Increasing Lead Generation at Lower Cost Through Web Events

By John Persinos, Larstan Business Reports

Return on Marketing:

This report was researched and written by John Persinos, Publisher and Editorial Director, Larstan Business Reports, Inc., Potomac, MD Copyright 2005 All rights reserved

BUSINESS REPORTS

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-perlead 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-pony show 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 constraint imposed 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).

Real-time Internet communications technology plays a key role in supporting f ield operations for our company. 150 125 100 75 50 25 0
Strongly Agree Agree
40% 47% 22 8% 17 5% 1 15 135

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

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 of live 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.

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The ability to have interactions with attendees of an online meeting or presentation allows the compilation of granular material from customers you can get into their preferences, how they like to be contacted, what their buying plan may be in coming months, what their current computer configuration might be, if any of that is of interest to marketers. All of this information can be collected via online registration forms. - Paul Ritter, senior analyst and research director, 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.

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 ondemand 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 to cost-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 video that 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

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 anytime viewing 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.

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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.

The two big advantages of Breeze are reach and impact, made possible by the Flash player, which is on 98 percent of all PCs.The liquidity of the environment allows greater creativity. Its not just a static view of slides in a little corner where there's a talking head video. There are floating windows, for full screen video, or chat, windows and the like. Users can re-size windows, drag them around, and play with the images. Its not two-dimensional. Its not a fixed layout; its a fluid, dynamic layout that marketers can edit as they go along. - Kevin M. Lynch, vice president of Breeze product marketing

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-theart 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 for presenters because of management tools.

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.

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 can automatically 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.

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

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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.

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 the first Webinar; after that, users typically get the hang of it. Breeze is a viral product. Within a company, you get a few people conducting Webinars, others see how easy it is, and suddenly everyone is doing it. Being able to easily record and re-play a Breeze ondemand presentation is a huge benefit. You can 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.

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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