Ted Ganchiff of GiveMeTalk.com On Using Webcasting To Reach Small Business

"Our user base is in the top 30 percent of Internet users who are tech-savvy," says GiveMeTalk! Founder Ted Ganchiff, a.k.a. Employee Number One. GiveMeTalk was originally designed to let individuals broadcast content for free. When business owners noticed GiveMeTalk's easy-to-use editing tools and free streaming media server space, they started to use the site as a free business-marketing tool.

Now, Advertisers such as Staples.com have started to take notice too. With over 3,000 broadcasters, the folks at GiveMeTalk! find that free Webcasting helps users promote all types of services -- everything from financial advice to health tips -- many aimed at busy SOHO professionals.

"Internet companies have bought lots of print media and TV to tell everyone [they exist]. It's very expensive to go out and reach people [this way]. Webcasting allows you to target more intelligently."

Commenting on the type of Internet broadcast to create, Ganchiff observes that "A lot of people who [market to] small business tend to create crass and superficial content." Small business owners aren't interested in this. By contrast, they are attracted to the educational content found on GiveMeTalk.com. “"Treat yourself as a partner of the small business,” says Ganchiff

EDITOR’S TAKE
Following our conversation with Ted, MarketingSherpa surfed over to GiveMeTalk.com to search on the keyword phrase "Small Business." We found that the highest-rated programs targeted small-biz managers who want to administrate their growth by learning “Pension planning for small businesses” and “Small business computer networking”. Not surprisingly, neither of these programs was delivered (or even sponsored) by a major pension fund or IT network provider -– but they could have been.

Clearly, this is the sort of money-saving, efficiency-improving content that SOHOs fail to get from Big-Time marketers, because they live in a different reality. Companies Targeting SOHOs with content should keep that in mind. Our favorite program title was: “Windmill-generated electricity” –- for when you really gotta cut costs.