Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Developing a webinar is best done by consultant-focused salespeople-- that is, your best communicators, but someone you trust to provide truly educational content and not just a thinly veiled sales pitch. In my company we put on several webinars a month and there are some attendees who come to every single one, even if they already have our product, because they always learn something new.

Webinars should never be outsourced because the person giving it should have not only a huge knowledge of the industry but also an exhaustive knowledge of your products and services in order to answer specific questions. If it's a fairly quiet audience, the presenter is always prepared with FAQs just to make sure the attendees are seeing how the material can really apply to them.

The most we've ever had host a webinar was two people-- one of our great presenters and a client who was excited to be a live case study. We usually do them with just one person presenting (we find it's more personal). We also limit the attendees at a webinar to 25, and allow them to ask questions either as they arise or at ten-minute intervals.

We promote webinars by email (we have a large list of opted-in prospects), via fliers at tradeshows, and sometimes by direct calling.

We measure the success of webinars by the number of qualified leads they generate.

Dear Susan

I would advise you to take the freely offered advice from those with inside knowledge, such as Sarah above and to take Garry’s advice to look up all the MP collateral.

Beyond that, become an attendee of a few webinars in your industry and in some non-competing allied businesses – same target sector or same vertical market or the like. You can probably deduce a lot of the kit from what you see. Do not underestimate the desire to help which you will find from your average marketing manager. If you are not in a competing industry and phone for advice at a time which is suitable to their diary (After work, lunchtime, etc) then they will often be forthcoming with valuable information. They will be the networking types and will assume that you might be the solution to their next problem, so don’t be surprised if they phone you back on some unrelated topic – It’s worth it!

On thing not to try is to Google “Internet Marketing Webinars Instructions”

You will get endless invitations, for as little as $37 a month to be shown how to make $124,234 in only six months by learning how to set up a webinar and then being paid to show other people how to set up a webinar, so that they too can show other people-------!!!!

It’s the “Nearly Flat” or Nearly Linear” version of MLM and pyramid selling!

Best wishes



Steve