Dude, Blog Your Business!

Tom and I managed to high-tail it back from our regular Friday 3000 Club networking meeting in time to see a very good webinar by Mike Volpe of Hubspot and David Meerman Scott, Viral Marketing Strategist and author of the forthcoming book ‘World Wide Rave‘.  Viral Marketing is the holy grail of online marketing – “creating triggers that will get millions of other people to share your story and ideas”- without coercion – and without “the tyranny of having to spend money”.  

Viral marketing is very much what Dude Blog Your Business and Hinchey Studios are currently working on for a new client – watch this space.  Video, Tom Hinchey’s province, is very much the medium for viral marketing, and blogs are the platform that allows those videos to be shared and talked about.  The combination of the two things together is powerful enough, but add a touch of humor and creativity and we might just come up with something that people will be raving about.

Suitably inspired, I have put my pre-order in on Amazon for World Wide Rave, by David Meerman Scott. The book is due out on March 3rd and is published by John Wiley and Sons. I then twittered the fact and shortly after David Meerman Scott started following our Twitter! How cool is that!

For all those out there looking to the future of blogging, our new blog created for client, Hinchey Studios, might well be one to keep an eye on. Tom Hinchey and the Dudes are closely collaborating on a video blogging solution for businesses and non-profits alike and Tom wanted to upgrade his original website to something more ‘cutting edge’. That was obviously a blog. Now, as a video producer, what better way to show off his talents to prospective clients than with a video blog! So Tom’s posts are mainly going to take the form of video posts. One thing he wanted to highlight to prospective clients was what a video shoot entailed – many people think of a very busy, intrusive process, with stacks of lights and equipment and leads trailing everywhere. But it is not like that except in exceptional circumstances and by video posting about his client shoots he can allay any fears in potential new clients, and give his current clients some extra publicity at the same.

With the phenomenal popularity of YouTube it is clear to see that video is the most compelling content for a website or blog. A blog is really the ideal vehicle for a business, and especially for non-profits, to get their message to potential clients or donors. It is a perfect combination! So if you want to see how effective a video blog can be then the new Hinchey Studios blog would be a good example for you to take a look at.

Last week Tom Hinchey and I spent some time putting together a short video for a presentation, showing people that video blogging can be relatively easy, inexpensive, and fun! With just a few simple tips and tricks most people can video blog for themselves. And that is what blogging is about – being empowered to do your own marketing in an inexpensive, professional and effective way. What we want to do is provide businesses and non-profits with a high quality vehicle that will get them noticed, draw people in, and put them on the cutting edge of online marketing. Then it is up to them how much input they need from us in order to maintain the blog. This five minute video provides a foretaste of what we are planning in the near future. Part of the video blogging package that we will be providing is a more extensive ‘How to Shoot Quality Video for Video Blogs’ DVD, to give our clients all the help they need to maintain their own blogs. For anyone interested in improving their own home videos the DVD will also be available for ordering online through both our blogs in the new year.

Here’s a bit of fun Jasper & Tom Hinchey had today, creating a spoof E-Harmony ad to celebrate their meeting at the 3000 Club business networking group. The video was made for the 3000 Club Blog. We are currently working on a video blogging package together that we think will offer businesses and non-profits the cutting edge online marketing vehicle they need to attract that all important interest. They are currently working on a presentation for the package, the first showing of which will be next Wednesday (5th Nov) for the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce monthly meeting  at the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix, Arizona.