Thanks to guest blogger Ellen Finkelstein.
On November 20th, Ellen was my featured guest on the Marketing Blab. You can watch the replay, but in the meantime, enjoy her insights on leveraging the power of webinars as a tool to increase engagement and boost your sales.
Many online marketers make most of their money by doing webinars with affiliate partners. You can do a webinar about your product for a partner’s subscribers and a partner can do a webinar about his/her product for your subscribers. This is not only a great way to sell, but a great way to grow your list.
I once presented two webinars for two different affiliate partners in one week. As a result, I sold over $9,000 worth of my product plus I gained 800 subscribers on my list – all in that one week.
However, the systems involved can get complicated. It’s important that the webinar platform you use is easy for your viewers to access.
One tool I recommend is Zoom. I like Zoom over other platforms because it starts with a full-screen webcam. This way, people see me in a big window, not a tiny one. They can see my expressions and they can focus on what I’m saying. It makes for a more personal experience.
In addition, I chose Zoom because it:
• Can handle up to 3,000 attendees with the webinar module — not that I’ve tested that many people! GoToWebinar/Meeting maxes out at 1,000.
• Is less expensive than GoToWebinar/Meeting. For 25 people in a meeting, Zoom is $9.99 compared to $49 for GoToMeeting. For 100 people in a webinar, Zoom is $49 compared to $99 for GoToWebinar.
• Is great for one-on-one trainings that I offer. It allows me do everything I did with GoToWebinar/Meeting including controlling the other person’s computer.
• Lets me do the registration. With this feature I can automatically add people to my email subscriber list with an email opt-in form on my website. However, if you prefer, it can also do the registration for you and you can then export the registration list to import into your email service.
When Presenting Keep in Mind that Images Trump Text
Whether you use Zoom or another platform. when you’re presenting a webinar or giving a live presentation, you’ll often use slides. It’s important to remember that the slides you show to people matter!
Given the choice between boring slides (i.e., heavy on text, no imagery) or powerful, persuasive ones, which would you prefer? Over 40 years of research has shown that images trump text. Three reasons are that images:
• Stay in people’s memories longer.
• Help people grasp concepts better.
• Are more persuasive.
The Tell ‘n’ ShowSM technique incorporates text and an image. There’s a title on a slide that tells the point you’re trying to make and then an image or other graphic (chart, map, etc) that reinforces the point.
Best to keep your slides simple with as little text as possible. Remember that you’ll be speaking, so most of the text doesn’t need to be on the slide. If you put what you say on the slide, people will read the slide instead of listening to you.
Find Powerful, Persuasive Images
Make your images large and find ones that illustrate your point powerfully. Research has shown that people can’t make a decision without emotion and images of people can portray emotion powerfully.
Remember that legally you cannot just go online and take any image from the Internet! Check out Debra’s post “Five Cool Resources to Help You Rock Out Your Social Media Marketing.” These tools can help you with images for your webinars as well.
If you’re presenting webinars, which service do you use and why is it your favorite? Do you create your own images or have a resource you’d recommend? Please share your comments below because I’d love to hear from you. Thanks and here’s to your sweet success!
About guest blogger Ellen Finkelstein: Ellen has created and delivered dozens of webinars and organized the popular Outstanding Presentations Workshop webinar series (that garnered more than 4,000 registrations). She has written numerous books on PowerPoint and several other topics and since 1999 has been helping people create and deliver presentations more effectively. She may be found at EllenFinkelstein.com and OutstandingPresentationsWorkshop.com.
