By Ellen Barnes Pfiffner, EBP Business Consulting and Darby Mason-Werner, Director of Client Solutions, Signet
One of the most strategically important topics in briefing programs today is how to best engage with your customers before, during, and after a briefing to enhance their overall experience. In this series of blog articles, we’ll explore a number of engagement strategies including ways that technology has evolved to offer more automated and effective results for both your guests and briefing teams. Our series will start off by exploring whether to “To App or Not to App”. What are the pros and cons of asking your briefing attendees to download another app to their smart phone? How can offering solutions on guests’ own device help reduce your program’s capital expenditure? And, ultimately, what will entice your guests to engage more fully in the experience you are working so hard to customize for them?
Next, we’ll delve into ways for “Connecting Before, During, and After Briefings”. How can you begin to build a relationship with your guests prior to the briefing by making the journey to you easier? What are the benefits for your briefing teams having control over what information gets shared at each customer touchpoint? Does offering a “bring your own device” (BYOD) option provide convenience that could mean the difference between a good experience and a great one?
And our final blog article will look at “Alternatives Before, During, and After Briefing Engagement”. When your guests have specific security requirements or other constraints for using their own devices imposed on them by their companies, what can you do? How can you find ways to accommodate their needs by adjusting your offerings without compromising their user experience?
Additionally, we thought sharing this glossary of top briefing engagement terms would be a useful reference before you dive into the coming blog article series. We look forward to sharing the series with you and hearing feedback from your experience as well.
Top Engagement Terms Glossary
App Store Optimization (ASO) – the process of improving the visibility your App.
App – applications software for mobile devices. Companies are establishing internal “App Stores” so that employees can download approved enterprise Apps.
BYOD – stands for “Bring Your Own Device.” Personally-owned mobile devices including laptops, tablets, and smart phones. Increasingly employees and customers are connecting with the workplace and enterprises to access company information and applications. Briefing programs are developing strategies and tools to engage customers through their personal devices.
CMS – is a Content Management System. Usually a cloud-based platform that allows companies to centralize and distribute content such as media assets (videos and images) and corporate documents (brochures and whitepapers) to their digital endpoints through an automated process.
Digital presence – an organization’s internet existence that can include traditional and mobile websites, mobile apps, and social media. For most programs and centers, it includes the briefing pages on the internet and intranet. Increasingly programs and centers have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and/or YouTube. Once started, these sites have to be kept current or they will tarnish the image that the briefing program is trying to enhance.
Mobile sites – websites optimized for use on portable devices like smart phones and tablets. They generally have larger buttons, larger font sizes, less text, and other features that make small screen navigation easier than on a traditional website. Briefing programs are adding links to their external web pages to engage customers before and after briefings.
Portal – a private, secure website that enables the briefing program to share personalized information with customers before, during, and after a briefing. It enhances customer relationships by providing up-to-date information and can be accessed by laptop, tablet, or smart phone.
Ellen Barnes Pfiffner, M.Ed.,CMM – Ellen is the principal of EBP Business Consulting and offers benchmarking, tools, and consulting to executive briefing programs globally, on-site ABPM Competency courses, and customized training programs including Facilitation Skills. Active in the ABPM for 15+ years, Ellen has published Briefing articles on numerous topics and , has served on the ABPM Advisory Board . She can be contacted at: www.ebpbusinessconsulting.com, [email protected], or at 214-789-3571.
Darby Mason-Werner, Director, Client Solutions – Darby has been a member of the briefing profession for more than 15 years having built and managed the Xilinx Corporate Briefing Center Program before joining Signet in February 2016. She has been an ABPM member since 2003 and served on the ABPM Advisory Board. Darby is a frequent presenter at ABPM conferences including Core Competency Curriculum courses. She can be contacted at: [email protected] or 408-472-8181.