Clients: You can't act like you want all their money (even if you do).

Just to be clear:  I do not have my own business, clients, or huge knowledge base about either of the two. That was not a disclaimer, but I do pride myself in looking at things logically but with an understanding of human nature.  I like to think after four years, as many of my fellow Advertising and Communication majors, that I have the ability to connect with people through many mediums of communication, and convince them that they need whatever I am selling.

As the end of college career nears, I have given thought to the eventual factor that working with clients may be in the near future.  Using the concept of web advertising or design as a basis, I researched and found an article about attracting, keeping, and the overall etiquette of working with a client when it comes to working on the web.

According to an article written by Lior Levin, a business entrepreneur, there are 3 ways to attract not just clients, but higher quality clients, the ones that will benefit you the most.  Levin acknowledges that in any business, especially in the creative web design field, there are many times a client is not willing to pay enough or does not appreciate the quality of work that has been provided.  Far too often these type of "low quality" clients can cause a creative to end up in an undesirable position, leaving both the client and the designer dissatisfied, and can ruin a reputation very easily.

Even for someone who has had zero experience working with clients of their own (such as myself), realizing that these "low quality" types of clients will always be around is just as important as knowing that there are ways to attract "high quality" clients.  Your name might not be well known, your reputation might not have even gotten off the ground, but just the attitude (without being pompous) that even you deserve a quality client may set off your career in the right way.  Granted that you are capable of delivering a high quality website or advertisement yourself, you can project your self-confidence towards a satisfying career, according to the article.

Levin's 3 tips to orient yourself towards high quality clients:

1.  "Know your worth":  "High quality clients want high quality designers," know that you can deliver if you insist on a price you think your work is worth.
2.  "Be flexible but not bendable":  Some clients will let you use your creative abilities and let you go on a project, while others will attempt to micromanage.  Either way, it is important to keep the client within your own boundaries and make sure they understand your own creative process.
3.  "Offer services clients really want":  Take the time to get a feel for the market through research.  See what clients are looking for, and make yourself an expert at it.  The more you can offer your client, the more high quality you will appear.

It may seem a bit premature to be thinking about clients, yet its never too early to imagine yourself in the position of exactly where you want to be.  If you see yourself as a top designer, you have to start by building your client base.  Besides making the initial contact or connection, researching and knowing just how clients tick when you want to produce your best work for them is never too far off in the future.

I sort of don't know anything about web design.

It is safe to say that every one of us has no clue how many websites they have visited so far in their lives.  Just to think about what the number could possibly be is pretty mind-boggling.  Yet, of those infinite amounts of different websites we have scrolled through, skimmed, or stumbled upon, there are those that have caught your attention, and you have probably visited them more than once.  Besides the ones that have become an obsessive or daily habit (ahem, Facebook, Twitter, we are all guilty), there are those that have for some reason, spoke to you in one way or another.

What was it about that website?  Was it a particular interface, game, video, design, article, or just how it plain made you feel when you saw it?  With my own relatively limited experience working in graphic design, I have always considered myself influenced by just the experience of how something looks alone.

One computer, one screen, one website,
 but there's a whole lot going on up there.

According to an article in the Journal of Business Research, one helpful perspective of website design is viewing the layout as a cognitive landscape.  The article points out the direct relationship between content and design.  It says, "As content on the web includes text, pictures, graphics, layout, sound, motion and, someday, even smell, making the right web content decisions are critical to effective web design."

Basically what goes on in your head, engages all your senses, and makes you create connections to other concepts--is exactly what goes into a truly well-designed website.

The article analyzes studies done of different multi-million dollar company's websites, and looks at contrasting opinions--one saying speed, ease of use, and high-quality content are most important, the other siting the user's shopping experience as the most important factor.  It gives these studies the appropriate merit, however, it offers a different and more psychological perspective.

What would your cognitive landscape look like?  More importantly, what does your audience's cognitive landscape look like?  Based on the work of environmental psychologists, the article concludes that offers this suggestion:  when attempting to design a website, think of it as if you just walked into your perfect room--what is the experience of the space?  In designing a website that makes the person want to visit it again and again, it exudes the same qualities as designing a physical landscape.

My concluding thought comes from a direct quote from the article, "Computer interaction is intensely cognitive involving perceptions and preferences. Interactivity implies not only perceiving the web landscape, but also entering into it and “experiencing” the space."

Source:  

Deborah E. Rosen, Elizabeth Purinton, Website design: Viewing the web as a cognitive landscape, Journal of Business Research, Volume 57, Issue 7, July 2004, Pages 787-794, ISSN 0148-2963, 10.1016/S0148-2963(02)00353-3.

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(02)00353-3

50 Ways to Make it Viral

Well I won't name them all, but I can give you 5 ways viral videos become successful.

                                                           It's because of content like this
        

And this

And of course...

So can brands really create campaign videos with the same effective level of "virability" as these?

It has been done, tried, successfully completed, and failed miserably by a number of companies that have attempted to jump on the viral video bandwagon.  So, yes it is possible since it has been done.  However, when is it a truly helpful or hindering aspect to an ad campaign?

Having advertising concepts drilled into my head, I tend to enjoy looking at top companies latest ad campaigns.  Recently one in particular caught my attention, SoBe's campaign for its Natural Fruit Elixirs on its website.  Basically, SoBe has come up with "personalities" for each flavor of Elixir in the line of products.  Each of these personalities have a corresponding video, with testimonials of people trying and describing the particular drink.  Basically, they show the people who emulate the personality of the drink as well as the laid-back Californian lifestyle of the brand.  This is, however, where the videos begin and end.  I immediately thought of how they have the potential to create a viral video presence, but are not connecting to the right outlets to do it.

I then found this article on Mashable.com and a scholarly article from the Kent Academic Repository, both agreeing that there are five main types of viral marketing factors that make or break an attempt at a viral marketing campaign.

Both articles also agree that, "The rapid diffusion of the Internet and the emergence of various social constructs facilitated by Internet technologies are changing the drivers that define how marketing techniques are developed and refined."

To put it in plain English:

1.  Look beyond celebrity endorsers and obvious influencers.  Brands can benefit from word-of-mouth advertising and a large spread across social media sites rather than simply putting it on TV.

2.  Make a "social object".  Even if the person loves the brand or product, it does not mean they want to be sold to.  As with the SoBe drink videos, it is too obvious that they only used what supported and sold their product.  Instead, there should be an element of conversation for two people, or social object, that drives the connection and sharing around the brand solely based on hitting a person's interests.

3.  Use a brand pulsing strategy.  The brand should be integrated throughout the video content, rather than the driving force.  Find the sweet spot between the brand's positioning and its humor or attention-grabbing factors.

4.  Timing is everything.  If the video is too short or too long, people are less likely to share it.  The shorter one may not grab the attention of the audience, while the longer one can bore people and over-do the joke or point.

5.  Use the right mix of social media.  As for SoBe, there was a limited, seemingly nonexistent presence of the videos on any other website.  The company has pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, yet fails to utilize these to display or promote their videos.  The right mix can help spread the likelihood someone will share the video, increasing its "virability."

Source:  Woerdl, M. and Papagiannidis, S. and Bourlakis, M. and Li, F. (2008) Internet-Induced Marketing Techniques: Critical Factors in Viral Marketing Campaigns. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management, 3 (1). pp. 35-45. ISSN 1753-0296.