Webcasts are an effective, low-cost marketing tool to deliver content to your prospects and customers. In a recent workshop, sponsored by the Austin Entrepreneur Network, I presented an overview and best practices for creating webcasts.  (The full presentation is available on SlideShare).  Below is a how-to guide to help you create webcasts based upon the presentation.

Where do I start?

There are five steps to the webcast creation process.  I’ll walk you through each step of the process, and point you to additional resources to learn more.

Goals

As with any new marketing project, it is important to identify why you are engaging in this activity and how to measure the outcome.  Sample goals for webcasts include capturing leads and moving prospects closer to purchase.  Sample metrics may include web visits, webcast registrationts, webcast attendees, percentage close rate to next activity, and cost per lead.

Content and Presenter

Creating a compelling title and meaty content is paramount to the success of your webcast.  Think from the prospect’s point of view:  what problem can you help them solve?  What innovative new approach can you educate them about?

As you begin to assemble your powerpoint slides and dynamic elements, such as videos, demos, etc. for the webcast, follow presentation best practices such as limiting the amount of text per slide.  See my checklist, Top 12 Webcast Presentation Tips for more details.

Select a presenter who performs well in this environment, and set them up for success through preparation and run-throughs.  In the Top 12 list, you’ll see advice for this presenter, such as energy, variation in tone, and first-person language.

Delivery Platform

There are many technology platforms available for webcasts.  If you are a small business and/or not sure you are ready to make the webcast technology investment, considering starting off with a 3rd party host, such as an industry publication with a robust online presence (example:  TechOnline) or an industry association with webcast opportunities.

If you are seeking a technology solution, begin with your list of requirements and then match possible vendors to these requirements.  While there are clear industry leaders for webcasts (Adobe Connect and Cisco WebEx, among a few others), there are also smaller vendors who have robust features and a low monthly price tag. Gartner recently published a study of technology providers called The Magic Quadrant for Web Conferencing that may be helpful in your evaluation.

Promotion

There are many ways you can promote your webcast.  First you need to determine whether or not the webcast will be live, as this time constraint adds an important dimension to your marketing efforts.  Another question to ask is whether this webcast is a call-to-action from another marketing activity, such as a trade show.  The slide below provides ideas of what activities you might take advantage of when promoting your webcast.

It is key to communicate to your webcast attendees not only to invite them, but to provide important logistics information and reminders.  Once the webcast has taken place, you should follow up immediately with two key items:  a short survey (so that you can determine whether you met their expectations) and a….

Call to Action

Once your attendee has participated in the webcast, what would you like them to do next?  How will you move them closer to purchasing your product or service? Some sample calls to action are included below:

By following these steps and utilizing marketing best practices, you can create webcasts that are extremely effective and low-cost.

Need help kicking off a webcast program?  Contact TREW Marketing today.

Congratulations!  You’ve created a product, figured out your pricing and distribution model (not to mention a ton of other details), and are ready to bring it to market. Or almost ready.  First you need a positioning statement.  The following blog outlines the what, why and how of creating a positioning statement.  This information was derived from a recent presentation by TREW Marketing’s Kelly Cottrell at the Central Texas Funding Network Symposium.

What is a positioning statement? A statement or set of statements specifically used to create an image in the mind of your customers.  It is how you want them to visualize your product in relation to the market and competition.

Positioning statements should be created before beginning your marketing efforts, since it gives focus to your marketing efforts and influences your company branding.  Your positioning statement is a core component of marketing activity.

How do I go about creating my positioning statement?

Step1:  Deep thinking and research. This includes asking yourself some questions, such as “What business am I in, and how is it different?”  ”Who is my target audience, and what needs do they have that I can solve?”  ”What are the key benefits of my solution?”  To thoroughly answer these questions, you will need to do some market and customer research.  This could be done informally through customer interviews, social media, and Google searches, or more formally by engaging a formal research project.  Don’t assume you know it all — validate your ideas and thoughts.  Through this process you may find yourself aligning your product’s strengths to customer needs and care-abouts, perhaps even tweaking the product itself.

Step 2:  Create Your Positioning Statement v1.

Congratulations!  You’ve created your first positioning statement.  Have I mentioned yet that this is an iterative process?

Step 3:  Repeat steps 1 and 2. You will leverage your positioning statement like crazy, once finalized. Your sales force will become masters at delivering it.  Your marketing efforts will incorporate it into everything they do.  Get it right at the beginning and save yourself what could be a very costly mid-stream change down the road.

Step 4:  Unleash your marketing communications strategy, beginning with the communications brief and message matrix.  This is one of several areas where your positioning statement (and underlying research data) heads next.  Your internal marketing leader or TREW Marketing Virtual Marketing Director will create segmented messages based on identified targeted audiences.

In summary, creating a thoughtful product positioning statement will take you far down the road to success, and prevent costly mistakes once moving into sales and marketing execution.  TREW Marketing offers coaching services to help you develop your product positioning statement and make the transition into marketing strategy.  Please contact us at info@trewmarketing.com for more information.

Kelly Cottrell of TREW Marketing was recently interviewed by the Austin Entrepreneur Network blog.  This interview was part of a series where presenters of the upcoming Austin Entrepreneur Business Training Class share their experience and expertise.  We will share more on the class as times draws near, but in the meantime, here is Kelly’s interview:

What university did you go to? 

I attended Northern Illinois University and then started working full time at Hewlett Packard. I continued to pursue my education in the evenings which still living in the Chicago area and continued after moving to the Silicon Valley. By then, I was very focused on my career and traveling and I think I can honestly say that the best of my education came from a combination of hands on experience and some tremendously supportive mentors. 

How did you get to Austin?

I started traveling to Austin for business in the late 1980′s when I worked for 3Com. We were setting up telemarketing and lead generation call programs to increase direct mail responses and improve lead quality. I was impressed with the people that I met and worked with here and I loved the wide-open feeling of the Austin terrain and the sense that things were beginning to happen here. Most of all, I was attracted to the friendly feeling. I knew then that I wanted to get here somehow. Finally, in 1999, newly married, we bought a house and made it happen.

What did you do at your previous positions?

I was Director of Marketing at NetObjects and also held management positions in high tech marketing at companies such as 3Com, HP, and Pure Software. After working at these companies, I started my own firm, Springboard Marketing Group, in the Silicon Valley, working primarily with startups to set the strategies and build momentum for their companies. Because of the nature of a startup, I got involved in every aspect of the business, from product positioning, to lead generation programs to creating sales strategies and everything in between. I also had the opportunity to work on some unique projects, such as one at Adobe Systems in San Jose where I worked on the integration of two software acquisitions. The challenge here wasn’t just the rapid timeframe in which to integrate the products into the Adobe brand and distribution channels– it was also keeping the products positioned and marketed to the target that they were originally designed for. There were a lot of late night sessions! 

What kind of companies did you work with?

I started out working for large companies like Hewlett Packard and 3Com. I realized at 3Com that my natural tendency is starting things from the ground up and I was attracted to startups. My first startup experience was a B2B software company with a high price point — intensive purchase decision and long sales cycle. I heard about another hot startup that was making UNIX software development tools and went in to interview on a whim. The company was initially bootstrapped and started producing cash almost immediately. I was the 30th employee to join and the first non-technical employee in marketing. I learned a lot about technology and the software development process and taught the rest of the team about marketing principles including demand generation and how to work with the sales force. This was a great company — new products were developed quickly and the company had an excellent reputation for fulfilling a need and having high quality products. After the IPO, the company was purchased and I moved on to work with companies that created web design applications, internet services and eventually built my own startup – Springboard Marketing. 

How is the Austin market the same as Silicon Valley?

A lot of great ideas and technologies are generated here just like in Silicon Valley. When I first moved here in 2000, being downtown had a similar frenetic feeling to San Francisco but with more of a hometown feel to it. There’s also a similar casual atmosphere – you can bump into a millionaire and never know it. Networking is important here just like the valley. And a good reputation can go a long way in both towns.

How is Austin different from Silicon Valley?

I would definitely say that there is a more balanced approach to life here. Austinites work hard but aren’t going to stop playing hard. And football isn’t just a sport here – it’s a lifestyle! I also think there’s a real sense of loyalty here, people really want to stay in Austin and stay with a company. That’s not always the case in the valley where folks are more prone to look for the next shiny thing.

What is the biggest mistake you see startup companies doing?

I guess you can always point to something obvious like wrong product, wrong price, or wrong time. I feel pretty strongly, though, that quality is probably the biggest area where people make mistakes. I don’t just mean quality in your product but throughout your organization. Is the communication clear and consistent? Are your materials professional looking? Does your entire team treat every interaction with potential customers, influencers and investors professionally and respectfully? Especially early on in a company’s development, every small thing has a cumulative effect and answers the question – “who is this company?” 

There are many smart, talented and motivated entrepreneurs who tend to think they can use their skills that helped them early on in another, less familiar area. I have seen this lead to poor results. It’s important that business owners know their strengths and weaknesses and when to get help. 

What is your next step here in Austin?

I’m really enjoying working at TREW Marketing. The founders, Wendy Covey and Rebecca Geier, are a great team and they’ve created an environment where we all have a slightly different background but adhere to the same core values and beliefs about marketing and the community that we live in. We were fortunate to have a great first year in serving clients in B2B technology and cause-related programs — working across all marketing disciplines from web to direct marketing to public relations. I look forward to continuing to help TREW grow, and putting down stronger roots in the Austin work community.