Maxys Max Media and Entertainment

And the Nature of Creative that Attracts

When deeply reflective many a talented artist, writer, sports person, scientist etc will tell you that their ideas and inspiration are driven from a very deep natural creative energy - of which they say they are simply channelling.  Author Julia Cameron's - The Right To Write and the Artisit Way are great reads for understanding the spiritual elements of creativity.

Macolm Gladwell talks of "Blink" and our instantaneous subconscious recognition of quality.

Dan Roam talks about the Back of a Napkin - the ability to reduce a message into an often simple, two dimension sketch to convey a key message quickly.

Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen talks of applying the principle of sumi-e - The goal is not simply to reproduce the appearance of the subject, but to capture its soul to convey.

Seth talks of Tribes ; Iggy talks of Connectedness and the team at Forrester's talk of Groundswell

 

A conversation I've been recently been following is that  "share-words"  and the subsequent blog regarding “Why makes a blockbuster blog? and why do people share/ FREE on the web?”

 

From a business marketing perspective the original post had immediate “value” with the greater audience – (which is very much like many of the new online software models of today) - Iconic88 talks of "WRWM - What Resonates With Me" (BTW I love this) is the new adoption of the old "WIIFM - What's In It For Me"

Influential (and connected) trusted third party advocacy helped spread.

Why share? –

As you know libraries have been written on human motivation – ie makes you feel good; Maslow's Hierarchy etc.

Sharing – money is not always the primary driver – often it is a consequence of doing good work.

My own personal, probably “hippy” (born in the 60’s) view -

• Creativity is universal (not owned) – we simply channel and mould the universal consciousness to a physical expression which others can perceive (at many levels) - thanks Julia.
• Like music – good content resonates – I think “Share Words” struck a chord – the concept combined the emerging trend of short concise messages (twitter trend) with the deep rhythmic bass of Internet connectedness – ie universal collective collaboration. (Woo hoo – maybe too much coffee!)
• Like water – knowledge in meant to flow – any real gift, talent, knowledge, information etc has an intrinsic drive and will naturally spread – it’s how we all progress.
• The barriers to sharing are often artificial constructs such fear of ridicule/ failure; must make money (though we all need to eat) or lack of knowledge.

In a nutshell, I think sharing is much more fun (rewarding)- it’s about your audience – it’s like playing in a band and watching your audience have fun dancing; like writing a blog (or book) and watching people respond, connect and engage – or a film, photo, aroma, anything that connects.

Do good and it comes back ten fold.

A Kevin Costner - Field of Dreams flashback - build it and they will come. 

Share-words: the easiest way for us to recommend you

Friday night, leading connector Iggy Pintado "Connecting people for business benefit" tweets me

Seen this? http://www.radsmarts.com/2010/05/share-words-the-easiest-way-for-us-to-recommend-you/

The fact Iggy's a bit of a legend; a trusted mate and doesn't send junk that fills your in-box gets me in.

 

"Share Words" = love it - is about delivering a short, easy to spread "Share Word" about your business - it's much like the Twitter day modern equivalent to the old 30 second elevator pitch and is  something we try and get through to all our clients when writing their short 15/30 sec intro CLIVE scripts

Our current CLIVE tag-line “Bring your website alive with CLIVE” still doesn’t work well enough for me.

Robin responds

• a) What are the *key* benefits that customers get from CLIVE and your service delivery (your words)?
• b) How do your most satisfied customers describe the experience of dealing with you (their words)?

What we are finding with many agencies and web developers is a real lack of understanding of CLIVE (online rich media visitor engagement) – yet – the large % of web visitors love it (if done well).

To be effective (user engagement) then the videos have to be done well – (there’s been many poor attempts at Internet video) – that means

• short sharp customer focused scripts;
• presenters emotional connection with audience (appear warm & natural),
• high quality production; 
• fast video streaming and 
• accountability for your $$$.

 

I posed the question to a few clients and put together a list of reasons why CLIVE works – (apologies a bit long).

Also, from a management point of view, we focus on the clients experience in the studio – making them comfortable and come across natural; the result is every new client leaves the studio with a new, much greater appreciation for presenter skills; a deeper understanding of their core message and this new unique 1:1 web presenter vistor engagement space.

Why CLIVE?

1. Builds visitor trust quickly – people buy from people
2. Delivers consistent message 24/7 – ie can “meet, greet, inform & direct” thousands of visitors per day (can be user driven/ auto play; begin muted etc)
3. A/B/C/D message variation comparison/ testing – **iconic88’s WRWM – what messages resonate.
4. Gets results – sales/ registrations etc – accountable – average Click Thru Rates @ 4%; a good message (eg Iggy saw 18%)
5. Bang for buck – easy implementation(one line code) fastest (few days) most cost effective (from $1k) way to increase online user engagement – (the most time consuming is getting the scripts right).
6. * Shows visitor you’re REAL and different. Not a two-bit operator with a website template like all the others/competitors. Cut through by being visual and different.
7. * Courtesy – shows visitor you’re a person/business that has the courtesy to greet me when I visit your site by introducing yourself to me as people do (visually+audio).
8. * Brand personality consistency – show’s visitor what you say in your words is how you behave e.g. Wendell/ Iggy
9. * Sales cycle flexibility from “go to whoa” (each step in sales cycle i.e. greet, introduce, offer, close and thank you steps).
10. * Global factor – time and language offerings.

*thanks Iggy ** thanks Mahei

The Challenge – some customers (“the innovators”) get CLIVE straight away and act – our marketing challenge is to change the thousands of many “Like/ Love it” into a “need it now”'s.

For those who don't like it - fine.  "Never try and sell a meteor to a dinosaur (even a young one) - it wastes your time and annoys the dinosaur" - Hugh McLeod, Gaping Void

Getting your message short, sharp and clear so it is easily understood and spreads is fundamental.

Bring Your Website Alive

The web is no longer a static online text brochure - it is about connecting with your customers.

Last night one of our customers pointed us to a blog bagging online video by some dude.

Yes, video can be done well or poorly - but it is less to do with the technology (though fundamentally important) and more about understanding your visitors; good scripts; natural presentation, quality production and fast video streaming (everybody hates buffering).

If I walk into a busy store or hotel for the first time I want service.

The same if I visit a poorly designed or information rich website - I don't want to waste time.

The key objective with any new visitor (online or offline) is to build trust.

Today, in this information rich connected society, trusted word of mouth referral is the most important marketing element.

Remember that people buy from people - and nothing can do that better online than good personalised video overlay (if done well).

Yes, there are caveats - production must be done well and the message customer focused.

BUT, as a visitor (online or offline) what I greatly dislike is the same canned message every time I return.

Give me a play button, a "welcome back" or message variations - entertain me.

From a web owners point of view through immediate analytics I can test A/B/C/D etc messages to find out what resonates most with my visitors. Providing valuable information to marketing and business owners.

In terms of stats - we've now streamed over 1m videos. The average click thru rate (CTR) across all those videos is 4% - some sites 18% (it's all about visitor message relevance)

One campaign ran a video off for 18 days then on. The result was a 40% increase in registrations.

Our clients report greater results - awareness; sales; registrations; less service calls

Without doubt quality video increases user engagement and website effectiveness (if done well)

Converting lovers to needers

Introduction

(Nearly) everybody loves CLIVE but we want website owners to need him!

 

Our aim is to clearly communicate that CLIVE, for as little as $1K, is the easiest and most cost effective investment for increasing website effectiveness.

 

Background

Marketing firm Max Media and Entertainment and corporate video production company RidgeFilms, launched a new Internet Video overlay service called CLIVEvideo.com in July 2008.  From a business perspective a fundamental requirement for this project was that it had to be cash flow positive and self funding from the very start – “I’ve invested too much time and money in the past on poor performing projects with lot's of potential” says Scott Maxworthy, Chief Experience Officer of Max Media and CLIVE. "In today’s fickle world if you’re a product or service that doesn’t deliver immediate tangible results in some form to customers then find something easier to sell."  Maxworthy adds.

 

Performance: As a customer KPI CLIVE measures both videos served and Click Thru Rates (CTR’s).  CLIVE took 16 months to pass 500K customer videos served, 6 months to pass the next 500K and with current projects on board is in shape to pass the next 500K within the next two-three months.  Average CTR across all customers is 4% with some customers have achieving 18% - a typical good campaign is in the 8-10%.    Chris Schwager, Creative Director for CLIVE, states the core difference is attributed to video message relevance to the audience; good scripts and presenter performance.

 

Impressive results when you consider a typical website banner has a Click Thru of less than 0.4%.

 

Business Moving Forward

As a result of CLIVE's success in March 2010 they were in a position to expand. One the key marketing objectives was to get out from behind their computer screens and phones and get “Face to Face” with more prospective clients.

 

"In all my years in business one core lesson in any B-B sales environment is that people BUY from people and one of the best, most efficient ways still to get in front of lots of qualified people are trade exhibitions" said Maxworthy.

Trade Exhibitions

Exhibitions – particularly well organised B-B trade fairs are a honeypot of business potential.  From a visitors perspective they can quickly browse, see, touch and talk.  From an exhibitors perspective they are great at building awareness, networking and if everything goes to plan, you end up with hundreds of highly qualified prospects, leads and influencers –in fact it would take you years to get 1:1 in front of all these people.

 

BUT, a word of warning, with so many options for your advertising and marketing dollar, it always comes down to the best ROMI (Return On Marketing Investment) per event.

Trade Shows - the good and the bad

As you may know exhibitions can be done well and not so well so I’d like to share with you five hard earned key points that I’ve learnt through many expos over the years and later, as a case study, what we recently applied to CLIVEvideo at the Ad:Tech Sydney event.  (BTW which was a great success – having paid for itself in 5 weeks).

 

Five Lessons for Maximising Trade Show Returns

First and foremost – ROMI (Return On Marketing Investment)

A helicopter perspective - you need to think of each exhibition like a shopping centre or the Internet – tens, hundreds, thousands of products; services and locations all competing for your dollar and scarce visitor and prospective customer attention, $$$$ and loyalty.

 

As a seller there’s lots of ways of spending money BUT for every event – ask what % are the right potential customers?  - What’s your return?  Is this the best use of your resources?  I don’t believe crappola like “you’ve got to be there to be seen” – just focus on tangible results and if possible negotiate terms to minimise your risks and exposure.

Second – Creative Differentiation

You’re booked in for the gig but so MANY stands appear the same - what are you doing that is different?  What will attract the visitor; engages your audience, helps them remember you and hopefully position a need to buy?  Remember most visitors are like men shopping with their wives (or girlfriend) – that glazed look of information overload – the advertising window wound up tight and the black shades on.  How do you get cut through and stand out?  Are you selling a commodity or YOUR great service or product?  Why would I buy from YOU?

Third - Less is More

What’s your pitch?  Whatever it is it needs to be delivered in 15 seconds or less.  In today’s high speed time poor digital world of unlimited opportunity and instant communications the old adage of “WIIFM” – (What’s In It For Me) has been replaced by “WRWM” (What Resonates With Me) coined by leading Twitter and social media identity Mahei Foliaki (Iconic88).

 

Your message has to mean more than visitor self gratification – to engage with new brands and services your message has to meet a whole series of potential new customer needs – Will it generate results?  Will it make my life easier?  Does it motivate me? Do I trust them/ you?  How does it connect and resonate with me and my tribe – what’s your website again they'll ask?   All THAT in the first 15 seconds!

 

Then, if you pass first base (user opt-in/ attention) you can then provide more detailed information.

 

REMEMBER – Keep It Simple; have fun (this will keep your staff hyped), and “Entertain to Inform”.

 

If you want you can risk proving how clever you are later in the conversation/ relationship.

Four – Clear objectives:

Understand most people are BUSY - don’t waste their and your time.  Do the maths.

 

• There are say 2,500 potential prospects at the event over two days;
• You’ve 4 sales people on your stand.
• Say 25% pass your stand – that’s 625 people
• =312 per day; =100 per rep; =12 contacts per hour = maximum 5 minutes per contact.

The objective is to deliver your key message and get (permission) for contact details for follow-up. 

TIP:

• If ID scanners are available then hire it and have someone dedicated to scanning – that way you don’t interrupt your rep:visitor conversation searching for the scanner. Your visitor will appreciate you not wasting their time.
• Quickly sidestep time wasters.   Have a code/ hand signal for “help get me away” if you’re bogged down in the trenches with Techno Arnie who wants to talk for hours about the pros and cons of Macs versus PC’s (tis all just hardware)

Five – Follow up.

What’s your event follow-up process?  How many times you’ve been to a networking event or trade show and the leads sit idle for weeks or months after the event.  Have a clear plan of who is going to do what follow-up after the event.

 

Next blog I'll put together a case study we did for Ad:tech Sydney 2010.