How to break the marketing code with your human heart.

Cracking the marketing code today can be very challenging. There's just so much stuff going on and so many channels. So trying to reach the right individual to share your product or service can seem impossible. And how can you do it without spending a fortune of time or money?

In this example, let's imagine that you're going after your top three target customers. How best to proceed before implementing online strategies like Google ads, social media ads and other modern technological solutions.

The key behind all of this is tapping into your human intelligence, your emotions, your human heart. Using common sense., intelligence, skills, kindness, and confidence can get you far. You need to lead with this.

Here are my favorite top 10 basic approaches to marketing your business, product or service that typically generate very positive results.

1. Visit your target companies websites

If you begin with the top three companies that you'd really love to do business with, and simply go to their website, you can learn a lot about the company, but more importantly, find out who the right people are that you need to contact.

Contact Page: The contact page on the website may provide a way to reach out to their general inquiries or specific departments, like customer service, which could direct you to the appropriate person in procurement.

What important note here is that you want to be dignified, professional, and polite. Nobody likes spam. And nobody likes to be bothered so you want to employ kindness and honesty because you're simply sharing something with somebody that you think they really might enjoy so make sure your communication reflects this.

2. Participate in their website webinars, conferences, or programs

Most businesses today are well aware of how useful quality content is. And most of them have Zoom conference, webinars, events, or even simple online programs, such as downloading white papers and other content.

It's important to engage in this regularly, which makes you a participant in their organization in their products, but more importantly, gives you the opportunity to communicate with them, provide feedback and possibly invite them to contact you.

All the technology in the world cannot replace human emotion in human interaction. Show up at the events, shake hands and introduce yourself. That's what we do best! And that generates amazing results.

3. Direct mail

An old technology that works in a modern era. Sending a nice looking direct mail piece, particularly a letter of introduction with an invitation to view part of your website or better yet to contact you directly can be very effective.

Sometimes a great strategy is taking advantage of old techniques that stand out from the crowd. And today with all the technological and electronic communication, there's nothing like a beautiful printed piece, or a simple handwritten letter, or professional letter mailed to somebody directly with a kind and honest note. Be creative in your approach and try to keep that person in mind what they would like to see and what they might react well to.

4. LinkedIn Search

LinkedIn is a great tool for finding employees of specific companies and their roles. You can search for "Company X" on LinkedIn and filter by people working there. Look for titles of the position of the person that might be making the decisions or who you want to talk to most spend some time there and really look hard and you'll be amazed at what you can find out on LinkedIn.

Most people provide their contact information and tell you exactly what they do for that organization. LinkedIn is a great way to engage in wonderful conversations. But you have to do it. It doesn't do it for you.

4. Call Company Directly

This is something most people struggle with because they're afraid to make the call but virtually every single company in the world has a phone number and somebody who answers the phone. And even if they don't, you can leave a message.

So be very mindful about what you want to say when you call or the type of message that you wanna leave. And remember, we're talking about people here so we want to be polite and professional and courteous. We don't want to make people angry or frustrated thinking it's just another spam call so be very genuine.

5. Emailing General Inquiries

If you cannot find a specific name, you can send a general inquiry to their provided email addresses. They will likely forward your message to the appropriate department.

Here's an example of a general email address: mailto: info@companyname.com.

Here’s an example of how I’d present this general email:

Subject: Inquiry Regarding Purchasing/Procurement Contact

Dear [Company name/Title of position, or persons name],

I hope this message finds you well.

I am reaching out to inquire about the appropriate contact within your organization for [ relevant title or subject matter ]. Could you kindly direct me to the person responsible for managing [ relevant title or subject matter ] at Company name?

If possible, I would appreciate any relevant contact information or guidance on how to best get in touch with the [ relevant title or subject matter ] team.

Thank you in advance for your assistance. I look forward to your response.

Best regards,

Name, Title, contact information

6. Use Industry Databases

If you're looking for a more specific contact (such as a senior-level person in procurement), awesome platforms like ZoomInfo (https://www.zoominfo.com) or Dun & Bradstreet (https://www.dnb.com) most always has more detailed business information, though these services often require a subscription.

7. General marketing—print mailers, email marketing, social media marketing, online and social media ads

By creating regular and standardized, marketing communications, such as social media posts, email updates, and advertising in general, keeps your name out there so that people are aware of your name. For example, somebody might happen upon your name and company on LinkedIn and end up seeing you at the show.

Don't forget, there may be a purchasing agent or a procurement manager for example—but there are often young guns or new hires that are very exuberant about the business and those are usually like the carrier ants or carrier bees that tend to do the work sometimes. You'd be surprised at our opportunity hides. When we're marketing, we are confidently saying here's what we have and here's what it's for. We're trying to make that connection to people that will care most about what it is. We're trying to sell. Don't waste time with anything otherwise.

One last tip is that not everybody's going to like it and that's OK. Focus on your unique relevant audience and make sure you keep your brand out there because the odds of the right person finding you are pretty good as long as you're consistent.

Nonetheless, having a professional website, and fairly regular engagement maintains brand integrity and ups your chances of others to take you seriously.

There are a few examples I have, one would be social media ads or boost posts—so let's say you are selling organic dog food and you do a boosted post for a few hundred dollars and the text says something like “If you care about the health of your pet then please try our pet food.” Well that's small exercise with online targeted ads is designed to go after people that are interested in pets and dogs or whatever criteria plug-in into the ad campaign—and it works!

Nonetheless you can tap into all of the common marketing drivers like email, marketing or social media, marketing or print ads for example. But remember you have to do it. It doesn't do it for you.

8. Referral programs

Sometimes creating your own referral programs are excellent motivators to a good solution. For example, if you know of anyone in the industry that might benefit from our services, I offer a referral program that will give you $100 gift card for every successful relationship formed…

I've had numerous companies find a lot of success here, because human nature is that we like to help! We like to introduce…

9. Engagement

Most people sit on their thumbs when it comes to social media, or grip about how there's so much spam. What they're failing to do is taking advantage of opportunity and what I mean by that is for example you find a contact at your target company and engage in a conversation that's honest and justified for example, you might notice something from that company that somebody's engaged in and say hey we were at that show we would've loved to have seen you there!

By engaging regularly, you open up to new conversations. But it entails a commitment to it instead of relying on technology alone.

Don't expect that you can just do a social media post and hope for the best. You are putting your foot in the ring and need to engage in conversation and if you want results, you want to be respectful and honest and dignified and not spam people but get out there and engage that's what gets results.

10. Strategic Event Planning

If you have a budget to show up at many of the industries, best events, then merely setting up shop, which is important and establishes a presence and a brand awareness, is only part of the strategy.

By literally inviting entire companies and organizations— and in particular individuals to come see what the show, most always creates results. Especially if you have something specific to offer like even something as simple as give me two minutes of your time so I can tell you about XYZ and how this can really help your business.

Many of the industry leaders are at these shows, so showing up is great, but personally inviting them to something you're proud of is even better.

The bottom line is that you want to be the human that you are. Be proactive and engage people regularly. It's about building relationships and building trust in forming a good communication and the more you do this the larger it grows, and the odds for success are amplified.

So get marketing!

Here’s a basic overview of the challenges I discussed with a good friend and client… https://youtube.com/shorts/pUraQstSUOA

How to create better videos

Here are some simple tips on creating better videos. You don't need elaborate or fancy equipment to get great videos that get attention let's start with a few basics… it's very similar to the tips I give on creating better zoom videos which include the primary four, which are setting up a good space or environment, focusing on audio and sound, being sure to work with lighting, and preparation.

1. Create a “studio” space

The studio space does not have to be an expensive or elaborate professional environment. It also includes the environment you are in,  especially if outdoors. Creating a studio space means creating an environment that is pleasant, comfortable uncluttered, well lit, and that has good sound quality without too many distracting sounds. Think of it like it's an interview set and you're going to be having some very special guest sitting down talking to you so you want all the things around you to be pleasant. Maybe there are some plants or nice pictures eliminate all the clutter or junk hanging around or if you have a nice pleasant color wall or some thing that's neutral that just makes it a nice calm environment. Same thing if you're outdoors do you want to make sure that it's a quiet attractive and relaxing environment that inspires your video so just look around you and your background and see what's around you and remember people want to be right there along with you in a real beautiful environment to watch your video.

2. Focus on audio & sound

Try to think about how you're recording your sound. Are you using the computers microphone for example, or do you have a nice external microphone you can plug-in that will improve the sound quality of your zoom meeting? And make sure when you're speaking that it's not a echo chamber and then it sounds sharp and that you're speaking loudly enough but not too loud so that people can hear you clearly and keep an eye distractions and he sounds around you that may be distracting to the call. Dogs, cars, cell phones, televisions, radios, or anything else that will make distracting sounds during your zoom call can be very distracting. So as they say in the movie business “all quiet on the set.”

3. Be sure to work on lighting

Lighting is constantly changing in very important. It's very important that people can see you so you can have a good digital conversation. Do you want to make sure that the environment is neither too dark or too bright. And you wanna watch how lighting changes so for example notice how bright sunlight or a cloudy day affects the lighting in your recording area. Or notice how lighting changes when you turn on certain lights. If you're outdoors pay close attention to cloudy days or where the sunshine is or where the light is coming from do some practice and looking at your phone taking photos or video from different angles and pretend you're watching the video or looking at the photo yourself what looks good to you? Angles do everything on a sunny day try to look for days that the sun is down low in the morning or afternoon because sometimes bright light is too harsh.

4. Preparation is important

Preparing for any video is always a good idea so that you know what you're talking about you're comfortable in the setting and it just makes for a much smoother conversation and guarantees that the point of the conversation or meeting gets across. So preparing your environment which is you're setting your lighting and your sound is equally important in preparation as is the material you'll be discussing. But it's also important to relax tonight over prepare. To just prepare enough for a fun relaxing and rewarding conversation. Take time to jot down some ideas on what it is you want to do a video about it it'll help you run it much smoother.

4. Equipment is important

When it comes to creating good video we're very fortunate today having iPhones that shoot in four and 5K the things you can do on an iPhone today are the same things you can do on a very high end camera or video equipment. Nonetheless using quality equipment as best you can will ensure that you're going to have a good quality video in as high resolution as you can so that when people are watching it it’s of the utmost quality and just makes it look professional and sharp. So don't skimp on equipment and think that it doesn't matter… It does!

Helpful videos:

1. How to create better video: Scenery (Short video) https://youtube.com/shorts/aDBsoQWQk8g

2. How to create better video: Audio (Short video) https://youtu.be/M3O53e--RLA

3. How to create better video: Lighting (Short video)https://youtube.com/shorts/6PHVVq4BalI?feature=share

4. How to create better video: Testing (Short video)https://youtube.com/shorts/FtAmRfTdezc

How to create better Zoom Calls and video (15 min. video) https://youtu.be/3KGJTD62j6M

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About Mitchell Creative Group

Mitchell Creative Group, LLC is a micro-virtual creative agency outside of Boston— leveraging over 25 years professional experience with some of the biggest brands in the world, providing high-level creative support— quickly, and at a fair, flexible price. Branding and identity, marketing and advertising, packaging, web and print, film and video, podcasting and new media.

Four ways to create a better Zoom meeting or recording

Here are a few simple tips to create a better quality Zoom meeting.

Generally speaking we want to think of it as as nice of a studio setting as you can get it so that it's comfortable for you and you're listening audience and that it's well lit and the audio is good quality and there are minimal distractions.

One of the best things you can do is test it yourself whether you're on a computer or a tablet or a phone test the setting that you're in and make a mock meeting and see if you think it looks good and sounds good and the other people will respond favorably to it.

1. Create a “studio” space

The studio space does not have to be an expensive or elaborate professional environment. Creating a studio space means creating an environment that is pleasant, comfortable uncluttered, well lit, and that has good sound quality without too many distracting sounds. Think of it like it's an interview set and you're going to be having some very special guest sitting down talking to you so you want all the things around you to be pleasant. Maybe there are some plants or nice pictures eliminate all the clutter or junk hanging around or if you have a nice pleasant color wall or some thing that's neutral that just makes it a nice calm environment.

2. Focus on audio & sound

Try to think about how you're recording your sound. Are you using the computers microphone for example, or do you have a nice external microphone you can plug-in that will improve the sound quality of your zoom meeting? And make sure when you're speaking that it's not a echo chamber and then it sounds sharp and that you're speaking loudly enough but not too loud so that people can hear you clearly and keep an eye distractions and he sounds around you that may be distracting to the call. Dogs, cars, cell phones, televisions, radios, or anything else that will make distracting sounds during your zoom call can be very distracting.

So as they say in the movie business “all quiet on the set.” Oh and one other great tip for sound is using your Smart phone voice recorder to record your sound as a back up. Simply start your app and start recording and leave it there facing forward and you can record your audio as a back up in case you need better quality audio. I have personally recorded hundreds of podcast episodes myself using my iPhone voice recorder in a walk-in closet where the sound is dampened and nice and soft and it comes out excellent.

3. Be sure to work on lighting

Lighting is constantly changing in very important. It's very important that people can see you so you can have a good digital conversation. Do you want to make sure that the environment is neither too dark or too bright. And you wanna watch how lighting changes so for example notice how bright sunlight or a cloudy day affects the lighting in your recording area. Or notice how lighting changes when you turn on certain lights.

4. Preparation is important

Preparing for any meeting or event is always a good idea so that you know what you're talking about you're comfortable in the setting and it just makes for a much smoother conversation and guarantees that the point of the conversation or meeting gets across.

So preparing your environment which is you're setting your lighting and your sound is equally important in preparation as is the material you'll be discussing. But it's also important to relax tonight over prepare. So just prepare enough for a fun relaxing and rewarding conversation.

Helpful videos:

1. How to create better video: Scenery (Short video) https://youtube.com/shorts/aDBsoQWQk8g

2. How to create better video: Audio (Short video) https://youtu.be/M3O53e--RLA

3. How to create better video: Lighting (Short video)https://youtube.com/shorts/6PHVVq4BalI?feature=share

4. How to create better video: Testing (Short video)https://youtube.com/shorts/FtAmRfTdezc

How to create better Zoom Calls and video (15 min. video) https://youtu.be/3KGJTD62j6M

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About Mitchell Creative Group

Mitchell Creative Group, LLC is a micro-virtual creative agency outside of Boston— leveraging over 25 years professional experience with some of the biggest brands in the world, providing high-level creative support— quickly, and at a fair, flexible price. Branding and identity, marketing and advertising, packaging, web and print, film and video, podcasting and new media.

Huddled Masses Website Development. How great people inspire great work.

Huddled Masses Website Development. How great people inspire great work.

Developing the Huddled Masses website was both fun and challenging. They had a few variations of older site desigs, and variety of brand segments that we needed to bring together into a modern and practical presentation that really represented their CEO Kristie and the team, as well as make it “fun” for their clients to engage as well. The “game pieces” theme fit into their basically helping their clients find and fit that “missing piece.”

Working with some of the best PR talents (Laura Goldberg @https://www.lbgpr.com, and Susanna Hinds) made the project high caliber, high energy, and top shelf professional.

The team at Huddled Masses are wonderful to work with, and as performance marketers, absolutely the terrific. Great people, that all inspire teamwork and great work.

Meet Huddled Masses

Performance marketing solutions that drive real ROI.

Digital advertising campaigns can sometimes feel precarious. One element or piece out of place and everything collapses.

Huddled Masses has a track record in helping clients find that critical piece of the digital advertising puzzle to pull it all together. Oftentimes it’s a piece that they didn’t even know was missing.

Kristie MacDonald, CEO—brings more than 15 years of entertainment marketing and research experience to her leadership role at Huddled Masses. 

Direct Digital Holdings Branding and Website Development—The Value of a Great Team

Direct Digital Holdings Branding and Website Development

Having any design project start off with a fun, exciting, and enjoyable kickoff call is always a great sign. Mark Walker their CEO, and their PR firm (Laura Goldberg @https://www.lbgpr.com) are incredible. An engaging and driven conversation led to what became a very cool project. They know what they like and want, yet allowed the creative process to unfold. Developing the site included branding. A logo and site that captured an energetic “forward moving, colorful, and exciting vibe that makes it engaging, interesting, and simple. Responsive mobility was a must here also.

Meet Direct Digital Holdings

Direct Digital Holdings brings state-of-the-art supply-side and demand-side advertising platforms together under one umbrella company.

They deliver significant ROI for middle market advertisers.

They give advertisers of all sizes unparalleled reach within general market and multicultural media properties.

CEO and founder, Mark Walker brings nearly 20 years of experience in private equity, building relationships, and revenue generating operations for Fortune 500 corporations as well as start-ups. 

https://directdigitalholdings.com

Embracing change and creative-wellness for ultimate business fitness

Change and health. Important to optimal existence, and two of the secrets of growing your business.

Change happens in nature as well as in our own lives. It happens in the expanse of the universe, and all the way down to our cells. And if we embrace the change and work with it—changing form, and “flowing WITH the river,” it becomes a very beautiful migration that leads to growth—flowing with change… “making lemonade out of lemons.” 

Health—is partly innate, meaning that all living things have certain abilities and processes that are all unique. Some are innately very healthy, whereas others my have certain tendencies to be susceptible to various issues that relate to health. Some are asthmatic, some are not. Some can run long distances, some cannot. Some are allergic to grains, some are not. Regardless, there are always decisions and efforts that can be made that can have a positive effect on overall health. Eat right, sleep right, think right, breath right, drink right, and do right— will have a positive impact. Eat poorly, sleep poorly, think negatively, drink poisons, and do bad deeds— will affect your health negatively. It’s pretty simple.

Well the same applies to business. We can apply change adaption and health planning to anything at all in life. Weather changes, we tend our garden differently. We tend our garden and nurture it—it grows favorably.  In business— if we embrace change, and apply optimal health planning, it has a tremendous impact on the outcome of our business.

Technology and business changes fast. Get on track now, or watch your business suffer. And just like personal health and fitness, there are a number of things that you need to do for your business to ensure optimal health of your business and a long healthy life. As we’ve all seen— things can change quickly in the world. Are you prepared? Were you prepared? And are you ready to make changes that will get you ahead of the game for years to come and ready fo more changes to come?

Like many people—they often sit complacently. They wait. They do nothing. They eat, sleep, drink, think, breath, and act poorly— then wonder why their health is poor. Same with many businesses; They often sit idle, not embracing change. Not “feeding” the business optimal energy to help it grow and thrive. Rather than developing a creative “health plan” for their business and implementing it— they complain. Here are some classics: “Things are bad, we’re in trouble, we’re getting no business, no one visits our website, I hate social media, the economy sucks, the President screwed us, taxes are too high, prices are too high, there’s no good help anywhere, no one likes this business anyway…” There are THOUSANDS of excuses. This is what kills business. Imagine if giants like Apple did that? They’d have become dead and gone years ago.

Now— think about the leaders. The mentors, the masters. The survivors, thrivers, movers, and shakers! It can be the 100 year old walking miles each day, or the multi BILLION dollar business. They don’t get “lucky” and they don’t get there my mistake, or by doing NOTHING. They get there by making their, or their businesses health a top priority. And the key here is that they don’t do it alone. Nothing is singular. The universe conspires together, living cells work together, our personal relationships and health relies on others— and businesses, rely on working together with others. Assembling teams, networks, associations, relationships, and partnerships that help align their values. You are a sum of those around you. Hanging out with negative nay-sayers, poor and unhealthy people, or choosing poor diet, exercise, smoking, will have a direct impact on a poor outcome. It’s pretty simple.

That’s one critical key. Follow, surround yourself, and attract high energy, high level, God-conscious level, winning, thriving, positive, and motivational influences and the outcome is the complete opposite. Think about it. Everything is a sum of its environment.

So start there. Seek winners, thrivers, helpers, positivity—those that appreciate life and the “best” in people and all of life. Redefine your values and beliefs, and CHOOSE to make change in your self, and CHOOSE to align with ONLY those that match up with that higher level. In business, key partnerships include those that want to help you attain your best self— your best business.

When you form the right business relationships, make better decisions, and fuel your business: With the right attitude, values, ‘diet’ and discipline and —the best—a group of masters that work together to keep you on track, help you change with the times, and help you THRIVE not just survive! Think about it— you are the best at what you do! You want to help people with what you do, and provide them a service, product, or expertise that you think will help. So simply allow that concept to help you as well. Let others guide you and create a successful synergy. 

That’s one of my fundamental and critical personal and business core values: I provide a full service creative solution that will help you achieve the highest level of success in your business. Ideas, strategies, and execution to get you on track today— as well as leading you into the future.

I apply over 20 awesome years in the creative, personal and business field to help you achieve the best self, and business you can create with key questions, strategies, and executive creative agency level tools and solutions. Here’s a basic overview of my business health plan to help you attain creative-wellness for ultimate business fitness:

Embracing change and creative-wellness planning for ultimate business fitness

Brand “physical” and modern strategy planning

Like your physical health— your business health needs the right diet, exercise, and mental strategy to achieve ultimate health!

• Discuss where you are and where you need to be— TODAY!

• Get rid of old garbage— and develop a better “business fitness routine”

• Embrace modern change—and implement realm honest, and AGGRESSIVE strategies

• Ideas to GROW your business. Increase customers, gain following, become an influencer in your field and area

Pricing: Varies depending on factors to discuss. Often included in many plans below.

Website modernization

• Create on a new CMS platform

• Easy editing, even for DIY

• Integration of modern tools— analytics, SEO, email marketing, and more…

Pricing: Varies between $2.5K and $10K depending on factors to discuss.

Social universe building

if you aren’t making social media a priority— you are going to fail. This is critical!

• Create the RIGHT channels for your business

• Gain the RIGHT followers

• Create the RIGHT content

• Develop and refine the RIGHT strategy—ongoing! 

Pricing: Varies between $1K and $50K depending on factors to discuss.

Marketing and advertising structuring

• Create a strategy, game plan, and system developed specially for you and your business/product.

• Website development and content

• Social media marketing

• Email marketing

• Subscribers, lists, and audience building

• Engaging—CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT! Flyers, videos, graphics, papers, and more… Content is KEY!

Pricing: Varies depending on factors to discuss. Often included in many plans above.

Modern Communications Adaption

• You NEED to set up modern tech— meet people where THEY are. Not where you “think” it is.

• Tele-services, online, and live video ideas and implementation

• Podcast and audio services

Pricing: Varies depending on factors to discuss. Often included in many plans above.

Where to start

The quick considerations are (1) first, how serious you are about getting you business to the next level. How bad you want it. Next (2) plan on investing in it—you have to think of money as energy and “diet”… investing in your business wisely, and correctly will help your business THRIVE… for example, say you spend $12K on updating and upgrading— it in turn doubles your exposure, doubles your customer base, and doubles your income, and protects you from failure… Remember you get out what you put in. But you need to partner with honest, successful, and equal-minded friends, partners, and relationships.

Start with a conversation.

I will meet with you and discuss where you are at, where you need to be— and ideas on how to get there. As well as some strategies, direct and honest services that I can help you with— or lead you to. I’ll explain them all in simple terms, answer questions, and help get you in the right direction. You can then make a decision based on what you believe is best for you and your business.

Let’s discuss! (508) 494-8182, todd@mitchellcreativegroup.com, http://www.mitchellcreativegroup.com.

The Art of Animation

Some ideas, guides, and thoughts on animating content

By todd@mitchellcreativegroup.com

I grew up inspired by animation masters like Disney and Looney Tunes. We all marveled at the screens as characters, scenery, and storylines blended with sound, music tracks, and voice into emotional experiences that kept us coming back for more. It literally brought imagination to life. And it continues today.

Commercially, it’s not much different. Bringing stories to life helps elicit emotion. It sells products, brings awareness to situations, events, and worldly affairs. It builds community, teams, and excitement. Animation is an art that brings imagination and creativity to life— through the senses.

As technology has advanced over the years, we are able to create animations much easier, and much quicker than we were ever able to. Powerful computers, robust software, and well tuned designers can create amazing animated material—faster, better, and less expensive than old-day “cell animation” with huge teams hand-drawing animations—then, about 24 drawings per second of animation.

There are still companies today that do that— and do quite well, and create a unique niche in the industry. Claymation, stop-motion, and many other nifty techniques can be used to deliver a real unique personality to an animation.

This animation created for QuickPivot involved a small key team to develop a fun project outcome and what turned out to be a very successful campaign. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J0qhHnemd8&feature=youtu.be

There are many types of animation modern technology allows

Modern tech, also allows creative folks to multi-purpose material, and bring animation into the realm of recycled-content possibilities. For example, turning a static infographic into an animated version of it. Using the parts and pieces of the illustration and adding motion, effects, sounds, and music to it literally peels it off the static page and into motion. An exciting, engaging, and different format that can be used on multiple platforms—and now, you end up with 2 formats simultaneously.

In commercial design specifically, although imagination can take us anywhere, there are three primary types of animation that can be created to present content or data in an engaging, active manner— or to promote an idea, service, company, or product:

The three primary types of commercial animation:

1. Standard motion graphics. Here, we take any content, and simply add motion to it. It can literally be as simple as an animated Powerpoint document, or text and graphics with motion added in sequence, with or without effects or sound— on more upscale software like Adobe After Effects, Final Cut Pro, or even Apple’s Motion or iMovie.

2. Up-leveled animations and motion graphics. Here, content is put together and created with animation in mind. For example, an infographic is created— text and graphics. They then are “animated,” or put into motion, so as to walk the reader through the storyline, with sounds, music tracks, and captions to help create an emotional, engaging story.

3. High end animation. This varies quite a bit. This range can be a custom-built animation on a designer’s desktop computer— with graphics, text, voice talent, and music— on up through something Pixar might produce as a major motion picture. Nonetheless, either one can net a beautiful, exciting, emotional, and highly engaging product. These higher ended projects take more time, planning, creativity, and imagination to develop— but for the right reasons, are well worth it.

The cost to create animations

Before the cost is established when creating an animation, it’s important to think about the “goal” of the animation. Roughly, WHY are you creating it? Is it for fun, personal use— or is it to bring awareness to an idea, set up information, service, or product? Are you looking for new and exciting engagement content for your audience? Or maybe you’re on a mission to be the next Academy Award winner… the “why” and the goal helps you start off the right foot.

The cost in developing an animation can also vary—depending on four key factors: The importance of the project (simple stuff, or for something real important), the budget of the project (little to invest, or have more to invest), the size of the project (how big it is), and it’s value (what are you getting from it). And each of these factors impact the outcome. For example, big company, big budget, real important information, and a huge audience with engaging content— vs. simple data to a small audience will each warrant a different strategy. So step one is determining the four key factors.

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The four key factors to developing an animation

1. Importance. How important is the project? (not very, moderate, extremely)

2. Investment. What would an ideal ballpark budget range/investment be possibly? (under $1000, $5000, $10,000, $100,000, etc…)

3. Size. What size project do you envision? (simple and small, average, or major production— how long is it?)

4. Value. What is it’s value? (a lot of people will see it, not many people will see it, or millions around the world?)

So cost-wise, animations will vary depending on the four key factors above. Expect anywhere from around $1000 upwards of $10,000 plus— and with major motion pictures, documentaries, etc… upwards of $millions! Yes, a wide range of cost, but that’s the importance of pre-planning the project to know clearly what the goals are.

For basic to moderate animations, such as animating an infographic or even a slightly more advanced animation with voice talent, sounds, music tracks, and effects, expect an average range of $2500—$10K.

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The basic steps to creating an animation

Once you determine the general goal, or consider factors to developing the animation there are a few basic steps in getting started. Following these steps help you organize and ensure a successful final product. It also helps save time and cost, as well as help you fine tune it and craft it along the way to avoid costly and timely changes later on.

WARNING: Before you begin, consider the “team.” Who will be involved. Who will review, who will approve, provide funding for, etc… and ALWAYS work with a solid, experienced creative person on the team. Experience, talent, and high caliber creativity has a huge effect on the outcome. And having that creative expertise along the way helps keep it on the right track. Think of it as if Steven Spielberg or any other famous, successful director were producing or directing it… you’d want his/her input all along the way. Team up with a good creative professional.

This example illustrates the importance of “theme” to create an interesting and engaging concept behind content. https://youtu.be/Czi860QTImE

Here are the basic steps to consider in creating an animation, this is AFTER going through the four key factors to developing an animation:

1. Theme. What is it about? What’s the basic story line and idea. The “main pitch.”

2. Style. What flavor, type, or feel does it have? Fun and lighthearted, dark and spooky, animated cartoon characters, or a lot of video footage? Describe the style of it, and provide examples of what you might like here. Will there be voice talent, what kind of music? Describe it as best yo can here.

3. Rough storyboard. Storyboard the project. A rough walkthrough of the animation, describing scene by scene of what’s happening. Team can review and discuss the general flow and idea to hash out the best outcome.

4. Initial creative. Develop or sketch the basic artwork for the project to help the team envision and hash out the “look” of the artwork. There are many styles, and types of artwork that can be created so it’s imperative to work that out up front and make adjustments before final content is created.

5. Develop final content. Storyboards, script, screenplay… Write the actual script for the voice over, develop actual scene artwork. Add descriptions on each scene to walk through what’s happening. 

6. Get team sign off. Important to not have any costly and timely surprises later. Make sure everyone that needs to be on board, signs off and agrees on what’s to be done.

7. Development. Full gear creation here. Assign assets, get the voice talent hired and recording, artwork gathered and created, music and sound research, getting those assets in hand… work efficiently at getting done. Done promptly, but done well.

8. Review and fine tune. Team or client review to make any adjustments or fine tuned changes. There shoudn’t be many here, but expect a few to tweak it and get it accurate. Fine tune it and finalize!

9. Publish and promote. Get it out there! Upload to YouTube, Vimeo, or otherwise. Be sure to incorporate meta data, descriptions, and other SEO-related criteria to help make it more visible. Promote it on website, by direct email, and on all social media channels. This step is critical so it reaches its original objective—being viewed! Promote, promote, share— and promote!

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Here are some samples of our animation work:

Quick pivot example 1
https://youtu.be/brK7sKNhaog

The US Market Is Ready for Contactless Payments
https://youtu.be/xQVyrKStV9U

SAP -  Use Technology to Chart a Better Course for Your Business
https://youtu.be/Czi860QTImE

Data Dynamics. Manage Your Data
https://youtu.be/b9_vdXrl6XA

Adobe Digital Transformation
https://youtu.be/fCxNyMXiPaY

Quickwin 2 segmentation
https://youtu.be/0J0qhHnemd8

The Secret Sauce for Accelerating Indirect Sales
This example is from a presentation…
https://youtu.be/X2KeCwz3ATU

AAP seasons greetings
https://youtu.be/0QDMm2uYTcY

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Simple, practical, and inspired creative solutions. Free consulting. Free advice. Free first project for qualifiers. Creative strategies and solutions—made easy.

Get creative. http://www.mitchellcreativegroup.com, todd@mitchellcreativegroup.com, (508)494-8182.

© Copyright Todd Mitchell, Mitchell Creative Group, LLC

Creative pricing— what will it cost?

When it comes to pricing creative projects it helps to keep three primary things in mind: Value (worth), caliber (oomph level!), and investment (what can or should be spent). And while there is a wide range for each of these, the ideal cost is what’s most appropriate for that project. No matter what, think of it as a range—from basic and simple, to advanced and higher level. 

The “value”— is what it’s really worth. Think of gold vs. a sheet of paper. And when it comes to your project, is it valued high like gold or as a simple piece of paper. Is your project high profile, important, to get high exposure, and have a big impact on the audience? Or is it a simple, one-off, very basic project with little exposure?

The “caliber” is the “oomph level”—meaning how much oomph you want it to have. Putting more work into it affects the outcome. If you spend more time on designing it, using certain fonts, images, colors, etc… you will have more quality there. If you spend more time on the animation or website you will get more impact. 

The “investment” is what it sounds like—how much you “should” invest. I emphasize that because mistake number 1 is that people think its about what they WANT to spend. If you want to spend $50 on a logo, you will get a lousy $50 logo. Whereas if you SHOULD invest in a real solid brand— spending the time, working a high caliber, and investing value behind it, the outcome will be tremendously different. And it’s not to say you should always spend more— in fact the opposite. Some projects SHOULD be a low cost. Some projects warrant simple, low cost solutions.

So consider these three pieces when pricing your creative projects. It will help you figure out the ideal and appropriate amount to spend.

Here are a few worksheets to help visualize the cost curves on certain projects.

Marketing ones creative Self

In addition to having talent and abilities, or drive and passion in the creative space, is marketing ones creative Self. If you do it for fun, sharing it to inspire others or letting your creative Self shine outward is a good idea. The flower expresses its “Self” by nature— and so should you. And it’s not bragging or boasting—it’s being, expressing, and sharing. You know how you are drawn to others, impressed by works of art, or enamored by all the things in the world? By allowing your expression of creativity you align with and play and important part of that as well.

So how? Connect with or create a network. Social media is a great place to start. But friends, colleagues, associates, clubs, art shows, and other ways to get your “stuff” put there… Start with creating or sharing on social media though.

Professionally—you MUST market your Self. Your level of success, outcome and results are directly related to how much effort you put in to your marketing. And there are many, MANY ways of doing that today.

Start with social media. Create or work hard at using it regularly. Expand a useful, strategic, and meaningful  list of contacts. People that will either help, support, help grow, or contribute to your growth, sales, and success. Create raving, exciting fans that want to be a part of your network. Create awesome, useful, meaningful content that they MUST have. Show your stuff, advertise and market your wares—regularly and consistently.

For beginners only…

Other ways to market your creative Self might be using social media advertising campaigns—connecting to qualified leads. People that need your services. You can also leverage modern day online clubs, such as Fivr (https://www.fiverr.com/start_selling), or InDeed (http://www.indeed.com)— two popular freelance sites that you can grow and expand your design business. There are downfalls there however, you share your money with their fees— and become reliant on their platforms instead of your own— which I personally think is best. But, starting out, sure— grab some freelance work on those sites. Work it, expand it, grow it. At least try these things and see what works… And there are others. Etsy is a great DIY site for master crafters and designers alike. Amazon, Google, and other big players have stores and sites that allow you to sell your wares as well. Even Craigs List (http://www.craigslist.org) has leads if you search or advertise your stuff on their help wanted section.

The bottom line?

You need to get your name out there. Advertise your stuff. Talk about it, develop strategic, aggressive, and meaningful game plans to get your name out there, advertise your business, services, or abilities. And remember you get out what you put in. BIG (well thought out, meaningful, and truly passionate) effort means big results. LITTLE and meaningless effort will equate to absolutely nothing. It’s that simple.

If you want more advice, or help developing a game plan, or how to get massive results in your business, get a hold of me. Email todd@mitchellcreativegroup.com, or call me at (508) 494-8182.

Simple, practical, and inspired creative. Free creative coaching. Free first project for qualifiers. The best creative solution.

Get creative. http://www.mitchellcreativegroup.com, todd@mitchellcreativegroup.com, (508)494-8182.

© Copyright Todd Mitchell, Mitchell Creative Group, LLC