We all know that webinars are great. I mean, what else lets us combine images and video, gives us a platform for all our most important talking points, and virtually guarantees that people will hang around and listen for up to an hour? With such a great communication tool at our fingertips, it’s a real shame that so many of us think that webinars are just for thought leadership. All we have to do is open our minds, and we can deliver webinars that really close business. Here are three ideas to get you started:
The Deminar
Live demos can be really effective at converting customers. They give prospects an opportunity to see what you have to offer with their own eyes and put aside any lingering doubts about the obvious awesomeness of your products. But delivering 1:1 demonstrations — or even live demos to small groups — can eat up man hours for you and your company. Instead, consider delivering those demos as a regular demonstration webinar (or “deminar”).
Deminars can be live, simulive (that is, pre-recorded but with live Q&A), or on-demand. You can combine video elements like an on-camera presenter and live or pre-recorded screen share to show off the highlights of almost any product or service. By packing your resources section with additional downloadable assets like product guides and data sheets, you turn that single point of contact into multiple late-stage marketing touches. And, if you like, you can link off to other great product resources, such as videos or product forums.
The Case Study
Case studies are always powerful lower-funnel content because they give prospects a chance to see how other customers have benefitted from your products or services. But who says that a case study has to be a boring old PDF? No one! Breathe some life into your case studies by bringing in real-life customers for an engaging, interactive case study.
An interview format always makes for compelling viewing. Focus the conversation on benefits and ROI. Ask your guest speaker for video clips of their deployment, so the audience can see it for themselves. Build up a large library of on-demand case study webinars. And remember that there’s no rule that says webinars always have to be 60 minutes. For a case study, 15 minutes or half an hour may be all that you need.
The Live Q&A
Sometimes the only thing holding someone back from making a purchase is one last, little, nagging question. If you have to rely on individual sales calls, you may not be able to get the right technical person in front of that prospect to answer their questions. And that’s not a good enough reason to miss out on a sale!
Put your best product managers on a webinar and let the audience drive the conversation through Q&A and polls. Video adds a great personal touch for these events, even (and maybe especially) if it’s a casual video format like a webcam.
Looking for other great tips on bottom-of-the-funnel webinars? Check out our on-demand event, “How to Use Webinars to Close Business.”
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