Major VDP Web Upgrades Show Huge Client Benefit

The recent upgrade to our PURL enabled Cross Media Marketing software is helping our reseller clients provide tangible and immediate benefits to their clients.

Rather than splitting our software into two separate platforms as some providers have been forced to do, we’ve been able to keep new innovations under one roof. This means that we don’t have the distraction of supporting and updating separate systems. Likewise, our clients don’t have the headaches of different accounts and pricing models.

We’ve also kept our platform as a true "software as a service," with nothing to install on the desktop. VDP Web works cross-platform with a normal web browser.

In this post, we’ll highlight some of the new features.

A Better White-Label Platform

Our architects have updated the whole system to a modern, clean design that incorporates large, crisp fonts. We’ve eliminated unnecessary content and design elements. The new interface makes a fantastic impression on users and keeps our resellers looking good.

• Easily upload and white label with your logo
• Choose a primary and secondary exact color
• Select between two layout styles
• Select rounded or square corners
• Use a vanity domain for client access

View Screenshots of White Labeling

Easy Enterprise Security that You Can Customize

The other guys just don’t have this. Agency and Reseller accounts can choose their default security settings and also choose custom settings for each client. This keeps resellers from frustrating those that don’t need the extra security while accommodating financial, medical and insurance clients with more exacting requirements.

Protect logins from hacking and unauthorized access:

• Can use traditional, no-hassle email/password login access
• Optionally activate email confirmations for logins from unknown locations
• Optionally protect accounts by restricting login access to known company locations
• White list IP addresses for instant access
• Dual authentication

Automatic security notifications:

• Branded, white-labeled and professional security notifications
• Automatically notify users when an incorrect password is entered
• Automatically protect accounts after 5 failed login attempts
• Notify users when a password, security question or account information is changed

Granular control on individual user permissions:

• Control system access to creative, data and reporting
• Limit specific users to reporting relevant to their role
• Limit sales reps to data only from their region
• Allow managers overview access to see all data and reports

Format PURLs Your Way

Our competitors squawk about whether PURLs with the personalized part in front of the domain name is better than PURLs that come after the domain name. We don’t make you choose. VDP Web let’s you do your PURLs either way. In fact, you can always access a PURL using either method as long as your domain is correctly configured!

Powerful New Content Management Tools

VDP Web is the only system on the market that allows you, the client, to develop and drop in your own custom web and email templates in minutes using standard HTML and CSS.

Three great ways to work with our variable data enabled content:

• Custom web templates
• Content Wizards
• HTML pages

New Web Templates

The power of being able to create web templates that are available to every client account under an agency or reseller cannot be overstated. It allows for tremendous speed and cost reductions in setting up custom designs and launching new clients.

We estimate that this new functionality will cut production costs for our clients by up to 70%.

• Create your own re-usable templates in minutes with standard HTML and CSS
• Perfect for franchise marketing
• Lock down disclaimers, legal language and control assets
• Keep designs fresh and modern across all accounts by making updates in just one location without overwriting customizations that your clients have made
• Make your own designs or choose designs from our well-stocked library
  • Responsive designs
  • HTML5 and CSS3 based designs
  • Traditional old school HTML designs

Unlike with other systems, you can allow your clients to unlock templates for full access. You are never "stuck" in a template! This makes the creative like a fully customizable springboard for quickly launching complex sites across hundreds of accounts.

Every agency or reseller account can create templates that are automatically available to all of their clients. Any changes to the template immediately update the design throughout the system, no matter how many client accounts are using it.

Even our Basic accounts have full access to our new web templates!

Rapidly Deploy Complex Content with Content Wizards

We still offer our Content Wizard tool to rapidly deploy sets of complex content with multiple pages, surveys, opt-in forms, images and CSS. The variable sections that require customization appear on the screen for quick editing that can be done by a non-technical user. Click the build button and a multi-page, full featured website with all of the appropriate cross-linking is deployed in seconds.

Always Open, Full HTML and CSS Access

Our founding premise has always been that normal HTML, CSS, and JavaScript should work perfectly in our system. And it does.

Both Content Wizards and Web Templates can be unlocked for full access editing if desired. Choosing from our great library of templates will never hold you back from customizing the design. Simply unlock the template and you have full access to the HTML and CSS.

Enhanced Image & Asset Management

Quickly upload images, CSS, JavaScript and other assets from your desktop editing environment. Edit files online. Upload files from directly inside the HTML editor. Choose between our traditional HTML editor or our new HTML5 oriented editor, or if you’re a hard core coder, turn off the HTML editors and work directly with code. It’s all become so much easier and faster.

Streamlined, Simpler Navigation

We’ve worked hard to cut back on the number of buttons on the page! The new interface separates less used commands to the footer menu, leaving the primary areas as the main focus.

You won’t need any “university” or group message board to figure out our software. No 3-day training or special employees that have been trained in the system.

VDP Web can be figured out in minutes. Our video tutorials are extremely detailed along with simple and clear online documentation. Our phone-based support is immediate and you’ll know the person who answers the phone.

Try VDP Web Anytime

If you’re looking for a better provider, come and see what we have to offer. We’ve always had clear, transparent pricing posted online at www.vdpweb.com/pricing with a no-risk 14 day free trial.

If you’re already offering PURLs and cross media services or if you’re looking to start, we invite you to speak with us!

• No license fees
• Month-to-month
• No long term commitments
• Transparent pricing
• Cancel anytime
• The best support in the industry

Great Social Media Infographic - Perfect Posts

This infographic has been making the rounds on the internet and I really found it to be a helpful summary.

Thanks to My Clever Agency for putting this together.

James is in the top 10% On LinkedIn. Does it matter?

The email at right came from LinkedIn today.

It shows that even very modest investments in social and cross media marketing can yield results for both brands and individuals. In small and mid-sized firms, the traffic driven by a wide spider web of sources is an effective global salesman who is on the job 24/7.

The creation and maintenance of a social media web presence is time consuming and can be, frankly, a pain. For small cap businesses, it is often the reputation of key employees that drives sales by making the firm easy to find as customers do their initial research or conduct due diligence online.

When it is cost prohibitive to discover where prospects are in the sales cycle, a passive social media strategy can help.

Impossible Expectations: Why no one marketing channel is King of the Jungle

No one marketing channel is now, or ever will be king of the jungle.  One method may be better than others in any given circumstance, but no one channel will ever be best.  A report that recently went viral on the internet (so it must be true, right?) claimed that email was “king” in a sample of 35,000 prospects.  The data and response rates as referenced in the article follow:

Here are the issues:

1. No mention is made is made of the size of the data set that the 35,000 records were drawn from.  To get a 25% response rate, the respondents were cherry picked from a much larger pool.  How do I know?  Given one client’s data of 650,000 prospects with detailed sales and contact history we can universally pick a slice and get a fantastic response with targeted offers and specific channels.  With realistic constraints (such as not giving each respondent $100 gift card for simply visiting a link) the same cannot be said for 35,000 cold records.  Channel your inner Kirk here:  Not, going, to………
happen!

2. How did the firm in question get that many opted-in email leads?  Email is the end game of marketing efforts.  It is almost impossible to exponentially grow an email list from an email campaign, regardless how good the referral spiff is.  For email to be King, something else, such as social media, direct mail, experiential events, paid search, point of sale, or a mix of many methods is required, and usually at substantial cost. Speaking of which…

3. For the ROI calculations in the article to be of any use, the cost of gathering the email opt-ins must be calculated.  Of course, the cost of direct mail is exponentially higher than email as a cost per piece.  To compare the two at face value is pointless.  The recipient of the sales lead, in this case email, must absorb a portion of the cost in generating the address as part of the return on investment calculation.  Throw those figures into the mix, and what happens to that massive ROI advantage claimed by email?

Marketing is a spider web, not a pyramid.  No one channel or strategy will ever be sufficient.  Like your portfolio, a diversified strategy will always be necessary.

Full disclosure: 

James Michelson is Founder of VDP Web^® Cross Media Marketing which offers email marketing as part of a well-balanced marketing diet.  The entire article just lambasted can be found here.

New Cross Media Marketing Training Videos for the Holidays

Video training on holiday cross media marketing from JFM Concepts, part of the 2012 VDP Web Webinar Series, has been published.  Join John Fager, Co-Founder and CTO, in a short overview of how you can turn a common branding activity into a powerful lead generation tool by creating customer engagement and a two-way conversation.  Discover proven, practical techniques, tips and advice on how to create campaigns that highlight your firm’s expertise and drive customer engagement to new levels, turning a push communication into a growth opportunity.

View Part 1 here.  View Part 2 here.

To explore the entire VDP Web video series, visit our YouTube channel.

Webinar: More Effective Self Promos Offered This Week

VPD Web will be offering a free webinar to clients and newcomers alike this week on Tuesday, July 17 at 1:00 PM EST and on Thursday, the 19th at 4:00 PM EST.  The webinar will address creating effective self-promotions.

Attendees will benefit from learning simple, straight-forward techniques that have successfully generated business growth for our clients and our own organization.

Our valued clients have had great success with creating self-promos and marketing cross media services. Check out the do's and don’ts, and learn why self-promotion is the way into your client's budgets.

When: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 1:00 PM EST and Thursday, July 19, 2012 4:00 PM EST

Presenter: John Fager, Principal of JFM Concepts, makers of VDP Web Cross Media Marketing Software.

Please signup online as attendance is limited.

http://webinar.vdpweb.com/

New HTML Videos from VDP Web for Cross Media and Mobile

Join John Fager, the tech guru at VDP Web, for a high level, succinct and invaluable look at how to stay out of trouble with web and email for those of us who aren't technology geeks.  This seminar will give even non-technical attendees the confidence to work with cross media campaigns and get the basics on pricing, scope, hours required and common pitfalls.

VDP Web at Print Solutions 2012 next week!

It is not too late to get in on the action in Baltimore at the Inner Harbor.  VDP Web® will be presenting and exhibiting at the 2012 Print Services Distribution Association’s Print Solutions show in Baltimore June 4-6. Visit http://newsletter.vdpweb.com to read more about the show and educational seminar.

VDP Web be exhibiting in booth 823. John Fager will also be presenting an educational seminar “Don’t Get Killed by HTML: Winning Cross Media Strategies for Printers & Distributors” on Tuesday, June 5th at 3:30 in the Exhibit Hall Education Theater.

With three days of education and more than 200 expo booths showcasing the latest products and services, the 2012 Print Solutions Conference and Expo is the most important event of the year for professionals who buy print and related marketing services for resale to customers. View the below video and hear other members talk about the value they receive at PSDA meetings and events.

Who Should Attend?
Everyone directly responsible for buying or influencing the purchase of print and related marketing services. Gain contacts, partners and clients if you work for a print distributorship, promotional products distributorship, advertising agency, marketing firm, Design firm, or direct mail firm

New cross media webinar from VDP Web

JFM Concepts, the makers of industry leading cross media marketing package VDP Web, is proud to announce the “How To Bid Cross Media & Effective Sales Strategies” cross media marketing webinar part of the 2012 VDP Cross Media Webinar Series. Join John Fager, Principal of VDP Web® to discuss effective pricing strategies for cross media. Learn how to up-charge and price jobs without the dreaded "scope creep" and maintain a positive cash flow while showing value to your clients.

The webinar will be held twice, once on May 8th at 4:00 Eastern time and once on May 10th at 1:00 Eastern time. Register online at http://webinar1.vdpconcepts.com.

JFM Concepts is a full service cross media marketing technology firm featuring the VDP Complete® marketing system and VDP Web® Online software as a service. JFM specializes in creating variable data cross media marketing technologies with Personalized URLs, Email, SMS Text, QR Codes, Phone Tracking, Video, QR Codes, and more for commercial printers, agencies, and marketing departments of all sizes. The firm knows that technology development and marketing should come together to document both improved response rates and improved return on investment (ROI).

PSDA's 2012 Print Solutions Conference & Expo Registration Now Open

Registration is now live for the 2012 Print Solutions Conference & Expo taking place June 4 - 6 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Attend and benefit from PSDA's powerful community of distributors,
trade printers and suppliers. You'll leave the conference better informed of emerging trends and with new connections among suppliers, partners and peers.

James Michelson, author of Cross Media Marketing 101: The concise guide to surviving in the C-suite, will be presenting on cross media marketing and the staff from VDP Web will be on hand.