Help, my Video Marketing Strategy isn’t working!
You're in the middle of a video marketing campaign launch and your conversions aren't meeting their targets. Adjustments and optimizations aren't helping. What could be the problem? Let's go through a few tips to get your strategy back on track: 1) One tip to get back on track is to take a second look at who you're targeting. Who are your customers? What are their lives like? Who seems to be enthusiastic about your product? Who isn't enthusiastic? What is your average CTR (click-through rate) based on gender, demographics and interests? Going back to basics like this can really help with adjusting your strategy from keywords to use, to understanding when to market to your audience during different times of the week, or
The last ten years has heralded a massive change in how marketers and advertisers reach their customers, collect data, make their products known, and create experiences that enhance brands and sell to the public. Smaller companies now have more options available to them online than ever before to reach, understand, and curtail their businesses and services to customers in need. This includes the rise of the use of cellphones, an explosion in app development, responsive and easy to build websites and interactive website ads, and now VR and AR (Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality). These products add to the branding and marketing packages for companies large and small and enable more engagement, and help people understand your products and what you do. This freeing up of
If you make your living as a motion designer or animator in Adobe AfterEffects. There are some shortcuts that can and will make your life easier if you know them. The ones I list below are for my Mac platform, but I'll try to look up the differences for PC users as well. These shortcuts I often use every day. They speed up the pace of timing, editing and syncing pieces of footage and sound in AfterEffects. Without further yammering on, let's get to the list, which I've divided into sections below: Basic Transform Shortcuts: A - Anchor Point P - Position S - Scale R - Rotation T - Opacity M - Show masks RR - Show Time remap property Shift + F3 - Switch between graph timeline view and
Much of the eLearning industry is either moving away from, or integrating animation and high quality visual design int their courses. The format of using slideshows and powerpoint presentations can be replaced by, or enhanced by this change. We have more engaging experiences with animated, and dynamic illustrative visuals. They help learners retain information better, and achieve their goals. Whether these come from gamified simulations, motion graphics, detailed character animation, or interactive elements. The word is in; great visuals are king. Good visuals are very important for developing effective courses for a few reasons: Visuals keep people's attention Visuals put people at ease and engage a learners curiosity Visuals can enhance and help information retention from a course or idea Visuals engage a different
Living a freelance lifestyle is no cake walk. Anyone who tells you otherwise isn't being honest. There are plenty of perks to wanting to go rogue and be your own boss. But there are plenty of pitfalls and uncertainties along the way as well. Sometimes, things just get plain bad. You have a dry spell, a difficult client, you aren't paid well or on time, etc. Being an entrepreneur for a lot of people is also a huge leap in self-confidence. Sounds like a great time, but taking full responsibility for sourcing your own income takes a huge leap of faith, and often doubts about yourself will come flying out of the woodwork. This is all completely normal and understandable. Because if you
I wanted to write today about a subject that is very close to my heart. It's a universal trait that all humans share, and which almost everyone struggles with throughout their lives. However for professional creatives, it tends to be a need that is a bit louder, a bit more pervasive in everyday life. One of my good friends says this is probably because professional creatives tend to be a bit more emo about things. They're more aware of it overall. I would agree that this is probably true. I'm talking about an inner struggle that I like to call Feeding the Beast. The Beast exists in everyone, and its demands seem to be simple; work on something you are invested
eLearning Course Authoring – Dos and Don’ts
As a media designer and animator. I often run into the issue of courses being written in ways that make it hard to understand visually what an author is implying. Sometimes with very technical subjects, like engineering and computer networking, it is normal for many designers to not understand the author's intentions. However, sometimes written storyboards can be so vague that it's hard to effectively communicate about what is visually needed, and your designer will often make mistakes and ask a lot of questions, causing a lot of wasted time and money for everyone. Below are a list of Do's and Don't for course authors to keep in mind when writing a course for your animator or media designer. Whether you're an
Storytelling is something people everywhere appreciate and love. It's a form of entertainment, as well as a medium to teach life lessons to everyone. It imparts cultural ideas and expectations, and spurs progressive action and critique of culture. Stories are things humans have made up and passed down over millennia to each other. Whether through oral tradition or written down, stories captivate and excite us, they charge the imagination and move us deeply if done well. Is it no small wonder that the Epic of Gilgamesh is still a story we talk about today, one that existed an estimated 3000 years ago. There are countless other cuneiform tablets recovered from the ruins of Sumer and Ur, but the story of Gilgamesh has
eLearning Visual Essentials
Let’s talk eLearning. It’s a growing industry with a number of different approaches to Learning Management System (LMS) development and media design. I’ve been working in the industry consistently for two years now, and I’ve noticed some rules and guidelines that make content better, and more affective to a learner. Here are some of the rules I’ve noticed that seem to consistently work to keep a learner’s attention, and make your courses look great at the same time. Visual Essential 1 – Create a Clean, Clear Visual Style Having a crisp, clear, inviting look to your courses, whether they involve film, animation, interactive, or something of a combination is the number one rule. People feel like they trust your brand when it
Big animation companies do it, large and small game studios do it, and it's something that has always baffled me with long term business planning for companies. Outsourcing is still a large issue in the animation industry, companies outsource for a few reasons that are good in the short term, but which ultimately lead to a lot of issues and long term problems, all in the quest to save money and make as much profit as possible when they can. I'm a small business owner so I get the appeal of cheap labor, but many companies don't focus on the long term issues that come from outsourcing overseas to places with lower wages, lower skill, and the long term affects on