Episode 14- This is Grant: The Webinar Guy.
For several episodes now, I’ve been talking about marketing and promotion. Why so much concentration on that?
It’s the juice that gets the seats filled!
Over my marketing and brand development career, I’ve held to one constant example;
Would you start a business in a blind alley, not put up any signs and then not tell anyone you’re open?
Well, of course not! So ALL of your marketing is quite frankly a decision on what you can afford (in dollars AND time) as you promote that Webinar, Virtual Summit or expo.
The biggest challenge I see in this market is a lack of preparation.
One great thing about the webinar and virtual conference space is that people are forgiving when the technology is a bit rough (who hasn’t lost a connection or had a shaky one?), They forgive glitches and less-than-perfect hand-offs.
But to me, its sort of like the fast-food market. When you hit the drive-through, you KNOW full well the food is NOT going to be high quality. You KNOW you’ll have to wait too long. You KNOW the food has a 97% chance of being cold when they hand it to you. But in a crunch for time, what do we do? We go through the drive through knowing that the experience will be disappointing!
But when you really want to enjoy a great meal, what do you do? You go to your favorite sit-down restaurant. What made it a favorite? On nearly every visit the staff did everything they could to provide great food, great service and a great overall experience.
I want you to consider the ENTIRE package of your virtual session, training, or hybrid event: The question to you OVERALL is this: Do you want to be drive-through or fine dining?
Answer that and you’ll have the answer on how to approach ALL the planning you do from day one. This is not to say that you need to Aim, aim, aim and never fire. There is the well known quote: “Perfection is the enemy of greatness”. But decide today, right now; drive-through or fine dining?
This is a pretty serious thought process! And now I’m going to toss one more at you. We already have discussed the want to “Aim, aim, aim and never fire”, but most people have no appreciation for the amount of planning, work, and experience it takes to provide “fine-dining”.
Remember this; there is a reason fine-dining is more expensive than take-out. We can hire a 16 year old and with 3 hours of training they are a “cook”.
Or the chef at your favorite restaurant that has a degree from a culinary school that knows how to build fantastic recipes from scratch.
Be the chef.
The more you can do ahead of time to conceive ALL that you are going to is crucial!
I’ve done many a first-time session for a client, that had planned to do “X” more sessions, then realize that their normal schedule doesn’t allow for the exact thing they wanted to do!
Another example, back in the day, I did a lot of marketing for clients that wanted to produce a regular newsletter. They’d get the first one done. Then the second one was harder, if not late on the cadence they’d hoped to achieve. After a while I found them missing the next episode all together. Then dropping it altogether.
In case my 17 examples haven’t worked, here’s the advice, and I know you’ll be surprised to find out it includes “The Webinar Guy” and “The Webinar Team”; At the very least, engage with us (Or someone you know that knows the webinar, zoom meeting, virtual event space) for at least an initial strategic planning session.
It’s surprisingly affordable and can make a huge difference!!
One more story and I’ll stop. Probably. I’m an avid motorcycle driver- I ride ALL THE TIME. Often 5K miles a year and more. I’ve worked as an instructor.
Years ago a buddy of mine, thinking he wanted to ride took a riders training course (not one I taught and very smart, BTW). After the course he took, he never wanted to ride again. That simple investment made him change his mind on riding.
Many take that same course and now know they are better prepared to move forward as a rider, maybe long-term like me.
Let’s get together and strategically plan your Virtual meeting. We can get you started, and it’s surprisingly affordable!!
Remember: Do you want to be drive-through or fine dining?
Next episode I’ll tackle more off our Webinar Planning form available on TheWebinarGuy.com
Until then…
This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”
As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com
Thank you for watching!
Podcast audio
Would love to hear your questions and comments!