Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Webinar For Small Biz - Time Of Day?

Posted by Anonymous on 10/16/2009 at 8:05 AM ET 125 Points
I've been hosting a very successful webinar series for individual sales professionals, and am expanding this to series to include small business owners.

My question is, what time of day, or even day of the week would be considered ideal? I've been researching this topic myself, and find very little recommendations outside of "take their schedule into consideration."

Anyone with first hand experience on holding teleseminars or webinars for small business owners?

I'd like to host these around 1:00 - 3:00, but I imagine a lengthy training session at these times would conflict with most business owners schedules.

I could try hosting late in the evening around 6:00 - 7:00, but once again, many business owners seem to be closing shop later and later these days. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

PS - Anyone here tried a weekend teleseminar or webinar?

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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 10/16/2009 at 9:14 AM Accepted
    Start by picking one time and record the webinar for time-shifted playback. Also consider the effect of time zones and day-of-week on scheduling. The bottom line is: if what you're offering is that remarkable, people will arrange their lives to attend it. Focus on an effective (both time & content) presentation and generating word-of-mouth recommendations to increase awareness over the long-run.
  • Posted on 10/16/2009 at 4:03 PM Accepted
    I agree with Jay on the importance of content. If your invitation and website are compelling enough that small business owners will get something out of it to improve their business, they're going to fit it into their schedules.

    Most best practices for webinars say the best time to hold a webinar is in the middle of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday) towards the middle of the day. We host webinars at 11am, 2pm and 4pm and have found our 11am time slot seems to do the best. The only thing you need to watch out for here is your audience. It doesn't make sense to invite people that live in California to a webinar that starts at 11am ET (8am PT). But because everyone says between 1-3 is the best time for webinars, there is a lot of competition for people's time.

    Unfortunately, there's no hard and fast rule - if there was, everyone would do that and it would no longer be the hard and fast rule. Start by focusing on content and test different times and different days of the week. You'll find the one that works best for your audience. If you're going to be emailing webinar invitations out, think about doing a "Regret Survey" and ask people who say "No" they can't come why - is it that they're not interested in the content, they have a schedule conflict. Asking regret questions will help you improve future presentation planning just like a post-event survey will.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 10/17/2009 at 11:01 AM Accepted
    Dear viperbl1,

    Why not make life easier for yourself AND for your audience by recording the message once and then make it available on your website or blog as a podcast. This way, people can listen on their schedule and your time dilemma evaporates.

    You may want to consider giving people the option to give you their name and e-mail address to gain access to the content.

    This way, you build your list and gain the opportunity to deliver other, targeted messages designed to help, educate, and inform people, all of which helps build your credibility and enhance your one-on-one relationships for future sales because you've given value.

    I hope this helps.

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA

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