Insurance As An Investment

Insurance for Your Small Business

Every business needs insurance. The success of a business, whether run from the corner of your kitchen or a Fortune 100 company is dependent upon many things working synergistically. But no matter how successful your business becomes, one disaster can wipe out your entire company. The key to making sure that all the effort and money you have invested in a business doesn’t disappear when a disaster strikes is to protect it with the appropriate insurance.

Only you, as the business owner, know what is adequate insurance coverage for your operation. If you do not feel the possibility of risk of loss outweighs the payment of yearly premium, then going without insurance may work for you. In that case, you may simply want to self insure. For most small businesses, a loss can be catastrophic, and the premium cost is worth the peace of mind.

You need to not only be aware of the amount of insurance you want to carry, but also what is insured. All insurance claims are based on five considerations, involving the person, property, peril, exclusions and conditions.

• Is the person involved in the loss or accident an insured person under the policy?
• Is the property being claimed listed on the policy declarations?
• Is the peril (cause of loss) a covered loss under the policy?
• Is the event causing the loss or accident excluded under the policy?
• Does the loss or accident meet the conditions set forth in the policy?
• Is it limited in any way by the conditions set forth in the policy?

Each of these must be addressed when determining what insurance you want to carry. Your first step should be to take stock of what it is that you want loss protection for. Here are some items you may wish to carry insurance on:

• Equipment (computers, furniture)
• Inventory
• Buildings, land or fixtures
• Liability
• Business Interruption
• Vehicles registered to the business
• Vehicles owned by you
• Any vehicle, even those owned by employee while being used in the business or which your business temporarily uses
• Key employees in the business

Decide how much each is worth, should a loss occur. Be realistic. You want to have sufficient insurance, but you don’t want to pay for more than you need.

Once you know what you want to insure, decide what kind of coverage you need. What is it you would like to be protected from? Everything possible or fire, theft, catastrophes, accidents, loss of income?

You will also need to determine who you would like to cover: all employees, some, customers?

With this information, you can locate an insurance agent to fit your needs. Also, discuss the exclusions and conditions which exist on the policies which exist on the policies of the insurance companies the agent recommends. Will any of these exclusions or conditions serve to restrict your operations? If so, find another policy or ask if there are endorsements (an alternation to your policy) that can be added.

For those of you operating home-based businesses, take a close look at your homeowner’s policy. Most homeowner policies limit, or even exclude, coverage for any business-related equipment. This includes computers, fax machines, laptops and inventory. You may be able to get an endorsement to cover your home-based business on your homeowner’s policy or buy a limited insurance policy tailored specifically towards home-based businesses.

Types of Insurance to Consider

A major fire at your worksite or even a minor fall by a visitor can have a devastating effort on your business. So how can you protect your small business from big financial losses? You can start with two critical kinds of commercial insurance that are often packaged together in a Business Owner’s Policy (BOP); property insurance and liability insurance.

Property Insurance

This insurance covers your physical assets: your building, equipment, furnishings, fixtures, inventory, computers, valuable papers, records and more. But property insurance an also provide income if your business is forced to suspend operations after a covered loss.

Liability Insurance

Business liability insurance is specifically designed to protect your business assets if your company is sued for something it did or even didn’t do that resulted in bodily injury or property damage to someone else. Many insurance providers bundle the primary property and liability insurance coverages you need into an economically priced business owner’s policy. You can then tailor your insurance package by extending the coverage limits in specific areas or adding options to cover risks that are inherent to your industry.

Commercial Auto Insurance

Even if you have personal auto insurance, you still need commercial auto insurance. That’s because vehicles involved in an accident while engaged in company business may not be covered by the personal policy. To make matters worse, you could be charged with misrepresentation if you’ve placed a vehicle you use for commercial purposes under your personal auto policy.

There are a variety of coverage for your commercial autos. The discussion should include business-use autos, pickups, vans, trucks and non-owned and rented vehicles. You may also want to include “non-owned” vehicles used by employees for business and rented vehicles when an employee travels and neds to rent a car.

Errors and Omission Insurance

Regardless of what kind of business you own, customers can claim that something you did on their behalf was done incorrectly, and that this error costs them money or caused them hardship in some way. In this litigious world we live in, many business owners protect themselves with Errors and Omissions Insurance when any business provides advice, makes educated recommendations, designs solutions or represents others such as teachers, consultants, software developers, ad copywriters, Webpage designers, placement services, telecommunications carriers and inspectors.

Although a formalized contract with your client can help limit your liability, the big expense in an Errors and Omissions claim is the legal defense needed to proved liability or innocence. Errors and Omissions Insurance is designed to cover many of these defense costs and ultimately the final judgment if the business owner does not win the case.

Specialized Commercial Insurance

Does your business face unique risks such as hazardous chemicals or manufacture food products that may be vulnerable to contamination and product recall? Or do you often carry tools to your customer’s worksite and need to make sure your property is protected off site as well as on site? Some commercial insurance companies offer specialized packages for certain types of small businesses as well as optional coverage for certain types of risks not generally covered under your regular business insurance.

Umbrella Insurance

An umbrella coverage extends your business insurance beyond the limits of your basic coverage. Umbrella insurance is important because it covers unsuspected events. It is not expensive and in certain instances, it could literally save your business. Basically, an umbrella coverage provides additional liability insurance after the limits of your underlying policy are reached.

Worker’s Compensation Insurance

As soon as you hire your first employee, you need the protection of workers’ compensation insurance. Not only do many state laws require it (California is one) but it could save the financial security of your company.

In general, workers’ compensation represents a compromise between employers and employees regarding employment-related injuries or illnesses. In short, employees relinquished their right to sue employers if they suffer job-related injuries or illnesses in exchange for employers providing a state-mandated benefit. Employers must purchase workers’ compensation insurance as their financial assurance that they have the ability to pay any claims filed by their employees.

Most workers’ compensation insurance policies provide two types of coverage:

• Workers Compensation Coverage – this type provides benefits for injured workers as required by state law regardless of who is at fault for the injury or illness. In other works, whatever benefits your state requires, your workers’ compensation policy will provide it.
• Employers Liability Coverage – this additional coverage protects employers in case they are ever sued for damages arising from employment related accidents or illness. However, to collect benefits provided by employer’s liability coverage, both the employee as well as anyone else not covered by workers’ compensation laws (i.e. spouses and dependents) would have to prove that the employer was actually legally responsible for the employee’s injury or illness.

Copyrights, Trademarks and Patents

Copyrights

Copyright laws protect different types of original expressions including art, sculpture, literature, music, songs, choreography, poetry, software, photography, crafts, movies, video games, videos, websites, architecture and graphics. Protection is automatic when you place it into a medium. However, this automatic protection is increased when you register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office for a fee which currently is $30.

                                                                                                        

What is Copyright?

A copyright gives the owner the right to keep others from unauthorized use of the work. Under copyright law, a creative work must meet all of the three criteria to be protected:

1. It must be original in that the author had to create it rather than copy it.

2. It must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression such as expressed on paper, recorded, filmed, painted on canvas, written or recorded onto a computer disk.

3. It must have at least some creativity produced by an exercise of human intellect. There is no hard, fast rule as to how much creativity is enough.

Copyright does not protect ideas or facts. It protects only the unique way in which ideas or facts are expressed. For instance, copyright may protect an author’s science fiction novel about a romance between an earthling and a space alien, but the author cannot stop others from using the underlying idea of an intergalactic love affair.

How is a copyright created?

A creative work is protected by copyright the moment the work assumes a tangible form referred to as “fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” It is not necessary to obtain basic copyright protection by registering with the U.S. Copyright Office but there are two steps that can be taken to enhance the creators ability to sue or stop others from copying:

1. Place a copyright notice on a published work. This is commonly done by placing a © 2007 (the year of publication followed by the author’s name or other basic copyright owner. On your keyboard, in order to make the © sign, hit the left parenthesis sign, followed by the letter c, then the right parenthesis sign.

2. Register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office. Timely registration within three months of the publication is important in that any infringements can be easier to prosecute allowing for the copyright owner to recover up to $150,000 and possibly attorney fees without proving actual monetary damage.  

How long does copyright protection last?

In 1998, Congress passed the Copyright Term Extension Act which allows most works published after January 1, 1978 to last for the life of the author plus 70 years. The exceptions to this rule are:

• The work belongs to the author’s employer under work-made for hire principles
• The work was commissioned under a work made for hire agreement and fits within one of the categories of works that qualify for work made for hire treatment
• The author published and registered the work anonymously or under a pseudonym.

After a copyright expires, the work goes into the public domain, meaning it becomes available to everyone. For works created before 1978, there are a multitude of rules that guide their legal use:

• If published before 1923, it is in the public domain
• If published between 1923 and 1963 and not renewed, it is in the public domain
• If published between 1923 and 1963 and renewed, the copyright last 95 years from the renewal date
• If published from 1964 to 1977, the copyright last for 95 years from the published date
• If created before 1978 and published before December 31, 2002, the copyright lasts at least until December 31, 2047.
• If created before 1978 and not published before December 31, 2002, the copyright has expired and it is in the public domain.

Copyright Resources on the Internet

• www.nolo.com (click Legal Encyclopedia and click “intellectual property”)
• www.findlaw.com (click “intellectual property” and then click “copyright”)
•  www.copyright.gov (offers forms, circulars and huge amounts of helpful info)
• www.benedict.com (offers actual examples)
• http://fairuse.stanford.edu (provides a thorough overview of copyright and fair use)

Trademarks and Service Marks

Trademarks are a legal set of rules by which businesses protect the names, logos and other commercial signifiers used to identify their products and services. One of the principle goals of trademarks is to prevent consumers from being confused in the marketplace. Although not  necessary to register your unique name or logo to establish ownership, it can become an expensive legal case if there is question to its legitimate owner. The cost to register a trademark is $325 through the website of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

What are Trademarks, Service Marks and Trade Dress?

• A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods or one party from those of others.
• A service mark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.
• A trade dress is a distinctive shape of a product such as a Coca Cola bottle, the yellow color of Kodak or the distinctive motif of Levi’s.

What is Trademark Law?

Trademark law addresses the overlapping and conflicting use of trademarks, service marks and trade dress by different businesses. Usually, trademark laws are applied to resolve disputes when competing businesses adopt similar product names or logos. The rules for resolving these disputes usually favor whichever business was first to use the name, logo or trade dress. Trademark laws are governed by both state and federal regulations.

What kinds of trademarks and service marks receive protection?

Trademarks become distinctive in two ways: they originate as inherently distinctive or they achieve distinction through sales and marketing. Inherently distinctive trademarks don’t necessarily describe the goods or service for which they are used such as Google for the Internet or Brooks Brothers for clothes.

• Inherently Distinctive Trademarks consists of:

Ø  Unique logos or symbols

Ø  Words that are created specifically as a mark such as Google, Xerox, Kleenex

Ø  Common words that are used in a surprising or unexpected manner such as Amazon for retail services and Diesel for clothing

Ø  Words that cleverly connote qualities about the product or service without literally describing these qualities such as Slenderalla for diet foods or Netscape for browser.

• Achieve Distinction through sales and marketing consists of:

Ø  Terms that attempt to literally describe the product or its characteristics such as ComputerLand for a computer store, DiscoLandia for a music shop.

Ø  Surnames such as Newman’s Own, Charles Schwab

Ø  Geographic terms such as Pacific Gas and Electric, Southwestern Bell Corporation

Distinctive marks become distinctive if they achieve significant public recognition through exposure in the marketplace. A mark that has become distinctive in this way is said to have acquired a “secondary meaning.”

How is trademark ownership determined?

As a general rule, a mark is owned by the business that is first to use it in a commercial context. After the first use, the owner may be able to prevent others from using it or a similar trademark  as long as the first owner continues to use it in connection with its goods and service. The rights of the trademark owner – especially for a trademark that is not registered with the federal government may be limited by the geographic extent of the use.

First use can be established by filing an “intent-to-use” trademark registration application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The filing date of the application will be considered the date of first use fi the applicant puts the mark into actual use within required limits – usually between six months and three years depending on the reason for the delay and whether the applicant seeks and pays for extensions) and follows up to obtain an actual registration.

Trademark Resources on the Internet

• www.nolo.com (click onto Legal Encyclopedia and click on Intellectual Property)
• www.findlaw.com (click Intellectual property link and click on trademarks)
• www.uspto.gov (the federal website where you can get latest info, fill out an application)
• www.inta.org (the International Trademark Association provides online resources)

  Patents

A patent is a grant issued by the United States government giving an inventor the right to exclude all others from making, using or selling his or her invention within the United States, its territories and possessions. Patents were established to help various industries develop and expand, and thus, building a vibrant national economy. Every industrial country encourages innovations and the opportunity for its inventors to have exclusive rights to their intellectual property.

For a patent to be protected outside of the United States, the patent holder must file in each country he wants his patent protected. In addition, the patent holder must show that he has a “working” model that is produced for use either privately or publicly. Holding onto a patent without producing anything may be considered an invalid patent in some countries. An imitator may win patent rights if it’s proven that you, as the inventor, has yet to (or showed no intention) of putting your patent to commercial use. 

The Three Kinds of Patents

1. Utility patents are for new and useful processes, machines, manufacturing, composition of matter or any new and useful improvement of existing utility patents.
2. Design patents are granted to any new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.
3. Plant patents are granted on any distinct and new variety of asexually reproduced plant.

Utility and plant patents are effective for 20 years from the date of application. Utility patents are subject to payment of maintenance fees. Design patents are effective for 14 years from the date of issue. The basic filing fee for filing an application is dependent on the type of patent application and whether or not the applicant is entitled to status as a small entity (independent inventor, small business or nonprofit organization). Maintenance fees on utility patents are due 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years from the date of a patent is granted.

Applications are assigned to examiners who are experts in various fields of technology. The examiner researches previous patents and technical literature to determine whether a patent should be granted. The procedure usually takes more than two years. Before filing an application, you or your representative may search previous patents at the California State Library Patent and Trademark Depository search room.

The Patent and Trademark Office strongly advises consulting a patent attorney before filing an application. Names of patent attorneys may be found in a publication called “Attorneys and Agents Registered to Practice Before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.”

Details Necessary for a Patent Application

The applicant must make full disclosure on his invention in order to receive eligibility for the patent.  The information needed includes:

• Background information on the invention
• The nature of any technical problem solved by the invention
• A detailed description of the invention and how it works
• Illustrations of the invention where appropriate.

Scripting Your Marketing Video, Part 1

Way back in another life in a galaxy far, far away, I was a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle. That’s a newspaper – it was a way for people to get daily news that was printed on paper. No, really, we use to get our news on large, long sheets of paper, and it use to come once a day - after the fact - unlike today where you can actually witness news as it’s happening.

One of the things that was continually pounded into my head as a journalist was “shorter!” meaning just keep your stories concise, answer the five “W”s and leave out the fluff.

“If,” my editor would say, “the reader – and I represent our readers - am not engaged in the first three words, you’ll write the damn thing over!” He was sort of putting me on but not by much. What I did learn is if you don’t capture the reader’s attention within the first five seconds, he won’t read anymore.

I think that’s a great framework for your video marketing project. You have the same situation as my journalistic experience, and it might even be worse. Because now, we’ve turned into a society of MTV attention deficit, flash memory, multi-tasking, information overload, two-career, financially-strapped victims of our modern living environment.

Show Up Ready-To-Go

That’s why when you’re putting your video together, it needs to be thought out and soundly prepared beforehand. Don’t come to your video session thinking you can wing it. Because when that light comes on your camera and it starts recording, something strange happens to us: our brains freeze up. The solution is preparation and practice before it’s your turn to get in front of that camera . Otherwise, you’ll be wasting your time. I can tell you that even among professionals who have gone through the routine umpteen times, it’s still a longer process than originally intended. As they say, “Poop happens.”

By now, you’ve read through the introductory information on creating a marketing video, and you’ve completed the first step of the video creation process by composing a short, 300-word story about your company. The second step is taking your story and transforming it into a script, a dialogue that you’ll narrate in front of a camera. It’s different from the story itself because most stories are segmented into an introduction, the main body and a conclusion. In scripting, the idea is more of immediacy and a call to action by the viewer. That’s the intent of your marketing video. So let’s go through my nine rules for scripting your marketing video.

Content of Your Script

1.     The 5-Second WOW! How will you trigger your viewer’s attention in order to get them interested enough not to click onto Lady Gaga’s latest music video? Do this by creatively announcing your best single benefit to your potential niche client. The benefit is something that fills a need or solves a problem for your potential client. Use action words and always keep it short. For those in your targeted market, they’ll stay; the others will move onto Lady Gaga.

2.     “Who You Talkin’ To?” You may think that you have the greatest thing since sliced bread but the customer doesn’t give a hoot about you or your sliced bread. There’s an old radio-station acronym in marketing explaining why listeners will keep their stations dialed to WII-FM: “What’s In It For Me?” The client is always the one who decides to buy so make your video as if you’re talking directly to your customer about their needs. Remember the customer has an infinite number of options. What are you offering that answers the WII-FM question?

3.     “I Want My MTV” That attention deficit/information overload is a reality of our society. So, whatever you do for this marketing video, “Keep It Short and Simple” (the KISS principle applicable to anything. I think Buddha first said it and look, we still remember him! How’s that for memorable marketing?) Always remember that your audience isn’t watching a movie absorbed in a thickening plot; they’re buzzing at Control Center bombarded by messages, problems and flashing visuals. You only have a very short period of time to get your message across – effectively!

4.     We Root for the Underdog; We Want Love Stories  We haven’t come to the point in our evolution that our brains are thinking with more logic than emotion. We still have that Reptilian brain conflicting with our prefrontal cortex and causing us to lust, desire, crave and occasionally go for that Dove Bar even though it’s sinfully bad, and doesn’t it feel soooo good! That’s why great videos capture our imagination, tug at our hearts and make us personally involved.  

5.     If It's Got To Be, It's Gotta Be Me  In their research-based book, Groundswell, the authors, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, discovered that Internet businesses with the most successful were created by the personal connections their owners made with the public! You are the leading factor of your business success, not your website, not your marketing materials. Nope, it’s you because, again, it’s emotion. People will judge your company based on how you come across on your marketing video! They’ll buy from you because you’ve made an emotional connection.

6.      That’s Entertainment! Okay, even though your viewers will buy because they’ve come to love you, you still need to get their attention. Boring is not an option. Do something that’s funny or light with humor. Of course, if that’s not appropriate for your business, then consider emotional drama to spark attention. Heck, aren’t we bombarded with bad news all the time? Do something that helps your viewer to escape, gives them an “Ah-Ha moment” and pulls on their heart.

7.     But Wait, There’s More! I’m sure you’ve seen enough infomercials where they’ll offer you a dozen stretchable underpants “for not $39.99, or even $29.99 but just $19.99. But wait! If you order in the next 20 minutes, we’ll throw in another dozen at no extra charge!” In the same idea, you want to build momentum with your viewers to take action right now. So how might you incite a call to action with an explicit need for urgency?

8.     An Offer They Can’t Refuse   An interesting survey back in the 80s showed that “a money-back guarantee” made the buyer feel safe in buying. This assured him that if he didn’t like it, he could always return it and get his money back. Well, it turns out that 94 percent of the time, no one asked for a refund. The fact they could return it made their buying decision a no-brainer.

9.     This Could Be the Start of a Beautiful Friendship It’s one thing to capture the attention of your niche market and make a sale but now you need to make sure you ‘ll keep that customer for the long haul.  Research has shown that keeping your customer happy and repetitious is a lot cheaper than having to prospect all the time. What might you announce on your video to assure your clients will give you permission to stay in touch? One consideration is that people who represent your niche will look to you as the expert in what’s innovative, new and worthwhile. So providing an informational email, blog or website will keep your name out in front.      

DIY for Entrepreneurs

As I was saying in class a couple weeks ago, Nolo Press is a great Do-It-Yourself resource. Even better is that they have a 40 percent discount sale going on right now. Check it out:
http://www.nolo.com/promotion/anniversary.html

Time to Ignite!

"Business Is A Festival of Life!"

Join us at the 6th Annual Ignite! New Business Expo, a celebration of local entrepreneurship. Registration is now open at http://www.igniteexpo.org/

While most business expos are stoically business, Ignite! is a celebration of our local entrepreneurs as an inter-woven fabric of our lives. The day will resonate with intense culinary flavors, rumble with soul-shaking dances and fire us up with vibrating music - all local talents and all, a part of our growing entrepreneurial community.

It will again be hosted by the City of Oakland at Frank Ogawa Plaza on Friday, June 24 from 11am to 3pm. 

Whether you're a local, micro/small business that's 5-years or younger; a professional service provider to our local business community or an individual who wants to find out about what it takes to start a local business, Ignite is the Bay Area's largest venue for bringing awareness about your business and all things entrepreneurial.

Please check out our website for the complete details, registration and how you can participate: http://www.igniteexpo.org/

Please note that business booths are limited to 80 total and service providers to 40 total. Booth prices are a bargain at no higher than $50. As always, we anticipate excellent media coverage and crowds in excess of 4,000.

See you at Ignite!

Boku

ps: if you'd like an Ignite poster or postcard for your neighborhood or workplace, please let us know. We'd appreciate the coverage.

Resources for Your Marketing Video

Here is that website I posted last semester. These are great examples for you to imitate. Note that many are less than three minutes long: 
http://www.ted.com/initiatives/aws


Also, check out the following website for free music you can use as background. When you go to this homepage, it can be a bit confusing. So do this: click onto Home, then click onto View  New Website. When you arrive at the new site, click onto FreePlay Music. Much easier.  http://freeplaymusic.com 

Marketing Video: Writing It Out and Creating Great Content is Key

The Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) in Berkeley, CA is one of the early pioneers of “citizen video” or video that becomes accessible and simplified so that anyone can get involved. The following is from their publication entitled: “Digital Storytelling” by an old friend, Joe Lambert. Their tagline is: “Listen Deeply, Tell Stories.” You can check them out at www.storycenter.org.

Here’s are some excerpts from their training materials: A well-told story can bring an invaluable sense of immediacy to your cause, especially important when you have just minutes (or even seconds) to capture the attention of your audience. In the past, marketing was essentially limited to the traditional mechanisms of print and expensive video production. Now, these new, affordable multimedia tools are making it possible to tell your story digitally, combining the power of images, narration, music, and text to engage and inspire others to action. And that’s the point of a video marketing plan: not just to have the viewer say, “Oh, that’s wonderful” but to say, “Wow, that’s great; how do I get some” or “get involved” or “get their service!” What will drive that kind of response from your viewers?

1.     Use "The Seven Elements" to plan the story's script and content

A video that moves viewers to action must be built upon a solid narrative and structure. To that end, there are seven important elements in crafting a compelling story:

• Point of View. Telling your story from one perspective can help you decide which content to include and which to leave out. To determine your story's point of view, ask yourself what your story's message is, why it's important to tell it, and who your audience will be.
• Dramatic Question. A dramatic question is posed by the narrator at the beginning of the story to create tension and draw in the audience. A dramatic question is usually not an actual question that the narrator poses; rather, it is an intriguing statement that causes the viewers to ask themselves a question. Such as: “I was seven years old when I cracked my head trying to break dance.” It hooks you in and motivates you to listen to the story until its conclusion.
• Emotional Content. Stories that include incidences of loss, redemption, crisis, or change are key to keeping your audience engaged and interested. Emotional content is what everybody can relate to and what makes stories so universal.  It can be helpful to create a story about an experience that has already been resolved, as perspective plays an important role in being able to clearly examine your past emotions.
• Voice. A good narrator can help give your story direction and personality and can make it more powerful than using text only. An informal tone works well when relating your story, as if you were talking with someone over a cup of coffee.
• Soundtrack. Music can be a great way to establish mood and complement your overall message. Choose carefully, however: the wrong music can actually undermine your story.
  Instrumental music is often the best choice, as lyrics can interfere with your narration or contradict your message. Yet no matter what music you include, make sure you keep it at an appropriate volume to avoid drowning out the narrator's voice.
• Economy. Keeping your script brief (between 250 and 350 words) can help you decide what content to include. Economy of words plays an essential role in making digital stories short and sweet and emotionally compelling. It forces the writer to cut out all the extraneous stuff and focus only on the language that supports the central focus of the story.
• Pacing. Just as a glacial pace can bore viewers, a rushed story can overwhelm them. To hold your audience's attention, strive for a happy medium; vary the amount of time that images stay on the screen In more complex editing, use effects such as pan and zoom when appropriate.

2.     Build the story's visuals around the script and voiceover  

When crafting a digital story, let the script dictate which visuals you include, not the other way around. In this video process, the voiceover narrative leads the edit. That means that people write a story first and then think about what visuals complement that voiceover. (So in the case of the video marketing plan, you must assemble the marketing plan first, then write out a script on your storyboard and finally, consider what graphics, stills, video goes along with your script or narration.)

3.     Still images can be as powerful as video clips  

Still images can add a refreshing change of scenery for the viewer. It would be imperative that you would show photos of your product or service and keep the images moving so that there is no stagnation to your audience. Still images are classified as photos, slides, or flat artwork, over film. Another factor of still images is that they can be an “infinite file” in that you can display it for a second or 20 seconds whereas video has a very specific start and finish.

4.     Respect copyright laws 

If you create a digital story using only your own content — including your own script, your own images, and your own music — you would have the legal right to publicly display and distribute it. Still, if you're using photographs of people in the story, it's probably a good idea to get the blessings of your subject matter.

Yet if you wish to include any material not created or owned by you, you must get the express permission of the copyright holder. This is especially important if you plan to post your story online or screen it to the public. See the Urban FIRE handout entitled, “Copyrights, Trademarks and Patents.”

What if you are short on your own materials, but lack the time to get permission to use others' work? Some artists and musicians have made their work available online for others to use freely. Freeplay Music - http://freeplaymusic.com/ - for example, provides nearly 7,000 downloadable music tracks (in MP3 and AAC formats) classified by genre, style, and mood. (Note that if you may be asked to pay a fee depending on how you plan to broadcast and distribute your creation.) There’s also dozens of websites offering free images. You can check those out via Google.  Remember to check each site's licensing terms before you borrow, and always try to credit the artist as a professional courtesy. And one last word of caution: some photos from these websites are imbedded with virus! So make sure you have updated virus protection on your computer.

5.     Use free and low-cost software to keep production costs low. 

To put together your digital story, you will probably need to have access to image- and audio-editing software, as well as an application to assemble the content. And while you may eventually want to purchase software to create more elaborate or high-profile digital stories, you may find it useful to know about several free tools available.

The Kodak camcorders we use have a basic video editing software installed. When you plug in the camera to your PC through the built-in USB connector, it will automatically give you the option to download their editing software. It’s basic. For the Urban FIRE standard, we’ve selected Video Spirit Pro because it looks like Apple’s iMovie but is a bit more reliable with a few extra features. At this moment you can purchase it from Urban FIRE for $10. It is a downloadable program that goes directly to your home computer. You can also purchase it from the manufacturer for $40. (Note, when you download Video Spirit Pro, you will also need to download several free compatible programs in order to make Video Spirit Pro work properly. When asked which versions of the additional programs you want to download, always download the full versions, not the “lite.”

6.     Keep your digital stories accessible if your audience is blind or deaf

Because most digital stories depend on a combination of visual and audio information, users who are blind or deaf may miss out on key elements of the story. Fortunately, you can subtitle your stories through the editing software. For the blind, there are Braille converters that can tell your story. CDS has also produced versions of digital stories that contain static images and a text rendition of the script, which can help make the content more accessible to audiences using older computers and dial-up connections.”

7.     Circulate the story among your peers or colleagues for feedback 

Before you finalize your digital story and begin promoting it, you may find it useful to share it with others to get their feedback regarding tone, structure, and content.

Some specific questions you might ask during this review process might include:

·        “Was my business idea simple and easy to understand quickly?

·        “Was the dialogue sincere and clear?”

·        “Were the people in the video believable?”

·        “Was the sound clear and lighting not irritating?

·        "Was the ending clear?"

·        “Did it state a call-to-action?”

8.     Use video-sharing sites and blogs to increase your audience

If you have spent the time creating a powerful marketing plan with a compelling script, you probably want to get it in front of the largest audience possible. Digital marketing plans can be shared in a number of ways, including posting them to your Web site, uploading them to a video-sharing site such as YouTube, screening them at networking events, distributing them via DVD, or posting them to a blog.

Finally, take a look at other business marketing and related digital stories on the net. Some of the best stories are done by nonprofits. Keep your search flexible and even if you’re looking at video that has nothing to do with business plans or business, you might find great ideas that you’ll be able to incorporate into your digital business plan. Remember, the more you watch and study, the better you’re concepts will be.