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Topic: Other

Live Webinars - Successful Or Not?

Posted by Anonymous on 5/26/2013 at 8:46 PM ET 250 Points
Hi

Our company does a number of live webinars but it has been diificult to generate attendance this year. We always do them regardless so we have new content to use. Just wanted to see if others had seen a decline in success as more people just want to consume information on their own time?
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  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 5/26/2013 at 9:58 PM Accepted
    I've seen a marked uptick in pre-recorded seminars (especially those that are multi-day events, offered for free, but also with a pay-for-recordings option). People are busier, and they have more options to choose from - unless you have some very special expertise to share. Have you measured the difference between the live offering and the playback offerings? My guess is the latter is much better, even if attendees can't ask their question to the expert.
  • Posted by marketgirl76 on 5/26/2013 at 10:10 PM Accepted
    Thanks - I haven't got a clear metric on, but something I'm tracking. We often did 1 hour webinars with a follow-up recording, but getting people live on the call is proving more and more challenging. However, I do know many access as YouTube recordings or landing page offers after. I'm in the ERP software reseller market for small business, and have been for 10 years. I've just found this year to date to be more challenging than ever to get registrations for the live event, yet the messaging and content seems to be tight.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 5/26/2013 at 10:11 PM Accepted
    It rather depends upon your definition of success. What kinds of offers have you included and how compelling have your calls to action been?
  • Posted by marketgirl76 on 5/26/2013 at 10:16 PM Member
    I think that is where I'm struggling - the call to action following the webinar. Many of the people in our audience watching these are still early on in their decision making process. To request a free consultation with a consultant....just isn't compelling or where they are. We're trying to put together a more formal content strategy to support the decision-making process. It seems to be getting longer and people starting earllier in the SME market for ERP software. Many of our webinars are focused on the results a similar business achieved and then the webinar demonstrates how they did this through ERP. The focus is on the pain points. I'm just wondering if my webinar topics should go higher up in the funnel...
  • Posted by Moriarty on 5/27/2013 at 3:02 AM Accepted
    Are your landing pages compelling? - what is your offer, and is this something they can get elsewhere? There are numerous cases where someone is selling information when they could be selling their understanding which is far more valuable.

    Are you generating new leads or trying to flog a saturated market? How diverse is your marketing campaign? Because if you are using the same hooks to catch customers, you may find you need a change of direction to find fresh pools of leads. It could well be that customers simply aren't able to find you.

    The other end of the issue is that many SMEs either haven't got the spare cash - their sales are being trashed - or that they're guarding their pile against a longer downturn than expected. Either way it's having a knock-on effect across the marketplace. That includes you.

    Can you offer a money-back guarantee as part of your USP? This often tells wary businessmen that you are willing to bear the responsibility if your systems don't perform as you intend them to. My experience is that if you do this and get it right, the sign-up rate will increase dramatically. This is way more than the rather limp "free trial".

    There are a few other strategies I could suggest should things not work or get too hot to handle.

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