Customers are becoming savvier every day and work hard to not to be “sold”. This means that with each purchasing decision made, buyers are looking for some added value beyond the sale; perhaps a connection, relationship and better understanding of their needs. A couple of great tactics used to gain a better relationship with your potential customers is:

Reevaluate Your Messaging

Simplify your messaging and make sure that your website can be scanned within 10 seconds so a potential customer can understand what you have to offer. Your message should focus on your customer’s story and position your business as their guide. Keep your focus on building an authentic relationship with customers versus simply growing your business. The benefits of taking the time to care for your customers will highly benefit you in the end.

Simplifying Your Business Practices by Using Automation

Automation is drastically changing the way businesses communicate with customers and the way customers expect to interact with businesses. There are a couple of key ways to utilize automation in order to streamline your digital marketing efforts and ensure that no sale is left behind.

1. Live chat & chatbots are wonderful ways to expand your business’ reach without having to hire more staff. This also provides an on-call service that will answer basic questions at all hours for potential customers.
2. Voice search technology like Alexa or Google Home is going to provide your business with plenty of marketing opportunities with you having to do a thing!

Using Video as Your Main Communication Tool

Video is not going anywhere. The speed in which content is being created is growing rapidly with everyone having the ability to become a YouTube star. Video, in particular, is morphing the way businesses and customers communicate. Consider the following ideas:

1. Video is not just for web pages and social media, but a great effective tactic to include in your email marketing. This means that aside from regular text, you can either embed or link to a video of you speaking to the reader and sharing your message. This brings you into someone’s office or home, simply through email.
2. Welcome videos are a wonderful way to instantly begin a relationship with a new subscriber. Sending a 10-second custom video to a customer is a revolutionary form of contact and will also help ensure some deals. This is a wonderful tactic for realtors, counselors, and any other service that eventually hopes to build a relationship. This can be done through a quick casual video on your phone, or even through apps that service this exact purpose.
3. Video will ensure higher ratings on Google, better algorithms, and will increase the chances of your emails being opened. Don’t overthink video. Instead, realize it is a way to show how authentic your business is!

Digital marketing leaves a lot of space for creativity. Ultimately, customers are looking for a clear message and efficient ways to communicate so they can learn about your business. What better way to do this than to reevaluate your messaging, take advantage of atomization options, and use the resources at your fingertips to create simple videos!

Our team of marketing specialists are available to help your business succeed and take your digital strategy to the next level!

The post Digital Marketing in 2019: Ways to Up Your Digital Strategy first appeared on Website Design | McWilliams Media |Broken Arrow, OK.

The Buzz

Drones are creating quite the buzz these days–literally and figuratively. Because they can capture such stunning content, they are becoming the tool of choice for many photographers and videographers. First seen mostly in genres like extreme sports and action film, drones have now brought their very specialized set of skills into the business world.

Smart business owners and entrepreneurs recognize the immense value of compelling video and photo content in marketing themselves and their products. Now, through the use of drones, the value of that content can literally take off! Here’s why drones are the new secret weapon of effective marketing.

1. Aerial Perspective

The most obvious value of drones is that these little guys can fly. Aerial video and photography have an impact that nothing else does. You now have the ability to give your customers a unique and powerful perspective on your business and products. You can literally fly your audience down your street and into your front door.

2. Endless Angles

Flying high isn’t their only skill. Since they are so small and agile, drones can shoot from almost any perspective you can imagine. Shoot from underneath tables, fly through hallways, windows, or tunnels. Outdoors and indoors as well, the possibilities are almost endless.

3. Exceptional Quality

As camera technology advances, video quality elevates. Drones now shoot video in full HD and even 4k resolutions. This means that even at significant heights and distances, your image is clear and crisp.

With image stabilization, the camera movements in drone videos can be smooth and seamless. This takes a level of skill, of course. Make sure you hire a skilled and experienced videographer to produce your marketing videos.

4. Limitless Applications

If you own a business, I’m sure you’re already dreaming about your next drone video. We have lots of ideas as well. Here are just a few examples of how we’re using drones to create impact for our customers.

Roofing Company

Home Builder

Day Spa & Salon

Showroom

5. Emotional Impact

Most of all, videographers use drones because of the emotional impact they can produce. All the tricks and creative ideas have a purpose. That purpose is to move people. This is especially true in marketing.

Marketing is first and foremost about impact. The goal is always to deliver a message that connects with people and moves them to act. Drones can help create the emotional impact that gives your marketing content the power to do just that.

6. Unforgettable Content

Like it or not, marketing is more than just storytelling. Marketing is a competition. Whatever your business, you need messages that help you stand out from the crowd. Just having the right information isn’t enough. You need content your audience literally can’t forget.

This is why drones are such a valuable tool. With the right creative team behind it, a drone can be the key to making your marketing content sparkle. Whether it’s video, still photography, or both, the drone can make your content unforgettable.

7. Brand Power

If there’s one thing business owners want for their businesses, it’s brand power. You want people to remember you and think about you first. Lots of things go into creating brand power. You have to do an exceptional job at what you do, have integrity, and maintain good customer relationships.

Once you have those things in place, effective marketing is the next step in empowering your brand, and drones can play an important role in that. Through video and photography with creative perspectives, exceptional quality, and emotional impact, your content can be powerful and memorable.

At McWilliams Media in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we specialize in brand power. Through web design, branding, social media, and professional photography and videography, we help you build your dream. Contact us today and let us show you how drone video and photography can be your new marketing secret weapon!

The post Not Just For Spies Anymore. The Drone: Marketing’s New Secret Weapon first appeared on Website Design | McWilliams Media |Broken Arrow, OK.

STILL PHOTOGRAPHY

In the U.S., every citizen is guaranteed a reasonable expectation of privacy. This means that if someone is in their home or on private property, that individual has the right to prevent you from taking photos of them. In order to use photographs taken in private settings, you must obtain a photo release.
However, photographs taken in public settings such as public parks and shopping venues are technically legal. Because the subject is forfeiting their right to privacy the minute they step onto public property, you are legally allowed to capture images of them. No one can legally prevent you from taking photos in a public space.

[bctt tweet=”Photographs taken in public settings such as public parks and shopping venues are technically legal. ” username=”mcwmedia”]

Although you may be allowed to take photos as you please in a public setting, it does not mean you can use these photos however you want. Photos taken even in public settings cannot be used for personal product or service promotion, without that individual giving consent.
In the end, it all comes down to intent. If you take a picture with the purpose of using it to promote something or someone, it’s best to be preemptive and acquire a photo release. Better safe than sorry!

VIDEO

The rules on video release forms are very similar to those of photo releases. Like photography, if the video images you shoot are going to be used for commercial purposes, you must obtain consent first.
Shooting a crowd of people in a public area generally will not require consent; however, you cannot shoot video in a public setting then proceed to sell these images. This is classified as an invasion of privacy and is likely to result in an expensive and time-consuming lawsuit.
And again, when shooting at private events or on private property, you must always obtain consent for the images you capture.
Photo and video releases are complex and full of legal jargon. Don’t let the confusing explanations and paperwork throw you off; these easy to remember rules will keep you, and your work, legal and successful! After all this talk of a photo release, we need to make sure you have one to use! Sign up below and we’ll send one to your inbox that you can customize for your business.

The post Photo Releases- When To Use Them first appeared on Website Design | McWilliams Media |Broken Arrow, OK.

What We Did for A Week in California

We were so excited to finally meet face-to-face with our California clients! We had been doing work for some of them for quite awhile, while some we had never met. The trip included 13 hour work days, lighting and media storage challenges, but also a lot of fun with our new acquaintances, time spent coaching and encouraging them to further their reach in business and ministry.

Client: Joy & Hope Restored

10 Week Video Curriculum

The first 2 days were spent with Sarah Byrant of Joy & Hope Restored Ministries. We videoed her entire 10 week curriculum on Living In Freedom. She had an audience join her for some of the videos, while others she shot alone.

Biggest challenge:
Lighting. The home we shot the videos in was absolutely beautiful, but offered only natural light. We had to be creative with when and how we shot the videos to make sure we had adequate lighting.

Biggest success:
We used a new format for a testimonial video. We can’t wait to see how that turns out!

Client: Stepping Into His Image

Indoor & Outdoor Workout Videos & Group Testimonies

The next day was spent at the park with Stacey & Erika of Stepping Into His Image. Stepping Into His Image, or siHi, helps people move toward joy and restoration through a journey of spiritual and physical fitness. They already have the curriculum printed, but wanted to add workout videos so their digital product would be complete. These girls were great! Such a pleasure to spend the day with them in the nice 80 degree California weather.

Biggest Challenge:
Cars, Planes & Sunburns. The park was right next to a large apartment complex that had plenty of Fedex and UPS deliveries that day. We were also close to the airport so the planes wanted to chime in as well. Relieved to be away from the 100 degree, humid days of Oklahoma, we weren’t thinking too much about the effects of the sun. The cool breeze was deceiving and Jamon ended up with bright legs while hiding the boom mic, oops!

Biggest Success:
It was so rewarding to see the hard work from these ladies pay off. They were completely prepared and ready to dive in. By the end of the day, they were relaxed and conversational with the camera, that is a success!

That evening members of siHi were asked to give a group testimony as to their journey through the program. Barb, one of the recent members of the program welcomed us into her home. She might have changed her mind after she realized the mess we were going to make! Because of lighting, we ending up moving all of her furniture, more than once. The couch ended up in the entryway, TV taken apart and kitchen decorations moved to the hallway. Barb is photographer so I went to every room of her house to gather pictures that would work for the background of the videos. Her work is amazing by the way!

Client: Ed Bryant

Testimonial Video

We did some video work for another one of our clients, Ed & Jan Bryant. They weren’t just clients, but quickly became friends. They so graciously hosted us in their home for the duration of the trip. We woke up to breakfast every morning and dinner every night, even when our arrival for dinner wasn’t until 11:30pm! His photo location was by far the most beautiful, but definitely the most interesting.

Biggest Challenge:
Construction sites & Coyotes. Yes, I said coyotes. Because of the construction happening for the new homes in the area, the wolves were apparently being ran out of their natural habitat. In the middle of a shoot, a coyote ran out from nowhere and was 10 feet behind Ed. That was one of two appearances that coyote made that day. Our testimony shoot with Ed temporarily turned into a National Geographic scene where all eyes were on the wildlife!

Biggest Success:
Their hospitality was over and above what we could have ever expected. They took such wonderful care of us offering everything from food to sunscreen for our time there.

Some other lessons we learned on our first on-site video shoot-

• We needed more time to upload and preview video before continuing to the next location.
• First thing we look for when we entered a building: electrical outlets. We always had batteries or equipment that needed to be charged.
• A gimbal is a cool gadget, but was too much work for such an intense trip.
• More down time for us will be a necessity next time. If it wasn’t for our hosts, we would have been running on coffee and fumes for the entire trip. A well-rested team is sharper than a run down one.
• No matter how great your audio equipment is, you will never be able to plan for all the interferences you will encounter.

Would we do it again?

The answer is a resounding YES. What overwhelming overshadowed all the technical challenges of the work was the time we spent pouring into the visions and dreams of the people we worked with. To inspire and encourage these individuals is what McWilliams Media is all about. Yes, build websites, create great designs and can work your social media like a champ, but ultimately what we are all about is the dream behind all the work. We are about the client and doing whatever we can to help launch their business or ministry dream.

The post What We Did For A Week In California first appeared on Website Design | McWilliams Media |Broken Arrow, OK.

McWilliams Media has a hand full of these awesome people that are continually using their entrepreneurial skills for you. We’re always coming up with innovative ways to make your business succeed. Here’s a look at what we do for our clients.

Web & Graphic Design

First and foremost, we are a website company that designs, maintains, and hosts WordPress websites. We start with a blank slate and build the site from the ground up to ensure that our clients get exactly what they want.

Once the site is built, we do training with the client on how to use their site and make their own updates. In many cases the client has no desire to do any work on the backend of their sites, so we do that for them as well.

Our graphic designs can be as simple as a graphic for a newsletter or as complex as an entire promotional set for an event. We produce high-quality graphics you can use online or for print. Need a logo? We can do that. Need a baby shower invitation? We can do that too. Need a banner for your store’s grand opening? Yep-we do that too.

Online Marketing

Marketing is a vast subject. Although we mainly specialize in the online aspect of online marketing, we will help with anything to make your business succeed. Let’s touch on a few types of marketing that we focus on.

Social Media

When we say social media, that’s what we mean. A form of media that is social in nature. It’s relational, informative, and generally a quick-hitter. There are tons of platforms you can “be social” on, but we focus on the most commonly used ones. We’re talking about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, and YouTube. Each platform has its own unique audience and companies can make great connections on the appropriate platforms.

Not only do we start each of these media channels for our clients, but we can also maintain them on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. If our clients prefer to do their own social media we train on the best practices for their type of business.

Why is social media such a huge part of our client’s success? Because “everybody’s doing it.” Last time I checked the stats, 88%* of your potential clients are online, and that’s just in the USA. Guess how many of those people are on social media? We’re talking over 70%*. That’s a pretty big market. And you can reach them all from your computer in your PJ’s.

The key to social media success is consistency. That’s proven to be rather difficult when our clients are entrepreneurs themselves. McWilliams Media has people on staff that are designated to be on social media all day for our clients.

Newsletters

This online marketing tool is a good fit for both current and potential clients. In some cases, a newsletter carries more weight than other marketing avenues because people voluntarily gave you their email addresses as a way of saying “I’m interested in you and your product.” You know they are already “all in.”

Our team creates email marketing campaigns for our clients. We can put together the entire newsletter or design a template that the client can use to plug in their own info. Either way, we’ll help capture more emails, design an eye-catching newsletter and stay consistent with our clients’ branding.

Search Engine Optimization

Let’s face it, if people can’t find you online, you’re not making money. You might have the best invention ever made or a product that will save people a ton of time, but if they don’t know you exist, it’s not helping anyone.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO, is what makes sure you’re being heard in a world of online big-mouths. We hear things like “we need to be at the top of Google,” or “we want to show up when people search best spas in Dallas.” It’s our job to make that happens. Our team spends hours of behind-the-scenes time working a multitude of avenues to ensure that happens.

Blog Creation

Blogging is no longer for the stay-at-home-mom who wants to share tips on how to keep a clean house. The reasons for business blogging are quite vast these days. Blogging helps drive traffic to your site, it increases your number of leads and increases your area of influence in your niche market. This article is a good read on why blogging is so important in business.

Our writers stay in communication with our clients and come up with excellent content that reflects our clients’ brand and message. McWilliams Media can handle all the aspects of blogging for our clients or simply set them up with a template and they do the rest.

Odds & Ends

Video

As I stated earlier, we are a Jack Of All Trades when it comes to the online world. We offer other services that complement what we do. For instance, a client may ask for a testimony video for their website. In that case, we will shoot and edit a custom video to enhance the site. We’ve done commercials and full TV shows for some of our clients too.

Audio

A church in Illinois contacted us to set up their website and create a page where they could put their messages online. Not only did we do that, but we also went on location to set up the audio and train their volunteers on how to use the equipment, as an added bonus we also got to see their beautiful church building and grounds.

Event Promotion

We helped in planning a community Easter Eggstravaganza for one of our clients. We did everything from door hanger invites to videos for their event. You can see the promotional set here.

Email Integration

A great way to market and have more continuity in your company is to have email addresses for your employees. An email address for Landscaper Pros that looks like “sambarnes@yahoo.com” doesn’t carry near as much weight as “sambarnes@landscaperpros.com.”

McWilliams Media is ready to take you and your business to the next level. And when it comes to cost, you’ll find we’re very reasonable too. For a free quote that is customized to your business, contact us any time.

*Reference links
http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/us/
http://www.statista.com/topics/1164/social-networks/

The post Yes, We Do That first appeared on Website Design | McWilliams Media |Broken Arrow, OK.

We had the privilege of working with some amazing people in Marion, IL. High Point Grace contacted us to create a website for their church where their messages could be available in both an audio and video format. We held a 2 day hands-on training that equipped the church’s volunteers to handle their new site.

All of their volunteers joined us on Saturday for the training.  We begin the interactive show-and-tell by putting their site on the overhead and then proceeded to walked them step-by-step through what the backend of their site looked like, how to post events, messages and change content as needed. They also chose to purchase audio and video equipment through us, so we trained on that as well. They all walked away with training manuals and an opportunity to practice what they learned and put it into effect in their beautiful church building.

We loved every minute of helping and pouring into their volunteers!

“These two (Matt & Lindsay) are amazing, hats off to their passion for ministry and love for people to grow and go to the next level. We love our new friends and highly recommend them. There’s excellence and honor in everything they do. Thank you so much for helping us to the next level.”

-Pastor Dean Hammonds, High Point Grace Church

The post A Trip To Illinois first appeared on Website Design | McWilliams Media |Broken Arrow, OK.