5 tips to running a successful webinar
Friday 15 May 2009
TAGS: Lead generation | Webinars
The days of sales people traveling the length and breadth of the UK and beyond pitching their wares to buyers are starting to diminish with many firms using technology to run the their own webinars. Neil Robbins provides you with his 5 tips for making sure your webinar is successful.
What is a webinar?
Before I launch into some insightful tips to for you to consider, lets take a step back and I’ll explain exactly what a webinar is.
A webinar is a short web based seminar. In the past you may have invited forty or fifty people to a presentation to hear why your businesses products or services will make a real difference to them. Well, a webinar in really no different except the presentation is online, no one is sat in the same room and there is no cheese on a stick buffet at the end.
The presenting company can use a number of different webinar delivery solutions that are widely available. These solutions enable you to create a secure area for listeners to log-in and subsequently listen to your presentation. They get to see the Powerpoint slides (I am assuming most of you will be using Powerpoint) as you work your way through them and either during or at the end of the presentation they can ask questions via a messenger system.
How do you make it successful?
In a sense the guidelines you need to follow to deliver a successful webinar are no different than if you were to host a presentation event at your offices or hotel. Lets assume you know what topic you are covering and you have a specific audience in mind.
1. Use a professional service
Many of the webinar hosting providers such as Intercall, which offers Webex and Placeware provide meeting consultants as part of their service. These consultants will educate you on best practices, train you on how to conduct a successful webinar, and be present during the webinar to assist with any issues that may arise.
2. Get the timing right
You would not hold a presentation event the week before Christmas would you? The same principles apply, avoid Easter and the summer months. Monday mornings are a no-no and don’t make it too late in the day when many people want to leave the office and get home. I suggest 3.30pm during the week giving your listeners and opportunity to clear their diary and reduce any distractions.
3. Marketing
Obvious I know, but let me mention a couple online marketing techniques you can use.
First of all online PR; you can use a number of online press release distribution services to send out information about your webinar. There is a good chance many websites will add this information to their site promoting your webinar to their users.
Secondly, social media marketing; if you have an account with Linkedin then make sure you tell your network about your webinar. Take a look at other business social networking sites for like eCademy and ConnectBuzz where you can interact with other people and promote your webinar.
4. Quality content
It may be cheaper than travelling long distances and you can’t see the whites of your audience eyes but there is no excuse for poor content. Well delivered webinars should become part of your ongoing business communication strategy, don’t put people off from future ones by doing a bad job. Otherwise your boss will tell you to get back to your old life of late trains and motorway jams.
5. Follow up
When people sign up to your webinar make sure you capture their contact details, email and phone numbers. Excellent webinars won’t necessarily make your prospective clients rush for their cheque books to place a big order. You’ll need to conduct your lead nurturing and follow up work as normal.
Webinars are the presentations of the present and the future. Reduce your travel costs and increase the reach of your business presentations by including this simple, cost-effective online marketing tool in your sales and marketing strategy.
Neil Robbins is Managing Director at Silverbean. If you have any questions or would like to discuss how Silverbean can help you achieve your marketing objectives through good online lead generation; please contact our resident lead generation expert using one of the following.