Promoting your company in today's world of multimedia. Some thougths and ideas to think about.

One of the questions I am asked quite frequently is; "How do I promote my company today on the internet?" or "What is the latest craze for marketing my company on the net?"

Well, these questions have about half a gazillion answers. And no matter who you ask - no two answers are quite the same. One hears about everything from Social Network Marketing (perhaps the acronym for this is SNM?) to SEO or Search Engine Optimization and then there is SEM or Search Engine Marketing, and you need to do this all while eating M&M's. Okay, the last part just sounded funny, hence, why I wrote it.

Demo reel for commercial stock footage and production work - Part A

Well I suppose it is about time, eh? This demo reel shows not only some goodies from my stock footage libraries, but also some of the capabilities I have in regards to effects creation, logo manipulation and all around "eye candy" generation. The simple fact is that in today's world, one must get super creative and set the bar higher and higher. (That last phrase could be some new lyrics for a pop hit.) - In any case, hopefully this does the job of showing off some of the skill sets right here and now. 100% created by me, from graphical coolness to footage galore. :)

The "jobs" quandary... really, how's it looking?

I stumbled across this interesting graphical representation of just how fierce the situation is in regards to the economic impact on jobs in the US. A very simple to understand graphical display of the job cycle in the regions of the US - when you get to this page - just hit the play button - no need to explain further. (clicking on this link will open a new window.)

Okay, so if you actually looked at this graphical presentation, you might actually start feeling a bit queasy. I sure did. But regardless, life goes on and so should we. So I started a new idea, (actually fairly old in my mind, but was too pre-occupied with other stuff to implement sooner.)

I started running an ad on one of the common or popular places. This will not only be interesting to see how people will respond, but it will also give me a good idea of where people's heads are at. The ad is really simple in concept. Being a stock shooter of sorts, I am always looking out for new faces, people, things etc.. But now I figure it would behoove me to actually let them come to me. After all, there is an actual potential fiscal upside for anyone that gets involved. I will be doing most of the work. And all I am asking is that they follow through with one thing... to show up when you say you are going to show up.

Maybe I am also planning a mission to disprove the myth that all models, actors and wannabe's are flakes. I'll keep you posted. But in the mean time, I keep shooting and producing - that's what I do regardless. Here is some of my latest goods from just last night (Tucson at dusk available at Pond5 Stock Footage ):

Widgets and Gadgets for selling stock footage...

In the world of stock footage or should I say royalty free stock footage there are numerous sites available to get some. VideoMaker magazine just did an article on exactly that in their last issue (June 2008).

Now comes along Pond5.com that didn't get into that particular article because, and sadly to say VideoMaker wasn't aware of them, yet. This of course is for a simple reason. Pond5 is pretty new and as in my last "frog" (OK, silly, I know, it's a "frame" with "blog" or or as it says "blog frames" in the title of this blog, but "blames" isn't as cute even though sometimes it may be appropriate) I introduced them by doing a simple comparison to another such site. They do have a certain appeal that others don't. But I won't get into that at this point.

So simply put, Pond5 now is starting to focus on marketing. In my humble opinion, perhaps not being in an article with everyone else may actually benefit them. They are not just another former stock photo site that is trying to force their software to fit the video model. They do only stock video at this time. That is their focus and they do it damn well. Being a submitter, ease of use is always a question. Efficiency is also a big deal. They seem to have that pretty much handled.

Now back to marketing. These guys have created some pretty innovative tools for that purpose. And these tools can be used nicely by submitters of such footage. But most important of all, it gives us, the submitter a chance to get focus. Now I am not talking about camera focus. I am talking about using these tools to send potential clients or buyers to the Pond5 site vie a pretty nifty "widget" and all while keeping them focused on the particular photag, (me for example) and his or her footage. This is cool. This is extremely cool. This, for the first time, actually gives me a shot at control should I decide to drive traffic to their site! It lets me drive traffic, show my goodies and if they buy anything, whether mine or not, still get that famous referral fee. Super cool.

This is a great way to do community marketing. These guys are ahead of their time. Now that may sound really cliché, but it is true for several reasons;

1. A photag may be known for a specialty - shouldn't that be just as important and shouldn't a client that sought out such a specialized photag be presented with his or her specialty only for starters? Of course! This is focused marketing - some even call it SEO and SEM. Duh.
2. If a photag goes through the trouble of uploading, clipping, describing, editing, etc, etc... should he or she have rights to the first shot of a sale?
3. And finally if a photag is really known for their specialty and quality and drives traffic to such a site, from a really cool site that they took the time to build (hint, hint), shouldn't they be well rewarded in any case? After all, the entire community of any such site benefits from such driven traffic.

So here's my widget, cool huh?: