2nd Grade Level)

Note: This is Part VI in an seven-part series I’m writing about Press Releases. Press releases are possibly an overlooked item in the enterprise social media toolbox, so I’m going to cover a few points and talk about how I’ve used them successfully for client campaigns.

The overall picture: Where do Press Releases fit? When I develop an online campaign, I consider short range, medium range and long range tools. In the case of a new business or product line, Press Releases can be an excellent short range tool for gaining visibility on search engines. But Press releases don’t last forever! So they must be followed up with medium range and long range tools that do have staying power. Social media and websites, for example. Blogging is another great way to feature yourself more permanently.

When I say Press Releases don’t last forever, I really mean they don’t stay on the first page of Google and other search engines. Of course, they are still online and can be found through search. There are a number of factors affecting how it shows up in search. Long tail keywords are a big one.

However, if you know your target market well, writing relevant content that will be popular should be fairly easy to do. If you’re not going to ask the actual people you’re writing for (or lacking the services of a market survey company), at least consider the kind of information you’d be interested in hearing. Or read articles written by others on the same topic to get some ideas.

By writing on relevant topics that are unique, useful and interesting, you’ll find the time, effort and money invested into a typically short-range, instant-visibility tool just might extend into a long-range visibility tool. We’re all busy getting the show on the road, so try to make each effort into an effective marketing plan count for the long term. Don’t brush off anything, be as thorough as you can considering the resources you have, then push it a little more.

Here’s to the success of your 2011 market development strategy!

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Is the Internet working out for you? Is your website being found? Are the visitors you’re getting the ones you want?

A lot of people embraced the Internet and it’s promise of a new life with abundant cash flow. Most of us have gone through a huge learning curve to master new terms and technology to be able to "surf the web".  Then, we set up shop with our own website. We waited for millions of visitors to come by and make us millionaires.  But for a lot of people that never happened. Even worse, nobody ever came by their carefully thought out website. Bummer.

"Experts" we consulted told us that Google didn’t consider our site "relevant", hence the low ranking in searches.

Are you on page 3,563,295 on a Google search? Next to the guy who can show you how to recycle paper towels at home?

Being told you’re irrelevant you have only two options: get relevant or buy your way to the top with a Pay Per Click AdWords campaign.

A lot of people are gambling with their Pay Per Click campaign. The money for each click goes out fast but the results are not as stunning as they’d hoped.  One of our clients had a $10k a month Pay Per Click / AdWords campaign. He told us that two months before our campaign was to launch, he shut off his earlier Pay Per Click campaign. During those two months his Internet leads didn’t drop at all!  This convinced him PPC didn’t work. The truth is badly-done PPC doesn’t work. Just like a badly done web strategy doesn’t lift your "relevancy" in Google’s eyes. When we launched our PPC campaign he had 8.5% conversions in the first week.  So PPC can be done correctly, which makes sense because I don’t really think Google is trying to fleece everyone.

It’s kind of like Vegas.  Google has set up the game to reward those most relevant.  Whether you buy you way to the top with AdWords or earn your way to the top, you can win at the game. When you learn the game your odds of winning vastly improve.

Besides, shouldn’t we be relevant to our prospective website visitors? And if we’re not relevant shouldn’t Google label us as relevant? Google wants to help the "searcher" find their goal as quickly as possible. So, you have to be what they’re looking for or in Google’s eyes, you’re out.

You can address this issue or continue to "gamble blindfolded" on the web, wasting tons of money on a poorly thought out campaign that when it does bring a visitor to your site, they don’t convert. But you could make your efforts pay off. You just have to learn the game.

But you can have an effective marketing plan that works. Start with learning what a Long Tail Keyword is.

Note: This is Part V in an seven-part series I’m writing about Press Releases. Press releases are possibly an overlooked item in the enterprise social media toolbox, so I’m going to cover a few points and talk about how I’ve used them successfully for client campaigns.

I’m on the 1st Page of Google but I wish I wasn’t. Reputation Management. It’s not fun to have to “manage” your reputation, but it happens. Sometimes it’s because of unethical practices by the competition. Sometimes it’s an internal slip-up. Or maybe the media made a meal out of some aspect of your industry, and suddenly your product doesn’t look as healthy or pleasant as it did yesterday. And now your effective marketing plan is in shreds at your feet.

In these instances, a well-written press release by a trained Public Relations person (who also knows how to optimize for search) can save you months of work in damage control. Generally there are two ways to go: 1) Get press releases written and issued in advance of a potential hiccup, and 2) Wait until something BAD happens, and act fast to get the real story out.

Obviously, no one can predict EVERYTHING. But you don’t have to! When something good happens in your industry or especially your company, consider featuring it in a press release! For example, when it comes to dealing with money, senior citizens have been scammed often. Now there are special measures in place to protect seniors. How hard would it be for someone to get an insurance business in trouble on some kind of senior citizen issue?

A press release on how an insurance company holds the best record for dealing with seniors, as recognized by some external authority, could counter any bad publicity on that subject. If the press release was issued before your firm took a kick it looks better than issuing it after the fact.

A quarterly issued press release as part of a corporate social media campaign can  contribute a “bullet proof vest” to your image in case the worst happens. Of course, all statements in press releases should be accurate and truthful. Lies are the worst kind of backfire any campaign can suffer.

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We tracked down The Association’s president Fletcher Murray (OK, he was in the next room) and talked to him about his life’s work and dedication to the Canon Boot Camp.

What do you do here at The Association?

I’m the president, director, and producer here at The Association. I started out as a still photographer and then as a DP. I love imagery, and at the root of everything, I love to communicate with pictures.

When did you become interested in film what was your first film job?

Well, I made my first film when I was eight-years-old. My career turned upwards in college when I did two films… one the first year and it won a festival. I made another one the second year and it won, too.  A producer from ABC saw the film festival results and was intrigued, and thought that he could improve their tv ratings. At the time [ABC news] was ranked number two in the market and they wanted to go for number one. They thought that if they put an interesting little piece at the end of the news each night it would draw more viewers than just more of the same format.

So I was hired to be sort of an Ansel Adams, film student, Charles Kuralt, film guy [laughs].  And so my only directive was “Go shoot cool, unusual stuff and we’ll put it on the news and see how it works.” For example, I would shoot slow motion shorts of  kids running in the park in the fall with a telephoto lens, playing in the leaves. I would interview toy makers and people who collected historic guitars, human interest stories like that. They pretty much gave me free reign, so I really liked it there.

What is your favorite camera?

I love the Canon HDSLR 5D because it puts so much in your hands for twenty-five hundred dollars. Plus you don’t have to buy film, you don’t have to pay for the processing or the telecine. It can see in low light, which is a lifesaver. The magic things in life happen in areas that aren’t professionally lit by a gaffer, so with a camera this light sensitive, you can come closer to the reality of life. The Canon 5D can shoot up to 1200 ISO. You can shoot fast and the actors are fresh (because they don’t have to wait for the lighting guy to deliver). So it’s made it very magical. You can shoot almost as fast as you can think.

What is the most exciting project you’ve ever done or worked on?

So we had six camera crews, I shot the helicopter stuff. We were flying very fast, very low. It was probably my best work. It actually got funding for a movie that was made with Nicolas Cage. He used the piece that I shot for the helicopter company, so that was exciting.

What’s so great about the association’s canon boot camp?

Well, there is a fundamental difference between the way we teach and the way a college professor teaches. With a college professor it’s mainly lecture. You just sit and listen for 50 minutes, you may get a chance to ask a question or two, but it’s kind of all about him or her. We assume everyone here wants to learn a skill. The reason people take our boot camp is that they want to be able to pull off a shoot on their own. It’s not about me, the presenter, unless I have a story that applies to what we’re trying to teach them. Our main purpose is to empower them to make their movie and not screw up [laughs]. So it’s all about them, it’s about their questions; it’s about their confusions. Most people I see doing those sixty-minute PowerPoint shows don’t even look at the audience. The people could be asleep, yawning, totally baffled, lost, and the presenter just steams forward with their show. We have three or four people who are trained in the cameras and ready to answer any questions that people have. As soon as a person hits a point when their lost we get them back on track. Also, we ask our students to demonstrate what they were just told. We want them to be able to apply their knowledge in the real world. The boot camp is all about the student; we’re just here to help.

Note: This is Part IV in an seven-part series I’m writing about Press Releases. Press releases are possibly an overlooked item in the enterprise social media toolbox, so I’m going to cover a few points and talk about how I’ve used them successfully for client campaigns.

I’m already on the 1st Page of Google for my name. Why do I need a Press Release? Getting on the 1st page of a Google Search for a specific person’s name, or a company name, is fairly easy to do without a press release. If you need more than a name to show up, such as a distinction or niche that sets you apart from the competition,  a press release is one way to accomplish 1st page recognition for that niche.

Once time we featured a CPA’s “Enrolled Agent” status and explained in the press release the advantage his clients would had when it came to dealing with the IRS. At the same time we started a referral campaign using social media. In the 3 months following, he received nearly double the number of new clients from referrals than the entire number of new clients from referrals the previous year! He had been in business in his area for 20 years, so he wasn’t new news. However, we were able to take his status and turn it into news.

Incidentally, although the press release was a one-time cost, it’s still showing up on the 1st page of Google for the two keywords the client requested, over a year later! Long tail keyword research carefully nailed just the right phrases, so that press release paid for itself almost immediately with new clients from referrals.

If you simply want to dominate your own name on the 1st page of search engines, you may do it yourself by getting on a number of social networking sites. I’d still recommend investing in some long-tail keyword research, so you can include words and phrases that cover your industry, products and services. Your name will show up anyway. Common names like “John Smith” are problematic, so consider including your middle name or a nickname to set yourself apart.

If you are willing to wait 4 to 12 months, profiling yourself on 10-20 social networking sites will pay off in search engine visibility. If you can’t wait that long, press releases are a great alternative.

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