Scrolling through Facebook today I was reminded of a photo from 9 years ago. 9 years ago! Man time flies. But it’s a photo from the “set” of Block Diaries, the hood web series I shot with my friend Cornell Hill. This is me in the thick of things, doing what I love, filming, creating…
As we roll into another week of quarantine, our Vanquish Media Group team wanted to give our network an opportunity to learn about some of the changes taking place in the entertainment industry. From working from home to new media landscapes, the good, the bad, the ugly, truths, and the realities of what is taking…
What is going on guys? 3 weeks into quarantine and I’m slowly starting to lose my mind. But I guess us creators must continue creating. But we can’t shy away from the realities. In this episode of The Cyprian Francis Show, I chat with an old friend and mentor of mine, Bob Iaccino. Who is…
As coronavirus takes grip of the world, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about its effects on the Entertainment industry, and Los Angeles together.
True Story: I was browsing Craigslist, as I usually do, looking for opportunities and whatnot, and I came across a post about a local marketing guru who was looking for local guests for his fast-growing podcast. I did a little research, reached out, and had the luxury of coming into the Hollywood studio to record…
In this vlog episode, I am happy to take you on a little journey inside the Santa Monica Roller Hockey league, where people from all walks of life come together once a week to play roller hockey on the beautiful beaches of Santa Monica California. Enjoy! And if you’re ever in the area, stop by…
When I first moved to LA I really on had 1 friend, Mr. Clay Kerr, who is an amazing photographer and videographer. He introduced me to his old classmate Miles Carey-Snow and showed me some of the things they were working on. Music Videos, and Behind The Scenes shoots, and this new show they were…
The mild girls of Girls Gone Mild LA are back at it with the premiere of their first episode of Season 2. Created by and starring Gracie Strawn, the YouTube series follows the “mild” life as Gracie, and her pack of friends gives the world a taste of what LA is really all about. From…
The social media landscape is changing, and the future is looking less than rosy. Organic social reach has started to decline. Trust in key social media platforms is at an all-time low. And pay to play is pretty much a necessity for brands to break through. But here’s the good news. While there are red…
Sometimes when recording audio and sound you’ll end up finding some small clicking sounds or others embedded into the audio. In order to really clean the audio up, you should manually filter the sound out. In this tutorial, I walk you through some ways I do it in the editing room.
When it comes to marketing something as close and personal, and important, as your own business, you may feel confused or even hesitant in how to start and how much to spend.There’s nothing wrong with starting out with a small business and not having the wherewithal to spend great gobs of money on marketing —…
I have to admit, I consider myself to be somewhat of a manly man. A man who thrives on doing manly things, like playing sports, gambling, smoking cigars, fast cars. But I found myself in an interesting situation this weekend, where an opportunity presented itself for me to get outside of my comfort zone. You…
It’s no secret that Facebook ad prices are on the rise. While you used to be able to generate clicks for just a few cents, businesses are now paying dollars—yes, plural—in order to get a single user to click on their ads.This, in turn, has raised the cost of B2B lead generation, which then increases over cost per acquisition…
This past week I had the pleasure of attending Facebooks Agency Expo here in Los Angeles. The agency expo was an event put on by the Facebook Agency team in an effort to educate local agencies that are part of their somewhat newly formed Facebook marketing partners platform.What is Facebook Marketing Partners?Facebook Marketing Partners are…
I talk to a lot of clients who want search ads. They know that it’s people looking for their product or service. But many times they fail to understand that the ad itself, is only half of the equation to why someone will seek further information.It’s incredibly effective to design a custom landing page with…
Do you find yourself on Google, searching for ways your business can generate more natural traffic? More qualified leads? Something more automated? Then look no further than Customer Reviews!Online customer reviews have consistently been shown to have the most impact on search rankings, especially for local search. A recent study, in collaboration with the University…
As if there weren’t already enough places through the entire Facebook network to place ads on, Instagram unviels new ad format in the explore tab.Instagram announced today that it is introducing ads in its Explore tab, the section where users can browse content and discover new accounts based on their interests.The company said it will…
Stickers, filters, animations—today’s Instagram Stories look better than ever. That might be because there are tons of amazing Instagram Story apps that make editing so much easier. This is more important than ever for brands, who want to stand out in a sea on content. Stories are growing 15 times faster than other content. They’re reaching more…
When it comes to marketing I often get asked, “What makes a good KPI”? The answer really depends on the industry and business. Different businesses and industry are going to generate different data, so comparing them that way is not going to help.The best way to start is to first identify what KPIs you want…
Just to give some context behind this post… The fact is, that I’m not like some super stoner who lives for April 20th every year. I’m not one to plan extravagant events or anything for that matter. Truth is, I really don’t care for the holiday, and I really even understand what we’re celebrating. But…
Your product or service features matter. Often, however, they are not enough on their own to win new business. That’s because most markets are crowded with competitors that offer similar products, services, or solutions.So how do you compete in saturated markets with the competition nipping at your heels?It’s all about relationships—good old-fashioned human interactions that…
Regardless of the type of business that you run — the potential for brand awareness, engagement and growth through social media channels cannot be underestimated.You may be telling yourself: “I don’t need Facebook or Instagram…”Yea right!!! The times have changed my friend.The art of social media and increased traffic comes down to more than just…
I bet you’ve asked yourself this question often. Well, finally there’s a little tool you can use to get the exact answer.Twitter has launched a new insights tool which determines the best day and time to publish tweets based on user engagement.The new ‘Timing is Everything’ tool took months to build, the company says, and is…
The easiest way to explain a sales funnel is, the path your prospect takes on the way to becoming your customer. In other words, it refers to the buying process that organizations lead their prospects through to convert them to a customer.A sales funnel is divided into several stages, from market identification to lead generation to…
Facebook has created a new funding program where it would work with publishers and influencers on new shows for Facebook Watch. Over the past few months, Facebook has been meeting with publishers and studio production partners in an effort to solicit pitches for shows that would be funded by Facebook, produced by the production partner…
Reddit announced on Wednesday it is launching cost-per-click (CPC) ads, the platform’s first performance-based ad unit. The CPC ads can be bought through the Reddit ad dashboard and will “complete the suite” of Reddit’s ad offerings, along with cost-per-impression (CPM) and cost-per-view (CPV) ads.Why CPC Ads MatterAfter a complete redesign of its website — the…
Living in the digital world, a website is now a necessity for a business, big or small. If you have a business and don’t have a website, you are probably losing out on a number of great opportunities for your business. A website itself can be used to accomplish many different marketing strategies to help your…
Staking claim to presence on nearly 30 percent of websites, Automattic and WordPress.com have come together to build a new platform called Newspack. The low-cost and secure system for publishers has also received funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Lenfest Institute for Journalism, and Civil Media. Instead of spending time on all of the backend parts…
Marketers spend hours pouring over and perfecting their content in the form of blogs, videos, and infographics. Yet, without proper social-media promotion, none of those efforts will receive much exposure. And if no one can find your content, no one will read it. In order to avoid this frustrating fate, marketers should pay close attention…
As we approach a new year, I find myself mulling over the future of film. My own projects mostly, but trying to grasp what new elements will allow my work to stand out, be innovative, and lead the way for future content. I believe I found the answer in what they are calling “Interactive Movies.”…