Attention Marketers: Want to make your CEO Happy?

A study conducted by the Fournaise Marketing Group in 2011 found that 73% of Chief Executives believe their Marketing team “lack business credibility” and are not the “business growth generators they should be”.  This study surveyed 600 CEOS at large and small companies in several countries with the same overwhelming trends.  Your fellow marketers did not help matters in this survey when 69% of them believe their strategies do have an impact on business…..though they cannot prove it with empirical evidence.

But you want to make your CEO Happy, right?

In a recent Globe and Mail article authored by Ryan Caligiuri entitled “Moves to drive sales you CEO will applaud”, he strives to provide some tactics that help bridge the divide between what you and your CEO believe.   Among the strategies put forward, Webinar and Live Event programs were recommended (obviously we would add virtual or hybrid events to the list!).

What can Webinars and Virtual Events provide you as a Marketer?

Webinars and Virtual events can expand the reach of your message and are especially important early in the sales cycle for lead generation, or nurturing efforts that take someone with a passing interest in your product or service and turn them into a qualified lead.  Leads and lead quality is exactly what your CEO is looking for and to ascertain the lead quality, your sales engine needs data! An effective webinar program provides you with a number of benefits that still cannot be effectively pulled from social media and other digital marketing strategies:

• The webinar or virtual event will expand the reach of your message beyond any geographical limitations
• People provide a great deal of real data when they sign up for a webinar or virtual event, allowing you to quantify the number of solid leads you are generating
• The speakers you put forward on webinars and virtual events put your company’s best foot forward, and are generally rehearsed and on-message ensuring those prospects early in the sales cycle are hearing the message you want them to
• Unlike live events, a good webinar or virtual event platform will allow you to gain data on your audience during the event, finding out where people lost interest, what documents were downloaded most and what calls to action were taken

The Streaming Network has produced thousands of dynamic virtual events for marketing professionals looking to generate, nurture, and convert on prospective leads. Contact us if you would like to chat about how you can use these tools to impress your CEO!

Related Article:  Contemplating Going Virtual? Get beyond the fears of Audience Cannibalization

Related Article: Getting with the program – The Webinar Road Map

Contemplating going virtual?

Adding a virtual event to an existing physical event (called a Hybrid event), can be a scary proposition the first time around. At the Streaming Network, we often find ourselves presenting our services to traditional event planners who have been struggling to reach attendees due to the overall state of the global economy. Reductions in corporate travel budgets and other cost cutting measures means we’re asked one question more than most:

Will adding a virtual event cannibalize my physical event attendance?

Honestly, the answer to this question depends on your audience demographics and the particulars about your event. That said, in 2011 the second Hybrid Event study conducted by ROI for Engagement and the Virtual Edge Institute found that when virtual attendees of hybrid events were asked: “If there had been no virtual option, would you have attended in person?” 93% of those polled answered NO. The accessibility of a virtual event can actually increase your audience by bringing in viewers who would not have been able to attend an exclusively physical event.

Who are these new audience members who will attend your virtual event?

Many of them are not new at all, they are the people who subscribe to your newsletter or e-blasts, or visit your website but aren’t located near you. Others are past attendees of previous events who failed to return for logistical or monetary reasons, but have still maintained interest in your content. Even more are of a younger generation, who have become more accustom to, and prefer, to engage online.

The rest are new territory who come through referrals from other registrants or invitees, with as much as 22% of virtual attendees finding out about events via social networks.

Additional benefits to going virtual:

• 18% of virtual attendees said after attending virtually, they would consider attending in person the following year
• Virtual events allow you reach out to secondary markets for attendees (i.e. international audiences or less invested verticals)
• All virtual events have an online archive for a minimum of 90 days, allowing your content to continue to be accessible past the live date (24% of all registrants for free virtual events attend the archive and not the live event!)

The most compelling reason to plan a virtual component? Price.

The cost of putting on a traditional event with travel, food, hotel rentals and guest speakers can be significant. The aggregate cost of adding a virtual component can actually increase your ROI, and lower your cost per head through virtual viewership. When considering a virtual event, factoring in your potential (virtual) audience can drop costs per attendee by as much as 75%.

Try it out for yourself by using our virtual event ROI Calculator.

To download the white paper Measuring and Maximizing the Impact of a Hybrid Event and other great thought leadership on the virtual events industry visit www.virtualedge.org

And you can check out this infographic for more insights into Virtual Event/Physical Event trends…

Entertainment and Marketing in a digital age

In 2011, the average marketing webcast generated just over 450 registrations and about 275 viewers; while our broadcast of the Mr. Olympia Competition for BodyBuilding.com reached over 300,000 viewers in a single night! I know-tough to compare your next marketing webcast against an internationally recognized event that used be broadcast live on ESPN … but the kernel of insight here is that in a digital age, content is still king and if you can make it entertaining, you can drive even more viewership.

A great example of this sort of entertainment based marketing was a project we worked on last year for Canadian Living. This event was presented in conjunction with Transcontinental Media who invited The “Chef at Home” Michael Smith in for an exclusive online event driving thousands of foodies to the Canadian Living Website.  The speaker was geared to the target audience (which is key for any virtual event) with attendees ranking guest speakers and the agenda as the number one reason they sign up in the first place.

If you are a marketer reading this, you may be thinking “Great…..I could hire a world famous chef get lots of viewers but that won’t help me drive leads for my company’s new software…” And you are right! But creating an entertaining event with a unique concept will drive an audience. For instance, on February 29^th 2012, WALMART is conducting the Green Student Challenge where university students will battle head-to-head in front of a panel of Canada’s top CEO’s for $100,000 in prize money. Big name speakers, with a unique and entertaining format to earn viewers for this landmark online event!

Click here to register to view the event

Catch Phrase: Sales Force Acceleration

The term “Sales Force Acceleration” was definitely coined by a sales person, and  at some point was meant to sell something, to someone, somewhere… Despite its suggested buzzword origins the term actually means something  of value.  Sales teams are the hunters and providers of an organization. Without an educated and motivated sales team companies cannot sustain themselves let alone grow. To “accelerate” a sales team you need to do more than simply educate them, you need to motivate them to ensure they understand the full message.

With travel budgets being slashed  organizations know that the opportunity to address their sales force in person may only come once or twice a year while campaigns continue to change on a quarterly bases. To succeed savvy organizations have learned supplement physical meetings with Virtual Event technology to deliver effective sales training and sales acceleration  without yanking sales reps from their territories for in person events.

In October, SN was selected by ITCAN to launch a new marketing initiative for their 300+ sales reps across Canada. Presenting the content virtually was new to the organization so they needed to ensure that the delivery mimicked or improved upon the past  conventional face to face training sessions. The event included a number of professional services wrapped into 5 custom webcast events which were broadcast during one Friday afternoon to all 5 regional sales teams.

The Streaming Network provided:

• Pre-Production of video assets to be used as accents to each presentation
• Production of a custom branded presentation PPT
• Agenda Design and Speaker Training
• End user and speaker support during the 5 live broadcasts

SN improved on the traditional format  by making presentations available  for on-demand viewing  following the event. According to recent research from the IDC Sales Advisory Service, salespeople spend 7 hours or more a week looking for information to help them prepare for sales calls (usually without success!). 50% of the information needed by the sales organization is pushed through email and only 10% of the information is made available in a self serving format.  Sales reps often end up  spending too much time searching for information about prospects and customers rather than engaging in true call prep activities. IDC calculates that saving a single enterprise rep 60 minutes of prep time per week can result in additional revenue generation of $300,000 or more per rep!

What if every sales training session was available online in a dynamic virtual way? What if your National Sales Meeting was archived in an easy to use and engaging online experience?

The result of SN’s work for ITCAN was a motivated sales force who embraced the given message and demanded that a well done virtual event become the new gold standard for Sales Force training events!

That, my friends, is what you call “Sales Force Acceleration”.

Don’t just chat when you can ScribbleLive

Without flaws and without delays, ScribbleLive enables real-time journalism and audience engagement, giving you the ability to always have full editorial power and reader retention within your branded web site. Think of it as “live-to-air” for the web with the immediacy of Twitter and the professional control of a CMS.

In September of 2011, the Streaming Network integrated the ScribbleLive platform into our live Webcast and Virtual Events. Allowing our clients producers to engage directly with their virtual audience during an event in a fully moderated two way conversation. The tool is easy to use and allows for full social integration with Facebook Connect and Twitter. Audience members can make text, photo or video posts while the event producer is given full control on what comments are posted to the live feed.

For special events, like the opening of the Vaughan City Hall, ScribbleLive allowed members of the Vaughan Community to interact with event producers while watching the ceremony live via webcast.

Click here to view the Vaughan City Hall opening

SN awarded MaRS RFP

In September 2011, we were awarded the RFP for in-house webcasting services at the MaRS Discovery District. This enables MaRS to compliment their world class meeting facility and studio with best in class Video Webcasting Services. With their own New Media Department, and MaRS AV team, they produce up to 3 events a week for their internal and external clients.

Click here to view an example

Video webcasting done right

The emergence of the internet as the standard delivery platform for entertainment media has changed the perceptions of even the average viewer. A rising flood of dynamic, high quality, on-demand productions has created a jaded audience with rigid expectations. Yet, as of 2012, much of the Corporate Canadian webcasting world has failed to grow their own standards to meet these new demands. Too often low quality production ‘methods’ are just accepted. Industry ‘standards’ such as cameras simply being placed in the back of meeting rooms or worse, talented and passionate business leaders put in front of a camera with little preparation in a poorly lit boardrooms and expected to “perform” like Anderson Cooper on Election night. The result is little better than the average high school production on YouTube.

In June, The Streaming Network was tasked with producing a press event for DFS Canada which necessitated a high quality studio like production that emulated a TV like aesthetic. In our search for the right venue we were contacted about the MaRS Discovery Centre’s New Media Department and their studio. The venue turned out to be just what we needed to produce a higher quality experience for our audiences.

So far we have used the MaRS studio to deliver a number of successful events for clients looking for a professional webcast experience.

Clients booking webcasts in the MaRS Studio are entitled to a 10% discount on webcast events and have access to:

• Fully controlled studio environment with track lighting and in room audio support
• Full HD Production services with video switching and in house teleprompter support
• 100MBS internet service capable of supporting multi language high bandwidth streaming events
• In house catering services with an adjacent boardroom for speakers to prepare for the event or organizers to monitor the live stream
• Green Screen support for virtual studio productions or full drape for physical sets

The Streaming Network adds its own flare with our custom set development:

Click here to view the DFS production

#webcasting #GovCamp2011

In May, GovCamp Toronto organizers were in need of assistance to produce an interactive, and openly collaborative virtual event. GovCamp, which follows the same successful model as ChangeCamp, is a platform designed to ignite dialogue between thought leaders in the community, government, and industry, in a nontraditional conference environment. With Microsoft already on board as a sponsor, they reached out through Twitter to the Streaming Network’s Director of Broadcast Operations, James Deane.

Being avid Twitter users themselves, the event organizers and speakers were interested in utilizing the medium to actively engage virtual attendees as well as physical audience members. The result was an example of how social media can be leveraged in a controlled environment to hold one productive conversation among many. By channeling event dialogue through the 140 character platform, both virtual and physical participants were able to interact in a mutually accessible format, delivering feedback to organizers, and allowing participants to converse on the events of the day in real time.

Key lessons to take away from GovCamp’s event success:

1. A truly effective social media event strategy starts the discussion before the event, enables an open exchange of ideas during, and allows for those who participated in person, or virtually, to continue the discussion following the event.
2. When looking to integrate social media with your virtual event, knowing  your target audience means knowing their social media preference. If the platform isn’t a place they are familiar with, it’s unlikely to be a comfortable environment for them to communicate in.
3. Integration of social media into virtual events, or otherwise, cannot work if the event organizers are not committed to the medium! Regardless of platform social media is about having a conversation. If you aren’t actively using the medium you aren’t actively in the conversation.

All in all, it was a great event with a great message and most important, a great discussion!

The 360° Event

The 360° Event enables viewers to access webcast events from any PC, BlackBerry smart phone, iPhone/iPad or Android device. When users click on the event URL, they are automatically re-directed to the webpage appropriate for their given device.

The pilot project for this service was conducted on March 30th 2011 for The Strategic Coach, where we assisted their events team to expand the reach of their live seminar by way of video webcast. Their target audience is made up of people who are consistently on the go, hence why the requirement for mobile streaming was key, as this ensured that they were able to reach as much of their potential audience as possible. One of the main objectives for this event was to generate leads, so event reporting was pivotal. To accommodate this, SN developed the 360° reporting tool, which enabled them to track all mobile registrations and views to the same effect as those who registered and/or viewed from their PC.

Watch the webcast here

He Shoots, He Scores! Bauer Performance Sports Ltd. goes public!

In March 2011, The Streaming Network was selected to stream Bauer Performace Sports Ltd.’s official Announcement that it had begun trading stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Live from the TSX, we worked alongside some great agency partners to deliver this short and impactful video webcast to the market as well approximately 400 Bauer employees across the globe. As many of us have grown up playing sports, we were very excited to be a part of this big day. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the technology used to execute the webcast itself, however, the entire show (from initial confirmation to delivery) was completed in less than 48 hours!

Watch the webcast here