Recent Blog Posts

We just recently completed a survey on the state of Demand Generation in 2014 (be on the lookout for the executive brief summarizing the results in the next 30 days or so). The goal of the survey was to get feedback from B2B demand-gen practitioners – people whose main purpose is to drive qualified leads for their sales force to pursue – to determine what they’re doing now and what challenges they face when trying to accelerate revenue for their business. The overwhelming majority of these folks said their biggest challenge right now is that they’re not driving enough qualified, ‘sales ready’ leads. They have plenty of ‘marketing’ leads, but they have to kiss a lot of frogs before they find their prince. Considering lead generation is the biggest component of what they do every day, if they don’t find a way to rectify this they’ll be on the unemployment line soon.
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In today’s market place, webcasts are turning in to one of, if not the most effective demand generation tools in a company’s tool box. They allow you to extend your reach in a more cost effective, measurable way and position your company as subject matter experts, while at the same time driving awareness and demand for your solutions and services. An effective webcast on the frontend of your sales process can be the difference between won and lost business. Here are four steps that will give you the best chance of success.
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If you’ve been in the sales game long enough, you’ve undoubtedly been put through the sales training ringer. Week long immersion courses, training workshops, quarterly ride-alongs or visits from the corporate sales managers for 1-2 day sessions. The list goes on and on. Most of these tactics are still being used today and sales leaders wonder why, more often than not, these training techniques aren’t creating better reps and driving accelerated revenues for their business.

The main reason is reinforcement! Once this type of training is over, it’s over. Most of the time there’s no takeaways from these training techniques that allow the sales professional to take what they learned and make it an integrated piece of their sales strategy moving forward. Sure, they might apply what they learned for a few months, but without having 24/7 access to the right training material, eventually what they learned will fall by the wayside and you’ll end up with training investment wasted.

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Let me be clear: most of the time virtual event technology gets a big ‘thumbs’ up from the folks that leverage them the right way. However, some people are turned off by the notion of using the technology, and more often than not the reasons for it are completely avoidable. If you’re thinking of leveraging virtual technology for any type of event (tradeshow, user group conference, product showcase, partner expo, training, etc.), and you’re seeking advice from some of your peers with firsthand virtual experience, don’t be surprised if you hear the following:

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Whatever type of online event you’re putting on – virtual, hybrid, webcasts, videocasts, etc. – you have to have a process. Our five step guide to creating world-class online events will drive more traffic, attendee engagement, and measurable event ROI for you and your partners Continue reading →

In today’s B2B marketplace, there seems to be thousands of ways to touch your target audience and drive demand. Marketing automation, SEO/SEM, social media, webcasting and virtual event technology, mobile apps, mobile marketing…the list goes on and on. With so many tools at your disposal, you need to be strategic in your demand-gen approach and leverage multiple technologies, and services, to get engaged with your target market. Continue reading →

The use of virtual event technology is one of our key demand gen tactics for 2014. The reasons are plentiful – they save you time and money (no travel required), they’re more measurable, and they are the ultimate content marketing tool. A place to host literature, videos, webinars, one-on-one and group chats, social networking, etc. Aside from using it as strictly an event tool, companies are beginning to leverage the full capabilities of virtual technology for many other purposes – employee, customer and partner training, sales meetings, HR and benefits resource centers. The possibilities are endless. Continue reading →

As one of our key demand generation tactics of 2014, the term ‘Content Marketing’, and  everything it entails, is hotter than ever. Companies are now making a concerted effort to hire specifically for the role of VP/Director/Mgr. of Content Marketing, something that definitely wasn’t happening 5-10 years ago. ‘Content is King’ and companies that aren’t jumping on the bandwagon will be left behind. With that being said, here are the three C’s: Continue reading →

With 2014 around the corner, and marketing execs across the globe already head-down in strategic planning for the New Year, we’re offering what we believe will be the four key demand gen tactics for 2014. Over the next four weeks we’re going to dive deep into each tactic and explain why we believe it should be a key part of your demand strategy moving forward. But for now, here they are: Continue reading →

Virtual events aren’t a thing of the future, they’re a thing of ‘the now.’ More and more companies are leveraging virtual event technology every day for tradeshows, user group conferences, partner expos, product launches, career fairs, corporate training and more. Here’s why: Continue reading →

If you’ve come this far you most likely have a good idea of what we do here @ Elastic Solutions – Virtual Events, Webcasting, Marketing Solutions. We give our customers the power to extend their reach and get in front of their target audience through a series of flexible, ELASTIC solutions. While I can talk about that all day long, that’s not the purpose of this particular post… Continue reading →