Five Steps to Victory When Planning Your Webinar – Part 2

Yesterday, I covered the first three of “Five Steps to Victory When Planning Your Webinar:” Essential Webinar Tools to Make a Great First Impression, Choosing Webinar Software, and Creating a Webinar Sign-Up Page.  Let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll be happy to spend a few minutes with you, or set up a consultation.  Today, I’m going to cover the last two steps when planning your Webinar: in the fourth step you’ll answer a lot of important questions to make the planning process smoother, and in the fifth step you’ll make sure you have strong follow up in place so you can make the most of your Webinar.  Here we go!

4.  Planning Your Webinar.

You’ve taken the first step – congratulations.  You are going to host a Webinar.  If you are a little nervous, that’s okay.  Give it your best shot and most people won’t realize you are nervous!  One way to ease your nerves is to take care of the planning.  If you can answer these three questions, you’ll be well on your way to a successful Webinar: why are you hosting a Webinar, what do you expect the results of hosting a Webinar to be you, and what action do you want your attendees to take when the Webinar is over? Let’s delve a bit further into each of these questions.

Why are you hosting a Webinar?

If you are hosting a Webinar because someone told you that you must be hosting webinars, then it’s time to take a step back. One thing you really should know is that there is no one method that you must do, it’s all a choice. If you choose to host a Webinar it should be because you think you’ll enjoy it and you think it will benefit your business. Life is too short to do things you don’t think you’ll like.

Enjoying the Webinar is great, but you must have a main reason for your doing one for your business.  Are you launching a new product and want to explain the benefits of buying it? That’s a great reason to do a Webinar. Do you need to offer training to your sales team or affiliates so they can go reach more customers for you? That’s another great reason to host a Webinar. Do you want to build an email list for your business so you have a constant source of potential customers? Yet another reason you could do a Webinar.

The reasons to host a Webinar are nearly indefinite. Just be clear on your why so that it drives you through the process with decision and direction.

What Do You Expect the Results of Hosting a Webinar to be for You?

This ties into your reason for doing the Webinar but let’s take it a little deeper.

For example, if you are doing a Webinar to promote a new product you are selling do you expect people to buy right from the Webinar? If so, you need to know that as you create the Webinar, have the software and write your presentation so that you can create a situation where what you want can actually happen. Don’t put all the work into your Webinar and just expect people will look you up and then buy your product. You need to make it clear, make it easy, give incentives and let them know what you want them to do. That’s where the call to action comes in.

What Action Do You Want Your Attendees to Take When the Webinar is Over?

Imagine you have a great turnout for your Webinar, and the attendees are highly engaged during the entire event. You deliver real proof that you know what you’re talking about, and give lots of great tips listeners can put into practice right away. Do you think if you ended the Webinar with nothing but a thank you and a good night that they would be clamoring to find the link to your product and buy it right away? Without a strong call to action, probably not.

Your call to action doesn’t need to be pushy or arrogant, annoying or brash, but it does need to exist. Simply decide what action you will ask your attendees to take, then at the end of your Webinar, tell them what to do next. Of course, you will be hinting at this action throughout your presentation, so by the time you tell them what to do, your attendees will be ready to take action.

Planning your first or fifth Webinar shouldn’t be stressful or confusing. Simply focus on the answers to these three questions, and the rest will fall into place.

5.  To Make the Most of Your Webinar, Have Strong Follow Up in Place.

Anyone who is a participating member of a good relationship knows that you need to put just as much work (or more) into the relationship phase as you put into the dating phase. The same rules apply to marketing your business via Webinar.

Many people are under the assumption that all you have to do is reach the most people you possibly can to attend the Webinar and then you’re work is done. Not true. Having people attend your Webinar is the start of the process, not the end. The next, and even more important step, is the follow up.

Your attendees have already signed up with your autoresponder so they can be notified of the event details. This makes it really easy for you to follow up with them about relevant information. In fact, having them sign upon this list is one of the primary reasons to host a Webinar, so let’s make the most of it.

There are a number of emails that are expected as a part of the follow-up series, and you can schedule to go out automatically. Your “follow-up” emails start from the moment someone signs up to attend your Webinar; not when it starts, meaning, the moment they sign up for your email list they expect something from you. It’s now your job to deliver it and prove your value in this relationship.

Let’s go over a typical two-part follow-up system for an event and why each part is just as important as the next:

Part 1: Pre-Event Emails.

Before the event be sure you send out emails to tell your attendees that they are in the right place. Put yourself in your attendees’ position as you write these emails and figure out the questions they are going to be asking as they discover what you have to offer. Questions like:

- Did my Webinar sign up go through?

This can be solved with an email that says:  “Webinar Sign-up Success!”

– What is this Webinar all about?

This can be answered by including information in your initial email about what is included in the Webinar. Don’t be afraid to repeat information they’ve already seen as not everyone reads everything the first time they see it.

- Will there be a recording?

Many people will want to sign up for your Webinar but may not be able to make the live version at the time you’re offering it. Tell them on your signup page and through the follow-up emails if a recording will be made available to them.

– Is there something to buy?

Don’t think people are not on to Webinars and that many marketers use them to buy something and don’t insult their intelligence by trying the old “bait-and-switch” method. If you’re doing a preview call, tell them.  You can make this a plus and have them anticipate the great thing you are going to let them in on during the Webinar.

Part 2: Post-Event Emails.

As I’ve already mentioned the post-event emails are very important. Your Webinar is like the first date and after that it’s up to you to call them back. What you email out post-event is going to rely a great deal on the purpose of your Webinar, but here are some things that you may want to include:

- Webinar Recording

As mentioned, many people look for a recording when they sign up to attend a Webinar. If you provide this it’s a great way to add more value and have a point of contact without going for a hard sell. If you have a product to sell now would be a great time to add your promotional copy in and let them know that now is the time to take action.

- Transcript

Some people also offer a transcript of their Webinars to appeal to the learners who like to read versus listen. Again, this is another chance to promote your call to action – and don’t forget to include affiliate links in the transcript itself, where appropriate.

- How to Get More Info

Ideally, the people who signed up for your Webinar will become part of your “tribe.” They will continue to receive information from you based on the value they are looking for and will become your leads for your next products and events. By offering updates, new information, and answering questions in your follow-up series, you’ll have a better chance of keeping them on your list and happy.

Everyone’s follow-up system is different. The important thing is that you have one and that you spend the proper time to cater it to the group who you’ll be hosting. This makes your attendees feel valued and they will, in turn, value you. The art of great followup is a pretty simple thing to do once you think about it but the rewards can be great.

I’ve covered the “Five Steps to Victory When Planning Your Webinar:” Essential Webinar Tools To Make a Great First Impression, Choosing Webinar Software, Creating a Webinar Sign-Up Page, Planning Your Webinar (answering the questions to proceed), and To Make the Most of Your Webinar, Have Strong Follow up in Place. Are you ready to take that step to your first, fifth, or tenth Webinar?  If this isn’t your first Webinar, have you learned anything new and helpful?  If this is your first Webinar, have you learned anything to help alleviate any fears or something holding you back?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Until tomorrow,

Colleen