To most consumers, financial services companies are a bit like cars — we want them to work but we don’t want to know too much about what’s happening under the hood. Just as almost no one reads the manual that comes with the car unless something goes wrong, we definitely don’t want to spend a lot of time...

It’s no secret that Hollywood is known for telling some of the world’s greatest stories. Of course, it’s easy for Hollywood to tell great stories — it has a “secret storytelling sauce.” But Hollywood doesn’t have to be the only one with the formula for telling great stories. Continue reading

Let’s start with a challenge: Without mentioning other colors, describe the color orange. Seriously, try it. Go on. Impossible, right? Now imagine describing not only what an infographic is but also what makes a good one. Because it’s uniquely difficult to do this in the abstract, examples are...

B-roll is the extra footage captured to enrich the story you’re telling and to have greater flexibility when editing. Instead of featuring only talking heads on video, you want to have other images you can cut away to that will add dimension to your story. B-roll can include additional video footage,...

For the self-producer, here are some things to consider when selecting equipment: A video camera. This is pretty obvious, of course, but which one? There are thousands from which to choose that will be perfectly adequate for the DIY producer. Even something as modest as the video recorder on a smartphone...

Interactive white papers and video white papers are helping revive the reputation of the B2B marketing workhorse. Some say the value of the B2B white paper is slowly eroding under the weight of its success. White papers were once the simple, functional, unfussy marketing tactic of B2B. These days, so...

A video producer explores the limits of DIY and the absolute importance of b-roll. I never argue that all video must be professionally made. In many cases, creating your own video is in fact the best approach. But all of us also know that self-produced business videos can look … well, self-produced....

Video infographics are shaping up to be the new powerhouse of content marketing. Chances are you are already familiar with them and have seen at least one example after it has gone viral. What is a video infographic? By definition, a video infographic is a visual representation of data and knowledge...

Fifteen minutes might just be the perfect length for a presentation. It forces the speaker to focus on the essentials, and it’s over before the audience’s minds begin to wander. When I present, How to Create Attention, Interest and Sales with Infographics at next month’s Content Marketing World, I’ll...

How do you break through the deluge of constant texting, e-mailing, Tweeting, ”Facebooking,” and online gaming to reach your audience in a meaningful way? One answer: It’s not only what you deliver (content) but also  how you deliver it (creative). Even when you have solid product messaging and a good...

If you’ve never worked with a graphic designer before, you might wonder where to start. Let’s say you’re repurposing your existing articles into an e-book. And let’s also say you’re thinking of having a custom graphic design. Some obvious questions pop up: Will a graphic designer guide you through the...

Last September, MarketingProfs and Junta42 teamed up to produce a report on the state of content marketing. Their research concluded that marketers’ top three content-related challenges were: Producing engaging content (36%) Producing enough content (21%) Having sufficient budget to create content (20%). There...