by Jace Vernon | Jul 1, 2013 | animated explainer video, Animated Whiteboard Videos, Animation Video, Video Scribing, Whiteboard animation, Whiteboard Video
9 ways whiteboard animation can help a total sissy survive in prison
Listen, no one wants to end up with a prison sentence. But if you’re one of America’s stupidest unluckiest, you could face doing time, and you’ll need all the surviving-prison-tips you can stand to hear. Ydraw is here to help with a list of 9 ways whiteboard animation can help you, a total sissy, survive the big house:
1. Whiteboard videos are popping up throughout the nation’s prison yards as the preferred form of prison currency. By now everyone is aware that smoking kills, and inmates are becoming increasingly health conscious – making whiteboard videos the obvious choice over a pack of Newports.
2. When you’re a youngblood, you automatically become a prime target. Old boys are always looking to take their troubles out on some greenie’s face, and others are just bad tempered and missing their girlfriends pretty badly lately. Playing a whiteboard video can be a great distraction from any promised poundings while you hurry and pump up in the weight room.
3. Eventually, you’ll have to join one of those infamous prison gangs. If you’re having a hard time trying to decide which gang to affiliate yourself with, why not ask each gang to come up with a whiteboard video representing all the benefits of joining them? I promise, this will make your next ten to twenty years go by like a breeze.
4. At some point during your stay, you might find yourself in The Hole. The Hole, while very safe, can get pretty boring. Watching whiteboard videos is a great way to pass the time and help get your mind off the walls of the ten-foot-square cell you now call home.
5. Prison rules are very different from life on the outside. You stare one second too long at someone and they’ll come after you. Either because they think you’re hostile toward them, or want to be more than just friends. Keep your eyes occupied with a whiteboard video so you don’t accidentally stare at someone for longer than is acceptable.
6. Every prison inmate and/or guard loves a talker. If you’re having trouble explaining just what it was you were booked for, use a whiteboard animation video to explain in-depth the crime you committed – no wait, absolutely do not do this.
7. Did you realize you can use whiteboard videos to impress your gang leader into promoting you as his right-hand man?
8. Once promoted, use your video to explain in easy to understand, eye-catching animation what kind of prison shank you will fashion to stab your enemies with if they mess with your new incarcerated family.
9. And last but certainly not least, once released from prison, a whiteboard video is useful for proving to others just how tough you are by depicting your most terrifying prison moments.
Good luck in there!
+Jessica Anderson
by Jace Vernon | Jun 26, 2013 | video
Google has never been a fan of black hat SEO and that was made clear with the new Penguin 2.0 update. Their focus has changed to content and determining experts in each field. When the update rolled out we stayed strong in some areas of our SEO but were hurt in others. This caused us to rethink our marketing strategy as a whole. It’s no secret that Google loves great content and real backlinks so we decided to find a way to get both. Infographics have been a huge boost to SEO; they carry much more weight than a simple text blog but still not as much weight as video. We’ve landed backlinks by adding a source link to infographics and providing the option to embed them on your site. We decided to see if it was possible to land similar backlinks with video. Essentially, we are giving people the option to embed our video, with a source link attached to it. Okay, so now you understand the concept, but how are you going to convince someone to embed your video?
via Whiteboard Animation Video
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Leverage Video for Backlinks
If you’ve had some success with a video being shared on social platforms you know that sharable content can be a huge boost for your company; but there is no science to viral content. You might as well be rolling a 20 sided die, trying to hit your lucky number. If there was step by step process everyone would have discovered it by now. In the Ted Talk, Human Behavior – Measuring Emotions to Improve Effectiveness of Online Video Ads, we are taught that people will share videos that make them look good. That can mean a number of things – some may want to look like experts, entertain their friends, or appear to be up-to-date on cutting edge technology. Keep this in mind when you are creating your content. However, the target changes slightly when you are looking to get your video embedded. People will share content on social platforms that make them look good, but they’ll only embed a video that is directly applicable to your audience. Your video needs to have the elements of a viral video and be beneficial enough for a blogger to pick it up and write about it, knowing it’s going to benefit their audience. You need to make your video blog worthy. The video needs to instruct, educate, and entertain a specific audience. Think to yourself, why would someone do a write up on this video? What can I offer that is beneficial to large audience in my industry? Would I blog about this?
Here are some other tools that will help you along the way:
How to Write the Perfect Script
Avoid Video Abandonment – Improve Viewer Engagement
+Wesley Bledsoe
by Jace Vernon | Jun 24, 2013 | video
“The most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: Break a pattern.”
-Chip Health, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
We have been in search for the perfect scripting process since we started at Ydraw. We’re not there yet, but here are some tips to keep in mind when you start on your next script. These tips have helped Ydraw create whiteboard animation videos that are three times more engaging than the average internet video.
Begin with Your Core Message
What is the most simple, concise way you can paint the picture of your service? Let’s begin there, because the competition for an audience has become stiff. The average YouTube video loses half its audience (we call this video abandonment) within 15 seconds. That number is shocking, but it’s the climate that sites like YouTube and Vimeo have created with suggested videos. Something more enticing is always a click away. Your focus should be on creating a script that will engage an audience from the beginning and keep them on your video—so stop wasting their precious time and get to the point.
Be Unexpected
One of the most effective ways to break away from the norm is to use the “blindside effect.” Who was prepared for Mark to pop up in Don’s introduction? No one really expected it to happen, until he did it two or three times and established a pattern. Using something that catches the viewer off guard piques their interest once again. This causes the viewer to stick around longer than they intended. We incorporate this into all of our scripts in order to keep your viewers watching your full video.
As always, if you have any questions or comments for us here at Ydraw, let us know!
by Jace Vernon | Jun 18, 2013 | Creative Marketing, Customer Service, Marketing, Video Marketing, video online marketing, website design
Understanding Your Audience | 3 things to remember when getting to know your consumers.
Getting the most out of your video marketing campaign can be as simple as understanding your audience. Maybe it doesn’t actually sound so simple – and here’s the thing – it’s not. If you want to broaden your marketing horizons you must use social media. Social media has become so much more than just glorified chat rooms and photo boards. Sites like Facebook have become a community in and of itself where people interact, make new friends, create their own awareness campaigns, and much more. And even if you’re on board with social media for your business, creating a website, Facebook, and Twitter pages will not ensure that people will come to you. You need to act and interact, post often and respond to your follower’s questions and comments. Get your business out there! Developing a solid marketing strategy to use with social media will allow you to reap the maximum benefits from your efforts.
But to do that you have to know a few things: Who exactly are you trying to reach? Who is your target audience? What appeals to them? Trying to understand who your audience is can be daunting, but here are a few key ways to get to know the people who will be buying your product:
1. Research
This is perhaps the most important and direct way to get to know your audience. Input gathered from real live people can help to design your marketing campaigns to be the most effective. A few ways to gather information from your audience includes:
– Conduct surveys and/or take polls throughout your current following to find out what they like, don’t like, how they watch online video, what they feel they would add, and what is important to them. Asking questions is the easiest and sometimes most efficient way to interact with your visitors.
– Using web analytics is another popular way for businesses to see what kinds of people are visiting their site. Google Analytics is the preferred analytical tool – easy set up and completely free!
– There are sites such as Rapleaf that makes sure everyone using the internet has a great experience. To use these sites, a business sends a list of all user emails. The site then searches its database for those specific email addresses and provides you with information about the person using that email address, such as age, gender and location.
2. Know the Social Media Types
There are three distinct categories of consumers who spend their time online. First, there is the silent majority. These are the observers, they don’t usually post often, share often, or respond often. It may seem fruitless to chase after this group, but they are the largest group and are always watching. Second is the vocal minority. These are the people who share posts, videos, links, etc… They are always commenting on things others have shared and are anxiously interacting with others. These are the consumers who will spread the word about your business to their silent majority friends. Cater to them. The third and smallest group is the social authorities. These are the trailblazers – the ones with great online influence who have successful blogs or sites of their own. If you can get in good with these guys, you’re about set.
3. Ask Questions
Conducting surveys is an excellent way to gather information, but if you really want to go deep, you need to do a little digging yourself. There are three specific questions you should always ask when trying to get to know your audience:
– What are the customer’s preferences for content?
– How do they discover, consume and share content?
– What do they talk about on social media sites?
Once you have in mind who your target audience is, there are a few things you should do to keep them coming back. These include tailoring your future marketing campaigns to appeal to them. Make sure the aesthetics of your site, images and videos appeal to them. For example, if your business is trying to appeal to an older generation, use mostly muted colors, a clean design, conservative graphics and a classic font. If you’re marketing toward teens or young adults, use eye-catching graphics, creative design features and bold, popping colors.
Remember, social media and your audience’s behavior is always changing. Stay on top of any changes by pursuing an active role across all the social media platforms. Be a part of the action; listen to what your audience wants. Do what you can to make sure your business will never be left behind.
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See a related post HERE.
+Jessica Anderson
by Jace Vernon | Jun 17, 2013 | video
What the 2013 Finals are Teaching Us about Marketing
In the season finale of Game of Thrones we learned a crown doesn’t give you power, but an army does. “King James” has played a sizable chunk of these playoffs with a supporting cast that seems disinterested or overwhelmed at times. Dwayne Wade’s fragile knees and Chris Bosh’s determination to shoot threes are poison to the Heat. It didn’t take long for the Spurs to discover that the moment they cage Lebron, the Heat run out of options quickly. If game 5 taught us anything, it’s that if Spurs solid core play well, a boost from the role players will overwhelm the opposition. The Heat rely on James being impossible to stop, while the Spurs have consistent producers they can count on every night. So what has this exciting series taught us about marketing? We have watched two very different teams take turns blowing each other out every other game. It’s time to decide whether your marketing strategy is better off with a flashy Lebron strategy or the old school San Antonio approach.
Let’s break down San Antonio’s strategy. This strategy is great for those companies struggling to keep consistent traffic on their site. Ask yourself – What is the core of your marketing strategy? Are you relying on marketing that lacks consistency? Let’s take a look at the building blocks of the San Antonio Spurs.
Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginobili make up the core of the Spurs. Their new pieces, Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, are new additions they’ve added to their strategy. What is your core strategy—this is what brings you consistent conversions. Once you’ve established your core, you can begin adding pieces to your strategy. Although new additions to your strategy can include risk, you can strike gold with these new techniques (Danny Green now holds the title for the most three’s made in a final series) or your risk won’t pay off; that’s okay, because you know your core is coming through.
What should be the core of your marketing?
1. Organic Search (SEO) – It’s hard to beat being in the right place at the right time. No one likes to be sold, but everyone likes to discover something great. Google has created an amazing platform for this. You need to be the gold your target audience finds at the end of their Google search.
2. Paid Search – If done right, PPC can generate traffic instantly. If done wrong, you are better off simply flushing your money down the toilet. Building a great campaign is essential to your success. Get your quality score up and pay attention to it. You need to know exactly where your money is going.
3. Email Marketing- Don’t spam; unless, of course, you are trying to lose your audience as quickly as possible. Learn from the best, Wistia is a great example of a company that sends emails that have personality and include useful information. You will keep your audience if you can provide useful information on a regular basis.
This next technique can be a great tool for companies who are looking to add to their core marketing. This is the Danny Green of your marketing strategy. This is the piece that adds to your core and lifts you above the competition. Video should be a part of every marketing budget. One reason Wistia’s email marketing is so successful is because they include a video in almost every email. The following strategy helps boost your SEO efforts.
Leverage Video for SEO- I never realized the backlink opportunities I was missing out on by posting my videos on YouTube and Vimeo. By posting your video on these sites you do two things: you lose traffic to the next suggested video and eliminate any opportunity for a potential backlink. We discovered a new technique for leveraging video for backlinks. By hosting our videos on Wistia, we give viewers the option to embed the video onto their site. This option is also available on YouTube and Vimeo, but when those videos are embedded the link points back to your profile on those sites. This is beneficial for YouTube, but not you. With some tinkering you can add a backlink into the code of Wistia videos. Every time your video is embedded you will receive a backlink. We’ve had a lot of success stricking deals with customers.
At Ydraw we’ve created Fast and Easy Videos. This new product was built around the idea that companies benefit from producing quality videos to consistently communicate with their audience. Fast and Easy Videos come at a quarter of the price of our other videos and are done in hours, not days.
A detailed post on Leveraging Video for SEO is coming Friday. We’ll give you the step by step guide.
Okay, we have our core; now let’s swing for the fences – Let’s take a Lebron approach – where can we take some risks?
This is a unique way to approach marketing but it can be a perfect approach for certain companies—if a Lebron James is willing to take his talents to your beach.
Partner with Bloggers- in Neil Patel’s latest blog post, he described how he landed 25 thousand hits on a SEO guide he created by linking to Moz (this became his Lebron James). Moz responded with a write up on the guide and the traffic flew in. Patel hit a home run; he now partners with other blogs when he launches new guides. This isn’t a marketing technique that qualifies for the core because it’s hit or miss. A blog has to be willing to advertise your company. You can’t rely on blogs partnering with you every week—they don’t like to give away traffic. However, when you spend the time and money on great content (Neil Patel spent six months on his guide) it can drive traffic for both you and a partnered blog and it can be a massive boost to your company. Then your task becomes giving them a reason to come back.
So, let’s look at the Lebron strategy in a little more detail.
Convincing bloggers to cover your product or service can be a huge boost for your company. In Ryan Holiday’s book, Trust Me, I’m Lying, he breaks down how to leverage bloggers for your marketing efforts. He begins by explaining how bloggers make their money. Some are paid per post and others are paid for traffic. This means a blogger makes the big bucks by constantly producing high quality content that appeals to his/her audience. It also means that an audience won’t stick with a blogger if they feel like they are being sold a product. So, how do you get covered by a popular blogger while keeping their integrity in tact? First things first, keep in mind that they make the big bucks by constantly producing content, so typically they aren’t opposed to a little help if it is going to benefit their readers. Toyota got creative and gave a car to a popular vehicle blogger and told him to write about the car, good or bad. Some companies will naturally draw bloggers to covering them because of new technology or innovation. Other companies may need to nudge a blogger a bit. The first step is to identify popular bloggers in your field. Then approach them with a simple pitch that explains why your message would benefit their readers. If you can pitch your message in the right way and provide enough information that their blog is nearly written for them, they’d be crazy not to consider it.
Discover what approach works best for your company. Are you better off with the slow, methodical San Antonio Spurs approach or will you benefit more from a Lebron James boost. Better yet, find a way to use both.
Tune in next week for a detailed post on leveraging blogs for marketing.
+Wesley Bledsoe
