Marketing Strategy in 2017: 7 Obvious Yet Important Considerations

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Digital transformation — it’s what’s on the minds of all forward-thinking marketers when it comes to the new year. What does this mean for you and your marketing team, though?

We’ve got some concrete tips that you can implement tomorrow, but will still prepare you for the coming digital transformation. In fact, these 7 trends will give you the focus you need to identify how to spend your precious time and resources in the ever-evolving world of marketing. Check out our video below to get the opinions of Fathom experts Jeff Leo Herrmann, Chief Strategy Officer, and Matt Brown, Director of Paid Search.

7 Marketing Trends to Prepare for in 2017

  1. Opinions and Original Research Matter – Don’t be afraid to break through clutter with room splitting statements.
  2. If You’re Not Doing Mobile, You’re Way Behind – Get the mobile help you need, because it’s no longer a question of if you’re doing mobile, but how well you’re doing it.
  3. Live Video is Critical – Facebook is prioritizing video in its feed and users are 10x more likely to comment on a video than other forms of content…need I say more?
  4. Make Sure Your Data is Precise – Data isn’t just the end product, on the contrary, it needs to be carefully built from the beginning to result in robust insights.
  5. Strategy is Essential, But It Doesn’t Have to be Complicated – Follow Matt Brown’s straightforward advice to ‘Have a plan, know the plan, do the plan’.
  6. Win the War for Talent – The key to success is people, not technology or strategies. Attract the best people by helping them grow and emphasizing purpose over profits.
  7. Social Media Continues to Drive Awareness and Engagement – Though you should never build on rented land, a strong social strategy of teaching and selling will result in engaged audiences.

What marketing trends are you preparing for in 2017? Let us know in the comments below!

Commercial Advertising Production Company in Kuala Lumpur

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Commercial Expertise: Our dedicated teams of experienced professionals are committed to satisfying the unique needs of your advertising commercial production. In addition to producing a professional commercial, we will help you to identify the right advertising spots for maximum exposure, profitability, stunning and unforgettable.

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Select your favourite models and talents to suit your products, services, campaigns or business. We also manage casting production to scout the best models available in-town, in order to bring the best character and efficiency of your promotional materiel output.

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Professional Photography

Our Photography specializes in providing excellent commercial photography for products, corporates, beauty, health, fashion, architecture, industrial, interiors, as well as FMCG; such as food, retail, etc in producing the effective promotional materials with an affordable price.

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We provide professional cost-effective video production services for your business, with full service of HD & SD (NTSC & PAL) camera, crews, and lighting packages. Discuss with our professional video producer of what you wish to have to fulfill your vision and successfully translate your ideas to the screen.

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Our graphic design is a fusion of our innovative thinking to produce highly creative solutions that tie-in with your brand whether you require products labels, brochures, catalogs or website we have the solutions to move you in the right direction.

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Why is Online Video Marketing So Important?

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  • Rising User Statistics: 93 percent of the 600 marketing professionals surveyed said they had used video content in 2013 and 82 percent of them said they found it effective, according to ReelSEO. Forty-one percent of adults in the US watch online videos. Just imagine how intense the online video usage for digital marketing will be in 2014!
  •  More Content In Less Time: The attention span of internet users is diminishing every year with the changes in the type of content shared online. Video is the type of digital content that is seeing an increase in its usage, while the length of each piece continues to decrease. People are also watching videos on the go and don’t want to strain their eyes reading text, especially when on a tablet or mobile phone. (NOTE: If your customer base is located in a place with slow internet/wi-fi connectivity, the scenario would be different and you must optimize your digital marketing strategy accordingly.)
  • Mobile Apps That help Share and Play Videos Are On the Rise: In 2012 and 2013 the average time spent watching videos doubled on mobile phones and tripled on tablets. Mobile phone chat apps, such as Facebook messenger and WhatsApp continue to captivate people and increase their worldwide user bases. Fifty billion messages will be sent in 2014 through these apps, according to ibitimes.co.uk. And most of these messages will be in a video format.
  • Storytelling Through Explainer Videos is a Rising Trend: The new trend of explainer videos that use either animation or actual people to do the storytelling has risen exponentially in recent times. Check out these 10 explainer videos from startups, listed out by Ben Davis. This type of video is perfect for promoting products and services because they are short, entertaining and convey your marketing message in a unique way.
  • Videos In Emails Improve Click Through Rates: By simply mentioning the word ‘video’ in an email subject line, click-through rates were increased by seven (numbers under 10 should be written out, and so should the word percent -AP style) to 13 percent, according to the 2012 Experian Digital Marketing Trend Report. You can find more statistics on email marketing via video content in this SmartInsights post.

Popular Video Formats

Some of the most popular video formats that generate user engagement or increase brand visibility are:

  • Video testimonials
  • Product demos
  • About us videos
  • Instructional videos
  • Video tutorials
  • Interviews
  • Animated videos
  • Creative videos with elements of humor
  • Celebrities endorsing the brand

9 Benefits of Video Marketing

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Content, graphics, and customer testimonials are all important elements to getting your message across. However, to hold the user in place, you need additional reinforcements. Online video marketing, with its cost-effectiveness and inherent emotional connectivity, is the best way to engage your customers.

Samsung, with its careful and strategically designed video campaigns, managed to attract 200 million viewers in 2012. Similarly, YouTube recently released 40 video campaigns, attracting an increase of 136 million views. Finally, Mars’ videos of dancing chocolates, beat their competitors with their effectively designed campaign, “Just My Shell”.

If you are still uncertain about putting resources into video marketing here are the nine benefits of video marketing.

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Cost-Effectiveness – A Key Factor

Good videos don’t necessarily require an extensive budget, as you can shoot with just your cellphone. Thus, you are able to display your products or company in the most cost-effective manner. And more importantly, websites such as YouTube facilitate video distribution and measurement in an easily, giving you an insight on behavioural analytics.

Additional Punch with Voice and Face

Written words and images carry value, but video captures and holds the reader’s attention. A face looking at you, a human voice conveying information, and the body language all added together make the campaign more personal and believable. A movement or a motion captures more attention than a static image. With video marketing, the concept advertised remains in the viewers’ memories for a long period of time.

Hit the Right Target

With the help of the right distribution channels and social media, video marketing reaches the targeted viewers in a short span of time. Viewers who are attracted by your message share your video by re-posting, re-tweeting, reblogging and tagging, thus helping you gain more customers.

Your Customers’ Time

Your customers spend most of their time watching videos. It is estimated that You Tube boasts more than 4 billion views a day. Also, 81 per cent of senior marketing executives promote their programs via online video campaigns. Therefore, if you want to at least stay on par with competitors, one of the best ways is through video marketing.

Showcase Your Brand

Customers are impressed by textual advertisements, but video give you recognizability. With video, viewers are both educated and entertained. Those who do not seek your product knowledge get entertained, thus increasing brand recall. This leads to greater interest, trust and the desire to learn more.

Viewed Anytime, Anywhere

Viewers watch videos at their convenience and place of preference. Online videos are easily viewable on smartphones and tablets. Thus, accessibility is a big advantage and videos are also environment-friendly (not wasting any paper).

Make it Exciting

An exciting video with a new theme keeps the viewer glued to the screen. Normal regular advertisements can easily distract the customer, so ensure that the videos challenge your viewers, making them sit up and take notice.

The Red Bull advertisement, wherein a skydiver plunged from the heavens with minimal protection propelled an already iconic brand into the stratosphere, drawing more than 192 million views in 2012.

No More Complexities

Videos explain complex information clearly and precisely when compared to textual ads. As a matter of fact, customers prefer demonstrations and story-telling trough videos rather than going through user manuals and lengthy documentations.

Your Place in the Traffic

Search engines such as Google and Yahoo among others have designed a search formula in which videos play a crucial role. With the right type of keyword selection, tags and descriptions, you get a higher ranking in search engines, thus increasing your chances of visibility. Remember that videos enable you to include lengthy keywords, which is not possible otherwise.

Audio combined with visual images ensure emotional affinity and has a compelling effect on the customer. These powerful images and messages make customers inclined towards the product or service, thus increasing brand loyalty and boosting sales.

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It’s not just beautiful, but very efficient and save cost A LOT. NO need to spend more to ensure that your business is always in Top #10 in Google Search, even for a new keyword that just enter your mind.

3 Essential Ways to Sharpen Your eCommerce Product Photography

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The old phrase goes, “You should never judge a book by its cover,” but when it comes to shopping online, customers ARE going to judge your product based on its appearance. When customers visit your eCommerce site, make sure you display your products in the best possible light (pun intended) to delight your viewers, not repel them.

You want customers to trust your product, and how you portray your products on your eCommerce site directly influences whether or not they’ll buy from you.

One of the secrets to our success with eCommerce product photography is remembering some key factors that go into the specific photographs being taken. Here are 3 tips and tricks to help develop a product photography strategy that converts:

1) STICK WITH A CLEAN, CONSISTENT BACKGROUND

At Groove, we’re big fans of using Ortery equipment for small to medium-sized products that need to be photographed.

No matter what technology you use, we recommend using a clean, solid white wall or background. White is a classic background color for shooting product photography, but be aware of how it will contrast with the product and how it will display on your website.

If your product or your website color palette is predominately white, use a darker or textured background, or monochromatic fabric to add some contrast and make the product really come to life instead of blend into the background.

3 Essential Ways to Sharpen Your eCommerce Product Photography

If you’re shooting the same products in different colors, flavors, etc., make sure there is a consistency in how the images are shot. This means making sure products are against the same background, at an equal distance away from the camera and filling the same position and space within the frame. A uniform series of images gives an aesthetically pleasing appearance and adds a level of professionalism across your eCommerce site.

2) DON’T FORGET THE DETAILS

When customers shop around your site, they try to gather as much information about your products as possible. Since most online shopping limits your visitors to one of the five senses — sight — you have to make sure they can clearly see every aspect of your product.

Utilize a series of angles when it comes to taking pictures of your products — especially when it comes to products in the fashion industry. Think about how you look at shoes when you’re shopping online: You want to see the designs in detail, how the shoes look from all angles and the variety of colors.

Create a virtual experience for the user to explore all the options you have to offer by taking 360° imagery (an awesome feature of the Ortery Photosimile 200). 360° images allow the user to explore your product from various angles and help answer any questions they may have that couldn’t be answered if they were faced with only a single, static shot of your product.

Zappos does a great job of showing a wide variety of high-quality, dynamic shots of their shoes in the color options they offer, and they even allow the customer to zoom in to see the details of the design.

3 Essential Ways to Sharpen Your eCommerce Product Photography

3) SHOW THE PRODUCT IN USE AND GET CREATIVE WITH IT!

Does your product have any key features that set it apart from your competitors’ products? If your handbags are known for their adjustable straps and that’s something featured in the product description, show it off by taking a few lifestyle shots of your product in use!

A key skill in taking photography of any kind is being able to properly work with and manipulate the space around your subject matter, so get inside the mind of the user and get creative with it!

It can be a bit of a dance and a definite learning curve, but once you learn to embrace the space instead of fear it, you’ll find that it’s much easier to work with.

If you’re working with multiple items in your photo, don’t just lay them out in a straight line and expect your customers to swoon. It’s about positioning, choice of colors to include and disregard, and what you want your audience to focus on when they look at the photo.

3 Essential Ways to Sharpen Your eCommerce Product Photography

The next time you’re getting ready to shoot your products, ask yourself these questions:

  • What’s the most visually engaging piece of product in this photo?
  • What will get lost in the background if I don’t make it pronounced?
  • Am I highlighting the product’s benefits in the best way possible?

Through all of Groove’s photography endeavors, we’ve learned that you can take almost any product — from the blandly mundane to the flamboyantly dynamic — and make it visually alluring through quality eCommerce product photography.

In regards to your eCommerce website, it’s about creating content that is so engaging that every person who sees it will want to click on it to know more and ultimately purchase your product.

Why It’s Still Important to Shoot In Black And White

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We Shoot Differently When Choosing Black And White

Most photographers ask when should a photograph be converted to black and white. Rarely is the discussion around why a photograph should be black and white from the outset, and that’s fascinating.

While the “when” and “why” are related, shooting in color and then wondering whether to convert the image employs a very different mindset from setting out and seeing the world in black and white, and then working within those confines. Parameters of a world without color forces you to see things differently, to stretch and work out your photographic eye muscles, and that in turn pushes you creatively (at least in my experience it has).

Shooting with black and white film predominantly for the last 6 months has been one of the single most important aspects of my photographic development this last year. It has helped push not only my digital stills work, but I’ve seen the video work I do be shaped by shooting black and white stills. If you look at myInstagram feed or work going onto my Facebook page, you’ll see most of it is in black and white nowadays, with commercial work or video work creeping in from time to time.

I almost guarantee that if you spend some time shooting in black and white, you’ll start to notice some changes in what and how you shoot too. These have been the key reasons I’ve seen the change in my own work:

 

1. Color No Longer Distracts

Clothing, color temperature differences in ambient light sources, cars and colorful background distractions have stopped being an issue. I still focus on my backgrounds, but I care more about the relationship between my subject and background, rather than a distracting color. It’s freed up that part of my brain. Black and white allows you to begin to think about these key elements (lighting, composition, elements in and out of the frame) that you might otherwise not focus on as much when you’re thinking about making colors work together, or pop.

The color temperatures here all over the place here from multiple sources. I focused more on using some negative space to separate her silhouette and play with leading lines from the wall mounted slats.

The color of everyone’s clothing here was super distracting. Black and white allowed me to just focus on the interplay with people and light on a busy commute in Manhattan and pick out this guy in his shades walking determinedly to work.

2. You’ll See Light Differently

What you lose from not being able to capture beautiful golden hour light, you’ll gain back in focusing more on the direction, quantity and quality of light around you. Learning how to read and play with different elements of light in this way is a fantastic skill that parlays directly into shooting video or studio strobes too, trust me.

Light and dark and the interplay between the two contrasting elements can be more interesting to focus on than color relationships

Light and the relationship with your subject (and the shadows that form) as well as other complementary elements (like the lined pattern of this woman’s skirt) become the focus, rather than the color of elements in the frame

I liked how the subject’s head was outlined by the stark light of his room here, as he looked out onto the street.

3. It Helps Emphasize Emotion

Looking at someone’s face, or into their eyes, without the distraction of color can provide a stronger emotional connection to your subject. It’s not necessarily always the case, but if like me, you often feel more connected to a person in a black and white image over a color image, this could be the reason why. With color gone, it’s purely about the connection you have with the subject.

The color of the trees and shrubs, buildings and lamp posts are all irrelevant as the focus becomes the emotional bond between the embracing couple

If this was in color, you’d have at least 4 colors in the background and middle ground elements alone, excluding the colors of their clothing and bags. Instead I just focused straight on the split second connection between them as they share a kiss

The love and security this child gets from her mother is palpable. She briefly looked up and I took the shot, her eyes and the tonality of the skin tones here is really interesting to me for some reason

4. The Timeless / Classic Quality From Black And White

One of the most common reasons people want to shoot in black and white today is because it lends a certain timeless quality to the images. This is because we still think of black and white as being a throwback to the photographic past. Of course, it is in terms of black and white was much more prevalent before color, but this is still a great reason to shoot black and white.

This could be a look out of the 1950s. The color of the dress was more of a contemporary peach but without the color of the clothing or accessories, it’s more difficult to suggest the era

Here the bride has more of timeless look. In color, the tattoo and mix of natural and yellow chandelier light would have been jarring.

In New York, you’ll often see people dressed like they are from another era. Again, black and white provides a mystery for the era he could be from, especially as it has muted the colorful inside of the bus

Again this dapper fellow looks like he could easily have been out of the 1950s. Color in the subway, and the person in the background would have certainly not created as much ambiguity in the image

5. It Amplifies How You Use Negative Space

Negative space – the areas of the frame that have nothing in them, are easier to showcase and highlight when shooting black and white. This relates back to minimizing distractions from not shooting in color. You tend to focus on light and dark areas of the frame – and their inter-relationship. Playing with negative space is also useful in separating your subject nicely from the background and give added depth to the image.

Playing with negative space – and the elements in the frame – is much easier to visualize when you see things in black, white and greys

With a similar concept of reflection and negative space, a puddle can become a playground into seeing different spatial arrangements.

Fog atop Twin Peaks in San Francisco provides a great amount of negative space to juxtapose the two view seekers. Their clothing and other elements are muted as distractions because of the lack of color

6. It Highlights Shape, Form and Pattern In The Image

I tend to focus a lot more than I used to on the elements in the frame, both in terms of their shape and form, but also how they relate to one another. You feel like there is a world to explore when you see connecting elements in the foreground and background). Again, color would be distracting here – black and white simplifies the ability to see these elements and play with them.

Without the distraction of color, we see the interplay in lines and patterns between two museum visitors clothing and a background painting at the Met

A woman’s dark blue hat (here in dark black) becomes a key element in the interplay between her and the table at which she sits.

7. To Highlight Beauty and Skin Tones

It doesn’t matter what race, color or background you happen to be – black and white photography provides wonderful tonal range between the deepest blacks and the whitest whites. Garishly colorful makeup is no longer distracting.  Pigments, discoloration and distracting elements of the skin can become less obvious. It’s not hard to see why fashion photographers like Peter Lindbergh have built their entire careers shooting almost exclusively in black and white.

Simple natural window light bathe this young lady in soft light while a black board behind separates her from her environment and focuses our attention

Similarly, this darker skinned model has glowing skin really just from the natural window light and strobe camera right to provide some specular highlight to her skin

8. It Helps Focus On Composition

This reason (and focusing on lighting), are the two strongest reasons for me to shoot in black and white. Of course, composition is not color-dependent. A strong composition is a strong composition. The reason this is important is because – like the others points in this list – black and white compositional elements do away with the distraction of color. Suddenly elements within the frame can relate in a way that might otherwise have been throw off because of jarring color.

Without the background color to distract, here I simply focused on waiting patiently for someone to pass by the guy leaning on the railing to see if i could time a shot to get two elements in the fore and mid ground to match up at the right moment

The two men on Coney Island boardwalk balance one another without their colorful attire being distracting. The contrast between the dark lines in the wooden planks and railing also draw the eye through the image

Using negative fill and not having to worry about colorful clothing, this inverted reflection shot in the rain focuses our attention on the ghostly images walking in a strange, reflected upside down world

So What About Color?

The argument of not shooting black and white because it’s a thing of the past is a little odd to me, especially given that color photography is not necessarily a modern invention. Kodachrome for 35mm cameras has been around since the 1930s. The far more interesting (and possibly meaningful question) may be:“Why is black and white still so prevalent today, given we’ve been able to shoot color for so long?”.

I still shoot color and love playing with it, but I certainly enjoy the challenge and creative push from shooting in black and white.

Color has it’s place. Here, I shot an image with a Fujifilm 400 Superia. I just don’t think the reflection of the flag in the rainy table top would have worked if I’d shot this with the black and white Tri-X film i usually shoot

 

There are very good reasons black and white stills exists today. I challenge anyone not shooting much in black and white to at least shoot RAW and change the setting on your camera LCD to display those JPEGs in ‘monochrome’. See whether or not it yields any change in how – or why – you shoot what you do. The results might surprise you. And if you are shooting black and white, tag me and let me know so I can check out your work, and feel free to post up a link to something you’ve shot that worked in black and white in the comments below to share with the community.