To help build its brand and generate sales leads, Web commerce provider SpaceWorks Inc. has created a series of free business-to-business Web seminars. Each month the company produces one-hour Webcasts featuring special guest speakers at SpaceWorks.com.
The latest segment of the SpaceWorks B2B e-Commerce Webinar Series, “Beyond Simple Transactions & Static Content: An e-Business Imperative for Manufacturers,” will air Sept. 26 and Sept. 28 at 1:30 p.m. EST.
The goal of this month's conference is to teach viewers to use integrated order management and content management to build profitable Web-based relationships with customers.
These events help clients “find out who we are and what we do through client case studies and the subjects we cover with some of the analysts,” said Liz Sara, vice president of marketing at SpaceWorks, Rockville, MD. “We launched it early this year as a way to accomplish a few things, namely our brand-building efforts and generating leads for our sales force.”
To market the Webinars, the company sends e-mails and direct mail to its target audience of business executives, e-commerce executives and IT staff. It sends 50,000 e-mail messages each month to lists it purchases from Information Week, Red Herring and other sources. It sends monthly direct mail pieces to a house list of 5,000 people.
While each seminar receives only about 100 registered attendees, Sara thinks the cumulative benefit for the company is immeasurable. “Over time, as people start getting notices and seeing the pattern of monthly programs, one will catch their interest,” she said.
Participants watch the conference via the Web and listen through the phone via a toll-free number. The last 10 minutes of every Webinar are reserved for questions sent through e-mail or asked on the phone.
The Webinars have been well-received, Sara said. “People like them because they're easy to do and they don't have to leave their office or their desks,” she said.
SpaceWorks designs, manufactures and markets software that automates all mission-critical activities involved in selling on the Web. Clients include GE Aircraft Engines, Maytag, Lucent, Delta Air Lines and BellSouth.
