This is a great question and one that we find explaining to many of our clients. For a long time, any business that wanted to succeed and rise above the competition, knew they needed an online presence in the way of a website. That has now become an automatic expectation of any business in order to create credibility and to generate profits.

Now more and more businesses are wondering if they should be adding video to youtube, their websites and elsewhere to gain greater exposure and to keep up with the competition. And why is this? Well, for starters, here are the top five reasons you should have video to promote your business online:

1. YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine on the planet!
2. Videos show up in Google search results.
3. Videos can actually rank better than your website.
4. Videos stand out in the search results.
5. Videos keep people on your website longer.

YouTube has changed dramatically over the years. Initially it was a place to upload silly home movies but not so much any more. Many people research YouTube to learn how to do things, how to buy things and how to get more of what they want. It has become an information hub. It is a place to do comparison shopping. It is a place where people are relying on credibility of a product or service in order to make a decision on what to buy or what to invest their money in.

As mentioned above, YouTube videos show up high in google results. And since we are all programmed for instance gratification, you know that if your video turns up above other text search results, most people will click on your video.

And if you are going to go the route of developing a video, don’t forget to embed it on your website! This will encourage people to stay on your website longer and will also give you a chance to promote aspects of your business that your competitor just can’t convey in a static, text based website!

Unfortunately with Google ads, you don’t know in advance on which websites your ads will appear. Taking the time to research local websites such as portal, blog or review sites, that directly relate to your company’s products or services, can prove to be much more effective in helping draw new customers or clients to you.

Take for example the local fishing portal site that we, at Helm Studios run, fishingbayofquinte.com. More than half of the users visiting this site are out-of-town anglers. When coming to the area, these anglers are often contacting us for bait shop information, accommodations and places to eat or shop. The banner ad space on this site, for instance, would therefore greatly benefit local hotels/resorts, restaurants, tackle companies, bait and tackle shops, fishing guides and charters and local companies who thrive from tourist traffic.

Many blog or review websites will also be willing to write about your business if you advertise with them. Having a blogspot article written about your product or service will add a greater level of exposure and credibility and will allow visitors to learn even more about your business.

So, if you are a business planning on doing some internet marketing, why not try local target based web banner ads and see how effective and rewarding it can be for you.

If you are interested in advertising with a banner ad on our fishingbayofquinte.com site, please contact us through our contact form.

Local business owner, Peter House, came to us with the idea of creating a promotional video for his services that would be shown at the Belleville Bulls hockey games on the jumbo tron.

He wanted his video to bring a personal message to the audience about his services in the community as well as promote his website and offer the chance to win tickets to see the Bulls game from his private suite.

The video was to be under a minute in length and Peter provided us with a scripted outline of what he wanted to say on camera.

With that, we worked with the script so that it would flow seamlessly with our vision of how the video would be edited.

Footage was shot in Peter’s office and at the hockey arena. Thereafter, we compiled our footage, sourced out music, edited, created graphic design elements and applied motion graphics.

Once approved, the video file was converted for use on the jumbo tron and delivered to Peter on DVD.

About a year ago we developed two promotional videos for Merland Park Resort and a few months later, they were ready to give their website a complete overhaul so they came to us.

We wanted to design a very contemporary, slick, exciting and brand conscious website. The original site did not have a well balanced and effectively laid out design so this was an important focus for us. We also wanted to ensure that the site was very user friendly and clear and concise in terms of navigation.

Connecting social media networking to the site was very important to the client. A blog page was set up for the client to announce news, happenings, trophy fish caught and other pertinent information, on a regular basis. This came highly recommended by us for expanding search engine optimization. We embedded a blog feed on the homepage, and added facebook, twitter and youtube links.

The two videos we previously worked on were placed on the website so that users would be offered a visual experience of their visit and stay at Merland Park.

We also created an interactive map of the resort facilities and cottages allowing visitors to visually orient themselves around the resort and get familiar with the facilities before booking their stay.
Additionally a photo gallery was built to showcase the many trophy fish caught in and around the resort and the beautiful scenery to be enjoyed on Picton Bay.

Visit www.merlandpark.com today!

The holiday season is upon us and it’s that time of year when we take the opportunity to give thanks and show appreciation to those around us.

Animated egreeting cards provide a great opportunity to let your clients/customers know that you appreciate their use of your product or services. It is a great marketing tool to help reinforce your brand awareness and help drive clients back.

We will design a customized greeting card for you to send to your clients that will include a personalized message, company logo, website link and social media network links. With the use of flash media, we will also apply animation techiques to the card for a fun and interactive holiday message.

The quick and effective delivery of ecards to an email inbox will encourage clients to be directed to your website and social media feeds. This is a great way to increase web traffic and overall business revenue in the new year.

Here are some benefits of using ecards vs. the traditional greeting card:

• increases brand awareness
• drives business to your website
• drives traffic to your social networking feeds
• can be used as a marketing opportunity by way of promotion
• there’s no environmental impact
• postage is not required (cost efficient)
• personalized to your company or brand

Contact us today to discuss your personalized egreeting card and let us spread the holiday cheer to your clients by also helping to market your business and increase brand awareness.

Holiday Animated E-Greeting Card – ONLY $125

At Helm Studios we are huge supporters of social media networking because we know it is a great marketing tool for businesses and can increase loyalty and revenue. In a recent study conducted by Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, it was determined that companies using Facebook fan pages were able to increase sales, word-of-mouth marketing and build long-term customer relationships.

The study’s researchers found that the use of a fan page increased store visits by 36 percent, increased amount spent by 45 percent and increased loyalty by 41 percent.

The Harvard Business Review ran an article about the positive effects of Fan Pages and even tested the theory out on a Houston based dessert company.

“Social media are all the rage in marketing, but should they be? Sure, Facebook is growing fast—it had more than 350 million accounts late last year, 50 million of which were added in the fall alone. But how much do businesses really influence consumers when they launch pages on the site to attract “fans” and to pepper them with messages and offers?

To begin to answer that question, we did the obvious: We set up one company’s Facebook page and measured the effect on customer behavior. Our partner in this experiment was Dessert Gallery (DG), a popular Houston-based bakery and café chain.”

One Café Chain’s Facebook Experiment
Harvard Business Review
Article by: Utpal M. Dholakia and Emily Durham

Read more about this article by clicking here.

Helm Studios partnered with Corrvision to produce a 3 min. promotional video for The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel in Banff Alberta. Helm Studios was requested to be involved in all aspects of the video project including the shooting, editing and motion graphics.

The video was intended to highlight all the beauty and splendour of Banff’s Lake Louise along with the many outdoor activities visitors could partake in. The video would also showcase the luxurious hotel itself with all its many beautiful rooms and splendid eateries.

Shooting in the cold and windy Rocky Mountains of Alberta with HD cameras and P2 cards was expected to be a challenge but our producer Steve Thorne had the confidence and know-how to get the job done efficiently. Our crew of highly skilled professionals were equipped with solutions to many of the problems that could potentially arise.

Two segments of the video required motion graphics. The first one was a 3-D illustrated map. The initial stage of the map design was a layout of illustrations by one of our talented designers. Those illustrations were then edited and coloured in Photoshop and were then brought into After Effects to create the 3-D world and synchronize it with a voice-over. The second motion graphic segment required the application of motion tracking to a specific aspect of footage where a sky full of glittering stars in a night sky were composed into the scene which weren’t originally filmed.

For several years, we have been shooting and building a great database of textures and now we want to share some of them with you. This is our first installment of “free textures”. Please visit back frequently to see what other textures we will be giving away.

Tree bark creates great texture in design. It usually contains a lot of contrast with all the high points and low points in the bark. In web design and print design it can be great for creating a grungy look and feel to your project. By adding the bark texture in Photoshop on top of a solid color/or photo, dropping the opacity and setting layer blending mode to ‘overlay’ and then applying a little blur, you can really spice up a dull background by giving it the kind of random texture that can only be found in nature.

In video production you can use textures in the same way by using it as a footage overlay and setting the blending modes to ‘overlay’ or ‘multiply’. You can even take it step further by animating five or six different textures back-to-back, setting that animation to loop and making it grayscale. Now take that animated loop, place it overtop of some footage and sent it to ‘overlay’ or ‘multiply’ and adjust transparency values and you can really create a manic, fast-paced feel over-top of your footage.

Have fun.

Image Rights:
All textures are made freely available for use in both personal and commercial projects including web designs, print design, & video production intended for distribution. You may not sell this texture on its own or bundle it in a texture pack for resell.

Click on image to Download a High Res version (5182×3456 pixels).

Rickshau Media approached us to help them create and produce a half-hour fishing & outdoor television show. Helm Studios was hired to be involved in the initial concept and branding, the shooting and editing stage through to the final output and creation of the website. After reviewing many fishing shows we realized that many of them were lacking in style and branding and we knew by pushing the envelope we, could make the fishing industry take notice.

The branding of the show was of major importance to us and we knew that a good logo and color scheme would set the tone for the show. Our intention was to break the show into various segments with stylized bumpers and music.

Already having had extensive experience shooting in the outdoors, Helm Studios was prepared for all the crazy variables that would come with shooting in nature and we were able to handle every situation that was thrown our way.

The title intro was the first thing that would set the mood and branding of the show so we took great care in picking the shots and overlaying graphics and images to set the pace. The main theme song of Urban Outdoor Adventures was also created in-house by Helm Studios. Compared to the traditional acoustic folk tunes that are widely used on most fishing shows, we thought a more up-beat fast-paced techno-style would lend itself to the imagery, pace and forward thinking of the show. That song was then sent to Big Honkin’ Spaceship to be used as a foundation for the development of the remaining custom tracks.

The anglers view segment was a part of the show that would showcase when, where and how the big fish of the show were caught. This was done with motion graphics and illustrations along with underwater footage and voiceovers. In the first season, Helm Studios designed and animated all illustrations with traditional 2-D graphics. For the second season, we decided to take it up a notch and work with a more glossy 3-D look, specifically for the Anglers View segment.

The Urban Outdoor Adventures website was a major component of the show. With contests and web exclusive videos promoted within the TV show, Helm Studios knew to expect a lot of traffic to the site so it needed to be designed in a way that would be consistent with the style and brand of the show. With a healthy message board to manage and episode guides unlocking every week, the site had steady traffic which helped promote the show as well as its many sponsors.

Watch a full episode below or click here for other episodes.

Over the years Helm Studios has designed and developed many logos and identity branding. Logos have a more significant role that just stating the name of a company. They are elemental in creating a brand and a recognizable symbol of a successful and trustworthy company.

We take time and effort in developing a new logo for a company by closely examining what the company does, who it’s market audience is, the industry which it relates to and where it is located. We pay significant attention to detail and work closely with the client to create a design that best represents their product or service.

We feel strongly that a logo design is the foundation for all further branding development.