A few months back I blogged about adding video and animation to an email. My synopsis of the state of video in emails was that you need to link to an on-line clip using this method

1. Take a screenshot of the video displaying in a video player.

2. Add a prominent "play" button to the center of the image.

3. Put the screenshot in your email, linked to the page where the video is hosted

In another news source, the Wall Street Journal wrote about a new service, Goodmail, that offers video email to AOL users. This is possible because of an agreement between Goodmail and AOL, plus the fact that AOL email is received on-line.

Google just announced that their G-mail service will recognize video links and allow them to be viewed in the mail application.

I’m not sure of the numbers, but I think a great majority of users still receive their email in desktop mail programs like Outlook, Mac Mail, or Thunderbird. Perhaps these days people are receiving email in both places.

Well, the other day I received an email from one of the mailing lists I subscribe to & lo and behold there was a video in it that played from the email. The video was a youtube clip and it played in my Mac mail program. I forwarded it to my G-mail account & it did not load, I needed to click a link & redirect to Youtube.

I’m not sure if the clip playing in my Mac mail was strictly because the Mac mail program allows Flash, or some other reason. I will have to check the same email on a PC. Essentially we are still talking about loading a video from an online source. Unless you only have users on Macs, the video in email is still currently relegated to the original link to an online clip method to ensure the most people will be able to view your content.

All too often the latest fad comes along and the followers follow blindly just because it's the next best thing.

What is social media? Why should I be interested & what can it do for me? To quickly answer a few questions, social media is defined by Wikipedia as

"Social media is information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. It is intended to facilitate communications, influence interaction between peers and with public audiences. This is typically done via the Internet and mobile communications networks. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM)."

If you are asking yourself why you should be interested in social media, ask yourself who is your target market, customers or members? Then ask yourself what do those people do all day? Do they work on a computer, use a mobile phone or Blackberry? Most likely they do. Those people are checking email, the weather, news, blogs, twitter feeds, Facebook updates, maybe poking around on amazon or ebay, and yes, while they work. Face it, people are multi-taskers.

Why not have them read your messages too? If it's an organization they belong to, that information will be welcome. Heck, those same people may even take your information and re-post it somewhere else. Spreading your message even further than a magazine ad or website banner ever could.

There is an issue of unwritten rules, etiquette and there are messages that may get ignored. I had oatmeal for breakfast this morning. Probably not the most exciting post.

Get Buzzed, Henderson Creative's social media service can take the guesswork out of getting your message out there. 

Now that all TV stations will be broadcasting in HD, it seems there is really no need to keep producing in SD video. HD, however is still in search of a clear standard. The 16:9 ratio has several frame sizes to choose from, consequently, it can be confusing to try to figure out which to use. Standard def formats still have a place in this transition.

The equalizing factor is the output. A standard DVD is not High Definition. It can be in letterbox or widescreen format, but technically the resolution is still standard def or 4:3. Typically somewhere in the pixel dimension range of 720x480. Web based video can run the gamut  of frames sizes, resolutions and formats, but play nicely in widescreen frame sizes.

The workflow for video in our shop seems to lean toward producing web based video and standard def DVDs in widescreen format. As Blu-Ray players and LCD screens become more common I’m sure that will change. The good thing is that Blu-Ray has emerged as the standard beating out other formats. Standards are good!

So, for now, even though we are shooting in HD formats like HDV, we still offer SD discs, plus web based downloads.

Three ways to increase registration on your Meeting and Exposition website

This tight economy has caused many in the Association biz to wonder and worry about about maintaining solid attendance at their 2009 conferences and meetings.

So, over a coffee and conversation the other day, a meeting planner friend of mine asked my opinion on concrete ways to improve registration for her Association's upcoming meeting and exposition. In an effort to resist reinventing the wheel or throwing money at the problem (no bailout mentality here) I mentioned looking at her Association’s website.

Most of, if not all Associations already maintain a website, whose primary function is to educate potential and current members on the value of the Association and meetings hosted by that Association.

Take a look at your website and ask yourself, “What are we already doing but we could be doing better”?  Sometimes the most obvious of items are being over looked!  Consider the following three obvious items to help entice, maintain and increase meeting registration via your Association's website.

1. Review Your Message
   Welcome web traffic with a message that reinforces the value of their attendance. For instance, “Network with over 10,000 industry professionals at ABC Association Meeting and Expo.” or “Receive ideas and training necessary to maintain your edge in difficult economic times at ABC Association Meeting and Expo.
2. Highlight Value
   Make sure any value offered to the consumer, in this case the potential attendee, isn’t hidden. Any potential cost savings on travel and lodging, attending training multiple session or early registration savings etc. should never be hidden in a series of “clicks.” Pull this information from website body copy by highlighting it with a graphic on your website sidebar.  Consolidate all information pertaining to value and present it in an accessible fashion. After-all attendees can’t enjoy savings if they can’t find it!
3. Call to Action
   Promote a one click to registration mentality.  Utilize a visually dominant button for web visitors to click and register.  This registration button should be available on every page at all times and, if possible, placed on the right, top third of the site. This location is prime real estate as it is the most common area for web viewers to rest their eyes and it  favors right handed mouse clickers. Crazy but true!
   

Was September a bumpy ride or what!  The economic challenges that presented themselves in the middle of the month caused many in the creative industry hold their breath.  Why? Creative, sometimes perceived as fluff, often is the first to get the ax when leadership reevaluates budgets.  I can appreciate this.  After all, it would be foolish not to reconsider costs in reference to benefit in times such as ours.  

Here’s the thing, often times budget cuts are made with an axe instead of a scalpel. I highly recommend the scalpel when it comes to the tweaking of a creative budget.  No creative, is just that, no creative.  A whole lot of of nothing will surely yield a whole lot of nothing.  In a tight economy, this is never good.  If you are one of the many taking a look at the bottom line, take this opportunity to evaluate what is working for you as far as marketing and creative... keep your dollars there.  If other projects aren’t yielding the results you had hoped pull back and take the time to discuss a new, fresh approach.  The new approach might very well be the best approach.

Yes, it's true. The cobbler's children don't have shoes. Despite our best efforts it has taken us way too long to revamp our website.

We preach dynamic web content and new media to our clients, but our side sadly lacked much of that. But being busy is no excuse these days.

"HC-2.0" is complete with the ubiquitous blog, the database driven content, a large seagull and even dynamically populated article teasers on the home page. All the things we have been saying people should have on their sites to help drive traffic. (seagulls really do help with search engine optimization)

Plus we added a few fun features like a poll question, a module that displays random client quotes and a what's new message on the home page to announce the latest projects.

Perhaps the most useful of the new features we added was the ability to embed a Flash video player in the page's content. This way there is no need to download a clip to view a video.

Best of all, we now have a great platform to allow quick updates. The same great platforms we have been setting up for our clients.

One thing I love about my local Greek Diner is the varied and vast menu.  From gyros to tripe (that’s cow intestine if your wondering) they have it all.  The menu is a least twenty, sticky, over sized pages full of list upon list of every delectable entrée imaginable.  Hamburgers, omelets, spinach pie, gravy and fries... gut buster after gut buster.  The real stars of the menu however are highlighted with a photo of their image with a tall glass of ice tea or a pickle.  These photos get me every time!  As much as I’m entranced with the listed offerings, I have yet to order something that hasn’t been accompanied by a photo. (BTW, the tripe dish runs sans photo - go figure).

If you haven’t guessed how Greek Diner menus have to do with presentations then your just hungry, hankering for some tripe. Enough with the tripe, you guessed it!  Long lists of type are exactly that... long list of type.  The lists might be full of good stuff but without photos the reader will just tune out.  Photos sell the food and when it comes to presentations they sell the idea.

Well, not really... let’s rephrase shall we?  Down with ugly Power Point.
If you have been in the business of giving or creating presentations in the past year you are well aware of movement to

Garr Reynold’s http://www.presentationzen.com/
Cliff Atkinson’s http://www.beyondbulletpoints.com/

Even with all the technological advances in computer technology in recent years, you cannot embed a Flash animation in an email blast. Typically, most email programs will not allow the embedding of an executable file like a swf in the body of an html email. This is good for the most part because it's yet another way to be smacked with a virus.

A time honored and easy way around this is to place a still frame from the animation in your html file and link it to an online version of the animation. Viola' there is your animation or video clip. It lives on your server and is easily linked to from your email, and can be re-purposed for your marketing or blog.

If you have an idea for an email blast that includes a video clip or animation we can put it together for you & help you send it out. We use a service called Vertical Response to send emails because it's affordable, easy to set up and manages the mailing list for you. Plus there are no monthly fees.