Integic & Broadvision Get 75 Key Government Officials Across the Nation to Tune into a Webcast

CHALLENGE
Integic, an Internet solutions provider, and Broadvision, an ecommerce application provider, knew they needed to educate their marketplace in order to sell to them. So they decided to offer a seminar. Unfortunately the prospects -- key government officials -- were scattered across the country. Even officials in the DC-area were limited by time and traffic-issues. So Integic and Broadvision decided to webcast a virtual seminar that everyone could attend easily. Mark Zavrel, Chief Marketing Officer of Integic shared the details with us.

CAMPAIGN
The entire project from start to finish took about eight weeks. First Integic and Broadvision marketers created a plan for what the Web cast would contain. Zavrel says, "We did a series of static HTML pages. We didn't use Powerpoint, which I don't like for this purpose. The script was very educational. We didn't want it to be a sales pitch. It talked about emerging trends in government procurement."

Next Zavrel began to market the event. "We learned you really need to do three things in the context of a campaign. No single way of getting attendees is good. So, we sent 9,645 direct mailers to two targeted lists; did about 60 hours of telemarketing that reached 200 out of 400 pre-selected contacts; and emailed to a permission-based email list." All responses were driven to a registration form online that kept the same look and feel as the direct mail piece. To maximize attendence, positive respondents then received an email three days before the event plus a phone call the day of the event.

RESULTS
About 75 government officials attended the Webcast, plus an additional 25 have signed up to attend a future one -- without any additional marketing! Zavrel notes, "We got a lot more bang for the buck from the telemarketing campaign vs. direct mail." Integic's sales team is now working to close deals with these now-educated officials.

NOTES: Zavrel's rules for a successful webcast, "Keep it short, keep it interactive and keep it real fast-moving. We did a lot of pop-up questions and interactive things during the thing to keep people engaged."

You can view a canned version of the original webcast at Integic's Web site. The company also plans to use this version as a presentation tool during sales calls and as a useful display in their booth at trade shows.