Monday, November 16, 2009

XBOX…WHAT XBOX???

A few years ago I learned a tough lesson: eBay should only be used for Christmas presents if you are buying them at least a year ahead of time. That way, when you get burned (notice I didn’t say “if”), you have time to correct the problem. My boys desperately wanted an Xbox and I decided that there was no reason to buy them a brand new one. The Xbox 360 and PS3 had come out and a lot of people were trading up…meaning that lots of people were unloading their old Xbox consoles. Excellent! That just means a great deal for me. Boy was I wrong.

To make a long story short, I never got the Xbox that I bought through eBay. Through a lot of headaches and hair-pulling I was able to file a grievance and get SOME of my money back, but the threat of a ruined Christmas was the truly devastating part of the experience. I did, however, learn an important lesson: Know who you are working with.

Not that long ago the majority of business was done face-to-face. Thanks to technology, that is no longer the case. More and more we are dealing with virtually unknown people; but that can be a real opportunity for those that can REVERSE the trend. Instead of technology pushing you further away from your customer, what if it actually allowed more of your customers to meet you face-to-face? How is that possible? Through website videos.

A video on your website can allow your customers to meet you, hear you talk about your product or service, and get a higher level of comfort. Video is the fastest growing segment of the internet and can allow you to stand out from your competition. Let’s say that you sell widgets and you have 3 principal competitors. The odds are that your customer WILL visit your website, and the websites of your competitors, before they make a buying decision (studies show that 87% of people go online to research a product before they purchase or even visit a brick-and-mortar store). If customers can feel a connection with you, something that most websites (including your competitors) probably won’t do, then you have a much better chance of grabbing the customer. In fact, they may not even look at your competitors’ websites if they feel a strong enough connection with you.

To this day I RARELY buy anything off of eBay. I prefer to work with someone that I can meet “face-to-face”.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

It's Alive!!

That's right! The Agape Studios Blog/Vlog has come to life! We are really excited as this will give us the opportunity to show off more of our work and let people know when their projects are done.

We will also be throwing in some insights on photography and videography that may just help out anyone that is interested in either.

Also, we would love to send out an invitation for everyone to become a fan of Agape Studios on Facebook.

Thanks everyone!!