Thursday, July 26, 2012

Creating value with successful WEBINARS


Traditional seminars are recognized as a very effective tool to build business relationships, build a brand and generate sales. Webinars offer the same advantages without the costs and time spend in travelling. Thus it is easier to target a great number of customers in an interactive way. Webinars are held “in live” on a topic that is of particular interest to the company’s target audience. They allow an important interaction during the event and when recorded, after it.

The best way to increase your webinar’s success is to generate value for your consumers.


An Osterman Research White Paper

 You generate value by:
  • Offering interesting information about your products, the industry trends, the technologies, the forecasts, the risks and issue etc.
  • Communicating with accuracy prior to the event the goal and the content of your webinar.
  • Allowing and encouraging questions and interactions with the public
  • Keeping it short and easy to understand. It should last less than one hour.
  • Closing with a wrap-up with contact information and a clear call-to-action
  • Offering something valuable at the end of the event, for example some valuable download or a gift. (Sales insider, 2012)
You make it successful and entertaining by:
  • Considering a different format (talk show, panel discussion, point-counterpoint, etc.)
  • Having presenters talking with enthusiasm and passion for the subject
  • Inviting a guest speaker and have more than one presenter
  • Interacting with real time polling and Q&A

  • Bolstering your presentation with real time demonstration, video and digital clip. Limit any clips to no more than 30 seconds. 

Top_Ten_Webinar_Best_Practices-2009.pdf
An Osterman Research White Paper


Make sure to capture value by :
  • Increasing the number of participants through efficient promotional strategy
  • Linking the webinar event with all you other marketing tools and social media channels
    •   Set up a Twitter hash tag for the event
    •   Create a Facebook and a LinkedIn Event
    •    Post the program and the background of the speakers on your blog
  • Leveraging your recorded content: Add it to your blog, and to your YouTube account, share the link on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
  • Doing a quick follow-up : sending a thank you mail with the slides and interesting links. Send the recorded content to the no-show.
  • Making the interaction to last after the event: Follow-up on any questions not answered during live event and on the main question raised. Encourage people to keep posting questions on you social channels and provide quick and professional answers.
  • Measuring your success and ask for feedback

To conclude Webinars are a great tool that can be easily integrated into your social media and marketing strategy. They can help you to build your brand and to be considered as an expert by your clients and your peers. They foster the level of interaction you have with your prospect and clients. You will be able to communicate on your products but also to learn more about the expectations, the concerns and the issue from your consumers. You will develop your on-line presence, the trust and the satisfaction. As we say, practice makes perfect so get started.
Igor T.