Some of the smartest Internet marketers in the world use webinars as a prospecting tool. Why? Because webinars have a high perceived value. Here’s a handful of ideas for using webinars to attract unlimited new prospects.
When it comes to communicating with a close friend, how would you rank these methods? Receiving an email. Getting a phone call. Meeting for coffee.
If you’re like most people, the coffee meeting would be the most gratifying. A phone call is also nice, but not quite as intimate. Email is great for keeping in touch but usually not as special as a face-to-face meeting.
That’s because humans have developed subtle, often unconscious ways of perceiving others through their gestures, eye movements, smile, tone of voice, rate of speech, and a thousand other tiny details that make up the unique personality of another.
People value a communication by how closely it resembles a face-to-face encounter.
And not just face-to-face but also one-to-one. Compare sitting in a theater with 5,000 other people listening to a talk by your favorite author versus sitting with that author in your living room for a chat.
Face-to-face communication is an area where videoconferencing shines.
For example, think of a time you attended an enjoyable webinar by someone you admire. Did it matter how many other people were attending the webinar with you? No. It still had the feel of one-to-one communication, even though the presenter may have been thousands of miles away . . . or even previously recorded!
So to attract new people, consider “bribing” them with a low-cost or no-cost webinar. Here are some pointers:
Table of Contents
1. Tap into desires.
You know what an uphill battle it is to get children to accept something they “need” (You need to eat your vegetables!) and how easy it is to give them something they “want” (Would you like to have a cookie?). So snoop inside your target audience and figure out what content you could provide that would be highly desirable. It may take some trial-and-error.
2. Give lots of value.
On Amazon, certain mystery writers now give away an entire novel — except for the dramatic ending. Their strategy is to get the reader hooked on the story so they’ll buy the complete book. You can do that with your webinar content too. It takes a lot of confidence in your ability grab your audience (and that final ten percent needs to be worthwhile) but it certainly lowers the prospect’s resistance.
3. Spread the word.
Here’s where you’ll need your best networking skills. It’s tough to expand your prospect pool by broadcasting only to your existing followers. The real power is in inspiring others to help you spread the word about your webinar. So you need a continuing strategy for building relationships with those who are in a position to recommend you.
4. Capture contact data.
Don’t simply give away great content and hope for the best. At the very least, your audience should give you their email address and grant permission to communicate with them in the future.
5. Continue the conversation.
And with that permission in hand, you’re free to follow up with your audience with more content and offers tailored just for them. Even if they don’t buy right away, your follow-up messages create top-of-mind of awareness and position you as the provider of choice when they need something.
6. Create an asset.
Oops, I left out a very important part. You must remember to record your webinar. Then you can use it again and again as free “bribe” content or even package it with more content and sell it as an information product. And where do you get more content? You simply . . .
7. Do it again.
The more webinars you create, the more opportunities you have to expand your pool of prospects. At the same time, you’re developing a library of content assets to help you serve your audience profitably.
Get started
Marketers have built Internet empires on a model just like this. But don’t think of it as building an empire quite yet. Just produce one webinar. Have fun with it. Make it enjoyable for yourself and for your audience, no matter how many (or how few) show up.
It’s a building process, and here’s the good news: with today’s communication technology, this strategy has virtually unlimited potential for growth.
As always, we’re here to serve you, so let us know if you have a question.
Have you ever used webinars to attract new prospects? Tell us all about it in the comments below.
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