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How Can a B2B Software Company Benefit from an Online TV Show?

By June 26, 2012Article

With the plummeting price of technology and the rapid growth of high speed Internet connections, companies have a new chance to engage industry thought leaders and showcase them on a TV show – the kind of opportunity that didn’t even exist a few years ago. They can interview top experts in their industry using a webcam – no travel time needed. The software and tools are ready. The experts are ready. Are you ready?

This expert interview approach goes right to the heart of one of the biggest problems of B2B companies – the lack of time and resources to create compelling content. The advantage of an online TV show is that, by definition, it creates highly compelling content. And it connects you with top industry experts that can help your business.

But, you may be asking … How do we book big name experts? We’re not well-known. Fortunately, almost everyone loves the publicity of being on camera, so booking guests is easy – especially if you use a well-connected host.

To create a show, you’ll need:

  1. A show host – pick someone who is good on camera and is well-known
  2. A branded YouTube page
  3. A web page for the show, such as a hosted WordPress page
  4. A logo and name
  5. Someone to direct, edit and publish the show
  6. An intro and close for the show (such as music and graphics or a live person intro).

Here are the advantages that accrue to you from having your own show:

  • Weekly video content for your blog
  • Great content for marketing and sales enablement (share in lead nurturing and sales enablement)
  • Access to top industry experts (for webinars and guest posts)
  • Inbound links for SEO
  • Lead capture (to grow your marketing database).

Now that we’ve explored what you need and what the benefits are, let’s look at the story of how a couple of online TV shows were born.

The benefits of your own TV show (though the eyes of one who did it)

In the fall of 2011, Act-On Software was a small, venture-backed software company with almost no name recognition and much larger, deep-pocketed competitors. David Appelbaum, VP of marketing at the time, was looking for an innovative idea to break through the noise.

David looked at the success of a webinar they had done with me and was impressed with my style and passion. He called me and said “Jeff, you did such a wonderful job on the webinar – let’s do Phase 2 together.” I responded “Sounds great, David. Just what did you have in mind?” David said “I want to create an online TV show and I want you to host it.”

Mad Marketing TV was born

We created a logo and a branded YouTube channel and launched a show blog. Act-On suggested we use Skype for the show, but I advocated Watchitoo, an application that offers TV on the Internet capabilities (camera changes and B-roll content).

Over the next five months, I interviewed top experts in marketing, sales and social media including Adele Revella of the Buyer Persona Institute, Joe Pulizzi of the Content Marketing Institute, and Brian Carroll of MECLabs, author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale. Every week two shows published:

  • Mad Marketing TV
  • The Mad Marketing After-Party

As a result of the show, Act-On became well known in the thought leader community. These experts were also available to assist with webinars and guest posts. Act-On was not doing lead capture, so they were not getting quality sales leads, but Act-On was posting stellar fiscal results.

Next, David left and a new chief marketing officer was brought on board. The new CMO decided to cut back on the show, from weekly to monthly.

Marketing Made Simple TV was born

Now that I had the experience of creating a show and hosting it, I had everything needed to create my own show including equipment (like a high-definition webcam, a big monitor, lighting, a studio microphone and a super-fast Internet connection). So I decided to create my own show.

In a matter of weeks, I created a new logo, a new YouTube page and a new show page (www.marketingmadesimple.tv).

I decided to sign up multiple sponsors and syndicate the show in order to drive as many eyeballs to the show as possible. I also started lining up thought leaders for the show.

While Marketing Made Simple TV is too young for measurable results, it is clear that many companies have an opportunity to create a thought leadership show for little money. For as little as $2,500 or so, a company can pull together everything they need to create a show like this.

Jeff Ogden is president of Find New Customers.

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