Why are you special? Posted by John Assalian on March 7, 2016 Getting marketing right requires a real understanding of why your product and company is unique. To help, Viewstream created a “Positioning Generator“. It’s the marketing team’s Mad Libs. Fill in the blanks based on the prompts provided and get your positioning statement. It’s sure to get you thinking, at least. This type of statement ought to be a default part of your messaging, communication and go-to market arsenal. Check it out here: http://viewstream.com/positioning-generator/
In between the panels… Posted by John Assalian on March 3, 2016 What can marketers learn from comic books? Succinctly said, the power of comic and graphic novels occur in between the panels. Between panel A and panel B, a world of curiosity, sensibility and feeling is unlocked. It’s not what is said or shown, it’s what is not said or shown that is unique. Think about that from a marketing perspective. How many times do we try to say too much about our product, solution or brand? Comic books teach us to think about what occurs “in between the panels”. Say and show something creative. Then let your audience imagine. Let your audience translate their needs and desires into something our offering delivers. What would happen if, for your next marketing project, instead of saying everything, you left some things for ‘in between the panels’? Give it a shot and let me know how it works.
Viewstream Research Posted by John Assalian on March 12, 2013 As part of our research group, we are publishing a few overviews of interesting companies in the social media space. Altimeter Group is not a marketing company, rather a research/consultancy company (Powerpoint company). Think Boston Consulting or Bain mixed with Gartner or Forrester, focus is “Social Business” which includes social media aimed towards customers but also includes how organizations are internally organized and how information is shared within a company. In some cases this can mean using social media tools internally, but it can also mean creating whole new org charts for large organizations. Their model is essentially as follows: produce a large number of free report’s which are then use to leverage engagements in advisory, speaking or strategy. For advisory, this is be the classic consulting job. Called in to provide research and outside eyes on a project. Classically consulting in large organizations to displace blame. i.e. idea fails well expert consultants said it would work. For speaking, past topics include: Hot or Not: Deciding Which Disruptive Technologies Matter Creating a Coherent Social Strategy The Future of Social Networks Convincing Your Curmudgeon — Getting Executive Buy-In for Your Social For strategy, Altimeter has published on: Get Engaged With Your Customers (or Employees) Recruiting an Unpaid Army for Word of Mouth The Customer of the Future Developing a Mobile Strategy for the Whole Customer Lifecycle Developing — and Investing — in a Social CRM Strategy Rethinking Innovation in Your Enterprise Strategy It’s the People Stupid: Designing a Social Experience Funding an Enterprise Strategy Career Path of the Corporate Social Strategist Developing a Scalable Social Strategy Some great reports here: http://www.altimetergroup.com/research/reports http://www.altimetergroup.com/research/webinars All altimeter reports are released under a creative commons license so you can pull their slides and use them in your own presentations as long as you give them credit.
Video Testimonials Posted by John Assalian on August 22, 2012 Viewstream Video Testimonials communicate the benefits of an offering through the voice of the customer. It allows marketers to reach across the sales cycle by building demand and driving sales through discovery, promoting brand awareness, and validating the solution. Video Testimonials can be critical to demonstrating how the solution is applicable in the real world. The combination of story and concrete details provide a strong approach toward inspiring prospects to action. Check out the link to view the latest Video Testimonials that Viewstream produced: http://viewstre.am/1o
Seeing a Future in Tablets Posted by John Assalian on August 21, 2012 It’s amazing to think the iPad is only two years old–and across the spectrum usage is skyrocketing (along with the stock). Avid readers in particular have been downloading magazines on their tablets, and engagement remains high. Seeing a future in Tablets for business communication and marketing, we unveiled Viewstream Mags recently. Viewstream Mags brings magazines to businesses for marketing, communication and data analytics. The Mags are beautifully designed and feature engaging content written by actual journalists. Plus, we can do something that other digital document formats cannot do: we can track everything! From page clicks and swipes to engagement patterns and view duration of motion content, our analytic datasets offer a rich source of data for better decision making. To find out more, watch the short video on Viewstream Mags here: http://viewstre.am/1m
Top Ideas of Peter Thiel CS183 Class Posted by John Assalian on May 24, 2012 Wouldn’t it be great to sit in on CS183 at Stanford taught by Peter Thiel? One student in the class has taken it upon himself to document this class, and has done a remarkable job. Having heard Peter speak many times, the notes capture his thought process very well. Recommended reading for a powerful framework to think about business and technology. Amazing insights into marketing, market intelligence, product choice and product marketing. Check out the link to the latest by clicking here. Thanks to Blake Masters, a student in the class, for documenting this.
Viewstream and Dabble Launch Video Posted by John Assalian on April 18, 2012 Viewstream recently began work on a video for the Dabble launch with the goal of making an engaging video. After a few sleepless nights, Viewstream is proud to announce the release of the Dabble video. The video features some cool music and voice, and some interesting iPad and iPhone product captures brought to life. See for yourself here: And congrats to #Dabble!
Success Through Customer Evidence Posted by John Assalian on January 31, 2012 Viewstream is a strong proponent of using Customer Evidence assets to effectively communicate a products offering. Remember, people believe people, so what better way to build credibility but through the testimony of your customers? Prospects are compelled by true-to-life success stories above the constant chest-beating cranked out of old-school marketing strategies. Kill the marketing voice, and begin telling true customer success stories. Viewstream created a video to illustrate how Kelly Racing uses Autodesk software to improve racecar performance. Viewstream employed a new technique that allows the subjects themselves to create their own content, adding a powerful amount of honesty to the video. There are many ways to incorporate Customer Evidence to your marketing mix. But whichever way you choose, these personal stories help create a relationship between your audience and your brand, bringing real-world storytelling to your marketing campaigns. Watch the Kelly Racing/Autodesk Video below:
Customer Evidence: Telling Your Customers’ Stories So They Can Tell Yours Posted by John Assalian on January 17, 2011 Customer Evidence is one of the most powerful and flexible tools in your sales and marketing toolbelt. It can do more than tell and implementation story; it can outline forces behind new product innovations, show prospects a world where their problems are solved, and reinforce peer opinion. With this kind of adaptability, customer evidence can be effective at every stage in the sales cycle. Viewstream CEO John Assalian recently published an article in Corp! Magazine outlining how Customer Evidence can move prospects down your sales funnel with impressive ROI. In the article, he also provides tips and tricks to help marketers plan and execute Customer Evidence that works. Read Customer Evidence: Telling Your Customers’ Stories So They Can Tell Yours Learn more about Viewstream’s Customer Evidence work
Mobile Content Posted by John Assalian on November 22, 2010 With the increased popularity of smartphones and tablets, technology marketers need to deliver their content beyond the web and onto mobile platforms. Market shares of users on mobile devices vary widely among market segment, so it is important to avoid developing for mobile for mobile’s sake. As a marketer, focus on developing mobile content for audience segments that align to your products and services. And don’t forget to leverage your current offerings and content appropriate for mobile platforms. Viewstream’s mobile services leverages digital marketing content across mobile platforms, including iPhone, iPad, Droid, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and more. Leveraging our expertise in creating content and bringing it together with our strong development capabilities enables us to continue our tradition of expert professional services for technology marketing. Mobile will continue to grow, and Viewstream is building the next generation apps and content as we move forward through another amazing stage of computing. One recent example of our work was an Autodesk screencast, “Autodesk Design Suite Premium” developed for the Apple iPad device. If you have an iPad, click here and load the iPad version to see how well these assets deliver using mobile technology. Or, if you are on a desktop, click here to see the desktop PC version. If you are interested in formatting interactive and rich media assets for mobile, or have an idea for an app you would like to have developed, give us a call. We’d be happy to help!