A good webinar is one that has been well thought through and planned. A good plan starts when you narrow down and focus the message and desired outcomes of the webinar, schedule with enough time to market effectively and choose the format (and time) that best suits your target audience.
“Creating a successful webinar goes beyond thinking: ‘I’m going to do a webinar, it’s going to be 30 minutes, I’m just going to get on and speak.’
That thinking’s akin to you sitting on a stage unprepared and just talking at the audience with no specific aim or intent. You’re going to get very average results.”- Suzi Dafnis, CEO, Australian Businesswomen’s Network
Webinars can be a great way to increase your online presence and interaction with existing and potential clients. These considerations when planning a webinar will ensure your webinars ‘hit the target’:
What are your motivations?
Get crystal-clear on why you are creating the webinar. When you ask yourself, “What is the purpose of the webinar?” your answer might be:
- To generate leads and attract potential clients to my business/services
- To sell a particular product or service
- To carry out a joint venture with another business (and earn a profit from the venture)
- To sell ‘tickets’ and use the webinar to raise revenue
Whichever it is, being clear on the ‘why’ will allow you to focus your efforts.
What will you deliver in your webinar?
After you have worked out the justification for running the webinar, decide on the webinar’s role towards an end goal within your business. For instance:
- Is this webinar a sales pitch? If it is, then it is essential to design it with the sales process in mind (this is an ART!).
- Is it for educational purposes? Great. Think about the target audience and the learning experience. Most webinars are mostly audio with some visuals. Your audience could be in an environment where they can be distracted by incoming emails, texts, others in their office. Understand the learner and build the webinar to keep their attention while you impart education.
- Is it part of a larger campaign? Does the webinar serve as an entry point to a much larger goal? For instance, is it just one cog in a complex customer nurture program? Or is it a stand-alone thing you’re doing?
Being clear on the role the webinar will play in achieving your business goals will ensure, that your efforts are really focused.
For more information on creating outstanding webinars, take a look at the How to Create Great Webinars webinar, presented by Suzi Dafnis and Ken Burgin.
The Australian Businesswomen’s Network presents regular webinars designed to help develop the businss skills of small-business owners. You can learn more about upcoming webinars, here.
