• The Latest + Greatest from Creative Services: December 2017

    The Latest + Greatest from Creative Services: December 2017

    Happy Holidays from your Creative Team!

    This month the video team worked on customer success stories and key product offer explanations to assist their clients’ marketing and sales initiatives.

    And on the design side, the team worked on everything from law firm collateral to holiday campaigns. Check it out below!

    Have an idea you’d like to work with us on? Contact us today!

     

    Video Production

     

    Broadway Video Prepares For 4K Demand With Hitachi

    Hitachi Vantara

    width=This Customer Success Story focuses on leading Entertainment Production Company, Broadway Video (SNL, NBC’s Late Night Lineup, and much more), and how Hitachi’s Next-Gen Flash Storage and Data Services help them tackle the rigors of modern Video Production with ease.
    Watch the Video!

     

    Enabling And Securing Digital Identities

    SailPoint Technologies

    width=Leading up to their IPO on the NYSE last month, Identity Governance and Management company, Sailpoint Technologies, called on us to help with several video assets, including this in-depth overview utilizing motion graphics to explain their key product offerings.
    See it Here!

     

    Bigtincan Success Story: Hologic

    Bigtincan

    width=Healthcare and diagnostics company, Hologic, shares their story of increased productivity and stronger customer engagement through their use of Bigtincan Hub, the industry’s leading Sales Enablement Automation Platform. This video will be used for marketing and sales purposes.
    Check it Out!

     

     

    Graphic + Web Design

     

    ZMAGS Holiday Campaign

    ZMAGS

    width=With the holiday season upon us Zmags worked with the creative team to create an end of year holiday campaign to feature their content creation platform, Creator. The team designed custom illustrations, GIF’s and user experience that viewers could engage with.
    Get in the Holiday Spirit Here!

     

    Potomac Law Folder

    Potomac Law Group

    width=Potomac Law was looking to refresh some of their internal print collateral emphasizing that they wanted the designs to have a clean and modern feel.
    Check out the Collateral!

     

    Fill out the form below to schedule a free strategy call with our team.



     

     

    Matter

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  • The Latest + Greatest from Creative Services: October 2017

    The Latest + Greatest from Creative Services: October 2017

    In-between the candy and the costumes of October, we have worked with a range of clients on some not-so-spooky video and design projects for you to check out.

    Have an idea you’d like to work with us on? Contact us today!

     

    Video Production

     

    Celebrating 100 Years in Business

    Haley’s Metal Shop

    width=Founded in 1917, Haley’s Metal Shop is a trusted, 5th generation family business serving the greater Portland, ME community with premier residential and commercial HVAC services. To celebrate their 100-Year Anniversary, we created this video to honor this rare milestone.
    Watch the Video!

     

    The Future of Your Business is Data Centric

    Hitachi Vantara

    width= This video began as an event kickoff for Hitachi Data Services’ “Next2017” conference, but – thanks to a well-timed rebranding – blossomed into a bold mission statement to coincide with the launch of their new brand: Hitachi Vantara.
    See it Here!

     

    Helping Rent the Runway Navigate Market Challenges

    RSM US

    width= With complicated business and technology challenges at every corner, Rent the Runway relies on RSM to help make critical business decisions. Working together, they have built a cohesive team to help drive the technology and business success of Rent the Runway.
    Check it Out!

     

     

    Graphic + Web Design

     

    Instruction Card

    La Brea Bakery

    width= The Matter team was tasked with creating a “How To” Instruction Card for baking off par-baked breads by creating a layout that shows the different shading of bread. The team printed the card with a premium soft touch coating to elevate the look and feel.
    See the Card!

     

    Mobile Ecommerce Ebook

    ZMAGS

    width= Zmags tasked the Creative team with creating a custom Ebook explaining the importance of mobile content and how it can leverage their platform. The team used a clean layout with their branded color palette, “+” sign pattern and mobile tech mockups and photography.
    See the Full Ebook!

     

    Fill out the form below to schedule a free strategy call with our team.



     

    Matter

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  • FIELD NOTES – "Do Good Work For Good People"

    (Image courtesy of DDC)

    My fellow graphic designer, Gretchen Walker and I were excited to attend a lecture at the Boston University College of Fine Arts by Visiting Designer Aaron James Draplin, a pioneer in the graphic design community. He is known for for his clean, bold stroked logos, an obsession with orange and reinventing antique inspiration into modern works of art.

    ‘Do good work for good people’, he quoted throughout his lecture, professing his infatuation with rummage sales and the beautiful pieces found there. We both can easily relate to Draplin’s professed “hustle” work ethic, but the amount of work he has created at such a high standard makes us curious to how he started in a small Oregon town and has built such a legendary design studio.. During his lecture, Draplin shared his life story, beginning with how he accompanied his father to rummage sales and began sketching, collecting, and taking the pictures that ultimately feeds his timeless aesthetic.

    Draplin appears to actually marvel over the past twenty years – from the very beginning when he saved $9,000 to purchase his very first top of the line computer and design equipment and later moving on to work at Snowboard Magazine. He spent some time in the agency world and found that the best designs are done for those who appreciate the process and who believe wholeheartedly in their brand. His breath of work ranges from being paid $26,000 for a single logo to creating an entire brand identity in exchange for a burrito. However, for Draplin, the underlying reason for each design is to be a part of the story on both ends of that spectrum. ‘Nothing is too small,’ he states at one point with his large, infectious, bearded smile.

    His clientele ranges from Nike to Barack Obama, and a plethora of outdoor sport brands to owning Draplin Design Company (DDC) and Field Notes, his own brand of notebooks that has grown to cult popularity. His impact on today’s world of graphic design has become immeasurable.

    Being two graphic designers working at an agency we know how competitive the field is, growing everyday with divergent styles and techniques, so when Draplin speaks about his aesthetic, he stresses to quite simply make sure you are not trying to be something you are not. Draplin’s love for the Flaming Lips, snowboarding, the classic font Futura Bold, his father and their bond over rummage sales are all reflected in every aspect of his personality and his designs. So whenever starting a project, before jumping to the computer, he stresses to make sure to be true to who you are and to ‘slow down and put it on paper.’ – Aaron Draplin

    Matter

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  • 4 Ways to Go Beyond Reading and Watching with Interactive Content

    Last week, Leo and I attended the quarterly Boston Content meet-up to engage in a discussion about Interactive Content. You’ve likely seen the term on several “trends & predictions” lists for 2016, but what is interactive content, exactly? And how can you use it to support your brand’s content marketing initiatives? Senior Content Marketing Manager at SnapApp, Lena Prickett, was the leader of the discussion and she had four key takeaways for using interactive content to help boost business goals.

    1. Interactive content requires consumers to engage in a way that goes beyond reading or watching

    Bringing users into the experience and allowing them to tailor the content to their interests is what interactive content is all about. This also allows marketers to essentially have a conversation with their prospects. Brands are able to gather additional data to then deliver a more personalized experience to users. It’s one of the best ways to deepen information exchanges with an audience. Especially if you have proprietary data – do something with it!

    2. Interactive content can take on different shapes, but requires you ask the same questions

    Content formats include, and are not limited to: interactive infographics, “gifographics,” quizzes and assessments, data visualization and maps, calculators, surveys, and generators and tools. The latter of which gave this blog post headline a “B+.”

    And I must personally highlight one of 2016’s top trends, 360-degree video:

    No matter what format you decide on, you should be asking:

    • What is my goal? How will this content format help me meet it?
    • What do I want my audience to gain?
    • What resources do I need to make this happen?
    • What existing content do I have that I could make interactive?

    3. Speaking of questions, you need to ask yourself, “Why should this content be interactive?”

    Sometimes it simply doesn’t make sense. If the interactivity is not actually adding any value for your audience, then spend your time and resources on something else.
     
    4. When done right, interactive content can help you meet a variety of business goals, from qualifying leads to increasing blog interaction

    As a content marketer, you’re often competing for people’s attention with Buzzfeed, the king of interactive content. So you should do your best to distract people with your own Buzzfeed-esque, “bored at work” content that ultimately keeps your brand top-of-mind and engaging. If people can engage with your content they are going to stay on your site longer, which can in turn help boost your SEO. The longer someone stays on your site, the more you learn about them and the better you can engage with them in the future. Appeal to the interests of your audience, while giving them something useful. And consider scalability by looking for and creating an interactive tool that will scale across all of your programs and channels; investing in a repeatable, templatable platform is often ideal.

    What types of interactive content do you like the best, and why?

    Tim Bradley

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  • 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

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  • Augmenting the Art of Storytelling with Creative Visual Assets

    As PR pros, we’re trained experts in the art of storytelling. From traditional media relations to the multifaceted realm of social media, there’s always a story that needs to be told regardless of the message or medium, and we’re here to help tell it.

    However, sometimes showing is the perfect complement to telling. Numerous studies show that enhancing your story with creative visual content can work to deliver messaging better through both traditional and social channels. With this growing need for visual storytelling in the industry, I’m proud to work for a forward-looking agency that had recognized this and implemented creative services in-house with the announcement of Studio-C.

    Studio-C will now give our clients the option to visually augment their story through a variety of creative services including everything from videos to graphic design. I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with the members of Studio-C, and can endorse their unique ability to collaborate with our PR teams. Whether through an informative infographic or engaging video, I have seen Studio-C’s ability to bring messaging to life through a variety of creative visual elements.

    Check out some of the great stories we’ve told here and stay tuned for many more to come!

    Matter

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