CharlieMoger.com

Marketing and advertising advice for owner-operated businesses

Wolman Elementary teaches a lesson we can all use

Change is hard on us. It’s not any easier on kids. Hats off to the staff and faculty of Wolman Elementary School in Katy, Texas for going the extra mile to make leaving a familiar old school behind a little easier by giving families a video sneak peek at their brand new school. Bonus points for making it fun.

Now it’s your turn

Isn’t there something new around your business? Share it with your customers like the teachers shared Wolman Elementary. Creating brief video introductions, product demos, or even quick walk-arounds is easier than you think.Continue Reading

3 simple ways online video can get you a 50x SEO boost

Pages with online video stand “a 50-times better chance of appearing on the first page of search results,” according to a Forrester Research study.

Since that study, online video has continued to explode:

  • Online video advertising (pre-rolls) experienced nearly 55% growth in 2011  (eMarketer, Jan/12).
  • 52% of consumers say online video makes them more confident in their purchases (Internet Retailer, 2012).
  • Living Direct reports online videos caused a 9x increase in visitor time on their site (Internet Retailer, Oct/10).

But, online video alone won’t draw eyeballs to your site without search optimization. Fortunately, increasing your video’s search visibility doesn’t require SEO-ninja skills. All it takes is a few extra steps and a little common sense.Continue Reading

The secret sauce of persuasion: storyselling

Invading Martians land in New Jersey’s meadowlands, their fighting machines marching toward Manhattan. New Yorkers flee in terror because of some golden-age radio storyselling.

Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater of the Air’s War of The Worlds not only demonstrates the compelling nature of radio, but the power of storytelling itself. That 1938 radio play also revealed to me how to build traffic for web videos.

Whether it’s on the radio, in a magazine, or across the web, the secret sauce of success is story. A story well told stirs action, gets remembered, passed along. The difference between getting a dozen views and attaining multi-bazillion viral status comes down to story.Continue Reading

Where Obama gets my vote

As advertising goes, Presidential campaigns are more like a Going Out of Business Sale than a Grand Opening. It’s advertising with a drop-dead finish line.

I’m a die-hard presidential ad fan. Every four years I make the minimum donation needed to get on both mailing lists. I subscribe to both blogs, follow their Twitter feeds. It’s bare-knuckles marketing to the death. I love every minute of it.

You should too because there are lessons offered daily that can apply to your advertising. Consider the 2012 election’s unfolding online dimension.Continue Reading

Grooveyard of posts past