Archive for the ‘Work’ Category
The Beauty Of Customer Evidence
Customer Evidence is any marketing or communication asset that uses a customer story as evidence of your product’s value in the marketplace. By having the customer themselves testify to the value of your product, you are creating a persuasive form of marketing content that far trumps anything your company can possibly claim about yourself. Let’s face it: claims we make about our own company are trusted less, especially in B2B marketing, compared to what someone else says about your product. By having your customer tell your story, you are demonstrating value & credibility, and delivering a consultative story that documents how a customer was able to solve a problem with your product.
The best customer evidence assets tell an interesting story about the customer. Viewstream’s story-based approach starts with the customer. We look at who the customer is, what motivates them, why they get up in the morning to do what they do. In doing their work, they are faced with a variety of challenges in their business. We uncover the reasons why the customer reached out to your solution. We then tell the customer’s story in a way that illustrates how your product or solution has been the best way for them to reach their goals.
In terms of content mapping, customer evidence can be used at any stage of the sales cycle. In early stages, customer evidence can help prospects imagine a world where there problems are solved, and how a new solution has benefited them. At the mid to later stages of the sales cycle, where comparative content is critical, customer evidence serves to reinforce peer opinion, as well as provide answers to implementation concerns.
Typically, customer evidence takes the form of a case study, video testimonial or micro-documentary. Reach out to us if you are interested in finding out more about using Customer Evidence for your marketing programs.
Here are a few recent Customer Evidence projects that Viewstream created:
Desi411: Our Latest Product Demo
I just wanted to share Viewstream’s latest product demo for Desi411.com, a startup business and service directory for businesses within the South Asian diaspora. We worked closely with the Desi11 team to create an exciting demo with clear messaging and story, engaging creative, video, and vector animation to build excitement about the launch of this service.
Webinar on Content Marketing
I will be doing a webinar on Thursday, May 28, 2009, at 10:00AM Pacific, on Content Marketing. The webinar will focus on companies that need a persistent content marketing strategy – and how to create engaging content to bring that strategy to life.
I will present the seven ways to use content marketing in your marketing & sales strategy, including:
Way #1: Make Your Content Informative, Consultative and Engaging
Way #2: Make Your Content Portable with Social Media
Way #3: Leverage Your Content Throughout Your Channel/Partner Ecosystem
Way #4: Create Thought Leadership in Your Industry
Way #5: Develop Tracking/Metrics That Listen
Way #6: Create a Long Term Strategy (not just a campaign)
Way #7: Crowdsource: Using customer content
Please attend – I will present for thirty minutes and have some time for Q/A.
See you online!
Viewstream Launches www.ITDatabase.com
ITDatabase.com, a startup that has developed a better way to do IT research, launched today. Viewstream worked with ITDatabase on the product launch, including branding, website design/development, messaging, landing pages, product demos/vidoes and SEO/SEM.Congratulations to the whole ITDatabase team, and to CEO & Founder Travis Van. You guys have a great solution and we wish you all the success in the world.I am also very happy for the opportunity to be on ITDatabase’s Board of Advisors.If you are in tech PR and Marketing, I encourage you take a free trial of the product.If you know anybody in tech PR & Marketing, please refer them to ITDatabase for a free trial.
Viewstream and Autodesk-10 Years and Counting!
Autodesk has been a Viewstream client as long has we’ve been in business-that’s nearly 10 years! Beginning with the creation of the first-of-its-kind iDesign Virtual Trade Show back on 2000 to the most recent Navisworks lead generation campaign, we’ve been creating content solutions that help market one of the world’s leading software companies. We’ve been involved in more than one hundred Autodesk projects, including online videos; webcasts; Screencasts; virtual trade shows and new hire orientations; flash animations; landing pages; tracking and metrics; and more.
Hitting the decade landmark is a great excuse for a visit. I went down to Autodesk headquarters at the request of their marketing team. With Viewstream Creative Director Joel Yabrudy in tow, we spent an hour reviewing our long relationship with the company, mapping out Viewstream’s approach and strategy, and sharing some of our best practices. It was great to visit with old friends and make a couple new ones. Thanks to Deb for inviting us!
Take a look at some of our latest Autodesk work:
Screencast: Navisworks
Screencast: Civil 3D/The Road Ahead
Screencast: Revit Architecture
Product Demo: Then/Now
Web Banners: Architecture Suite
Landing Pages: Architecture
Social Media: Revit Architecture on YouTube
Microsoft Virtual Summit a Success
When Microsoft wanted to host a summit for its global enterprise marketing team while keeping costs down, they called us! We created a virtual solution, the Enterprise Marketing Virtual Summit 2009. Over three days, hundreds of Microsoft marketers from around the world attended the event without leaving their desktops!
We build this custom site from the ground up, exclusively using Microsoft technology, including .NET programming, SQL Server and Silverlight (Viewstream is an official Microsoft Silverlight Partner). This virtual summit did away with the cookie-cutter 3-D world of many virtual events to take a content-driven approach. Live webinars and on-demand video integrated into an environment designed for interactivity and conversation. All live sessions were available on-demand shortly after they were held. There was event a Race Game, where users gained points for attending virtual sessions and engaging with other attendees via message boards.
Microsoft’s Enterprise Marketing Virtual Summit 2009 officially wrapped yesterday, but the event lives on through this site. Attendees can still log in and watch session videos on their own time.
We want to thank the Microsoft team for such an exciting project. We had a lot of fun with this one!
Sorry – this is an invite only event – but you can see the home page here.
Adventures with Lynn Allen
If you ever get the chance to have a sit down with Lynn Allen, take it. Over the last couple of days, I have been working with Lynn on the creation of the AutoCAD 2010 demo. Aside from the opportunity to be part of the promotion of one of the most revered software products in human history, I got to hang with Lynn. We built the demo as we went – who needs scripts – right?
Check out what Lynn had to say about our adventure:
HP Adopts Viewstream’s Proprietary Presentation Technology
For the past two years, Viewstream has provided proprietary networking and display systems for HP and The Kenwood Group events. Our system, developed in-house, allows audience members to send questions via text message or e-mail, which were processed and displayed on the main screen in real time.
Most recently, we were in Las Vegas for the 2008 HP Software Universe Conference. Check out the photos to see our technology in action!
Images courtesy of The Kenwood Group.
Autodesk Screencast Release
Viewstream just completed a lead generation project for Autodesk relating to their AutoCAD 2009 product launch. The project was a series of screencasts — and the results thus far have been very successful in terms of click through and requests for more information.
You can check out the work here:
http://www.adskmedia.com/autocad_2009/
http://www.adskmedia.com/autocad_lt/
Viewstream also helped out a lot with Autodesk’s Unisfair videos – creative and production work we’re involved.
BTW, if you need help with your product demonstrations, website demos or flash presentations, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to help.
What Can The Wall Street Journal Do For You?
When public eyes are on you, whether at an industry trade show, on your website, or on the cover of the Wall Street Journal, are you truly putting your best foot forward? Are you speaking directly to those individual sets of eyes, or are you generalizing for the masses?
Many companies focus on PR tactics to carry the load of turning prospects to leads. But awareness is not enough to make that transition. Prospects may know who you are, but do they know what your solution can do for them?
In a B2B environment, your best foot is one-to-one customer centric marketing. Product demos, tutorials, consultative information, and case studies all work together to drive sales. More than putting information out there, product and solution-focused material speaks directly to prospects, driving demand, improving sales cycles, and ultimately increasing revenues.
While broad media attention is never bad, for the investment it often doesn’t necessarily translate into bottom line dollars. Customer-facing marketing tools, enhanced by high-level branding and positioning, directed media placement, and search engine optimization ensure your prospects get into the sales cycle.
Unfortunately, we have seen many companies spend excessively on PR without getting sales. One client made the cover of the Wall Street Journal and received one single phone call. That’s not ROI.
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