A four star review in USA Today read by more than 2.3 million people got ActiveWords all of 32 downloads. But a blog post by popular blogger Robert Scoble resulted in more than ten times that number. Buzz Bruggeman, the founder and EVP of ActiveWords Inc., speaks about his experiences in marketing and selling his company's software, and the networking tools he uses. He discusses how a huge advertising budget may no longer be the only way to reach people.

How does a small company overcome the problem of distribution of software and get people in the target market to use it? Are huge advertising budgets the only way to reach the target audience? Listen to this show to learn about the benefits of using blogging and podcasting as effective networking tools, and how they can be a low cost, highly effective marketing tool at a global level. Buzz discusses his personal experience of how ActiveWords has received good exposure by using the right tools and networks, with a very small marketing budget.

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Buzz Bruggeman is a founder and EVP of ActiveWords Inc. where he is responsible for all marketing, evangelizing, and business development. Bruggeman, a DEMO God 2004 Award recipient, speaks regularly as a champion of both his company and the benefits of blogging as a low-cost, highly effective marketing tool on a global level. Jupitermedia recently named ActiveWords as the 3rd Best Software Product of the year, after OpenOffice and Microsoft 2003. Bruggeman also serves on the advisory board of DEMO.

Resources:

• Buzz Bruggeman's personal blog
• MeshForum

This presentation is one of a series from the MeshForum 2005 Event held in Chicago, Il, May 1-4, 2005.

For Team ITC:

• Description editor: Thejo Kote
• Post-production audio engineer: Bruce Sharpe
• Series Editor: Cori Schlegel