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Emergence of Virtual Tradeshows

Emergence of virtual tradeshows
In a previous post, I spoke about the emergence of virtual tradeshows. Since then, I have seen promotions  for many more of these events.  There is definitely a trend or interest to test this method of providing online content for education, branding, or lead generation purposes. I previously mentioned a  company called Unisfair that provides a platform for delivering virtual tradeshows. Another company that has come to my attention is InXpo. I came across a technology focused event called the Data Protection Dilemma, produced by Ziff Davis, which is now available on demand. One of the strengths of a virtual tradeshow is that content can remain on demand and be a  source of further lead generation (after the live event). If you visit InXpo's website, you can see some of the customers they are working with other than Ziff Davis,  including TIBCO and Wall Street Journal.  Ziff Davis has been using this channel extensively, visit virtualtradeshowslive.com, to see their lineup of technology focused events (and past shows on demand). 

Upcoming virtual expo for B2B Marketers
There is an upcoming show of interest for B2B Marketers on March 5, 2008 called B2B-2.0 Expo: What's New in Finding+Keeping Customers. This show focuses on solutions for B2B marketing in the Web 2.0 world. They have a great lineup of speakers, check out the website for full details on the program and presenters. The organizer is MarketingProfs, and there are several sponsors, including some of the marketing "thought leadership" companies I have spoken about in the past, including MarketingExperiments, Eloqua, intouch, and Marketo. It looks like a perfect opportunity to learn more about marketing with Web 2.0 , research new marketing solution providers, and experience a virtual tradeshow environment.

More resources on virtual events

No Travel Required of this Kind of Show, my previous post on virtual tradeshows.

Virtual events and measuring ROI keys (from BtoBonline)

Virtual events' success grows (from BtoBonline)

Also please feel free to comment on your experience on attending, sponsoring, or creating content for a Virtual Tradeshow. Is this a viable channel for B2B Marketers to reach and engage with customers and new prospects? How does this compare with Second Life virtual events? Does this meet the demands of reaching a global market or small-medium size businesses where travel is more difficult?

Update:  Please check out some related posts by other bloggers:

The Value of Tradeshows

Virtual Business Conferences

Upcoming PodCamp in Toronto

PodCamp - the New Media Community Unconference, is taking place in Toronto, Feb. 23-34, 2008. Having been to a few camp style events, I really look forward to going to this one. This is a free and open, community driven event, where anyone can present or just attend. As the website says:

"PodCamp isn't just about podcasting! If you're interested in blogging, social media, social networking, podcasting, video on the net, if you're a podsafe musician (or want to be), or just someone curious about new media, then please join us -- and bring a friend or colleague."

Visit the Toronto site to register, or visit the main site  for upcoming PodCamps in other cities.  Check out the Toronto sessions. There are over 300 folks registered so far for the Toronto event! 

Super Bowl Post Game Analysis - Social Media and Online Marketing

I really haven't followed any regular season sports for a long time. I'm one of  "those people " that usually tune in during post season when something exciting is going on, and that's how I come to watch the Super Bowl most years.

I watch for another reason too -- for the advertising spots and half-time show. It is that one time of the year when you actually anticipate watching advertising. Like others, I am curious what companies will deliver knowing that it costs millions of dollars (2.7 million this year) for that 30 seconds  of airtime.

What's different this year - social media metrics?
I'm not an advertising expert, so I'm not going to break out into analysis. I was mostly interested to read up on online metrics and possibly social media. Advertising Age did have an article called "Whose SuperBowl Ads Scored Online?". It is interesting because it says that this year reports are considering social media as part of the ratings:

"One change from years past: The report card took into account brands' social-media presences, a response to the fact that social-media sites are beginning to dominate search-engine results pages. One marketer that performed well last year thanks to its paid-search presence was Salesgenie.com. This year Reprise knocked it because it didn't have any presence in the category."

For a bit more analysis on online ratings and the Reprise Media search marketing score card mentioned in the article above, visit Super Bowl 2008: The Winning Brands. Pepsi, GoDaddy, and Cars.com, were this year's winners.   

Incidentally,  Salesgenie was the only B2B  related company that advertised this year. Some people say that the ads were better than last year, while others had a more negative reaction.

Watch the commercials in one spot:
If you missed the commercials or want to see them again, you can view them at myspace broken down by quarter (they actually aired this link during the game for reviewing later). For a breakdown by company visit Advertising Age (includes title, brand, and agency information).

What is a meatball sundae?

I attended a webcast called How Do You Avoid the Meatball Sundae presented by  Seth Godin (sponsored by ClickZ Network and BuzzLogic). I try to catch  Seth Godin whenever I can, because he is such a great story teller, totally inspirational, and I always learn something new (like a tool called  Jott)!

Seth was talking about his new book Meatball Sundae.  He started off by saying that he was vegetarian so the idea of a meatball sundae is especially repulsive, but the image being repulsive to everyone was the point. The meatball represented how companies operated in the past (and still do), by creating average products for average people. He is referring to factories, mass production of products, where efficiency is king (industrial revolution). You can view the meatballs as commodities. He also mentioned how advertising such as TV commercials were used to promote and market these products. Companies made average products for average people and used TV to get their message across. In order for TV advertising to work, you had to make an average product that appealed to the masses. The topping part is new marketing (web 2.0) or the new trends in marketing.  So take a commodity, marketing dresses it up using new tactics, and what comes out the door is a meatball sundae.  Not exactly very appealing (a representation of why it doesn't work).

Seth said that there is a lot of opportunity in the new world of marketing but you can't just throw new marketing 2.0 stuff on top of an average product to be more successful. Companies that have been successful with new marketing, are inherently different companies (compared to meatball makers). Darren Barefoot took  great notes on the specific trends and examples presented in the webinar.

If meatball sundaes sound like what goes on in your company and you find that disturbing, you might want to check out the book - Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync. You can also download the related manifesto from ChangeThis. ChangeThis is a wonderful place to find a fresh  perspective on business, culture, or technology (amongst other things). They publish articles, more like presentations, called manifestos, about changing the world. They are free (no ads), you download the manifestos (beautifully presented pdfs) and then ponder..reflect, and possibly approach a problem with a new perspective. ChangeThis is a nice and neat experience, and it helps to spread good ideas. (not surprising - the original idea behind ChangeThis came from Seth Godin).

I haven't read Meatball Sundae yet, but I will eventually. I have most of Seth's other books, and I highly recommend them for when you need to get into the "think different, be different" mode,  or need inspiration to change (or ammunition to present change to the higher ups). I bet some day there will be a Seth Godin boxed set (maybe including his action figure that came out recently).

This is a classic one-liner from his  blog, that comes to my mind often:

The two reasons people say no to your idea

"It's been done before"
"It's never been done before"

Even though neither one is truthful, accurate or useful, you need to be prepared for both.

Seth calls himself an agent of change. I can personally attest to this, because it was after reading Small is the New Big, that I started writing this blog!

"It's been done before"
"It's never been done before"

Even though neither one is truthful, accurate or useful, you need to be prepared for both.

Seth calls himself an agent of change. I can personally attest to this, because it was after reading Small is the New Big, that I started writing this blog!

No Travel Required for this Kind of Trade Show

You may have heard of the term "Virtual Tradeshow" and been interested to learn more.

I visited Unisfair, a provider of virtual tradeshow environments, and had a look around their virtual showcase. It had an exhibition hall, where I found virtual exhibitor booths. In the booths there were flash presentations, webcasts, pdfs, and even live chat (and soon to be internet phone capabilities). The conference hall also had presentations. During a live show, there might be live video presentations. A virtual trade show usually takes place live on a certain day, but can remain on-demand for weeks (or months) after the live event.

Unisfair says that they have registered up to 3000 people for an event, and that the average visitor stayed for two hours. They say that there are two main reasons that people go to the virtual tradeshows (similar to real trade shows), one is for researching, the other for networking. They have built certain features to facilitate both. For networking, they have a networking lounge where you can chat and meet people. You can also create a profile, and browse others.

It seems like an interesting concept. Some of the unique benefits of a virtual tradeshow vs. a real-life one include:

· people don't have to leave their desk (that includes participants, speakers, and exhibitors)

· everything is track-able – this is very interesting for lead generation, you can track who visits your booth, how long they stay, what they view or download, you can rank the leads based on behavior, and send them directly to sales

· event can remain on-demand - so that you can continue to drive leads from it

Now don’t expect virtual graphics or entertainment sophistication like Second Life. But I think they have tried to make it an exciting and fun environment. Again, I only saw the on-demand showcase, which is more like a sample. I’m sure a live event will be much more interesting. You can also read a bit more about this in a NY Times article, “Cyberspace Trade Shows Bring Action to the Desktop”.

 I registered for a live virtual trade show that runs on November 8^th called “Selling to the Mid-Market”, by CMP Channel (Unisfair is hosting it).  I can kill two birds with one stone, experience a virtual trade show, and do some learning and research on the mid-market. And I think I can live without scoring any real-life chachkas…I wonder what virtual chachka might be….perhaps a free screen saver or desktop (hmmm), or maybe if you are qualified, online credit for something (yay!).

Mixed Media Strategies

Zentation is a tool you can use to upload your slides and sync with your video which I posted previously about. Another web 2.0 site for presentations is slideshare (but there is no video, just slides).

I was browsing Zentation today and came across this brief and entertaining presentation:

Mortality and User Experience - 5:53 5 min talk on why I think of user experience as something sacred.  Given at the first Ignite event in Seattle, WA.

Viewing this presentation reminded me of an article by John Jantsch from Duct Tape Marketing about content and a mixed media strategy where he states:

"On the web, it’s simply not enough to write hard hitting sales copy and call it content. Content, content that educates and builds trust, has become much more active than that and requires a strategic view to be truly effective."

The 25 Basic Styles of Blogging ... And When To Use Each One (from slideshare.net)

| View | Upload your own

Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2008

As an IT B2B Marketer, you can't ignore the trends in IT. I heard a comment last week about Gartner releasing a report of the top 10 technologies for 2008. Right away 4-5 trends came to mind, Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) being one of them.  I found this interesting article today about  SOA from IT Business Edge, describing whether SOA was idea, an ideal, or a trend.

That prompted me to finally have a look  at the list - Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2008. The findings were released at the Gartner Symposium/ITexpo in Orlando, Oct 7-12, 2007.

If you haven't seen it yet, just for fun write your own list and see how many you get right. It won't necessarily tell you how smart you are...just how good you are at following the trends in the industry. The being smart part will be figuring out what trends will turn into real demand and whether you have a play in the market.

Internet Marketing Resources and How I Find Time to Listen to Podcasts

Firstly, I apologize for my month and half hiatus. I've been busy and also on vacation (to Montreal and Traverse City, Michigan, in case you were curious). Fortunately I found some time to catch up on reading, and listening to podcasts.

I wanted to share with you a few Internet Marketing resources:

5000+ Resources to Do Just About Anything Online - A friend of mine sent me this link, and it looks like it has a lot of resources especially for web 2.0.  (rss, podcasts, blogging).  The next time I need to do some research, I will be looking at this more carefully. I found some of the comments at the bottom humourous though. Users complained that there was too much information, or that they started browsing and had no time left to get things done. It reminded me of Getting Things Done (GTD).  I'd like to give GTD a better introduction, but I've recently been reading this book, and have started implementing the system using Thinking Rock.  So far I think  GTD and Thinking Rock is a terrific, and will work well for me. I will write more about my personal findings about GTD  (and resources) in another post.

Internet Marketing: Insider tips and advice for Online Marketing Podcasts
I recently listened to one of these podcasts (#26 Online PR), and really enjoyed it. The style is conversational but educational and they include a lot of tips and tools.  This particular podcast covered how companies can use online PR as part of their marketing mix, and track their PR efforts. I've added this to my podcast list.

There are a great many great podcasts out there, where people share their wealth of knowledge and experience.  I have a shortlist of relevant B2B podcasts on my Podroll, which you can find on the right column of my blog. The only podcast that may not  seem as relevant is Manager Tools. However I find Manager Tools to be very relevant for anyone in Business, whether you are manager or not.  I am a manager, and have found this to be an invaluable source of information, and highly recommend it.

I use iTunes to manage my podcasts, and listen to them on the computer. But mostly I listen to my podcasts on my iPod, during my walk/subway commute to and from work (as well as during longer travels by train or plane).  It seems like the perfect timeslot during a busy day to get ideas, and catch up on the industry. While I may listen to a one-off podcast on a specific topic, I generally look for ones to listen to frequently, as this is the true meaning of a podcast. There is only so much time to afford listening to podcasts, so I subscribe to certain podcasts on iTunes.  I sometimes hear about new podcasts, that I add to the list...but if I don't find them consistently interesting and relevant, they get knocked off. It sounds a bit like survival of the fittest, but that's life right, and the only way to optimize a finite resource - your time. On that note,  I'll end here, and let you get back to the things that matter to you the most. Have a "better than good" day as sales genius Zig Ziglar would say.

Unique Approach to B2B Advertising

I came across a very interesting B2B advertisement:

It won the top honour for best film advertising spot at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes. Watch it at least twice - there is a dissonance that beautifully melts away when you get to the end. The second time watching is a complete joy!

To learn more about this video, visit Epuron's site.

Learn about Web 2.0 fonts

This is Ludwig Gatzke’s compilation of nearly 400 Web 2.0 logos.

If you are creating content or campaigns for Web 2.0, check out Fontfeed's breakdown of the fonts:

"There is no official standard for what makes something “Web 2.0“, but there certainly are a few tell-tale signs. These new sites usually feature modern web technologies like Ajax and often have something to do with building online communities. But even more characteristic among these brands is their appearance. Web 2.0 sites nearly always feel open and friendly and often use small chunks of large type. The colors are bright and cheery — lots of blue, orange, and what we jokingly call the Official Color of Web 2.0: lime green." Read more.

This is a fantastic post about the Web 2.0 typefaces and branding,  as well as for learning about new fonts.

Web Conferences - Toronto

I wanted to mention a couple of upcoming web related conferences in Toronto:

Mesh Conference - May 30-31, 2007
Canada's premier Web conference, being held in Toronto on May 30th & 31st, 2007, is a chance to connect with people who are as excited about the potential of the Web as you are – people who want to know more about how it is changing the way we live, work and interact with the world. And you won't just connect with them in the hallways – at mesh, every panel and workshop is interactive.

Keynotes include Richard Edelman, Michael Arrington, Austin Hill, Jim Buckmaster, Tom Williams.

Enterprise 2.0 Conference - May 29, 2007
Anthony Williams, co-author of  internationally renowned “Wikinomics” and John Bruce, CEO of iUpload, a leading (and Canadian) Enterprise 2.0 success story, will be keynoting a breakfast seminar on “How Enterprise 2.0 is Changing Business”. Taken from a top manager’s perspective, this session will explore how “social media” and new collaborative models are already changing business and what lies ahead for the future.

The morning program will be followed by an interactive Q&A session. Afterward, feel free to stick around for a day-long series of participant-led workshops. Packed with examples from organizations that are walking the talk right now, these sessions will explore the role of the business and technology leaders implementing “2.0” in the enterprise.

The keynotes should be interesting as well as the "camp" style sessions that follow. Casecamp was great, so I'm looking forward to this.

Digg twitter, or just wilfing around?

Everyday new terms are popping up on the internet. View this BusinessWeek slide show to catch up on 12 terms (with etymology and examples).

Embracing Web 2.0 - Sun Microsystems

I've been looking for an IT B2B company that has really embraced and found success using web 2.0. This podcast really resonated with me - The B2B Marketing Podcast » B2B003 - Ingrid Van Den Hoogen, SVP, Sun Microsystems. I knew about Sun's employee blogging, but I learned about other initiatives such as Second Life.

Here is an image of Sun's Pavilion in Second Life - view larger images at www.b2bmarketingpodcast.com.  Ingrid also mentions how Jonathan's Schwartz's blog is one of the top CEO blogs. Another interesting point mentioned in this podcast, is how Sun Microsystems has changed their brand from high end server to a real systems company.

Also, I posted previously about a keynote presentation from David Suzuki and since then, I've been more aware of corporate eco-responsibility. This podcast talks about the UltraSPARC T1 Processor which uses less energy and benefits the customer in energy and cooling cost savings. It seems like a win-win situation for the customer and the environment.

This is one of the best podcasts I have heard lately.

 

unravel < Web 2.0

> Wow, was I ever blown away, to watch this  short video on Web 2.0.

My friend sent me this link earlier today, he works for an old media company was showing it everyone to illustrate why his business is changing so radically. Later I saw that Seth had also posted about it.

The video is created by Michael  Wesch - Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at KSU.

The way he tells the story is ingenious and exciting --he uses the subject matter itself to tell the story. The impact is captivating and compelling, and almost chilling!

It goes to show that there has never been a better time for creativity (powered by technology)...or is it technology powered by creativity?

web 2.0 - where do I start

You may or may not have heard about the term web 2.0, but you've probably come across elements of it: blogging, rss feeds, podcasting, social networking, are all part of web 2.0. Is it hype? Is it important ? and how do B2B ITMarketers leverage it. An upcoming webcast from BtoB will hopefully answer some questions.

BtoBWebcast: Using New Media Tools for Marketing to IT Professionals: Blogs, Podcasts, Video, RSS and Social Networking

Date: Thursday, November 2
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m. PT
Duration: 60 Minutes