In today’s technological world, marketers understand the importance of hosting online webinars to introduce new products and services, but they also understand the dangers of being overly promotional. Consumers can be easily turned off if the product is thrown right in their face, if they feel pressured to buy, or if they perceive the company to be primarily interested in making money rather than helping them.
Unfortunately, many unscrupulous marketing practices both online and off have led to a general mistrust from consumers. Those companies choose to market in a way that is more helpful to their target audience as opposed to only considering their bottom line find that it actually benefits that bottom line in the end. Often, building relationships is a much smarter strategy that ‘selling’.
Finding balance in your webinar between promoting the product and appealing to the consumer is crucial, yet tricky. The following tips will help you find this balance. Focus more on the first tip if your boss has given you a lot of legroom to do what you want with the webinar; focus on the second tip if you have a little leeway; and focus on the third tip if your webinar must strictly promote the product itself.
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Completely Spin The Topic
If you have the green light to get creative with your webinar, try picking a topic that will draw in the largest audience, and then subtly incorporate your product into the discussion. For example, if you are launching a new magazine about celebrities, host a webinar about ‘The Hottest Secrets in Hollywood’ or ‘Sneak Peak at the Latest Fashion Do’s and Don’ts’ and then somewhere in the middle or towards the end, talk about your new magazine and how it’s up-to-date on the latest information (as related to the webinar).
Another example would be a company that’s launching a new type of razor. It might want to host a webinar about ‘Does Shaving Really Improve Health?’ Topics like these are likely to draw in a larger crowd, which spreads the word about your product more quickly.
On the reverse side, people may not stay tuned in long enough to listen about your product information. That’s why if you take this approach, the product information needs to be toned down. Be sure to include your company logo (and even the name of your new product, if appropriate) on each slide of the webinar to maximize exposure.
Focus More On Outcome, Less On Product
If you have a little leg room to get creative but a large portion of the webinar needs to directly discuss the product, try focusing more on the outcome that your product will produce (think big picture) and less on the product details. Remember, that one of the key elements of marketing any product or service is to solve some problem the target demographic is dealing with.
For example, if you’re launching a new household water filtration system, focus on the importance of clean water to society as a whole and to households. Discuss the health benefits, the effects of clean water on other aspects of the environment, etc. Portray your company as one that cares about clean water. Then, discuss the details of your product and how it helps to achieve these outcomes.
This type of strategy takes into account the aspect of marketing that appeals to emotion, and need. When presented in this way it makes it much harder for anyone to say no to the purchase because they can see the obvious benefits.
Focus On Why The Product Was Developed
If your company strictly wants you to only discuss the product itself during the webinar, start the webinar by talking about why the product was developed. Talk about your company’s dreams of innovation, or about social responsibility, or about making life easier or more enjoyable. It’s important that your company be seen as contributing to the public good rather than as seeking profit.
For example, if you are launching a new smartphone, talk about how this phone is a result of the company’s vision to enable people to share the highest quality pictures and video in the easiest, fastest way possible. Once you’ve covered the ‘people’ aspect, then go on to talk about how the phone is unique, cheaper than the competitors’, more lightweight, etc. People want to know that your company cares about them and their needs, instead of one that just wants to sell another phone, so be sure to start your webinar off this way to avoid losing your crowd.
Bottom Line
The bottom line in reaching consumers is to think about their needs first, this is a solid foundation of creating not only a less-promotional webinar, but to improve conversion rates and ultimately your bottom line.
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