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4 Ways to Collect Feedback Online

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

One thing that most of your members, conference attendees and website visitors have in common is that they want to have their say. They want to give their opinion and know they’ve been heard. And, if you don’t respond, the world is full of organizations or businesses who will.

Here are four tools that can help you gather info that will be helpful in making future decisions about event planning, marketing, and publications.

1. SuggestionBox.com

Suggestion Box is an easy-to-use, web-based service that can allow you to ask for ideas from your audience. It is a great tool for implementing some of the tips we shared in our newsletter about crowdsourcing. (Link to November newsletter.)

It starts with a widget that can be added to your organization’s website that directs website visitors to your suggestion box. Once in your “suggestion box” visitors can post ideas and rate the ideas of others.

Association staff can be given access to rate the suggestions internally and send messages to each other about the suggestions privately. You can also automatically notify consumers when one of their ideas has been implemented.

2. YackTrack.com

YackTrack is a free-to-use search engine. Focused on online conversations, YackTrack searches Twitter, Technorati, Google Blog Search, Flickr, Mixx, delicious, Identica and more. After completing a search, you can subscribe to an RSS feed to read new chatter about your search topic as it is posted.

3. GetSatisfaction.com

GetSatisfaction is more tailored for businesses, but it can still be useful to organizations. The website allows individuals to report problems or complaints with a product or service. Setting up a free account could provide a great space for conference attendees to be honest about their experience at your most recent conference. Association staff members can then respond over the site.

4. SurveyMonkey.com

SurveyMonkey is an online survey tool, that allows you to plug in your own set of questions, pick your industry, set your parameters and then get instant results. The service is free for up to 100 survey responses.

Tags: Collect feedback, Feedback Tracking, member feedback, social media tools, Tools for Social Media
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Video Killed the Radio Star, And Traditional Online Marketing

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Online marketers have seen their sales skyrocket when they start to incorporate video into their marketing. At the beginning of the year, eMarketer projected that online video ad spending would increase by 50% this year, and that it would reach $4.5 billion in 2013. That’s a lot of money!

Fueled by the fact that it’s getting easier and cheaper to produce quality videos, and that consumers like watching videos. We recently read that in July of 2008, 134 million Americans watched 11.4 billion videos. That’s two videos per user, per day.

Even with today’s economic situation and shrinking budgets, online marketing campaigns still include video, because it’s working.

A video is the closest that we can get to actually touching and holding a product, or experiencing a service.

The same is true for conference marketing. Using videos in your marketing efforts is the closest you will get to letting potential attendees experience your event before registering.

And, the stats show that they enjoy watching and sharing videos. About 75% of the US internet population watches videos online daily, or every other day. And, 98% of all connected desktops have Flash Player installed, meaning they are equipped and ready to watch videos online.

2010 Video Usage Stats

Video usage is only going to increase in 2010. Here are some stats we discovered projecting usage in the next year:

In 2010, there will be 176 million online video viewers.
In 2010, 86% of internet users will watch videos online daily.
Video is expected to continue to grow at a 40% year-over-year increase.

Just as online marketers are using video to boost sales, you can use video in conference marketing. Videos reviewing last year’s break out sessions, interviews with previous attendees, or short talk from the main speaker can help interested attendees get a feel for the conference.

Here are some tips to get you started:

Keep your videos simple with short talking points – no more than 2 minutes.
Test out the theory by creating videos for one or two products, or offers and see how they perform to other registration offers.
Look for user generated content. It could be that some of your previous attendees or members have created videos about their experience, or would be open to creating their own videos about the event.

A video gives people something that direct mail and e-marketing can not. If done right, you can connect with people in a more personal way and increase your chances of eliciting an emotional response. A video allows you to speak to potential attendees with a “human voice”, instead of the marketing speak that is on most collateral pieces. That is a powerful tool that you can use to increase conference registration.

References for stats:

Adobe Scene 7

eMarketer

Universal McCann

Tags: Conference Marketing Plan, crowdsourcing, Increase Conference Attendance, Increase Member Retention, member engagement, member feedback, ROI for Social Media, Tools for Social Media
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Fill Your Empty Seats with RCG’s Exclusive Marketing Planning Package

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

We’ve been giving you guys tons of tips and how-tos about conference marketing, and now its time to help you put it all together and fill those empty seats at your next conference.

“We cannot adjust the wind… but we can adjust the sails.” Unknown

This marketing plan package equips association and non-profit executives with the tools and knowledge to fill the empty seats. This package is especially designed for:

Associations and non-profits with a limited staff
Organizations not meeting their attendance goals
Organizations with an In-house marketing team that needs a fresh set of eyes to review currents strategies

We are only offering this special package in the first quarter of 2010. If you want to reach your conference attendance goals for next year, then check out the details and special price for the workday sessions and remote guidance provided in our exclusive Marketing Planning Package.

Tags: association conference, associations, Increase Conference Attendance, Increase Member Retention, Marketing a Conference, member engagement, Membership Marketing, Non-Profit, nonprofits, Rottman Creative Group, strategic thinking, visual communicators
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Adapt or fail. A plan for survival.

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

It’s time to adapt, or your conference will be 6 feet under…..along with your job. History has taught us that the inability to adapt to change, will result in extinction. “Survival of the fittest” is not just a theory for the animal kingdom, it also applies to businesses, organizations and even annual conferences.

For the first time, we are offering a special Marketing Planning Package that is designed to equip organizations fill empty seats at their next conference. Listen in as Gary explains the workday sessions and remote guidance provided in this package, in addition to what types of organizations can benefit from this offer.

LISTEN NOW

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Benefits That Have Helped Associations Meet Conference Attendance Goals

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Our most recent edition of White Space covered positioning annual conferences for greater attendance. One of the topics we touched on was the importance of identifying your niche market, what they desire and then showing them how you can meet their needs. Association executives have tried various creative ways to promote benefits, some have worked, and others didn’t produce a satisfying ROI.

Here’s a list of pricing tactics that have been working for associations so far this year:

Offering quarterly dues payment
Promoting a “dues relief” program
Discounting registration rates to their annual meeting
“Two for one” dues payments
Local resident discounts to the annual meeting
Increasing travel grants for members to attend conferences
Providing free conference registration when attendees pay travel expenses and stay at HQ hotels
Offering conference attendees a payment plan

Each of these benefits will appeal to a specific group of potential attendees, and of course, when it comes to pricing you are appealing to something that they care about.

Tags: annual conferences, associations, attendance goals, Increase Conference Attendance
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Tag! You’re it, Facebook!

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

For some time now Facebook users have been able to tag each other in photos, videos and notes. Well, now they can tag each other in their “What’s on your mind?” status updates.

“Um, so?” may be what’s on your mind right now, but status tagging is a great feature that can help your fans promote your Facebook Fan page. Facebook users update their status to let friends know all sorts of things about how they are doing, what they are doing, and things they like. Now, with status tagging they can reference who or what they are talking about.

For instance, when a Facebook user says they are going to volunteer with their favorite nonprofit, they can use the “@” symbol to reference that nonprofit’s Fan Page. Or, when a Facebook user just registered for an upcoming conference they can reference the association’s page or event. Those updates will show up in the news feeds of all their friends, and on the pages of the organizations they referenced.

Facebook posted instructions on how to tag friends and fan pages in status updates on their blog:

“Now, when you are writing a status update and want to add a friend’s name to something you are posting, just include the “@” symbol beforehand. As you type the name of what you would like to reference, a drop-down menu will appear that allows you to choose from your list of friends and other connections, including groups, events, applications and Pages. Soon, you’ll be able to tag friends from applications as well. The “@” symbol will not be displayed in the published status update or post after you’ve added your tags.”

Start testing the status tagging and see how it can enhance the connections with your friends and fans. It can be a useful tool for referencing other organizations or businesses you want to help promote on Facebook, as well.

Tags: facebook, social media, social media tools, Tools for Social Media
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We were featured…

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Our e-newsletter for the month of April was featured in the Communication News section of ASAE’s web site. The featured e-newsletter focused on innovative ways to increase revenue from publication and product sales.

You can read the article below:

Stop Selling Like It’s 1995
Is your online store more like an old-fashioned emporium than Amazon.com? Try these innovative techniques to enhance the shopping experience while using web analytics to track your sales performance.
By Gary Rottman

If your association has an online store, you probably realize that the more effort you put into selling your publications there, the more likely your potential customers are to discover their value. Simply using a small picture of a publication cover does two things for you:

1. Makes you seem stuck in 1995.
2. Gives the impression that since you haven’t learned how to make the shopping experience innovative, you probably aren’t capable of producing innovative publications, either.

If that’s the reputation you want, you can stop reading now and continue to use your tiny picture. But if it’s not how you’d like your members to view your products, I’ve put together a few tips to help you examine how you’re marketing your publications and identify new ways to increase revenue.

Note: These are not tips on how to improve your publications. I trust that you already know what your members want and are creating targeted, valuable products. Instead, I’ll offer advice on how to better market your publications and entice potential customers to pull out their credit cards.

Enhance the shopping experience

People shop online because they are looking for the best deal, don’t have time to go to the store; or want to buy something that’s not easily accessible to them. However, even with all the advances in online shopping, people still prefer going to an actual store. They want to see and hold the product they’re about to purchase. They want to weigh its value against the money they’re about to spend.

You may not be able to let members finger the texture of your publications’ paper. But you can give them a feel for the product’s value so they’ll make a purchase.

There are many ways to bring your publications to life and increase sales. Consider Amazon.com—one of the largest booksellers on the Internet. Amazon gives potential customers a quality experience before they purchase. The experience includes:

Detailed page views of a book’s cover, table of contents, first few pages, and index
Detailed summary with quotes
Suggestions for other books that might be of interest
Reader reviews and ratings

If setting up these features in your own store seems a bit daunting, start with the most straightforward: the detailed page views and a thorough, enticingly written summary of each publication. Then study all your offerings and provide links to related books, products, and even conferences and webinars.

Coming up with reader reviews can be somewhat more labor-intensive. Begin by posing questions to your audience via social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. Then collect the responses and post them alongside the summary of each publication.

You can generate more buzz by taking advantage of other social media techniques. The following methods will provide key product information whether potential buyers prefer to read about your offerings, listen to a podcast, watch a video, or receive recommendations from like-minded professionals.

Create videos of association members talking candidly about the publication’s highlights and what they valued about it. Then post these testimonials on YouTube or other social media sites.
On the day your publication launches, conduct a webinar hosted by either key staff members or board members. Discuss how and why this publication was created; summarize key points, value, and purchase information; and then be sure to close with a strong call to action. Afterward, turn the webinar into a podcast and post it on your website for future visitors to discover.

Find out how engaging your store is

Before determining how to best promote your publication sales, it would be useful to know how you’re currently performing. Many tools are available for analyzing the publications part of your website, but I recommend Google Analytics. http://www.google.com/analytics/ Besides being free, the service is comprehensive and easy to use.

After a quick primer at Google Analytics (or whatever tool you use), you will become familiar with terms such as pageviews, bounce rate, time on site, and new visitors. You can interpret the new knowledge, trends, and data you gain to meet your goals, including identifying who is coming to your site, how they’re getting there, and what they do once they arrive.

This information provides you with a wealth of opportunity. For example, you can develop great cross-promotional relationships with websites that are directing traffic to your site. Also, you can identify which keywords are bringing users to your site and build a strategy around those keywords.

But the big picture is that a web analytics can provide clues about (1) what visitors expect to see when they visit your website and (2) whether you satisfy their curiosity or fail to meet expectations. For any website that sells products, this information is vital.

To increase the performance of your publications page, use the information you derive through web analytics to:
Tailor popular landing pages to entice visitors to stay on your site longer
Identify pages that need a stronger call to action to turn potential customers into buyers
Easily track average-order total and number of products sold to help you establish goals
Track how long customers are on site before they place an order

Check out my blog post, “A Lesson in Using Google Analytics to Optimize Web Performance,” to see how my firm used web analytics stats to improve the performance of one of our site’s most popular pages. By adopting the same principles, you can learn to translate information about high-trafficked parts of your store into happier shoppers—and better publications sales.

Tags: ASAE, associations, member engagement, Membership Marketing, nonprofits, publications
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Developing a Social Media Strategy

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Every association needs a Social Media Toolbox equipped with a Social Media Policy and a Social Media Strategy. Without these essential tools, you will not be able to build a healthy, effective online presence.

Before you send your team out into the world of Web 2.0 with nails and not a hammer, use these tips to construct a Social Media Strategy.

Listen.

Listening to social media means getting an idea of what is being said about your organization or similar organizations. This can easily be done by setting up Google Alerts for keywords that are important to your association’s mission and goals. Google Alerts can send you notifications through email or through Google Reader. Also searching for keywords or hashtags (pre-selected phrases prefixed with a # sign, usually used for a specific event) on Twitter can produce real-time search results.

Identify the gaps in content that you can fill.

In addition to seeing what is being said about your organization, work towards understanding what your members and potential members desire from online communities and content. Many Twitter users will pose questions to their followers asking for advice on selecting a service or product, or to finding a solution to a problem.

Get to know the communities and how to interact.

Before you jump into a forum or on a social networking site, it’s best to learn the ropes. Get a feel for how people interact because it is different from one social media site to another.

Establish goals.

Besides setting goals for social media, consider how the interaction fits into the association’s communication strategy and goals. Identify if and how social media is contributing to building awareness, developing relationships with members and distributing valuable content.

Check out our newest edition of WhiteSpace about measuring ROI from social media efforts.

Distribute your social media policy.

Don’t have one? Check out our blog post on creating a social media policy for your association.

Go to town.

Finally, you can add content. But, only valuable content that fits within the association’s social media policy and strategy.

Review, adapt and repeat.

Regular reviews of how social media is affecting your association’s communication efforts is a must. Use some of the tools listed on our comprehensive guide to social media metrics and ask users how they are enjoying the online experiences to get a well-rounded view of how to adapt.

Tags: ROI for Social Media, social media, Tools for Social Media
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Fill Your Empty Seats with RCG’s Exclusive Marketing Planning Package

Adapt or fail. A plan for survival.

Benefits That Have Helped Associations Meet Conference Attendance Goals

We were featured…

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