On Demand Presentation

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.

Is My Mobile Presentation Effective?

Monday, April 18, 2011 by Mark Rice

Webinar Resources is dedicated to providing our customers with the leading mobile applications and solutions that make up our MobexMe product mix.   We are pleased to announce that our Mobile Replay solution now provides mobile tracking.

This means that you can now track mobile presentation content and receive email notifications (like below) and view statistics to determine the effectiveness of your presentation.   As you can see below, you can now track how many slides are viewed and the amount of time each slide was consumed. You can also track if the viewer advances or skips to particular slides.

Using our MobexMe tools, you can also add guest book data directly to your on demand presentation and track who is viewing your presentation.   Launch you personalized mobile marketing campaign from a QR Code or short URL.

No More Cold Calls
With Mobile Replay you can determine if you have a warm lead directly from your mobile phone and follow up with an email or a warm call.

Email Notification Received through Enhanced Mobile Tracking

The presentation titled 'Content On Hand and On-Demand' (ID# 772677522) has been viewed.

The following viewing data was collected:
Date/Time: 4/15/2011 2:25:33 PM
View Type: Mobile
Viewing Time: 00:03:38 (of 00:03:46)
Number of Slides Viewed: 14 (of 14)

These events occurred during the view:
1. 'Come On!' (listened to 00:00:06 of 00:00:06)
2. 'Keep On!' (listened to 00:00:06 of 00:00:06)
3. 'Game On!' (listened to 00:00:05 of 00:00:05)
4. 'Always On!' (listened to 00:00:05 of 00:00:05)
5. 'On Hand' (listened to 00:00:16 of 00:00:16)
6. 'Introducing' (listened to 00:00:09 of 00:00:09)
7. 'Mobile Replay' (listened to 00:00:21 of 00:00:21)
8. 'Which Communication Would Your Customer Prefer?' (listened to 00:00:17 of 00:00:17)
9. 'Which Communication Would Your Customer Prefer?' (listened to 00:00:09 of 00:00:09)
10. 'Produce Once Play On Many' (listened to 00:00:34 of 00:00:34)
11. 'Sales Scenario' (listened to 00:00:15 of 00:00:15)
12. 'Mobile Replay' (listened to 00:00:14 of 00:00:14)
13. 'Advanced Services' (listened to 00:00:27 of 00:00:27)
14. 'Learn More' (listened to 00:00:34 of 00:00:42)

The link to this presentation is:
https://www.brainshark.com/webinarresources/onhand/zCuztn9Bcz0z0

Another blog post sent through Compendium's Email to Post.

Mobile Content Portal Drives Local Election Campaign

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 by Mark Rice

Webinar Resources optimized a Brainshark on demand presentation from a past election for a Florissant, Mo. Mayoral candidate and re-published it for this year's election in Brainshark's new mobile content portal. Three presentations were created to provide mobile access anytime, anywhere from any device that would play streaming media.

Through Webinar Resources' suite of MobexMe mobile optimization services, the mobile content portal was populated with QR Codes, short URLs and links to publish the mobile content through social media channels.

"With our unique partnership and years of experience with the Brainshark rich media platform, we have "blended the best" of our partner offerings to deliver a unique mobile experience for the mobile viewer", says Mark Rice, Managing Director of Webinar Resources.

A splash image of the presentation with a link to the election mobile content portal was delivered and tracked through partner ExactTarget. "Using ExactTarget's powerful tracking and reporting tools, we were able to reveal that the click activity on the presentation image was comparable to the click activity on the candidate's website address in the email", said Rice. Additional voter email addresess were acquired as the presentation was forwarded through viewers using the built-in social media tools in the Brainshark mobile content portal supplied by Webinar Resources.

"This was a multi-channel campaign that utilized email, mobile, social and web to drive voter acquisition", said Rice.

This blog post created through Compendium's "Email to Post" feature.

Blending the Best - Waking up to Your Social Media Connections

Monday, March 14, 2011 by Mark Rice

I opened my Flipboard app on my iPad Friday morning and was greeted with my most recent Facebook post, the iPad2 order announcement and a blog from our "best of blend" partners Brainshark and Compendium. It was like opening my diary and reading about our recent multi-channel marketing activities.

Compendium featured Webinar Resources and our use of QR Codes and I posted a QR code to their blog on our Facebook site. Our Mobile Replay on demand presentation made it to the semi-finals for this year's Brainshark Sharkie awards.

It was also interesting to see the iPad2 announcement as we are researching how the front facing camera could be used to scan QR Codes. Stay tuned for more information on how you can launch our optimized mobile-ready content on the iPad2.

Create and share your own stories with the social media community and they will come back to you when you least expect them.

Put a Webinar in your pocket!

Thursday, October 7, 2010 by Mark Rice

Last night I pulled out my iPhone and listened to the mobile replay of the June 10th webinar with Compendium and ExactTarget that was recorded by Webinar Resources. I wanted to review the content that Joel Book, at ExactTarget, covered related to Scotts Lawn Care.   As I listened, Joel reconfirmed our strategy to adopt Compendium's "Web to Post" feature to invite our webinar participants to "tell their story" on how they use multi-channel marketing to build their business.

I put my iPhone into my holster and listened to Joel speak about the compelling reasons to engage your Facebook fans in additional conversations by allowing them to "tell their story" through a simple form that updates your company blog content.

The audio of the mobile replay became valuable new content as it reconfirmed Webinar Resources' decision to adopt Compendium's "Web to Post" feature to reach out to our Webinar Wednesday participants and allow them to "tell their story".   You will hear and see more of this capability in the coming weeks.

With Mobile Replay, you can play streaming on-demand presentation content on many mobile devices. Mobile Replay is a valuable sales and marketing tool that can stream relevant and recent product/service information to your sales team, partners and prospects..

A good friend used to share some favorite sayings from her country upbringing.   One of them was "That's as handy as a pocket on a shirt."   She couldn't have said it any better.  Mobile Replay is "Content On-Hand and On-Demand".    Put a mobile replay in your pocket the next time you get ready for a sales call. Listen, learn and lead the conversation about your products and services that your company can provide for you with Mobile Replay.

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

Design Influences Perception

Tuesday, August 24, 2010 by Carolyn Hasenfratz

The 2003 book "The Substance of Style" by Virginia Postrel presents a lot of interesting points about aesthetics in our time and makes the case that our current culture places even more importance on the outward design of things as opposed to just the function than ever before. Design can steer you toward a certain product and can add to ones enjoyment of the item once the decision to purchase has been made. I know one reason why I'm holding on to my cell phone from 2004 when phones are available now that do many more things - I like the way it looks and I like the weight and the way it feels in my hand better than newer phones.

If Postrel is correct, the increased importance of aesthetics to us means that the bar has been raised about what we expect as consumers. Good design is no longer only for the affluent. Have you noticed how even discount brands are giving themselves makeovers? Last September I was in a McDonald's restaurant in Amarillo, Texas where I actually took pictures of the interior because I liked the design so much - there was light wood, metal, abstract art and Eames-designed wallpaper and upholstery patterns! Target has been noticed and praised for the sophisticated design of it's products and advertising for many years now - I noticed my local Wal-Mart is not only starting to carry products with a similar look, the store is also in the middle of remodel with a redesign of the facade to give it a more sophisticated, asymmetrical appearance. It's no longer enough to offer low-priced goods and put them in a plain big box.

Well-designed business identity pieces and multi channel marketing pieces such as web sites, letterhead, logos, emails, webinar replays, on demand presentations and the like used to be something that lifted a business above the competition. Now good, sophisticated design is a basic necessity if you want to even swim in the same pool as your competitors. Here is a great quote from "The Substance of Style" - "The notion now that a corporation of any size would have the CFO's wife design the annual report is ludicrous... But they did in the sixties." Your products might be just as good or better than your competitors, but consumers won't know it unless their first impression of you is as good or better than your competitors. It may not be right, but it's part of human nature, and ignoring it is risky!

Go Mobile This Summer!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 by Mark Rice

So here we are in Summer already.   Beautiful weather, bike rides, baseball games, vacations--Who wants to work in a stuffy office?   "But I have to watch that new product intro and be prepared to speak to my customer next week." "I have to review that latest webinar replay to see what my competitors are up to".

We've got the answer to your Summertime Blues.   Webinar Resources is excited to announce "mobile replay".   Now you can view that relevant content on many mobile devices (supported devices -- iPhone, Droid, Blackberry 8900 and even the iPad).   Yes, it is time to "lounge and learn" while soaking up sun, fun and knowledge at the same time.

We have begun producing content in the new Brainshark enhanced mobile format and will be adding more relevant content to our mobile catalog.    To view a sample on a supported mobile device, text the word webinar to 88769 and we will add you to our mobile subscriber list to receive our latest mobile replay.

With our new condensed webinar replay service, you can accelerate your customer acquisition process with mobile on demand presentation content.   Imagine serving up relevant, targeted content to a customer or prospect's mobile device with a simple text message.

Join our mobile subscriber list and see how easy it is to go mobile and get out of the office!

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.

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.

MyChristmasBook Trailer Most Viewed/Popular Presentation on MyBrainshark

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 by Mark Rice

The elves at Webinar Resources are busting their buttons as the MyChristmasBook Trailer on MyBrainshark is now the most viewed and most popular Brainshark presentation. Says Santa, who just read this latest update in the Webinar Newsletter from Webinar Resources, "We are very proud that this on demand presentation has received such wide appeal. Rudolph told me that "rich media" was the way to reach the masses so I thought I would give it a try."

The MyChristmasBook Trailer has been viewed across the country and across the world. Webinar Resources launched this campaign to drive lead generation for North Pole IndustryCo. Every MyChristmasBook online Christmas Photo Story Book contains personalized text, images and audio using a good little boy or girl's name and is delivered on a unique personalized North Pole web page. Says Jack Frost, CMO in charge of North Pole's lead generation and personalized marketing campaigns, "We hired Webinar Resources to produce the story of Santa Claus and the Lost Dog as they are the experts in demand generation marketing and the theme song has the reindeer tapping their hoofs."

The success of the campaign can be summed up by Mrs. Claus, "Things have gotten a lot more jolly around here now that the old man is coming home from the shop at a decent hour. Thanks to Webinar Resources launching MyChristmasBook.com with their partners ExactTarget, Brainshark, Vontoo and Compendium, Santa is much more productive and best of all, there are no more cold calls which is important in the frozen North.

Satisfied Customers

Monday, December 21, 2009 by Mark Rice

During this time of year, people have a lot on their mind and buying that unique gift is always a challenge.   The elves at Webinar Resources teamed up with Santa to create a unique and personalized online offering for this holiday season for young children - MyChristmasBook.com.

MyChristmasBook.com brings to life the story of "Santa Claus and the Lost Dog".   It is unique as it provides personalized images, text and audio using the child's name.   The Christmas Story Photo Book is delivered through a personalized, North Pole web address with an embedded Brainshark presentation.

Deliveries started over the weekend and one satisfied customer has posted her son's personalized North Pole web address on her Facebook site.    It seems our mascot, Bella, is becoming a celebrity very quickly.

This is the most unique demand generation marketing activity that Webinar Resources has ever engaged in and we are pleased to have our customers boast and post about their satisfied experiences.

Go to MyChristmasBook.com to order that unique gift today.

Pass it on

Friday, March 27, 2009 by Mark Rice

Everyday we are encountering more social media tools that allow you to quickly share information with others. Today we launched an email campaign for one of our customers that contained a personalized video for the recipients. Each customer received a PURL, a personalized URL, that embedded the customer's name in the video. It was a pretty slick application.

Using ExactTarget, we launched the email movie clips through personalization strings that contained the PURLs. This was an effective lead generation process for driving customer acquisition. Through personalized marketing campaigns, you can capture your reader's interest and move them to take an action.

We are using Brainshark presentations to personalize on demand presentation content and further honing our abilities to deliver a Webinar for ONE.

Online Forms: Green, with Benefits

Friday, January 16, 2009 by Carolyn Hasenfratz

Being "Green" is trendy. Being "Green" makes you feel like you're doing the right thing. Giving the impression of being "Green" makes you look good to your customers. Appearing to be "Green" is an effective marketing tool for products that, according to one study, are only 1% likely to really be beneficial for the environment. As a business person, you know that in a competitive environment you can't afford to fall for Greenwashing and hype when the time comes to find ways to make your operation more green - it makes sense to be skeptical. On the other hand, when you can find genuinely environmentally friendly practices that have additional benefits for your business, that's a win-win situation.

We've found that one such win-win situation in our work is the use of online forms for collecting information from customers. Using an online form instead of a paper form saves the paper and the resources that went into making it, transporting it, and printing on it. But there are many other benefits to an online form that have nothing to do with saving paper. For example, the data you receive is in a format that you can cut and paste, reducing retyping time and human errors that take time to correct and can cause delays in a project. If your customers are in the habit of leaving out important information on paper forms, you can make those fields required on an online form, and the customer will not be able to send the form without completing it. This not only eliminates the time it would have taken to contact the customer for the necessary information, but also you will be able to turn around projects more quickly, which improves customer service and your profits. Another productivity increase that comes with online forms is the ability to send the data to multiple recipients with one click, saving time that might otherwise be spent gathering the information and making it available to colleagues who need it. With online forms there is an opportunity to upsell or give your customers better service by providing links to information that you want your customers to have, either on the form itself or on a web page where they are directed after completion.

None of the benefits I've mentioned so far are new - online forms have been around for awhile. What is new are some of the added functions that you can add to forms and landing pages with products like email marketing by Exact Target and automated, on demand voice messaging by Vontoo. It is now possible to send a voice message or a text message to a customer's mobile device at their request with forms and other triggered sends. It's possible to show them a personalized image on a landing page that is generated by completing a form or by a click in an email - for an example see this Personalized Landing Pages demonstration - or wow them even more with a rich media Brainshark presentation with customized content that reflects the customer's input from the form.

Please contact us if you would like to deploy any of these exciting new techniques in your customer acquisition program.

Still Keeping in Close Contact with Customers

Thursday, January 15, 2009 by joanna hamilton

It's hard to believe that webinars and internet marketing tools are still relatively new concepts in some companies. Just before my 7-year maternity leave back in 2000, I was helping my sales team at MCI Conferencing introduce the concept of "web-based data conferencing" to our customers which included Xerox. Ironically, though we never met, within a few months of my leave, my boss, Mark, was working at Xerox on the team that was developing the Xerox Webinar program.

It's 8 years later, and we have been working together for almost a year in a much different technology and a much different world than we had in 2000 and early 2001.

What better time than now are we all positioned to make the most of this technology! Want to really partner with your customers? Let them know that their success is important to you!

In your customer acquisition, build a reliable and approved list of customers, and give them information, presentations, and tools to help them grow their own business while you grow yours.

Look for synergies between your customer's industry and your own, and build a presentation series around it. Back in 2000, my VP of sales partnered with one of my customer's VP of Sales to conduct a short webinar series at both companies.

Today, we have customers who do the same, and then also bring in industry experts to a "round table." The presentation is then broadcast on a webinar, and provide the Brainshark replay later as an on-demand "webinar for one" for those who missed the live version.

Every company should have a regularly scheduled presentation series designed to help their customers grow their own base. Your monthly or quarterly newsletter should have a dedicated space for your webinar news.

Our customers always provide live links to register for upcoming webinars, and to go directly to the Brainshark replays of webinars that have passed. We are also developing personalized landing pages for key customer contacts. These are like a little mini-reference books compressed down to a singular web page that provides the customer with all the tools and reference points he needs for past, current and upcoming web events.

Mark and I marvel at how closely we missed each other back in 2000, when our entire business was a budding technology. With the tools of today, we'd be much less likely to miss each other, now.

Blogging and Google Alert

Monday, December 8, 2008 by Mark Rice

It is amazing to witness how quickly blogging can drive activity.   One of my team recently blogged about the Discovery Light project that we supported at a recent trade show.   Using our webinar service, we posted a Brainshark presentation about how we marketed the show and our lead generation conference exhibit.

As we were using a combination of email and personalized landing pages to drive customer acquisition, our reference to the words "landing page" triggered a Google Alert for another company, ExactTarget.   Within one week of posting our blog, ExactTarget contacted us after visiting our post.   They had set up a Google alert for the words "landing page".   ExactTarget recently released their Landing Page feature and we have been putting it to good use for our demand generation marketing programs.   Make sure you opt-in to receive our next newsletter to see a great example of a personalized image marketing campaign.

Quite often we receive a Google alert after posting a blog as we also monitor keywords.    We have heard Chris Baggott, of Compendium Blogware, a number of times comment on how Google likes old content, recent content and frequent content.   We produce Webinar for ONE replays of their webinars and we hear these words in every presentaiton.

Chris is right on target.   You can drive effective lead generation through frequent and relevant blogging.    We are witnesses to the process and we are becoming evangelists for compended blogging.    The combination of blogging and Google Alerts is another step to helping you achieve that "virtual knock" on the door and another step away from no more cold calls.

Other people are watching and waiting for their Google Alerts to trigger a message about keywords they monitor.   The more you blog about a particular subject, the more chances you have of driving effective lead generation.

Mobile Madness

Saturday, November 29, 2008 by Mark Rice

It's almost 1:00 AM, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and it is quiet enough now to sit down and blog. I hope everyone had a great holiday and had time to spend with loved ones.

My colleague, JoAnna, called me late Wednesday to inform me that her Blackberry Storm had just hit her doorstep.   Though she was excited to finally have the opportunity to start using the Blackberry, she had to tend to cranberries, casseroles and a Thanksgiving feast for her family.   The Blackberry Storm would just have to be a quiet storm for a couple of days.

So what is all the fuss about these mobile devices anyway?   We have been waiting for the right mobile phone to come along that will support Flash.   No, not flash memory or flash cameras, we have been waiting to see Adobe Flash running on a mobile phone.  I have tested the iPhone, the G1 (Google phone) and now JoAnna has the newest player on the field, the Blackberry Storm.  Sooner or later one of these mobile units is going to support Flash and the ability to run Brainshark presentations.

So why is that so important you may ask?    Flash will change how mobile content is delivered.   You will basically be able to email movie clips in Flash format to mobile phones.   The fastest way to generate and deliver Flash content is through a Webinar for ONE presentation using the Brainshark presentation platform.   A Webinar for ONE is an interactive presentation that can be tracked and personalized for the recipient.   Viewer behavior can be tracked with reporting on slide duration and number of slides viewed. With additional viewing parameters, we can actually personalize the content to the recipient's preferences.

The Blackberry Storm could be the blast of technology that enables Flash and new demand generation marketing techniques for reaching millions of mobile users with customized content. So I am patiently waiting for JoAnna to get up the learning curve and make a splash with Flash when she runs the first Webinar for ONE on the Blackberry Storm.   Put away the leftovers JoAnna and cook up some history. We are all waiting.

Marketing for Mobile Messaging

Friday, November 21, 2008 by joanna hamilton

While I refused to fight the crowds to be on of the first through the door to pick up a brand new Blackberry Storm, I will be going this afternoon to make my purchase.

My boss, Mark, and I have a very un-official, un-scientific experiment (aka competition) we're conducting. He has the new G1 (Google) phone from T-Mobile. I'm getting the Blackberry Storm from Verizon Wireless. We're putting the networks aside, and comparing the phones for how well they enhance our ability to conduct business.

Mark got his G1 about a month ago, and has been bragging ever since. He L-O-V-E-S it. Just for fun on the weekend, he creates a brainshark presentation from his phone, records the voice, and then sends a vontoo message over to us just to gloat.

I'm hoping that I will be able to return the favor with the Blackberry storm. I know I won't have Windows mobile, but what will I be able to do? At a minimum, I should be able to enjoy the latest and greatest in screen resolution and display options to view what our custoemrs view. At most, will I be able to operate the Blackberry Storm as a miniature laptop, of sorts, the way that Mark has been able to do with his G1?

Our whole business centers around effective lead generation and customer acquisition through managed services and internet marketing. We drive personalized marketing campaigns through interactive technologies that may include any or all of the following:
--Video Web Conferencing
--Email Movie Clips
--Variable Data embedded in html emails
--Web Conferencing
--On Demand Presentations

We are also heavy users of many interactive programs including but not limited to online calendars.

Over the next few weeks, we will be testing out these technologies with the G1 and Blackberry Storm. Maybe we'll even keep a scorecard. For now, I have to sign off to go place my order.

Stay tuned, and if YOU have a G1 or a piping hot new Blackberry Storm--please post and tell us about the SMS feats you've conquered.

Get Them There with a little extra info.!

Monday, September 15, 2008 by joanna hamilton

Have you ever hosted an event and during your last hours prior, spent hours on the phone and email clarifying the details for the participants, when what you really need to be doing was preparing for the event, itself?

You drive customer acquisition through events, but the marketing tools you use to get them to your event or location can dramatically improve attendance and lead generation.

When you put time into a beautiful html invitation, include links that will provide an on demand presentation that explains how register, how to get there, and what's expected of them once they are there.

Don't assume that what you think is obvious will be obvious to everyone. Of course it's obvious to you--it's your event!

An email-embedded movie or short brainshark presentation can provide the "over your shoulder" instructions that can make all the difference between clarity and confusion for your customers.

Here is how I determine if my instructions have been clear: I imagine my 86-year-old grandmother reading them. If she could rsvp and/or register per my instructions, then I know it's good. Don't assume your typically technically-minded audience will make the same assumptions you do.

Another tip for getting your customers there--provide an incentive. Offer a clue word or key in the registration acknowledgement, and for all who present that clue or key at your event--reward them with something meaningful to them--a coupon to apply towards your services or products, or a handy item that complements either your services, product, or event at hand.

Our customers who have the most success in the customer acquisition process typically are more savvy with the both the information they provide to their prospects, and they way that they provide it.

For more information on how you can implement an effective lead generation process, produce a personalized marketing campaign, or turn around a beautifully executed interactive web presentation, check out http://www.webinarresources.com, or contact me directly at joanna@webinarresources.com.

Customer conversion begins with a Call to Action

Thursday, May 1, 2008 by Mark Rice

Every touch point with a customer or prospect should include a "call to action". A Call to Action or CTA, as some call it, invites interaction from your visitor and promotes lead generation. A CTA can be as simple as a form posted on your website, in a blog, and email or in an on demand presentation like a Webinar for ONE.

We always include a call to action in our Webinar newsletters. The simplest example is to invite your reader to subscribe to your newsletter by completing a simple online form. You are more likely to have a customer or prospect return to your cross-media communications if you invite them to take an action. Every customer acquisition program should promote interactivity.

A common error by many who produce web conferences is to post a webcast or webinar replay that does not contain some form of a call to action. Many web conferencing marketeers do not realize that there are tracking tools that can inform them when a viewer is watching a presentation. Views of your presentations can take place at any time of the day and in almost any location where online content is available - which is about anywhere in the world.

The goal of any effective customer acquisition process is to connect with your customer or prospect and move them to an action where conversion takes place. Conversion can be as simple as the completion of a subscription form or as in-depth as completing a live poll embedded in a Webinar for ONE.

As you create your personalized marketing campaigns, make sure you include several types of call to action best practices and techniques People like to give their input and like to be involved. Give your customers, prospects and partners an opportunity to interact with you online and you will produce effective lead generation results.

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