The Internet has revolutionized the human experience in so many ways that were formerly unthinkable. Take marketing for example, before the dawn of the Digital Age we were consigned to receive information and sales pitch in literal piles of leaflets, magazines and product brochures. Print technology, of course, also had its revolutionary moment, but, as with all technologies changing through time, traditional marketing strategies was gradually swept under the rug beneath internet technology and marketing tools that leverage on its power and potential.
Intelligent marketers who are adept with the changing preferences of their target audience also recognize that traditional marketing tools are becoming less and less effective. In pursuit of better ways to market their products and services, marketers have turned to new marketing tools to adapt to the demands of a prospects and clients that are becoming more and more dynamic, diverse and equally intelligent.
Webinars and content and article marketing are two such popular marketing tools that leverage on the power of the Internet and online communication. Many business organizations teeming with the objective of incorporating new and effective modalities of engaging audiences and turning leads into conversions are now incorporating webinars and content marketing in their marketing strategies.
Which one is of greater use value to marketers and business organizations?
Letís bring their advantages and disadvantages into perspective.
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Team webinar
Technically speaking, webinars are also a form of content marketing in the sense that attending a webinar provides the audience with informative and useful content. Webinars have, however, taken on quite a distinct category by virtue of its unique qualityóand that is exactly by its promise of instantaneous interactivity.
Where content and article marketing stops at sharing information, webinars goes a step further by discussing it. Literally a seminar streamed through the worldwide web, webinars allow for the building of a direct connection between presenters and their audiences.
The presenter, who during the webinar event becomes the face of the company or brand, shares information, delivers audio and visual content, listens to audience follow-ups, clarify points, answers questions and solicits reactions from the audience.
With webinars, there is no suspended realityóonly instantaneous communication, showcase of subject matter expertise and face to face nurturing of relationships with prospects and leads. And this interactivity characteristic of the webinar has time and again proven its greater potential of client conversion.
And then thereís the matter of keeping costs low. The use of webinars as a marketing strategy seamlessly aligns with the goal of just about any business organization to keep things cost-effective. Webinars capitalize on the veritable strength and appeal of the Internet, its openness and ability to accommodate simultaneously as many users as possible, delimited only by the currency of bandwidth.
Anyone can attend a webinar from anywhere, and anyone can as well do a presentation from anywhere. There is also added value to webinars that it can be recorded and accessed later by those who missed the event.
With webinars, information sharing and marketing pitches can be done live and in real time and with the ability to elicit instantaneous audience engagement, plus a whole stretch of post-event added values that are just not readily possible with other forms of marketing methods, including content and article marketing.
Team content and article marketing
There is a reason why content marketing, especially the kind blasted through websites, blogs, emails and social media platforms such as article and visual content marketing, still dominate the charts of marketer self-assessment studies delving into the effectiveness of their chosen tacticsónothing else so far comes close to reaping the rewards of search engine optimization.
Content marketing met SEO Revolution, the Internet Revolutionís twin sister, with much aplomb. A more discerning clientele also became smarter in their ways of seeking products and services: they turn to search engines.
Stoking that fire has made giants like Google, Bing and Yahoo and it is that same fire that keeps content and article marketing still a giant in the marketing world, despite webinars putting up a great fight.
Sharing is caring, says the dictum of social media, and it is that same ‘shareability’ of online content that works to its advantage. People have grown accustomed to sharing content they just read or viewed and the added value of content and article marketing as a marketing tool is its potential to reach more audiences and generate more leads and prospects via the share button. Viral is the new buzzword and web objective, and online content still has the best fighting chance of going viral.
Come to think of it, content and article marketing, while not as instantaneously interactive as webinars, can actually be more accommodating to audiences. There is no pressure to read or view content based on the time chosen by the presenter. Content consumption fully rests on the audience, who can either partake of the content now or bookmark it for later-it can even be devoured in installments. In the end, content marketing is clear on one thing: the audience has the ultimate power.
The bottom line
When it comes to choosing the right strategy for marketing, it really boils down to the objectives set forth by the business organization. Webinars and content and article marketing are but tools of the trade, and what really matters is how well marketers are adept at the ways to engage their audience.
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