Patrick Ortman, Inc.

Superhero Series: Be Precise!

Written By: Patrick on April 26th, 2010

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The best source of new clients for your digital/interactive agency, or any business, is positive word of mouth from your current clients. One sure way to make sure you don’t get good word of mouth from those clients is to approach your project budgeting and estimates without care.

Too many web design and digital marketing firms don’t take the time to really estimate their costs and the scope of the project, so they consistently underbid on jobs. Sure, this might get you the initial nod from a client, if they’re only purchasing services based on price, but it always- every time!- leads to serious problems down the line.

It’s a very dangerous game, you’re playing, when you underestimate things.You see, clients don’t like (more…)

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New Website Design: Go Body

Written By: David on April 26th, 2010

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We’re happy to announce we’ve launched the newly redesigned Go Body website. This is the phase one launch of our new nutritional beverage client’s website, and it includes the bones to let us grow the site for them over time, as Go Body comes to a store near you.

The website follows web standards, of course, and it’s meant as a slightly tongue-in-cheek introduction to the drink, as well as a nutritional information source. The website features a JQuery driven Who Drinks Go Body section that will grow to include slideshows and video of Go Body users, and right now we’re featuring Boston Marathoner Mark Kramer and a North Carolina college student named Kelsey. We’ll be adding a kickboxer from Austin and more Go Body users soon!

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Social Media Marketing Friday: Welcome To Our Vlog

Written By: MK on April 23rd, 2010

Yo, MK here! In the “practice what you preach” tradition, we’re proud to announce our new company vlog. What’s a vlog? Well, it’s a blog except it’s done in video. Vlogs are about capturing a moment, and are informal, casual, and personal. The idea behind a vlog is to forge a personal connection between you and your audience.

We decided the best vlogs capture a sense of immediacy, without fancy graphics or soundtracks. So, that’s what we’re going for with our vlog. In fact,we made a decision that absolutely everything in our vlog was to be conceived, shot, and edited within an iPhone 3Gs. Seriously- no desktop computer or laptop touched these episodes. We’re keeping it real, people.

Here’s episodes one and two. Stay tuned here or join our Facebook page for more!

Episode 2, Go Body Launch and Web Standards

Episode 1, On Being Prepared

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Superhero Client Relations: On Being Reliable

Written By: Patrick on April 13th, 2010

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Last week we got a call from a small local company. They’d hired a web designer who took their money, started the job, and then blew them off. This put the company in a real bind- they needed to have their website live and running before a major show. It’s kind of funny/strange to me that one of the biggest no-brainers around needs to be stated sometimes, but here it is: if you take on a job, be reliable.

It’s probably fair to say that about a third of the web design projects we get come from clients who are frustrated at a previous website design agency’s unreliability. Now, sure, a few of those situations are probably really the client’s fault. But a lot of the time, especially with freelancers, things get busy and clients fall between the cracks, causing a bad taste (more…)

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Social Media Marketing Friday: Twitter Tips

Written By: MK on April 9th, 2010

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Hey! Welcome to Social Media Friday! MK, here, it’s good to see you again. Let’s talk about Twitter today. Why? Because so many companies are doing it wrong. I help manage a number of Twitter accounts for clients here at PatrickOrtman, Inc., including my own. Our Twitter campaigns have been pretty successful, so I feel qualified to tell you where you’re falling down. Hey, I want to help!

The number one most important thing is to listen and respond with personality. I, of course, like to hear myself talk and by doing so I tweet! But I also know the importance of listening to others and reading what they have to say, even if I don’t know them. If you don’t listen, people on Twitter will start to tune you out. Don’t just broadcast your specials. Get interactive.

For example, I work the HandClens Twitter account.  I tweet about HandClens but I also retweet and reply to what others have to say about things that have little to do with sanitizer. The brand is a seriously awesome product, but without personality nobody cares. When I respond or retweet I always make it light and try to show the brand’s personality, and by golly, it works! I listen, I care, I pay attention…then the magic starts.

Another example is the SoCal 7-11 Twitter Team. I’ve been impressed that every time to I go to 7-11 and tweet that I bought an apple, etc, from them that I’ll almost immediately find a response from their Twitter Team. Sure, it’s a lot more touchy-feely than most companies are used to, but the truth is this style of personal marketing works. I can’t help but feel a warm feeling in my heart when I buy something at 7-11. And now I’ve told the world about how cool that is. Mission accomplished, guys!

Of course there’s a ton of other Twitter rules your company should follow, such as not posting too much and when to post. We’ll get to all that in a later edition of Social Media Marketing Friday. Just remember that by being personable and reaching out, you gain a lot more respect and trust and therefore, followers on Twitter.

Follow us: @patrickortman

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Happy Endings

Written By: Patrick on April 5th, 2010

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OK, get your mind out of the gutter. Today we’re talking about why your job, as a creative agency, isn’t done until every last detail is completed, signed off on, and paid for by your happy, smiling client. It doesn’t matter how brilliant your design or creative work is, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been an awesome project manager, it doesn’t matter if you took them out for lunch or martinis. If you just take the money and run, doing the least you can get away with to get paid, then you’ve failed.

First of all, you’re supposed to be in this industry because you love what you do. Show the love. Get excited! After all, you’re changing the world, here, right? You do know that your enthusiasm is contagious. Love what you do, and go the extra mile.

Oh, the client got you down with their petty crap. Well, that happens. Sometimes you can’t change a client, but oftentimes you can. I choose to first go for the possibility of changing the relationship, making it more positive, than the gutless choice to hunker down and do the bare minimum to get paid.

Why’s this stuff matter? Because if you’ve been at this game for any length of time you’ve noticed that repeat business and word of mouth is your best friend. And I’m sure you’ve noticed that people tend to remember the most recent interaction with you more than, say, the stellar meeting you had three months back.

Happy endings really do matter. Sure, if a client’s a nutcase then cut the ties. But remember, first finish up the project, and do it in a classy way. Your bank account and client roster will definitely thank you!

Cool The End Photo

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Maybes, Mights, and Possibly

Written By: Patrick on April 2nd, 2010

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Most website design and video projects have to go through a lot of hoops, committees, and decision makers before they see the light of day. This isn’t an intrinsically bad thing, until and unless a project gets bogged down in the land of maybes, mights, and possibly. That’s right, this article is about decisiveness.

Whether it’s architecture, advertising, or network television the ability to make decisions is a huge part of a project’s success or failure. Failures to confidently make solid decisions include the swaths of beige tract houses in the suburbs, most advertising, and a whole lot of network television. Every time a decision is deferred or an answer is waffled, your project marches towards mediocrity. Mediocrity means failure, in today’s business climate. Nobody wants that. So how do you fight the good fight and make your project the best it can be?

You won’t like the answer. The answer’s not easy. (more…)

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We tell our clients' stories in a digital world. The kinds of projects we do include corporate, web, and tv commercial video production, and digital and interactive strategy consulting. If it involves zeros and ones, we're your huckleberry.

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