Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

While I think that webinars will become less popular as people start to use tools like Skype that allow you to involve several people live and in-color (via computer cam), they are still good vehicles when material is fresh and up-to-date.

Try presenting a challenge in one webinar (include the educational elements you would normally) and follow it with a second chapter of sorts, and so-on. Build on the original challenge, providing new data, each time.

I've seen webinars work well, and I've seen them bomb. I think it depends on a few things.

First, the content must be of high interest and chock-full of useful, meaty information -- not just a sales pitch.

Second, it must be worth the time you're asking attendees to spend. If an hour at a webinar isn't worth their hourly salary (or the commissions they don't earn that hour), then you're not doing them any favors.

Third, you have to market the webinar effectively. If people don't understand why they should attend, it's not likely they'll show up. Attendance is heavily dependent on the packaging and the promotion.

Finally, the production has to meet some minimum standard for quality. If it's too tacky your image will suffer. That doesn't mean you have to spend a ton of money, but it does mean you have to pay attention to how it comes across to your attendees and ensure that the production values are consistent with the way you want to be perceived.

Hope this helps.

Hi, Melanie! That's a pretty BIG question. :)

Since webinar production and web conferencing tools are becoming cheaper and easier, this is a content marketing strategy that is definitely growing. Don't abandon it just yet.

The trick is rising above the noise... AND doing a better job of delivering your content than anyone else. Most webinars suck. That means your audience already has low expectations, and they are ready to close their browser as soon as they smell another lousy webinar.

I don't want to [ab]use KHE for sales pitching, but I'd love to know more about where you're struggling. Check my profile page for my contact info! Betcha I can help.

Shelley
Killer Webinars, LLC

The webinars that I've valued the most didn't tout a specific product, but they did explain how a category of products could solve my problem. It was up to me to decide if the sponsoring firm's product was the best solution, but the pitch for the sponsor's product was implicit, not explicit.

Don't forget to search the MarketingProfs website by typing "marketing your webinar" in the search box in the upper righthand corner of this page.

The site offers many articles about doing webinars right. For example. just click over to this link: https://www.marketingprofs.com/topic/all/webinars

Hope this helps.

It's about time vs. value. As Michael notes, it needs (as a minimum) to be packed with useful information. But, what's the value in spending time at the webinar. Exactly how much $ can you save your attendees? How would they know? Is it guaranteed? For example, if by spending an hour, I'll learn how to save my business at least $100k in marketing costs, you've got my attention. If you've got a newer widget to sell, that may be more efficient, then I'm unlikely to spend an hour - perhaps 3 minutes at most. My suggestion is to focus on the ROI for the attendees' time and then create very small (1-3min) podcasts/videos on the key points you're talking about so people can better understand both the value of the webinar and your offering.

Dear Melanie,

Over the last 12 months i've signed up for and attended roughly 50 webinars, most of which have been the same.

To stand out, avoid the formula of:

Intro; 10 minutes of chat; 5 minutes of technical chat; people telling other people where they're from; and the long winded upsell.

Why? Everyone else is offering this kind of format, which means little stands out, little punches through the clutter.

Deliver great, SOLUTION FOCUSED content, keep the total content to 55 minutes, do introductions via e-mails or via a short video sent BEFORE the webinar, and follow up with a thank you e-mail (and one that contains a link to your sales pitch or upsell).

Most webinars suck because the presenter has little grasp of their offering as a radio show with slides. That's pretty much what a good webinar ought to be: a well presented, well thought out and SCRIPTED radio show: one that informs, educates, and inspires people to want to find out more.

I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
The Direct Response Marketing Guy™

I don't think that webinars are phasing out; it's just that many people are too busy to stay the entire time to watch it. Some webinar dates and times do not work for people, so a way to maximize your time spent on creating the webinars is to record and archive them on your website. This way, people can watch the webinars on their own time.