Online Presentations
An Effective Tool

There are different types of online presentations to utilize in the business world.

The following are a few:

Training

Office meetings

Sales presentations

Seminars for clients and prospective customers

Online presentation moderators, coordinators and presenters need to be comfortable, well–prepared and experienced with online presenting to be effective.

Here’s a quick checklist that will help you plan a successful online presentation:

Break down tasks and assign duties effectively. Stay in touch with everyone working on the project.

Be prepared. One good way to gain experience and be prepared is to shadow the planning of a presentation prior to planning and leading one on your own.

Attend as many online presentations as possible to gain experience. As an attendee of an online presentation, take note of likes and dislikes in techniques and preparation. As a participant or viewer, what would you change or improve?

Make sign-up easy.

Provide "frequently asked questions" with answers regarding the presentation upon registration.

Stay on schedule. Start at the time promised and end at the correct time.

Address the audience directly. Communicate clearly to attendees.

Make a live call available to those who are unable to participate online.

Follow up with attendees after the presentation. Is there anything they needed for follow up? Answer questions and thank them for their participation.

Instant Feedback

How do you get into the minds of your customers?

There are a multitude of marketing research methods available to help us learn more about our customers’ needs and wants.

One popular method of gaining insight from customers has been focus group research. However, as the marketplace stretches around the world, new modes of communication are introduced and new immediate research techniques are increasing in popularity for companies.

Instant communication, increased competition and swift product/service roll-outs have resulted in a fast-paced business world. To better keep up with customer needs, the Internet offers businesses immediate and direct access to customers and their impressions.

E-mail, instant messaging and online research/communication can result in more candid and immediate feedback. Companies are finding that they can sometimes forgo the coordination and analysis process of a focus group and utilize online surveys and questionaires for important information.

Online and Instant message feedback can provide:

• Genuine feedback – online or instant messaging survey respondents of
  do not interact personally with a company representative.
• Clear expression of opinion – respondents are not influenced by other
  participants since feedback is direct and personal.
• Instant & direct customer feedback – instant communication can be
  only a click away with the Internet.
• Flexibility – online surveys and questionnaires can be attractive to
  customers since they can fit responding quickly and easily and within their schedules.

Will the need for focus groups totally disintegrate? Most likely no, yet as fast paced communication and business evolves, new opportunities to connect with customers will be revealed.

If you want your marketing to make a difference...

make it different!

The most important thing to remember is - don’t look like everyone else. This should be your approach not only toward graphic design, but it also should guide your public relations efforts, how you treat people and how you introduce your product or service to the world.

Organizations need to make sure they know how to introduce or reinvent their brand experience for their customers. It all starts with an idea that you seed, cultivate and grow over time. This newly shaped mark for your business can then be fed to the marketplace in bits and pieces. For example, the makers of Red Bull, the “energy drink” that makes you feel like you’ve sprouted wiiings and can fly (or, if you’ve had enough of them, get married at 4 a.m. in Las Vegas), regularly dispatch “street teams” to college dormitory parking lots to hand out samples. This grassroots approach and unique product make them an instant market success among the college faction.

Southwest Airlines provides everyday people the ability to go places that previously only the very wealthy could afford. It’s no-frills transportation built on, well, transportation—get them from point A to point B. Period.

A more recent example is eBay. This newer phenomenon, born of the Internet age, was built on a simple social insight – people like to trade with each other.

Great brands hit their goals when they change consumers’ impressions of a brand category. Success comes when consumers’ basic habits change, based on those new impressions.

Clearly defined purposes—a unique approach to the marketplace and a clear vision of why your business is different—make a brand strong and distinctive.

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