How To Tell Your Company’s Full Story, To A Stranger, In Seconds

Posted on October 7, 2019 by harborcapitalgroupinc

How To Tell Your Company’s Full Story, To A Stranger, In Seconds

The Full Story….. In Seconds? Sounds Impossible, But It’s Not, And It’s Painless

Potential customers want to know what your product is and how it solves their problems, and you only have a minute or two to convince them that finding out will be well worth their time.

Explainer Videos

Here’s how. Explainer videos are an extremely effective way to tell your overall story, from problem to solution in condensed time and in a special format that captures and holds their attention until they have heard your full story.

Plus, if your company could benefit from this powerful marketing tool, you can now get one produced for a few hundred vs a few thousand dollars.

Potential customers want to know what your product is and how it solves their problems, and you only have a minute or two to convince them that finding out will be well worth their time.

Explainer videos are an extremely effective way to tell your overall story, from problem to solution in condensed time and in a special format that captures and holds their attention until they have heard your full story.

Plus, if your company could benefit from one of these powerful marketing tools, you can now produce one for a few hundred vs a few thousand dollars.

Whiteboard Animation

By definition, whiteboard animation is a video that shows the process of physically drawing a story using marker pens on a whiteboard (or whiteboard-like surfaces). While the objects are still images and often attached to texts, diagrams, or additional items, the drawing process itself is recorded (animated). The result is a series of drawings displayed in sequence and added with narration.

Whiteboard animation is similar to a video explainer. Think of them as a bridge between traditional videos featuring real-life objects and a conventional slideshow presentation. It is more sophisticated than the latter but it offers more or less the same visual effects as the former.

Conclusion

If you want to tell your story in just a minute or two, videos are a good way to do it. You don’t even have to be there to do it. Also, the person viewing the video can also forward it to others. They can also be very cost-effective. You know your story. Think about writing it in 100 to 200 words. You can start with your value proposition.

In Our Video World, Whiteboard Animation Is Growing Rapidly

Posted on October 7, 2019 by harborcapitalgroupinc

The vast majority of modern whiteboard animations are created automatically using computer software, eliminating the need for manual drawings. It has now become a widely popular format for online marketing contents distributed mainly on YouTube and social media. People use whiteboard animation videos for various purposes including business presentation, how-to-use instructions, and of course online marketing to explain what the product/service is, how it works, and why it solves the problem for the prospect.

One of the biggest advantages of whiteboard animated videos is its budget-friendly production, at least when compared to traditional videos. The main elements are the script and animation, which will then combined into one digital file, animated, and timed.

Despite the absence of real-life objects, whiteboard animation is still categorized as videos as far as digital marketing is concerned. Now that YouTube is a dominant platform – to the point where it is considered a search engine of its own – it only makes sense for online marketers to maximize the use of videos in their strategies. Cisco predicted that by 2022, video contents will comprise 82% of all IP traffic at both consumer and business levels, and global video traffic will grow four-fold from 2017.

Video Whiteboards Keep The Viewer Engaged From Beginning until the End

Video has always been the most powerful format to deliver online content. People are more attracted to the dynamics of the combination of audio and visual treatments than to texts or images only. Viewers are more engaged and they receive or remember the information better because videos are usually more direct and conversational in nature.

A common style of whiteboard animation is comic-strip. It is a familiar visual format; therefore viewers unconsciously exert much less effort to relate to every object shown. The simplicity and vivid visual progression of whiteboard animation, where information is delivered in a logical drawing sequence, also help make viewers voluntarily more engaged and attentive. The wasteful wandering of attention is minimized, making it an effective content delivery format.

Very Affordable Production

Cost depends largely on quality, but it is safe to say that whiteboard animation is much less expensive than conventional videos. There is no need to hire actors because the characters are drawn (by human or software), the audio can be added later with voice-over, and everything can be done on the computer so you don’t have to build any set or background.

Using our Staff-On-Demand (our global freelancers) you can get a finished explainer video in color for a small fraction of the normal studio charge.

Elements of A Whiteboard Animated Video

Posted on October 7, 2019 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Prospects want to know what your product is and how it provides a solution for their problem, and an explainer video is by far the most effective way to tell the world about what you have to offer.

Video delivers all the necessary messages in such a concise manner that viewers can receive the information without spending too much time in front of the screen. The combination of images, texts, and audio in whiteboard animation creates a comprehensive context behind the story that viewers can easily understand. The use of relatable characters and friendly voice-over makes the viewing experience more enjoyable; in a relaxed state of mind, the flow of information happens with the least resistance.

Whiteboard animation is effective because of its simplicity and familiarity. Elements of an effective whiteboard animated video are as follows:

Moving hand: remember that whiteboard animation is by definition a recording of a process of physical drawing. Even when the animation or illustrations are drawn using computers, make sure the animation still features the moving (drawing) hand. It arguably is the most important element of a whiteboard animation because the hand shows that someone is believably drawing out characters and writing noteworthy texts on the board, crafting a story right in front of the audience.

Plain background: although it is not impossible to use a different color for the background, white is the most familiar. The white background also opens the possibility to use many colored marker pens without readability issues. As long as you can maintain good readability, however, changing background color is not a terrible idea.

Styles: modern whiteboard animations come in many different styles. The basic elements of moving hand, texts, narration, and plain background remain the same, but you can modify some aspects to make the video more unique. For example, you can use blackboard or notepad as the background instead of conventional white and write the texts in different font styles.

Consistent drawing motion: this is the part that separates professionally created whiteboard animation from the DIY ones. To appear more realistic and convincing, the moving hand has to follow certain lines of the characters/objects being drawn. A simple up-and-down movement may work, but the final video will appear rough and less interesting to watch. Viewers naturally follow the movements of the hand in the video; if the hand appears to move randomly inconsistent to the drawing, the video looks rough.

Whiteboard animation traditionally has only two colors: black and white. They are great for readability, but it doesn’t have to be always created that way. Play with colors in the characters’ clothing, objects, and texts to highlight important information you want the viewers to remember. Effective use of colors also helps viewers understand the message better.

Additional Elements

As long as you keep the traditional elements intact, everything else can be modified as needed. keep in mind that readability is the most important objective to achieve. Experiment with various objects such as moving vehicles, animal interactions, water, building interiors, and everything else relevant to the project to build an interesting story and deliver your message. Just remember, the more “custom” you make the video, the more expensive it will be.

Why Create A Whiteboard Animated Video

Posted on October 7, 2019 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Whiteboard animation is a fantastic way to introduce your company, brands, and products to the audience at large. It is less expensive than conventional videos yet more effective to keep viewers attentive and engaged. Production is also easier because the animation is almost entirely made on computers; the characters are drawn and the narration (voice-over) can be added later approaching the final production step.

If your goal is to find the best format to deliver your message, online video is certainly the best format to deliver your message. People are more attracted to multimedia content and inclined to share them on their social circles as well, especially when the video provides valuable honest information and answers their problems. Whiteboard animation offers the affordability of every startup’s needs and the promise of ROI by generating more sales.

There are DIY programs available to create whiteboard animation so you can distribute them to your YouTube channel and social media accounts. When it comes to online marketing, however, DIY whiteboard animations will most likely fail due to their poor production quality and the lack of optimization (making sure they fit all platforms).

Although you can create the animation using specialized software to save even more money, hiring a professional video company is always the better option. Now, with our global Staff-on-Demand program, you can get a professional whiteboard animation created at a fraction of the cost charged by most video studios. You can also get a fixed cost based on your requirements. In addition, you also get:

Quality

The most obvious advantage is quality. They have all the talent and the tools to produce high-quality whiteboard animation and offer their expertise for the entire process. Since you intend to use the video as a marketing tool for your business, you want it to be enjoyable, easy to understand, and on point. The video is also a representative of your company, so you should aim for the best possible quality.

Efficiency

Without helps from professionals, you have to handle all the works yourself. Even with pre-made templates available from popular software, it would take hours (if not days) to get the job done. Also, some templates are just too common – they are used by thousands of others – when what you need is something authentic and unique to stand out from the crowd. A professional video company is filled with trained scriptwriters, illustrators, music engineers, animators, and voice-over talents to name a few. In other words, the company can handle the entire production process.

Online Visibility

You should also make sure the bundled package consists of not only the whiteboard animation video but online visibility optimization. This means the final video is constantly monitored to generate data including views, conversion, and basically whether or not it is effective in many different platforms. Adjustments and optimizations are made accordingly based on the data.

Why Customers Not Products Drive Successful Companies

Posted on October 7, 2019 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Before getting into the details of Value Proposition, we need to take a more general look and value proposition and customers first.

Do you know why customers will buy your products or services? Most entrepreneurs think it’s because of their product or service and its features, functions, and benefits. That is what entrepreneurs ask potential customers about, and that is what established, competitive
companies fight over. This attitude is a short-term, transactional mindset.

Successful companies know what their potential customers want. They are customer-focused rather than product or company focused. They know that customers want to buy products and services from companies whose products and services were created for them. When that happens, they become long-term, loyal customers.

For example, Apple said they wanted to design computers that would empower individuals and be easy to use. That purpose drove the company to make computers that a segment of customers wanted and was willing to pay a premium to get it. Customers believed what Apple
believed. This outward, customer-focused approach led to long-term, loyal customers.

Here is an example of the opposite inward product looking approach. Honeywell started a computer division in the 1960s and claimed they were “The Other Computer Company,” taking the assumptive position that they were second only to IBM. But customers didn’t see it that way.
They didn’t believe it. Honeywell’s computer features, functions, and benefits were not broad enough to displace IBM. They only had short-term, transactional customers and were forced to sell the computer division after several years of losses.

Startups need to start with what the customers want, not what the founders want. You still need to ask critical questions about your value proposition and determine the importance of each feature, function, and benefit. And you have to ask about every aspect of your product offering, including quality, functionality, packaging, service features, ease of use, reliability, and more.

It would be best if you also had a lot more than demographic information. You need to get into the market and talk with prospects so you can get into the minds of buyers, users, influencers, decision-makers, and even people who could kill the sale. And you need to classify these potential customers by
the reasons they buy.

How Do You Get Product-Market Fit

Posted on October 7, 2019 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Product-market fit is when your product/service benefits match your customer’s profile. Marc Andreessen, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist stated that it is when you get organic growth. We are going to discuss both of these, but we have to understand the customer first. The first question to ask does my product/service create the ability for the customer to do things they can’t do now). Or does it relieve the customer of current pains? This question applies to their work and home life.

Make sure you see the “job to be done” from their point of view, not yours. Also, distinguish between the types of jobs customers are trying to get done.

stated that We are going to start by putting some context around customer pains and gains’ First, the way we need to look at jobs, the pains and then gains.

Types of Jobs

Functional Jobs. When a customer performs a specific task or tries to solve a particular problem, Social Jobs.Situations where the customer wants to look good or gain status. Personal/emotional Jobs. When the job makes, the customer wants to feel good or secure.

Supporting Jobs is when the customer is playing a supporting role. For example, comparing product offers or when they are co-creators such as offering feedback or terminating value such as disposing of a product or service.

It is vital to take note of the context in which the job takes place because the framework can impose certain limitations or open up liberties. Also, not all jobs have the same importance.

Now Let’s Look at Customer Pains. Pains are anything that annoys the customer when he/she is trying to get the job done. Pains can also be potential risks the customer faces in trying to get the job done. There are three types of pains.

Functional Pains. The solution doesn’t work well, has adverse side effects, emotionally frustrating, or the job is tedious. Obstacles. Things that prevent getting the job started or completed Risks. Undesirable outcomes.

When examining these jobs and their pains, be as specific as you can. Are there any metrics you can use to clarify these pains (time, dollars, satisfaction, etc.)

Now Let’s Look At Customer Gains. Gains are outcomes and benefits that customers expect and are desired. These include performance, emotional, and cost savings. There are four types of gains:

Required Gains. It provides the basic or minimum positive gains expected.

Expected Gains. These are some additional gains we expect from the basic gains.

Desired Gains. These are gains we expect that go beyond what we expected.

Unexpected Gains. These are exceptional gains never imagined.

Again, when evaluating gains be as specific as possible. Can you use metrics to measure these gains rather than terms that could be misinterpreted? When you know precisely how to measure gains, you will be able to design a better value proposition.

Ranking Jobs, Pains and Gains

Posted on October 7, 2019 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Before beginning, consider the following three modifiers:

First, by ranking groups (segments), you still have to remember that individual preferences will vary substantially. Second, determine and rank which jobs are important and worth spending time investigating. Third, find out which pains are the most extreme (the must-have vs. the nice to have). Once you get in the field and begin talking to your prospects, you will modify your ranking,s and keep modifying them until you get a clear picture of your prospect’s priorities.

Begin by selecting a specific segment and ranking their pains and gains. Don’t mix segments or groups, including job types (see the previous article). Also, in your analysis, remember that these potential customers may have other ways of getting their job done in addition to your solution.

Also, your analysis should result in many pains and gains, which you will have to prioritize and be as specific in describing these pains and gains as possible. Even use metrics if possible. If the customer needs to get the job done faster, how much quicker, why that pain exists, and what would be the gains if it completed more quickly. Cover both sides of the coin. It would help if you also asked why this pain or gain is significant versus a different benefit or pain. That may help you understand the intensity ( a 1 or a 10) of this specific pain or gain. This article was quite short, but it will take your time and attention to get this information, and the information is critical.

Examine All Your Products and Services

Posted on October 7, 2019 by harborcapitalgroupinc

The first thing you will want to make is a list of all the items you offer. Altogether, they help your customers complete either functional, social, or emotional jobs. Also, remember that products alone don’t create value — they only do it in relation to a specific customer segment and their jobs, pain, and gains.

Ask yourself, how to do (all) your products and services alleviate customer pains. Also, do you have any supporting services or ways to help customers compare offers, help them decide which products or services to buy?

Your value proposition will include various types of products and services:

Physical or tangible products (manufactured products)
Intangible (copyrights, after-purchase services, etc.)
Digital (downloadable products and services)
Financial (financing of the purchase)

But not all products and services have the same relevance to the buyer. Look at each one, is it a must-have or a nice to have? The following are some suggestions from Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Canvas.

Pain Relievers

How do your products and services alleviate specific customer pains? Focus only on a few and on those that matter most. Which one solves problems quickly or entirely?

Ask these questions. Can your product or service:

Does product or service produce savings (time, money, effort)?
Make your customers feel better (get rid of annoyances, headaches, etc.)?
Fix underperforming solutions (new features, better performance, better quality)?
Eliminate negative social consequences your customer might face (lost of trust, stature, etc.)?
Eliminate risks customer fear (financial, social, technical)?
Help your customers sleep at night (eliminate worries)?
Limit or eliminate common mistakes and help them use your solution in the right way?
Eliminate barriers that keep customers from adopting your value proposition (lower-cost financing, shorter learning time, etc.)?

Again, make sure you are talking about those that are relevant and relieve pain.

Gain Creators

Here you want to describe how your products and services create customer gains. How you will produce outcomes and benefits, your customer expects or would be surprised to see.

As with pain relievers, gain creators don’t need to address every gain identified in the customer profile. Focus on the ones that are relevant and where you can make a difference. Ask if your product and services can:

Create saving that will matter to your customers (time, money and effort)
Produce outcomes that exceed expectations (e.g., quality)
Outperform current value propositions
Make customers work life easier
Create positive social consequences
Do something customer did not expect
Help make adaption easier
Help customers get better performance

Again, make sure each one is relevant. Great value propositions focus on jobs, pains, and gains that matter to customers and exceed their expectations.

Get 10x More Done In Less Time

Posted on October 7, 2019 by harborcapitalgroupinc

Most everyone agrees that execution is critical to the development of a company. In fact, many investors in Silicon Valley, believe that execution is the number one risk when it comes to startups and early developing companies. We will have many articles on this topic because it is so important. But, I want to start with how to get more done in less time.

There are so many things that need to be accomplished and often not enough time or people to do all of these jobs. So the question is: If everyone has the same number of hours in a day, how is it that some people get exceptional results and others get very little done?

Here is one way to do it. I am sure you have heard of the Pareto Rule or the 80/20 rule. That rule works for most things and you can use it to become more efficient and more effective and in fact, do bigger things. Gary Keiler, in this book, “The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results” tells how he accomplished more by doing less.

He says things were not working out with his job and his life. Too many demands, too little time and he had to do something. He went to a consultant and was told to do less. He was told to narrow his focus to one thing. In fact, the more narrow your focus the more successful you will be. “To achieve an extraordinary result you must choose what matters most and give it all the time it demands”

He was told to answer this question: “What’s the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

It all boils down to this very simple thing but something you have to practice at to become good at. In other words, you need to get out a calendar and make an appointment with yourself, four hours at a time, every day, to focus and work on that one thing that must get done. No distractions such as email, phone, chit chat with other workers or friends. Tell people you are busy. Four (or more) uninterrupted hours to focus on what is important. That is how you master your craft and that is how you get things done.

Here is a couple of examples. Harry Browne, America’s most successful salesman, worked four hours a day selling different things including cars and in the afternoon did other personal things including writing. He says selling is easy and we will be discussing his methods and ideas in
other articles.

Michael Phelps practiced six hours a day, 365 days a year, a 52-day practice advantage over
his competitors, which resulted in 22 gold medals, the most ever by an Olympian.

Focusing a minimum of 4-hours a day on being the best rather than doing your best is the answer.

As you knock down one goal, the next one gets easier. But, you have to protect your time blocks. Don’t let those time blocks get moved or interrupted Until that one thing gets done, everything else is a distraction.

Try it. You will be amazed at what you will accomplish and how good it feels to complete difficult tasks quickly and how many tasks you will get done and the progress you will make because each completed task moves you closer to your goal.

How to stay focused on your key objectives

Posted on October 6, 2019 by harborcapitalgroupinc

This article will cover a brief overview of the OKR (Objective and Key Result). All companies, including nonprofit organizations, are goal-oriented, purpose-driven, and yearning for accomplishments. Regardless of size and industry, however, they all operate with a limited amount of resources.

It doesn’t matter whether you run a startup or a company worth billions of dollars; you always need an effective goal-setting and measurement process. This is where OKR comes in.

What is OKR?

In simple words, OKR (Objective Key Result) is a framework used for setting strategies and defining goals to be achieved within a specified amount of time. At the end of the specified period, OKR provides a reference on how well the individual or company has performed in executing strategies and achieving the goals. As the name suggests, there are only two significant points:

Objectives: these are the goals you hope to accomplish within a specified time. At Google, for example, the results (goal plus where you are in completing the process) are on a dashboard for the entire company to see. OKRs help the whole company stay on schedule and give the company time to adapt if they are not on the schedule.

Key Results: think of key results as indicators of or pathways to achievement. Commonly the indicators are written in numbers, for example, percentage, time, reference, or monetary value. Numerically-based objectives or expectations are often easier to measure, as well. For example, the Objective is to (specific goal) by (date).

Not every key result is quantitative or indicated in numbers. Instead of using numbers to track progress, you can use a qualitative (milestone) method. Every milestone represents a specific challenge or a portion of the larger initiative. Each milestone met means a step closer to the objective. For example, step one (25% of tasks required) completed (date) as scheduled and currently on track to achieve the overall goal as expected.

The maximum a person should have is four to five significant objectives. Four meaningful goals and four tasks to each means focusing on sixteen tasks.

Why use OKR?

To make sure that every individual and team in a company is on the same page, OKR must be widely distributed and easily understood. OKR is crucial because it acts as a management and communications framework.

Key results, ether quantitative or milestone-based, are measurable values used as the foundation to determine overall performance. Key results are indicators that mark both the easiest and hardest parts of an initiative. This way, the company can define the right strategy to focus on and the most immediate challenges by diverting or allocating more resources accordingly without compromising workflow in progress.

Main benefits of OKR

In addition to measuring success, OKR opens the door to better utilization of resources. As simple as it may sound, this is a complicated process; yet when done correctly, it promises a wide range of benefits including but not limited to:

Effective employees: well-communicated objectives and key results allow the companies to focus on the most important task at any given time. The sense of achievement with every milestone met is also a strong motivation to keep on moving forward as employees realize that they are closer toward project completion.

Better planning: based on current achievements and remaining resources available, a company can craft strategies and execute all elements in more efficient ways. OKR gives a good understanding of the company’s situation and performance.

Manageable execution of strategies: the key idea here is prioritization. OKR helps a company to recognize any weak points in the planning or performance that will hinder progress and the completion of the objective itself. The company can then prioritize resources to address the identified shortcomings.

The idea behind OKR is to manage and measure success. Because some objectives can be too difficult to achieve, given a limited amount of time and resources, a generalized statement of success or failure is not good enough. OKR gives a clear overview of how far or close you are to achieving goals and foretells possible difficulties to come.

Here is an example of how to use OKR. T.J.Rogers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, who, through a dashboard, reviewed each person’s status daily. If an employee were behind in reaching his goals, he would call the person and ask,” how can I help.” He assumed they would have completed the task unless there was an obstacle holding him/her up. That’s a positive management tool and a positive approach to team members.