PART 2 – “If I Had to Do it All Over Again, Here’s What I Would Have Done Differently … ”
Let’s say you have produced an individual Webinar and want to turn it into a series. Or. suppose you have put together a plan for a Webinar series and want to bring that to life with a series of events.
We will borrow from the experience of others who have been immensely successful and those that failed miserably. We have talked with dozens of Webinar producers. discussing common mistakes, and now we will share their mistakes and tips on how to avoid them.
Here are the things you will want to keep in mind as you build and launch a successful series.
It Starts with Knowing Your Own Objectives …
Be able to answer the question, “When we are done with the series, what will have changed?” Many wish they would have answered this question before the series started.
In other words, when it comes to objectives, make sure you will know if you are successful after a period time or a number of events. If things are not going as desired, either fix the problems or end the series. (After all. no series goes on forever, they naturally have a beginning and an end.)
Target Your Audience Correctly for a Sustainable Series
Before you move forward with your series, double-check that you are clear on your audience and have targeted them well. While it is more art than science, correctly targeting your market is one of the essential steps to building a successful series of events. Many make the mistake of trying to be all things to all people in their market. Others too narrowly target their series content.
If you have a very narrow target market of, say, 100 decision makers, then you are better off doing one-off events. But target too broadly, and you may have a bunch of stand-alone events where there are few repeat attendees. In the ideal world, your Webinar series targets the same market that your company already knows and markets to in other ways, so that your webinar series is but one part of your marketing plan.
A Fundamental Rule of Media Success: Content and Distribution
Success with Webinars, like success with most media, is all about content and distribution. Many Webinar producers fail to grasp both concepts. And, you generally need both to get Webinar attendees in numbers.
If you don’t have a marketing plan for your content, don’t expect to build a large audience. If you don’t have what we call “must-see” content, don’t expect a large audience for your series. Keep in mind that for your initial Webinars, at least, prospects will register without having seen any of your content. So part of the value of the content is to be able to “sell the sizzle,” the benefits of attending.
Go Beyond Delivering Webinars Well, Deliver “Must-See” Content
Some think well-run events alone will guarantee they will hit their series objectives. Yes, you want to have a compelling speaker, you want to run an event well to create a good Webinar experience, and you should be interactive by using the engagement tools built into leading Webinar technologies. (Use such tools as chat, pollinq. Q&A, etc. At a minimum, you generally want to address the top questions the audience has on a topic.)
But we would argue “must-see” content has the following characteristics:
“Must-see” Webinar content should be important and
informative, if not critical, to the target market. It’s presented by
a specialist or expert and full of specifics and examples,
perhaps with case studies. It could be motivating or
promoting next steps or action and offer a point-of-view that
could be seen as different or somewhat controversial,
hopefully cutting (but not “bleeding”) edge.
Most of all, it should present a potentially “life-changing
or BIG idea” to the marketplace, an idea that answers one of
their top questions or helps them solve one of their top
problems.
Lists/Media, Invitations, and Execution of the Marketing Do Matter … A Lot
An email invitation to a relevant opt-in em ail list will generally drive 80%+ of your audience. This is still true today even in the Web 2.0 and social media world we live in. But we have seen countless events that failed because the Webinar invitations did not follow the rules of good direct marketing:
You reach your audience through a relevant opt-in emaillist or
other media, get their attention, build their interest, create
desire, and call them to action, now!
Ideally, your invitational email will prominently feature the Webinar title and its benefits. A recent study with the 1080 Group showed that by far the Webinar topic is the biggest factor that prospects consider when they think of attending. This matches our experience with in-person seminars during the 1980s and 1990s.
So take extra care to pick topics that are important to your audience, use your own and other emaillists to reach your market, and articulate your message in an appealing way in the invitation.
Don’t Go It Alone for Content AND Marketing
The average Webinar series will require one or both of the following to be a success: outside speakers and/or outside lists and promotional opportunities. Webinar series producers with small, internal lists need to promote through outside media, opt-in email lists, speaker lists or to social media followers and communities.
Most Webinar series veterans know that lists will tire of the same internal speakers. Registrants want independent expertise, insights, or perspective. Some promoting a series will try to go it alone for both content and marketing and, then, wish they could do it over again. Avoid this mistake for a better series.
Line Up Your Resources Before You start Putting Together Events
Many Webinar series are doomed to failure because they don’t have the necessary resources. Resources come in many forms including: time, speakers, marketers, and event coordinators, in addition to written content, marketing lists, and budgets.
We’ve seen numerous Webinar series fail quickly, or limp along on life-support, because they lacked one or more of these key resource areas. For example, if you don’t have a budget for good, external speakers and are also dependent upon your speakers to promote the event, then your series is likely to suffer. If you have all the big pieces in place but no one coordinates the events to make sure they are well run, you risk fast failure because you will get few repeat attendees and little prospect follow- through.
If you have no audience, only average speakers, or mediocre content, then go back and update your series plans.
Build on Momentum and Successes
One of the exciting, but sometimes frustrating, aspects of Webinars is that you are only as good as your lost event. And, past success in any area does not mean you can take success for granted the next time.
Recognize if an event runs smoothly because of good preparation such as a rehearsal and a good moderator, forgetting to do a rehearsal and having a bad moderator at the next event will likely mean it will go poorly. So when you do achieve successes in the series, leverage them to take the series to the next level.
For example, if you deliver amazing content, repeat the event or heavily promote the recording. If you win a big customer from a Webinar, use that to gain more resources from your company for the series. If you feature a dynamic speaker, use that with all your various constituencies. Finally, when it comes time to launch a Webinar series, keep in mind that …
Building and launching a Webinar series can be a lot like
doing a product marketing launch, except the “product” is your
live and recorded Webinar events. And with a Webinar series
your next event can be the one that takes your series to the
next level.
Now that you have discovered how to avoid many of the most common mistakes, in the next section you will learn the foundational elements of a Webinars series. These are key elements that will support the success of virtually any Webinar series.
© 2010 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc