A successful press release knows its audience; it provides topical, lively, understandable and easy to use content for journalists.

An unsuccessful press release confuses its audience; producing topical, lively, understandable, and easy to use content for your colleagues.

Understanding the media agenda and writing accordingly can add inches to a clip book. It might sound obvious, but countless press releases are so company specific they fail to grasp the attention of journalists reporting on the big industry issues.

Agencies contracted to deliver releases can rest at the approval stage. Our campaign and results focus means that we’ll go the extra mile to make them work.

We write media content for journalists because our clients know it’s the coverage that really counts.

Wouldn’t it be great if your customers were as keen to be interviewed by journalists as journalists are to interview your customers.

Customers, often monitoring a large capital outlay, are nervous in case the investment they’ve made in you – no matter how unlikely - becomes subject to change. Sadly, your most media friendly customers often adopt this position, leaving second tier customers, with limited media appeal, to supply case study content.

At Now Communications we solve this problem by broadening the scope of your case study. We make participating more attractive to customers and so deliver more powerful, objective thinking to the media.

Moving from a company focus to an industry focus makes big customers less apprehensive and small customers more compelling. We might include more than one customer, independent sources, the latest statistics and, if it’s the right move, even a competitor.

The end result? A custom built media story with a case study built in.

Many publications will accept well written opinion or soapbox contributions if they are informative or controversial.

The right piece in the right publication can introduce potential customers to your business and educate them about your products and services. However, there’s no point in producing an article before an editor has agreed to publish it.

To find the right home, articles must be publication specific.

At Now Communications we’ll produce a synopsis consistent with campaign messages and pitch it to the best publications. When we reach agreement with an editor we’ll produce the on-message copy in line with the publication’s profile. There’s no such thing as a one size fits all approach, so we don’t try it.

Editors are, rightly, pretty precious about their features list; after all, it’s how they stamp their intelligence and personality on their audience.

As a rule, they’ll publish lists, allocate writers and keep pretty close control over the content.

Impacting an editorial calendar can be difficult: publication dates are at the editor’s discretion and writers will have a number of contacts ready with a quote.

The best way to make an impact on features is to pitch good ideas. Again, while editors are unlikely to consider a company specific story – a topical angle, focused on big industry issues, will make an impact.

At Now Communications we regularly pitch feature ideas based on breaking news and events. At the heart of every proactive pitch you’ll find one of our clients. For us, it’s about a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to a features campaign.

Journalists complain that companies often fail to field great speakers when there’s a good story to tell, yet receive countless invites to uninspiring events.

Frankly, this is a fact of business life. Management need to work to defined schedules, journalists must react to breaking news. It’s hard to balance the needs of a business with the needs of mainstream media. One week you’re news, the next you’re not.

The best way to minimise media volatility is to take steps to ensure an event’s impact. For example if a big government report on your industry is due, it makes sense to talk to the press just before or immediately after. The report will put the issue on the agenda when schedules can be planned.

At Now Communications we’ll only suggest an event when it’s consistent with the campaign theme; by understanding what’s round the corner and the impact it will have, we can ensure your event will be topical and well attended.

Most stock photography is pretty static: a few headshots of senior management, some product shots and the odd picture of the HQ.

These pictures will come in handy for everyday work, but they have limited use when you’re actually selling a story.

Commissioning active photography, on the other hand, can make the difference between a scoop and a non-story. It’s no secret that publications receive thousands of words every day, but little in the way of inspiring picture support.

At Now Communications we consider the role of photography in every campaign. Never an expensive add-on, the picture, audio, video or graphic support we develop helps us sell the story across multiple media channels.

Using only the best photographers, producers & designers, we go on-site to find the best active visuals that bring a story to life and add further beef to an ongoing campaign.

Now NewsMaker is a thematic approach to media campaigning that fuses the key messages your business needs to communicate with the topical news triggers that journalists want to focus on.

Working directly with the media targets you need to influence most, NewsMaker campaigns develop compelling written and visual content that anchor your business comment into comprehensive news & feature packages that inspire journalists and win coverage.

If your agency blames you for not producing enough news then it’s time to rethink. Only a lazy agency will put the onus on you to produce ongoing campaign tools month after month.

We take the opposite approach. Working around breaking news and hot topics, we create campaigns that give journalists fully rounded ideas to help them create, analyse and illustrate topical stories on a daily basis.

A NewsMaker campaign is designed from a journalist’s eye view and focuses squarely on the big issues. We integrate our clients’ views with complementary sources to provide journalists with the range of opinions and viewpoints worth publishing. And it works.

Why not go the extra mile that a NewsMaker campaign offers your business. We can assure you, it’s not too crowded there.

Don’t need all the clever stuff? Check out media basics

But no, we didn’t do all of this just for the pizza. Frankly, we didn’t even do it for the industry-wide recognition we’ve received via the project (although that’s always nice). What we really like about the the Hot 100 rankers project is the forensic-class investigation that goes on behind the scenes: that’s why we do it.

You learn a lot when you undertake a project like this one, so we’re pretty stoked with data at the moment. Here’s the bottom line on the top stuff that’s blowing our minds right now.

Mind blowing bombshell #1: the very best content usually sits on the least optimised websites

It’s true! Some of the best content we found in eLearning, training and HR sits on some of the weakest websites (in terms of their SEO and SMO clout), and some of the weakest content sits on steroid induced, supercharged search and socially optimised powerhouses.

Why does this matter? Well: Great online marketing (that’s the kind that nurtures leads and converts web visitors into customers) depends on both. First, you need really compelling content. You know the kind of thing: It’s like, you just can’t look away! Second, you need a super effective platform where customers and prospects can find your content easily, interact with it, endorse it and ultimately, share it.

The big bombshell that hits you when we research the world’s leading learning tech companies’ websites is that most of them are dramatically better at one of these dependencies than the other. It’s only when you get close to the upper echelons of the top 20 or so, that both content quality and platform efficiency start to receive equal billing.

How do we know? Well, the biggest indicator comes when you compare a website’s social traction (how often its visitors share, like or bookmark content) with what we might call its technical readiness for effective search and social marketing.

Routinely we found company websites scoring high because meticulous attention to search and social optimisation gave them impressive technical clout, but these supercharged websites seldom followed through with evidence that this clout was really being leveraged. Content which was technically well optimised for search, was only rarely being endorsed (liked, tweeted, dugg, shared, etc) by real people.

Conversely, most of the sites that made our chart on the strength of good, issues-based, topical content, tended to suffer somewhat because the news and insight they offered up was not housed on a well optimised, social friendly web platform. SEO scores on these websites was usually lower and an overall lack of social/sharing opportunities made these sites harder for those impressed with what they read, to spread the word.

bombshell #2

Outside of the top 10, the upper half of our Hot 100 table is dominated with company websites that usually score best in terms of “technical readiness” (i.e.,Google likes them). Companies in the bottom half of the chart are usually there because they score higher in terms of social pick-up (i.e., people like them).

What could that mean? Well, we’re speculating a tiny bit, but a lot of this might be about bigger companies having budget to spend on SEO/SMO while smaller companies need to depend on good ideas and encouraging support from known communities. Good ideas housed on a supercharged search and social optimised platform will get you in the very top tier of the chart, but being pretty efficient at just one of these things is enough to win a spot somewhere at the table.

The big issue for many of the larger companies at the top half of the chart is that solving an SEO/SMO problem is usually much easier than solving a content problem. Optimising a website and ensuring that it’s equipped for search and social marketing requires only budget and the resources to commission a respected SEO expert: The majority of the companies listed higher than spot 50 in our chart would seem to have done this part already. Delivering well-designed, compelling content that connects with customers, nurtures leads and builds authority is much harder: Only the upper 15-20% of our hotlist can claim to be doing this really effectively.

Bombshell #3

The most often missed SEO hygiene factors could be corrected in less than a week.

When we say “hygiene factors” we mean the boring techie bits that the geeks at the Googleplex love but creative marketing types like us hate. Brace yourself young marketing master: you’re about to read a paragraph about meta data.

OK, so none of us did these arts degrees and MBAs so we could end up scrolling through reams of search friendly tags, but we should at least have the discipline to check that the poor coder or web designer we passed this eye-wateringly boring task over to has actually done it.

Putting the never ending, raging debate over meta tags aside for a second, two pieces of meta data really do matter: The title tag (that’s the 70 or less characters that asually appear in the blue bit at the very top of the browser) and the descriptions tag (that’s the 160 or less characters that should be there to summarise what a page is all about). These two tags are usually the first things that search engines use to match your business with potential customers searching online so if they’re not right, you’re left at the starting blocks while competitors get a head start. And fixing them is so incredibly easy.

Bombshells #4 –  ’nuff already, I get the picture!

We’d love to go on, but the truth is, we’re a relevance marketing company and we’re pretty sure that we’re about to lose half of you if we proceed much further. What say we break things down and get a little personal?

Join us at our Marketers for Webucation group on LinkedIn if you’ve a bombshell of your own you’d like to debate with like-minded marketers, or connect with us direct at if you’d like to brainstorm some savvy SEO-tastic content marketing caper of your own.

Now relevance marketing: not everyone gets it!

The all-new, updated and revised edition of our most influential tweeters in learning technology chart is out now.

It’s the only chart in the business that actually asks real marketing people in learning technology to vote for the tweeters they really like to follow, so we don’t think we’re exaggerating too much when we say it’s pretty unique.

How to read the chart

Overall Ranking by votes: Over 700 marketing people working in learning technology, HR or the L&D industry were asked to vote for the tweeters they think influence them most. The resulting list below is the 20 most influential tweeters as chosen by the marketing community we invited to take part.

Just for fun, we’ve also detailed average Klout and PeerIndex scores for the top 20: there are lots of really popular online tools out there which claim to measure social influence but Klout are PeerIndex are often regarded as two of the best.  Also, we’ve included the number of followers (1k =1000 followers) that each influential tweeter has.

By default, the chart lists the Top 20 most influential tweeters in order of votes received from the 700+ learning technology marketers we asked to take part.  You can re-order the chart to see how this top 20 ranks in terms of Klout score or PeerIndex by clicking the arrows next to the icons.

Klout and PeerIndex scores were checked three times over the course of March 2012 and have been averaged out.  All data was compiled using data generated in March 2012.

 = Klout score      = PeerIndex score   = tweeter’s location   = Number of followers

	Name	@name	Twitter bio
1	Jay Cross	@jaycross	Business consultant, author, expert on informal learning Berkeley, California · http://jaycross.com		64	52	+6K
2	Steve Cushing	@Montberte	Always having FUN, learning, laughing, loving, trying new stuff. Education writer/publisher live in the south of France, work in London and US. quite a commute! France · http://www.bongollp.com		60	54	+69K
3	Tony Karrer	@tonykarrer	CEO TechEmpower, CTO for Hire, software, web development, eLearning, and work literacy. Los Angeles, California · http://socalcto.blogspot.com		36	53	+5K
4	Steve Wheeler	@timbuckteeth	Web 2.0 researcher, author of The Digital Classroom, Associate Professor of learning technology, international speaker, disruptive activist. Plymouth, UK · http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com		59	52	+11K
5	Rj Jacquez	@rjacquez	Former Adobe Evangelist. Now eLearning & mLearning Analyst. Writing eBooks and Blogging the Mobile Learning Revolution as it happens. Join me. Hablo Español. San Diego, CA · http://rjacquez.com		56	55	+7K
6	Paulo Simões	@pgsimoes	Portuguese Air Force eLearning Evangelizer, PLE Researcher & Informal Learner. European Distance E-Learning Network Steering Committee NAP Advisor. Portugal · http://www.pgsimoes.net		59	61	+6K
7	Steve	@2learn2	Passionate about everything to do with teaching and learning. France/London/US · http://www.bongollp.com	/	51	57	+27K
8	Nancy Rubin	@nancyrubin	Interdisciplinary Ph.D. ★ Twitter-holic ★ Compulsive Sharer About Social Media, Learning and other cool stuff ★ All views my own ★ @nancyrubin New York, NY · http://nancy-rubin.com/		50	62	+4K
9	David hopkins	@hopkinsdavid	eLearning, mLearning, Web 2.0, Blogging, WordPress, Blackboard, Tech, CMALT, QR Codes, Social Media, eBooks - Learning Technologist. All views are my own Bournemouth, UK · http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk		44	52	+4K
10	Shelly S Terrell	@ShellTerrell	Education thought-provoker, The 30 Goals Challenge author, International Speaker, #Edchat founder, Host for AM TESOL Free Fri Webinars, SC Mgr @TheConsultantsE		56	60	+20K
11	Ian Huckabee	@WeejeeLearning	Social strategist and technologist. Co-founder of WeejeeLearning. E-learning solutions for Fortune 500s, non-profits and more. Writer. Love laughter. Chapel Hill, NC · http://weejeelearning.com		46	46	+18K
12	Joyce Seitzinger	@catspyjamasnz	Education technologist & networked learner. Lecturer in Blended Learning @ Deakin. Created Moodle Tool Guide. Exploring Digital Curation. Speaker. Views my own. Melbourne, Australia · http://www.cats-pyjamas.net		61	56	+4K
13	#CRED project	@web20education	CRED #edtech20 #SocialMedia Project #Curation Restart Education by @LucianeCurator ; http://xeeme.com/ecurator/ ; http://central.ly/web20education Caransebes , Romania · http://bit.ly/CurationKing		45	51	+5K
14	Juan Doming	@juandoming	Researcher and teacher in e-learning, educational technologies and knowledge management l, online facilitator. santa barbara ·· http://myonepage.com/juandoming		66	58	+8K
15	Christopher Pappas	@cpappas	► Why haven't you joined us yet? 25,000+ eLearning professionals! ► The #eLearning Industry Blog http://www.elearningindustry.com		53	48	+9K
16	Alec Couros	@courosa	Professor of educational technology & media at the Faculty of Education, University of Regina. Regina, Canada · http://www.couros.ca		61	53	+17K
17	SIMFIN	@simfin	Presenter and guide on e learning, new technologies and e safety. Will work for pie. NE England · http://simfin.wordpress.com/about/		48	57	+3K
18	Mark Brumley	@markbrumley	Educational technology leader committed to 21st Century learners and their teachers. Technology trainer. Presenter. Edublogger. Father of 2. www.markbrumley.com		54	59	+16K
19	Tom Kuhlmann	@tomkuhlmann	I write the Rapid Elearning Blog where I share practical tips & tricks for building elearning courses. Subscribe and get a free ebook. WA · http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning		47	49	+5K
20	Shirley Ayres	@shirleyayres	Digital Strategy & Communications Consultant - empowering people who care with ideas & knowledge through #socialmedia #sociallearning #ukcare @CfSocialS United Kingdom · http://shirleyayres.wordpress.com/		52	60	+4K

Jump here to vote your favourite tweeter into the next edition of the Webucation’s Most Influential Tweeters chart.

“My web statistics are about the same as they were six months ago, so why have I dropped down the top 100 Highest Ranking Web Sites in Learning Technology Chart?”

“Is an optimised site really necessary when most of my prospects come via direct marketing?”

“No genuine prospect in my marketplace is ever going to buy the kind of products and services I offer online so why should my rankings matter?”

We get lots of questions from lots of marketers in webucation every time we crunch the numbers to update the 100 Highest Ranking Web Sites in Learning Technology Chart. Often these are things we’ve dealt with in the past in articles like this one, but every new chart inspires its own batch of queries, so here’s a distilled overview of the most popular Q and A’s we’ve dealt with since we published the Jan 2012 rankings last month.

1. My web statistics haven’t changed much over the past six months but my place in the chart has taken a tumble?

The most frequently asked FAQ this time round, the reason for this is simple:  Some companies have been busy optimising their online sales potential while others have been grazing.  We noticed the biggest improvements from B2B learning tech companies based in India and the US.  Companies like iSpring Solutions, UpsideLearning or Expertus, which didn’t feature too heavily in the rankings last time round, have upped their game dramatically and really taken search and social marketing options by the reigns.

What’s really interesting is that many of these companies seem to be much more interested in international markets than they were 12 or even six months ago: They’re optimising web pages intended specifically for, say, UK, German or French based visitors by adding language options and recalibrating site structures.

Often, these pages for international audiences have been available for some time but have never been given high-priority. Now companies outside of Europe are spending more time researching keywords and phrases that perform well in Britain (like “eLearning NHS”) and some are starting to use Geolocation software (which delivers different content to different visitors depending on where they are) to develop specific campaigns for European markets.  It’s leaner, more efficient competition from outside of Europe which is catching up rather than traditional high-performers falling back.

2. Is a high-ranking website really necessary when most of my prospects come via direct marketing?

Ah yes, the good old trusty database marketing and newsletter combo.  The outbound stuff where you email out some really compelling news and wait for the recipient to click on the hyperlink you sent them.

Direct marketing is fantastic when it gets through to the person it’s intended to reach, but usually that’s not nearly as often as most direct marketing devotees like to admit.   Contacts go out of date and open rates plummet as email systems become more spam savvy.  In our experience, when marketers in webucation do pluck up the courage to track the effectiveness of their direct mail activities, most of them are gob-smacked. When pure-play database / newsletter marketing is working really well, most people seem to be happy with open rates of about 10 percent.  Open rates of 13 percent are usually considered “above average”.

So if you’re happy to create marketing content and campaigns designed exclusively for about 1 in 10 of the identified prospects you already have on your database, direct email marketing is the perfect tool for the job.

The really weird bit here is that most direct marketing devotees make the case for the DM/newsletter combo by saying things like, “We know who our customers are, we know their emails and we know how to reach them”, which essentially sounds more like a hit-man’s threat than a marketing guru’s invitation.

3. No genuine prospect in my marketplace is ever going to buy the kind of products and services I offer online so why should my website matter?

Cheap flights, music downloads, Groupon vouchers for teeth whitening sessions:  these are what sells on the internet right? Not the complex, b2b consultancy based learning and development stuff you trade in.  Well yes, but really it’s all about getting creative with the transaction.  No one’s asking you to bolt an eCommerce system onto the back office and wait for customers to add a Talent Management System to the online cart before proceeding to checkout.

Think about the “information transactions” that your sales people routinely undertake with prospects as they build towards a deal.  At the blunt end there’s all the basic stuff: names are exchanged, email contact details are swapped.  As leads are nurtured, prospects will tend to outline their particular needs in return for personal presentations or product demos.  Ultimately trust is built and sales are achieved through a developing series of connections made between prospects and your sales force.   So how far along the lead nurturing process can your online marketing strategy actually take you? When most marketers really think this through, it’s pretty far.

At the fat end of the pipeline there’s the simple task of contact acquisition, which is what happens when your website’s visitors “transact” their email address for some information you have. Further up the pipeline, with just a little bit of careful consideration, online and social marketing tactics will help profile and qualify your prospects to support the sales process.  Ultimately the complex b2b consultancy based sale you thought you had to make looks pretty simple, because your prospects know more about you and what you do.

Got your own questions about the 100 Highest Ranking Web Sites in Learning Technology Chart?

Just ask us and well get right back to you. Contact us at hello [at] nowcomms.com or join our Marketers in Webucation group on LinkedIn

What’s the difference between the people who access the online learning content you create and the people who visit your company website?

It’s a pretty simple question really but it’s one that many marketers in eLearning, training and HR seem to sidestep. To illustrate the answer, we’d like you to imagine one stick and one carrot. Now, while most of the cool interactive stuff you use to create really compelling learning content certainly does need to be demonstrated on the company website, the key thing to remember is that your prospects and customers can’t be prodded with the stick, they need to be coaxed with the carrot.

If we build it they will come – won’t they?

Learning tech websites need to educate less and sell more. When we write this all out in black and white it looks painfully obvious, yet time and again, one of the main weaknesses we see in the company websites hovering on the wrong side of this industry’s top 100 highest rankers, is a misguided assumption that if you build a great looking site, customers and prospect will come. These sites can be compelling, engaging, rich in flash, video and other highly interactive content, but they fall down because they lack the essential inbound marketing tactics that online lead-nurturing and customer conversions depend on.

But how can an industry so skilled in the art of educating people in the workplace via the internet, ever misfire when it comes to engaging with prospects via the company website? After all it’s just a case of educating customers about your products and services, right?

Having put the marcomms tactics of the top 100 ranking websites under the microscope this January, we’ve come up with a theory on this (this is where you need the stick and the carrot).

From the boardroom to the course designers, coders and developers that actually make eLearning, the vast majority of people in this industy really get the importance of compelling interactive content: these are the things that make learning immersive, enjoyable, effective and successful. But, outside of the marketing department, what many in this industry don’t get quite so readily, is the importance of the search, social and other inbound marketing basics that people like us depend on.

Tactics that encourage inbound communications aren’t in the DNA of the wider business because the courses that training companies create are usually commissioned for a pre-defined, guaranteed audience.

Almost inevitably, the audience for eLearning content can be effectively corralled. Whether it’s a gentle prod from the HR department or a sugar coated compliance condition in the job spec, your average audience for eLearning is ultimately coerced into engaging with online content using interruptive tactics that marketing people like us would kill for.

Understanding this point is important for almost every marketer working in eLearning because rolling out promotional campaigns in today’s tough business environment usually means recruiting skills from internal designers, coders and developers who are much more familiar with what’s required for a successful eLearning product than they are with what’s required for a successful inbound marketing campaign.

Over the course of the past months, projects like our eLearning, Training and HR Marketers Spending Review or the Top 100 Highest Rankers Chart have helped us gather the thoughts of marketers in this sector.

As far as we can see, marketers in this industry do start out with well rounded campaign briefs that consider the need for inbound, search and social-based marcomms, but sustaining these elements becomes difficult if campaign briefs are fed into a web development machine that is, understandably, optimised to produce the great eLearning that is the lifeblood of the wider business.

Here are some of the most likely casualties:

1. Meta tags that matter: It’s been ages since Google took any notice of meta “keywords” but that doesn’t mean that some of the other meta tags aren’t still important. The “title” (70 characters max) and “description” (160 characters max) tags are really important because they show up in Google search results, but in more than a quarter of the sites we’ve studied, one or both of these tags are either not present or they fail to adequately describe the products or services on offer.

Since students don’t usually find the courses they need via Google, it would seem that meta tags are often extremely low priority for course designers. As a result, they are often little more than an afterthought for internal developers who are asked to assist in the production of online marketing. The worst examples we’ve seen are title tags like “Company XX: we have a catchy slogan but it doesn’t really capture what we do concisely”, or “Company Y: we’re an awards winning company”. Google’s index (usually) hates catchy slogans and customers rarely ever search for “award winning suppliers”. Much better examples are things like Articulate’s “E-Learning Software and Authoring Tools” or (perhaps even better) Skillsoft’s “E-Learning for Business Skills & IT Certification”, where the title includes lots of words that potential customers are likey to use in search. Jump over to our most recent Top 100 ranking websites in eLearning and learning technology and study the descriptions listed for each company under the “their place in the space” column.  This isn’t how we chose to categorise these companies, it’s how they describe themselves in their own description meta tags on their sites.  The best ones always take a simple “it says what it does on the tin” approach.

2. Keyword research: Another SEO basic that often falls down the void in eLearning, training and HR marketing is careful adoption and ongoing use of properly researched keywords and phrases.

The search engines have sussed out all cheap tricks like keyword stuffing or cloaking and these days good keyword research is all about integrating key phrases sensitively into good, sharable content.

Keyword research and implementation would normally occur sometime after the marketing department has created copy for a new product or service and before the web designer turns this copy into an online promotion. Its effect on the tone and message communicated in the copy may be minimal (for instance, good keyword research may ascertain that a company offer for “serious games” has much more chance of success if it opts to use the key phrase “business simulations”) but its impact on a promotion’s success can be immense.

Closing the skills gap on keyword research can be more difficult internally but if external help is not an option, there’s plenty of decent software available out there, and most of it goes some way towards sparking up a keyword strategy. Two really useful FireFox plug-ins to help with SEO are: KGEN – which displays the strongest keywords on any web page (IE: run competitors that you think are doing a decent job through KGEN to get an idea of the kind of vocab that works well for them) and Keyword Spy SEO/PCC – which allows you to search behind adwords on Google to see which keywords are driving the ads insertions. Basic versions of both of these are free.

3. Localisation: Typically, when a busines works out of several regions, marketers need to devise strategies that allow consumers in one country to access specific content (for instance, at the moment, it’s a good idea for a UK-based learning and training company to promote any credentials and products it has for the health sector or the NHS, but if the same company sells into the US market, it would probably want to promote any credentials it had in defence (see our SEO in elearning story if you’d like to know why).

When search and social marketing experts think about doing this kind of localisation, they instinctively take into account the weak spots that may arise when a company’s web presence needs to be accessible to multiple cultures in multiple countries (Essentially all interactions from anyone anywhere should be leveraged to help build global authority online).

This does not happen if a company’s site in, say, the UK, is hosted and managed independently of its sister site in, say, the US. This type of regionalised, but separate approach is currently the main reason why many Pan-European or global providers in eLearning, training and HR have high ranking websites in one country, but very low ranking sites in another.

Staying the course can be tricky

It’s not that marketers in this industry don’t set out to produce search and socially optimised company websites – they do. It’s just that staying the course can be tricky when the tune you’re asking folks to sing to is in a different key to the one they’re most used to. But since few of the companies we want to sell to are likely to make visiting our sites a compliance point for their training managers and directors anytime soon, we’re going to have to rely on the staples of content and relevance marketing to get us noticed for the foreseeable future.

The rules in Hollywood are exactly the same as the rules in business, so as the movie world’s rich and famous charge their glasses at the infamous post – awards parties Sunday night, we’re taking a behind the scenes look at how to play the recognition game in your industry.

You’ve got to be in it to win it: most companies don’t win awards because most companies don’t enter them

George Clooney didn’t get nominated for best actor by being coy and anyone who’s actually seen The Tree of Life (right to the end)  is likely to need little convincing that some kind of marketing magic must be going on in the background when it comes to getting shortlisted for the Oscars.

In business, just like in the movies, it pays to airbrush out the negatives and accentuate the positives.

Truth is, most companies don’t win awards because most companies don’t enter. And even if they do, most entries fall at the first hurdle because they’ve been put together too hastily by insiders with too little commitment. After all, even the most exceptional business achievements look a little ragged round the edges when you’re working on them 9 to 5 day after day, month after month.

Playing to win at the awards game

Over lengthy applications offering every minute detail of a company’s achievement without actually panning out to look at the big picture is the most frequently voiced gripe of the judges we talk to about the businesses they evaluate for awards and recognition. Rather than being crisp and to the point, complex difficult to read applications quickly force judges to adopt tight elimination processes before actually getting down to the real work of evaluation. Applications so “innovative” that the allotted space on the form needs to be supplemented with reams of additional (un-requested) support material are unlikely to dazzle. Similarly submissions littered with footnotes promising that the case study, product examples or customer endorsements necessary for consideration will be” mailed under separate cover ASAP” will find their way to the shredder in minutes.

Here’s our top tips list for getting on the shortlist

See yourself on the podium: Rule number one is easy. Before you even start your application, use the sports psychology tactics that got Kelly Holmes the gold in Athens. If you visualise your company as an award winning business before you pick up the pen, your application will be streets ahead of most of the competition.

Get a bid team together: The best applications take time and effort. To treat the task with the respect it deserves you’ll need a crack team of committed colleagues. Allocate key aspects of the application process to key players, making sure that all the bases are covered. If case studies are to support the bid, make sure you submit the best freshest examples available. If sales statistics or business growth evidence is required make sure you’re delivering exactly what was asked for by the award organisers. And put one of your best administrators on the case too. You won’t believe how may awards are lost because the application is lost under in the CEO’s to do tray!

Track your progress: Completing your paperwork and getting it in the mail is the beginning, not the end, of an award winning application strategy. Calling the organisers to see how your bid is progressing will make you look keen rather pushy and, if you’re not short listed you’ll at least deserve some personal help and advice that’s likely to become invaluable next time round.

Play the numbers game: Ever noticed how companies either win lots of awards all the time or never win any? Putting together winning bids is a major resource outlay and putting all your eggs in one basket just doesn’t justify the effort. A good bid team will pull together a hot list of awards they want on to see in the corporate trophy cabinet and repurpose materials to suit multiple applications. As Helen Mirren will testify, having an Oscar on the living room mantelpiece might be the holy grail of movie making achievement, but a BAFTA still makes a pretty respectable table feature.

If you’re new to our Learning Technologies Exit Poll, here’s the skinny. First we bundle-up the team nice and warm: a good pollster is a happy pollster, although we must admit – a cold pollster does tend to get the job done just a wee bit faster than a warm one!

Armed with no more than the digital gadgetry that’s routinely found on any high street these days, our quartet of questioners beam the thoughts and opinions of the Learning Technologies visitors they talk to over to Now Towers in West London just seconds after they’ve exited the show.

Just a couple of days (and a fair amount of Pizza orders) later, here’s what the Now number crunchers have come up with.

We asked: “When you planned your Learning Technologies 2012 visit, which company was on top of your must see list before visiting the show today?” LT12uk visitors said:

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We asked: “In terms of visual impact, which company really stood out for you at the show today?” LT12uk visitors said:

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We asked: “Without looking down at any of the literature you’ve come away with today, can you name one of the event’s official sponsors?” Top five responses from most frequent (left) to least frequent (right) were:

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We asked: “In terms of customer / supplier engagement, which company do you think you had the most profitable conversation with?” The top five most popular answers from our respondents were:

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5

Freebies, teasers and giveaways: We asked: “What free stuff, if any, stood out for you as you walked around the show?”

We asked: “Without looking, name one company’s case study, brochure material or other information that you remember putting in your show bag?” The top five most popular answers from our respondents were:

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We asked: “Of all the literature you’ve come away with today, what do you think you’ll be reading on the Tube home?” The top five most popular answers from our respondents were:

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One to watch! We asked; “During your show visit, did you see  any new businesses or businesses previously unknown to you that you looked interesting?” The top five most popular answers from our respondents were:

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5

We asked: “Study the free seminar timetable for a moment, then tell us which one holds the most appeal for you?” The top five most popular answers from our respondents were:

1. Learning and analytics -identifying the link between workforce data, people development and productivity with your bottom line.

2. How to build a mobile app in 15 minutes!

3. Measuring the impact of social and informal learning

4. What’s ‘app’ening with configurable LMSs?

5. L&D trends: putting them into practice in 2012.

We answer all of these questions as best we can (just get in touch), but the really interesting part is when the personal advice and recommendations start to crystallise into one hot-list of things to remember for next year. Here’s what we’ve got so far:

Make a note: Marketing lessons to remember for learning tech 2012

Don’t mix your products with your seminars

When our exit pollers asked Learning Tech delegates to study the seminar timetable and pick out a talk that sounded really interesting, not one of them picked a topic that mentioned a product or an exhibiting company. It’s not that your company or its products don’t interest learning tech attendees, they almost certainly do – so long as they know which problems your products are going to help them solve.

Seminars with titles like “Product X™ from Company Y™: the mobile assessment tool for today” send a shiver up the average delegate’s spine these days. They brace themselves for the big sell and, perhaps most importantly, they really don’t think they’re going to learn anything that’s not already on your website if they attend.

Seminar topics like Brightwave’s “A roadmap to 2020: How can learning tech support fast changing business practice.” (named the most appealing seminar topic by show attendees in our exit poll) work better because they focus on an issue, hold cross-sector appeal and box in the topic: It’s a “roadmap”, and it’s guiding us to “2020″ rather than some vague place like “the future” or “beyond blended learning”.

You don’t score on the day without training hard all year

The vast majority of delegates at Learning Tech do at least a little pre-visit planning, so getting noticed before the event is critical. Pre-event direct mail has a role to play here but it’s not an easy option: Most delegates remember receiving emails inviting them to “come visit us at stand X, Y or Z”, but this is a much over used tactic and few visitors can remember, or name, any specific companies emailing this kind of general invite out.

One off eShots, isolated newsletters or social campaigns carry little weight at the best of times, so actioning one of these in the build-up to the country’s biggest trade show has about as much impact as sending a cheap card at Christmas.

It’s much better to build the Learning Tech show into your marketing plans than build your marketing plan around Learning Tech (this sounds like an obvious point but lots of marketers we talk to seem to think this way). The problem here is that delivering a good, steady flow of relevant content all year round seems quite difficult compared to a one time pre-show email blast (it is and it isn’t, but we’ll come back to that later).

Create content that the Learning Technologies website can use

The Learning Tech show website was another frequently mentioned research source for the diligent pre-planner but, for the most part, learningtechnologies.co.uk seems to influence decisions over which conferences or seminars a delegate attends much more than which companies to see in the main exhibition area.

Improving the site’s search and relevance matching features would really help exhibitors without diminishing the integrity of the site, but for now any learning tech visitor with a specialised query (like, for example which exhibitors offer LMCS / have specialised experience in finance / global presence / etc) is left unsatisfied.

Here’s where that mis-calibrated content raises its head again. Exhibitors recognised as issues champions and thought-leaders will always be able to make a strong case for appearing in LearningTechnologies.co.uk’s news and features sections, but the key word is “relevant”. Company profiles or product sheets just don’t make the grade and these days, even case studies that feature big name customers may fare only slightly better.

Remember the people who aren’t even there: they might be more important than the people who are

The internet has changed the profile of the classic trade show attendee dramatically and many five-star prospects these days choose to watch over the proceeding from the comfort of their own desktop than roam the avenues and alleyways at Olympia 2. It helps to anticipate and plan for this.

Make sure that whatever content, product details or key messages you’re pushing to delegates at the show is available online, preferably in one easy to use micro-site dedicated to the event. Launch this site via a simple eShot campaign as part of your show build-up and already your pre-event announcements look 10 times more distinctive and memorable. Those likely to attend can start interacting with you online, perhaps pre-booking meetings. Those likely to watch from afar can start influencing the company ambassadors they’ll surely send to Learning Tech in their place.

iPads and Kindles are more memorable than the companies who give them away

Delegates taking part in our exit poll certainly noted the volume of desirable objects on offer at Learning Technologies this year, but the companies promising to dish them out had all become a bit of a blur by the time visitors saw the daylight of Hammersmith Road.

As a pure-play data capture exercise, these big(ish) ticket prize give-aways may have some value (typically a delegate is trading personal contact details for the opportunity to win) but the anecdotal evidence from our exit poll really left us wondering.

Almost everyone we spoke to who thought they had participated in some kind of a lucky draw (not everyone was absolutely sure either way) did so as part of a larger dialogue with the exhibiting company. So: If this dialogue is compelling shouldn’t the attendee be happy to offer over a business card anyway. If it’s not, and attendees still offer their contact details purely on the basis that they may be one iPad to the good if they do, then isn’t the competition masking some serious flaws in the sales dialogue?

Overall, the main conclusions we can draw here is that delegate rarely really remember if they have entered a competition, care about the outcome or can link prizes with the companies offering them. Individual, smaller give-aways were slightly more memorable.

Or perhaps we’re just sore because we didn’t win one!

Well we’ve only just gone and done it again!

Last summer we created a bit of a stir when we first published our definitive 100 Highest Ranking Web Sites in Learning Technology Chart, so when it came to cooking up our first news nugget of 2012 we thought: why not turn things up a notch?.  Why settle on just the Top 100 when we could be spotlighting the Top 250? Why offer just one consolidated ranking position per company website when we could lift the lid on the six top indicators that influence our chart most.  And finally, why not just make the whole thing interactive too, so that search and social savvy webucation marketers who don’t think we’ve come up with the learning tech industry’s best overall ranking formula, can come up with their own.

Risky move?  Well it might be. Better take the time now to check out the new chart before we bottle it and change our minds.

	Company website	Place in the space
1	www.adobe.com/captivate	Adobe Screen capture software, E-learning authoring software, Learning management system	9	97	6	542000	65193	8288
2	www.taleo.com	Taleo Talent management software	8	96	7	4970	53174	1239
3	www.blackboard.com	Blackboard Technology and Solutions Built for Education	8	99	6	5840	1749	9530
4	www.desire2learn.com	desire2learn Learning Management System (LMS)	7	99	6	1120	19832	702
5	www.articulate.com	Articulate E-Learning Software and Authoring Tools	7	99	6	33700	27814	2961
6	www.lynda.com	Lynda Software training online-tutorials for Adobe, Microsoft, Apple & more	7	99	6	22100	163925	8841
7	www.tribalgroup.com	Tribal Group Learning support services	6	94	7	1050	N/A	364
8	www.ispringsolutions.com	iSpring Solutions Rapid E-Learning Software | PowerPoint to Flash Converter | Convert PowerPoint to Flash	7	86	6	4570	82834	993
9	www.kineo.com	Kineo Custom E-Learning Training & LMS Solutions	6	99	6	5710	1927	367
10	www.skillsoft.com	Skillsoft E-Learning for Business Skills & IT Certification	6	99	6	19700	89024	1272
11	www.remote-learner.net	Remote Learner Integrated Open Source Learning Services	6	98	6	362	158514	569
12	www.sumtotalsystems.com	Sumtotal Complete Talent Management Software : Learning, Performance, Compensation, Succession, Development, 360 Feedback, Hiring, Collaboration, HR Management, HRMS, Workforce Planning, Analytics	6	94	6	4500	119388	1675
13	www.cblearning.com	CBLearning Microsoft Training Courses, Microsoft Excel Training & Windows Courses	6	94	6	16200	1213096	91
14	www.webanywhere.co.uk	Web anywhere e-Learning & Web Design for Schools, Business, FE/HE, Public Sector, Charities	5	94	7	692	N/A	540
15	www.successfactors.com	Success Factors Business Execution Software	6	93	6	14000	15246	1609
16	www.saba.com	Saba LMS, Performance Management, Talent Management, HCM, Human Capital Management, Video Conferencing	6	85	6	1850	185670	845
17	www.newhorizons.com	New Horizons IT Training, Microsoft Training, Cisco Training, Computer Training, Certifications	6	83	6	617000	71305	1516
18	www.enocta.com	encota Turkish based one stop eLearning company	6	78	6	1480	N/A	47
19	www.50lessons.com	50Lessons Business learning content providor owned by Skillsoft	6	70	6	1180	1002865	189
20	www.ilxgroup.com	ILX Group Accredited Training and Consulting Organisation	5	99	6	2140	505942	236
21	www.playgen.com	Playgen Games and Gamification	5	99	6	196	637205	180
22	www.trivantis.com	Trivantis e-Learning Software, Authoring Tools, LMS and Online eLearning Development	6	98	5	60300	64364	688
23	www.mindleaders.com	Mindleaders Talent Management And Elearning On One Platform	5	98	6	1370	157564	687
24	www.brandon-hall.com	Brandon Hall Learning & development, talent management, sales & marketing, executive management	5	97	6	6170	288303	1404
25	www.epic.co.uk	EpicE-learning, online learning and blended solution	6	97	5	697	1090659	296
26	www.upsidelearning.com	Upside Learning LMS, Custom eLearning Development, Mobile Learning Solutions from Upside Learning, India	5	96	6	5030	281533	427
27	www.softchalk.com	SoftChalk E-Learning Authoring Solutions | Interactive Online Lesson Creation Tool	6	95	5	627	1255018	272
28	www.expertus.com	Expertus Learning Management Experts - Cloud Learning - SaaS Learning Portals - Social LMS - Training Administration	5	95	6	457	1513029	83
29	www.ydp.eu	Young Digital Planet Digital Education Publishing Providor	6	95	5	819	N/A	94
30	www.lumesse.com	Lumesse Talent Management	6	94	5	1850	2751	578
31	www.premierit.com	PremierIT IT Training, Cloud Computing, IT Support, Website Design and Development, CPD ePortfolio, e-Learning	6	92	5	1100	1563980	147
32	www.brainshark.com	Brainshark Online Presentations, Mobile Video Presentations,eLearning	5	89	6	180000	27637	2874
33	www.enlightks.com	EnlightKS learning technologies business delivering Computer Driving Licence testing platform	5	76	6	413	N/A	56
34	www.theworkingmanager.com	Working Manager D2 organisational development solutions | e-learning	5	47	6	162	214	49
35	www.knowledgeadvisors.com	Knowledge Advisors learning measurement software	5	99	5	640	453874	155
36	www.learningpool.com	Learning Pool Saving money for the public sector with collaboration and learning	5	99	5	54900	1176392	151
37	www.raptivity.com	Raptivity Create e-Learning interactions quickly and easily	5	98	5	4060	191934	301
38	www.xyleme.com	Xyleme Learning Content Management System (LCMS)	5	98	5	904	1671863	249
39	www.thales-trainingconsultancy.com	Thales Training Business Training Courses & Bespoke Services	4	98	6	1050	N/A	96
40	www.cornerstoneondemand.com	Cornerstone on demand Talent, Learning & Performance Management Software	5	97	5	960	301026	727
41	www.rapidintake.com	Rapid Intake e-Learning Software for Computer Based Training	5	96	5	836	687463	228
42	www.certpointsystems.com	Certpoint The Global e-Learning m-learning LMS LCMS CMS Talent Management Software Solutions Provider	5	96	5	1420	1030966	197
43	www.myknowledgemap.com	My Knowledgemap Knowledge and learning assisted by technology	4	96	6	243	N/A	72
44	www.goodpractice.com	For Leaders and Managers	5	95	5	303	493129	102
45	www.elearningbrothers.com	Develop rapid eLearning courses and games	4	95	6	882	603968	76
46	http://www.logica.co.uk/we-do/hr-and-payroll-services/	HR Services	5	95	5	1100	N/A	212
47	www.excelindia.com	e-Learning Solutions, Custom eLearning, Content Development	5	94	5	74	914186	97
48	www.outstart.com	LCMS, Learning Systems, and Social Business Software	5	93	5	786	539487	448
49	www.onlinetraveltraining.co.uk	Online Travel Training, Travel Agent E-Learning, Travel Courses	4	93	6	1270	635008	409
50	www.pfeiffer.com	Essential resources for training and HR professionals	5	92	5	10800	2026	287
51	www.crossknowledge.com	Distance learning solutions	5	92	5	2650	801513	215
52	www.im-c.com	eLearning provider	5	92	5	903	4163314	124
53	www.tatainteractive.com	Learning solutions and custom e-learning	5	90	5	415	499102	166
54	www.skytap.com	Enterprise Hybrid Cloud | Development Test, Sales Demo and Virtual Training	5	90	5	623	535904	276
55	www.videoarts.com	Video based learning support	4	90	6	3010	810397	243
56	www.electricsheepcompany.com	Emmy award-winning creator of virtual worlds and social games for major brands and media companies	4	90	6	65	2417027	803
57	www.toolwire.com	Experiential learning	5	89	5	50	185301	78
58	www.gpworldwide.com	Performance improvement company	5	89	5	1800	472945	316
59	www.exact-learning.com	Learning Content Management System (LCMS) and Digital Repository	5	86	5	235	1885239	0
60	www.netdimensions.com	Enterprise Learning Technologies, Certification & Compliance Management Solutions,e-Learning Solutions	5	85	5	779	10939	202
61	www.kaplanlt.com	Rapid elearning: Software Simulations, Assessments, Documentation & EPSS.	5	85	5	395	1386685	80
62	www.saffroninteractive.com	Bespoke training solutions and business communications	5	85	5	403	2119214	63
63	www.edvantagegroup.com	Corporate e-learning and managed learning services	5	84	5	242	1678731	96
64	mediaspark.com	educational games, simulations, and social networks	5	81	5	68	7265789	101
65	www.swissvbs.com	web-centered learning campaigns	5	81	5	149	N/A	37
66	www.learninglight.com	elearning and learning technologies	5	80	5	3370	7915758	88
67	www.emantras.com	E-Learning Training Solutions Digital Education	5	74	5	275	841622	211
68	www.yukonlearning.com	Simulations and learning content	4	73	6	42	5475166	16
69	www.brookwood.com	Custom eLearning web and training solutions	5	69	5	568	8384088	57
70	www.cdsm.co.uk	Interactive solutions	5	68	5	73	N/A	68
71	interactyx.com	TOPYX Learning Management System	5	98	4	7440	253401	321
72	www.brightwave.co.uk	Brightwave e-learning, online training and blended learning experts	4	98	5	1830	1325560	89
73	www.daden.co.uk	virtual worlds and AI solution provider	4	98	5	1010	1411317	220
74	www.line.co.uk	Bespoke E-learning and Blended Learning	4	98	5	652	2832438	75
75	www.happy.co.uk	Serious learning	4	97	5	526	2081109	172
76	www.onlignment.com	elearning consultancy and strategy support	4	96	5	449	466	109
77	www.allencomm.com	Custom Training, Corporate Training, & Training and Development	4	96	5	228	1115287	323
76	www.iris.co.uk	Business management solutions supplier	4	94	5	663	240266	868
79	www.alleninteractions.com		4	94	5	446	946673	152
80	www.thetestfactory.com	Employee Skills Assessment	4	94	5	169	1061128	123
81	www.quicklessons.com	Collaborative e-Learning Platform to Create Courses	4	94	5	346	1454026	69
82	www.caspianlearning.co.uk	Multi-Award Winning Serious Games Designer	4	93	5	208	2842255	208
83	http://www.faculte.com/solutions/corporate-learning/	Enterprise social video	4	92	5	224	1792634	81
84	www.goventure.net	Games, simulations & social networks	4	91	5	577	2166772	72
85	www.questionmark.co.uk	Assessment products and support services	6	91	3	311	3136763	0
86	www.bluevolt.com	Extended Learning Management System	4	89	5	335	209175	290
87	www.redtray.co.uk	e-Learning, Blended learning and Training Outsourcing provider	4	89	5	276	2370155	71
88	www.nelsoncroom.co.uk	Online learning for professionals	4	89	5	651	5979451	36
89	www.eukleia-training.com	specialist training company providing elearning courses on regulation &compliance	4	88	5	190	N/A	30
90	http://www.webex.co.uk/products/elearning-and-online-training.html	eLearning, Online Training, Webinars, Desktop Sharing: WebEx Training Center	5	87	4	1230	312772	215
91	www.irisconnect.co.uk	Teacher development & Lesson Observations	4	87	5	784	995062	60
92	www.dominknow.com	Collaborative eLearning and mLearning Creation	4	87	5	192	2222790	62
93	www.cm-luminosity.com	eLearning products and services	4	87	5	53	2689216	34
94	www.mohive.com	Enterprise e-learning publishing system	4	86	5	333	4008521	79
95	www.p4you.com	elearning software, tools & other eLearning solution	4	85	5	78	4392593	36
96	www.blueeskimo.com	learning and development, e-learning and training recruitment	4	85	5	3310	N/A	35
97	www.appraisal360.co.uk	Review Appraisal Staff Development Coaching	3	84	6	40	287	96
98	www.trainingfoundation.com	Training support services	3	68	6	1080	N/A	89
99	www.itrainhome.com	change management, specialising in SAP and Oracle (ERP) systems	3	59	6	62	N/A	28
100	www.elementk.com	Element K - Learning Solutions, Online Training in IT & Business, e-Learning Course Development, LMS	3	95	3	7030	84365	731
101	www.rmlightbox.com	Software solutions and educational resources	5	88	5	79	3919308	0
102	www.flypaper.com	Digital Signage Software	4	83	6	377	612547	252
103	www.btl.com	Computer Based Testing and Online Assessments	5	82	5	200	2738498	97
104	www.qwizdom.co.uk	Audience Response Systems | Electronic Voting | Interactive Learning	5	81	5	642	139	77
105	www.gototraining.com	Online Training Software & Virtual Classroom	5	81	5	23	52394	128
106	www.eurotalk.com	Language	5	71	5	-1	6809	359
107	www.vubiz.com	online learning vendor	5	64	5	526	1680797	160
108	www.alchemysoftware.com		6	58	4	74	10683224	40
109	http://www.refineddata.com/learning-management	On-Line Training, Web Conferencing and Data Management Solutions	4	47	6	87	5130966	28
110	www.thehrdirector.com		4	98	5	2930	1307	127
111	www.governmenttechnology.co.uk	Publications	4	98	5	2820	N/A	81
112	www.nlplifetraining.com	NLP Training Courses & Seminars with Richard Bandler	4	96	5	1310	62	117
113	www.coursepark.com	catelogue	4	96	5	25700	224027	108
114	www.dexway.com	language learning	4	95	5	730	812688	62
115	www.merrillbrink.com	language learning	4	93	5	154	860119	155
116	www.charitylearning.org/		4	90	5	234	N/A	42
117	www.speak-first.com		4	89	5	250	468	283
118	www.dlcandtraining.co.uk		4	89	5	684	N/A	81
119	www.eqho.com	language	4	89	5	50	N/A	32
120	www.itskillsacademy.ac.uk		4	87	5	3350	N/A	32
121	www.essentialskillz.com		4	86	5	704	6244354	78
122	www.aoec.com		4	86	5	261	N/A	79
123	www.sysop.co.uk		4	85	5	297	N/A	99
124	www.bizlibrary.com		4	84	5	23200	1161685	195
125	www.meridianksi.com		4	83	5	488	1480419	168
126	www.bluedrop.com		4	82	5	356	873277	41
127	www.ktm-advance.com		4	82	5	407	6469162	0
128	www.prioritymanagement.com		4	81	5	3300	1777	148
129	www.clarityconsultants.com		4	81	5	195	1434867	85
130	www.pixelearning.com		4	81	5	162	2794877	91
131	www.ikonami.com		4	81	5	164	13231002	35
132	www.tt-s.com		4	80	5	208	N/A	70
133	www.learningguidesolutions.com		4	79	5	431	5669503	83
134	www.ht2.co.uk		4	79	5	218	9142242	72
135	www.turningtechnologies.co.uk		4	79	5	1540	N/A	58
136	www.suddenlysmart.com		4	78	5	371	1142191	74
137	www.3di-info.com		4	78	5	132	1525730	44
138	www.cornerstoneondemand.co.uk		4	77	5	1230	6552315	36
139	www.zenler.com		4	77	5	22	N/A	14
140	www.assima.net		4	75	5	283	3876038	82
141	www.resultsdrivengroup.co.ukHome.aspx		4	75	5	476	N/A	92
142	www.shiftelearning.com		4	74	5	192	3244307	15
143	www.intuition.com		4	73	5	74	788290	126
144	www.operitel.com		4	73	5	161	3826968	80
145	www.lmmatters.com		4	73	5	70	7150696	31
146	www.digitalchalk.com		4	72	5	131	506225	194
147	www.cognitivearts.com		5	72	4	75	6321308	36
148	www.onpointdigital.com		4	70	5	433	3653426	61
149	www.cobent.com		4	70	5	492	4040462	50
150	www.kaplanit.com		4	65	5	31	8010205	33
151	www.tutorpro.com		4	62	5	47	4992454	58
152	www.tagdevelopments.com		4	60	5	40	N/A	13
153	www.informationtransfer.com		4	57	5	94	N/A	31
154	www.skillset.co.uk		4	56	5	83	8238140	17
155	www.thinkingcap.com		5	54	4	158	3197011	47
156	www.seminar.co.uk		4	52	5	60	N/A	16
157	www.trainer1.com		4	50	5	282	10273144	51
158	www.aardpress.com		4	47	5	15	3974218	68
159	www.ambientperformance.com		4	47	5	18	13407440	68
160	www.anewspring.com		5	42	4	-1	3084135	12
161	www.guroo.co.uk		4	36	5	1	N/A	32
162	www.breakthroughperformancetech.com		4	34	5	20	17196495	5
163	www.e2train.com		4	95	4	344	412840	79
164	www.3c-performance-management.co.uk		3	94	5	412	N/A	416
165	www.bloomfire.com		4	93	4	17	207011	142
166	www.ef.co.uk		3	93	5	4120	N/A	95
167	www.lct.uk.com		3	93	5	139	N/A	402
168	www.mtalearning.com		4	91	4	306	756	143
169	www.maventraining.co.uk		3	91	5	1420	1323843	140
170	www.bitesizeltd.com		3	90	5	159	N/A	22
171	www.thedevco.com		4	89	4	158	240	73
172	www.intellego.co.uk		4	89	4	147	2635072	38
173	www.pacificblue.co.uk		3	89	5	293	N/A	15
174	exambuilder.com		4	88	4	42	1273071	61
175	www.geneeworld.com		3	85	5	265	N/A	118
176	www.andovar.com		4	84	4	70	1331631	31
177	www.peoplealchemy.co.uk		3	84	5	390	2912221	55
178	www.knowledgefactor.com		3	83	5	205	1966609	82
179	www.global-excellence.com		4	83	4	276	N/A	58
180	www.h2training.com		3	83	5	72	N/A	29
181	www.learningnexus.co.uk		4	82	4	406	N/A	18
182	www.pansophix.co.uk		3	82	5	209	N/A	180
183	www.dovenest.co.uk		3	81	5	186	N/A	11
184	www.skills2learn.com		3	80	5	142	2572284	49
185	www.glasstap.com		3	80	5	183	7750208	34
186	www.lorienconnect.com		3	79	5	97	5807023	4
187	www.fusion-universal.com		3	78	5	378	N/A	140
188	www.enspark.com		4	77	4	133	2268292	55
189	www.course-source.net		3	76	5	140	953076	46
190	www.coachingforgreatwork.com		3	75	5	18	N/A	12
191	www.trainingfolks.com		3	74	5	193	8388809	64
192	www.accessplanit.com		4	73	4	197	1423919	52
193	www.omniplex.co.uk		3	73	5	424	4097238	38
194	www.cofacio.com		4	73	4	-1	6659796	86
195	www.luminalearning.com		3	72	5	3010	N/A	18
196	www.pinper.com		3	68	5	343	937	15
197	www.unlimitedpotential.co.uk		4	68	4	345	N/A	19
198	ww3.harvardbusiness.org		6	67	2	670	1063	70
199	www.treeof.com		3	62	5	180	N/A	31
200	www.shareknowledge-lms.com		4	57	4	10	5320855	31
201	www.scottbradbury.co.uk		3	56	5	145	3499167	15
202	www.business-smart.com		4	53	4	77	3126761	12
203	www.learningguide.co.uk		4	52	4	-1	-1	14
204	www.smltrainingandconsultancy.com		4	51	4	63	N/A	9
205	www.growthengineering.co.uk		3	42	5	444	8863012	30
206	www.trainingtracker.co.uk		3	41	5	20	N/A	16
207	www.learncast.com		3	40	5	111	5651069	16
208	www.xor.ltd.uk		3	37	5	23	25865723	28
209	www.jtiglobal.com		4	26	4	12	26393493	4
210	www.daulsoft.com		4	24	4	3	25833739	36
211	www.salesassessment.com		2	89	5	177	N/A	18
212	www.smarterinteractive.co.uk		2	85	5	95	1664933	275
213	www.spoce.com		3	85	4	232	4475188	91
214	www.unicorntraining.com		3	84	4	234	9879525	31
215	www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk		3	83	4	856	N/A	59
216	www.ciatraining.co.uk		3	82	4	585	3837150	50
217	www.oilennium.com		3	81	4	170	9746863	17
218	www.mmclearning.com		3	76	4	378	257064	22
219	www.edcetratraining.com		3	75	4	39	4375073	29
220	www.quasar.co.uk		3	73	4	182	7398802	14
221	www.emperform.co.uk		3	73	4	167	N/A	11
222	www.TrainingEfficiency.com		2	71	5	55	5105390	13
223	www.telesto.ca		3	70	4	119	21950612	13
224	www.planetwise.co.uk		3	69	4	61	4678035	0
225	www.head-light.co.uk		3	69	4	140	N/A	20
226	www.traineasy.com		3	67	4	93	N/A	21
227	www.jigsawatwork.com		3	66	4	258	N/A	16
228	www.progressint.com		2	62	5	2700	N/A	7
229	www.imanageperformance.com		3	62	4	134	N/A	9
230	www.dpgplc.co.uk		3	62	4	108	N/A	17
231	www.ptklearning.com		3	62	4	61	N/A	11
232	www.aptlimited.co.uk		3	61	4	135	9244957	14
233	www.wellkom.co.uk/		3	55	4	17	N/A	16
234	www.goventureoasis.com		3	54	4	28100	6483166	7
235	www.delta-net.co.uk		3	53	4	976	6454934	11
236	www.goventureexperience.com		3	50	4	337	12531323	3
237	www.coachingoncall.com		3	47	4	70	N/A	10
238	www.purplemedia.co.uk		3	47	4	18	N/A	10
239	www.eorigen.com		3	45	4	143	N/A	19
240	www.catalystcoaching.info		3	45	4	25	N/A	7
241	www.brummellassociates.co.uk		3	40	4	21	13409996	8
242	www.icstd.co.uk		2	39	5	47	N/A	2
243	www.spongeuk.com		3	38	4	37	9650480	7
244	goventuregames.com		3	35	4	72	6350621	7
245	www.sandboxonline.co.uk		4	31	3	20	N/A	5
246	www.willowdna.com		2	30	5	12	N/A	9
247	www.3davatarschool.com		3	19	4	16	11367796	2
248	www.cbtl.eu		4	18	3	1	-1	8
249	www.collab8.com		4	15	3	9	20087504	4
250	www.fluidlearning.com		2	14	5	34	-1	1
251	www.ashridge.org.uk	Business School	0	97	6	13600	N/A	726
252	www.creativedgetraining.co.uk		2	78	4	228	N/A	29
253	www.coloni.net		2	77	4	83	5833031	27
254	www.practice-it.co.uk		3	70	3	13	-1	11
255	www.whowleadership.com		2	67	4	127	N/A	17
256	www.ptt.co.uk		3	63	3	170	8727686	49
257	www.jenison.co.uk		3	63	3	253	17107193	41
258	www.facilitatethis.co.uk		2	63	4	194	N/A	12
259	www.iltsolutions.eu		2	61	4	147	N/A	13
260	www.reallyresponsible.com		2	60	4	16	N/A	16
261	www.naturaldirection.co.uk		2	58	4	33	N/A	5
262	www.profilerlive.com		3	41	3	83	18779351	6
263	www.mobilelearningdesign.com		2	41	4	38	N/A	6
264	www.learningaccelerators.com		2	25	4	-1	N/A	5
265	www.obsidian-edge.com		2	24	4	14	19010331	7
266	www.training4ltd.com		3	13	3	10	N/A	3
267	www.sixhats.co.uk		3	9	3	2	N/A	2
268	www.logicalsteps.com		3	5	3	-1	-1	1
269	www.balancelearning.co.uk			78	5	247	3232018	57
270	www.tractionbc.com		2	63	3	77	N/A	8
271	www.electrovision.com		2	43	3	155	9492752	10
272	www.freerangethinkers.com		2	38	3	4	-1	3
273	www.epiplex.co.uk		2	29	3	-1	-1	0
274	www.validateskills.com		0	25	5	10	N/A	3
275	www.flumetraining.com		1	82	3	177	N/A	2
276	www.exscien.com		1	55	3	529	N/A	3
277	www.aitalent.com		0	49	4	544	N/A	10
278	www.newwavelearning.co.uk		1	36	3	-1	-1	3
279	www.globushr-group.co.uk		2	23	2	34	N/A	5
280	www.deliverersgroup.com		0	7	4	1	N/A	4
281	www.digitaltrainingvideos.com		1	2	3	-1	N/A	3
282	www.myenocta.com		1	69	2	1280	762421	27
283	www.thefantasticrevolution.com		0	18	2	23	N/A	2