Webinars can help your business to engage, inform, persuade and invite customers, partners and prospects. When done right, Webinars build awareness, positive perception and positioning of your company as a thought leader and trusted advisor. And you only need four things to get each and every Webinar right.
An audience – which means you've got to create compelling content for the Webinar itself (see below) and to help to promote the event. A great Web site landing page that makes people want to register and attend – and makes it brain-dead simple to do so. Oh, and a key message or theme that “grabs” that audience. (Hint: one key message per event, please.)
Compelling content – not what you want to say, but what your audience wants and needs to hear, and can use to benefit their organizations. One 5-minute credible success story featuring one of your customers is more compelling (and better positioning for you) than an hour about your newest features. (Hint: Don't forget transcripts of the audio, downloadable-on-demand archive recordings and copies of slides – all opportunities to increase perceived value and reinforce that key message.)
The right platform – with pricing starting at free and broad ranges of features, there's bound to be one that meets your needs. At minimum, you'll need easy set-up, recording options and tools for Q&A and audience tracking. (Hint: visit Comparz.com for Web conferencing user and expert reviews and a Decision Guide.)
A practical plan – a complete, well-organized strategy for all of the above. Identifying the key message and desired audience. Engaging with and attracting that audience. Developing, acquiring and coordinating the content needed. Identifying, selecting and deploying the right platform. Scripting, rehearsing, moderating and delivering the event. Following up in ways that maximize business benefit and audience satisfaction, and set the stage for doing it even better the next time. (Hint: write this first.)
For more helpful tips, see the Web conferencing blog posts at Comparz.com and check out the Webcasts and Roundtables at Focus.com. Then start having perfect Webinars of your own!
We've got our first webinar this month so these tips have arrived just in time.
ReplyDeleteAnother factor to consider for 'audience' is having channels in place to promote the webinar even before it's been announced. Such as building up a strong Twitter following who can then be invited to the event.