• 3 Things to Look for When Watching a Video Sizzle Reel

    3 Things to Look for When Watching a Video Sizzle Reel

    At year’s end, most video production houses should be recapping their latest and greatest work into a short video for the world to see. Also known as the “sizzle reel,” this video showcases said video house’s best work and truly provides good insight into the group’s production value, quality, aesthetics, and knowledge in industry. This best-of-the-best video is ultimately edited very intentionally to project or parallel the type/style of video the House wants to be creating in the future, so I’m offering some tips of what to look for when watching a video house’s sizzle reel. If you’re a B2C or B2B content marketer or business in need of a video and researching production houses, keep an eye on these key elements within a sizzle reel:

    1. Production Value

    A simple quality control check, ask yourself this question: does this look good to me? From drones to jibs and image stabilizers to dollys and sliders, there’s nearly an infinite amount of production gear readily available to video producers to create dynamic video that help craft your story and detail your message. A professional video house should be using ALL of them, and not resting on the laurels of any given one. The sizzle reel should exemplify all facets of production tools and techniques. And two major things that are equally as important as the video quality are the lighting and audio. Lighting sets the tone and mood of the picture so working beyond just natural lighting is important. And many splashy sizzle reels tend to omit audio clips and soundbites, choosing to let the music bed do the talking, but we all know that audio can make or break a video so it’s important to provide examples of professionalism.

    After these essential fundamentals, it’s important to dive a little deeper and acknowledge the editing choices and techniques showcased in the sizzle reel. Shot selection in a sizzle reel is important to acknowledge because every video editor should be very deliberate in any video project; each shot should tell it’s own story in some way. In a sizzle reel, each shot should highlight some facet of the video house’s production value: camera movement, framing, lighting, audio, video coverage type, and/or industry knowledge. Lastly, bonus points for advanced editing techniques such as timelapses, transitions, overlays, color grading, motion graphics, animation, etc.

    2. Industry Knowledge

    In a 1-to-2 minute sizzle reel, there’s plenty of opportunity to showcase one’s expertise in any particular industry. Especially when, to reiterate, the sizzle reel is a video house’s opportunity to present the type of work they want to be doing. As a content marketer, it’s important when reviewing a sizzle reel to note what type(s) of industry said video house has produced work with/for because each has it’s own opportunities and challenges. Primarily working with an industry that’s based mostly outdoors vs. working indoors is probably the most obvious, but others include: product vs. service, people vs. places, and action vs. static.

    Working with a creative services group that’s in-house of a PR and social media agency offers a wide berth of industry perspective and knowledge that ultimately translates cross-businesses. Not being stuck in just one industry can open up possibilities for how you look at other projects, and allows for fresh perspectives as well as best practices when creating different types of videos.

    3. Story-telling

    A video house’s expertise can fall under any number of arenas: company explainers, thought leadership, company or product launches, testimonials, recruitment, lifestyle, event coverage, social media, live broadcasting, etc. And obviously a sizzle-reel is a compilation of many such individual stories. But it’s important that the sizzle reel should tell a story within itself as well. A content marketer should be able to watch the sizzle reel and have a good understanding of the video house’s service offerings as well as the expertise they can bring to the table.

    If you’re a content marketer who plans to produce engaging and compelling video, we’d love to brainstorm your ideas. What types of video do you intend to create? Check our Agency Reel:

     

    Tim Bradley

    , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  • PR Agency Matter Communications Wins ‘Agency of the Year’ Award in 2015 Best in Biz Competition

    Award Winners Selected by Top Media & Analyst Groups (Newburyport, MA) – December 4, 2015 – Matter Communications, an award-winning PR and social media firm with in-house creative services and search marketing groups, has been named a Silver Winner in the 2015 Best in Biz Awards in the PR Agency of the Year category. Best in Biz Awards are the only independent business awards program judged by members of the press and industry analysts.

    Matter Communications is one of the fastest-growing public relations and social media firms in the country that has won five ‘Agency of the Year’ accolades in the past two years. This award also comes on the heels of Matter’s announcement last month that it was honored as one of Massachusetts’ best employers in The Boston Globe’s annual Top Places to Work magazine.

    “It is truly humbling and exciting to be honored as an ‘Agency of the Year’ again this year by the Best in Biz Awards,” said Matter Founder and CEO, Scott Signore. “To be recognized as a leader in our industry by the media and analyst groups we work with every day is testament to the staff we have here at Matter, and I could not be more proud.”

    Winners of Best in Biz Awards 2015 were determined based on scoring from an independent panel of 46 judges from highly recognized newspapers, business, consumer and technology publications, radio outlets, and analyst firms. This year’s judging panel included several worthy additions to the high-profile group. The panel included contributors to ABC, About.com, Bloomberg Businessweek, Buffalo News, Business News Daily, Chip Design Magazine, Computerworld, Consumer Affairs, CRN, ECT News Network, eWeek Channel Insider, Fast Company, Fierce Online Video, Forbes, FOX News Latino, Hartford Business Journal, Inc. Magazine, InfoRisk Today, Information Week, King Features Syndicate, L.A. Biz, MediaPost, Motley Fool, PE HUB, Phoenix Business Journal, Portland Business Journal, ReadWriteWeb, San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley Business Journal, Small Business Digest, South Florida Business Journal, Tech Cocktail, Wired, Woman’s Day and Xconomy. For a full list of gold, silver and bronze winners in Best in Biz Awards 2015, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2015-winners.

    About Best in Biz Awards

    Best in Biz Awards recognizes top companies, teams, executives and products for their business success as judged by established members of the press and industry analysts. Best in Biz Awards honors are conferred in two separate programs annually: North America, and International. Entries will begin to be accepted in the fourth annual Best in Biz Awards International program in January 2016. Any organization worldwide may enter any of the more than 60 company, department or team, executive and product categories. For more information about the entry process and categories in the International program, please visit: http://intl.bestinbizawards.com.

    About Matter Communications

    Headquartered north of Boston in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with offices in Providence, Rhode Island, Portland, Oregon, Boulder, Colorado and Boston, Matter Communications executes creative, results-driven public relations and social media programs on behalf of clients across the U.S. and Europe. Matter maintains a broad portfolio of clients in high-technology, consumer-technology and consumer markets – including, among many others, Akamai, FootJoy, Harris Corporation, Lexar Media and Verizon Wireless. Founded in 2003, Matter’s PR services include company and product launches, product reviews, analyst and media relations, social media, crisis communications and thought leadership programs. The company offers an in-house creative services group, as well as a search marketing team. For more information, please go to https://www.matternow.com or visit the PR Whiteboard blog.

    Media Contact

    Parry Headrick
    VP of Marketing
    [email protected]
    978-518-4547

    Matter

  • 6 Best Practices for Creative Content Marketing in 2016

    Here at Matter Communications – and likely similar to PR agencies globally – all of our PR professionals are busy wrapping up 2016 planning with and for their respective clients. But what separates our group of PR pros from the competition is the fact that they’re able to efficiently and effectively incorporate creative content marketing into said plans because of our in-house creative services, Studio-C by Matter Communications.

    Having a written creative content marketing strategy is important, as it will inform the creative content you’re producing, and ultimately the effectiveness of the strategy overall. Here are 6 steps to ensure your business has a successful creative content strategy in 2016:

     
    1. Have a clear objective
    Direct and simple is the key. You should be able to say the objective in one sentence.

     
    2. Know your target audience
    “Consumers” or “everyone” are not your audience. You have to target your audience – hence the term. Deliberate demographics are a must.

     
    3. Know how your audience engages with content
    Facebook, right? Maybe. But with the plethora of social mediums (Instagram, Vine, YouTube, SnapChat, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.), there’s likely a better way that just throwing your content up on Facebook and hoping for the best. That, and most companies have an intranet. Or they may collaborate with spokespeople and brand ambassadors. Or they might be hosting or attending an event. There’s certainly a number of ways to engage with your audience – you need to figure out what’s best.

     

    4. Have a clear call-to-action
    Why are you creating this piece or pieces of content in the first place? To gain “likes” or “comments” or “shares”? Or to “sign-up” or “call” or “join”? Going back to your objective, decide on the call-to-action at the beginning stages of the project and make the plea obvious to the audience throughout (or at least of the end) of the creative content.

     
    5. Have more than one creative tactic
    Go back to your objective and ask, is this video/infographic/microsite/mailer the best way to achieve it? Yes? Even so, it needs to be part of a larger strategy if you expect results. Having a wide birth of creative content targeted at your audience will allow you to compare/contrast results and ultimately see what’s the best tactic to move towards your objective. The average number of tactics used by B2C marketers in 2015 were 12.

     
    6. Know how to measure success
    Ultimately there isn’t an exact science for measuring creative content ROI, but at Matter we’ve created a framework to benchmark for ROI success for clients. This framework will help define what success means to your clients and how to measure it – either against the competition or against individual pieces of creative content:

    6a. Clearly define 3-5 measurable goals

    • B2B Examples: lead generation, sales, lead nurturing, brand awareness, engagement, customer retention/loyalty, customer evangelism, upsell/cross-sell
    • B2C Examples: sales, customer retention/loyalty, engagement, brand awareness, customer evangelism, lead generation, lead nurturing, upsell/cross-sell

    6b. Select Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you can track

    • General performance: traffic, new leads, reach, subscriptions
    • Channel-based: website, blog, social networks, search engines
    • Source-based: direct traffic, organic search, referrals, email, ppc
    • Campaign-based: demand gen/lead nurturing, opens, click-throughs, conversions
    • Sales funnel: new leads, opportunities, customers
    • Direct impact on sales: qualified leads handed off the sales
    • Revenue-based: cost per lead, marketing contribution to pipeline

    6c. Create and use content that’s going to move the needle

    6d. Gather data and calculate your investment

    6e. Use this data to make better decisions

    Research shows 60% of companies who have a documented strategy rate themselves highly in terms of content marketing effectiveness, compared to the 32% effectiveness of those who only have a verbal strategy. The takeaway: it’s important to have a written strategy for creative content marketing in 2016 so you can measure successes and ultimately make better decisions.

    Tim Bradley

    , , , , , , , , ,

  • A Trip from PDX to NBPT: Bi-Coastal PR

    Working in Matter’s Portland office has many great perks, like the city’s love of all things food, however when offered the chance to work from the Newburyport office for part of the week I jumped at the chance to spend time in company headquarters. Matter’s emphasis on bi-coastal teams brings opportunity to interact with many of our NBPT based colleagues, so settling into the office was like a friendly field trip.

    Being a part of these bi-coastal teams gives me insight into their perks:

    1.       Extra Client Service Time

    Having team members on the East Coast up and running three hours prior to the West Coast team, and having the West Coast team online for three hours after the end of the day East Coast creates a higher level of access for the client.

    2.       In Person Meeting Availability

    In PR, we know that there is great value to in person meetings, not only with the press, but with the client as well. Having team members on opposite coasts means that we are easily able to navigate to a close office to meet with our clients, having a friendly and familiar face in the room in addition to those on the phone. This means that we are more able to integrate into the clients day to day, gaining valuable insight into the operations and needs in house.

    3.       Breaking News Capability

    Should news break at 7:00 pm ET there is no need to panic, the West Coast team has you covered. Similarly, if news breaks at 8:00 am ET, the East Coast team is able to jump on the opportunity and pull information together, pitch and have the West Coast team brought up to speed before they even get to the office.

    Making the trip from Portland to Newburyport gave me even greater appreciation for the teams that I am a part of and the work that we do across both the East and West Coast.

    Matter