Convio Recognizes Nonprofits for Innovation in Online Marketing, Fundraising, Advocacy and Email Marketing at Summit 2009

Convio today announced the winners of its third annual Innovator Awards as revealed at a ceremony last night at the Convio Summit, the company’s annual conference where more than 650 nonprofit clients, partners and industry thought leaders gather as a community to share common experiences and effective strategies in email marketing, online fundraising, online marketing, social media and advocacy for nonprofits. The Innovator Awards recognize clients who have shown innovation and achievement through the use of Convio’s online fundraising and donor management software and services to better engage supporters to help fulfill their missions.

“Our clients are leading the charge in embracing online technologies to create stronger relationships with their constituents and cultivate support for their missions,” said Gene Austin, CEO of Convio. “Recognizing the success of our clients at Summit with our annual Innovator Award ceremony allows the entire nonprofit community to learn from each other’s unique and best-in-class strategies for fundraising, advocacy, events and managing supporter interaction.”

Eleven nonprofit organizations were presented with awards and were recognized in 10 categories including: Advocacy, Best use of Open, Constituent Empowerment, CRM Visionary with Common Ground™, Email Marketing, List Growth, Online Fundraising, Overall Use of Convio, Fundraising Events and Best Website. All Convio clients were eligible to submit for the awards.

Winners by Category

Advocacy Campaign or Program

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the largest animal rights organization in the world, was presented with an Innovator Award for their compelling use of Convio solutions to educate and advocate for an end to the annual Canadian seal hunt with Vancouver hosting the 2010 Olympic Games.The campaign successfully leverages petitions and action alerts, email, online advertising, an interactive micro-site, the use of compelling video, social media, billboards and demonstrations, and as a result, over half a million people have taken action online.

Best use of Open

Insight for Living, the Bible-teaching radio ministry of Chuck Swindoll, received an Innovator Award for their innovative use of a donation form widget built into the web page wrapper to boost their year-end fundraising campaign. This method provided supporters with an easy and streamlined way to donate online without leaving the page they visited. Being one of the first among faith-based nonprofit organizations to leverage the Donations API, Insight for Living was able to integrate their fundraising efforts to other branded offline and online efforts.

Constituent Empowerment

Jumpstart, an organization that brings college students and community volunteers together with preschool children for yearlong, individualized tutoring and mentoring, was presented with an Innovator Award for its Read for the Record campaign. This annual, international campaign brings preschool children together with valued grownups in their lives to read the same book on the same day, in communities worldwide. Jumpstart’s online campaign engaged constituents worldwide and empowered them to reach out to their own personal networks to promote participation. The campaign’s virtual book drive has raised $130,000 over the past two years; and the 1,000,000 participants in this year’s reading campaign was a dramatic increase from the 78,000 participants during its first year.

CRM Visionary with Common Ground™

Second Harvest Heartland, the Upper Midwest’s largest hunger-relief organization, was presented with an Innovator Award for their pioneering spirit and vision to utilize online constituent relationship management (CRM) solutions to consolidate data and to track and manage all of the relationships that are critical to fulfill their mission. The organization plans to manage everything from food and money donations to sponsor and volunteer information as well as its food distribution network. By being able to track all of this data in one system will help the organization know where its services are most needed across the 59 counties they serve, and will be vital for reporting back to donors and government agencies.

Email Communications

The Canadian Cancer Society, Ontario Division, a provincial division of the national community-based organization of volunteers, whose mission is the eradication of cancer and the enhancement of the quality of life of people living with cancer, was presented with an Innovator Award for their communications to promote the organization’s 2009 Relay For Life events. Canadian Cancer Society used Convio functionality to send email strategically for recruiting past Relay For Life participants, converting past donors into participants, and increasing overall participation, fundraising, and retention of the current year’s participants.

List Growth

California State Parks Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting, enhancing and advocating for California’s magnificent state parks, was presented with an Innovator Award for their online campaign against cutting the budget for California’s state parks by $70 million. Within four months of launching the online campaign, the organization tripled its email file, adding an average of almost 30,000 email addresses per month. The online campaign was mounted in early 2009 in response to the California governor’s proposed budget cuts that would force the closure of 220 state parks.

Online Fundraising

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a nonprofit organization that promotes healthy, plant-based diets for disease prevention and modern, nonanimal methods in medical education and research, received an Innovator Award for their use of Convio Online Marketing solutions to develop a year-end giving campaign that combined an advocacy component and a matching gift challenge. As a result of the campaign, over 900 gifts generated a 300 percent increase over the previous year’s online campaign.

Best Overall Use of Convio

World Wildlife Fund, the world’s leading conservation organization, received an Innovator Award for their use of Convio Online Marketing suite to improve fundraising, advocacy, email capabilities and website management. By customizing content based on constituents’ interests and past actions, integrating offline and online campaigns, and launching multi-series email campaigns, response rates have increased by as much as 40 percent and online revenue has jumped by nearly 80 percent.

Special Events

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and San Francisco AIDS Foundation received an Innovator Award for their creation of AIDS/LifeCycle, a seven-day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles that raises money and awareness for HIV and AIDS services. Using Convio TeamRaiser™, the two organizations were able to mobilize volunteers and give registrants the ability to use the web, email and tap into their online social networks such as Facebook to connect with friends and family to support their event participation.

Website

Jewish National Fund, a global environmental leader working to care for the land of Israel, received an Innovator Award for their strategy and development of the organization’s new website. They worked with Convio to redesign their website based on stakeholder and constituent research to create a more dynamic, personalized experience. The new site has enabled the creation of new online initiatives to improve education and awareness, while leveraging integrated fundraising tools to better engage donors and create a consistent web presence across all online properties.

Interviews with winners of the 2009 Summit Innovator Awards will be broadcast on Nonprofitlive.tv starting Tuesday, November 17, 2009.

More information on the Winners and Notable Mentions can be found at www.convio.com/2009innovators.

About Convio

Convio is passionate about helping nonprofit organizations use software and services to fulfill their missions. The company is the leading provider of online marketing, fundraising, advocacy and constituent relationship management software and services to nonprofit organizations. The company’s online marketing suite offers integrated software for fundraising, advocacy, events, email marketing and web content management, and its database system, Convio Common Ground™ CRM, helps organizations efficiently track and manage all interactions with supporters. All products are delivered through the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model and are backed by a portfolio of best-in-class consulting and support services and a network of partners who provide value-added services and applications focused on the unique needs of nonprofit organizations.

Nonprofit organizations used Convio to process $777 million in online donations during 2008 — a 72 percent increase over 2007. Convio clients sent more than 3.1 billion emails to constituents during that period with an industry leading deliverability rate in excess of 95 percent. Charities of all types used Convio to power more than 3,500 web domains as well as complete 44 million advocacy calls to action.

Online Advertising and Internet Marketing surpasses TV Ad Spend In the UK – SEO Trends

A sign of trouble for Television advertising revenue? A recent report indicates that after being a top advertising revenue generator for decades. Television advertising has relinquished its position to what is perhaps its rightful successor; digital media advertising.

Online spending budgets increased 4.6% to £1.752bn in the first 6 months of 2009, while Television expenditures decreased 16.1% to £1.639bn.

Advertising in general fell 16% when compared against the same period in 2008. The study was performed by the Pricewaterhouse Coopers and the Internet Advertising Bureau.

Classified ads, content targeted display ads, e-mail campaigns, and search engine optimisation are all considered forms of online advertising.
Companies are shifting their budgets and opting for the the often cheaper, more targeted methods available from digital advertising and Search engine marketing.

Search engine optimisation and PPC take over

The recession has brought a significant change to the budgets of advertising related to digital technology, Expensive television campaigns are quietly being replaced with PPC ads, and Search engine optimization techniques.

The editor of industry news website New Media Age, said that tough economic times have accelerated the drop in TV advertisement budgets, with television being overtaken by digital media a year sooner than expected.

Another Group, Thinkbox, the marketing body for the main UK television broadcasters, said the figures do not compare well.

Mixed Online Marketing Budgets, Vs. One TV Advert

Online marketing budgets consist of many things. Items like e-mail, classified ads, display ads and the largest segment, search marketing efforts. Should they should be judged separately? Are all online advertising methods the same. Not really.

The Internet is an amazing technology with many different opportunities to engage in marketing activities that perform in a variety of different methods. Still, it is interesting but thoughtless to combine all the money spent on every method of online advertising into one lump sum and declare that television is dead.

Television advertising is still the most effective advertising delivery method with it’s “pound for pound” value. However, what really works is when the two mediums are put together, combining television with digital media can be a very effective method of advertising for a website.

Television and digital media should not be seen as competition. They should work together in harmony, right along side each other.

How to Create Massive Wealth on the Internet With Domain Name Investment

Since the invention of information and communication technology, which gave birth to internet

, new business opportunities have been springing up almost everyday. People and companies all over the world now have access to the same opportunities to create wealth, and start up new business ventures and make investment on the internet.

The Opportunity

Although the internet has created the opportunity for people to start up and even buy up businesses, some businesses does not have the potential to create the desired wealth for it’s owner or investor, or lead him to financial freedom and wealth that the internet promises. This is due to the fact that not all online businesses have all the fundamental factors it takes to create wealth for its owner or investor.

The question then is; what kind of Online Business can anyone or a company invest in, that can generate massive wealth for him or them on the Internet?

The Answer to this question has opened doors of thoughts as to the factors that contribute to the success of an online business. But before I give the answer to this question, I would like to list the factors that contribute to the success of an online business.

They are:

(a) Creativity:- An Online business entrepreneur must possess creativity skills to develop a highly profitable concept for his online business.

(b) Types of Income: - An Online business entrepreneur must be able to possess the financial skills to know the type of income different online businesses generate, and to invest in the online business that gives him the best type of income. The best type of income you can earn on the Internet is found in pay per click Advertising Programmes / businesses, and is called income or Revenue per click. You earn such income when you are into Internet Domain name parking or Monetization.

(c) Secure Payment System: - An online business entrepreneur must have a secured payment method for his online business, though there are many ways to collect your online earnings or commissions but so far, the best payment system for anyone who owns an online business is Direct Wire Transfer, which is using a domiciliary account to collect your earnings or commissions.

(d) Control: For an online business entrepreneur, who wants to create wealth on the Internet, taking total control of his online business management is his online business management and website content management is his number one priority. For anyone to achieve success on the internet, he must have complete control of his online business, from the domain name WHO is control to the payment system to the type of income he earns from his online business.

(e) Marketing Strategies:- To generate massive traffic (high number of website visitors) to a website, increase it’s page rank and link popularity

, an online business entrepreneur must know the various Internet marketing and promotion techniques and how to use them to advertise and promote his website consistently online and offline.

Now, to answer the question “What kind of online business can anyone or company invest in that can generate massive wealth for Him/them on the Internet. My answer is simply Internet Domain Names investment.

Domain Names

Domain names are popular www names you see on the internet that ends with dot com. Dot net and dot Org extensions. For example www.perfsoft.info, Domain names are used to host websites and set up email addresses such as: yourname@yahoo.com.

What Is Domain Business?

A Domain name is also called Internet Real Estate, which means you can buy a domain name, develop it into a website and use it to make money from Internet advertising companies monthly and then sell it to a domain investor or domain investment company just as Real estate investment worlds in the real world. Where a real estate investor buys a piece of land develops a business complex on the land and he rents the building to business owners, and then later sells the property to a real estate investor or real estate investment company or trust. This is an over simplified example of domain name investment on the Internet. The domain name industry is worth billions of Dollars and is still growing real fast and more high net worth investors and domain investment companies are coming into the domain industry.

Practical Steps to Start Your Domain Business

(1) You need a domain name.

(2) You need a domain registration company to register you domain names.

(3) You need a domiciliary account in a bank to receive your domain earning (revenue).

(4) You need technical skills on how to create a valuable domain name, how to promote and advertise you website online and offline.

Who is a Domineer?

A Domain is an individual who invests in Domain names and uses the domain names to run pay per click advertising programme/businesses.

A Company who invests in Domain names portfolio for the purpose of using the domain names to run pay per click advertising business is called a domain names investment company or Internet Real estate investment trust (Internet REIT).

Online Video the Top Priority in Marketing

TurnHere has shared the results of an interesting survey on current and future trends in online video among brands and marketing agencies. The survey found that online video has and will continue to have a prominent place in the arsenal of marketers. It should be noted that TurnHere is an online video company.

"This survey clearly demonstrates that businesses of all sizes consider online video to be an integral part of their marketing mix," said Bud Rosenthal, CEO of TurnHere. "Online video is the number one priority among all online marketing tools for 2010, and that finding directly ties into the high satisfaction levels for video implementation and its return on investment (ROI)."

The survey was conducted throughout the third quarter of 2009, and included respondents from Fortune 500 companies, as well as regional brands, PR and traditional agencies. Surveyed companies had annual marketing budgets ranging from $100,000 to $5 million.TurnHere's report is available here.

Silverpop Delivers Online Engagement Marketing Solutions to Germany

Silverpop, a leading provider of online marketing solutions, has further solidified its leadership position in the new age of engagement marketing by opening an office in Munich, Germany. The company’s expansion into Germany is based upon the country’s thriving marketing community and the fact that Germany is one of the three biggest economies in Europe.

Entré into the German market for Silverpop is assisted by the European Founders Fund (EFF), a top-tier venture capital firm, holding common stock directly from the privately-held company and introducing Silverpop to its strong network of business relationships throughout Europe.

Silverpop’s team in Munich will be led by three regional sales managers. Marc Hergenroether has joined Silverpop from online marketing solutions provider Enecto, where he served as general manager for Germany. Given his experience in B2B marketing technologies, Marc will lead the sales efforts for Silverpop’s Engage B2B platform, which was recently recognized by JupiterResearch as offering the highest overall business value and market suitability among marketing automation vendors.

“There is tremendous opportunity to help German companies further engage their customers and prospects to boost their sales success, and Silverpop is uniquely qualified to provide the necessary solutions,” Hergenroether said. “The company has already experienced immense success in the U.K. and now has a highly qualified team on the ground in Germany to demonstrate how implementing more strategic engagement campaigns can benefit both B2C and B2B marketers.”

Beate Metz and John Thomson will lead Silverpop’s sales efforts for Silverpop Engage platform used by marketers to create and manage multichannel marketing campaigns that reach millions of individuals — one at a time — enhancing lifetime customer value and brand loyalty. Metz brings more than 10 years of online marketing experience to Silverpop, having previously served as a sales manager for Epsilon. Thomson most recently focused on the email marketing space as a key account manager for Premiere Global Services.

Also joining Silverpop in Munich as a sales engineer is Jan Tecker Siegel, formerly with Voice.Trust AG, where he served as a marketing communications manager.

“Silverpop helps companies refocus their online marketing efforts toward engaging and creating relationships with their customers rather than simply distributing messages to them,” said Corey Williams, vice president of emerging markets for Silverpop. “While German marketers are already keenly aware of the effectiveness of online marketing, Silverpop will help them adapt to fundamental shifts in the marketplace, move their campaigns to the next level and deliver increased revenue for their organizations.”

About Silverpop

Silverpop's Engagement Marketing suite helps turn prospects into customers, and customers into fans. Silverpop's Web-based solutions enable companies worldwide to build relationships with customers and prospects through the creation, automation and delivery of relevant, online messaging.

Companies rely on the Silverpop Engage platform to create and manage multichannel marketing campaigns that reach millions of individuals — one at a time — enhancing lifetime customer value and brand loyalty. Silverpop's Engage B2B platform seamlessly scores sales leads, nurtures them through the pipeline and measures campaign return on investment. And Silverpop's strategic counsel, service and support helps clients with the precise level of training and advice needed to quickly improve campaign results and ROI. Silverpop makes it easy and affordable for marketers to create, automate and execute campaigns ... from first click to lifetime customer. With offices in the United States, England and Germany, Silverpop's engagement marketing technologies are used by industry-leading brands around the globe. Best practices and white papers are available at www.silverpop.com.

Organizations going to extreme lengths for online marketing

f there is any question about the importance of online marketing and social media today, one need only look at the dramatic lengths some organizations are going to in hopes of gaining visibility through tools like blogs and social networking sites.

Earlier this month the Australian tourism bureau announced that it had hired 34-year-old Ben Southall to be the "caretaker" of the country's Great Barrier Reef for six months and write a weekly blog about the experience. For the honor, Southall will be paid $110,000.

Going even further, one California winery is looking to hire a "social media whiz" for a six-month job to tell people about wine and Sonoma County through the use of various social media outlets.

In calling online marketing and social networking a "pretty good thing," the Murphy-Goode Winery says the person it hires - who will be given the title of "Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent" - should be well versed in Web 2.0.

"[W]e’re looking for someone (maybe you) who really knows how to use Web 2.0 and Facebook and blogs and social media and YouTube and all sorts of good stuff like that …," the winery says.

But increasing visibility isn't the only reason some are hiring these social media experts. Recently Pizza Hut announced it was looking to hire a "twintern" - an intern who will use Twitter - as part of its PR team.

The company's vice president of marketing communication told the New York Times that in addition to getting the news out about the chain, the twintern would scour the internet looking for negative press in an effort to keep it from getting out of hand.

Realcomp and Point2 Technologies Complete Internet Marketing Services Rollout

Realcomp, one of Michigan’s largest real estate MLSs and Point2 Technologies have announced the successful implementation and delivery of the industry’s most advanced listing syndication and online marketing technology services program, to Realcomp’s 11,000 members.

The program enables Realcomp members - brokers and agents to conveniently tap Point2’s industry leading suite of online marketing tools including automated syndication and Web marketing analytics and reports.

“Realcomp is proud to be one of the first MLSs in the United States to bring to its members the power and added value of the largest real estate online listing distribution network to help them capitalize on their listing assets,” said Karen Kage, Realcomp chief executive officer. “With the Michigan market being one of the most attractive for buyers right now, and interest rates at their lowest in decades, our member listings are now well positioned where buyers can find them online.”

Saul Klein, Point2’s Chief Executive Officer said: “Realcomp has demonstrated great foresight and leadership in recognizing and enabling its membership to harness the power of the Internet to market listings. Our close association with Realcomp and, the technical complexity of this initiative further reinforces Point2’s superior technology and commitment to delivering the best syndication and revenue generating solutions for MLSs and their members, across the country.”

Glasses Supplier Announces Move of Online Glasses Marketing and Manufacturing

Rapid growth in the sales and supply of glasses online required Spex4Less to find bigger facilities in order to react to customer demand. Purchasing glasses online has quickly gained acceptance as a realistic way of buying quality spectacles for significantly less than the high street. Where glasses bought online started as cheap single vision lenses in a limited range of frames, it has now developed into more complex prescriptions and frames including fashion rimless glasses and varifocal spectacles.Spex4Less has been a pioneer in developing the way glasses are bought online since 2004 and is now one of the largest suppliers in Europe.

Mark Bowden started www.Spex4Less.com above his opticians shop in Bolton five years ago.

"It started really just as a way to share my experience as an optician with a wider audience" said Mark, "But it quickly became clear that there was a huge segment of the glasses wearing population that was dissatisfied with the cost and selection of spectacles available on the high street".

The enquiry and order level started the day we opened the site for business, and has never looked back. It became clear that we needed to acquire specialist facilities and staff just to service the demand for online glasses, and to separate it completely from our high street operation. We felt that we had to be cautious in the rate at which we expanded and any new facilities that we moved to had to be ready in parallel as customer service and manufacturing cycle time could not be allowed to suffer. Our new building has the latest equipment to meet the most rigorous demands from our customers, and still has room to grow.

People buying their glasses online today still only accounts for about 5% of all spectacles bought in Europe, but as a segment it continues to grow rapidly. We anticipate that our new facilities are sufficient for our next stage of growth, but in the online world that can change quickly.

John Styles, who is managing the Wirral operation, commented "We are very happy with the way the transition preceded. We had a lot of work in progress that we successfully moved from Bolton to the Wirral without significantly impacting customers."

We now have all of our equipment up and running at full capability and while we have successfully attracted staff to join our team on the Wirral, one of our biggest challenges remains finding people from the optical industry who comprehend the potential and are comfortable working in such a vibrant and dynamic business. Supplying glasses online is a lot different to selling on the high street, and it takes someone special to grasp the opportunity going forward.

For additional information about Spex4Less or to discuss opportunities with us, contact Kevin Styles or visit www.Spex4Less.com. 

About www.Spex4Less.com :

Spex4Less is one of Europe's leading suppliers of fashion and designer prescription eyewear online.

Contact:

Kevin Styles

Spex4Less

0151 632 6611

http://www.spex4less.com

Over Half Of Online marketing for Retailers Decreasing Search Spend

The weak economy is driving online retailers to shift their marketing budgets and cut back on search marketing, according to a study by Forrester Research on behalf of Shop.org. The study surveyed 117 online retailers in the throes of a relatively abysmal first quarter about how they planned to allocate their online marketing budget. While a third will be spending less over all, over half of them (56%) said they would be scaling back search marketing specifically, indicating a plan to reallocate funds toward other venues like email and social media. Email seems an especially popular option, with 88 percent listing email as a high priority, the majority of them focusing on segmented emails to customers based on stated preferences or purchase data. Others will be highlighting new products and featuring online promotions via email. That indicates customer retention as the primary goal and not so much gaining new customers. "Online retailers are trying to weather this economic storm by doing more with less, making smart spending decisions, and leveraging effective, affordable tactics like email to grow their businesses." said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org.However, the idea that recession is the best time increase the marketing budget isn’t a foreign one—when there’s less money to go around, it makes sense to be more aggressive, not less. The other (slightly less than) half of that group have no plans to cut back original budgets and will be forging ahead as planned. A quarter of them will take advantage of others’ decreased search spending by increasing their own budget for search and across the board. Of that minority, 80 percent will increase search, 65 percent will increase email, and 60 percent will increase social marketing. The increase in social media spending is interesting. For many this arena will be a testing ground, and for others it will be a strategy in lieu of the rising cost of search marketing. However, the numbers to support such a drastic switch aren’t quite there yet, according to Hitwise. Search still drives over 30 percent of traffic to retail sites; shopping and classifieds drives 25 percent; and email drives over 10 percent

OddBodd tries to make online marketing, networking easier for small firms to manage

Nolan Collins' idea for OddBodd.com, a one-stop video Web directory and online marketing hub that serves consumers and local businesses, emerged from his experience as a small-business owner.Collins, who headed two other companies, understands the growing importance of online marketing and social media, but he also knows small-business owners don't have time to manage five or six Web sites each day for leads. OddBodd.com, inspired by Collins' boyhood nickname, pulls together a suite of online marketing services, including videos, job ads, event listings, blogs, announcements, promotional offers, maps and mini Web sites called "boddsites." For a fee, currently $5 a month, OddBodd uses a content-management system that's simple enough for small-business owners to learn in a few minutes, Collins said. It takes just four steps: click, drop, edit and save.
What's more, OddBodd has a social networking component that makes it easy for its 1,000 business members to recommend one another to their networks. "Businesses can connect with each other but still have customers come there to look for them," he said.The concept is intended to help small businesses accomplish multiple tasks without being overwhelmed by the myriad social networking offerings, from YouTube and Twitter to Plaxo and LinkedIn. Collins spent about two years researching what businesses were looking for in online marketing, then worked with an IT company in India to develop the multifaceted technology, designed to save businesses time and money.Small-business owners often sign up for more marketing endeavors than they have time to manage, said Melissa Giovagnoli, founder of Networlding.com and a LinkedIn coach."I think it's foolish to be on all of them ... because a small business has real trouble handling that," she said. "If you do more than one, there is constant management required."Still, online networking can open up a new line of customers, Giovagnoli said. "You want to use your social media tools wisely and get to a point where you can effectively do one-to-one quality communication."Giovagnoli said 40 percent of her business comes from LinkedIn, where she has joined multiple groups and established herself as a leader. She said being an early adopter of social media has its benefits: "There is a veil over it still. That's what is creating the window of opportunity." KeyLime Cove Water Resort in Gurnee said response to its OddBodd presence has been growing as it adds keywords. OddBodd gives business members up to 500 keywords to help users find their company as they search the site. But the resort also is picking up referral business, thanks to recommendations from other companies using OddBodd.The networking aspect has impressed Dwight Houchins, president of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, where about 25 percent of its more than 400 members are using OddBodd, he said. "People buy from people they know and like," Houchins said. "Relationship marketing is really, really hot." By developing relationships online, businesses can create large networks of people who will support one another. OddBodd makes it easy to expand your online network. "It's taking relationship marketing to a whole new level," Houchins said.The registration fee is $99 and includes a video shot by OddBodd. Companies that provide their own videos pay $60 to register, then $5 a month, though Collins plans to increase monthly fees after OddBodd.com moves out of beta testing. By providing customer support, OddBodd is setting itself apart from better-known competitors, Houchins said.Still, will OddBodd work in the long term? Its strategy of trying a test version in the local market before rolling it out to new ones makes sense, said Steven Rogers, professor of entrepreneurship at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. "You want to prove the concept locally and keep your costs under control, then replicate whatever success you have to other regions of the country. It's a great strategy," Rogers said.OddBodd's success depends partly on whether it is financially sustainable. Collins said he has raised $150,000 from individuals to develop the beta version, and the company is close to the break-even point. The company has gotten the attention of local investors."I'm not a social media person, but I thought it was a great twist to online directories. Nobody else is providing this detailed information on events, offers, directions and networks in one place," said investor Greg Worcester.The video component that is front and center on OddBodd.com is "the wave of future," Worcester said.