When Customer Feedback Goes Wrong

Here’s a true story. I booked a hotel room for a night. All they had available was a single room, non refundable. The following day, things change and I’m no longer able to make my that trip. So I phone the hotel, 2 weeks before the night I’d booked, and ask if there’s any way at all they could change the booking and either refund me or use the money they’ve already taken as credit Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago

Comsteria’s Mission

Comsteria is here to help every organisation communicate more effectively. To do that on the scale we are determined to, we need help. Maybe YOUR help. As a fast growing business we are interested in adding to our contacts book of freelancers and associates. If you have skills and experience relating to corporate video production, editing, writing, podcast creation, and delivering training and consultancy, please get in touch. There’s nothing concrete at the moment but Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago

Artificial Intelligence

I spoke about the rise of Artificial Intelligence in our ‘2019 Digital Trends‘ video which you can watch for free by using the promo code ‘trends19‘ at the checkout. One of the points I made was that you will already have experienced Artificial Intelligence, perhaps without realising. It’s all around us and we’ve even set it up here on this Comsteria Blog. New technology from Amazon means that this blog post is automatically converted into Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
Editing a podcast. Waveform in Adobe Audition.

Equipment You Need For Podcasting

In our full day ‘Introduction To Podcasting’ workshop you’ll have the opportunity to try out a variety of equipment designed for various budgets and receive some personal advice on what’s right for your needs. Here’s a quick look at some of the things to consider. Laptop Yes, you could podcast straight from your smartphone but it’s not always the best solution. Recording the audio is one thing, but when it comes to adding music, multi-track Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago

How Much Does Media Training Cost?

How much does media training cost? Well, the answer would have been staring you in the face if like me you read the ‘i’ newspaper this morning. A story, quoting a response to a Freedom Of Information Request, says that Scottish Government Finance Minister Derek Mackay underwent a course of public speaking training last year at a cost of £972.12. It wasn’t Comsteria who delivered that work but we have run similar courses either for Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago

Creating Video Content in-house: Obstacles and Solutions

Increasingly communications teams want to produce regular video content in-house using smartphones or DSLR cameras. I’ve seen this strategy used to great effect to connect with internal and external audiences on a regular basis. I’ve also seen first hand the obstacles communications teams face. Sometimes before they’ve even got their video dreams off the starting line.   A closed company culture, lack of access to equipment, strained budgets, poor ICT support, and most of all Read more

By Emma Baker, ago

Scotrail’s Biggest Problem

It’s not the old trains, the delays, the WiFi or the political climate. Scotrail’s biggest problem is that no-one feels valued. It starts with the staff. The company has given them the impression that it’s more important that they attend to menial chores around the station than deal face to face with customers. So we see those appalling signs in front of the closed ticket booths saying ‘I’m currently dealing with essential tasks’, such as Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago

Sharing employee stories

Subscribe to our video production newsletter access to video tutorials and resources about making video work for your business. Building an employee brand Subscribe I’ve written before about how the superhero story structure or Hero’s journey can act as a template for external communications teams to craft strong brand videos.  These stories can cut to the heart of your company’s values and communicate the big picture of your organisation to a large audience. This story Read more

By Emma Baker, ago

Working with a production company

You know that video content is more effective than the written word alone when it comes to getting your business noticed so you’re thinking of enlisting the services of a production company to help kick start your organisation’s video output.  But what can you expect when working with an outside video expert such as Comsteria? And what is your role in the whole process? Whether you’re a communications professional or a small business owner, we’ve Read more

By Emma Baker, ago

Advertising: The ultimate 21st century goal

Much has been made recently of Global’s purchase of two leading ‘Out Of Home’ advertising companies, which gives the radio and entertainment giant based at 30 Leicester Square a huge market share of what we used to call ‘billboard’ or ‘poster’ advertising sites. Various commentators are throwing their opinions around regarding what it all means and what might happen next. It seems to me that the big race in advertising right now is to be Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago