We Streamline

Hello! Welcome to WeStreamline blog! This page was started while our founder & owner @TheyCallMeHerk was completeing his bachelors degree to document research and branding projects. This page will featureing post about marketing, business, books & some bts of projects we are working on!

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How Jay-Z Became a Billionaire

“What’s better than one billionaire? Two,” Jay-Z famously rapped on his “4:44” album. Art is imitating life now that the rapper was named hip-hop’s first bil...

Billion Dollar Jigga

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5.10.19 | The last marketer will be a storyteller

Chapters 12 and 13 was the last chapter presentations I did in my Communication: Strategy and Planning course this spring.. The chapter themes are Strategies for Creating Awesome Content and How to Write for Your Buyers.

I had several takeaways after reading “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott:

Successful marketers will use real-world language to convince their customers that they can solve their problem.

Focus on interesting stories.

Every time you write you have a opportunity to communicate and to convince.

A blog is a personal website written by someone who is passionate about a subject and want the world to know about it. (p. 217)

Don’t underestimate the value of an image to tell a story.

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5.10.19 | Set the right goals before making a marketing strategy

Chapters 10 and 11 really helped me assess a public relations project I was managing for a non-profit client. In my communications strategic planning class we worked with Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), to promote, solicit media coverage and donations for their food package event. At the event they hand pack 150,000 meals that are sent around the world addressing hunger and poverty among children.

I managed a promotional video, that was to be shared with our targeted audience.

That video was a “manna pack” taste test, featuring random people eating and reviewing the meals FMSC sends to children, which are called a manna pack.

After evaluating the project and reading “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott. I had several takeaways on how we could have improved our public relations campaign.

We could research and identify what do we know about our audience.

Develop a buyer persona profile on our audience. Identify if the profile of the group align with our target, so we can achieve our goals.

Build a strategy on real-time communications. Capturing behind scenes video’s and photos to post as content while filming and editing promotional video. Using Snapchat and Instagram stories to update and inform audience in real-time.

We could have optimized our strategy by clarifying information that help achieve our clients goals.

Communicate clearly with our audience on what we offer, what we want from them, and why we want it.

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5.9.2019 | Character and voice

Honestly, I’m not sure if my takeaways have anything to do with the chapter topic ‘character and voice’. Yet I still found some pretty good information. Here are my takeaways from chapter 2 of ‘Out On The Wire’ by Jessica Abel:

A character having a change in emotion, can be the magic ingredient to make you stop and pay attention.

Money itself has a narrative. (p.87)

When interviewing experts you have to find a story in their voice using clear language.

When interviewing experts find the ordinary human, the trick is to get the mind and heart synchronized with the voice.

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5.3.19 | Old rules of marketing

Here are several takeaways I have from chapter one of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott.

Your company's website should have personality and feel authentic.

Traditional advertising is a great strategy for megabrands lke Proctor & Gamble, Paramount Pictures, and U.S. presidential candidate- reaching large numbers of people with a message of broad national appeal- just doesn’t work for niche products, local services, and specialized nonprofit organizations.

The web has opened a tremendous opportunity to reach niche buyers directly with targeted information that cost a fraction of what big-budget advertising costs.

The web changed the rules. Today, organizations are communicating directly with buyers.

Though you should learn to ignore the old rules, advertising can still be part of an overall strategy.

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5.3.19 | Content-Rich and marketing in real time

Here are several takeaways I have from chapters eight and nine of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott.

The best websites focus primarily on content.

When starting a new website start with content strategy.

Make sure all mobile content loads quickly.

The internet has fundamentally changed the pace of business, compressing time and rewarding speed.

‘Real time’ means that news breaks over minutes, not days.

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4.30.19 | New rules of marketing

Here are several takeaways I have from chapters two and three of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott.

Online content is causing a convergence of marketing and PR that doesn’t really exist offline.

Great content brands an organization as a trusted resource and calls people to action - to buy, subscribe, apply, or donate.

Instead of causing one-way interruption, marketing is about delivering content at just the precise moment your audience needs it.

Buyers want information in language they understand.

Visitors come to websites for content that describe the issues and problems they face and provide details on how to solve them.

Think like a publisher. Publishers carefully identify and define target audiences and consider what content is required to meet their needs.

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4.30.19 | Going viral and how multimedia drives action

Here are several takeaways I have from chapters six and seven of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott.

Videos use emotion to tell stories in ways that most other forms of marketing cannot.

If you can create an interesting story, others will share it for you.

It’s almost impossible to create a web marketing program that is guaranteed to go viral. Alot of good luck and perfect timing are necessary for things to go viral.

When creating video content for an organization a sort of homemade feel seems to work, while slick and polished usually doesn’t.

Large companies cannot control messages in ways that the marketplace sees as inauthentic.

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4.25.19 | Narrative Arc final project plan

The headline for my final project is: 

“Locals unit during hurricane maria recovery”

I will aim to get my final draft down to two minutes. 

At our class edit it was suggested that I use one of my soundbites that has ‘action’ to the front of my story. 

Will upload to iMovie to add photos and sound to my story.

Will use text to highlight quotes throughout video.

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4.23.19 | A grandmothers concern

This spring I had the chance to sit down with Kim Kotz for a second time for my public relations class to interview her about Feed My Starving Children.

Grandmother and physical therapy professor Kim Kotz started to organize for the charity 9 years ago. Her first event was hosted by St. Bonaventure and she’s organized at Villa Maria College for the last eight years. 

Kotz, has ambitious goals to help her raise funds. She wants all local media coverage, she wants the Buffalo Bills to volunteer and her new 147,000 meal packing goal total means she needs $32,000 in donations by the time the truck delivery arrives.

One of the highlights of our interview for me was when Kotz said: 

“I look at my grandson who is six weeks old and I think of him dying because he doesn’t have enough food.”

For me this quote showed that she feels attached to the project, as if these were her own children. 

Ever since she started the project to help after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, it’s become part of her identity, a volunteer feature for the school’s honors program and an annual quest to get the word out to the media, donors and more volunteers.

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4.16.2018 | Are you a digital communicator?

What I have learned about multimedia storytelling in strategic communications: 

Anything that is paid for is advertising; anything that is not paid for is public relations.

Like social media, PR is about building and maintaining relationships.

Digital communications is about driving good content and thought leadership, and positioning for credibility and expertise.

Stories connect with people. Stories create an emotional resonance, and stories really are the most effective ways of getting your message across.

Video is a great way to tell your story.

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4.11.2019 | The Hard Truth 

First of all, I love the title of this chapter. Also how this chapter was structured to highlight important information.

Here are my takeaways from chapter 5 of ‘Out On The Wire’ by Jessica Abel:

hard and honest critiquing of your work, makes you project better.

Group critiques allows you to pull from different perspectives, people different skill strengths.

Even when you love a part in your story, if it doesn’t fit your thesis cut it!

‘Edits’ and ‘Editing’ are two very different things. An edit is when a group of colleagues verbally critique your draft. Editing is the literal cutting of tape to shorten and shape quotes and sound for a story.

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4.4.2019 | Sound carries the mood of your story 

Funny thing about reading this chapter is, it connects directly with material I’m learning in my sound design class this semester. Here are my takeaways from chapter 4 of ‘Out On The Wire’ by Jessica Abel:

When you think musically when telling a story, you’re thinking about narrative.

Sound can create an emotional tone. It can also simply create room for emotion to hit you.

Often the main thing that music is doing is just holding the space and letting the moment live.

Music can help tell the audience whats important in a story.

Two free sound sites are freesound.org and soundsnap.com

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3.24.2019 | Are you interested in your own ideas?

The source of good ideas come from your own interest. If you are amused or interested in knowing more about a topic, you are in the right place to find a good story.

Here are my seven takeaways from chapter 1:

Look for stories you are interested in.

The best stories come from topics you don’t understand and have to explain to yourself.

The focus sentence represents your hypothesis.

The focus sentence helps you figure out if your idea is actually interesting. Also, the focus sentence not only suggest a narrative arc, it allows for a process of figuring out what in your research fits the narrative arc.

Noticing when you’re bored is important, because it means that something in the story isn’t happening in the right way.

A story that is just “about” something isn’t a story, it’s a topic.

Don’t assume a story is interesting, articulate why.

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3.19.2019 | Storytelling is Universal

No matter what medium you use film, comics or journalism. In the preface of ‘Out On The Wire’ I learned, that story structure works when stories are told as a sequence of actions/events.

Here are five elements to tell stories effectively:

Stories that ask big questions.

Surprising, engaging characters.

Authentic voices.

Robust narrative structure.

Intricate uses of sound as part of storytelling.

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3.11.19 | Checking out some art & having lunch with professionals

Every spring Villa Maria College host a luncheon at the Albright Knox. The event featured several guests that are professionals and leaders in their industry.  

The opportunity to network, make connections and gathering information from experienced professionals is priceless. One downfall to the event is it was too short. 

Below I have listed my seven takeaways:

If you are building a website or creating content “Think user experience first.” - Pamela Martin, Digital Content Manager at Albright-Knox Art Gallery

No matter what kind of marketing or PR campaign you put together, it won’t have long-term effect unless you build relationships first. “Building relationships is your foundation.” - Jeannine Weber Kahabka, Director Of Marketing & Public Relations at Explore & More Children's Museum

When working at an internship, get involved! Do projects that add to your resume.

“You can do alot with a small team.” - Kristen Schober, Communications Specialist at Villa Maria College

Focus on the story being tight not the fancy equipment.

“Advertisement is paid for, PR is earned.” - Jeannine W.K.

When people say marketing doesn’t work, that means they’re not doing it right!

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3.11.2019 | Introduction: A Year To Go

It’s been awhile since I have posted on here. So, first and foremost, Hello everyone! I am one year away from my bachelor's degree. This semester I'm taking two courses that can really add to my skill set. I'm taking Narrative Arch and Digital Communication: Strategy and Planning.

Not only do I want to improve my storytelling ability, but I believe taking Narrative Arch can help develop my skill to find and analyze a story.

Honestly, I don’t know what to except from my Digital Communications course. However, it sounds fancy! So, I will have to do a follow up review after I have taken the course. But I can say that the course textbook focus is on public relations and marketing, so I’m excited to take it..  

Send me all your positive energy, Im going to need it! I’m taking 18 credits this semester, the most I’ve ever took. But I’m up to the challenge.