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Webinars That Work:
Qualify leads and speed sales |
Fly, Drive, Rail, Walk, Call or Click?
Three tactics generate more qualified leads and close sales
Step One of Six
by Todd Davison, President, Bulldog Solutions
Back in ancient Rome, most people walked to get from one place to another. Royalty, armies and a few rich entrepreneurs were privileged enough to have horses for transportation. In order to attend a meeting or event, businessmen traveled for days to get to their destination.
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Beyond the Event:
A Five-Phase Strategy to Add Muscle to Your Webinar Campaign
Is your company's Web seminar
program a 98-pound weakling —shaky,
directionless and unable to compete?
Join us as Geoff Smith, director of
online product development for Primedia Business Magazines & Media, and Todd
Davison, president of Bulldog Solutions, review the five interlocking phases of
a successful Webinar campaign. These experts will provide practical advice on how
to pump up your Webinar program to generate top-quality sales leads and grow
your business.
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Fast forward to now. People fly, drive and take trains to get from one place to another. They communicate through phones, email and the Internet. Employees, partners and customers are located around the world. Holding a convention or series of seminars at one location means exorbitant airfare, lodging and other travel and technological expenses.
Fortunately, many companies already know the value of using the Web and teleconferencing as an efficient way to effectively communicate, without the extreme price tags of global travel. Today, you can bridge the gap from a prospect to a qualified lead through the use of a Webinar.
Yet, even though you may be convinced of the cost savings and additional benefits of hosting a Webinar, what do you do to make it happen? Do you simply send out invites to 100 people
and wait to see if they “show up?” What tools do you need for a smooth presentation? How do you get these people interested in your products or services during and after the event?
The bottom
line is the bottom line
Before you even consider hosting a Webinar, understand this: the best Webinar is only a means to an end. No matter how good the presentation is, how smooth the speakers are, or how wiz-bang the features are, the only thing that really matters is what comes out of the event. You have to know what your goal is in order to measure your success. From there, you build the plan of attack to make it happen.
As a cost-effective way to generate more leads, Webinars enable you to better qualify leads, and give your sales team the important information they need to close more sales. In addition, holding an online event can tap into and complement your current marketing plan. It can accelerate your present program, which can provide additional sources of publicity for the Web event itself.
When you plan a Webinar, the technology needed to hold the event should only be one of your many considerations. Other considerations include administering the event, and which technological features to employ and presentation tools to use. The most important part of your plan, however, must be your marketing strategy for getting people to attend the event.
Three steps to success
In the following five articles, we will give you all the information you need to hold a successful
Web event that will generate qualified leads based on the following three critical steps.
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Strategy - If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
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Tools - Choosing the right tools makes the difference between a successful event and a disaster.
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Implementation – Armed with the best plan and tools, add tenacity and follow-through to grow your business.
We'll show you how Webinars bridge the gap between marketing activities and your sales force, generate leads, qualify them and help close more sales. We will give you angles on promoting your Web event, giving a smooth presentation and following up with the attendees. In addition, we'll provide tips on handing over leads to your sales team for a higher success rate.
Each in-depth article will cover the following topics based on the three proven steps:
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STRATEGY: Design a killer Webinar. In this article, you will learn how to create a comprehensive plan around your Webinar. We will discuss how this event fits into your current marketing plan, your expectations for lead generation, the players involved and your sales and marketing objectives.
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STRATEGY: Drive people to the event. This article gives you excellent advice on attracting people to your Webinar, scheduling your event, registration, confirmation, reminders and employing creativity along the way.
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TOOLS: Choose the best tools. Here, we discuss the tactical details such as choosing a topic/providing content, demonstrating software for attendees, showing videos, presentations and using interactive tools such as polling. The more informed you are about the tools available, the smoother your event will run. The amount of features you need will help determine how expansive a platform is necessary for implementation.
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IMPLEMENTATION: Employ the right resources. Because more and more companies are realizing the power of Webinars, it is important to choose the right vendor to manage the process, one who will use turn-key processes and tools to ensure successful results. This article talks about ways to select the proper resources and once you have the right tools and resources, how to make it happen.
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IMPLEMENTATION: Follow up to close more sales. After your Webcast, this article explains how to take best advantage of the leads you generate and turn these leads into relationships and ultimately sales. We discuss when to follow up with a telemarketing call, an eblast, direct mail, newsletters, using lead lists and other ways to qualify leads and get the best results from your efforts.
Read this series of five articles, and you will have all the knowledge you need to hold your own Webinar, and grow your empire. This series will help you unleash a Web event or several events that will generate more qualified leads for your sales team. Look for the next article on designing your Webinar strategy. We hope you enjoy this series and look forward to your feedback.
Todd Davison is the President of Bulldog Solutions, a company that helps businesses meet their sales and marketing potential by delivering the strategy, tools and implementation for successful Webcasts.
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