I like all phases of production, and I’m one of the lucky guys who usually gets to be very involved in all three phases of a project. It means we do fewer projects, but it also means I get to make sure the quality and vision are there. Back in the day, filmmakers regarded post production as a mysterious black box, something they weren’t involved with. George Lucas pretty much blasted through that stereotype, but even today, some filmmakers aren’t very hands-on or knowledgeable with post. What a huge mistake! Can you imagine leaving a third of your story up to someone else who doesn’t grok your vision? Can you imagine being on set and not knowing exactly what you need to capture for a shot? But it happens. Then again, there’s the amazingly hands on filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez. I love his credits in some of his movies: “shot, chopped, and scored by”. Nice!

Anyway, I’m in post now, and I’m finding that we’re basically rewriting a lot of the work, whether visually (setting emphasis on something else in frame, relighting something digitally, or placing an element in a whole different background) or, sometimes, actually messing with the delivery of the dialog in the spots so things flow better. It’s truly mind boggling, the things we can change- and hopefully improve- with good post production. Yes, it takes a huge effort. Sometimes it’s tedious, too. But the results are amazing, and totally worth it.

Our RED Rocket is getting a huge workout on this stretch, and I’m excited to see how it fares with our new DaVinci color station. Supposedly they’ll work together very nicely. Some of the other tools we’re using for these spots are the whole Adobe CS5 suite, Final Cut Studio, a huge number of products from Imagineer Systems, and Shake. Shake’s one of those tools I always think we’re done with, but it seems there’s always one or two tasks it does more elegantly than anything else in our toolbox.

I love post production.  Knowing all phases of production is vital- there’s no way we could have shot for a week like we did and gotten everything needed for these 4  tv spots, otherwise. Call me the postman.

A former mentor and client stopped by the other day, and as part of our catching up he said he noticed that one of the services we provide is social media marketing. He told me that he’s seen a bunch of companies try social media marketing and fail miserably, so the rest of our meeting was talking about why that is. After all, social media marketing is the hottest new trend for businesses and organizations of all sizes, and there have been a lot of wins in this space- when businesses do social media right, the payoff is huge. So, why do so many companies fail in their social media marketing efforts?

We came up with one major reason. Apathy. That’s right. Plain old disinterest and inability to see social media marketing for what it is: an amazing way to reach your audience, and convert customers into evangelists.

I know, it sounds harsh to say that most companies who try social media are lazy butts who don’t really “get it”. But I’d say about two thirds of the companies who come to us think  social media is about an occasional tweet or Facebook posting. They’re still thinking push instead of interact. They think social media marketing is akin to a record company hiring a street team to promote a band’s album, that it’s merely a promotion effort. It isn’t. They’re thinking one-way, shallow, and wide- but they should also be thinking two-way, deep, and focused.

Most of those guys also think social media marketing is something to just bolt onto their organization and they’ll instantly rake in the profits.

We do our best to help educate clients on how best to use social media as part of their marketing mix, but it doesn’t always work- the client has to be willing to learn and to be a part of the process.

Social media marketing, when done right, requires a true commitment from the organization. We need access to a client’s marketing and executive team. We need to get inside a client’s business and learn what makes it tick. We need to be in marketing meetings with your company, to know what campaigns are being developed and pushed in traditional media. We need to know your company, and we need to have access to people who really know your company’s story and values- and the answers to the kinds of questions we may be asked when working to promote your brand and helping to develop these relationships with your audience. In the end, social media marketing take commitment from every person in your organization, and a certain amount of transparency on the organization’s behalf. Yes, it also takes money and time.

Most companies are not willing to put in the effort. So, they relegate their “social media” efforts to the occasional Facebook status update and tweet. It’s pure laziness. And that’s why they fail.

(cool Fail stamp by Hans Gerwitz)

Now it’s time to hunker down in post-production. Always fun.

Maybe the economy is coming back, maybe businesses are realizing what a great deal digital marketing is, or maybe people are just figuring out what a great deal we are. Whatever the reason, we’ve been fortunate to grow the business. As we’ve grown, I’m still involved in most aspects of the company, but I’ve decided that it’s time for me to set some standards for the clients and projects we take on.

You know what that means- manifesto time! Hey, guiding principles are a good thing, and I expect everyone at PatrickOrtman, Inc. to follow these principles when an opportunity to grow our client list comes to us.

Of course, I’m a big believer in transparency so I’m sharing my little manifesto with the world. Maybe it’ll help your digital agency- or whatever type of business you run- to set up and codify your own set of guiding principles? After all, you can’t have a revolution without a manifesto! Without further ado:

1) Every project and client we take on will get our best efforts, and the personal attention and resources necessary to knock it out of the park. At the same time, we expect that any client we work with will do their part in providing us the resources so that we can knock their project out of the park. The best client relationships go both ways.

2) When we choose to work with a client, we will be honest and truthful in all our dealings with them. We are not ‘Yes Men’, and when we disagree with a client we will, as tactfully as possible, tell them where we stand. After all, a client hires us for our expertise. Similarly, we expect our clients to be honest and truthful with us, too.

3) We will not work with a client who does not meet our standards of being an ethically run organization. We hate liars, spammers, users, and shady people. Dealing with those types of clients makes us feel so icky that bathing in champagne and $50 bills doesn’t remove the stink. No, thanks!

4) We will not compete on price. We’re certainly not the most expensive digital agency out there, but we’re also not the cheapest and we don’t want to be. We love creating great work, and great work deserves to be well and fairly paid.

5) Every project we do has to be interesting, in some way. Sure, this sounds a bit high-falutin’ at first, but think about it: we’re creative people. To do our best work we need to be engaged. For us to be engaged, there has to be something about the gig that’s interesting to us. We’re not clock-punchers, we’re not assembly line workers. There’s other, lesser digital agencies that fill that role. We’re artists and craftsmen.

6) Similarly, we understand that part of what makes us special is we’re constantly learning new things and finding ways to apply our knowledge to our clients to help them improve their businesses. Too many companies only care about this quarter’s bottom line, and have cut down or eliminated the ‘R” in R&D. Not us. Therefore, from this day forward I am implementing a program where everyone at PatrickOrtman, Inc. is to spend at least one full day a month working on something they want to work on that is not client-related. This could be as simple as adding a feature to a website CMS, figuring out a more efficient video production pipeline, shooting an experimental short film, learning a new technology that could be used with website design, or playing with some new features in Photoshop. The idea is, I want to encourage everyone here to do something creative and not directly client-related for at least one full day a month.

Of course, everyone- myself included- has to present our findings/film/photos, or whatever at a company meeting the next week. The idea is to stretch, to grow. And to share that knowledge.

So, for now that’s my manifesto. I’m interested in any ways to grow this document and make it better, so if you have an idea- share!

There are many times when it’s important to focus, and I haven’t yet met a web designer or digital production person who was incapable of Yoda-like concentration and focus, when the situation demands.

But sometimes, it’s a bit easy to be so focused on the minutia that one can miss the bigger picture, and if you’re a boutique digital agency like we are, that can really hurt you. There are times when one needs a larger perspective, and this is particularly important when choosing a new client.

I know, I’m used to some static from web guys everywhere- “what do you mean, choosing a client? That’s a luxury most of us mortals don’t have! We take what we can get!” I hear you, I do. But every time I’ve believed that- that we needed to take what we can get- it’s bitten us in the butt. You’d think I’d have learned by now, but I’ll admit that even I sometimes forget that it’s important to be picky when you decide who to work with. Everyone needs a reminder, once in a while, I guess.

Here’s a few questions I like to ask myself and my team before we take on a new client. I’m not saying we always follow this advice, but I will admit that when we don’t we always regret it:

Does the client have the money to make this project happen?
This is pretty important. If a client has no money, you’re unable to do much at all. Always get the budget range right up front.

Does the client have the vision, experience, and trust to accept your guidance?
The client is hiring you for your expertise. They need to be able to clearly communicate their vision to you, and have the experience and trust necessary to let you do your best work. Otherwise, it turns into a punch-the-clock situation. That’s no good for anyone.

Does this client have growth potential?
To me, I’m not so interested in one-off clients. I want us to find and work with clients who want to keep us around for a decade or more. I want a client who knows their business, and wants to grow. These are satisfying relationships.

Is this client someone you’d be happy to work with even if you had twenty million dollars in the bank today?
This is the big perspective-helper for me. Look, at the end of the day money’s just a number. To me, the most satisfying feeling is working with a client who we actually like. Believe it or not, last week I fired a new client when I found out she wasn’t the kind of person I want us to do business with. Personality counts, because again I want to work with clients for the longterm.

I’m not saying that these questions will guarantee you’ll always make the best decisions. But a little perspective can really help when it comes time to choose the most important members of your team outside your agency. Your clients influence everything about your agency, so it’s vital that you choose them wisely.

Hey there, MK here! It’s time for another social media wrap-up! First and foremost, we’ve added a new page to our own website that has a ton of useful social media marketing resources. Check it out! We’ll be adding a lot of stuff to it, so check back often for more social media goodness.

Two articles really jumped out at me this week. So, without further ado:

http://mashable.com/2010/06/17/myspace-loses-a-co-president/
Another exec leaving Myspace, this is not at all shocking. I remember in 2005, Myspace was THE place to be….complete with its awful user interface. I will admit that sometimes I will venture over to Myspace to check out a band, but I don’t even have an account up anymore. All my contacts are on Facebook and LinkedIn, so that is where I am as well. But I suppose they will keep trying…they being the few Myspace execs left. Will it work? Who knows. That’s the thing about social media- it’s always changing and mutating. You gotta stay up on this stuff!

http://socialmouths.com/blog/2010/06/07/how-to-set-social-media-goals/
I’m really enjoying this article. Basically don’t take for granted that looking at charts and counting your campaign retweets will tell you everything. Set some goals and follow up on them as well. Look at exactly what metrics you need to be monitoring and don’t waste your time on the rest. Look at things from another angle and get creative!

And finally, I’m taking a look at what’s trending on Twitter right now. You know, I haven’t watched more than 10 seconds of the NBA finals and yet, I know exactly who’s on what team and how each are doing just by looking at my Twitter feed. I love that because of social media, I can have a (somewhat) intelligent conversation with my boyfriend about the finals having not watched  a single moment of it. Haha!

OK, that’s the end of this edition of Social Media Friday- have a great weekend!

(Silly but true cartoon courtesy of Hubspot, of course)

Slideshow not showing? Click here to view the photos on Flicker.