Author: Aaron Belchamber

Pendulum book cover

“Pendulum” – A fascinating book, if not always on the mark

January 4, 2019 Aaron Belchamber Leave a comment

I just finished the book “Pendulum: How past generations shape our present and predict our future“. It’s macro guide with micro strategic implications that could help a business become more profitable.

It’s an interesting read about the natural 80-year cycles of society’s shifts in attitudes and tastes and how best to capitalize on these tidal changes from a marketing perspective. Since marketing is mostly an appeal to emotions, it helps provide general guidance about regional societies’ changing tastes, norms, and preferences that can shape marketing strategies and help make decisions for advertising and calls to action based on emotional appeal.

For instance, should marketing and public messaging appeal to a more individualistic or common, nationalistic sentiment? “Pendulum” kind of looks at the tea leaves in its sometimes too-rigid 80-year cycle context. At times, though the authors seem to struggle to fit past major events tightly into it’s 20-year pendulum movements to justify their findings, its greater service is how it raises awareness and helps marketing strategists be more cognizant of the phenomenon of society’s macro shifts in human emotions and behaviors.

“Pendulum” also explains why and how public sentiment can seem to shift so quickly, making the case that Marketing must be fluid and the only constant when dealing with human behavior and audiences is that they will inevitably change. Armed with Pendulum’s insights, these changes in public sentiment may become more predictable and less jarring to companies who may be reeling from a sudden loss in web traffic or audience response.

Looking at current events and recent events in the past I find in a lot of ways it’s not too far off the mark identifying certain apexes of public sentiments where the authors show the inevitable swing towards new attitudes and norms were predictable if people paid attention to certain markers. The hair bands of the ’80s and the swinging ’20s actually do have many things in common.

For marketers, this is an excellent base for starting research and breathing fresh air into marketing plans as they look for new approaches to reach their target market audiences. It offers a unique 40,000 foot perspective about the natural ebbs and flows of society while providing general guidance in predicting public sentiments to help shape future communication and marketing strategies down to the type of imagery that would be more impactful on your website and corporate materials.

It certainly offers some very credible explanations about why certain marketing tactics and messaging work then fall out of favor. As a software developer who appreciates systems and the building blocks and patterns on which everything functions together, the insights about the 80-year cycles of societies aren’t profound as much as they help raise awareness of the herd mentality of societies.

Overall, “Pendulum” is a very interesting read that will inevitably welcome new perspectives and questions when deliberating future business and marketing strategies.

Aaron Belchamber


Save your business money with alternatives to Microsoft Office products

July 31, 2017 Aaron Belchamber Leave a comment

As a leader in your organization, don’t you have a fiscal responsibility to save your stakeholders money?  One easy way to save money is to reduce the monthly Microsoft fees you are paying, it’s quick and easy to to transition away from the shackles of Microsoft Office.  If you tired of paying Microsoft license fees for office products and emails, I urge you to look into open source solutions!

Disclaimer: I own Microsoft stock, I love Microsoft, but I’m just not a big fan of their Office products, so when I hear a business owner complain about Microsoft and the licenses they “have to pay” for, including their email with Outlook/Exchange and other Office products, I don’t have much sympathy for them.

Microsoft is not the only choice for these type of office solutions. Granted, their products work well, but there are reliable and many free software alternatives out there.  The best alternative to pricey Microsoft Office licenses is Open Office.  This is an open source software project [http://www.openoffice.org/why/index.html] for Windows PC users, Mac users, and Linux that offers feature-rich capabilities similar to Microsoft Word (Open Office Write), Microsoft Excel (Open Office Calc), and PowerPoint (Open Office Draw).

The database and forms for simple data storage and manipulation is set up easily in Open Office Base, which offers many of the same features in Microsoft Access.  The other bonus is that you can usually open up MS Office files and edit them as standard .doc. .docx or .xls and .xlsx file formats, so you don’t miss a beat as you transition your team of 3…. Or 53 for that matter.

To replace your entire Microsoft Office suite and save potentially thousands of dollars of license fees, I suggest for those business owners who wince every time they pay their monthly Microsoft bill to look at these alternatives and give them a try:

Except for replacing Outlook, 90% of all offices I know could easily transition to Open Office and completely eliminate those pesky license fees of $4 per email address and $89 per year per user for Office, etc.  Not being able to replace Outlook is no reason to remain harnessed to Microsoft Office because there are feature rich, free alternatives to that as well!

For the free replacement of Microsoft Outlook, I recommend Mozilla Thunderbird. It also has calendar integration and other excellent features.
As an honorable mention, for desktop layout programs like Adobe InDesign, I recommend looking into Scribus! Even though their homepage is a little clunky and they have super large images loading as thumbnails, don’t be fooled! They may not know what they’re doing with their homepage content, but they make a great desktop publishing program!


The 5 P’s of Video Production Success

May 9, 2016 Aaron Belchamber Leave a comment

You can’t be one of the best freelance video producers in Jacksonville without the experience to show for it. Some video producers specialize in certain niches, like medical marketing, automotive, retail, or restaurants, but few have experience in different niches. 

I have the experience of producing effective videos in all of these industries and a lot more, including education videos, commercials and fundraising videos for non-profits, videos for manufacturers, jewelers, publications like regional and national magazines, and much more.

Every video project may be unique, but the same winning formula holds true for each of the “Five P’s” of successful video production. Each of these P’s represent a distinct phase in the process of getting a successful video made.

  1. Preparation

  2. Planning

  3. Pre-production

  4. Production

  5. Post-production

Your audience understands context and when you're "cheaping out"

There are many different types of videos, some are much easier and less time consuming to produce than others, of course. Many small companies may want to produce videos themselves, after all, everyone with a smart phone has a fairly decent camera so why not try?! 

These days, we’re used to seeing field reporters show up on the news reporting on some story from some faraway place via Skype or Facetime. Often, these gritty reports are the only way the major news outlets can deliver some interviews.  No matter where these field reporters are, they can call in for a video chat with their audio out of sync or suddenly their picture frozen. It relays a feeling of immediacy, which is great… if the reporter is in some third world country maybe reporting on a civil war.

Your company is likely not in a country where the Internet has been ravaged by civil war, most of your audience understands context so it might be advantageous if the quality of your video and audio is at a point where it leaves not only a positive impression on the viewer but it also doesn’t become a distraction. 

Also, people understand context of how a video was produced, if you deliver something so cheap and of poor production quality, you may create more harm than good for your company’s brand and image, especially if the audience comes away knowing you just went on the cheap.

Advice from one of the best freelance videographers in Jacksonville: Looking to make company web videos on the cheap? At least pay attention to your sound!

Certain videos are okay in this “reporter on location” format, but for the love of your own future marketing and organization’s image, use a decent microphone in your otherwise very amateur video shoot! If nothing else, allow the viewers of your video to at least understand what you’re saying. Clear audio can really improve the overall perception of quality of your video.  Even shaky, amateur phone videos will seem much more palatable if people can understand what the subject is saying without a lot of needless background noise.  Background noise and other distractions just get in the way of your marketing message!

Distractions are every video’s enemy!

This is why quality of your video production is important, it takes A LOT of care to make the subject the focus of attention.  A well-produced video allows the viewer to focus on the subject without the distractions caused by poor video production quality, like shaky cameras, poor audio, amateurish and poorly designed graphics, and untimely edits and cuts.
A well produced video eliminates most distractions so your message is delivered as clearly as possible.  Since video is so effective in conveying your company stories and marketing information, good video production quality is the highest form of web content optimization you will ever invest in!

Looking for freelance videographers in Jacksonville

We have all the field equipment needed to supplement your existing video productions or be your total video production solution!  If you are looking for freelance videographers in Jacksonville, we have the flexibility and experience working with broadcast television stations and helping other ad agencies.  If you are a small  company or non-profit, we offer affordable rates and can help turn your great ideas into reality.  Click here to view our local video production rate card.