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Are virtual meetings the way ahead? The new normal?

virtual-meetings

Webinars by their very definition are a presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is transmitted over the web using video conferencing software.

With the increase in employees working from home, the explosion in the use of video conferencing software and the requirement for Vendors to still engage with their target market, should this be something you are looking to do?

Simply put, yes!

There are, however, a few guidelines that we would like to point out.
Ensure the topic is relevant to the now. Don’t schedule a webinar and call it “How to exploit the fact that people are staying at home more.” No kudos will be gained, head straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Think of the time allotted for said webinar. Statistically it has been proven that 30-45 minutes is the optimum length of a webinar. Longer than that and the temptation to jump off for a quick cup of tea, or to catch up on another call, or simply to leave because they are bored, takes over with the participant.

Make it interactive with a live Q+A and/or a poll. Simple enough concepts from a creative and technical perspective, but essential for engaging your participants in the first place and keeping them engaged right to the end. One simple trick is to pose a question and advise that the answer will be discussed at the end. See? Keeps people engaged.

Make sure those that are presenting are engaging people themselves. The subject matter could be the most interesting in the world, but if it is fed line by line, sentence by sentence, by someone with the charisma of a snail then people will switch off. We aren’t looking for the next best thing in TV presenting, but a person who is articulate, interested in the topic (and this interest is clearly demonstrated) and who has a bit of personality is definitely someone that people will watch and listen to. Not the aforementioned snail!

Make sure the audience you get is the audience you need. Sounds simple and something you’ll probably think doesn’t need to be mentioned but it does, it really does. Click here to find out about audience generation

Record the Webinar and make it available to people who register but don’t attend. People often get side-tracked but could still be a prospective customer.

Have a policy where participants are on mute, as background noise often brings many webinars down.

Try to have someone as a Compere and someone taking questions by comment during the webinar and then asking, on behalf of the participants, to make it appropriate and keep participants connected.

Many of the webinar providers online will have a database of previous registrants/participants. These will be sent mailings daily, weekly, monthly, advising them of the new webinars being hosted. The webinar might even have some relevance to their role, it might be highly appropriate to the role they carry out, it might be the most appropriate webinar to their job and looks from first glance to have been created with them in mind but.. do they work at a company that you want to target, is their role in the industry that you have the specialist knowledge of, do they work for a competitor?

Some of the databases from the webinar providers will be mailed indiscriminately, with no criteria set and with the hope that the numbers promised for registrants will be the numbers achieved.

Telemarketing can solve this issue.
Telemarketing? Want to know more?

The agency you decide on, will have the same goal of achieving the required number of registrants but, and this is a huge but, they will be doing this based on the criteria you have set. – which companies, which roles, seniority in a company, etc.

That means the webinar that you have invested time and money on creating, the subject matter, or solution you will be discussing, which you have invested time and money on developing, is being presented to a group of individuals who have been personally invited to attend. They would not have registered and more importantly taken part if there were not some measure of interest there. If you also let them know that people of similar roles, in similar organisations are attending, then they will feel it’s more appropriate. Think on that.

Also, don’t be fooled into thinking that digital marketing will bring responses. It plays a part in marketing overall, but emails generally are lucky to get a 1 in 20 opening rates, never mind any kind of response. Only telephone calls directly to contacts guarantees any kind of positive response. It also prevents ‘opt-outs’ to meet GDPR regulations.
Digital marketing and calling?

Lastly, choose well. At eCS, we have worked in this space for nearly 20 years and our contacts, expertise and guarantee of success sets us apart.

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