 One of the reasons why webinars are so great for online marketing is that they’re cheap and easy to produce. Although technology is central to holding these events online, it shouldn’t be a huge obstacle. You can create excellent professional webinars without the tech headaches — if you do it right. Choose the Right Platform There is a huge variety of platforms and software programs available for holding webinars. When choosing yours, the main consideration should be ease-of-use. You’ll need to learn how to use it before you can start planning your event. Two great platforms that are very common and easy to use are Zoom and GoToWebinar. Each has more than enough features for your event. If you find these options lacking, then you can expand your search. Simplify Your Presentation When planning your webinar, try to make it as simple as possible from a tech point of view. For example, rather than bothering with survey or chat features during presentation portion, it’s easier to create a Q&A at the end that you can do live. Try not to get bogged down in features that may present a challenge. Use Minimal Gear If you talk to people who’ve done webinars in the past, they might start recommending a laundry list of equipment that they claim is absolutely essential. However, you probably already have most of what you need to get started. Your computer’s camera is enough to hold a professional-looking webinar. The only other essentials are a stable Internet connection, all the necessary cables and adapters, and a microphone. You should probably invest in an external microphone as PC mics don’t offer the best quality, and sound quality is very important in webinars. It’s best to use what you already have at first and upgrade only as needed. Cutting Down on Tech Catastrophes There are a few ways you can cut down on anything going wrong during your webinar. The first is to practice. Run through your webinar with actual live guests. You can enlist coworkers or family members to do this for you. In this practice run, you’ll discover any glitches to correct before you have actual customers joining. It also helps a great deal to have a dedicated tech person on-hand during the event. This doesn’t have to be an IT professional but just someone who can turn things on and off and deal with issues if they arise so you don’t have to. It’s very disruptive if the host has to stop and take care of something. Don’t Sweat the Tech Stuff Keep in mind that the value your webinar offers doesn’t come from the fancy, high-tech bells and whistles. It’s the actual content that will help your audience solve their problems. Focus on making it smooth and easy, and also keep in mind that it’ll get easier with experience. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.
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 Once you decide to offer a high-value webinar to your audience, the first big step is to choose a topic. You can probably already think of some great topic ideas, but how do you choose the right one that will offer value and drive participants to take action? Talk to Your Salespeople One way to get feedback on your ideas is to talk with salespeople in your organization or others who work for you. What products are they pushing now? Which items do they hope will be big sellers in the coming months? If you can align your topic with these products, it’ll directly result in sales. Survey Your Industry Search for topics that are trending in your industry right now. Look at trade publications and news articles. Listen in on conversations on social media or online forums. You may want to subscribe to newsletters or find some other sources of the most up-to-date information where you can find great ideas. Even better, try to predict topics that will be trending in the coming months. Audit Your Content Look back over your past content. Identify the topics that performed best and consider these or similar topics. Even something like a short blog post could be the starting point for a webinar if you can expand on the topic. Choosing a topic this way also helps you with content creation as you can repurpose old content into your webinar. Get Ideas from Industry Leaders Look at webinars and other content in your industry that leaders in your industry are creating. The goal here is not to copy their topic idea. Instead, looking at the this will show you what’s popular right now. You may be able to cover a similar topic but give it your own unique twist. Another way you can use this information is to create a webinar on a topic no one is covering yet. What’s Exciting to You? One great way to choose a topic is to choose whatever you’re most excited about right now. If you’re excited to talk about a topic, your passion will come through in your presentation and your expertise will make it valuable for your audience. Just make sure there’s interest from your audience in this topic before you move forward. Go Straight to Your Audience Probably the best way to get ideas is to ask your audience. Ask what they’d like to learn about in one of your webinars. Keep this line of communication open and you’ll always have great topics that they will love. Once you start regularly holding webinars, you can ask as part of the exit survey and get feedback directly. Whatever idea you settle on, whether from the market or your audience, test it out by asking some audience members if they’d be interested in it or not. Use this feedback to refine your topic or choose something more appropriate. The best case is to offer a webinar that’s within your area of expertise and relevant to your audience. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  You’ve planned a great webinar with the perfect topic and you’re ready to offer it to your audience. It’s sure to be a hit. But first, you have to let the people know about the value you’re offering. Here are 11 tips on promoting your webinar so you get full attendance. Identify Your Perfect Participant. In the early stages of planning, create a profile for your perfect audience member. Identify who they are and what problems they face so you can help them solve these challenges. A good customer profile will also tell you where to find people who would want to join your webinar. Get Your Message Right. What value is your webinar offering? Create a message the explains exactly how people will benefit by attending your webinar. What changes will they see in their lives once they’re done? Email Marketing. Tell your email subscribers about your high-value webinar with a link where they can sign up. If you don’t have an email list, you should consider building one. Social Media. Tell your followers on social media about your webinar. Mix it into your usual posting schedule and gradually increase content about the webinar as the big day approaches. Find the best times to post where you get the most engagement from your audience. Blog About It. Write blog posts about topics related to your webinar. You can then tell readers, “If you found this helpful, I’m offering a webinar…” and give them a link to sign up. Press Releases. Create a press release about your event and share it on press release websites. You can post it on your blog, social media, and website as well. Create a Dedicated Website. Create a website just for your webinar. It should include nothing but information about the event along with a sign-up form. You can drive traffic directly there. Put a link with a call-to-action in your social media profiles, blog sidebar, and forum and email signatures. Consider Paid Advertising. It might be worth it to spend a little cash for advertising. Social media ads and other online advertising give you the chance to extend your reach to people who otherwise wouldn’t have found you. Get Guest Presenters. Find guest presenters to join you for your webinar. They can share their own unique expertise along with yours. If they’re well-known in their niche, they’ll bring their audience members too. Get Influencers Talking. Identify influencers in your niche and reach out them to promote your webinar. In exchange, you can do some work for them or offer another incentive. A mention from them to their audience can really boost sign-ups. Use Testimonials. Once you hold your first webinar, seek testimonials from happy participants and use these to promote your next one. Start planning and promoting your webinar early. The sooner you start, the more chances you’ll have to get your offer in front of the right people. Also, set goals for how many participants you’d like to see. If you don’t hit these targets, try to find out why and change your promotion mix next time. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  You may have heard that offering a free webinar to your audience is a great way to increase your sales. Webinars are getting increasingly popular year by year and many businesses are using them to reach entirely new markets around the globe. But how exactly does a webinar boost your profits?
Boost Your Content Marketing Efforts The webinar is an essential part of your content marketing strategy. The idea behind content marketing is that you offer your audience free content with no strings attached in order to build a relationship with them. Because the content is free, it allows you to draw a large number of leads into your sales funnel. If you can offer real solutions to their problems, you’ll build a solid, trusting relationship with your audience. Then later, when you pitch products and services to them, they’ll be much more likely to buy. How to Monetize Your Webinars There are a few ways you can earn directly through your webinar if you choose to do so. One is to charge people a fee for signing up. But keep in mind that the market is glutted with free content and educational opportunities. You’ll have to market your webinar well in order to drive home the unique value it offers. You also may not get as much exposure as you would with a free event. Another way to earn through your webinar is to pitch products at some point during the presentation. While teaching your participants how to do something, you can talk about products you offer that are relevant to the topic. You can also use your webinar as an extended advertisement for paid educational opportunities. For example, offer a month-long course that goes deep into a specific topic. You can then take one part of that topic and offer it as a free webinar to give people a taste of what the full course covers. How to Earn Money from a Free Webinar The best way to get the most out of running a webinar, however, is to offer it free of charge and free of advertisements or other monetization. If you think strategically and place this content within your overall marketing mix, you can use it to boost your sales. Here are some best practices for doing this. Tie Your Content in with Your Products. Create a webinar that tackles a certain problem your audience faces that your products can solve. You can teach your participants how to resolve the issue themselves, but also offer products and services that will solve the problem more easily for them. Offer True Value to Your Audience. Pack as much value into your free webinar as you possibly can. If they feel they’ve received great value from your content, they’ll buy from you whenever they need your products. Keep in Touch. Always end up your webinars with ways people can keep in touch with you. Use those channels of communication to stay on their radar. The more you create opportunities to stay in touch, the more likely they’ll buy from you. Offer Incentives. Offer incentives that are exclusive to your webinar participants as a way of saying thanks. This could be a discount, access to exclusive content, or anything else you think they could use. Pay It Forward The whole idea behind content marketing is to pay it forward with genuine help and education for your audience. Lend your expertise and experience to help people solve their problems. There’s no need to push products and services on them. If you build a strong relationship through your webinar and other content, they’ll buy from you when they’re ready. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality. |
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