Paul, who runs PR 20/20 and is a HubSpot friend and partner , was in Cambridge last week. I had a chance to sit down with him to hear more about his inbound marketing agency vision.
The full video from our conversation is below. Here are a few of the highlights:
On the social media success of Carrara Companies, a PR 20/20 client that sells cleaning and restoration services: "What will a cleaning and restoration company do on social media? ... in their case they have expertise in all kinds of areas. Mold removal, what to do after a fire, carpet cleaning ... all that content can position them as experts."
On a real estate client featured in The Cleveland Plain Dealer: "That client paid $99 for us to write a blog post. It was then covered in Cleveland.com, generated an inbound link and made the front page of the business section the next day. That's why we say, traditional PR and online PR, there is no difference any more. Agencies that are only doing traditional are missing tons of opportunities."
Here are a few of the sites Paul mentioned during our conversation:
Article about The Avenue District on Cleveland.com
Carrara Companies
(
cleaning and restoration services
)
Also, I continued the conversation about The Avenue District on my personal blog yesterday .
Mike Weber 9:54 AM on December 12, 2008
You provide great information and advice with these interviews. But I would like to suggest a bit of technical advice for your videos to make them even better.
First lower the camera so it's a face-on view rather than looking down on your subjects. It will allow for you to reduce the vacant headroom space. The camera should be like another person in the room. Someone part of the conversation wouldn' stand, they'd have a seat to listen in. This perspective also gives more authority to the speaker. (It's part of the psychology of what viewers see.) Look at any national TV interview to see what I mean.
Don't use the on camera microphone. Get wireless microphones or at least a microphone that you can position closer to the interview. It will get rid of that hollow sound and background noise distractions.
Set the white balance on the camera (pull out your instruction manual) Office lighting is bad for cameras, but you can adjust the camera so that it isn't yellow or green. Better yet, get three of your own inexpensive lights to set up and have complete control. (Google "three point lighting" )
Adding these technical touches will enhance your online image and show viewers that you are as professional as your advice.
- Mike Weber
www.cmrStudios.com
Chris Henz 10:20 AM on December 12, 2008
Interesting stuff, for sure. The Carrara example really highlights the fact that social media is not reserved for the "big boys" nor for consumer brands only. It provides a great example of a regional B2B application. Thanks for the inspiration.
ctreit 10:39 AM on December 12, 2008
I could never find the value in traditional PR agencies when I interviewed some. Can't figure out what I would be paying a monthly retainer for.
Blog Expert 10:54 AM on December 12, 2008
This is not something I normally read about but it is kind of interesting. Great thoughts all around and I do think you're right that inbound marketing agencies will be the ones that survive.
Rick Burnes 11:40 AM on December 12, 2008
@Mike Weber Thanks for the excellent advice. I'm going to incorporate it into my next taping -- and I passed your comment around to our team.
Do you have any interest in doing a guest post on our blog about the best ways to shoot interviews and short video?
Mike Weber 11:49 AM on December 12, 2008
Sure Rick, I'd be happy to contribute. I'm flattered. After all the great advice I've got from HubSpot it's only fair that I give back. Email me with specifics.
- Mike
Jacq Smith 4:52 PM on December 12, 2008
@Mike Weber Great feedback and I completely agree. I found myself not even listening to the video content. I was focused on the distracting aesthetics, camera angle, the yellow wall, and I hate to say it - but these topics ARE interesting, we just have to show that to people with a much higher level of enthusiasm. It was so mono-tone and almost uncomfortable. I would suggest not mimicking mvolpe and karenrubin, but incorporating humor and at the very least, a smile!
Rick Burnes 5:08 PM on December 12, 2008
@jacq smith thanks for the feedback! I completely agree. we're working on improvements to the video quality -- (and adding smiles!).
XSGrowth 4:35 AM on December 16, 2008
Great content and as agreed a better quality will always be appreciated.