photo by John’s copper craft
People like to see things.
Your eye is naturally attracted to images, colors, interesting objects. Less so to text.
Come on, admit it. Don’t you like looking at book jackets that are zippy? How many of you go into a wine store and really know the difference between all of those bottles of wine and end up picking a bottle because it has a nice looking label?
I like blogs that have pictures and videos. When done well, my respect for the attention paid to visual detail and artistry transforms me into a subscriber. Make it easy for me to enjoy your content and I will be your biggest fan.
As with any communication effort, it is important to know how effective your tools are in building your presence. How engaged are your viewers? What is your Return on Investment (ROI)?
Video is the romance between text and image.
It is the energy that brings to life words and pictures on a page.
I am in love with the two minute video. One minute is even better, depending on what the story is. Video is a powerful way to bring faces of the people involved with your work to your viewers and to the world. While this is a very compelling reason to use video, it is just as important to know what your ROI is.
Here’s an excerpt from a post by Michael Hoffman of See3 on figuring out if and how video is working for you. He suggests 5 questions to help you think this through and does a great job at helping people become better at visual communication.
In fact, a Forrester study found that “any given video stands about a 50 times better chance of appearing on the first page of results than any given text page that Google has indexed”.
Cast your eye over the full post here.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
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Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
Not too sure how to get my sketches in my blog posts. So bewildering and confusing for me.
I drew this on Sketchbook Pro on my iPad in just under a few minutes. I spent the next part of my evening trying to figure out how to export it, resize it and stick it into this blog post – easily.
I love creating text and image on this device. The drawing app I use is easy to manage and control. I know it is just me, slightly exhausted from running around the Queens Art Express for the past four days, and wishing I could just write, draw and share stuff without getting crazy.
Does anyone know how to do export images from Sketchbook Pro into Wordpress on an iPad?
I have an article in Blue Avocado about being an executive director who knits that I think you’ll enjoy.
For those of you in the nonprofit world, I’m sure Blue Avocado needs no introduction. But if you are new and want a taste, these are some of my favorite features – Board Cafe, Nonprofit Finance and Strategy, and Word on the Street.
And to Blue Avocado readers stopping by, I hope you will feel right at home. Take a peek at some of my style notes I have posted for people who change the world. Or visit the archives to read about how to get into an art gallery, why confidence is sexy and knitting social media strategy.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
Earlier this month I went to Albany to lobby for money. One million dollars.
I stopped in Century Twenty One down in the financial district, my artspy source to get insolently styled T shirts, LaCoste sneakers, and winter white cashmere sweaters marked down to prices that can only be described as The Big Deal of the Day.
Not this time.
Nada Prada for me.
Nothing looked good on me today. (Note: I have decided to let go of being responsible for the world and not looking like Wow! in that horrible fitting room mirror, as if anyone could with all of that nakedly nonflattering flourescent lighting. What are you kidding?)
“Do you have anything less formal, more fundable looking in a medium?”
The sales associate sprinted along side of me, clearly impressed by my speed-racking skills. She pointed to a rack on the wall with marked down items.
“Oh, and I’m not interested if its not 70% off.” I smiled at my command of the situation.
But deep down, I knew I was not feeling good, doing good or looking good. Nowhere near Wow! as I needed to be.
Write
What do you do when you are not feeling Wow?
I find it helps me to write down what I am feeling as I am feeling it, as if I could coax all of that out of me through my moving pen.
First
To start writing, I start with:
a list
any list
just to start writing
and thinking.
Then
I start a story by:
writing a list of things that annoy me
things that can screw up my day
and faults, mine and everyone else’s, but mostly everyone else’s.
Then what?
Getting this far will make you feel better. It always works best when you end with:
a list of things you are thankful for. Especially if you are asking for a million dollars.
Get more Wow!
If you want more style notes for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
