21 Ideas for Webinar Marketing

How Webinars Should Fit into YourContent Marketing & Audience-BuildingEfforts 21 ideas for planning, creating, and leveraging your webinars

Today’s team Todd Lebo Daniel Burstein Senior Director of Content Director of and Business Development Editorial Content @ToddLebo @DanielBurstein #SherpaWebinar

About MECLABS • More than 10 years of research • Over 1 billion emails • 1,300 major experiments • 10,000 sales paths tested • Hundreds of publications and conferences • 5 million phone calls • 500,000 conversations #SherpaWebinar

MarketingSherpa is a research and publishingorganization serving the marketing communityMarketingSherpa’sresearch cycle providesknowledge for continuousimprovement of marketingperformance 4 #SherpaWebinar

How Webinars Should Fit into Your ContentMarketing & Audience-Building Efforts1 Pre-webinar – developing content and orchestrating pre- event promotions2 During the webinar – managing the event in real time, and engaging your audience3 Post-webinar – turning viewers into customers, processing feedback, and reusing content

1 Pre-webinarFree webinars aren’t free IDEA #1: Focus on delivering value…not selling #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarIs a webinar right for your purposes?1. How complex is my purchase?2. Can I help my audience without selling? “The goal with nurturing is not just always be closing or always be selling. It’s really, always be helping.” – Brian Carroll, Executive Director of Revenue Optimization, MECLABS IDEA #1: Focus on delivering value…not selling #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar Top Lead Generation Tactics Q: Please indicate the effectiveness of the following lead generation tactics for your organization: Very effective Somewhat effective Not effective Website design, management 31% 53% 10% and optimization Search engine optimization 29% 46% 9% (SEO) Email marketing 26% 56% 6% Content marketing 23% 48% 10% Trade shows 20% 43% 15% Virtual events / webinars 19% 29% 13% Paid search (PPC) 16% 34% 17% Telemarketing 13% 31% 14% Public relations 13% 47% 17% Direct mail 6% 34% 21% Social media 6% 40% 29% Print advertising 6% 30% 25% Source: ©2011 MarketingSherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey Methodology: Fielded June 2011, N=1,745Source: http://meclabs.com/training/publications/benchmark-report/2012-b2b-marketing/free-excerpt #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar Are other companies using webinars? Q. Which of the following lead generation tactics does your organization currently use? Email marketing 81% Search engine… 75% Social media 72% Website… 68% Content marketing 54% Paid search (PPC) 48% Tradeshows 48% Print advertising 42% Direct mail 40% Webinars 30% Mobile marketing 15% Source: ©2012 MarketingSherpa Lead Generation Benchmark Survey Methodology: Fielded January 2012, N=1,915Source: http://meclabs.com/training/publications/benchmark-report/lead-generation/overview #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar Effectiveness of webinars Q. Which of the following have been the most effective for nurturing your leads? Email newsletters 57% Sales calls 41% Whitepapers 35% Thought leadership articles 35% Webinars 30% Blog posts 29% Direct mail 25% Research-based content 25% Videos 24% Teleprospecting calls 18% Self-promotional content 16% Infographics 8% Podcasts 6% Source: ©2012 MarketingSherpa Lead Generation Benchmark Survey Methodology: Fielded January 2012, N=1,915Source: http://meclabs.com/training/publications/benchmark-report/lead-generation/overview #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarPOLL: What is your level of expertise withcreating and promoting webinars?1. Haven’t started2. Beginner3. Moderate4. Advanced5. Move over Dan and Todd, I should be running this thing #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar Who are you targeting?IDEA #2: Picka target #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarIdentify buyer personasWhat is a buyer persona?A detailed profile that represents anactual, real-life group of your targetaudience. It includes common interests, 1motivators and expectations, as well asdemographic and other behavioralcharacteristics. IDEA #2: Pick a target #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar Key buyer persona traitsDemographic traits Behaviors • Job title & responsibilities • Key concerns for purchase • Organization size / • Interests department size • Motivation • Primary market (B2B, B2C, • Expectations B2B2C) • Decision-making authority • Industry • Approvals needed for purchase • Location • Urgency • Budget • Goals • Familiarity with product / service IDEA #2: • Pain points & challenges Pick a target • Validation needed for purchase #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar Researching buyer personas Step 1: Ask customer-facing departmentsQualitative Step 2: Ask prospectsResearch Step 3: Ask customers Step 4: Mine in-house database What to look for: • Common traits for ideal customersQuantitative – Large deal sizes, short timeframes to purchase, most repeat purchases,Research etc. • Common traits for undesirable customers – Returns or refunds, smallest deal sizes, longest timeframes to purchase IDEA #2: Pick a target #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarIDEA #3:Segment MarketingSherpa Case Study – SciQuestyouraudience segmented their target audienceChallenge: Weekly webinarswere not generating volumeand quality of leads needed tomeet goals for thecollaborative procurement andsupplier managementsolutions companyApproach: Properly identifyand segment the audience togive them targeted content. #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar Marketing Sherpa Case Study – SciQuest: Segmentation Cleaned up the in-house marketing database and got persona- specific content to the correct audience: • They recognized inconsistencies in the way contacts’ job descriptions were recorded. • They began standardizing the way contacts were identified. A dozen standard job description categories were created. • They hired a summer intern to manually examine each contact and assign them to one of the 12 standard categories.IDEA #3:Segmentyouraudience #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar MarketingSherpa Case Study – SciQuest • Better segmentation capabilities from their improved database allowed them to create higher-quality segmented lists for webinar invites. • The webinars could now be advertised to the specific audiences they could benefit. • An invitation on an advanced webinar for the healthcare industry, for example, achieved a 4% acceptance rate – quadrupling the 1% acceptance rate for the company’s basic webinar invitation…a 300% increase in acceptance rateIDEA #3:Segmentyour  Source: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30653audience #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarPick a webinar topic for your audienceWhat will your audience find to be: Relevant? Urgent? Important?Make a choice of topic informed by the questions above and theresearch you conducted. #SherpaWebinar

IDEA #4:Test your Which title will perform best?title• Your first inclination might not produce the best headline• “Once you have a headline in a certain zone, a certain skill zone, there’s no way for me to predict which one is going to win, because I can’t get in the mystery of the audience’s mind well enough to guess that.” Flint Mclaughlin, CEO said prior to testing the headlines• Based on two hypotheses (“Which is better, a fluid statement or a list?”) #SherpaWebinar

IDEA #4:Test your Which title will perform best?titleMinor Changes, Major Lifts: How button and form optimizationincreased conversion 166% VS.Minor Changes, Major Lifts: Three case studies, threediscoveries, 166% increase Which title do you think won? #SherpaWebinar

IDEA #4:Test your Which title will perform best?titleWinner:Minor Changes, Major Lifts: How button and form optimizationincreased conversion 166%Minor Changes, Major Lifts: Three case studies, threediscoveries, 166% increaseSmall differences in wording resulted in a 92.2% increase inconversionSource: http://www.marketingexperiments.com/blog/analytics-testing/headline-testing.html #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarIDEA #5:Repurpose MarketingSherpa Case Study—HubSpot:a proventopic choosing a topic that draws an audienceChallenge: HubSpot wanted ahigh performing topic to bepresented by a presenter witha proved track record.Approach: They picked a topicin the vein of previoussuccessful events. #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar MarketingSherpa Case Study—HubSpot: picked a topic for their audience and got it right HubSpot, a marketing software company, produces many webinars as part of an overall content strategy. One recent event, "The Science of Timing," garnered just shy of 25,000 sign- ups and included almost 10,000 attendees.IDEA #5:Repurpose aproven topic #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar MarketingSherpa Case Study—HubSpot: knew their audience liked science-y content The importance of "The Science of..." series is that previous events played into the marketing of "The Science of Timing." Through past attendance metrics, they showed that this content had interest for HubSpot’s audience: "The Science of Twitter" with ClickZ had pulled in about 3,000 registrantsIDEA #5: "The Science of Social Media" had received aroundRepurpose aproven topic 12,000 registrants #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar MarketingSherpa Case Study—HubSpot: answered audience’s burning questions Jeanne Hopkins, Director of Marketing, HubSpot, explained the appeal of this event, "The Science of Timing kind of combined The Science of Twitter and the science of social media, Facebook and blogging because it was all about timing…This webinar was an aggregate of some of the questions that people really had burning questions to.“ Results: They achieved a record-breaking registartion of 25,000!IDEA #5:Repurpose aproven topic Source: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31889 #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarIDEA #6:Repurpose MarketingSherpa Case Study –live eventcontent Fairchild SemiconductorChallenge: Good content thatgot a great audience responsedidn’t reach the number ofpeople they had hoped for in alive presentation format.Approach: Repurposed day-long, in-person seminar into 7one-hour long pieces, and turnit into webinars #SherpaWebinar

MarketingSherpa Case Study—Fairchild 1 Pre-webinar Semiconductor results  30-50% of live webinar registrants actually attended, but of the remainder, 80% checked in later to access the archive.  A remarkable 75-80% of live webinar attendees stayed through the entire presentation.  They repurposed content that was already created, so these webinars were not as hard to make. Source: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=23547IDEA #6:Repurposelive eventcontent #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarIDEA #7:Test MarketingSherpa Case study—SciQuest:frequencyand timing fewer webinars, more attendeesChallenge: Weekly webinarswere not generating volumeand quality of leads needed tomeet company goals.Approach: Respect theaudience’s time: avoidoversaturation and put yourwebinar at a time when it’seasiest for people to watch it. #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar MarketingSherpa Case Study– SciQuest: timing matters • Events were no longer scheduled for every week, but every other week. • Webinar starting time was changed from 2 p.m. to 11 a.m. to attract prospects in Europe while also reaching West Coast attendees first thing in the morning. • Webinar day became Thursday instead of Tuesday. • No webinars were scheduled for July and August, when attendance was typically lowest.IDEA #7: Results: This tactic in combination with othersTestfrequencyand timing increased viewership 422% Source: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30653 #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarPre-event promotionIDEA #8:Thinkbeyond theemailinvite Source: MarketingSherpa #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarIdea #9:Create apromotions MarketingSherpa Case Study—IDES: atemplate framework that produces results Challenge: IDES, a plastics industry directory, was making high-quality webinars that drew a good audience. They wanted to expedite the process and get the same good results. Approach: Create easy to use templates for a webinar communication plan that can be used and reused. #SherpaWebinar

Idea #9: 1 Pre-webinarCreate apromotionstemplate MarketingSherpa Case Study—IDES: Promotion Ads: 6 weeks prior to the webinar, ads placed throughout the website and link to the webinar platform’s registration page. Webinars Page: Listing and ad link to the webinar reg page. Social: They create a blog posting which updates LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinar MarketingSherpa Case Study—IDES: Promotion Newsletters: Include the upcoming webinar as a featured story in email newsletters beginning 6 weeks prior to the webinar. Email Alerts: Have an opt-in list of people who have asked to be notified of upcoming webinars. Email alerts are sent to this list 1 to 2 days prior to the presentation. Email alerts are also sent to recipients based on past downloads of white papers from website and newsletter click tracking on topics associated with the webinar presentation content.Idea #9:Create apromotionstemplate #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarMarketingSherpa Case Study—IDES: PromotionRegistration Form: Gathers minimal information: first and last name, email.Viral: After 5 seconds, the registration page redirects to a Tell-a-Friend pagecreated with SurveyGizmo. The form also asks if they would like to be addedto our webinar alerts email list. Idea #9: Create a promotions template #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarMarketingSherpa Case Study—IDES: PromotionViral Emails: emails include summary information for the webinar and a linkto register.Webinar Reminder Emails: Through the webinar platform, reminder emailsare sent 1 day and 1 hour prior to the event. They include connection andcalling instructions, and the ability to add the event to their Outlook Calendar.All post-webinar items are also produced prior to the webinar: On-demandvideo page, Landing page to download slides, Follow up emails to attendeesand non attendees. Recipients receive a link to the webinar recording andslides within 3 hours of the presentation ending. Idea #9: Create a promotions template #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarMarketingSherpa Case Study—IDES: Results• 73% of registrations coming from its email newsletter and special webinar alert messages• 24% of registrations coming from Google searches• 37% attendance rate on live webinars• "Like all things, the upfront investment is hardest part — creating all the templates, figuring out the process," says Nathan Potter, Marketing Manager. "But once it’s a process, it’s dialed in. One person can handle it and bang it out fast.“ Idea #9:  Create a promotions Source: https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31672 template #SherpaWebinar

1 Pre-webinarMarketingSherpa webinar template IDEA #9 BONUS: Use our promotion templatehttp://bit.ly/WebinarTemplate #SherpaWebinar

How Webinars Should Fit into Your ContentMarketing & Audience-Building Efforts1 Pre-webinar—developing content and orchestrating pre- event promotions2 During the webinar – managing the event in real time, and engaging your audience3 Post-webinar-- turning viewers into customers, processing feedback, and reusing content4 Review

2 Mid-webinarContinuously provide value• Your audience has limited time and even more limited attention. Present your content with this in mind. Idea #10: Every slide is a micro- conversion Based on Richard Mayers research www.psych.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/mayer/re search/research... #SherpaWebinar

2 Mid-webinarHelp your audience connect with each other #SherpaWebinar Idea #11: Start a conversation #SherpaWebinar

2 Mid-webinar Idea #12: Go light on the selling…http://marketingsherpa.com/b2bsummit #SherpaWebinar

Two tiers of webinars 2 Mid-webinarPromote sales webinars in a straightforward manner (so youraudience doesn’t confuse them with content webinars. Focused on sharing your solution with attendees. Better for farther down the Idea #13: …or funnel. create a second tier Content Sales Webinar Webinar Focused on providing value to potential customers. Good for higher up in the funnel. #SherpaWebinar

Two tiers of webinars 2 Mid-webinarPromote sales webinars in a straightforward manner (so youraudience doesn’t confuse them with content webinars. Idea #13: …or create a second tierSource: http://www.meclabs.com/engage #SherpaWebinar

2 Mid-webinarEngaging + information speakersFrom MarketingSherpa case study about IDES Idea #14:Presenter: The sponsoring company provides 2presenters: An Expert and a Personality to add flavor Don’tand interest. overlook showmanship Source: https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31672 #SherpaWebinar

2 Mid-webinarEngaging + information speakers Idea #14: Or in our case… Don’t overlook showmanshipSubject Matter Expert Personality/Moderator Todd Dan #SherpaWebinar

2 Mid-webinarManage the event in real timeHave staff on hand to conduct Q&A through your platform sinceyou won’t likely have the time to address every question on thecall. Assign staff members to answer attendee questions andmonitor tweets.Give the staff answers to common problems: Idea #15:• I cant get in Have a• I cant register support• I dont know what the telephone number is teamEncourage the audience members to have a conversation witheach other by using a Twitter hashtag, like #SherpaWebinar. #SherpaWebinar

Before, during, after: a webinar on making goodwebinars1 Pre—developing content and orchestrating pre-event promotions2 Mid– managing the event in real time, and engaging your audience3 Post-webinar – processing feedback and reusing content

3 Post-webinarShare the slides Idea #16: Easiest way to share slides is on SlideShareYou can download these slides fromhttp://www.slideshare.net/marketingexperiments #SherpaWebinar

3 Post-webinarMarketingSherpa Case Study – IDESExit Polls: Audience members are automatically directed to a short exit pollwith 2 questions:• Would you like to receive email alerts for upcoming webinars?• What topics would you like to see in the future?On-Demand Video Recording: Recordings are produced and posted. Thenthey are embedded onto a page on website optimized for search engines andavailable for people to view (and share) anytime from the comfort of theiroffice. Idea #17: Have a follow up campaign #SherpaWebinar

3 Post-webinarFollow-Up After the WebinarEmail Follow-Up• Specific emails are sent to attendees and non-attendees providing them with a link to view the webinar video and download presentation slides.• These are sent approximately 3 hours after the event, once the on- demand video recording is available from our website.• On-Demand Webinars are promoted in future email newsletters. Past newsletter links are changed – rather than linking to the defunct registration form, they link to the recorded webinar page.Idea #17:Have afollow upcampaign #SherpaWebinar

3 Post-webinarArchive and Persistent Lead GenerationLanding Page: from the on-demand webinarpage, people can click a link to a landing pagewhere visitors can complete a short form todownload the slides. The form on the landingpage is CRM cookie-based for contact information– most visitors just see the questions whichinclude inviting them to join the webinar emailalert list. If a visitor is new, additional contactdata is collected one step prior to the form withquestions.Than You Page: The customized landing pagelinks to a downloadable PDF copy of webinarslides.Idea #17:Have afollow upcampaign #SherpaWebinar

3 Post-webinarMarketingSherpa Case Study—IDES: results55% lead capture rate from visitors who view an archivedpresentationSource: https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31672Idea #17:Have afollow upcampaign #SherpaWebinar

3 Post-webinarReward attendees…while continuing to nurtureand repurpose Idea #18: Attendee thank you gift #SherpaWebinar

Leverage the second-largest search engine Idea #19: Upload replay to YouTubeSource: http://www.youtube.com/marketingsherpa #SherpaWebinar

3 Post-webinarRepurpose webinar information• Blog Posts• Photos• Podcasts• Videos• Presentations• eBooks Idea #20: Anywhere you• News Releases have content, you can repurpose #SherpaWebinar

Now that you have all this value in your webinars… Idea #21: Communicate hidden valueSource: http://www.marketingexperiments.com/about-web-clinics.html #SherpaWebinar

21 Ideas for Webinar Marketing

by MarketingExperiments on May 31, 2012

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