Perhaps no other issue presents as much opportunity or challenge to the modern brand marketer, public relations executive or similar professional charged with designing corporate communication strategy than how to best adopt and integrate online communication platforms into the traditional integrated marketing mix.
Download this 12-page report at http://www.webattract.com/docs/2010VirtualMarketOutlookReport.pdf .
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Webinars can be a smart way to help people learn more about your company or brand, and e-mail marketing is one of the best ways to get the message out about an event. Here are some promotion dos and don’ts, courtesy of Janine Popick, CEO and co-founder of online marketing provider VerticalResponse.
1) Don’t forget the basics. It might sound silly, but marketers often forget the most salient information when sending out a promotional e-mail, such as date, time or program name, Popick said. Identify the time zone, for example, and include opt-out—and opt-in—links. In addition, make sure there’s a link that recipients can click on to preregister for the program.
2) Do keep content simple. Webinar invitations should include the who, what and why right upfront. Provide a bio for anyone speaking at the event and bullet points that detail exactly what participants should expect to take away from the program. “Really hype the speaker and [his or her] legitimacy,” Popick said. “You want people to walk away from your message with a good idea of why they need to attend.”
3) Don’t be shy about reminders. If someone has signed up for your program, remind them a week before and then again the day before. It won’t seem intrusive if you keep it basic, including a link to the program, the time and day reminder, and a quick synopsis of what the recipient should expect. “The message can be changed up a bit, but the bullet points should probably stay the same,” Popick said.
4) Do use e-mail as a follow-up vehicle. Once someone takes the time to attend a webinar, it’s crucial that you reach them in some way immediately following the event. E-mails should include a link to the recorded webinar as well as a thank you. Prospects may also receive a special offer. “Segment your attendee list into attendees and registrants. Then segment each into prospects and customers,” Popick suggested. “Leads who didn’t attend should get a link and a special offer.”
5) Don’t overlook the power of testimonials. You probably use case studies and customer quotes in traditional e-mail marketing. It can work just as well in webinar promotions. You can include links to previous webinars in your current invitation and call out the benefits of attending one of your events by letting a recent attendee explain what he or she got out of the experience, Popick said.
6) Do cull webinar transcripts and materials for future e-mail content. During a successful webinar you may receive more questions than you have time to answer. Those questions can be repurposed as e-newsletter content or blog fodder, Popick said. “You can include a sentence in the follow-up e-mail that says, ‘If you didn’t get your question answered, check out our blog,’ ” she said. You can excerpt one or two so registrants who didn’t attend have another reason to click through to the recorded webinar.
7) Don’t oversell yourself. Webinars work best when they are used for thought leadership and education; you don’t want your entire program to be too self-promotional. Don’t be afraid to tap speakers from outside your company, Popick said. “You want your speaker to be viewed as a best practice guru within your industry,” she said.
Filed under: Email Marketing
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Webinar Audience Recruitment, part 6: Cost-Effective, CAN-SPAM Compliant E-Broadcasting
Read more of WebAttract’s article on Bright Hub’s Sales & Marketing Channel @ http://www.brighthub.com/office/sales-marketing/articles/64104.aspx
Webinar Audience Recruitment, part 7: Extending the Dialogue in Sales and Marketing
Read more of WebAttract’s article on Bright Hub’s Sales & Marketing Channel @ http://www.brighthub.com/office/sales-marketing/articles/64173.aspx
Filed under: Webinars
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Organization is the key to success in voice prospecting. The better organized you are, the more calls you can make. The less you have to think about your tools, the better your focus will be on making effective presentations.
I have often been asked, what is the best way to organize yourself for a voice campaign. There are many systems for doing so. This is mine.
I prefer to use an Excel spread sheet for my call tracker. It allows me a great deal of versatility and many data bases are formatted to open in an Excel work book. Excel is flexible allowing for fields to be laid out exactly in the order you want to see them.
So, what information are you going to need on a call sheet? Going from left to right, I start with the name of the company, first and last name of the contact, title, telephone number, email address, street address, city, state, zip code, website URL, industry, and comments. I hide all columns except company name, contact name, title, phone number and comments.
The reason that I do this, is because I want to have the data accessible to refer to, but I don’t want it cluttering up my call work sheet either. While on the phone, I want quick reference to who am I calling, how to reach them, and their title. Too much information, too many columns, just bogs you down, so hiding the columns is important.
Should something positive come from the call, you have immediate access to the full picture with a simple left click of the mouse. Also, should you need to access the prospect’s company web site, just click on the URL and it opens immediately. How many times has someone asked you if you know what they do there, or you have wished that you had more in depth information at your disposal?
Another reason that I enjoy Excel as a prospecting tool, is that it allows me to design the size, style and color of the font, column and row to my optimum preference. When someone refers me to another person in the organization, I can add a row right below the name of the person who provided it. All of your data is together in the same location, so there is no need to hunt for it later.
With all of these rows of information, how do you know where who you have called and what the results of the call were? Referring back to the comments section can be slow and tedious, as you may have to read several entries on various rows, to locate the data that you need.
The use of color instantly brings organization to life. Calls where I reached voice mails, I use yellow. Calls where I spoke to the contact, but the answer was no, I use green. Bad numbers/fax numbers, no longer with the company calls are light gray. When I need to call someone back, purple stands out. When I make a sale or generate a lead, red. Obviously, the ones still in white have yet to be attempted.
I can look at my sheet and easily know at a glance, who I’ve called, what the results of the call were, who I need to call back, and find detailed notes of what happened in the contact section for each. It isn’t rocket science, but it works awfully well for me.
My PC is set up to dial my out bound calls for me. I copy and paste the number into the dialer and hit enter. While the phone is ringing, I copy the next number on the Excel sheet, so that I am ready to make another call immediately, should my attempt go to voice mail, or be a wrong number.
While it is ringing, I have highlighted the Excel row for the contact I am calling. I place my cursor on the yellow color block (for voice mail), so if I reach voice mail, I can instantly click the color to record the result on the work sheet, then go to the dialer and hang up, enter the next number, and dial the next contact. In just a second or two, I am on to my next call.
Sales is a numbers game, so the more efficient that you can be, and the more dials you can attempt, the better your end results should be.
Filed under: Voice Prospecting
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Register @ https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/636310026
Join us TODAY, February 24th for a complimentary tutorial for an insightful look into managing all of the “moving parts” involved in attracting the right audience to your event, and in larger numbers.
Specifically you’ll learn:
- How to identify the right audience/right value proposition
- Optimum list acquisition
- Compelling messaging for email, landing page
- Promoting and driving registration
- Key metrics
Regardless of whether you’re producing an onsite event, podcast or an informational webinar, the audience has got to be the top priority.
“What’s in it for them?” has to be the driving force behind your content development, your messaging, and your audience recruitment efforts. Successful outcomes are measured in number and quality of attendees, as well as the opportunities they represent for enhanced brand awareness, heightened thought leadership and fresh new sales leads.
Additional webinars in the series include: Living Case Stories, Leveraging Analytics & Metrics, The Nuts and Bolts of Impactful Webinar Production, and more.
Who Should Attend:
CXOs, Marketing Managers, Product Marketers & Managers, and others, in the Software, Technology, Manufacturing and Engineering communities, as well as the media that cover them.
Filed under: Webinars
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Attend virtually by registering @ http://www.virtualedgesummit.com/
Virtual Edge Summit 2010
the Summit on Virtual Events, Meetings & Communities
February 22-23 Santa Clara, California
Virtual Edge Summit 2010 is designed for all virtual marketing and meeting professionals, as well as for those with expertise in producing physical events and in-person meetings that now need to expand into virtual solutions. The event also offers a rich program for digital, IT, and community support professionals. Attendees will meet other event, marketing and community experts from Cisco, IBM, SAP, Oracle, Intel, Disney and top virtual technology and service providers like InXpo, ON24, 6Connex, Stream57, CGS VirtualEvents365, George P. Johnson, Unisfair and Digitell.
Demand Creation for Online Events—Getting the Right Eyeballs and More of Them
Feb 23nd from 4:15 pm – 5:00 pm
Whether your event is a webcast, webinar or full virtual conference, getting the right people to register and attend is critical to success. This session will help you map out a strategy that identifies a value proposition-matched to the group you want to attract and then, look at sourcing contact data and creating compelling, multi-touchpoint messaging.
http://www.webattract.com/pages/engagements.shtml#VirtualEdgeSummit2010
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As a group member, you can download your advance copy at http://www.box.net/signup/collablink/d_34884178/32da2ee1dc9b1
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You’ve developed a compelling presentation. You have the right amount of slides, and those that you have are full of visuals backed up with solid examples to reinforce all of your key points. After several table reads and dress rehearsals, you’re ready and can’t wait to share your experience with your audience.
Here’s some obvious and maybe not so obvious tips to use to connect all of your energy and passion as authentically as possible with your audience.
I follow these for most live and virtual presentations, as I approach each one as a mini event and “train” for them by making them as theatrical and engaging for my audience, who after all is why I’m there.
On Webinar Day:
1. Go easy on the caffeine and carbonated drinks, as they can play games with your ability to speak. Also stay away from garlic and other foods that will also come back mid sentence to haunt you. Same goes for food items like peanut butter. Keep a glass of water by your side too. Of course get a good nights sleep the night before.
2. Work out before your Webinar, do some type of cardio exercise such as swimming or bike riding. It’s a great way to get you focused on your portion, and it helps relax you by working off any nervous energy and converting it for use when you need it during the Webinar.
3. About an hour before you are ready to go live. Do some vocal exercises to loosen up your vocal chords. Read out loud. Do a sound check and make sure the technology is working well and that your sound level is balanced with the other panelists.
4. Get yourself pumped up by listening to some of your spcecial music on your iPod. Whether it’s Lady Gaga, or from another era like the Stones. Listen to your favorites, and see if it doesn’t get you motivated too? For me, I always find anything from the Sinatra canon of uptempo songs puts me in a good mood. My current favorite is I Get a Kick Out of You.
5. When it’s your turn to present, try standing up when you speak. Sitting down sucks all of your energy out. Standing up lets you gesture, use a headset so you can move around. Don’t read the bullets from your slides. Visualize your audience, and if it will help, consider pasting some pictures of crowd scenes on your wall….think of the energy from a live concert… remember your’re talking to people, not your computer screen.
The most important thing to remember is “have fun”, this is about connection, not perfection. This is your chance to connect your thought leadership with the audience and if you do, they will find what you have to say memorable and open to having a more in depth conversation post Webinar.
What are some of your tips you use to deliver a killer presentation on Webinar day?
Mike
Filed under: Webinars
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So what exactly IS an invitation strategy? An invitation strategy is your overall plan for developing and broadcasting your invitation content at pre-determined times leading up to the event.
Read more of WebAttract’s article on Bright Hub’s Sales & Marketing Channel @ http://www.brighthub.com/office/sales-marketing/articles/63967.aspx
Filed under: Webinars
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