VAST - Visuals, Articles, Social, Technicals
In the words of Simon Sinek, let’s Start With Why
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Why would I pay for photographs when I can get them free?
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Why would I pay for a copywriter when I can write a passable feature myself?
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Why would I pay for a designer for my social media posts when we have someone in the offices who knows how to use facebook?
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Why would I need someone to do my site’s SEO when people who want to find us find us?
Visuals
You ask; Why would I pay for photographs when I can get them free?
We say;
We all know the phrase ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ and we have all seen images that are truly awe inspiring and quite literally stop us in our tracks. A beautiful image may uplift our mood, a harrowing one disturb us and an unexpected one surprise us.
But images that are just right give us a sense of something, they set a tone, a meaning and a level of energy that we understand, without words. We just get it.
These images do exist in photo libraries, just put in a description of what you want and the photo library will interpret your search and show you lots of images that sum up what it thinks you want to say. We had a lot of fun recently putting the term ‘Leading the way’ into around 10 ‘free’ photo libraries. We saw some stunning images and some may have been relevant to our business in a non-specific but sometimes very beautiful way.
But when you have a photographer who takes photographs specifically to demonstrate what you do, who you are, where you are, what you care about – they will get it right.
We know that photographs taken for our clients present them as being friendly, trustworthy and authentic, and we think that is how most businesses want and need to be perceived.
Articles
You ask; Why would I pay for a copywriter when I can write a passable feature myself?
We say;
For many years the phrase ‘Content is King’ has been banded around amongst marketers as the ‘only marketing left’. Well we don’t agree, what we think is that good, relevant, interesting, informative and true content can be king. That content aimed at your audiences talking about things you know about in a way that allows your readers to gain something, that’s the sort of content that is king. Your customers should be able to tell what you care about from reading an article, a facebook post, or a tweet. But mostly they should know that you care about them, and the stuff you tell them will hopefully mean that they value you in return.
We know that content written specifically for our clients with their values, knowledge and insights running through, like rock, is the content people want to read. And if people want to read it then the will want to work with you.
Social
You Say; Why would I pay for a designer for my social media posts when we have someone in the office who knows how to use facebook?
We say;
Knowing how to use Facebook is a great place to start, but ‘someone in the office’ may not have a clue how to put together posts that engage with your followers (or help you gain new ones!). In many ways social media is one of the hardest ways to communicate well and over a sustained period of time. Once we have helped you identify what you could be posting about we can create a selection of assets that you can use in your social media. A range of colours, backgrounds, illustrations and images that reflect your organisations tone and values.
Technicolour
You say: Why would I need someone to do my site’s SEO when people who want to find us find us?
We say;
What SEO does is enable you to decide who are the people you want to find you and then appeal to them in terms of content, imagery, communication of values etc etc. Sure they probably find you if they put your company name into Google, and they might find you because someone they know is a client of yours and recommends you. But what if your perfect new client just hasn’t met you yet. They don’t know that you are the answer to their problem… and you forgot to mention it.. so you pass like ships in the night. Don’t forget to let Google know who you are, what you do, what you care about, how much other people recommend you and that’s Search.
A VAST Project
The Maison Mason is a new estate agent in Crystal Palace South East London. They are an experienced team that have a refreshing attitude to their clients and their local community. When they first got in touch they had a logo and had commissioned a website build.
We were brought on board to:
- Create an album of photographs of the local area and of The Maison Mason team. The images to tell the story of a team integrated in and integral to the local community.
- Develop a tone of voice that reflects the teams’ experience, local area knowledge and extrovert personalities. This team really aren’t your ‘usual estate agents’. Using the ‘tone of voice’ we created the website text.
Images and content supplied to the web builder, - Create a portfolio of assets to be used by The Maison Mason team when creating their social media posts. The assets have all been supplied on the free graphic design platform Canva. The client uses the assets to produce a range of posts including ‘for sale’, ‘sold’ and ‘to let’ as well as reviews, local information posts and content pointers.
- Ensure that each page of the website is optimised for key search terms within the platforms’ restrictions, set up Google Analytics, Search Console and Google my Business.
Introducing VAST - Visuals, Articles, Social, Technical
We used our proven VAST approach to provide Maison Mason with the assets and technical support to ensure that from launch they had:
VISUALS
Strong and consistent imagery, including commissioned photography and a range of assets designed to support the existing brand.
ARTICLES
Well structured, optimised website content that drew out the personality of the team and their brand in this people focused business.
SOCIAL
Easily identifiable social media accounts set up across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google My Business and a supply of assets to ensure a consistent brand look and feel across all channels.
TECHNICAL
An optimised website within the parameters allowed by the platform. Integration of Google Analytics and Search Console to allowing on-going monitoring by the client.
Who we worked with on this VAST project:
- Photography: Vervate
- Design: Rhinobytes
- Words and management: Frank!
- Technical: Build14me
For more details about VAST and how we can help you with a similar project, please get in touch.
We also like to talk
So why not pick up the phone now - 07903 019596
Or, if you'd rather, email us at: hello@frankontheweb.com