adobe larstan return on marketing

8/6/2019 Adobe Larstan Return on Marketing

1/6

Return on Marketing:Increasing Lead Generation

at Lower Cost Through Web Events

By John Persinos, Larstan Business Reports

B U S I N E S S R E P O R T S

This report was researched and written by John Persinos, Publisher andEditorial Director, Larstan Business Reports, Inc., Potomac, MD

Copyright 2005 All rights reserved


2/6

Todays Internet-connected economy is a global village of

around-the-clock conversations. Indeed, thats the best way to

define markets these days: theyre human conversations,

conducted 24/7, with time and distance barriers eliminated.

Consequently, the conventional means of reaching and

persuading potential customers are no longer sufficient.

Marketing methods must adapt to the new communications

realities of cyberspace. Marketers are discovering that they can

more effectively reach prospects by conducting live Web-based

events in particular, online seminars called Webinars.

In-person gatherings have always been expensive, from a cost-per-

lead perspective. Trade shows, conventions and regional sales

seminars entail plenty of overhead and hassle. Enter a new

alternative: virtual events. The Web can be used for live and highly

imaginative events to boost marketing impact and lead generation.

Webinars are cost-effective because they preclude the enormous

expense of in-person seminars, and theyre growing in

effectiveness as Web-based presentation technologies improve.

Brenda Given, vice president, commercial marketing,

Macromedia, producers of Web-based events, says it costs

marketers about five times more per quality lead, for a live event,

than for a Web event. Meanwhile, prospects tend to actually

prefer Webinars because they typically learn as much about a

product or service as they would by spending time and money

traveling to conferences, trade shows and seminars, Given says.

When it comes to choosing between yet another dog-and-ponyshow in a distant city, and a genuinely informative Webinar

viewed from their own computers, prospective customers chose

the latter, hands down.

Given also emphasizes that the nature of the Internet is to

function as an interactive community; as such, the continual

feedback from attendees helps presenters refine and hone not

only their future Webinars, but marketing collateral of all types.

Using the Internet to reach a targeted audience allows a

company to connect with a maximum number of people,

regardless of their location, time zone, or any other constraintimposed by traveling or meeting in person, says Paul Ritter,

senior analyst and research director, Wainhouse Research, LLC,

an independent Boston-based rich media communications

research and consulting firm.

Ritter, a long-time and unaffiliated expert on Web-enabled rich

media, says marketers are increasingly embracing Webinars as a

way to fulfill their marketing campaigns.

With the technologies that come with doing things over the

Web, companies can present content in a compelling way, in

various forms of rich media, whether its audio, video, animation

or other graphics, that really cant be matched by printed

materials or a phone call, he says.

Real Time, Real Effectiveness

These trends are borne out by a recent Larstan Business Reports

survey of top corporate managers. The data gleaned from this

survey provides empirical confirmation of the efficiencies of

online communications, especially in support of sales and

marketing efforts.

Notably, a huge majority of respondents (250, or 87 percent)

reported that real-time Internet communications technology

plays a key role in supporting sales and marketing operations

within their company (see chart below).

Clearly, the marketing community is getting the message. (To

view the entire survey, go to:

http://www.larstan.net/5/financial.htm.)

According to Wainhouse research, companies can reduce their

customer acquisition costs by 40-60 percent, through the use oflive Web events for lead generation. Wainhouse found that some

companies reduced costs by as much as 80 percent by using live

Web events as opposed to conventional means, such as trade

shows and in-person seminars.

PAGE 2

150

125

100

75

50

25

0Strongly

Agree

Agree Disagree Strongly

Disagree

115

Real-time Internet communications technology

plays a key role in supporting f ield operations

for our company.

40%

135

47%

22

8%17

5%


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The ability to have interactions withattendees of an online meeting or presentationallows the compilation of granular materialfrom customers you can get into theirpreferences, how they like to be contacted,what their buying plan may be in comingmonths, what their current computer

configuration might be, if any of that is ofinterest to marketers. All of this informationcan be collected via online registration forms.

- Paul Ritter, senior analyst and researchdirector, Wainhouse Research

One of the benefits of using [Webinars and other live events] is

that you can train and educate people that you previously couldnt

reach, because you couldnt necessarily get their time, says Ryann

Ellis, Editor, Learning Circuits magazine, the online e-learning

magazine for the American Society for Training and Development.

Again, Larstans market research tells the story. When asked

whether it was relevant for their sales and marketing reps to have

quick and easy access to subject matter experts (specialists) for

pre-pitch purposes, 51 percent of respondents answered very

relevant and 29 percent, relevant.

All-the-time Availability

More and more, marketers are increasing their reach by

supplementing live online events with on-demand presentations.

These narrated, multimedia presentations can be easily accessed

anytime by prospects who may not be able to attend a live event.

While recorded Webinars also provide a way to enable anytimeviewing of event content, these rich media presentations facilitate

easy tailoring and editing, making it possible to deliver only the

most relevant elements of an online event on-demand.

The use of live, Web-based events is clearly a trend with great

momentum, Ritter says. A major shift is taking place. In

addition to hosting live online events, companies are increasingly

creating rich media content for audiences to view at their own

convenience. Marketers should consider including both live events

and custom on-demand content in their sales and marketing

campaigns. These methods are increasingly effective ways to

generate leads at lower cost.

Wainhouses research shows that over the next three years, corporate

spending devoted to on-demand rich media solutions is expected to

increase at a rate of 91 percent (a compounded growth rate). This

spending on rich media will top $1 billion a year in 2008.

Key Differentiators: Integration and Automation

Marketers and advertisers must consider several issues, when

developing a marketing campaign. The ability to reach the widest

possible audience is a big factor. The Internet is a heterogeneous

environment, with lots of conflicting technologies, such as

different browsers and platforms. Ritter says the solutions from

Macromedia help solve that. The Macromedia Breeze system

delivers both real-time web events and rich media on-demand

presentations, all deployed using Macromedia Flash Player.

There are several key reasons why Macromedias solution

addresses those challenges, Ritter says. First and foremost is the

ubiquity and user friendliness of the Flash player, which provides

greater audience reach than any other type of media player on the

market. Because Flash is so pervasive, viewers already have

everything they need to attend Breeze Events or view Breeze on-

demand content, so no special plug-ins are needed. Flash player is

installed on more than 560 million digital devices, worldwide. No

other single media player has that much penetration in devices

used by consumers and businesspeople.

Analysts often laud Macromedias ability for attendees to effortlessly

participate in Web events from any of the major operating

systems and through any of the major browsers, without having to

download special software. One of the advantages of using the Web

is the ability to take advantage of rich media and make content

more engaging, and thereby keep peoples attention longer.

Brenda Given says marketing and sales organizations have been

among the leading early adopters of Web-based live events, and sales

reps are quickly learning how to use online meetings and events tocost-effectively generate leads and educate prospective customers.

The ability of Macromedia Breeze to include pitches from top

executives from disparate locations, either live or through the

integration of pre-recorded video, is a huge benefit, she says.

Given points out that Web events have evolved from rather simple

video conference calls to slick, professional quality multi-media

presentations that are easily put together by users.

Macromedias Breeze provides high-quality rich media in a

bandwidth-friendly manner. Content that is encoded in Flash

format requires much less bandwidth than other forms of videothat are often used inside and outside of company networks.

The small footprint of the Flash player allows that, Given says.

The ability of Breeze to easily automate event registration and

tracking also is key. There are several aspects to running an

effective marketing campaign, and one of them is the time


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requirement. If its a live event, it means handling the registration

of dozens, hundreds or even thousands of participants.

Automated registration renders that process considerably more

efficient; it doesnt matter if there are thousands of people as

opposed to dozens. Event organizers are given tools that make it

simple to send out notifications and reminder e-mails on a set

schedule.

Additional tools let marketers set up qualification criteria and

customize registration questionnaires, so they can pre-screen their

audiences. Automation means marketers can spend their time

focusing on content preparation, as opposed to logistics and

administrative details. We not only capture the leads, but we

efficiently pass them along to a CRM system for proper and

continual evaluation by the sales force and others, Given says.

Josh Bersin, principal, Bersin & Associates, e-training

consultants, emphasizes Macromedias experience and proprietary

technology as key differentiators that set it apart from

competitors. Breeze is remarkably easy to use and thats one of

its biggest advantages, he says.

Bridging the Chasm

The mistaken notion persists that Web-based live events are

impractical as marketing efforts because the technology still

entails too many technical problems. Geoffrey Bock, senior vice

president, Patricia Seybold Group, Boston-based technology

analysts, says Macromedias new technology has worked out

these bugs and made Web events easily available and

manageable for marketers.

Several years ago, it may have been a complicated process to set

up a Web event to reach hundreds of prospects. However, the

best-of-breed technologies, in which many analysts now place

Breeze, make live online events a low-hassle way of reaching

scores of people with a compelling and memorable message.

Many analysts concur that Macromedia Breeze offers state-of-the-

art support for video, animations, and other rich content, to

create Webinars and other live events that are dynamic, colorful,

engaging, and interactive. Because Breeze is next generation, it

makes it easier to deliver effective Web events easier for

participants (theres no software to download) and easier forpresenters because of management tools.

The two big advantages of Breeze are reachand impact, made possible by the Flashplayer, which is on 98 percent of all PCs.Theliquidity of the environment allows greatercreativity. Its not just a static view of slidesin a little corner where there's a talking headvideo. There are floating windows, for full

screen video, or chat, windows and the like.Users can re-size windows, drag themaround, and play with the images. Its nottwo-dimensional. Its not a fixed layout; its afluid, dynamic layout that marketers can editas they go along.

- Kevin M. Lynch, vice president of Breezeproduct marketing

Breeze Meeting Layouts are Customizable

Kevin M. Lynch, vice president of Breeze product marketing,says Breeze shatters the conventional limitations of time and

distance, since marketers can use both live events and on-demand

presentations to reach their audience anytime, anywhere. The

audience can view a Breeze on-demand presentation at any time,

he explains. If you want more interaction, you can remove

barriers of distance, with live Webinars, so people can interact

without travel.

By comparison, conventional marketing is insufficiently dynamic

and gets lost in the white noise it lacks the compelling call to

action and urgency of Webinars and live events. On-demand

presentations are more engaging than static Web pages.


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What youre trying to do with any marketing program is to

inform your customers and qualify them, Lynch explains. You

want to give them information, see if your products and services

are a good fit, and then send them more info, if theyre interested.

As Lynch puts it, companies want qualified leads they dont try

to sell snow to Eskimos. Conventional markets represent a huge

chasm of inefficiency, he says. Marketers put out a printed or

online ad, then ask prospective customers for a live meeting with a

sales rep, if theyre interested. The on-demand presentation bridges

that chasm. Maybe you start with an online or printed ad, that

draws them to a rich on-demand presentation, and then the call to

action can be to sign up for a Webinar, instead of an in-person,

expensive meeting with a rep. Marketers dont want a face-to-face

meeting, or even a phone call, if the lead isnt qualified yet.

Moreover, customers appreciate the online method its a win

for them, too. They can receive more detailed information, at

their convenience.

Analysts say that Breeze is a well-integrated platform for creating

and delivering live and on-demand rich media content. The

simplicity of using one solution to create all types of content

generates greater productivity.

Very few other competitors have the same sort of seamlessly

integrated platform for delivering both on-demand and live

presentations, Ritter says. Many other solutions allow for

recording of content, for later playback, but thats a very different

application than a solution for creating on-demand rich media.

Many companies want the capability to create a polished

presentation and they also want the ability to edit, re-record and

modify flagged content. Breeze makes all of that possible.

No Fumbling Just Good Content

In addition to making it simple for viewers to instantly view

Breeze events and on-demand presentations, Macromedia has

emphasized ease-of-use for seminar presenters. You want to

make the technology transparent, Lynch says. You want [users]

to get their marketing message across, not to be fumbling with

technology.

Its a simple matter to integrate video and pre-recorded

presentations of guest speakers and corporate executives, for

highlevel, high-impact messages.

Breeze sits on top of a content library, Lynch says. If you have

a video of your CEO, or customer testimonials, you can bring

them into the live meeting, and hit play, and everyone is listening

and watching it even if that person couldnt make the

meeting. Breeze technology allows for this seamless integration.

Another attribute of Breeze is the ability to operate persistent

or perpetual meetings (e.g., pre-populating meeting rooms).

Breeze meeting rooms, including layout and all content, are

automatically saved, so you can set up your meeting room,

arrange content, and have it ready to go whenever you need it,

dramatically reducing preparation time for recurring events.

Chances are, the message you want to get across to your

prospects doesnt change day-to-day, Lynch says. Youll want to

deliver a consistent message. You can save this in a persistent

meeting room. All the content stays in that room you can go

back, anytime, and give the same Webinar to a different

audience. You can even tweak and customize it as you go along.

Breeze meetings are automatically saved and always available

Keeping Track

Breeze includes all the necessary capabilities to help people

manage large online events. As explained above, Breeze canautomatically register and remind attendees; it lets users easily

customize registration pages and the appearance of online

meeting rooms to mimic corporate branding.

We added the events module to Breeze, which provides

functionality in the pre-meeting tasks, as well as post-meeting

analysis, Lynch points out. You can gather names, zip codes,

etc., before the meeting, and afterwards, ask who wants a

followup call, or poll them as to how they liked the Webinar. We

help people lay out their meetings ahead of time, so they can

flow through the meeting in a smooth fashion. We can help with

moderated queue questions-and-answers.

Lynch says the brandability is important, too. You can put the

presentation within your companys colors and logo, he says. If

your company is McDonalds, for example, you can make

everything in yellow and red. The entire environment can be like

this the background colors, the toolbar, you name it.PAGE 5


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Breeze delivers fully branded Events registration

Macromedias new events service provides everything from events

consulting to in-meeting moderator assistance, which effectively

provides users with their own in-house events staff, allowing

presenters to focus on content and not logistics. Events Specialists

guide presenters through practice sessions, to make sure everyone

is comfortable with the entire process.

Upfront practice guarantees success with thefirst Webinar; after that, users typically getthe hang of it. Breeze is a viral product.Within a company, you get a few peopleconducting Webinars, others see how easy itis, and suddenly everyone is doing it. Beingable to easily record and re-play a Breeze on-demand presentation is a huge benefit. Youcan re-use it, over and over, and edit it in

different ways each time you use it.- Brenda Given, Macromedia

Given underscores the ability of Breeze to track registrations and

attendance for Web events, providing users the means to gather

contact information for immediate distribution to the sales team

and channel partners.

Under more conventional means, this process would be much

more cumbersome, Given says. Marketers would send someone

to a Web site, to fill out a registration form, but these people

really havent been qualified yet. Breeze 5 helps marketers cut

through all of the white noise of their leads. She adds that

Breeze 5 does a better job of qualifying leads and getting them

into the right bucket for follow up by the appropriate people.

You dont need to be a technologist to use these solutions,

Lynch says. Any business person can hold an online Webinar to

engage his customers. The user friendliness of the technology is

key. You want to leverage its strength, but you dont want it to be

a barrier to usage. If you can get your message out, without

special development training, and your audience can receive that

message quickly and efficiently, you have achieved a significant

time-to-value equation.

For a full copy of Larstans survey on Web-based live events as a

tool for generating leads, go to:

http://www.larstan.net/5/financial.htm. To view a complete set of

Larstan reports, go to: www.larstan.com.

Resources:

Experience matters. Macromedia is motivated by the belief

that great experiences build great businesses. Our software

empowers millions of business users, developers, and

designers to create and deliver effective, compelling, and

memorable experiences on the Internet, on fixed media,

on wireless, and on digital devices. (www.macromedia.com).

To speak with a Breeze Solutions Specialist, please call

1-888-649-2990

For more information, please see

http://www.macromedia.com/go/LAR

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