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Sales literature & tools

Create HD screencasts for sales tools

in Interactive marketing, Sales literature & tools

Technology moves quickly. It’s time-consuming to stay on the front edge of the wave, and tricky to figure out creative ways to use it to improve corporate marketing results. I Tweet, but do I generate leads? How come the fans on my Facebook page never buy? 

It can be frustrating, and it can feel like a time sink. 

But sometimes an A-HA! moment can reap rewards. My moment came in May, when I finally figured out how to use YouTube to be productive (instead of wasting time watching guys drop Mentos into 2-liter bottles of Coke – laughs, yes … work, no). 

We sell subscriptions to software-as-a-service that mixes a lot of marketing content (both downloadable and served up in our app) with online marketing project management and document management. Consultants and marketing teams use it for heavy-duty marketing planning and for executing marketing tasks. 

But we’ve struggled to find a good way to allow prospects to view the marketing exercises in our Library before making a purchase. We have free trials, but we don’t allow users to download content – that’s reserved for paying customers. 

Online demos have always been effective, but they’re time consuming and tricky to schedule with overseas prospects. We can give away a single exercise here or there, but it’s just a single piece of the puzzle and lacks context. Flashpaper worked for awhile but it’s becoming obsolete. 

How about a screencast? Not bad, but the files are huge; they eat up bandwidth, slow down our site and require web redesign in order to add new ones. 

YouTube to the Rescue 

Enter YouTube with their recent change to allow high definition video, 10 minute videos and up to 2 GB files. In their HD view, clarity and sound are substantially improved, and videos can be presented full-screen without looking like a fuzzy mess. 

YouTube is great because it’s hosted on their servers (saving bandwidth); it’s in Flash format so it’s easy to embed and anyone can grab it; and people can find it via search. 

If you have the type of offering you need viewers to see before purchasing–but not download or access directly (a special database, video training, or anything behind a password)–try a screencast. You could even try it with a presentation. 

I’m no video production expert (or studio voice talent), but here’s what a solid afternoon of work produced. We’ll use this in our sales process for our free Preview account users who, when visiting our marketing library, want to see how the exercises in a complete subject work before purchasing a paid subscription. 

Click the full-screen icon on the right to see YouTube’s HD quality.

I was pretty happy with the full-screen view on my 24″ HP monitor. Ok, I’m a realist – this could be improved with a tighter script, a professional voice talent, a recording-quality microphone, voice-sound editing (like snipping breaths and mouse-clicks), but for what we needed to accomplish (creating an informative sales tool)  - it’s great! Most of our viewers will already be interested in our offering but just need a little more information. 

Here’s what I used: 

  • Camtasia - screencast recording and editing software
  • A USB microphone plugged into a Windows Vista desktop
  • Some music to fill the dead zones and give it a little life
  • Some editing tricks in Camtasia 

Upload to YouTube and viola! 

I created both screencasts in a single afternoon – script writing, takes, editing, production and YouTube upload. And I probably wasted about 45 minutes producing at varying levels since I lack the expertise to get it right on the first try. 

YouTube’s HD offering is still unpredictable and you have to wait until they review your video and decide whether it’s acceptable. For best results, produce in 1280 pixel-width with high quality settings. I used the following Camtasia production settings: 

  • .AVI
  • 44.1 16-bit mono
  • 30 frames per second
  • 1280 pixels wide by 898 high 

There’s a bit of a learning curve, but it’s pretty powerful once you get it. A few years ago it would’ve cost $5,000 to $15,000 to produce a basic 10 minute business A/V demo. 

Come to think of it, while I’m pretty happy about our DIY results, some creative firm out there specializing in product demos is probably nervous. But the good ones will surely survive. 

When we’re ready for some killer cool viral marketing videos I’m going to contact Common Craft!

 

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Should you create a company newsletter?

in Email marketing, Sales literature & tools

Are you looking to nurture existing leads, strengthen relationships with current customers, increase your online presence and keep your company at the top of your prospects’ minds?

A company newsletter can help you tackle all of these challenges.

The key to running a successful newsletter is to deliver a quality message to the people that want to hear it. You’re now a publisher, and need to consider your content selection, voice, creative and copywriting, in addition to building your list and delivering enticing offers and calls to action.

Email vs. Print Newsletters

We’re in the digital age, and email is the clear delivery method of choice for most newsletters.  Email newsletters are cheaper than print, arrive almost instantaneously, are easily tracked and can quickly drive website traffic.

You can use email newsletters to:

  • Persuade prospects to take immediate action
  • Announce special offers
  • Share ideas
  • Keep your name in front of prospects without a heavy-handed sales call
  • Gain a wider audience and more links through syndication
  • Feed search engines with new material by publishing older issues on your website

But don’t count out traditional print newsletters; they still work. Many buyers get electronic overload and a print newsletter can be refreshing. And, print gives you a greater opportunity to create a unique and lasting impression than email.

Newsletter Examples

Newsletters are very common, and you probably subscribe to a few even if you don’t realize it. Here are a few examples:

Barnes and Noble – Their email newsletter has weekly specials (both online and in-store), gives reviews on newly released books and promotes hot sellers. The 10-20% coupons keep customers coming back to shop.

Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling – Jeffrey’s weekly newsletter supports the content from his sales-related books and public speaking engagements. They’re filled with sales training tools, reader write-ins, guest author articles and motivational quotes.

Control Scan – This B2B data security firm publishes a monthly newsletter for both current and potential clients. The publication includes articles on how to improve ecommerce security as well as the latest news regarding IT security vulnerabilities.

Real estate development firms – many use highly stylized newsletters to keep potential buyers up-to-date on the status of their building completion. They use beautiful photographs, unusual layouts and interesting maps printed on high-quality paper to create a sophisticated image for their communities.

Factors to Consider

Does your company have the time and budget to create a consistent, quality newsletter?

Think about your target audience and the core message that you would like to communicate.  Would a newsletter help you convey your messages more effectively? If so, how would it contribute to sales?

Evaluate the benefits first. If you’re still considering one, stay tuned for an upcoming article that will cover the how-tos. Then you can estimate your costs and make your decision.

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Audit your corporate identity to keep branding consistent

in General marketing, Sales literature & tools

Most new companies start with shiny new logos and a clear corporate identity that is consistent throughout all print and graphics. (That’s the goal anyway.) 

As companies grow, they often lose control of that standard corporate image. It takes discipline to keep consistency while opening new locations, adding more employees, switching creative vendors and constantly creating new marketing campaign materials and sales tools and literature. 

After a few years, branding can easily be represented by different color shades, inconsistent fonts and variations of paper weight, logo size and image quality. 

If you’re in this position, don’t beat yourself up! It’s a natural time to conduct a company-wide identity audit and get back on track.  If you’re a new company, do yourself a favor and install the creative quality management procedures outlined at the end of this article. 

As you conduct your audit, identify and evaluate each item that represents your company brand. Consider whether the item is present (do you even have it?), consistent with your brand (does it match colors, font, and quality?) and worth keeping (like paper letterhead for some companies). 

  • Letterhead. Take a look at both printed and electronic versions. Are they consistent? Check your paper weight, texture and type. Is everyone using the company font(s)? Create an electronic master letterhead template in Word with set fonts and styles.
  • Business cards. Do you use the same design throughout the company? It’s easy for “rogue” versions to pop up along the way. Are you using the same print styles and card weight?
  • Fax cover sheets. Fax yourself a copy of your cover sheet to ensure it is legible and consistent with your other brand images.
  • Email templates. Ensure the fonts, sizes and colors match your other branding.
  • Email signatures. This is often overlooked. Company-wide consistency with email signatures creates branding unity. Don’t let employees create their own.
  • Website. Fonts and colors look different online. Does the logo on your website match your print logo?
  • Envelopes, invoices and statements. Double check all envelope sizes and styles and the pieces inside. The inside and outside should match.            
  • Mailing labels. If you use labels for shipping, they should match everything inside.   
  • Memos and internal communiqué. Be consistent with internal documents. It sends the message to your team that brand consistency is a priority.
  • Promotional items, banners, etc. Take inventory of everything with a logo or brand image printed on it. If it’s not accurate, fix it or forget about it.                    

After you’ve reviewed–and repaired–your logo, business cards and images, put a few quality management steps in place to ensure consistency and quality moving forward. 

1. Create a “logo cop.” If no one is responsible for it, anyone may adopt it. Add “branding/logo quality control” to someone’s job description. Require that she approve anything that contains the company logo. Yes, someone will dub her the “logo cop,” but it will save you hassle later. 

2. Create a style guide. Have your logo cop create a style guide explaining which images can be used where and in what variations. Include EXACT design descriptions, and include all color formulas for print and screen (HEX, RGB and Pantone).  

3. Consider using a marketing digital asset management service. Big companies can save tens of thousands (or hundreds!) and ensure consistent quality with a web-based solution like the One System by Ad Giants. 

You probably won’t save hundreds of thousands, but your consistent image will leave a better impression with the market, and you should save over the long haul.

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How to improve your literature

Do you know what your prospects do with your sales literature?  Do they 1) read every last word, 2) skim and file it away, or 3) glance at it and file it away?
If you answered #1, you have very special prospects!  However, most people don’t actually read sales literature.  A quick glance, a general impression, [...]

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How to create PDFs

Do you need to create sales documents that you can easily email to clients or post on your website?  If you’ve never created a PDF, you don’t need to hire a graphic designer to do it.  You can download free or low-cost software to create PDFs from your Word, Excel, Powerpoint or other printable documents/files.
Adobe: [...]

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