We’re excited to announce the availability of the new ReadyTalk API, which allows our customers and partners to integrate ReadyTalk conferencing services with other key business applications.

Web conferencing services, like ReadyTalk and other applications (such as CRMs, marketing automation platforms, and learning management systems) can’t automatically “talk” to each other.  In order to move data from one platform to another, marketers are forced to resort to the time-consuming and tedious approach of manually downloading and uploading data. This manual process takes time – delaying the immediate sales follow-up that is so crucial to the overall success of a webinar program.

By integrating, you can programmatically share registration and attendance data between ReadyTalk and another third-party software application or even your corporate website – streamlining your process, increasing data accuracy, and speeding sales follow-up.

The key to deciding if integration is right for you is to understand your desired workflow. ReadyTalk gives you the flexibility to choose which tool you want to handle each step in the process – from capturing registrations to sending confirmation emails to driving post-event follow-up:

Your integration can be as simple as capturing registration on your corporate website vs. in a ReadyTalk registration form or as complex as using a third-party Marketing Automation System to collect registrations and send all event-related emails.

Here are a couple of examples of how others have integrated with ReadyTalk using the API …

• Ryma Technologies operates Grandview, a growing online community where product managers can come together to share best practices. Webinars play a key role in Ryma’s strategy for engaging community members, and the Ryma team wanted to make it as easy as possible for members to register for these events. By integrating their online community with ReadyTalk using the API, Ryma was able to simplify the process so members could register for an upcoming webinar with a single click.
• Eloqua provides one of the market’s leading Marketing Automation Systems. By integrating with ReadyTalk using our API, Eloqua enabled mutual customers to use the Eloqua platform to capture webinar registrations and send all event-related emails. The integration also instantaneously records webinar attendance data in Eloqua, providing timely insight into buyer behavior and helping to move leads through the pipeline faster.

Which tools play a key role in your webinar or training processes? What applications would you like to see integrated with ReadyTalk?

As Director of Product Marketing, Anita is focused on talking to customers about their needs and translating these into priorities for the ReadyTalk product roadmap. Before joining ReadyTalk, she gained first-hand experience with the challenges of running a webinar program while serving as director of marketing at an IT analyst firm. When she’s not thinking about conferencing, she likes to do yoga and spend time with her dogs.

“Spreadsheet hell” is what we call it at ReadyTalk.

It happens when your conferencing service data is isolated from your marketing automation service. It delays lead follow-up, lead scoring and the lead nurturing process. It complicates the entire process and can lead to data errors.

As a marketer, I am always looking for ways to accelerate lead conversion, arm my sales team with valuable information, simplify reporting and gain a solid understanding of metrics.  The new Eloqua Cloud Connectors for ReadyTalk allow me to take advantage of Eloqua’s platform without falling into spreadsheet hell

.Let’s look at the old way vs. the new way:

As illustrated in the steps above, integrating ReadyTalk webinar services with our marketing automation platform, Eloqua is saving us significant time and eliminating manual processes that can lead to errors and other problems.

If you’re interested, you can learn more about Eloqua Cloud Connectors for ReadyTalk.

What marketing automation platform do you use? Are there other marketing platforms that you’ve integrated and seeing the benefits? If not, what would you like to integrate?

During the next three months, we will be featuring a series of webinars to showcase three use cases for webinars – demand generation, online training and ecommerce.

Webinars are an extremely versatile tool. By their very nature, they are a engaging medium that provides an immersive and interactive experience for the participants. The experience, when combined with the technology behind the scenes, allows webinar hosts to learn a great deal about their participants. This information can be used to optimize online training programs, generate qualified leads for your sales team or increase revenue through a paid webinar program.

On February 23 at 2 p.m. EST, we are featuring a panel of speakers that are responsible for managing their organizations’ online training programs. You will learn about the impact their online training program has had upon their organization as well as tips on how to structure and administer your own online training program.

On March 26 at 2 p.m. EST, join us for a discussion of using webinars for ecommerce and two speakers, Mary O’Brien from PPCSummit and Larry Sterne from SIPA, who are successful at generating revenue from their webinar program. Mary O’Brien took her physical event and moved it online successfully, while Larry has been successful making money in a very tight industry that has been hit hard by the economy.

Demand generation is the featured topic on April 23 at 2 p.m. EST, with demand generation specialists from Rally Software and Newsgator. They will share their tips on how to structure a successful demand generation webinar program as well as the critical features you need to be successful.

Register for one of these events or all of them. Learn more about the different uses for webinars so you can start your own series or optimize your current one.

As the senior demand generation manager at ReadyTalk, Mike helps manage and execute ReadyTalk’s demand generation programs, which include email, online advertising, telemarketing and tradeshows. He also oversees ReadyTalk’s lead management process and marketing funnel by using Eloqua and Salesforce.com to automate ReadyTalk’s nurturing programs and lead follow-up.

My podcasting “Ps” are pretty much frozen by now, but I’ll reheat them and serve up another helping.

The last “P” I talked about was “Planning.” Once you’ve done that, you’re ready for the next “P”: “Producing.” This is where the “Ps” really start to get good.

Producing podcasts consists of creating the content and recording it. Here are some best practices to keep in mind as you produce your podcasts:

• Content is king. Make sure the content is something your listeners will value. Also, get to the point and be succinct. The worst thing you can do is waste your audience’s time.
• Stick to the basics. The structure of your podcast should be the same as any other presentation, whitepaper, or effective communication: introduction, body, and a reinforcing conclusion.
• Don’t advertise or sell. Your audience can smell a sales pitch a mile away. What they want is information that enlightens or entertains them. Otherwise, they won’t listen.
• Be authentic. Polished, professional-sounding podcasts are difficult and expensive to produce. Luckily, it’s not necessary, if you’re producing something useful. It’s more important to be authentic.
• Have a clean delivery. Although you don’t have to sound like a professional, the quality of the performance is still important. Use performers with clear, articulate voices. Follow a script to keep the performance focused. Practice before recording, at least while you’re getting started.
• Make it easy to edit. You will make mistakes, probably a lot of them at first. So record your podcasts with editing in mind. Slow down and pause frequently as you record to create adequate cut points if you need them. Don’t try to edit individual words. If you make a mistake, re-record the entire sentence or more.
• Build a backlog. Try to produce several podcasts in your series before publishing your first one, and always have more than one ready to go. This will ensure regular releases, which helps build and retain your audience.

Producing your first podcasts may be a bit intimidating and take some time. But don’t worry, you’ll get good at it. And before long you’ll probably really like doing them. Just like you learned to like peas. Okay, well…better than that.

Technorati Tags: B2B, Customer Service, Human Resource, Marketing, Podcasting, Public Relations, Sales, Social Media

In previous blogs, I’ve been discussing the “Ps” in podcasting. The first “P” was the “Popularity” of podcasting, The second “P” was the “Pros” for companies to podcast. The third “P” of the peas in a pod metaphor I’m hacking to death here is the “Possibilities” for business podcasts. It isn’t exactly enough for a meal yet, but hey, I’m getting there.

You can blog about anything or nothing, and many people do. The same is true for podcasting. But if you want people to actually listen to your podcasts, you need to make sure they provide useful information or are entertaining to your audience – preferably both. That’s not always possible, of course. Podcasting your earnings reports isn’t going get too many yuks from the financial community (at least we hope not), but they’ll find them useful.

One way to come up with podcasting ideas is to analyze all the types of communications you use inside your company and with your customers. Some of these may be suitable for podcasting, or even be more effectively delivered as podcasts. This exercise may also generate some completely new ideas for communication that are uniquely suited for podcasting. Here are some possibilities to get you thinking:

Corporate:

• Financial updates such as quarterly earnings reports
• Business news such as company announcements, industry news and trends
• Internal company announcements, newsletters
• Management fireside chats

Sales and Marketing:

• Product news, such as new features and release schedules
• Product promotions and discounts
• Account management status and updates for customers and clients
• Interviews with industry experts
• Whitepapers
• Research paper summaries

Human Resoures:

• HR training courses
• HR initiative announcements
• Policies and procedures
• Management tips and best practices
• Employee commentaries

Customer Support:

• Product usage tips and best practices
• Problem reports, status and workarounds
• Product training

Another way to come up with business podcasting ideas is to go to iTunes and listen to some business podcasts. And talk to other companies to find out what they’re podcasting. You’ll have a bowlful of possibilities before you know it.

Are you doing business podcasting? I’d love to hear what you’re podcasting and how it’s going.

Technorati Tags: B2B, Customer Service, Human Resource, Marketing, Podcasting, Podcasts, Public Relations, Sales, Social Media