Twitter Hits Right Notes for Music Industry

November 12, 2010

Twitter users are more engaged with music – both online and offline – than their non-tweeting counterparts and also are more likely to spend money on downloaded music, according to research from The NPD Group.
Findings from the firm’s latest music acquisition study suggest that Twitter, if approached appropriately by marketers, may have the potential to help spread the word about new music and stimulate more purchases of songs, albums, music-related merchandise and concert tickets.

Twitter Awareness Doubles
The research revealed that Twitter awareness more than doubled in the first quarter of 2009, reaching a level of 52% among America’s internet-using population, up from 22% awareness in Q408.

Among music buyers, awareness of Twitter is even higher, and reached 67% in Q109, with 12% of music buyers saying they used Twitter in the past three months, vs. 8% of web users overall.

More Music Acquired

In terms of music-buying behavior, one third (33%) of Twitter users in the survey reported buying a CD in the prior three months, and 34% purchased a digital download. These figures are significantly higher than those for overall web users (23% and 16%, respectively), NPD said.

More Money Spent

When Twitter users purchase music, they spend more money than do their non-Twitter counterparts, the study found. In fact, people on Twitter purchased 77% more digital downloads, on average, than those who were not tweeting.

More Online Engagement

Twitter users also are much more likely than average web users to be engaged in online music activities. In the past three months, one-third listened to music on a social networking site, 41% listened to online radio (compared with 22% of all web users), and 39% watched a music video online (vs. 25% of all Web users).

Moreover, Twitter users were twice as likely than average Web users to visit MySpace Music and Pandora, said NPD.
“NPD’s latest music-acquisition study shows that there are segments of consumers who are more actively integrating Twitter as a key tool for communicating and networking,” said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD. “Based on their music-purchasing history, active Twitter users are simply worth more to record labels and music retailers than those who are not using Twitter.”

Crupnick also noted that Twitter has the potential to help foster the discovery of new music, and improve targeted marketing of music to groups of highly-involved consumers, but only if used cautiously and judiciously. “There must be a careful balance struck between entertainment and direct conversation on one hand, and marketing on the other,” he said.

About the research: NPD’s “Music Acquisition Monitor” measures all forms of music acquisition activity (both digital and physical) as well as volume. It is based on nearly 4,000 survey completions by NPD’s panelists on a quarterly basis. Data is weighted and projected to be representative of the US internet population ages 13+.

The Depth Illusion in Landscape Photography

November 11, 2010

One of the creative problems inherent in all photographs is that they’re flat.

Photographs exist in only two dimensions–they have height and width, but no depth. While a landscape may spread across miles, your photographs are only as deep as the paper they’re printed on. The lack of a third dimension means it’s up to you to create a believable illusion of distance in your photographs.

Creating A Sense of Depth

While you can’t get such intense a three-dimensional experience from an ordinary photograph, there are some visual tricks (also known as “depth cues”) you can exploit to enhance the sensation of distance in your photographs. Knowing how depth is created is particularly useful in landscape photographs because one of the things you’re trying to relate is the physical space involved.

Linear Perspective

One of the simplest and most direct ways to create a sense of distance in a landscape is to include a leading line, a cue that artists refer to as linear perspective. Lines work best when they start near the front edge of the image and go to the far horizon (as in the desert highway photo) and conclude at a single point (“one point” perspective). Highways, fences, rivers, and telephone poles are all things that can take the eye on a deep journey into your image.

Lines are like a siren call to the eye and they beg the eye to follow. It’s hard to look at a photograph that includes a strong lead-in line and not trace its path–it’s the visual equivalent of eating just one potato chip–tough to do!When these lines are combined with what’s calledl a “single vanishing point” the depth illustion gets even stronger. The vanishing point is created whenever all of the lines in a scene appear to be focsed on a single spot in the distance.

Do you want to be a Closer!

November 8, 2010

Practical presentation advice to help you close the Big Sale! This advice is even applicable if you are trying to land your first or next big job.

Preparation

Are you ready for this? The prospects you are meeting want to do business with someone they can count on. You need to be comfortable and confident during your sales presentation. You won’t close the deal if you’re not ready.

Have all of your materials are ready. You should have ample copies of brochures, one-sheets or other handouts.
If you’re going to use a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation from your computer, make sure you know how to start it up without fumbling.
Bring your own projector. This guarantees you have all the equipment you need to show your presentation. Make sure you’re familiar with how it all works.
If you do create a slideshow, rely on images — not words and numbers. Effective sales presentations move and inspire prospects. You can follow up with details.
Research your prospect’s company, industry and market.
Know your product. Your prospects expect you to be an expert on what you’re selling.

Ask questions

More important than having answers is asking the right questions. Even though you’ve done your research, you need to make sure you understand what the prospects want and need. There is nothing wrong with contacting prospects by phone or email before the presentation to understand their needs. They will appreciate that you want to make sure you aren’t wasting their time.

Ask open questions that get them talking about their businesses:

Who are your customers?
Why do they buy from you instead of your competition?

Who are the customers you don’t sell to yet?
What are the challenges you face in this market/industry?

What are your goals?
What do you expect this product to do?
Where do you want help?
Who will use the product?

Practice

This isn’t just about memorizing the words. You also need to respect your prospects’ time and keep your sales presentations on schedule. There are a number of resources out there to help you get more out of your practice time, but here are some quick techniques to try right away:

Record yourself with audio or video. This will give you valuable insight into what needs work.
Rehearse in front of others. Friends or family can give you feedback. Sometimes they will think of questions you haven’t thought of yet.
Prepare sales presentations of different lengths. Be ready to take as much time as the situation calls for.

Refine your material

Some sales presentation techniques that will help you close the deal

Focus on the benefits the prospects will receive by buying your product. An effective sales presentation does not list features that prospects cannot relate to their problems. A closer explains how the product is a solution to those problems.
Use plain English. There’s a good chance that you work in an industry that uses language that your customers don’t recognize. Don’t use that jargon.
Solicit feedback. Ask questions that require simple questions such as “Would this help?” or “Is this a problem in your business?” during the sales presentation. This will engage them and help keep them interested.
Tell a story. Storytelling will keep prospects interested in your sales presentation. Tell them about a client who had similar problems so they can see how your product can help them.

Close the deal

You’re there to make a sale. Don’t expect it to just happen. Ask the prospects if they’re ready to make a purchase. If not, ask when will they be ready to purchase or what it will take to be ready. There’s a good chance that they have sales presentations from other vendors to consider. Find out what is their time frame. Lead them into the next step.

Follow up

The end of your sales presentation isn’t the end of the process. Keep in touch with prospects so they remember what your product will do for them.

And after you close the deal, build a relationship with your customer. Communication will helps smooth over any problems and open up the possibility for more sales.

Now you’re a closer!

Thanks to all the attention you pay to your sales presentation skills, you’re converting prospects into clients.

People Pay For Value – Their Value, Not Yours

November 5, 2010

Why do so many products, services and brands grapple with such a very basic concept: people pay for value. But, it’s their perceived value and not the value you assign to it.

Newspapers aren’t dying. People are just buying them less and less because they’re not getting the same amount of value out of them as the used to. Same with in-home phone lines. Most people feel that they can get away with just having a mobile number. It’s like this with movies as well. Movies in the theatre now play on pay-per-view or are available on Blu-ray only a short while after their theatrical debut. Most homes now have big screens (and big sound), and so the experience of going to the theatre has been diminished by many. Nobody cares about owning a physical CD anymore, when you can get a high quality version of most music for your iPod (or whatever).

More media and more technology means more choices. In a world of more choices, the former 800-pound gorillas of their chosen industries now have to figure out how they are going to deliver real value. The kind of value that people are willing to pay for.

What have we really learned about value in the past few years?

People will pay for an individual song (and maybe an album), but they would like the choice.
People will pay for great writing – whether it’s in a magazine, newspaper, book or online. But, it has to be great (and not just your perception of great).
People will pay to see a movie – they just might not go to the theatre or to rent it from your physical store any more.
People will pay to be entertained.
People will pay to learn.
People will pay to be better connected.
People will pay for an exclusive experience.
People will pay for a premium experience.
People will pay for better access to customer service.
People will pay to avoid hassles.
People will pay to get things on their own time schedule (when they want it/how they want it).
People will pay for speed (whatever speed means in your industry).
People will pay for something that will give them more social clout.
People will pay for products that are virtual.
People will pay for information.
People will pay for more mobility.
People will pay for more flexibility.
People will pay for more comfort.

Are you using a Tablet?

November 4, 2010

For the modern graphic designer or illustrator, there’s only one hardware device that is a must-have in the workstation: and it’s not even a pencil. It’s a tablet like the Wacom Intuos4, a pen and tablet station for computers that allows you to “draw” directly onto a computer monitor, creating your images in real-time and with full capability with vital software like Adobe Photoshop.

The Transition to Paperless Illustrator

It wasn’t long ago when almost all illustration was still done on a form of treated wood and pulp known as paper; today, our lives are utterly transformed not only by the technology of computes, but by their availability. Products like the Wacom Intuos4 are actually relatively easy to acquire, and if you have a specific need that they can fill, they’re necessities around the office or home workstation. Going paperless means that you don’t have to worry about one stage of your designs unless you – quite simply – want to include paper drafts as part of your routine.

Is it a little disconcerting to give up the absolute control of the pencil-to-paper medium? It can be, but it’s not necessary. You’ll find that the pressure sensitivity of the Wacom Intuos4, as well as the overall interaction with the product, make it ideal for anyone who’s used to the pen-to-paper style of illustration. And once you’ve used a tablet, it will feel odd to illustrate on a computer any other way; after all, a mouse simply just doesn’t do it.

The Touch Ring will also give you access to features you can’t get on paper, such as zoom-ins and zoom-outs. You’ll also be able to change the degree of pressure it takes to make a line on the tablet, which is essentially like being able to change the kind of pen you’re using – without changing your tablet pen. It’s that cool.