The Future of Advertising

What’s in store in advertising in the future? It’s all about creating interactive marketing tools for your business, as well as the addition of new and innovative ‘Internet-based social media’ in your marketing efforts. This goes to show that the traditional color printing that has been so popular for many years will take a back seat when it comes to advertising campaigns.

And it’s all about having a positive response from your target audience. Interactivity is all about that concept. What makes your browsers satisfied means engaging them in experiences that evoke good memories for your clients. The more your interactive marketing gets inviting, the better it is for your target audience to hand over a positive response to your message.

So what else should we expect in the interactive advertising campaign?

There’s the use of entertainment for one thing. Website developers and marketers are looking at the advantages of creating a site that not only offers more information than you could think of, but also entertaining to boot. Not only do you get noticed and provide excitement to your target audience, more importantly, you are able to connect with them on more personal level. Hence, expert and smart advertisers use the interactive media to create that engaging relationship with their customers and prospects.

Some of the media vehicles that can help you market your business interactively include blogs, podcasts, online videos, and advergames. Along with these interactive media, marketers have been combining them with traditional media models such as your color printing ads to create that distinction and recognition in their target audience.

Let’s take a look at some of the interactive media vehicles:

Blogs The idea behind a blog is that you are able to tell your story and your opinions, as well as invite viewers to comment on your story. There are many blogs online. In fact, many blogs are able to provide the opportunity for many business owners to interact with their consumers and pool ideas to make their products even more effective. This is what makes blogs so popular - customers are actually able to give their two cent’s worth to enhance the product they love or the service they just viewed online. All in all, it provides both clients and technology- minded people the satisfaction of being able to participate in such forums.

Podcasts / Videos Podcasts and online videos are very entertaining as they are able to provide highly entertaining commercials to demonstrate a product or service or even tell an engaging story that affects the emotions of your consumers. It provides a level of empathy among your customers for your business. YouTube and Google Video are just two of the most popular sites that help you attract attention and interest in your message, not to mention that they generate traffic to your business.

This is the bottom line: utilizing interactive media to increase your market share increases your chances of getting a bigger piece of the market pie. By being closer to your customers via your interactive vehicles can go a long way in helping you build your brand and get you the leads you need to increase your sales and profits.

Are you ready to add video to your website? Make sure you deliver a clear and effective message by using teleprompter software from TelmaxTeleprompters.com and you won’t be disappointed!

Add Video To Your Website Or Blog To Increase Its Value

Over the years we’ve heard a lot about how to give your web site more value. At first everyone said to put lots of interesting information on your site and you would see a stampede of visitors come your way.

Then we were told to dress our sites and blogs up with logos, graphics, and photos. That helped to bring traffic, too.

Finally we were told to give your sites all the right keywords to bring in the utmost in search engine traffic. By now, that technique has been used just about everywhere it can be.

Now, the Internet is moving to a different phase. Increasingly, top sites are using video to increase their value and bring in lots of traffic. Think about the last time you logged into Amazon or CNN. You very likely were greeted with a professional-looking video that started up on the page and relayed a movie preview or news report.

In the past, you would have to hire a video production house to create, process, host, and post your video, all at a cost of thousands of dollars. But not any more.

Now you can have that same kind of professional video on your site or blog for a price that fits any budget. It’s relatively easy to create using low-cost equipment commonly sold for home use.

In the course I teach, I show students how to use Hollywood tricks to transform any space in your house into what looks like a National TV studio. You can do this for under $97, camera not included. Now that’s an advantage for your site or blog that you shouldn’t pass up.

What should your site or blog video be?

* Interview yourself or an expert, giving information that your visitors would find interesting.

* A demonstration of how to use your product or service.

* A high-tech, entertaining addition to your ebook or instructional CD.

We live in the television age, when just about everybody would rather look at a video that SHOWS them how to do something rather than have to read about it or listen to someone tell them about it.

A video gives you much higher response and a far better informed customer base. When people really understand what you are offering and what you can do for them, making sales (often at a higher price) is far easier.

Are you ready to give video on your website a try? Make sure you deliver a clear and effective message by using teleprompting software from TelmaxTeleprompters.com and you won’t be disappointed!

How To Handle Interruptions During Public Speaking

Nearly every public speaker has had to handle interruptions. How they’re handled can make the difference between a minor annoyance and a major disaster. It’s important not to lose the whole audience because of one person or a small group who choose not to listen.

For those who think quickly on their feet, a skill useful to every public speaker, wit can go a long way toward defusing any heckling. A good line can ease tension and put the focus back where it belongs, on the speaker and the event.

Dr. Robert Sutton, a Professor of Management at Stanford University, tells the story of a lunch at a public restaurant soured by an insulting jerk. The atmosphere was typically fun-filled but his caustic comments ruined everyone’s enjoyment. Someone asked the jerk for his name, explaining that he was a perfect specimen for a book the man was writing on rude jerks. The heckler remained silent the rest of the lunch.

Still, you want to be careful to avoid nastiness whenever possible. It’s very easy for it to be turned around and make the speaker look like a bully. You don’t want to appear smug, since that will raise the tension in the room, not lower it. It adds further distraction and it will take longer to get the speech back on track.

But some people seeking attention simply won’t give up until they dominate the event. You might try ignoring the person for a while. Or, you might suggest that they talk to the organizers about getting their own speaking engagement. In the end, if all else fails, you have the right to have disruptive people removed from the event.

The circumstances will help guide you. But keep the focus on the speech, not the interruption, as much as possible.

Remember, too, that not all interruptions are bad. Some speakers enjoy spontaneous questions. In a more public meeting-style forum it’s appropriate for people to express an opinion out loud, even when one person is the major focus. But crowds can quickly get out of hand. An event can become counter-productive when multiple people are speaking. Listening, for everyone, becomes impossible.

Two more things are important when dealing with interruptions: keeping your cool and remembering your speech.

Holding your temper when faced with (possibly repeated) interruptions helps keep the audience on your side. You don’t sink to the level of the heckler. You remain dignified and he looks like the jerk. He loses. You win.

But it is also important because remaining calm will help you remember your speech and delivery. Every good public speaker will practice a speech, at least to the point where glancing at any written aids is minimal. Getting riled throws you off. It causes you to forget your speech and focus on the interruption. That’s exactly what you don’t want.

Most audience members will be cooperative. Most will naturally resent anyone who interrupts the speech. After all, they came to hear you, not some random audience member. Use that good will and be careful not to lose it. Keep the focus on you and the speech.

If you get nervous when you have to speak in public, add a bit of confidence next time by using prompter software from Telmax Teleprompters to stay on queue and deliver an effective speech.

Know Your Audience When Public Speaking

One of the most basic principles of good public speaking is: Know Your Audience.

But what does that really mean? You can’t always be personally acquainted with all audience members. In most cases you won’t be. In some cases you may know none of them. The confusion can be largely cleared up by re-writing the rule to say: Judge Your Audience.

In today’s context that wording may be less than ideal. It’s possible to misinterpret it. It does NOT mean forming a moral opinion about the audience members. It means simply targeting your speech - both in content and style - for a particular audience.

Audience members will always vary in terms of age, education, gender, profession, experience and a wide array of other factors. But most audiences are as uniform as they are different. Most audiences for a particular event will have many things in common, determined in part by the fact that they chose to hear that particular speech.

A group composed almost exclusively of men who came to hear a speech on great golf techniques can be expected to have things in common. Though, of course, golf is popular with women and kids of both genders, too. They came to hear you talk about golf. That means they almost certainly have an interest in and have played the game.

Even an audience of diverse ages and backgrounds may still have some key things in common, if only because of their presence in the audience. Individuals who come to hear a talk about the possible effects of human-produced CO2 on global warming will certainly have a range of opinions and expertise on the subject. But they have all demonstrated an interest in the subject great enough to attend the talk.

So, target your content and style toward the audience you expect and adjust it for the audience you actually see and experience during the speech.

Before the speech you’ll need to find out as much as you can about who is likely to be listening. Are they mostly male professionals from Manhattan or are they mothers from a small farming community in Kansas? Don’t assume that one is sophisticated and the other not. Just get as much information about the actual audience as possible.

Then, on the day of the event, try to arrive early. Get a feel for who is arriving. During the speech you’ll get even more information. Pay attention to how they dress and how they act.

If they ask questions during the talk, note the content and style. Use all that to judge whether to speed up or slow down, whether to expand on certain areas and cut out others. Know your speech so well that you can tailor it during the talk. A longish story that was so amusing for one audience might go over better in a shorter version with another.

Judge your audience as carefully as you can before you meet them and when you do. Use that to make the best speech possible. For, one thing is almost guaranteed: not using it will result in a poorer speech than is possible.

If you get nervous when you have to speak in public, add a bit of confidence next time by using prompter software from Telmax Teleprompters to stay on queue and deliver an effective speech.