What’s a Webinar?

First, let’s distinguish a webinar by what it is not. It is not a webcast (much like a podcast, but without video), in which you simply talk and lecture “at” listeners, who can join up for free or a fee but have no input or ability to reach the person/people running the webcast. Neither is it a web chat or a web conference, in which the end goal is a private discussion between a very limited number of people, akin to a business meeting.

Rather, a webinar is a web seminar. It is still limited to a certain number of people (generally more than would be in one meeting), but these people must intentionally sign up (and often pay) to be a part of the seminar. However, a webinar enables viewer involvement, most often through comments or “chat” functions, which allow listeners to post questions, comments and reactions, which the host(s) can then integrate into the webinar.

Relay Your Expertise

Because it simulates a classroom or professional environment, you as the host have a captive audience of prospects and customers. Usually people sign up because they’ve heard your name, they want your ideas, someone recommended you to them or – more rarely – because they are already a customer of yours. Whatever the case, this is a wonderful long-form opportunity to engage with prospects.

Webinars allow you to speak at length, providing useful and actionable material and answering the questions listeners most want to know. Much like with a teleseminar, when running a webinar, your goal should be to provide a wealth of useful information, but nevertheless make it clear that the listener would be better off using your product or service to accomplish their goal. This makes it key to relate your webinar content to the product or service you are trying to sell; if you can do so successfully, you will create serious demand.

Host Your First Webinar!

Automating your webinars is an awesome way to create an effortless demand marketing machine that pays you back again and again. Essentially all you have to do is record the webinar, after which you can rerun it (still allowing comments and interaction as if it is a new live event), or sell it as its own video product, without the interactive function. By doing so, you have created a valuable product that prospects and customers will want to leverage again and again in their own businesses, but you don’t have to do any more work … or at least not very much. Voila! Automatic demand marketing.

Automate Your Webinar … and Your Demand Marketing

The idea of hosting your first webinar probably engenders feelings of excitement, confusion and anxiety, but don’t worry: with the expert help of a professional marketing agency like MarketBlazer, you can create a replicable webinar process that you use again and again in your demand marketing efforts. Ready to start? Get in touch today.