Multi channel mix

QR Codes, Kids Like Them Too!

Friday, January 13, 2012 by Mark Rice

Yes, even kids are scanning QR Codes, which means that kids are carrying smartphones. We found evidence of this in our local produce store this week.

Previously, we noticed that Chiquita was labeling their bananas with a QR code that led to their "Ultimate Banana Recipe Contest" http://qrs.ly/r712oo2. Last week, my son walked into the produce store and noticed that the Dole brand of bananas had a QR Code on them. The QR code was also part of a label with one of the Alvin and the Chipmunks characters on it. (We purposely made the QR Codes blurry in this picture out of respect for Dole's campaign and the goodness of the banana.)

When my son went up to the counter with a bunch of Dole bananas, the merchant mentioned that kids were lifting the labels off the bananas and taking them with him.   As my son is "QR-aware", he relayed to the merchant that the QR Code pointed to a Chipwreck ringtone site when scanned.   There is apparently a different ringtone offered every day.   So this was the reason kids were taking the labels off the bananas.

Then my son demonstrated how to scan the QR Code and brought up the Chipwreck site where kids can download a ringtone.   This was a very clever QR application and was clearly targeted toward a younger generation or the parents of young children.

Could the use of QR Codes for Kids be a trend for marketers? We, at Webinar Resources, predict that you will see a lot more applications like this one to attract kids.   We implemented a QR Code magic ticket for our MyChristmasBook application in 2010. Children in Japan are already scanning QR Codes as a game, but QR Codes were started in Japan in the mid 90's. There is more to come and more to learn in managing the multi-channel mix. http://mobex.me/munk

People like to share - make it easy for them! Part I

Friday, September 16, 2011 by Carolyn Hasenfratz

While browsing through some recent news articles about how people use the Internet, I learned some interesting things. One study by the Pew Research Center has found that half of all adults in the U.S. now use social network applications. Another study by Wistia indicates that 64% of workers in the U.S. find video content compelling enough that they can't resist watching it at work - 42% even report watching it on their mobile devices in the bathroom! I shudder to think of what the implications are for productivity in the workplace at a time when we badly need to be stronger economically - but that's not the most interesting aspect of the findings to me.

Obviously many people find video content to be very compelling. Why is that so? The Wistia study shows that the #1 reason people are so drawn to video content is that it's easy to share - not what I would have guessed, but when you put that statistic together with the fact that half of all adults in the U.S. are involved with social media, it makes sense. The applications delivering the videos, such as Brainshark or YouTube, have built-in sharing capabilities that are very easy to use and the heavy involvement in social network applications means that there are lots of people available to share favorite content with.

If you own a web site, what does this information mean to you? I think you should add some video content to your multi channel marketing mix if it's appropriate - Webinar Resources can help you create, propagate and promote multimedia through many channels including mobile devices if you need guidance. I also think it's a good idea to make the other content on your web site easy to share. Stay tuned for Part II where I'll show you some examples of how to add social sharing capabilities to your web pages.

New On-Demand Presentation in our Learning Content Network

Wednesday, September 7, 2011 by Mark Rice

Webinar Resources recently supported the production of a technical on-demand presentation that was promoted to engineering groups on LinkedIn. The views of the Brainshark presentation are being monitored to determine if the presentation is an effective lead generation tool that can be adapted for future sale. Early measurements of views indicate a high level of interest and global appeal in the content as depicted in the location view map underneath this presentation. We added a QR Code with a short url http://mobex.me/DSP to promote our multi-channel mix of customer acquisition services. You can view the presentation below, visit the short url or scan the QR code on the title slide.

QR Codes - a New Way to View Mobile Webinar Trailers

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 by Mark Rice

QR codes bridge the print and mobile worlds and have opened another channel to communicate content and reach a wider audience.   QR Codes, like the one to the left, can be used to launch mobile webinar trailer content that we produce in the Brainshark rich media platform.

A webinar trailer is a short, multi-media, promotional invitation that is distributed to potential registrants over the web.   With QR codes, we add print media to our multi-channel mix.   Email, web, mobile, social and print are now avenues for reaching and acquiring potential webinar registrants.

We used to think that webinar trailers communicated content at the speed of light.   QR codes are accessed through the speed of the camera shutter and the light sensors built into your smartphone.   Now we are acquiring webinar registrants at the speed of light with QR Codes.

You can access the webinar trailer at http://mobex.me/webwed.

Produced by Webinar Resources through Compendium's email to post feature.
Blending the Best to Build Your Business

Listen to InfoTrends and Learn How to Blend Print and Mobile - Webinar Wednesdays June 22nd, 1:00 -2:00 pm Central

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 by Mark Rice

Another Webinar Wednesday event produced by Webinar Resources. In our continuing effort to help you to reach out to new customers with effective lead generation tools. Consider print and mobile as a new multi-channel mix to create engaging cross media applications.

What Are You Doing For Your Mobile Customers?

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 by Carolyn Hasenfratz

A new survey of 20,000 adults by BIGresearch shows that 13.2% own a BlackBerry device, 11.3% own an iPhone, 9.3% own a device running Android and 5.2% own an iPad. Among other things, these devices enable consumers to browse the web, view multimedia content, scan bar codes and QR codes, compare prices at the point of sale, download coupons and share information with their social networks. These are all intriguing possibilities for a business to explore as part of the multi channel marketing mix. But are the number of users of smartphones and tablet computers large enough to make the effort to cater to them worthwhile? At first glance those don't sound like terribly high percentages of users.

There is other data in the survey to consider. Perhaps not surprisingly, mobile device users are more likely than the general population to shop online. They are more inclined to research products online before making a purchase. And according to Gary Drenik, president and CEO of BIGresearch, "...mobile device owners are more likely than average consumers to give and seek advice on products and services."

The findings of this research lead me to conclude that campaigns designed to woo mobile users are likely to have a very good return on investment, and therefore are very much worth the effort! For example I've recently made a mobile-optimized version of my design portfolio. At Webinar Resources, we are developing a line of mobile-ready applications to support lead generation, multimedia content delivery, personalization and cross-channel communication. Here are a couple of examples of our mobile mix Mobile Replay and url shortener and QR code generator. We invite you to keep in touch with us via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or our newsletter to stay updated about our latest mobile offerings.

Haven't Taken the Social Media Plunge Yet?

Thursday, February 17, 2011 by Carolyn Hasenfratz

Your customer acquisition efforts may not be performing to their full potential if social media is not part of your multi channel mix! A great many companies and organizations both small and large have a social media presence now, but there are still some of you out there who are not on board yet. Here are some reasons why I think you should consider getting involved now.

Social media is definitely a good broadcasting tool. It's also a good listening tool. If you want to know what people are really interested in, you have to pay attention to what they're talking about and sharing in social media as well as other channels. If I'm stuck for ideas on what to write about in this blog for example, sometimes I'll check what the hot topics are for Webinar Resources Twitter followers. It's also good to know what people are saying about your company specifically. If negative information is being spread, you want to know as soon as possible so you can begin damage control before the bad publicity gets too entrenched. Also, as individual potential customers prefer different channels of communication, it never hurts to give them as many options to interact with you as possible.

Sharing and retweeting are key activities enjoyed by social media users. Create something cool and you could mobilize a willing army of people helping to get your message out. For example we recently increased our Facebook fans with a Valentine QR Gram. Participants were invited to become a fan of Webinar Resources by requesting a QR code linked to a QR Gram (four selections of music genres) that they could share on their Facebook page. Once posted on the requestor's Facebook site, friends could scan the QR code and play a musical, mobile QR Gram.

You can participate in social media for no cost other than your time. Take the opportunity to use your creativity and not your big budget (which you might not have) to create a campaign that could go viral and get you lots of exposure.

Why Small Businesses Should Engage in Content Marketing

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 by Carolyn Hasenfratz

I've been a passionate advocate of and participant in content marketing for many years, but I know why it can seem like a daunting strategy to a small businesses. You the small business owner already have a lot of hats to wear - now you have to be a publisher too? Here are some reasons why you might consider doing just that.

Large companies have an advantage in many areas of advertising, such as television, print, and big trade shows because those channels require significant investments of money. However in many ways, small businesses can compete with big ones when it comes to content marketing. How is this possible?

I watched the Compendium webinar replay "Content & Social Search Strategies" and learned some very interesting things. For one thing, to get the most out of content marketing, you have to get your SEO, Social, Content, Email Marketing and PR people to communicate with each other. In many large companies this does not happen. But in a small business, these people may be on the same team or may even be the same person, so it's much easier to come up with a strategy that makes sense and can be implemented quickly.

Many companies spend more on distributing their content than they do on creating content. This is not necessary because of all the free or low-cost online options available. Distribute your content via blog and social media in your multi channel mix and cut distribution costs drastically. Put your resources into creating good content instead - if you publish it in the right places, people will find it.

That is where search comes in. A lot of money is spent on pay-per-click advertising. Well, if you don't have a lot of money to spend on PPC, take heart - according to the webinar replay, 88% of clicks are on organic search results, and organic search results are very dependent on content. And when potential customers search, it's usually for a product, not for a retailer. Why not let the big companies create demand for a product with expensive ads and then win the sale yourself by winning the search? Yes it's very difficult to rank high on short search terms but guess what? Long search terms that are very much in your reach have the best results anyway - the more specific the search, the better the conversion rate. It's nice to be the one with the advantage in the customer acquisition process now and then, isn't it?

Santa's Following Webinar Resources

Wednesday, December 8, 2010 by Mark Rice

Hello from Santa and MyChristmasBook.com

We have written a lot about personalized marketing campaigns, mobile Brainshark presentations and social media, but this week I have witnessed the real power of "Community".   As we have been promoting our web storybook, "Santa Claus and the Lost Dog" through a blended multi-channel mix, the jolly old elf himself has started following us on our Twitter account - @webinarresource.

It was quite a surprise to see Santa join the mix of conversations about lost dogs, QR codes, magic tickets and of course Santa.   I think this is the legal evidence and credibility that was needed in the great Christmas classic, "Miracle on 34th Street", to prove the existence of Santa Claus. If that movie were produced today, the evidence that Santa exists would clearly be a Tweet from the North Pole on everyone's mobile phone.

So Santa, we are pleased and privileged to have you follow us.   Now, let's all get together and help Santa find Bella, the Lost Dog and order a child the web storybook at http://www.mychristmasbook.com.   To hear a special message from Santa, text Santa to 88769.

Mobile Content Creates New Avenues for Social Media

Wednesday, October 27, 2010 by Mark Rice

Webinar Resources has been producing the monthly webinar replays for Compendium. This repurposed marketing content has created new value to Compendium as we now produce mobile replays of Compendium's webinar.

Megan Glover, Marketing Manager at Compendium, recently made a blog post about our services at: http://blogging.compendiumblog.com/blog/blogging-with-purpose/0/0/repurposing-marketing-content. As Megan points out, "Understanding how your audience wants to receive and digest information is critical to your customer acquisition strategy. Mobile is just one avenue to communicate to these prospects."

As our mobile replay content can be viewed on many popular mobile devices, links to our mobile replay can be inserted into many social media sites. Mobile content adds another exciting and engaging element to your Multi-Channel Mix. You can learn more about our Mobile Replay solution at: http://mobex.me/now.

Mobile Replay Graphic Accepted Into iStockphoto Design Spotlight

Thursday, September 30, 2010 by Carolyn Hasenfratz

iStockphoto is a stock photo resource that I use frequently. When you complete a design that uses images from the iStockphoto collection, you are eligible to submit it to the Design Spotlight. The image I made to illustrate the concept of creating a webinar replay that can be viewed on a mobile device has been accepted into the Design Spotlight.

Mobile replays can be a great tool in your multi-channel marketing mix. Not only do they allow webinars to be viewed at the convenience of your audience, they have the built-in capability to go viral on social network applications. By including a guestbook, you can capture viewer information for effective lead generation.

Utilizing tools like iStockphoto gives you another source of valuable content that you can post and share with the community. We continue to "fuel the conversation" at Webinar Resources with unique content creation, delivery and tracking solutions and services that drive customer aquisition.

Phase 4: Post-Event Efforts and Outcomes

Wednesday, September 15, 2010 by Peter Muir

A quick review of the 4 Planning Phases of Successful Events includes:

Phase 1: Planning
Phase 2: Pre-Event Efforts
Phase 3: Event Delivery
Phase 4: Post-Event Efforts and Outcomes

From the beginning of our webinar series on hosting more successful events I've been driving home that a successful event isn't just about "butts in seats." There can be larger, more targeted objectives you and your organization can reach with the right planning and execution.

I'm a firm believer that Planning and Pre-Event Efforts at the start of your event can make your event more successful and run more smoothly...but it's the Post-Event Efforts that not only can bring closure to the event but also can be your way of connecting in an ongoing way and measuring your ongoing success.

Your Post-Event Efforts can help you keep the ball rolling between you and your targeted audience. It gives you the chance to thank the attendees (event those who didn't' attend), share important points from the event you wanted to make sure they got out of it and provide an ongoing relationship builder that keeps you and them in contact in the future.

Whether it's audio only, video web conferencing or face to face meetings, your Post-Event Efforts are very similar. Depending on the goal of your events your post event efforts should be part of your customer acquisition process or a customer service effort to keep key customers. It could be about seeking more donations or educating donors on how to take better care of themselves. The event itself was a chance for you to connect and share valuable content.

After the event is over you can use multi channel marketing techniques to stay in touch with those who attended. Email, phone calls, direct mail, social networking applications, face to face follow ups and more are all tools you can use in your multi channel mix. Find out which channel(s) your attendees prefer and use that channel to follow up.

Thank those who attended, share resources used in the event, give them a chance to evaluate the event and provide future event ideas and stay connected with them going forward. Continue the connection you started before your event, furthered by your event and fuel the conversations with relevant follow up tools that will maintain and strengthen the conversations as you go forward.

Remember to keep in mind three audiences: those who came, those who wanted to come (registered) but couldn't make it and those who weren't interested. Each is an opportunity to follow up and each has their own set of priorities you can assign to them.

We've been using on demand presentation recordings of our webinars as a great follow up technique to our events. These condensed replays gives us something to share and talk about with our prospects and customers. We've even created more effective landing pages that display relevant and personalized content for each of the attendees! We also have enabled "mobile replays" of the webinars that can be viewed on many smartphones. What will be some of the more memorable post-event efforts you'll use? We will soon give you the opportunity to contribute to this blog to "share your story". In the meantime, feel free to post your comments to this blog.

Do you have another process you use to plan and execute more effective events? I'd really like to hear about them.

Events are just one of the many ways we can do business. Be sure to explore the multi-channel mix for more ways for you and your customers to be successful.

Peter Muir
President, Bizucate Inc.
www.bizucate.com
pmuir@bizucate.com

Strategic Use of Social Network Applications

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 by Carolyn Hasenfratz

I've previously written a blog series on how to get the most out of your online content in which I focused mainly on technology and social media and how it can help leverage your content to a larger audience. You can also get more exposure for your content by thinking strategically about social network applications.

We all know about the social media applications that are meant for a general audience such as Facebook and Twitter. If you have a wide variety of hobbies and interests as I do, you may be aware that many web sites that cater to a niche audience engage in community building by incorporating social network applications into their web sites such as personal blogs.

I supply blog posts and articles for several web sites, a magazine, and two e-newsletters. When I'm deciding on what topic to write about, I often will choose subject matter that is appropriate for more than one channel. Here is an example: I recently joined Weight Watchers. The Weight Watchers web site includes an online community and each member gets a blog for sharing his or her thoughts on food, health, fitness and other suitable topics. I have been writing a blog series for the Route 66 Association of Missouri called Fit and Healthy on Route 66 in which I describe my experiences on hiking and biking trails on or near historic Route 66. It seems logical that Weight Watchers members might also want to read these, so I've been posting excerpts from my articles on my Weight Watchers blog with a link back to the full article on the Route 66 Association of Missouri blog site. With very little extra effort, I've gained another link which is always valuable, and increased the potential audience for my content.

Whatever it is you're trying to accomplish online, whether it's personal, business-related or both, growing your audience will help you reach your goals, so use your multi channel mix to seize opportunities to do so whenever you can.

Who is in control of your online reputation?

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 by Carolyn Hasenfratz

Several years ago I started a web site called John's Modern Cabins News as a personal project. The purpose of this site is to help along historic preservation efforts on Route 66, on of my personal passions. To that end, the site contains preservation news, suggested actions, a directory of promotional resources, and a free directory for historic businesses on Route 66 to help them get more exposure and thus stay vital and open.

I've recently relaunched the site because I have added an online form provided by Webinar Resources to make it easier for business owners to send me their information if they want to be in the directory. To promote the relaunch one of the things I'm doing is sending postcards to businesses that I think would be appropriate for inclusion. For some of the businesses I've have to search online for their street address - while doing that I noticed something interesting.

Quite a few of the businesses I searched for have web sites, but their web sites did not always come up first in the search results. In many cases review web sites such as Trip Advisor were the first result shown. Why would review web sites be first in the search results over the businesses' own web site?

One possible reason is that the nature of review sites is that they have a lot of content that is frequently updated. Search engines are known to favor such sites. Also, the more incoming links a site has, the more search engines will like it. A high profile site such as Trip Advisor is likely to have a lot of incoming links, so in order for a site to rank above it, a number of incoming links are needed to stay competitive. You don't necessarily need more links than Trip Advisor, but you need enough for your incoming links plus other factors such as your title tags and site content to lift your site above the review sites.

Why is this important? Well, some of the reviews I read of the businesses I was searching for were not favorable. If someone reads a negative review before they even get to see your web site, that is bad news. There is no guarantee that the reviews are fair either. I read some reviews of businesses that I've patronized myself that in no way reflect my own experience.

Because you can't control what other people say about you, you have to take charge of your own online reputation. Search for your own business name if you haven't for awhile to see what people are saying about you. Be visible in as many channels as possible by strategically planning your multi channel mix. Make use of social network applications in addition to your own web site. Take advantage of every free link you can get. Push those review sites farther down the page so that people can at least get a good first impression of you before they read something negative!

Blazing the Acquisition Trail with Webinar Trailers

Sunday, May 23, 2010 by Mark Rice

At Webinar Resources we have been producing short 2-3 minute Brainshark presentations as ticklers or "webinar trailers" to promote our series of Webinar Wednesdays events.   Webinar Trailers are a very effective customer acquisition process for engaging and acquiring registrants as they appeal to more modalities than traditional email invitations.

With Webinar Trailers, we can strengthen our marketing message with an on demand presentation that consists of audio, slides and capture a registration at the moment of the viewing of the presentation.   We also can post Webinar Trailers in many different locations - social network applications, webinar newsletters, landing pages and of course link directly to a personalized email.   Using our proven process of selecting the appropriate multi channel mix, we gain the attention needed to capture registrants for our webinars.

We are now extending the reach of our multi channel marketing to SMS text messages and mobile video.   Registrants and/or past participants can subscribe to our Webinar Wednesdays SMS reminders and alerts by texting to the word "webinar" to short code 88769.   Once the subscriber is added to our list, we can then reach out to them in their preferred communication method with a text reminder.

Soon we will be delivering mobile content to our Webinar Wednesdays SMS subscribers. Stay tuned for more information in our blog or text "webinar" to 88769 and join our Webinar Wednesdays subscriber list.

Building customer acquisition is all about extending your reach through an effective multi channel mix using cross media applications to drive attendance and list growth for your events.   We have partnered with Peter Muir, and his Bizucate team to communicate these strategies and enable our participants to learn how to develop a marketing plan to drive effective events.   Join us at our next Webinar Wednesdays event on June 23rd, from 1-2pm CDT.   Listen to our webinar trailer and register at:   http://www.brainshark.com/webinarresources/WebWed. We hope to see you there.

Mixing it up with Brainshark's Microphone Audio

Friday, April 9, 2010 by Mark Rice

We are very excited at Webinar Resources.   We are just days away from our launch of Webinar Wednesdays and our partner, Peter Muir, of Bizucate, has recorded a great Webinar Trailer using Brainshark's new Microphone Audio feature.

With microphone audio, you can record directly from your computer into Brainshark.   You can now bypass the additional steps of recording an MP3 audio file offline and uploading it to Brainshark. This feature streamlines the production of online rich media and makes creating Brainshark presentations quick and easy.

We provided Peter with an audio guest link from our Brainshark site and he recorded directly inside of the Brainshark interface on the web. Peter pitched his Multi Channel Mix message and announced our upcoming webinars while producing a professional promotional piece with the help of microphone audio.

This was our first use of the microphone audio feature and we were very pleased with the outcome.   You can watch our webinar trailer and hear the recorded audio at our Webinar Cafe portal.   You can also register for the first of our exciting Webinar Wednesday events at the same link.

Phase 2: Pre-Event Efforts for Planning Successful Events

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 by Peter Muir

Once you have the basic structure of your event in mind you should move on to stage 2: Pre-Event Efforts. This progressive approach to event planning includes focusing on using every element of an event to create opportunities to engage your audience. Traditionally, the pre-event efforts are designed to get people to attend a singular face-to-face conference, seminar or meeting. Web2.0 has established new channels of communication that give these pre-event efforts the potential to be just as engaging and profitable as the actual “main event.” Remember, each touch is an opportunity to grow your relationship with existing customers as well as introduce your products and services to new ones.

In your pre-event efforts utilize social media channels – both new and old – to advertise the content to be shared during the event, as well as, start new conversations. The channels you chose should be relevant to your desired audience and the messages tailored to the nuances of each particular channel. When using a multi-channel mix it is wise to drive all out reach efforts towards one centralized website where all event information and forums are located. This creates a flow between the channels, as well as building a cohesive theme or message.

Some examples of pre-event efforts:

Tweet a concise but alluring intro to the event with a link to the home page. “No more recession depression. Now is the time to strive for growth…Link”
Pose a question on LinkedIn that will pique interest and engage your network. Be sure the question is directly related to your event. “What are three things you’ve done recently to improve your relationship with your existing customer? Need some ideas? Link”
Use your Facebook page to express excitement about the upcoming event or reach out to those who have RSVP’d.
Attempt to survey those who are interested in coming but can’t. Find out why and what specifically they were interested in and whether they would be interested in alternative options. Then follow up. It starts a conversation and may lead to new opportunities.

As it relates to sales, pre-event efforts give you the unique opportunity to reach out to two different audiences. Existing customers and potential customers frame the two most targeted audiences for events. Knocking on doors, e-mail, phone calls, social media and more present many ways to reach out to these two audiences…but it’s the fact you took the time to share with them what your event is and why they should come—that creates an engagement opportunity for you to assess if they are worth your time. Having an event gives you something to talk about besides just trying to sell them a product or a service.

By using an extended series of mini opportunities around your central event you are opening the entire process of advertising, registering and following up to new profit potential. Setting a genuine and well managed standard of interaction through these initial pre-event efforts will lay the foundation for a successful and memorable event over all.

Peter Muir, president Bizucate Inc.
www.bizucate.com

Join us for Webinar Wednesdays

Tuesday, March 23, 2010 by Mark Rice

In the first edition of Webinar Wednesdays host Peter Muir of Bizucate Inc. will introduce a progressive multi-channel mix approach to successful customer acquisition and event execution. Responding to the shift in the economy, as well as, methods of communication, Muir proposes a revolution in the way business events are planned and structured. Moving away from the singularly focused traditional format to a phased and more engaged event strategy.

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM CDT

Register Now

If you miss the live broadcast, Webinars will be archived at our webinar replay portal. Also, be sure to add The Multi-Channel Mix blog to your reader to receive weekly updates regarding more successful event planning.

To join our webinar email list, just text "webinar" (a space) and your email address to 88769.

(Produced by Webinar Resources)

Webinar Resources Recognized at Brainshark Sharkie Awards

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 by Mark Rice

Webinar Resources was recently recognized for our unique, personalized, Christmas Story Photo Book application at the second annual Brainshark Sharkie awards.     Our application was selected and recognized at the online Sharkie awards last week among a hundred entries of interactive Brainshark presentations.

You can view a sample Christmas Story Photo Book at the Brainshark Sharkie Gallery.   This presentation is a great example of the use of effective landing pages, cross media applications and on demand presentation content.   We personalized the reading experience for children with personalized text, images and audio in a unique Christmas story about Santa Claus and the Lost Dog.

Readers of our blog have seen some examples of how we have implemented cross media applications to drive the customer acquisition process.   Stay tuned for more creative uses of a multi channel mix of content and solutions that will bring business opportunity to your company.

"Help! I'm using so many applications I'm losing track of them all!"

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 by Carolyn Hasenfratz

Multi channel marketing is more important than ever before. Your audience is becoming increasingly segmented, and you have to open up more channels in order to be where the action is. Do you remember when just having a web site set you apart from the competition? Adding Facebook or Twitter to your multi channel mix used to be a cutting edge move - now social media applications have become so entrenched that Tweets like this one I saw this morning are possible - "Websites vs Facebook Pages: which URL should you promote?"

Social media applications, email accounts, blogs, web sites, shopping carts, payment gateways, CMSs, CRMs - all of these channels need feeding with new content and/or monitoring to make sure you are engaging with your audience and taking advantage of opportunities. You don't want an important email to languish in a little-used account, a sold merchandise item to go unshipped, a new lead ignored, or a question posted to a blog or Facebook page to go unanswered. How does one remember to check up on all these channels?

Most of the time when your applications need attention, you will get an alert email, but you can't count on getting all the emails you should. Email delivery is a real problem these days, even delivery of emails that you have made it very clear are wanted. To help me keep track of what I need to check on every day, I have made an html page and links to all of my email accounts, shopping carts, payment gateways, and social media applications. There is a shortcut to it on my desktop so it's always handy.

Here at Webinar Resources, I've made a similar page in a password protected area that our whole team can refer to for similar information, plus links to other things we need such as individual contact information, login pages for various hosted services that we use, and links to information important to our collective knowledge. It's a great convenience and time-saver. If you don't have such a resource for yourself, I recommend you make one or ask your web developer to create an admin page tailored to your needs.