Over the next six weeks, the blog posts will be about virtual events, how they compare with physical events and the advantages of going virtual. The expense of hosting a real time event can now be reduced by using the varied media now available on line. Not only are costs reduced but all the media used can be archived and re-purposed.

Although the events still require time to organise, 12 weeks (as proposed by ON24), it can be far less time consuming than organising a physical event. Removing the need to travel (and accommodation) your audiences expenses will be less. They will be ‘fresh’ for your virtual event and ready to utilise the knowledge acquired the instant the event has finished. Sales staff can immediately implement all the latest information about your products.

If you still have the need for a physical event the ability to integrate some virtual aspects into it can be a benefit, creating a hybrid event. The combination of both types opens the event to a world wide audience, one that is not constrained by distance or time.

Success is dependent on good planning and the following blogs give you some tips on how to plan, ideas for content and which is the right event for you and your audience, whether they are customers, employees or for training programmes. Going virtual provides an easily used medium for all of these needs. The collection of genuine customer/audience data (emails,names and locality)properly managed in a CRM, allows you to continue marketing to them and target future events/product launch.

In the next few blogs, I hope that you find a few items that help you decide about virtual events or offer you a few ideas that you hadn’t realised were possible.

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If you find that you need a little more help writing content for your blog the following tips may give you some ideas, of where to go to be inspired. Using some free tools that are available on the Internet to grow your knowledge about your niche and encourage conversation with your followers.

Google Alerts – You can set up Google alerts to find out what people are saying about a company, its products, the industry you are in or your niche. The alert can be edited to find web pages, newspaper articles or blogs. Google checks regularly for results in your chosen fields and sends an email to you daily (or as the news happens if you have elected for that).

Blog directories – Technorati and Alltop are good sources for finding what other bloggers are saying about your niche. Both have comprehensive lists that are categorised supplying you with a wealth of information from the blog world.

Subscribe - Follow and subscribe to other bloggers who are experts in your field. This will keep you informed and in the know. Find out what they are discussing so you can gain inspiration from their writings.

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With all the social media activity available today, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, your Blog or any of the many others, here are a few tips to keep them all running smoothly.

Construction – a plan

If you know where you want to be, what you are aiming for, your strategy for all your social media marketing can be formulated with this in mind. If you have no idea where you are heading or just what you are trying to achieve, all your efforts may well be in vain. You may well have opened up all the channels but wander around not knowing what to do next when all your work results in no interaction with others.

There are such a vast number of people using social media, it’s an incredible opportunity to reach a worldwide audience, bringing your service or product to them with ease and speed.

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Guest post by Martin Clark, Ripple Effect Sales Training.

They fail to understand the fundamentals of selling!

First of all to clarify, when I say ‘sales people’ I’m also referring to business owners who are responsible for making sales.  If you’re in business, then one of the many hats you must wear is that of a ‘sales person’.

There are 2 key fundamentals that drive ALL sales…  Failing to understand these is why most ‘sales people’ struggle and businesses suffer… continue

Since the very beginning we have been involved with Talking News Islington charity. It has been set up by a group of volunteers who wanted to provide a valuable service to the blind and partially-sighted in London Boroughs of Islington and Camden. There are Talking News in many parts of the UK, produced similarly by volunteers. The News are recorded and posted to anyone registered to receive it on a CD or tape, the users listen to the news and send back to the charity. The service is free and relies on donations and funding. continue