The document summarizes a roundtable discussion on best practices for marketing webcasts. It includes a discussion of types of webcasts, results from a survey on technology webcasting, and a case study on a series of spyware prevention webcasts conducted by CA. Participants provided input on recruitment strategies, content, use of interactive features, and follow up plans for effective webcasting.
Different types of Webcasts 5 mins Bob Hanson – Quantum Leap Marketing 15 mins Results of 2009 Survey of our Peers on Webinars Technology Webinars for Building & Moving Pipe Case Study of Success with Sales Conversion Webinar Best Practices Strategies -- Common Success Principles Q& A Proven Tips & Costly Mistakes 10 mins CA Experience 10 mins CA Case Study Series, Deep dives, moving people Feedback Conclusion Bio: Bob Hanson is the President of lead generation and conversion consultancy Quantum Leap Marketing and creator of the “Must-See Webinars tm” success system. He has also published a recent guide to online lead generation, the "What's Working Now in B-to-B Lead Generation Guide: Success with New Media: Webinars and Google Ads." Bob's clients conduct about 1,500 webinars per year with up to 2,245 registrants. His client marketing events have created in excess of $1.45 billion in qualified leads. Representative clients include 3Com, AT&T, Cisco Systems, Cabletron, Iona Technologies, IDT, Mentor Graphics, and Siemens.
What do we think about marketing webcasts as next steps? (Anastasia Tsimiklis) BP Webcasts needs to shift focus away from ppt slides with lots of words and bullets. The roundtable example was very good so we should shift focus of these webcasts to be "a bunch of these" not a bunch of slides with words. I would think that active links to take me to examples of best practice tools, ie invitations, recruiting methodologies, recruiting checklists, etc would be ideal! Need lots of graphics too in these webcasts as well. The links would be helpful when I am ready to execute since I cannot remember everything in this deck in a month when I need to execute an event. To get a better idea of this approach. participate in a Marketing Leadership Forum webcast. (Dean Morash) How to leverage and get the most out of the Planner's programs and complementing the field programs to make truly integrated content. (Zoe Meyer) I thought that Angela and Elliott did a great job and their ideas were presented in a way that was compelling and interactive. Two thoughts: 1. Make the presentations shorter (45 minutes max)...we tend to have short attention spans. 2. Sharing the "how" would be good for everyone. Thanks again for sharing, great idea. (Jan Mitchell) integrating PR (Keith Page) Tradeshows (national or regional). We have one scheduled for events but I'm guessing that will be more about CA custom seminars/roundtables. (Karen Longcoy) Someone on the PPM asked to have a webcast on Campaign Best Practices. (Nerissa Traola) Maybe a training webcast (not really best practices) on understanding Geo processes that would help Area marketing people. (Sandy Smith)
Working with clients such as Cisco and Siemens, Bob Hanson, our guest speaker, has defined the typical buying process at the bottom of this chart and how different webinars can be used at different stages of the buying process to help you move more people through faster. If you look on the bottom you see Early Education of prospects moving all the way to the sale and then upsell or client satisfaction webinars. Bob will take us through a case study example in a few minutes that would be a Positioning webinar taking place early in the buying process. The Educational or Demonstration type events are more common which come further on in the process, and then another type of event which is very common in some industries like Training or Information Marketing, is where the objective is to get orders at the event. The key takeaway is to know what kind of events you need to do, and that any one Lead Generation event is likely not going to accomplish all of these objectives. In CA terms, we have categorized the Webcasts in the following ways: Positioning (awareness - e.g. EITM) Topic Education (demand generation - e.g. solution focused) Product Demo (move pipe) Sales Conversion (move pipe)
The Medium Live or On Demand Version Intimate and Convenient Interactive Online Marketing to Promote (Email and Websites) The Message Use Your Best Speaker (s) Proven Presentations The Money - Return on Investment Effective Relative to Other Options Tracking Prospect Interest, Follow-up Easy Easy to Track Results
So in summary, I hope you have gotten the 30,000 foot view on the survey. You can compare how your marketing mix compares to your peers and also I hope you are starting to get some ideas for your won webinars for lead generation. Eric’s going to share a lot more ideas for you and I’ll speak with you again in a few minutes to answer your questions, so please keep them coming. - Thanks for your attention, and now I’d like to turn the presentation back over to Elliot for a polling question.
Content is King! Always choose a topic that resonates with users, partners and will capture attention. Select a topic that is current and top of mind. Webcasts that are the first to cover a timely topic generates a higher attendance rate. Would you use the acronyms ROI and TCO with a technical audience? Probably not, nor would you want to use technical terms such as LPAR’s or N-Tier architecture with a CXX level audience. LPAR= logical partition is a subset of computer's hardware resources, virtualized as a separate computer. In effect, a physical machine can be partitioned into multiple LPARs, each housing a separate operating system. N-Tier architecture= refers to web applications which further forward their requests to other enterprise services. This type of application is the one most responsible for the success of application servers. 3. The first impression people will see is the title of the webcast—Choose Wisely and make sure the title matches the content. The title can be broad or narrow depending on the audience you are trying to draw. Here are a few examples of effective phrases in Webcast titles: - “Are you prepared…” - “Maximize Performance…” - “Gain 5 Key Strategies to…” - “10 Tactics to Build On…” - “Get the Most out of…” - “Improve…” AND make sure the title is paired with an effective abstract and avoid phrases that can be picked up by SPAM filters such as “Free” versus “Complimentary”. Keeping the abstract concise and using bullets will attract more viewers. Be sure to leave the user with details on where to turn to obtain more information (web site URL, etc.) Pick the appropriate speaker to address the intended audience. Invite an industry expert (e.g. Bob Hanson from Quantum Leap Marketing) which presents a non-partisan view and will add creditability to you webcast. Keep the number of slides short, utilizing one slide for each three minutes. Do not use more than 40 minutes of presentation time. Invite your customers and prospects: Sales team aware and have them send invitations to select customers. Promote the Webcast on your Website: Depending on the audience-Local versus regional versus international Follow-up with Attendees: Establish a follow-up strategy for the attendees before the event to provide for timely contact which will help accelerate the sales process and determine the ROI for the event.
Underestimating the Effort Needed to Recruit Your Audience People are bombarded with hundreds of marketing and sales emails every day. Make every effort possible to grab prospect’s attention to the event, get them to register then follow-up with a confirmation and reminder e-mail. Speakers not Buying into Objectives and Agenda Have all speakers attend a “dress rehearsal”. By not attending, major points such as topic transitions, polling questions and can sabotage the entire Webcast. Internal Speakers Who Are Not Experts on the Topic Failing to Use Key Features of Collaboration Technologies Using chat, polling questions, Q&A forums, and lead capture forms No Design for Sales Follow-Up Before the Event Little or No…Follow-up Little or No…Tracking