We jumped at the idea when Phosphorus approached us here at Bluetext about creating a new campaign. After extensive brainstorming the team agreed that a video integrating animated 3D objects into real-life footage would be the best way to tell the story of the Thing Tamer. It’s a trend that’s been going on for decades, from previously cheesy CGI such as The Scorpion King (2002) to more stunning recent examples like Disney’s live-action version of The Lion King (2019). The advancements in integrating 3D animated objects into real life have come a long way! Let’s dive into some of the techniques used.
The Thing Tamer video we created consisted of animated 3D IoT office devices presented as wild creatures creeping through an office. To accomplish this, we had to carefully plan out our shoot during the scripting and storyboarding phase with the expectations of adding 3D animated creatures created in post-production. This entailed detailed storyboarding ahead of filming, then taking 360-degree spherical images of the intended 3D objects’ locations using a DSLR before creating the HDRI maps in Adobe Photoshop. While capturing 360-degree panoramic images isn’t essential, it can significantly increase the photo-realistic illumination and reflections of 3D-generated objects. HDRIs help in matching the color and lighting from the set or location to the inserted animated footage. This along with color correcting the footage to match the colors of the HDRI ensure any lighting and reflections are as realistic as possible.
Once we got our raw footage it was time to get started in Cinema 4D. After motion tracking the footage, which creates points in 3D space to use for the animated objects we placed the 3D IoT creatures in their planned locations, aligned with their relevant tracking points. From there, we modeled the movements of the creatures using their real-life counterparts as inspiration. This is where things got interesting as we had to account for the various joints of each creature. For example, we ended up using the general motion of the first black widow spider’s leg as a baseline for the other legs, then accounted for individual differences between the legs and height of the printer torso. Small details like this help sell the illusion, keeping viewers believing the object is truly part of the scene.
Once we finished adding all the objects, animation, lighting, and reflections to Cinema 4D, we were ready to render the various sequences. While there are a number of GPU-based rendering engines on the market, we use Redshift because it’s built to work seamlessly with Cinema 4D. While we also like Redshift for being fast, keep in mind that each rendered frame can take 3-5 minutes to render in high quality. So the actual render time can vary depending on the length and complexity of the shot. Thankfully, if a project has a tight timeline, you can either add additional GPUs to your rig or employ the aid of a render farm. At the end of the day, if the goal is to be as photo-realistic as possible, the project will likely lean towards the longer side.
Once we finished exporting all our renders from Cinema 4D, it was time to start loading the sequences into After Effects. Once imported, we dove into layering the various sequences. Once again, this is a stage where it was vital for us to take our time to ensure the best quality. At this stage, as you work with the sequences, you may notice some issues such as particular lighting not working well with some 3D objects. So take the time to adjust the color to match the lighting of the footage. Always remember, the goal is to create a life-like 3D render that nearly or fully fools the user into believing it’s real. Any adjustments to the passes should increase the believability that the 3D objects are native to the footage. Once we were satisfied with the lighting, shadows, and reflections applied to the 3D objects, all that was left was to export the finished product. And that’s how we successfully created a film that blends live-action with 3D digital assets!
Whether you’re trying to create the next big 3D-blended campaign ad or a short teaser video, the experts at Bluetext can help. Our professional videography team is eager to identify intriguing stories to tell and how best to capture them. Want to learn more about how Bluetext can help your video needs? Get in touch with us here. To learn more about our Thing Tamer campaign, check out the full breadth of our work here.
So you want to build hype for your campaign? Our campaign strategists at Bluetext have some tips for you. Assuming you’ve already started building out your campaign, you should have an idea of what your goals are. A common goal is to build awareness and excitement. When building excitement ahead of your launch, you want to bring an air of mystery. Balance announcing details of your campaign while leaving enough to the viewers’ imagination. Some effective teaser mediums include social media snackables, physical swag, email campaigns, or teaser trailers.
When Bluetext recently launched Phosphorus’ Thing Tamer, we decided to keep things mysterious. So, we began with the organic promotion of teaser videos to curate a collection of content for the dramatic launch of a full campaign without sacrificing ad spend. Once our audience’s interest was piqued by compelling graphics and intriguing headlines, we directed their attention to the campaign landing page. This landing page hinted at all things to come and encouraged users to sign up for exclusive notification of the launch. The landing page was designed to be as engaging as possible, with promotional movie posters, two different trailers of the Thing Tamer series, and on-scroll animation to introduce the personified things and interactive carousels to reveal campaign messaging and key stats. signed up for the email list, they received a thank you email that further teases at the Things to come.
The first trailer named the Beast Trailer worked to establish the problems Thing Tamer solves. Offices with countless enterprise IoT devices are at high risk of being exploited by unsuspecting sources. Each device has its own firmware and unique language making managing all of them a complicated process. Without giving too many details away, we put a spotlight on common problems enterprises face. This was followed up with the second trailer, which starts off by slowly revealing our hero, the Tamer, an IT version of Indiana Jones meets Crocodile Dundee. By shifting focus to our IT guy wearing the Tamer’s hat, users are able to envision themselves as the ones resolving their IoT devices’ vulnerabilities. The teaser strategy allowed for the campaign to slowly introduce the problem with an air of mystery, leaving them craving more for the full campaign to unveil the solution. Separating the story into digestible trailer videos keeps the target audience engaged for an extended period of time, building upon their interest and education with every touchpoint. Not only does it allow for multiple follow-ups and a nurture strategy, but the shortened length of each video also ensures that viewer attention does wane while watching a long-form video. Hitting the viewer with messages one at a time increases the likelihood of memory retention and builds upon Phosphorus’ brand association. At the end of the day, a successful message is one that users can connect with, and that’s just what we did.
Similar to Thing Tamer’s landing page where visitors could engage with different elements to learn more, the recent The Batman movie had a fun way of building hype ahead of the movie’s premiere. Visitors who found the secret website through a hidden message on the official movie poster were able to talk with the Riddler and solve additional puzzles. Those who solved the puzzles were rewarded with exclusive clips and pictures from the yet-released movie. Once the movie was released, Warner Brothers went a step further and updated the page to reflect the domain being seized by the fictitious Gotham police department. Warner Brothers managed to engage with their target audience over the course of weeks, thanks to a clever Easter Egg hidden in their posters. Being given the opportunity to dive into the Gotham universe in this unique way allowed the audience to connect with the film and get hyped for the official movie release.
Phosphorus also engaged in a few organic social media promotional posts to promote its campaign launch. Social media serves as a great opportunity when trying to build awareness. That being said, Phosphorus didn’t want to spoil too much, so we kept the captions short and used the two trailers and social snackables for the LinkedIn promotions. Utilizing cross-channel promotions and various forms of media increases the likelihood of your users finding your content and engaging with it. Again, at the end of the day, how can you build excitement if your campaign isn’t known? Agencies like us here at Bluetext have the expertise to guide you through the optimal campaign launch.
No two campaigns will be the same, and while the Phosphorus campaign succeeded based on its goals, your success isn’t a guarantee. At the end of the day, your best bet is to engage with a trusted campaign-focused agency to build hype for your campaign launch. Once you’ve launched, we work with you to drive paid marketing and PR efforts, ultimately driving users to engage with your business. Want to learn more about how Bluetext can help your campaign? Get in touch with us here. To learn more about our Thing Tamer campaign, check out the full breadth of our work here.
What’s the last campaign headline you remember? Odds are you probably saw the ad within the last couple of hours, but still couldn’t recall. People don’t remember bland corporate messaging, they remember bold and creative ideas. The physical and digital world is swarming with overused taglines and empty brand promises, steepening the uphill battle to stand out. Enter personification, a guiding hand in the effort to connect with target audiences. For years, corporations have been using people and creatures to personify the very real, but often intangible, challenges and solutions consumers face. From older instances such as Mr. Coffee Nerves to newer versions like Allstate’s Mayhem Man, these brand personifications help consumers connect on a more memorable, substantial level.
Think about it this way, are you more likely to remember a long list of features or a wild personality? Odds are, unless you’re a computer or robot, you’ll remember the personality much better. Why? Because you’re human which is exactly why personification tactics are so successful. Brands like Allstate have famously created characters around common but maybe overlooked problems to draw attention to how insurance can solve those problems. Putting a customer’s challenges in a palatable form makes it easier for them to face the problem and consider your brand as the best solution. That’s exactly what the Bluetext campaign and 3D motion graphics team did with Phosphorus’ Thing Tamer. Phosphorus is an enterprise IoT remediation solution with enriched data and visibility to defend every connected device, which in the Internet of Things revolution is far more than the average person expects. In our first trailer for the campaign, we establish the scale of various IoT devices around the office to put into perspective how vulnerable enterprises truly are. That printer in the corner? Fully hackable and could be a potential entry point for malicious actors. I bet you didn’t expect that threat lurking in the background. In the second trailer, we frame the problem as to how to protect the wide range of enterprise IoT devices we depend on daily and how with Phosphorus, a cybersecurity platform personified as an Indiana Jones-esque hero out to save the day. By assigning tangible symbols and actions to the problem and a face to the company Phosphorus enforces its capabilities and in an exaggerated but memorable storytelling way, can step in to save the day.
This strategy can work across many industries with the right approach. Varonis approached Bluetext to create a campaign around the idea of “avoiding unnecessary exposure.” Our campaign strategists ultimately chose the personification of cyber hacks and exposure as its shocking but memorable approach. Varonis works to secure unstructured data, so Bluetext’s campaign entailed a CEO walking around seemingly naked to convey the risky vulnerability of not securing company data. The campaign was a huge success at quickly catching customers’ attention, helping identify a potential problem they weren’t aware of, and providing them with the solution of working with Varonis.
Similar to Varonis, in Phosphorus’ first trailer we used a haunting Black-Ink Widow IoT device to portray a dangerous but unsuspecting vulnerability lurking around the office. Paired with intense jungle drum music, the scene evokes an apprehensive sense of being under constant threat. In the second trailer, Bluetext introduces the hero, Thing Tamer, surrounded by blue light and IT gear ready to hunt and defend against dangerous vulnerabilities. Paired with visuals of nefarious emoticon faces on IoT devices accompanied by red lights, we established a good versus evil theme that only Phosphorus’ Thing Tamer can tackle. The dramatic themes and high-impact visuals of the trailers are meant to provide audience interest and enforce the reality of IoT device vulnerabilities they may not notice lurking about at night. It sets the stage for a memorable, engaging story of how a security platform can quite literally step in as “Thing Tamer” to corral these unruly and beastly “Things”.
Another example successful brand personification campaign is the Maytag Man, a character that has been around for decades. Historically the Maytag Man was portrayed as lonely and bored because Maytag’s machines were so reliable that no one needed a repair man. However, a recent revamp personifies the machines as a strong, attractive, and ‘tough as steel’ Maytag Man throughout people’s homes. Similarly, when Bluetext ideated on potential names for Phosphorus’ campaign, we opted for simple alliteration pulled from the Internet of Things (IoT). Thus, the “Thing Tamer” was born. An easy to say, easy-to-remember name that ties back to what Phosphorus does and the ambitiously pioneering ethos. This charismatic adventurous hero increases the chances of customers remembering Phosphorus first when searching for IoT protection.
Whether you’re trying to be the next Mayhem Man or just have some fun with your personified brand, the experts at Bluetext can help. Our professional writing, creative, and video teams are eager to get your brand’s campaigns to the next level. Want to learn more about how Bluetext can help your campaign? Get in touch with us here. To learn more about our Thing Tamer campaign, check out the full breadth of our work here.
Marketers often approach their content strategy with the simple goal of conveying a message to their target audience. But nowadays, that’s not enough for maintaining an effective content strategy. Before a user ends up on your site, they typically search for information through one or more Google searches. These Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) are where users find results that the search engines deem to be the most relevant to the query. Depending on the relevance of the site content, users may also see a SERP Feature (a well-packaged snippet of information from the relevant search result’s page). This gives users a quick view of the information they are looking for while saving them time from digging through multiple pages. As a digital marketer, your content strategy should aim to meet the purposes of these possible SERP Features to increase your chances of being featured on SERPs and ultimately get a user to visit your site.
Nowadays, search engines have evolved to the point where they can determine the intent behind users’ searches to provide the most relevant results. As such, you need to be more deliberate in crafting your content to ensure it’s meeting your audience’s needs at their stage of the buyer’s journey. Ideally, you should have content that can accommodate all three phases, Awareness Stage, Consideration Stage, and the Decision Stage. But this isn’t always the case depending on your particular audience.
Raising Awareness for Your Audience
In the Awareness Stage, users know they have a problem and are actively searching for explanations of their problem. They aren’t quite ready to pick a solution, so any tools to quickly gather high-level information are beneficial here. This is where SERP Features come in handy. With a little planning, you can optimize your content’s likelihood to be featured in certain SERP Features such as Knowledge Graphs, Featured Snippets, Related Questions, Videos, or Images. All of these features will pull relevant content from your site so long as the search engine determines your content to meet certain criteria. In this stage, you want to make sure your content is very clear in explaining who you are, what services or products you offer, and the why/how of what you do. Oftentimes, including lists or FAQ-styled content is beneficial to search engine crawlers and webpage users!
Considering How to Connect With Your Audience
So now your audience has entered the Consideration Stage, they are looking for solutions and more specifically, how your solution can remedy their issue. Now your content should be more thorough and technical than in the Awareness Stage. Provide concrete examples of how your products or services can solve the user’s problem. Four useful features for this stage are Featured Snippets, Related Questions, Reviews, and Videos. The Featured Snippet works best when you answer the user’s query in very specific ways, whereas Related Questions works best for explaining the “why” behind a user’s query. Featuring product/service reviews on your site also allows you to show up for the Reviews feature which enables the user to better compare solutions and build trust. Lastly, the Videos feature provides a great opportunity to dive deeper into why your solution works for the user.
Convincing Your Audience to Make a Decision
By this point, your audience is at the end of the buyer’s journey and just about ready to decide which solution meets their needs. As part of the last steps, users now want to confirm which solution amongst the ones found in the Consideration Stage is best for them. At this stage, all of your content should be as thorough as possible to ensure you’ve answered any potential lingering questions your audience may have. Three Features that excel at accomplishing that are the People Also Ask, Videos, and Long-Form Content features. Tailoring your content to include technical details and statistics as well as client testimonials reassures the user that they’ve picked the right solution.
Overall, when creating a content strategy, no two sites will be the same. Each content strategy should be tailored to your audience and their stage of the buyer’s journey. From there, you can leverage content that is more likely to be shown in the SERP Features mentioned above. As a full-service digital marketing agency, our expert content writing and SEO teams at Bluetext can help determine who your audience is, what stage they’re in, and how best to tailor your content to be displayed in SERP Features. Want to learn more about how Bluetext can help your ad campaigns thrive? Get in touch with us here.
In true Google fashion, Google Ads is changing the way you can advertise again. Previously, you were able to create Expanded Text Ads (ETAs), but beginning June 30, 2022, all of your standard search campaign ads will need to include at least one Responsive Search Ad (RSA) per ad group. The good news is this can improve your search campaign’s performance if managed correctly. And at least for now, ETAs are not fully leaving. In fact, Google even recommends having two ETAs along with an RSA for each ad group. Diversifying your ad groups sounds great in theory, so maybe Google is doing digital marketers a favor. Nevertheless, change is change, even in the most advantageous versions. So let’s break down why including RSAs can help your business achieve campaign objectives.
First, What Are RSAs?
RSAs could be considered within the next-generation tech wave of AI marketing, almost like a self-driving car for your search campaigns. Responsive search ads let you create an ad that adapts to show more text—and more relevant messages—to your customers. Enter multiple headlines and descriptions when creating a responsive search ad, and over time, Google Ads will automatically test different combinations and learn which combinations perform best.
How do RSAs differ from ETAs?
One of the key differences between ETAs and RSAs is that RSAs are more dynamic. Rather than creating multiple ads for different users, now you can create a single RSA with various headlines and descriptions, then Google will automatically tailor the ad to fit the user’s needs. RSAs allow you to set up to 15 different headlines and up to 4 different descriptions. The drawback to this new method is that you can’t preview the exact combination of text users will see, so you need to ensure your headlines and descriptions can all work together. But more on that later!
While ETAs give you more direct control over your ads, they also require you to update them more frequently to remain relevant. RSAs however require fewer updates since they can provide fresh combinations of headlines and descriptions to users on each visit. This ensures your ad copy doesn’t go stale and can match up top-performing headlines to the potential customers. The tradeoff for this benefit is that RSAs typically take longer to set up, as they require more thought initially.
So how can you prepare?
One of the things you can start doing is experimenting with RSAs for testing purposes. Meaning, you should continue creating your ETAs for now, but supplement them with RSAs to get the hang of the upcoming change. This combined approach allows you to experiment with your optimal ad copy while also leveraging Google’s machine learning insights. Beyond that, you can experiment with pinning headlines in your RSAs. This gives you similar control of your ads to ETAs by ensuring specific copy appears in the first, second, or third position of your headlines.
Machine Learning-Based Recommendations
Google’s shift towards RSAs is pushing advertisers to rely on Google’s machine learning algorithm more and more. A benefit of this change is more relevant recommendations for your account’s performance. While these recommendations can help you discover new relevant features and improve your bidding strategy, an experienced digital marketing agency such as Bluetext can help steer your campaign to success.
Ongoing Performance Monitoring and Improvements
While the recommendations page can assist you in finding some trends based on historical data, you’ll still need valuable data to base those decisions on. That’s why any good campaign should utilize ad variants to test different messages. That way your historical data can reflect a range of ad variants and you can determine which combinations work best. This also allows you to determine the best way to tweak each ad for ongoing performance optimization.
When it comes to these ongoing performance-based adjustments, you should do your due diligence in checking the data. But data is data, without proper interpretation of insights, there are no actionable changes to truly optimize your ad spend. That’s where digital marketing expertise can make a difference. Bluetext’s search campaign experts are skilled at sifting through marketing data to identify trends and recommend areas for improvement. Want to learn more about how Bluetext can help your ad campaigns thrive? Get in touch with us here.
Mergers and acquisitions occur every day, but are they setting their companies up for success? One of the challenges with M&As is ensuring your company’s values remain clear in your brand’s image. Customers need to be assured that their service won’t change, but rather improve. Bluetext, as a full-service marketing agency, has a proven track record of helping companies navigate complicated integrations while increasing their overall value.
So your company went through an acquisition, why should you rebrand?
In any acquisition, companies are left with the challenge of combining two or more entities with different brand values. While acquisitions often enable companies to expand or improve their service, customers will inevitably remain skeptical until they see their trusted service remains up to par. Bluetext has the acquisition marketing knowledge to guide your company through a successful acquisition. By focusing on marketing from the start of your acquisition, you can seamlessly align previous companies’ brand values to a new, better than ever entity.
After the private equity firm GTCR acquired Sage Payments, they came to Bluetext to re-design and launch Paya, their joint venture. The initial launch was slated to create a simpler payment system for users but left much to be desired by their parent brand. Bluetext helped create a new corporate Visual Identity (CVI) that conveyed the essence of partnership. We conducted a logo study to find a logo that would convey the user-friendly nature of Paya while establishing it as a payment company. Additionally, by utilizing a dual-journey hero, we were able to satisfy two different customer needs while providing a unified site experience. Learn more about Bluetext’s brand development agency work in our Hall of Fame.
When Integrity Applications Incorporated was acquired by Arlington Capital Partners, they came to Bluetext as a trusted brand marketing agency to help launch their unified brand, Centauri. Opting for an approachable logo, we designed a custom lowercase typeface for Centauri that evokes a modern feel, complemented by a logo based on the Centauri constellation. Combining these visual elements helps establish Centauri as a trusted security company. To ensure all of this was successfully received by their customers, we launched a go-to-market campaign that encompassed PR, digital advertising, and social media.
How will new branding affect your business?
As with any change, it’s important to manage expectations. With our help, we can create a strategic plan to proactively reach out to your customers and explain any management changes at the brand launch. Set your customers’ minds at ease by letting them know what to expect from the merger. Energize your employees with the promise of the new brand, with everything from new corporate messaging to branded collateral. Geared with all the right communications tools, they can feel confident reaching out to customers and stakeholders on how the merger can benefit them. Beyond setting expectations, your new branding can build a stronger relationship with your customers. Kristopher Jones highlights the importance of leveraging your branding to connect with your customers on a more human level.
At the end of the day, change is tough — but necessary. To navigate a merger or acquisition successfully, partner with a digital branding agency that can guide you and execute your branding plan from day 1 through completion. If you want to minimize the growing pains and maximize the end results, get in touch with us to help develop your acquisition marketing strategy.
Whether you work for a big or a small company, I’m sure you’ve had the question of how to differentiate yourself from the competition. In the ever-growing B2B market, you want your brand to stand above the rest. Easier said than done, right? What if I told you that your market standing could be improved significantly through brand storytelling. Keep reading to learn more and how Bluetext can help you reach your branding goals.
Why Is Brand Storytelling Important For Me?
First of all, storytelling that is consistent with your brand allows your audience to peek behind the curtain to see more than just what you do and sell. Coupled with good company values, storytelling serves to humanize your brand, facilitating connections with your audience and explaining how and why you do and sell the things you do. As your audience gets exposed to your story, they’re more likely to identify with shared values.
While we often like to think fancy data callouts and graphics will convince your audience to convert, at the end of the day studies show we rely heavily on our subconscious feelings. Storytelling gives marketers the ability to share their products and services without diving into a hard sell. This allows your audience to be enticed by your company without being explicitly aware that they were pitched a product/service.
SonicWall
When SonicWall set out to update their messaging and branding to match their top-tier services across a variety of industries, they came to Bluetext. As a cybersecurity marketing agency, we were excited to work with SonicWall to bring their Boundless Cybersecurity to market with a bang. Previous campaigns had attempted to tell the Boundless story, but with muddled messaging and creative that didn’t result in conversions. Bluetext’s branding and creative team were tasked with bringing the Boundless Cybersecurity story to life. The new campaign focused on conveying a feeling of breaking free from cyber threats and thus feeling liberated. To visually communicate this, we designed imagery and messaging that supported this feeling of being free. Campaign ads depict a series of end-users in their industry floating in the air. This not only allows the audience to feel connected to their industry but also the benefits of being freed from the industry-specific challenges. The campaign was a smashing success, bringing a record number of visitors to their campaign landing page.
Why stop there? The Boundless brand story carried onto their annual partner event, which was turned virtual in the wake of COVID-19. Bluetext and SonicWall worked together to promote SonicWall’s Boundless 2020 Virtual event. This event resulted in a 135% increase in attendance over their previous events, going down in history as SonicWall’s largest virtual event ever.
Trusona
Trusona
Another great example of brand storytelling is Trusona. When Trusona wanted to reimagine their brand presentation and messaging they turned to Bluetext. Priding themselves on creating a secure experience for users without the hassle of passwords, we wanted to deliver a brand that conveyed their hassle-free nature. As with any story, consistency is key.,Bluetext designed a library of brand elements inspired by their logo to be used across all communications. Every time you see a brand element, you’re reminded of the Trusona brand and their brand promise to simplify authentication.
As a digital marketing agency, we’ve worked across industries to learn the most effective ways to convey a story and foster connection. These stories help your audience understand that you are more than just a faceless corporation, but rather a trusted partner.
Are you interested in working with a branding marketing firm to help tell your story? Contact Us!
In a year when in-person events and meetings aren’t possible and Zoom-fatigue has set in, you need a way to virtually interact with your audiences in an engaging way. Here at Bluetext, we’ve spent a lot of time perfecting our digital experience platform to help you connect with your audience. Keep reading to learn more about our briefing centers.
Targeted Audience Experience
As with any experience, you’ll want to tailor it to your specific audience. Whether your goal is to disseminate thought leadership or acquire leads, your messaging and resources should support your goal. While it’s difficult to create a custom experience for each user, our Digital Briefing Center platform supports creating custom virtual experiences for different audiences. This empowers you with the option to create a one-size-fits-all experience or multiple tailored experiences.
While we understand many tailored experiences sounds great, that can easily turn into a lot of content creation and maintenance. That’s why we work with every client to provide experience-based recommendations for your Briefing Center. Ultimately, we recommend leveraging your existing content alongside some tailored content for your audiences. Bluetext has plenty of experience creating content, see some of our work here. As a full-service marketing agency, we will help you create a content marketing strategy to ensure your content is valuable, engaging, and worthwhile for your audience.
User-Approved Design
As with any virtual event, it’s about the experience for your audience. From inception to launch, we’ve worked with our in-house UX experts and our clients to come up with the best design with the end users in mind. That means regardless of the content you end up using, our design will help it shine and push users to convert.
As a user visiting a Briefing Center for the first time, you can expect a welcoming and straightforward design. Here at Bluetext, we prioritize user experience design and go the extra mile to emulate a live in-person experience. For example, what would a user expect at any traditional event? Perhaps to enter a conference center lobby and be directed with agendas and introductions. So why not replicate that across a digital platform? A streamlined user journey is something we provide in any virtual experience, website design, or platform. With the ability to gate the experience for new users, you can capture key contact information for your CRM. As a return user, bypass the gate to access the experience with ease.
Connecting With Tailored Content
Every Digital Briefing Center uses tailored content specifically to meet your audience’s needs. From custom 3D environments to professionally recorded stakeholder briefings, your Briefing Center will convey key messaging in a personalized way. When you can’t meet your prospects in person, at least create the illusion of an in-person experience. Additionally, implementing live video and text chat capabilities can have your team on standby ready to talk with them.
Don’t let custom content intimidate you. Our team has mastered the remote video recording process. Using a comprehensive recording guide and video chats, we walk you through how to professionally capture any speakers you want to host in your experience.
A Partner You Can Trust
So you’ve decided on creating your own digital experience. What comes next? Bluetext has the industry knowledge to guide you step-by-step from discovery to video capture to launch. Want to learn more? Watch our video and contact us today to learn more.
So you want to host a webinar? In the wake of COVID-19, webinars are your safest option for meeting with your network. According to ON24, at the onset of COVID-19 webinar usage jumped up by more than 330% as a result of the work from home shift. Six months later and webinars are the new normal. So how can you ensure yours is as successful as possible? Check out our virtual experience tips below
Timing is Everything
Studies show that unlike before, your webinar is most likely to draw in participants if it’s held on a Tuesday. While webinars have increased in popularity across every day of the week, Tuesdays have proven to be the most effective. Additionally, any promotional emails for your webinar should be sent early to mid-week for maximum effectiveness. Let’s face it, most of us are most effective early in the week–before the week gets too crazy. Bluetext can help you put together and execute a comprehensive marketing plan to advertise your webinar when audience attention is highest. From coordinated social media posts, designing promotional email templates, and even creating and placing ads, Bluetext is ready to assist you every step of the way.
Tech Support
We’ve all come to learn with work from home protocols, technical difficulties have been encountered by the best of us. However, they can change the tone and impression of professionalism for every participant. As an experienced virtual event and webinar agency, we’ve learned a few ways to avoid this frustrating user experience. First, always conduct dry runs internally to ensure all your settings and equipment work properly–the last thing you want is for your host to have AV problems at the start of your webinar. Second, we recommend having team members on standby to provide any last minute tech support to your attendees. Third, have a backup plan! Whether you offer a second platform for viewing the webinar like Facebook Live or Twitch, or a backup laptop for your host, think through any potential issues ahead of time. Lastly, if you need to contact customer support, be prepared to wait. With the increase in virtual meetings, vendors are struggling to keep up with the tech support demand. That’s why we recommend preparing in advance and working with a trusted agency, such as Bluetext, that has experience troubleshooting these sorts of technical problems.
Resources
What good is a webinar if you don’t have actionable content for attendees to access? Whether you present a PowerPoint or review a whitepaper, attendees should have access to it all. The goal of a webinar is to engage and inform, so ensure any content you provide will be relevant for a few months. We also recommend having your resources link back to your site to increase engagement and keep your company top of mind. Additionally, ensure the content you share establishes you as a thought leader in your industry. Industry leadership is established by valuable content, but also professional and impressive brand identity. Be sure all of your collateral is aligned with your brand, contains digestible and insightful graphics or diagrams, and above all else creates a lasting and positive impression of your company. If your resources need a refresh, Bluetext is a full-service creative and copywriting agency that will ensure your content is as effective as possible.
Webinar Platforms
When it comes to webinars, there are countless platforms to choose from, but these are not one size fits all. So how do you know which is right for you? Each platform offers different features, branding opportunities, and security features. From experience in virtual networking and webinars, Bluetext has dug through all the major players and can recommend the platform that best fits your needs. We have been perfecting the webinar experience for the past few months with our virtual events and learned quite a few things along the way. Experience equates to first hand knowledge on what to expect from each platform, and the pros and cons the platform itself may not tell you.
Why settle for the same old webinar when you can increase engagement and memorability with a fully polished immersive experience. With our customizable virtual events, your users will feel like they’re attending an in-person conference again. In these times, a taste of normal is what we all need. Want to learn more about how Bluetext can help your webinar be a hit? Get in touch with us here.
What is responsive web design?
At its core, responsive web design uses a single layout for a web page then dynamically adapts to best fit the user’s screen, whether it’s a desktop, laptop, tablet, or a mobile device. This creates a seamless and recognizable experience for every user and session if viewed on a laptop one day, and on a mobile device the next.
Responsive web design not only improves user experience but also increases development and design efficiency. This method of web design is preferred over an adaptive approach since it reduces the number of layouts designers and developers need to account for. Rather than designing the same page for small and large desktops, tablets, and mobile devices, responsive design dynamically updates page layout to fit the users’ screen.
User Experience and Expectations
Welcome to 2020, where everyone is walking around with a miniature computer glued to the palm of their hands. Users have become more and more comfortable browsing online for everything from e-commerce to B2B research. Even if your business imagines themselves being primarily viewed at the office or on traditional desktop screens, you must accommodate for changes in user behavior. It’s highly likely that your users may find your website while browsing LinkedIn on their phone or tablet, or maybe Googling on-the-go. And if you have successfully captured their interest on a mobile device, you better prepare for a more thorough investigation on desktop. Your website now has two unique sessions that you should ensure are seamless and as familiar as possible. Imagine being blown away by a beautifully designed website, only to show your colleague the next day on your iPhone and find the mobile site clunky and unusable.
As Krisztina Szerovay explains responsive web design, nowadays, it’s more of an expected standard than a luxury for sites to utilize a responsive design. With a significant portion of site traffic coming from mobile, it’s more important than ever to ensure your site caters to all users regardless of screen size.
Work smarter, not harder.
Responsive web design provides many benefits such as increased flexibility, better SEO, reduced costs, and better mobile experiences. Instead of making a new design for each new device or screen size, rapid response allows you to stick with one design. Google recommends using responsive designs as they allow you to focus on a single page while also improving the mobile experience for users.
This approach is also cost-effective thanks to its faster implementation and easier management. Lastly, responsive designs’ simplified layouts provide your mobile users with more enjoyable experiences. And as we already know, with more and more web traffic coming from mobile, a good mobile experience is essential. Responsive web designs have even led to higher engagement, with users visiting more pages on average per visit.
A word of caution, trust the experts
While responsive web design has numerous benefits, it’s worth noting it’s not for every company. This method requires more up-front planning to ensure the design and experience are clear for users. But that’s where Bluetext comes in, our experienced designers and developers collaborate to develop a site that not only meets your goals but also works across all devices.
Indirectly, the responsive method provides additional benefits. Since your site must be designed for all the content to be repositioned based on the users’ screen, we work with you to find the simplest and clearest way to convey your message. Often, responsive designs benefit from a very straightforward design. For example, Apple doesn’t change any of the content that’s shown on their desktop site compared to its mobile site, the only difference is their menu and content placement. With the knowledge of industry best practices, we can guide you every step of the way from content placement to functionality.
Read more about how we recently designed and developed a fully responsive site for Challenger. Our team created a site with current best practices for content functionality while giving more flexibility to the back-end users to accommodate various user journeys.
