by Joey Novak | Jul 8, 2015 | Tips
We’ve seen some of our clients who have awesome signatures in their email that double as marketing tools. I wanted to implement this in our company but I wanted to get it standardized across the company so we are all presenting the same message in our communications. So we added a Signature “generator” tool to our Free Campaign Tools. Below is a quick video on how it...
by Joey Novak | Jun 23, 2015 | Tips
Melt is a program that lets you script video splicing, and basic editing. It can be a pain to get to know, but once you do, it’s pretty awesome. Here is a simple example. We have a number of short walkthroughs. They are all pretty similar. A Quick intro, the screen cast, and then an outro. Here is how you setup melt to do this for you. First, you need to install “Shotcut” (http://www.shotcut.org/) on your Mac / PC. Shotcut is a front end for Melt, and includes the melt program. It’s alot like Adobe Premier Elements, but it’s free and opensource. Now, go ahead and create a “Video Template” folder on your computer. Now in that folder, create a file called “render.melt”, in that file put the following lines: C:\Users\joey\Videos\intro.mpg -attach-cut volume:-8db screen.webm C:\Users\joey\Videos\intro.mpg -attach-cut volume:-8db This file tells melt to start with the video located here: C:\Users\joey\Videos\intro.mpg, to lower the volume by 8db for that video, then add the video called “screen.webm”, then add the intro.mpg video to the end of that, and reduce the volume by 8db. Note** You MUST have a blank line at the end of your melt file. Change the video filenames (C:\Users\joey\Videos\intro.mpg, and screen.webm) to the paths to your intro, and main content piece. Now, you need a script file (batch if you are on windows, bash if you are on Mac). For windows, I put the following in the batch file (I call the file render.cmd). "C:\Program Files\Shotcut\melt" render.melt -consumer avformat:final.avi acodec=libmp3lame vcodec=libx264 This tells melt to use your render.melt file, and output the video to a file called final.avi using...
by Joey Novak | Apr 13, 2015 | Tips
IVR’s are those magic phone systems most companies have when someone calls. As much as I would love to have a full-time receptionist, it just isn’t practical for our business. We wanted our IVR to be different, and not lame. Give it a call at (480) 725-3434 to check it out. It isn’t hard to setup one of these either. Using a combination of Twilio and OpenVBX it can be setup in about an hour. While we don’t manage IVRs as a normal part of our business, we may do it as a sign of goodwill for somewhere around $500 for a couple of phone lines if you would like some assistance. Give us a call and we’ll work something out. If you want to set it up yourself, here is what we recommend: Start with a timer widget so you can set your open hours. If your office is open, send them to a menu widget, otherwise a message saying you’re closed and then to voice mail. Earlier this week, I said to turn off voice mail, but this voice mail can be automatically sent to your email account, so it flows well. Make your menu recording interesting and brief. Make sure all menus include a “0” option so people who are impatient and push 0 go somewhere (like a receptionist or other individual that can help route the call to the right person). That’s...
by Joey Novak | Apr 10, 2015 | Tips
Last year the time finally came for us to get an office phone instead of using my personal cell phone as the main office line. We didn’t want to actually get a land-line (so last decade), and we didn’t need a cell phone since it’s just for the office. After a few hours research we opted to get a Skype subscription with a Skype number (a few bucks a month) on an account that isn’t listed in Skype’s directory. We bought an older Android phone with wireless charging. This essentially gave us a cheap cordless phone for the office. We bought a Nexus 4 from Swappa for $60. It doesn’t need cell service to be used with Skype; just connect it to your office wifi. It sits on my desk, and when it rings I can pick it up (or one of our devs since it isn’t “The Boss’s Cell”), handle the call, walk around the office, etc. We can also take calls on a computer if we want since it is a Skype number. This gives us flexibility for a very low initial and on-going...
by Joey Novak | Apr 9, 2015 | Tips
Google Inbox is a new way to work with email. Most of us have used our email to manage tasks and get things done for years. Google realized this and created a new interface for Gmail called Inbox. It doesn’t replace Gmail, so if you try it out for a few weeks and hate it then you can always go back to Gmail without losing anything. Inbox is optimized to let us work from our email faster. It still has all the features you’d want from a mail client but it is simplified and includes some needed features for completing tasks. Easily schedule a task associated with an email for a specific date in the future, or add recurring reminders. It’s currently by invite only, so make sure to go to the site below and request an invite. It has made me more productive, and better at follow-up. Check it...
