By Dan Clark

Building an online demo can at first seem like a daunting task. Where do you start? What should go in it? How long should it be? For answers to those questions and more, you've come to the right place...

1. Understand your audience.

Who are they and what do they need? What makes you think your solution is what they want? Understanding the audience is paramount to providing a relevant demo. To successfully complete this step, you need to think "from the outside in", put yourself in their shoes. If it's an enterprise demo, try to focus on top-level business value. If it's a consumer product, focus on things that will get them excited about using it. The demo is intended to entice the audience so give them things that will encourage them to seek more information.

2. Look at your competitors.

Look at their web sites, analyze their demos, read their collateral, look at their management bios. Most importantly though, look at their customers. See if you can glean some information about why they became customers, what the customer got out of working with them. Customer case studies are the best source for this intelligence so read every one you can get your hands on. And when you look at their demos, pay attention to the things they feature. Do they highlight features and functions, or do they highlight higher-level business benefits? If their demo is all about features & functions, you have an opportunity to elevate the message and appeal higher on the org chart. If they highlight business benefits, make sure you don't say the same things.

3. Set your objectives.

Only when you have a clear understanding of what you plan to gain from your demo will you be able to create one that works well. For instance, if you're in a mature business and are racing against competitors based on features, your demo should probably dive right into the product and highlight the differentiators. By contrast, if you're revolutionizing an industry or creating a completely new one, you'll likely have to educate the audience about that change in a business case. How prospects encounter your demo needs to be considered as well. For example, if you're going to drive them to it via keyword marketing, you might need to introduce the solution a bit. If, however, you're going to use it to follow up on direct sales calls, it can likely cut straight to the features & benefits. When your objectives are clear, your demo will be clear.

4. Look at what's out there.

This is precisely why I made FlashDemoWorld.com. Sure, there are tons of companies, including my own, ReadyDemo.com, that show examples but they rarely include any commentary about what makes them good. The examples here are broken down by:

• Type of story - B2B business cases for companies who are changing the world; B2B product tours for companies that compete based on features; and consumer product tours which have unique circumstances
• Presentation style - photography, illustration & video clips; screen captures, such as those produced with Camtasia; and full-motion video
• Cost considerations - examples of various presentation methods broken down by cost

5. Decide on a format.

There are a limitless array of ways to tell your story. The best way really just comes down to what you think will best impact your audience. Some examples include:

• Features, features, features - but it should always include some context about how it's used and the company's reputation.
• Challenge, Solution, Result - this is ReadyDemo's sweet spot.
• "A day in the life" - follows a person or a couple people, a fun little story unfolds.
• Spokesperson - affordable to produce using web talent, more involved if you want to use your CEO.
• Customer case study - got an amazing success story? Showcase it. But you'll need their permission first.
• Beauty shots & special effects - most appropriate for consumer audiences, particularly the youth market.
• Other - check out the Eloqua demo on this site for an example, the sky's the limit!

6. Write an outline.

7. Write the script.

Once you know all the parts of your story and the basic flow, you need to fill in the outline with actual words. Most people dive right into visuals but you should avoid this temptation until you know what you want to say. The script drives the message so make sure you get that right first. You should also try to keep each topic to a single sentence to force yourself provide a brief demo.

Speak your script out loud. This will help you to refine it for the spoken word (which is quite different than the same thoughts when read silently). And watch the clock or use a stopwatch to make sure sure your script is short. You might be surprised at how long the written word takes to speak.

The length of your demo is entirely up to you. I hear companies all the time say that they want their demo to be 3 minutes and, inevitably, it comes out to 4. My best advice to you is to do everything you can to shrink sentences, condense thoughts, put text on-screen, and rely on visuals to say things for you.

8. Build the storyboard.

This is the most critical, and probably the most difficult, step in the entire process. (I think this task is why I have a job.) Connecting visuals to concepts is an art form but that doesn't mean you have to be an artist to do it well. First, pull the script into PowerPoint (or Keynote or whatever) and put it into the notes section with one sentence on each slide. Read the first line of your script. Does it introduce a person? Show that person. Go to iStockPhoto.com and enter keywords for that person such as, "businessman cell phone" or "customer service woman." If you're not finding the perfect image, try GettyImages.com but be prepared to pay more. Does it beg you to show your product? Show the sexiest product shot you can get. Does your solution fit into a grander scheme? Develop a diagram that shows the fit. You can also find great icons and illustrations at iStock that can liven up any demo. Add text on-screen to add interest. Use really big text to make an impact and keep it to just a few words. You can show customer quotes but only use really short ones. 

This one topic could be an entire book all by itself and, unfortunately, I don't have the space here to really do it justice. Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte is an excellent resource for building a powerful presentation (albeit for personal presentations, but the lessons still work). And all of Edward Tufte's books on information graphics are excellent. Software companies can get some great tips from Great Demo! by Peter Cohan that apply to online demos.

As you develop the storyboard, you likely will adjust the script. So again, read the script out loud to make sure the demo won't come out too long.

Once your storyboard is done, pull the script out of your presentation program and put it all into a single Word document. 

9.  Hire a narrator.

No matter how you produce your demo (what it finally looks like), hiring a professional narrator makes the biggest impact to your audience. A dull voice can bring down even the most elegant visuals. Your significant other may have a beautiful voice but nothing beats the pacing and intonation of an expert. You can review all the people I work with at ReadyDemo.com and ask me for the contact info of anyone you like. The choice between male and female is completely subjective (aside from the obvious such as gender-specific consumer products) and entirely up to what you think your audience would most appreciate and identify with. If you have the budget, you can create 2 demos, one with a male voice and the other female, and compare their success rates against each other.

10. Build the final file.

Aside from building the storyboard, this can be really challenging. (Another reason why I have a job doing this stuff.) The do-it-yourself software is quite good and easy to use. For instance, if your demo is for a software application, you can capture real-time screen activity and add narration to it using Camtasia or Captivate. You can also convert a PowerPoint or Keynote file to a Flash movie and add narration. And there are alternatives to Flash such as Flypaper.com or Demo Builder.com. Be aware though that with many of these, the quality may not match your standards.

No matter how easy to use such programs are, nothing beats straight-up Adobe Flash for presentation quality and playback speed. You can include video clips, you can include all kinds of interactivity and menus, the sky is the limit! That said, Flash is a very complicated program to use and relies on other programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator for a polished look so take the learning curve into consideration before attempting to build your demo in Flash.