My assignment was to optimize their website so that fans of said djs would find their profiles on the official WEMF website. Part of this optimization was to produce video clips for each DJ performing at the festival.

The outcome was a new record of 12,000 + views over the course of the event (2 days). The grand majority of the views were coming from mobile users present at the event.

We used Facebook and Twitter to distribute the videos which were hosted on YouTube. These videos were shot with a single camera and posted online within the first 20 minutes of the DJ’s set time.

This experiment had proven well with YouTube having upgraded be WEMF YouTube channel’s video limit

Here is my favourite video from the project;

Sounds dramatic but it makes a lot of sense.

On one side you have people who are in a jam, they are sick, they are tired, stressed, annoyed, angry, depressed what have you… they are in pain and they want relief now! These people are not going to take the time to shop around and get the best price… in fact these are likely the kind of people who will not only buy now but pay through the nose depending on how bad the pain is.

Conversely, at the opposite extreme we have people who are very comfortable in life and are looking for thrills and pleasure. These are the people who have all the time in the world and will certainly shop around before buying anything. So in Heinz site, if you’re selling a product that is pleasurable you are force to be even more competitive than if you were selling a remedy to someone’s pain.

Take that into consideration when you are marketing your services/products. Try to identify the type of buyer you are dealing with and conduct yourself accordingly.

Truth is, I am going to tell you how to design C.R.A.P. instead of crap. I learned this while in design school at Humber College and it goes like this;

Colour: I learned colour instead of contrast because there are a few “laws” when it comes to colours such as contrasting colours versus complimentary colours. You also have the psychology of colours, i.e. red means stop, green means go, orange means cheap, blue means trust-worthy, etc.

Repetition: nothing brings a sales point home like repetition, although in the context of design this really refers to consistency is your colours, your fonts, your shapes, sizes, etc.

Alignment: I recommend you all text with the same alignment (all left, all centre or all right). The human eye is conditioned to read in blocks of text or paragraphs. A successful ad/poster is quick and easy to read.

Proximity: negative space (empty space) is another term that can be used to describe “proximity”… be sure not to cram too much on the page and clutter things up, you want to have a safe distance between all elements in your design. Contrasting colours may help you cheat proximity in your design.

Today marks the start of their online business with a fully loaded wordpress e-commerce website. This site’s design is the definition of simple and sexy. From their home page to their check out page the visitor is presented with slick slideshows and eye popping products.

Payments are processed with PayPal standard and shipping is quoted on the fly using FedEx based on product weight and dimensions. If there was any site of mine that could win an award this would be it. Check out their website and let me know what you think by posting your comments on the official blog post.

You have a foundation or framework and then you build in the layout such as all the pages/rooms functions/utilities. Beyond that you have to design the front-end/front-yard. After all, your website is also known as your home page

So without further adieu I would like to present The Hilton Group: General Contractors Toronto specialized in building custom homes. With the launch of their new WordPress website, we have conducted an online marketing campaign focusing on landscaping services such as outdoor lighting, sprinkler systems, sodding, grading, etc.

The home page is split into 6 funnels covering an array of sub-services; waterproofing, snow removal, custom homes, landscaping, concrete, and paving. This site is one of the largest sites I have built to date and still one of the easiest to navigate.

For Motion Picture
Music arrangements for film can be rather complex and very time consuming. Finding the right composer or assortment of songs can be challenging to someone who is not connected to the music industry. Negotiating licensing can also be cumbersome without a lawyer. Let me take this burden off your hands and act as your music supervisor.

For artist development
Producing a song for radio takes special ears and an understanding of the recording sciences. Producing a song for a live show takes a sharp set of eyes and an understanding of theatrical high points. Spend an hour or two with me and not only will I share some insider secrets of the industry but I will show you things you had all along that you never recognized before.

That being said, there are 3 things I will do right off the bat which are all verified by Google. That’s right, Google will literally list what they want from you… all you need to do is sign up for a Google Webmasters account and do 3 simple things;

1. Create a sitemap.xml file listing all the pages/posts you want to have listed
2. Create a robots.txt file listing all the directories/pages/posts you do not want to have listed
3. Create a unique meta description and title tag for every page/post in the site

Once you do that, you will at least have a two way dialogue with Google where you can make requests of them such as listing/removing your pages from their database. The rest is really content optimization (text formatting, choice of words, link building, etc.) based on market research and competitor analysis.

Have more questions? Post a comment or email me, I’d love to hear from you

There are three major sales points to every deal; good, fast and cheap. The rule is that you can only 2 of the three.

If you want good and fast it won’t be cheap. If you want fast and cheap it won’t be good. If you want good and cheap it won’t be fast.

I use this one on clients all the time and when presented with that equation, people tend to understand what they can expect. Managing your client’s expectations is crucial to retaining their loyalty so be sure to make this little anecdote clear up front so there are no disappointments.

My personal motto is this “Under promise and over deliver, never over promise and under deliver”.

“Slowly and wisely” said the Friar

1) Preparation

This refers to researching the prospect before making your first contact. Now this is not always possible but let’s just say that you shouldn’t speak with the client about pricing, turn around or other pertinent deal points before doing your homework. What’s homework? Collect data! Get as much information about the prospect and make a list of items you think are strong and a list of things you can improve upon or help them with. Keep this to yourself for now.

2) Approach

This would be your “first contact”, this is where you introduce yourself and simply ask if you can book a meeting to discover how you may be of help. I find it helps to pitch it as a non-billable consultation where I sit down with the prospect to review their product/service/business and offer my insights.

Be sure to ask a few questions to get them in the right frame of mind. If you’re a web consultant like me, perhaps ask them questions like “When did you last update your website?”, “When was the last time you had an upgrade?”, “Have you considered all your marketing options?, etc. This gets them thinking about the things that need attention if they aren’t already thinking about it.

3) Discovery

So you got them to agree to a meeting and you’re now sitting with the prospect, just remember to shut up and listen. You may need to help them spit it all out by asking questions or offering ideas/examples to get the ball rolling. As they share their thoughts, take notes and re-interate everything they say to confirm that you’re on the same page.

Budget 1 hour for this meeting, if it takes longer than 1 hour you’re being inefficient… or perhaps the prospect is, if you find your prospect likes to talk too much, then try asking closed ended questions (where the answer is yes or no).

Before leaving the meeting, be sure to book your follow up meeting where you will present the “solution” to all their “problems”. I usually book follow-ups within 1 week or sooner so that everything is fresh for both me and the prospect.

4) Solution Design

After having your first meeting with the prospect (the discovery meeting) it’s time to get back to the office and scope out a proposal. Make a concise list of all the things the prospect requested, all the things you’d like to suggest and factor it, X hours @ X dollars = bottom line. Be sure to include the words that were used in your meeting to showcase your consistency and attention to detail. Don’t over complicate it, make your write up for each line item short and concise. Less is always more.

5) Presentation

It’s now show time, this is where you strut your stuff and show them what you’ve got. Power Point presentations go a long way but I myself just surf the net on my laptop showing real client samples for each component that I am pitching for my prospect. They say more than 80% of the world’s communication is visual and that visuals are easier to remember than what you heard or felt.

As you conduct your presentation look for visual cues in the prospects body language, i.e. hand on chin, arms crossed, leaning forward, bitting lip, etc. Keep everything in context and you’ll be able to pick up on the prospect’s interests and then know when and where to cut corners.

Don’t think that everyone wants to hear everything you have to say… focus on what excites them. By the end of your presentation, ask for the sale, i.e. “So without further adieu, let me ask you… would you like to get started?” or something to that effect, be yourself…

6) Implementation

So they said yes and it’s time to start working. Now I don’t think i need to tell you that you need to have a terrific product, backed by terrific service and competitive pricing if you want return business. The question is, what does that really mean? Well, there are 5 Characteristics of Great Products & Services but at a glance, a great product is designed to fulfill the buyer’s needs and does so seamlessly. A terrific service starts with courtesy and respect and ends with a smile.

Each customer will be different, some appreciate a phone call while others prefer an email. I think everyone wants quick and sometimes that’s not easy to do so at the least let your customer know that you are always in their corner and on top of it. As for competitive pricing… that’s really up to you, there are various levels of business in every industry. If you want to compete with the giants, you can’t undercut them too much. From my experience, if you go too low, your credibility is brought into question.

So there you have it, the 6 step sales process. Try it out on your next opportunity and let me know how it panned out. If you have any questions, post a comment below and I’ll be more than happy to respond.