Marla's Marketing Stuff

Flickr

2010-07-14T10:58:00.001-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Online Marketing Mass Transmit1

2009-02-13T08:51:00.001-06:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Online Marketing Mass Transmit1

View more presentations from marla. (tags: acquire referral)

Best Web Tools/Software/Applications that Won't Cost You...or Won't Cost Much

2008-03-24T17:56:00.006-05:00

Oh the tasks Marketer's have to endure. Not everyone has fully staffed elaborate marketing departments or the budget to hire freelancers. Here are some challenges you may have come across:

You have 5 minutes to get some graphics on a PowerPoint
How do you resize or edit a photo without PhotoShop
You need to repurpose video files for Podcasts
You need to get an CD out or DVD out the door and don't have time to get a designer to do it
How the heck are you going to change that JPG to a GIF without Photoshop
You want to edit your podcast professionally but don't have the budget to have a professional do it
You want to put a website or a draft of one in a few hours, but their aren't any website designers around
You need to convert a document into PDF but don't have Adobe

Now let's solve them. Most of these solutions won't cost you. However, one or two may cost a bit but have the potential for saving you lots.

Working with photos

Picasso: http://picasa.google.com/
Fotosizer: http://www.fotosizer.com/
Andysnap: (great for screen shots): www.bigbeanbag.net/andysnap/download.html

Working with CD', DVD's & Media Files

Autoplay Media Studio (Create autorun menus): http://www.indigorose.com/autoplay-media-studio/
DVDfab: http://www.dvdfab.com/
Audacity (opensource): http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Transferring documents to PDF's

CutePDF: http://www.cutepdf.com/

Putting up a Website Quick or Editing one

http://www.adobe.com/products/contribute/

Hope these help and please send any you can recommend my way.

Do You Need a Website?

2008-03-20T08:50:00.006-05:00

An ex-boss once told me that the range of costs for a new website goes from a 6 pack of beer to thousands of dollars.

The critical question that few seem to ask let alone answer before they start web design is, "What do I want this site to accomplish?" Build:

Revenue
Brand
Membership
etc.

2. "Is a website the optimum online channel for obtaining my goal?"
3. "Can I obtain a better result with a blog?"

Why not start out with a Blog?

Can be cost free

http://www.blogger.com
http://www.wordpress.com

Great for search engine optimization
Links you to viral social marketing
Allows you to interact with your audience
Feature rich without making you poor

Offers you the same if not more features without the need for programming

Easy maintenance
No HTML experience needed
You can customize the skin
Positions you as an expert

Before you jump into freezing cold water with a tiny speedo, consider smartly locating a club med pool with all the amenities.

Marketing/Promoting Webcasts (Getting the most out of them)

2008-03-19T19:41:00.001-05:00

Webcasts have the ability to put a face on your brand. Done right they:

Are great lead generators

Position you as a knowledge expert

Provide great material for re purposing
Reinforce your existing client relationships

Step 1 - Content

Make it informational not sales

Have two speakers, one from inside your company and reinforce your message with either an industry expert or client case study representative

Involve the audience during the webcast via polling, taking questions during the webcasts, evaluating material audience sent in prior to the webcast

Step 2 - Promotion

Promotional email sent a couple of weeks prior to webcast to your house lists. Make it look good and sweeten with some type of attendance offer.

Put banners on your website
Add a Webcast Wiki to your site

Post webcast on http://www.eventspan.com/

Add a blog entry on the topic with the webcast link
Submit entries to other blogs that contain the link to your webcast

Use your guest speaker's reach. Pick a guest speaker with a following and have them add links, banner and email their audience

Do a press release. I recommend using I recommend http://www.prxbuilder.com/x2/ to post your release

Add a link to the webcast to your email signature
Devote a page on your site to the webcast
Put an ad on Google AdWords driving folks to the presentation with the offer of a white paper to attendees
Use print ad’s to drive registration

Step 3 - Getting High Participation Rate

Send out a reminder email - Make sure your value proposition and offer stands out in the reminder email
Telemarket to enrollees

Step 4 - Re-Purpose the Content

Get a copy of the media file and post it
Have a transcript of the webcast posted
Post your slides, you may want to use slideshare.net
Take an excerpt of the webcast and use it as an online ad
Put the webcast on CD
Convert it into a podcast and submit it to all podcast directories
Do a blog around the webcast, getting audience feedback, have a sequel in mind
Take the Q&A from the webcast and post it on your site, use the questions for blogging
Re-Promote it as on On-Demand webcast