ReadyTalk and PR Newswire have long been mutual customers, benefitting from the various marketing opportunities that result from both platforms and business models. PR Newswire recently launched a self-service platform, iReach^TM, which enables users to easily create and distribute a press release for a low cost. ReadyTalk is always looking for new promotional channels that our customers can take advantage of, and the iReach platform is a perfect fit, especially for those that use webinars to generate new leads for their sales funnel.

Besides being easy-to-use and cost-effective, our integration with iReach by PR Newswire offers several benefits:

• Broader (but targeted!) promotion
  • Automatically promote your webinar on PRNewswire.com and make it findable by search & news engines
  • Ability to target the most relevant audiences when PR Newswire tags your releases for the right industries, subjects and geographies
  • Increase your website visibility
    • Drive more visitors  to your site by including back links in your release
  • Extend the ROI of your webinar
    • Your press release is hosted forever with PR Newswire, which includes a search-friendly permalink URL

ReadyTalk customers have access to two iReach packages at special introductory pricing:

• SearchReach: Promote your webinar online and within search engines for $99 per release (a $30 savings!)
• WebReach: Optimize your press release with an image and drive more traffic to your site for $249 per release (a $50 savings)

And, finally, how do you get started?

Log-in to Conference Center to schedule your upcoming webinar.  After filling in your meeting details in step 1, go to the ‘Promotion Tools’ section in step 2.

Click on ‘Send a Press Release’ and a new browser window will open to the ReadyTalk iReach^TM website.

Choose which option you would like to purchase on Step 1 (SearchReach or WebReach).

You will be taken to Step 2 to start creating the content and details of your press release.  For your convenience, the default meeting registration link will automatically be included in the press release body section, along with the following standard language (don’t worry, it’s editable!)

Please click on the following link to register for the upcoming webinar: Meeting Registration Link

Continue through the remaining steps (preview, pay, release!) to complete the process and promote your upcoming webinar to a broader (but targeted) audience.

A few tips:

• Remember to finish setting up your webinar in Conference Center (invitations, registration form, emails, survey, social media promotion, etc)
• Measure the effectiveness of using the iReach platform by creating a unique campaign url and include it in the press release body. **Remember, the default meeting registration link will be automatically populated, so make sure to swap it out!

Please share any feedback, and results, you have on your experience. We love hearing from our customers!

Beth is a Product Marketing Manager and works with our customers to understand their needs as they relate to Event Services and ReadyTalk’s Conference Center, which is used to setup the details of our clients’ upcoming meetings. Outside of the office, Beth loves to spend time with family and friends, cook, and hit the slopes.

At ReadyTalk, as you would hopefully expect, there are quite a few experts around our hallways that know how to put on the best webinar possible. We’ve had some great posts already in 2012, so I thought, time for a recap!  Take a look at some of the great tips we have already provided, and surely, there will more to come.

Simone, our in-house marketing demand generation manager recently interviewed Wayne Turmal, CEO of Great Web Meetings, how to take your webinar series to the next level.  What were some of the key takeaways?

• Careful execution is key. Plan, plan, PLAN!
• Be familiar with the various tools available for registration, audience engagement, ecommerce, etc. Each of these tools contribute greatly to enhancing your brand, and, of course, lead generation

Brandon, a product marketing manager like me, with a deep respect for all things Batman, kicked off a series on making your PowerPoint presentation more impactful. The most important goal of any PowerPoint presentation should be to get your key message across, in a visually attractive way. Here are some best practices:

• Use a relevant background image that is clean and speaks to your message
• Don’t over-inform: Keep your text simple and to-the-point

Did I mention it’s a series? Make sure to check back in soon for more!

Our resident training expert, Shawn, recently blogged about how to Engage your Audience, with one very important tip: Know your Stuff, and practice the mantra “Learn it, Live it, Love it!”

• Know your topic backwards and forwards….don’t let your audience stump you with outlying questions!
• Practice makes perfect: Talk about your material with peers, colleagues, friends….anyone that will listen!  And, when putting on a webinar, practice using the software!
• Have enthusiasm! Or at least fake it.  If you like your material that will naturally engage your audience.

Finally, a blog from Anita, the Director of Product Marketing, on how to use social media to promote your webinars, and more importantly, deliver results.  She recently joined Deb Evans of Social Geek Radio to talk about ReadyTalk’s social media tools, like our participant sharing capabilities and how to use our recording and playback tools to extend the ROI of your webinar.

What other best practices and tips can we discuss in our upcoming blogs? Share your ideas with us!

Beth is a Product Marketing Manager and works with our customers to understand their needs as they relate to Event Services and ReadyTalk’s Conference Center, which is used to setup the details of our clients’ upcoming meetings. Outside of the office, Beth loves to spend time with family and friends, cook, and hit the slopes.

Marketers are always looking for the next best way to create buzz around their product and their brand with the right audience.  There are so many promotional outlets in which to market your content, especially on the internet; webinars tend to bubble to the top due to the likelihood of a lower investment and higher ROI.  Over the past few years, many companies have put significant effort into building their following through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networks.  Each of these has a different flavor of audiences, including what topics are relevant and which will resonate. Despite the differences, these channels can be a great way to promote your upcoming webinar.

The first step is using social media to get the word out about your upcoming event. After coming up with a catchy title, interesting content, and engaging speakers, you have to get people to care…and then, register!  Posting your event to your company’s various networks gets you there, partly; but allowing your registrants to post to their networks snowballs your efforts even further.

The next step, and probably even more important than the first: tracking the effectiveness of each social media outlet! Which site gets you the most traction, the most bang for your buck?  And, even more so, do you have a few ‘power users’ that are consistently promoting your events, and bringing in a significant number of registrants? If so, you probably want to keep inviting these types of people to your events!

So the moral of the story? Keep up with social networking, yours and your followers…it pays off!

Beth is a Product Marketing Manager and works with our customers to understand their needs as they relate to Event Services and ReadyTalk’s Conference Center, which is used to setup the details of our clients’ upcoming meetings. Outside of the office, Beth loves to spend time with family and friends, cook, and hit the slopes.

The world of conferencing continues to change. First, it was bringing small groups of employees across various office locations together on the phone, followed by the need for web conferencing to show others what you were working on.  Now, those groups are no longer small, or limited to your own organization.  The use of audio and web conferencing has grown to much more than a way to cut down on costs, but as a successful way to generate leads through webinars, or train users on your product.  The use cases seem endless, and maybe even complex.  But something that should not be a brainteaser? Pricing.

ReadyTalk understands that our customers want to concentrate on the subject of their meetings, or content of their webinars, instead of the possibility of the unpredictable costs of their audio and web conferencing use.  We want to provide the highest quality, service and reliability, as part of our pricing.  With that expectation in mind, we introduce our five new web and audio subscriptions:

• Web Meeting Pro (25, 150)
• Webinar (500, 1000, 3000)

What’s unique about these? High-quality audio, included with every package.

The Web Meeting Pro subscriptions include unlimited web conferencing and a bundle of included toll and toll-free domestic audio minutes, at a flat monthly fee.

The Webinar subscriptions include unlimited web conferencing AND unlimited Broadcast Audio, enabling participants to stream high-quality audio through their computer speakers. Again, for a flat monthly fee.

So how do you know which subscription is right for you, or your company?

Do you conduct a fair amount of smaller, internal meetings or  present projects to external clients and vendors where high-quality audio is critical?  Then the Web Meeting Pro options are right up your alley.

Are you managing larger webinars for lead generation, online training, etc, more than once a month?  The Webinar subscription options can give you the cost-effective solution you are looking for.

Interested in learning more?  Contact us today to find out more about our new subscription plans!

Beth is a Product Marketing Manager and works with our customers to understand their needs as they relate to event services and our conference center, which is used to setup the details of our clients’ upcoming meetings. Outside of the office, Beth loves to spend time with family and friends, cook, and hit the slopes.

Anyone who has managed a large audio conference in the past knows that it’s a big job!  The pressure can be even greater for a high-profile conference or investor call. Through ReadyTalk’s web interface, there are several options to help make your conference as seamless as possible (for both the chairperson and their participants).  But what if you need another level of control? That’s where ReadyTalk Event Call Director comes in.

So what can our customers do with this add-on service? Here’s the lowdown on ReadyTalk Event Call Director:

• Take advantage of the VIP Queue: Make sure the most important people on your call get their questions asked. And answered. First.
• Keep tabs on status updates: Know if each participant is present, left the call, or is yet to join, all in real-time.
• No extra lines needed to talk to your operator: Use the integrated online chat tool during the conference to privately coordinate call logistics
• Know who RSVP’ed ‘YES’ to your event, and who actually made it to the party (or your conference): You’ll get a detailed report to be more prepared and targeted when you follow-up with your attendees

Give it a try! Contact your ReadyTalk account representative and add on the Event Call Director service to any premium operator-assisted call.

Beth is a Product Marketing Manager and works with our customers to understand their needs as they relate to event services and our conference center, which is used to setup the details of our clients’ upcoming meetings. Outside of the office, Beth loves to spend time with family and friends, cook, and hit the slopes.