Sunday, September 24, 2023

The Impact of Video Walls on Trade LED Show Booth Engagement

Not too long ago, if we wanted to stand out from the crowd at a trade show, we would add a TV monitor to our booth. Conversely, today our entire booth can be an LED video wall.


Trade shows are dynamic environments where businesses strive to make a lasting impression on attendees. In this competitive landscape, innovative technologies play a pivotal role in capturing the attention of potential clients and partners. One such technology that has revolutionized the trade show experience is the LED video wall. These mesmerizing displays have a profound impact on trade show booth engagement, transforming the way companies interact with their audience and leaving a lasting impression. In this article, we'll explore the various aspects of how LED video walls influence trade show booth engagement.

Visual Impact and Attraction


The first and most obvious advantage of LED video walls is their visual appeal. These high-resolution displays can be customized to showcase vibrant graphics, videos, and animations that are sure to catch the eye of passersby. Their sheer size and clarity make them stand out in a crowded exhibition hall, acting as a magnetic force that draws attendees toward your booth. In a world where first impressions matter, an LED video wall can be the key to making your booth unforgettable.

Storytelling and Brand Messaging


Trade shows are not just about displaying products; they are an opportunity to tell a story and convey your brand's message. LED video walls serve as a versatile canvas for storytelling. You can create narratives that engage, educate, and entertain your audience. Whether it's the history of your company, the journey of a product, or the impact of your services, LED video walls provide a dynamic platform to communicate your brand's story effectively.

Interactivity and Engagement


Modern LED video walls offer interactive capabilities, allowing attendees to engage with your content directly. Touchscreens, gesture controls, and augmented reality (AR) integration turn your booth into an interactive experience. Attendees can explore your products, navigate through information, or even play games, fostering a deeper level of engagement. This hands-on interaction ensures that visitors spend more time at your booth, absorbing your brand's message.

Dynamic Content Updates


Another significant advantage of LED video walls is their flexibility in content management. You can easily update and adapt the content being displayed in real-time. This means you can tailor your messaging to suit different audiences or respond to emerging trends and feedback. Dynamic content keeps your booth fresh and engaging throughout the duration of the trade show.

Data Collection and Analytics


LED video walls can also be integrated with data collection tools. By analyzing how attendees interact with the content on the video wall, you can gather valuable insights into their interests and preferences. This data can inform your post-event marketing efforts and help you refine your strategies for future trade shows.

Enhanced Product Demonstrations


For companies showcasing products or services, LED video walls can provide a platform for immersive product demonstrations. Instead of relying solely on physical prototypes, you can use the video wall to display 3D models, animations, and detailed explanations. This not only enhances the demonstration but also makes it accessible to a larger audience simultaneously.

Memorable Experiences


Ultimately, LED video walls contribute to creating memorable experiences. Attendees are more likely to remember the booth that engaged their senses, told a compelling story, and allowed them to interact actively. Such memorable experiences result in increased brand recall and a higher likelihood of post-event follow-ups.

In conclusion, LED video walls have redefined the way companies engage with attendees at trade shows. Their visual impact, storytelling capabilities, interactivity, and flexibility make them a powerful tool for capturing and retaining the attention of trade show visitors. By investing in LED video walls, businesses can leave a lasting impression, generate leads, and ultimately achieve a higher return on investment from their trade show participation. As technology continues to advance, we can expect LED video walls to play an even more significant role in trade show booth engagement in the future.



Video Wall Trade Show Booth

LED video walls offer a number of advantages for trade show booths, including:

  • Attention-grabbing visuals: LED video walls are incredibly bright and produce high-quality images, even in bright environments. This makes them ideal for capturing the attention of attendees and making a lasting impression.
  • Versatility: LED video walls can be used to display a wide variety of content, including videos, images, text, and graphics. This makes them ideal for communicating a variety of messages to attendees.
  • Flexibility: LED video walls can be configured in a variety of shapes and sizes, making them ideal for any trade show booth. They can also be easily transported and installed.
  • Engagement: LED video walls can be used to create interactive and engaging experiences for attendees. For example, attendees can be invited to play games, participate in polls, or take photos on the LED video wall.
  • Measurable results: LED video walls can be used to track and measure the results of your trade show booth. For example, you can track how many people view your content or interact with your display.


Here are some specific examples of how LED video walls can be used in trade show booths:

  • Displaying product demos: LED video walls can be used to display product demos and tutorials in a large and engaging way.
  • Showcasing company culture: LED video walls can be used to showcase company culture through videos, images, and employee testimonials.
  • Promoting new products and services: LED video walls can be used to promote new products and services with eye-catching visuals and engaging content.
  • Collecting leads: LED video walls can be used to collect leads through interactive forms and surveys.
  • Creating an attention getting booth: LED video wall trade show booths can be used to attract attention from across the trade show hall.
  • Overall, LED video walls are a powerful tool that can be used to create a more effective and engaging trade show booth. If you are looking for a way to make your booth stand out from the crowd and attract more visitors, consider using an LED video wall.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Top Tips For Hiring a Web Designer

If you are getting ready to hire a web designer here are the top web designer hiring tips and questions to ask. 

  • Experience in web design is probably the most important thing. Find a company that has been around for a while.
  • A web design company or ad agency is likely to be better than an individual web designer.
  • Although you may think you don't need custom programmer, find out if it is offered. 
  • Look for a variety of web design services offered by the company. The list of services should be bigger than WordPress web design. 
  • Find out if you will own the site and if you can host it elsewhere.
  • Find out if there is any proprietary software being used.
  • Ask if Search Engine Optimization is included.
  • Who will be responsible for writing the text that is on the website?
  • Are stock photos included?
  • What about professional photography?

Experienced Web Designer 

Experience in anything is always important and in web design it is critical. The reason for this is because of the way most industries are regulated. For instance, you can't be a lawyer just because you've read a lot of books. To be a lawyer a person has to take specific classes, pass exams and then be licensed by the state. This is true of a lot of professions, plumbers, hair stylists, real estate brokers and many others have to take classes, pass exams and be licensed by the state. Conversely, web designers are not required to take any classes at all. What's more, web designers never have to pass any competency exam. Plus, there is no governmental agency that licenses web designers.

What all of this means is that if the web designer takes a deposit from you and does nothing at all, you have no recourse. For instance, there is no agency to report the web designer to. Although you could hire a lawyer, think about how much that will cost. That's why experience is the most important thing to look for in a web designer.

Web Design Company


You'll get better results with an ad agency or web design company than with an individual web designer. When you hire an individual you get just that, an individual.  Consequently, that individual tries to be a writer, programmer, designer and SEO expert. As the old saying goes, a jack of all trades is a master of none. For that reason, our company has a team of four people working on every web design project.
  1. Our programmer will make all of the website functions work properly.
  2. We only employ designers with a 4-year degree in commercial design.
  3. Our writer will research your industry and write all of the text.
  4. Our SEO pro has more than 20-years of experience in getting search engine results.

Custom Web Development


Maybe you are only looking for a simple web design project and custom web development doesn't seem important. However, even a simple WordPress website often needs some custom programming. If you don't have someone capable of customizing WordPress then you may not get exactly what you wanted.


Web Design Services


You'll want to know that the company offers more than WordPress web design. Similar to the comments above about custom programming, you'll want to see experience in other areas of web design. For instance, a company that only offers WordPress web design is usually unable to help with anything but the most basic requests from clients.

Who Owns the Website


When we began our web design company in 1995, we saw a lot of people have trouble with web designers. The problem was that they thought they purchased a website but they never owned the website. Thankfully, that became a thing of the past. However, we are seeing it come back in a new way. Consequently, website owners try to hire some other company to make changes to their website and they can't. What happens is that the company they hired to build the website claims to have used proprietary software. As a result, they refuse to give access to the website to any other web developers.

What happens next should be a crime but it isn't because the proprietary software was mentioned in the contract. When nobody is able to work on your website but the people that made it, there's no competition. You may ask for some simple updates and find that it's $1,500.00. Be 100% sure that you will own the website and you can have anyone you want make changes to the programming code. For instance, if you are able to have the website hosted elsewhere then you'll have access to the code. Conversely, if you are required to have the website hosted with the developer, they may not give you access to the code.

Search Engine Optimization


Search Engine Optimization or SEO is never included in web design. However, the basic concepts of SEO should be included. For instance, there are things the search engines look for in a website and those things should be included. For example, years ago adding keywords to a meta file was important. However, today the search engines don't look at the keywords. In order to figure out how to rank your website in the search results, the search engines look at other things. We believe those other things are basic elements of web design and should be included.

Be sure to ask if the following is included:
  1. Proper use of alt tags on photos
  2. Unique meta titles on each page
  3. Different meta descriptions for each page
  4. Properly formatted text that falls with the Flesch reading ease requirements

Professional Copywriting Services 


If you are responsible for writing all of the text for your new website, factor that into your daily schedule. Conversely, if you are not a good writer and are not familiar with the Flesch reading ease requirements, that's a problem. For instance, poor results on your Flesch reading ease results means that your website won't rank well in the search results. Consequently, we provide professional copywriting services. Additionally, our writer knows how to properly write the text for your website. Plus, by having professional copywriting services you can work at what YOU do best. Most likely, that would be running your business.

Professional Web Photography


For some websites stock photos are used extensively. Consequently, it is important to know if you are expected to buy them. Additionally, professional photography might be required. For instance, in a dental office, law office or other professional office you don't want iPhone photos. A professional photographer will capture the right look for your entire team. Naturally, professional photography is an added expense. However, you'll want a web design company that has worked with a professional photographer they recommend.

In sum, don't assume anything about hiring a web designer. Instead, ask a lot of questions and get the answers in writing.

Monday, April 15, 2019

The Best Business Marketing Tip

My Best Business Marketing Suggestion


Since 1982 I've used one proven method to grow my business.

  1. Join a networking group
  2. Don't worry about trying to get referrals 
  3. Try to help the other members of the referral group to get new customers
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 above.

I discovered that I didn't like cold calling at all and I needed a way to get new clients. In 1982 I started a non-profit organization called the 100 Club of  Broward. The only purpose of the group was to meet each week and refer business to each other.

More recently I formed a new Referral Group in South Florida.
We meet on Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale and on Wednesday in Hollywood. I look at it like this; I was going to eat breakfast anyway, I may as well eat with a room full of people that are trying to bring me new business.

Business Referral Groups

By meeting each week the members get to know, like and trust each other and that is what makes a business referral group work. If you've ever been to a chamber of commerce you can clearly see the difference. At the local chamber events the members do a "hit and run" in which they run through the room as fast as they can collecting business cards and handing out their own business cards. Next thing you know, you are getting spam emails from them daily.

In a well run business referral group you are encouraged to take the time to get to know the members. The goal at this type of networking event is never to sell the other members your products or services although that might happen. The goal is to get them to know you, like you and trust you so that they would be willing to refer your best clients to you.
When you refer one of your clients to someone else then it causes them to think more about what they can do for you. We naturally like to refer business to people that help us. If you live or work anywhere in South Florida please come and visit us in our networking group.


Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Sell Your TV Commercial Ideas

Can You Sell Your TV Commercial Ideas?


As the owner of an advertising agency, it will frequently happen that someone will call or email to inform me that they have a great idea for a TV commercial. Sometimes they just want to give me their TV commercial idea and other times they want to sell the TV commercial idea or partner with me on the idea. You may be wondering if you can make money from your TV commercial ideas.

There are several problems with trying to sell your TV commercial ideas and here are a few:
You cannot trademark or get a patent on an idea. Nobody would pay for an idea before hearing all the details. You may have a specific brand in mind and it is likely that the agency you call doesn't work with that client. Advertising agencies are staffed with creative people who are paid to think of creative ideas for TV commercials. The client that you have the idea for may be targeting a group you have not considered in your TV commercial idea.

TV Advertising


The idea of selling your TV commercial ideas is full of problems. Since you are not able to get a trademark or patent on an idea the minute you share your idea then someone can use it or tell you they already thought of that idea anyway. Nobody will write you a check and then wait to hear about your great idea for a commercial so you'd have to share the idea in advance. Maybe you have an idea for a shampoo company or an automotive company or beer company and that particular company may be targeting people who like golf and you have an incompatible idea unrelated to golf. Also since advertising agencies have creative writers and staff members who are getting paid each week to think of ideas for their clients they won't pay some outsider who has an idea.

Another problem is that if for example, you contact my ad agency about an idea for a car company maybe I work as the ad agency for the local car dealership and I've got nothing to do with the USA headquarters for that car brand. For example, Ford USA may run commercials that say "Test drive the new Ford _____ at your local dealership." and maybe my client is one of the local Ford dealerships. I have no control over what Ford USA is doing and I'd be making commercials to get people to go to the local dealership. That type of commercial has some offer such as "For $X per month you can drive the new Ford _____ at our South Florida dealership." If you were to contact Ford USA they would tell you that they have an ad agency that takes care of their commercials for them. Then if you call the ad agency for Ford USA you'll have all the problems mentioned above.

Here is how TV advertising actually works. A client will tell us about some problem they want to solve and then we think of a creative solution for the specific problem. For example, a local dealership may complain that they get a lot of cars in for service yet those cars were purchased at dealerships 10 miles further from the persons home. In that case, we need a TV commercial that will help us to raise awareness in the local area.

There is an unlimited number of reasons why a company advertises on TV and here are a few of those reasons:
  • Introduce a new product or service. 
  • Test a new product or service in one area before advertising in a larger area. 
  • Test more than one TV commercial to see which gives the best results. 
  • Announce a special sale. Announce a product improvement.
  •  Explain how their product or service is better than what the competition offers. 
  • Announce a new location or grand opening. 
  • Public relations ad which announces an affiliation with a charity. 
  •   
You may have a great idea for a TV commercial and you'd have no way of knowing if it addresses the needs of that client. So what can you do with your TV commercial idea? Maybe you should consider a career in advertising.    

Having said all of that it IS possible to make money from your TV commercial ideas.

From time to time companies will run a contest and ask the public to come up with an idea for a TV commercial and post it online at a video site such as YouTube. If your TV commercial idea is the one they decide to use then you get a big check for your idea and the effort required to produce that TV commercial. Do a search for "TV Commercial Contest" and see what you find.

Today this question came in so I'll answer it here:

Hi Rick, I ran into your article, Sell Your TV Commercial Ideas while searching for clues on how to sell spec commercials. You made a great point about how ideas cannot be trademarked. Nobody would pay for an idea before hearing all the details. Which brings up the question about a spec commercials. As ready made commercials, executed expressions of an idea, this would make the commercial, copyrightable. It is now not merely a verbal communication of an idea. However, I know that a company can take one look at that spec, change just enough around on execution, produce a commercial themselves that is close to the spec, but never quite infringes or COPIES what the original creator has done, and air their version. So how does an outside individual create a fully executed spec and protect themselves? The areas become grey if the individual creator is using brand logos to showcase the full spectrum of what he/she can do. How does one make a spec commercial in the first place if they are using brand logos to prove how good they can be with their product, but at the same time protect the expression of their idea and try to make a deal of sale or create further discussion with an agency? Any answers back on these questions would be greatly appreciated. Warmest regards, LA

Response:

My point remains that it is difficult to simply come up with an idea for a commercial and sell it to someone for multiple reasons. For example, it is often the client that wants to express a certain thing in their commercial such as "Our service can't beat" and we would have the job of explaining in 30-seconds why we make that claim. It is going backwards to come up with an idea without a client and then try to convince the client you had in mind to like your idea. A smaller ad agency may not have the type of client that you created the commercial idea for and a larger company has an ad agency working on the idea the client told them to work on. The chances that your idea matches just what the client wanted to focus on for that quarter or that year is pretty slim. Just yesterday I saw the Budweiser 2017 Superbowl commercial which focuses on the history of the brand which began with an immigrant coming to the United States from Germany. This is what the client wants to focus on right now and if you came up with a Budweiser idea that was really awesome it still wouldn't have been on the topic they wanted. If you worked at the ad agency that handles that account then you'd have some guidance as to what the client wanted to focus on and you'd be free to create from there. The best way to sell your TV commercial ideas is to get a job in an ad agency that handles large corporate accounts.

Sorry, I do NOT Want to Buy Your TV Commercial Ideas 

If you are interested in advertising your business, please contact us about TV Advertising.

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Cheap Ecommerce Store

When you see an advertisement for a cheap eCommerce store like the one below you have to wonder how terrible that eCommerce website will be.
We have all heard the sayings about buying cheap things such as:
  • Good things are never cheap and cheap things are never good.
  • If you think a professional web designer is expensive, try a cheap one!
Our web design company began in 1995 when there weren't too many competitors. Now everyone knows someone who is a web designer. The way we are able to offer an eCommerce website so cheap is NOT by leaving out all the functions and features you'd want in an online store. We did this by taking a pretty sophisticated eCommerce website and we duplicate it each time we sell a new one.



Why Didn't Anyone Think of This Before?

Our concept of making a very robust eCommerce website and charging a small fee to duplicate it only works with eCommerce web design projects. Let's say we have a client that is a roofing contractor, they would be different from other roofing contractors because of the area they serve, the number of years of experience they have and the type of roofing they offer. For this reason each website we make for a roofer requires us to start from scratch and design the entire thing specifically for that roofer. What makes eCommerce web development unique is that to the public viewing the site they all look pretty much the same except for the logo at the top, the home page banner, contact info and of course the products.

Cheap eCommerce Store

We decided that we could give everyone a cheap eCommerce store by simply duplicating the website and changing the logo, home page banners, contact info and letting our clients add the products. It is easy for our clients to add the products and usually they have to add the products not us. For a reasonable fee we are also very happy to add the products but the client would need to supply us with the photos and put all the prices, descriptions, specifications into a spreadsheet.  They would also need to indicate in the spreadsheet which photo or photos go with which products. By the time they setup this spreadsheet they will have spent more time on that then it would have taken to simply add the products on their own. The video below shows how our clients would add their products into their online store.




Affordable eCommerce Websites



The reason eCommerce websites have always been so expensive in the past is that so much time goes into programming them. Each function we add costs more because of the additional programming. For example if the website is to have an admin area where the owner can generate sales reports, we'd have to program that function into the website. What we did that now allows us to offer such affordable eCommerce websites that still have all the features and functions everyone wants is that we decided to include everything and then simply duplicate the site and then we have some minimal changes to make. In the video below you'll learn more about what we include in our full featured, robust eCommerce websites.




If you are ready to get your own online store and don't want to spend thousands of dollars please click the link below to visit our website:

Affordable eCommerce Websites

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Brochure Design

Professional Brochure Designers


A professionally designed brochure about your business is more than just a nice leave behind piece. Our brochure designers will make you look like the leader in your field. In every industry the buyers of your products and services will shop around prior to making a buying decision. Most people will prefer to buy from a bigger more successful company because they feel that the quality will be better, the company will be there if they need support or service. It isn't necessary that you MUST be the biggest in your industry it is important that you look like you are the biggest. With our team of highly skilled graphic artists and our professional copywriter we are able to make any company large or small appear to be very successful.

The black and blue brochure design example above is one that we made for a Fort Lauderdale attorney who specialized in yacht transactions.







Brochure Design is OUR Job NOT Yours!

We do all the design and writing so you can run your business!

You might be surprised to know how many business owners will put off having a new brochure designed for their company even when they know that they need to get it done. The problem is that the business owner feels like they need to wait until they have some free time so that they can focus on what will go into their brochure. There is no reason to put off hiring our talented brochure designers any longer. With our team, you'll have a professional copywriter with a master's degree in journalism writing all the text. We do research on your business or industry so that we can write all the details saving you the time. The only information we need from you is just the specifics about you personally and your company. Our graphic artists work on creating a brochure design that will match all of your other marketing. For example, if you already have a website which uses the colors blue, white and gray then we would want to incorporate these colors in your new brochure. By doing this we keep a consistent look and feel for your new brochure so that is anyone who has seen your website before were to see your brochure, they would know it is yours before they opened it to begin reading.






Fake It Until You Make It!

Look like a Fortune 500 company from the day you start.

 This client came to us with just an idea. He wanted to compete with Fortune 500 companies selling commercial alarm systems. It is a lofty goal for a guy in South Florida just starting out and he required a lot of assistance. The first project was started by our logo designers. Once the logo was completed then our website designers took over and kept everything consistent with the big corporate look that this client needed. With a great looking two pocked folder, big quad fold piece (shown here) and a trifold brochure that fits in a slot within one of the pockets we made our client look like a Fortune 500 corporation from the day he started his company.






Act Like The Leader and People Assume You Must Be The Leader!

Do you really need a brochure for your business? 

Many people wonder if they even need a brochure for their business. A brochure they reason is only given to people who already know them or people they have already made a presentation to about their business. There is only some truth to this; brochures won't bring you new clients but they help you to close the sale. Your clients have many options in vendors for all types of products and services. Once they meet with a few of these providers then they are left to try and pick the one who provides the greatest value. Value doesn't mean the cheapest! Your clients don't want the cheapest products or services they can find. If that was true then we would all drive the same inexpensive car but we get what we want when we see the value in paying more to get what we want. When a potential new client is trying to decide upon your company or some other company then that is the point at which a well thought out brochure can help them make up their mind.

For this client, we have completed several projects:

1. Logo Design
2. Postcard Design - Direct Mail Program
3. Website Design

This is one of the advantages of working with a full-service advertising agency; you'll get a cohesive marketing package.

Simple Yet Elegant Brochure Design

This technical brochure required space for a lot of text

The client came to us on a Monday and needed to be in Las Vegas Friday for a trade show where he would need some brochures. The brochures were technical in nature and required a lot of space to explain the features and benefits of the software their company developed.

This gave us two challenges:
1. Our design needed to allow room for a lot of text.
2. We had to design a brochure in way that could be printed quickly.

We came up with the accordion fold idea because we could increase the amount of text by simply printing the brochure on a bigger sheet. For the printing part of the problem it was all on one sheet so it only needed to be cut and then it got folded the same day.
 

One Brochure Does The Job Of Five

Colorful Brochure Design Example For Children's Health Facility

The Center For Children a division of a West Palm Beach Florida hospital was going to branch out on their own and they needed everything. We created the name "Center For Child Development" and the logo. We also designed their website using the same colors found in the brochure.

Originally they spoke with us about designing several brochures. As we asked more questions we found a unique solution to save some green and not just trees! Instead of four or five brochure design projects as they requested we suggested that one brochure properly designed could do the job of four or five separate ones. What we did is that we arranged all the general text about the facility on the folder. Then we created some inserts which each had a different topic. By doing this we were able to give them a way of selecting which inserts to include or leave out of the folder. The folder was also designed to fit in a standard sized envelope so it was inexpensive to mail.
 

Dog Brochure?

Let the designers do their job!

This client asked our logo designers to use their pet dog, a poodle in the logo design and company name. The client owns an insurance company and has clients all around Miami and Fort Lauderdale. We agreed that "Chester" is not a bad name and nobody would know anything about the dog but we couldn't agree to use a big black poodle in the logo. We had to explain that this would be like an inside joke that only they would get. We explained that everyone would wonder what a French poodle has to do with this business; they would also wonder about the company name. Only insiders would know that the dog is named Chester. We decided that the tree has some meaning in the design of the logo because of the coverage it provides. When our brochure designers got to work on this project they never had to ask what a tree (coverage) has to do with an insurance company. Having a dog or a gecko as a mascot for use in TV advertising is entirely different from having a dog as a logo for an insurance company.


Brochure Designers

Direct Mail Marketing

You may be thinking about brochure design as part of a direct mail marketing strategy. As a full service advertising agency we can do much more than just design great looking brochures. We can create a mailing list so that we can mail out your brochures to your targeted, potential new clients. Today we have many more options for direct mail marketing than we did in the past and believe it or not, the prices have actually come down. The US Post Office is offering new, very low rates for direct mail marketing. As a result of the new programs they are offering we are helping many more clients with their brochure design.


Our Brochure Designers Get A Testimonial

Many of our clients are referred to us.


Bob worked at the former BankAtlantic Center, (now renamed BB&T Center) home of the Florida Panthers. When he has clients who want to advertise in the stadium he refers them to us to create their posters or to design whatever they need. He knows that we will get the job done, get it done on time and at a fair price to his clients. 


Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Movie Theater Advertising

Movie Theater Advertising


Is cinema advertising right for your business?

There is no single type of advertising that can be called "the best". For each different type of business there are different types of advertising that will work better than others. What works well for one business may not work well for your business. We have heard people tell us, "I tried advertising and it didn't work". Vague statements like this have little meaning and we always have to look further. For some people advertising means promotional products such as pens with a website address and phone number. However, when we speak of advertising we mean something more aggressive where we put you in front of a specific targeted audience. Pens with your phone number are nice give away items at a trade show or inexpensive gifts to give to clients who come to your office but it is not real advertising.

The video below shows a movie theater advertisement we made for a Fort Lauderdale dentist. The dental office is very close to the cinema so if you live close enough to go to that theater then you are close enough to go to this dentist.

How To Reach Your Target Audience

One of the best things about movie theater advertising is that we are able to target a neighborhood. Now this is only good if everyone in the neighborhood is likely to be a potential client. In the above movie theater advertisement that we made for a dentist you can see a perfect example of the type of client that would benefit from movie theater advertising; a dentist. The reason this works so well for our client is that everyone in her neighborhood is a potential client. This is very different from other businesses where maybe the clients are only women or a business where the clients are likely to be male and female teens. Everyone needs to see a dentist at some point so advertising in the area near the dentist is an excellent, cost effective way to do dental advertising.

Compare this with TV advertising and you'll get the point. With TV advertising we can select the specific shows based upon Neilson demographic info. So we know which shows are seen by more men than women, which shows are seen by younger rather than older people and so on. This information is of no value to a dentist because absolutely everyone in the area of the dental office is a potential client of the dentist.

Below you can see what the dentist has to say about her experience with movie theater advertising.

Movie Theater Advertising

 


Cinema Advertising

We created a movie theater ad for a client in the business of refilling ink cartridges. This is a great example of a movie theater ad because refilling ink cartridges is not fun nor is it exciting. Ink cartridges are just something you either refill or replace. So in this case our challenge was to make an ad that would be interesting and fun even when the topic isn't and get people to take action.
We ran this ad right after the new year so we talk about setting new years goals.  We also wanted the ad to have an old fashioned look so we even made lines run through the ad like an old video would have.  Then we made the music sound like something from an old silent movie.

Cinema Advertising

 

Movie Theater Advertising On Smartphone Apps

Today we are able to reach movie goers before they even get into their cars. We know the following about people who go to movies:
93% of moviegoers use the Internet to find information about movies.
66% of moviegoers watch movie trailers online.
86% of moviegoers go online via a computer or mobile device at least once a day.
We can now run advertisements on websites about movies and on smartphone apps about movies. Movie theater advertising is no longer just about running ads inside the cinema on screen or in the lobby.

Cinema Advertising

Not all theaters are setup to be able to handle animated ad or video.  In this example the client owned an art gallery near an older theater.  So in this example of movie theater advertising the only thing we could do was to make an ad that looks like a magazine advertisement.  It appears on the screen for 15-seconds without any sound.

Please feel free to contact us about movie theater advertising for your business.

TV Advertising Misconceptions

Television Advertising Myths

As the owner of an ad agency I've seen people make some big mistakes with TV advertising. My job is to give good advice; the problem is that I can't force people to accept my advice.

Here is an example of TV Advertising Myth Number 1:
Just last week a man called our office and wanted to do a national ad campaign with a budget of $40,000.00 per month. This is a very small budget to advertise all over the United States. When I mentioned that running his commercial just once could consume his entire monthly budget he was concerned about that and wanted to speak with his investors about obtaining more funds. I called him back the next day and he was very excited to tell me that he wouldn't be needing my services because he found that he can buy national TV advertising on the Internet for $5,000.00 per month. He further told me that he now realizes that his earlier estimate of $40,000.00 per month was much more than he'd ever need.

I tried to explain that to be on the number of networks he told me his ads would run would not be possible but he only thought I was trying to over charge him. I explained that if there were 1,000 stations around the country that would all run his spot then they are being paid $5.00 each. Now lets say that you have only 6 spots available in a 30-minute show and all of those sold for $5.00 then the station is being paid $5.00x6=$30 per half hour that they operate. This might cover the salary of one employee at the station. What about rent, electricity and all the other people who work there?
It is possible to buy spots for $5.00 but this might be on local cable TV covering a small part of a city and the spot might run at 2:00am with somewhere between 0-10 viewers. Now what if you just don't care and want as many spots as you can get as cheaply as you can get them then isn't $5,000.00 still a good deal for national TV coverage?

Before I answer here is a question for you to consider. Try to remember the last time you saw a product or service advertised on TV just one time and you decided that you should go buy that product or service. So there is the problem; TV advertising is a very powerful way to advertise but you need two things besides a good TV commercial. You need reach and frequency. What this means is this. Let's say that in a city there are 1,000,000 people. TV advertising is effective when we get a population to see our ads about 15 times. That is when people start to feel like they know us and trust us and want to buy our products and services.

This does not mean that you should run your TV commercial 15 times!
Yes I've seen the website selling "National TV Advertising" for $5,000.00 and it is a great example of getting what you pay for. When you don't understand TV advertising then paying less to be on TV sounds like an awesome idea. When you understand some advertising terms like reach and frequency then you see why the $5,000.00 investment in national advertising is going to be a waste of money.
Depending upon the ratings for that show you might need to run your commercial hundreds of times in order to get people to see it 15 times. This is true because we have hundreds of channels we could watch and we aren't sitting at the TV all day and night waiting for your TV commercial to run.
Ideally we would like to get about 25% of a population to see our ads run about 15 times or more and that is when the magic of TV advertising begins to work and people take action and buy our products and services. If we get this to happen then we would have a "Reach" of 25% and a "Frequency" of 15 and that would be typical of a TV advertising campaign that we would expect to produce results.
So let's call this "TV Advertising Myth Number 1"

There is no TV advertising Santa Clause!
If a persons only concern is to buy the cheapest advertising then why not go with a $5,000.00 per month ad campaign? The problem is that it will be $5,000.00 wasted and a better use for this money would be to go to a casino where you might at least get a drink or two and have some fun while your money is being thrown away.

Get a reputable ad agency to make a TV schedule with good reach and frequency! Try talking with someone at an ad agency and pretend you've never heard of reach and frequency. When they give you a schedule ask why they recommend this schedule. The only way to answer that question will be to explain to you about the reach and frequency that you'll be getting for your money. Any stories about "getting your name out there" or anything else is nonsense.
Reach and Frequency are what matter in TV advertising.

Isn't More Better?

There have always been super cheap spots available on TV so what you are seeing is not new and it is not an indication that bargains are available. The problem with TV is that cheap spots are not better spots they are a waste of money. I could but won’t offer you the very same spots. I could because any agency could, I won’t because I want you to be a customer again next month and the month after that.
In every business there are left over products that nobody wants. In order to dump these products you drop the price to irresistible low rates and someone will buy them. TV advertising is no different, there are spots that are on shows that nobody watches in small towns. In order to dump cheap spots small TV stations around the country have pooled their cheap spots together and they offer “national” advertising at bargain prices.

The problem with the bargains like 5,000 spots for $5,000.00 is that there is never any mention of Reach and Frequency. With TV advertising what we are buying is reach and frequency. What is all too often offered to clients by ad agencies that just want to take their money is "bargains" like $5,000.00 to buy 5,000 spots that nobody wants because nobody is watching.
If your budget is $5,000.00 I could make a schedule for you but I would ask you to not count the number of spots because that isn’t important. It is only the reach and frequency that is important.

Look at it this way, which is better?
1. Spots are $5.00 each and 50 people will see each spot.
2. Spots are $500.00 each and 50,000 people will see each spot.
In example 1 above $5,000.00 would get us a total of 50,000 views of our spot.
In example 2 above $5,000.00 would get us 500,000 views of our spot.

The numbers above are not based upon any specific TV shows but are very realistic. If you are being offered a number of spots for a price with no mention of the ONLY thing that is important on TV and that is what percentage of the population will you reach and how many times will you reach them, then you should grab your check book and run.

Very simple but effective TV commercial example

 


TV Commercial Example With Jingle

 

Friday, July 12, 2013

Why You Should NOT Hire A Lawyer Web Design Expert

So you are a lawyer or your work in a law office and someone has directed you to find an attorney web design expert. My advice is do NOT hire any type of law firm web design expert. The same is true of dental office web design specialists or any other specific type of category like that.

Here is the problem as I see it today.  A client who is a dentist became a client after hiring a dental web design company.  When you would do a search for her you'd never find her website even if you searched by her name.  The dental web design experts, just like the attorney web design experts offer some templates for design and some templates for text.  You pick the color you like and the text you like and you have an instant website.  Of course they allow you to edit the text so that you can drop in your name and make other changes.  In the end you've got a website with boilerplate drool and that is the least of your problems. Search engines detect duplicated text and give it poor rankings.

I'll get to the real problem next but first please do a search for "Fort Lauderdale dentist" for example and you will find my client Dr. Natalia M. Benda because of the work I did for her after some other company made her website. Had the dentist hired me to begin with she wouldn't have had to pay twice; once to get a website and secondly to get it to rank well. Here at our company we believe that should all be included from the beginning.

If a company claims to be an attorney web design expert or specialist then what incentive could they possibly have to make YOUR law firm's website better than all the other websites they have made for lawyers?  As a lawyer you are well aware that you need your website to rank well in order to stand out among your competition.  If a website design company claims to work exclusively for attorneys or mostly for attorneys will they make YOUR website compete against their other attorney websites?

Think of it this way, if an attorney web design company made 100 law office website design projects last year and Google will display the top 10 on the first page then the best their clients can hope for is that they'd have a 1 in 10 chance of being on the first page of the search results.  That is ONLY true if all 100 of their attorney web design projects were the best ones in Google.

When you come to our South Florida full service advertising agency we think you will be pleasantly surprised to find that we won't ask you which web design template you'd like.  We have a designer with a Bachelor's degree in design and he will custom design a professional look for your law firm.  You may also like the fact that we won't show you any boilerplate text that you can modify.  We have a writer with a Master's degree in Journalism and she will write all the text for your website.

We keep current on changes in the Florida Bar Associations rules on advertising for lawyers.  We can also design business cards, letterhead, envelopes and brochures. Let's meet in person, on the phone or in an online meeting and go over some options for your next law office web design project.



Sunday, November 30, 2008

Disadvantages of Viral Marketing

First we should clarify: "What is a Viral Marketing Campaign?" or "How can I use Web 2.0 marketing to help my business?" We also have a section of our website about viral marketing and as the old saying goes "a picture is worth 1,000 words" so you might want to check that out.

We believe the disadvantages of viral marketing are exaggerated but will list them.
  1. You might have your business associated with groups you'd rather not be associated.
  2. You want to sell a product or service and viral marketing mainly promotes your brand.
  3. Greater awareness of your business can lead to more spam.
  4. You don't control what people say about your business in social sites
What we like about viral marketing campaigns is easier to list because there are so many great advantages. With that in mind here is a great example of a viral video. Below we list the reasons we like viral marketing campaigns.

  1. Potential to reach thousands or millions of people for a relatively low cost.
  2. Word of mouth advertising is more believable than paid advertising.
  3. Once the campaign is launched it may continue for years at little or no additional cost.
  4. This type of marketing is available to all businesses no matter what size.
Let's compare viral marketing with TV advertising.

If a small business wants to advertise on TV they might pay $5,000.00 to $20,000.00 or whatever their advertising budget will allow to have the TV commercial produced. This business could spend the exact same amount to have a viral video produced.

The next step is to buy some time on a TV station. You can spend a minimum of $1,500.00 per month to advertise your business on TV. Of course with $1,500.00 your TV commercials won't run very often and would be on only one network in one city. On this link TV advertising price you can get more general information about TV advertising and see examples of TV advertising schedules. People often ask what it will cost to advertise on TV and the link above answers that question. Let's say that you want your TV commercial to run on TV all across the United States. The cost to do this would be $50,000.00 and up each time that spot runs so your TV advertising campaign would cost whatever you spent on the TV commercial production and the monthly advertising budget. For a national ad campaign the cost could easily be in the millions of dollars. Locally you could spend $1,500.00 to $100,000.00 or more depending upon who you are trying to reach and the size of the local population.

Now let's see what it would cost to run our viral video nationally or internationally. In either case the cost to post a video on YouTube.com is the same, FREE!

So just to compare if we spend $5,000.00 to $20,000.00 for the TV commercial and the same amount for the viral video the savings becomes obvious when we want to put it either on TV or on the Internet.

How to find the best advertising agencies

How would you know if you have found the best advertising agency? The real question is which advertising agency is the best for your business. For instance, if you are starting a new business then a full service advertising agency will be best. The reason is that you'll need many of the services they offer. For example, you would need at a minimum logo design, website design. Additionally, a brochure design may not be needed immediately but it will be needed soon. 

Full Service Ad Agency


It isn't just that you'll save time with one stop shopping. Consequently, the key is having someone understand your business. As a result ,designing everything so that it tells your story and that everything matches. For instance, when your logo, brochure and website all match then you have a cohesive marketing package. Later as the new business grows maybe you'll want to advertise on TV. In that case, the same agency that helped you to get started can produce the TV commercial. Consequently, it would be done in a way that it also contributes to your branding efforts.

Take Your Business To The Next Level


If you already have an established business and you want to grow the business to the next level then you'll need an agency with experience. Consequently, look for experience in making recommendations, rather than just having someone ask what you want to accomplish. Consequently, the company that is going to help you take your business to the next level needs to understand your business. For instance, who you compete with and how you are priced compared with your competition. Additionally, they must also be able to be creative and not just with design. For example, one of our clients came to us requesting a new brochure design. Once we understood the business we decided that the last thing he needed was a new brochure. You can read about how we helped him with his business growth by NOT giving him the brochure he wanted and by giving him an entirely new marketing concept.

Here is a video we produced just for fun. If we look like the kind of fun, creative people you'd like to work with please contact us.




Click if you are looking for a good Miami website designer. We also help businesses with social media marketing.