Small businesses have limited resources, so every tool has to be effective or it won’t be worth the effort. Many small businesses shy away from webinars and virtual events because they think that they are expensive or complicated to produce, but with modern technology, this is not the case. Once recorded, webinars and virtual events can be useful for increasing sales in a variety of ways and for extended periods. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Product Launches
When you are introducing a new product, a webinar is a great way to reach all your customers and prospects at once. It allows you to rehearse and control your message so that you know all customers are hearing a consistent message. The webinar can remain on your website indefinitely where it will continue to fuel the interest of new prospects, so be certain to remove any topical or time related references that will date the webinar too quickly.
Virtual Events
Trade shows are expensive, and many of your customers have cut back on travel budgets so trade show attendance is down. For less than the cost of a small booth at a trade show, you can highlight your company and your products in a virtual event that will last far longer than any tradeshow in the physical world.
Marketing Automation
When you have an interesting webinar in your library, you can invite any new prospects to view it. As your prospect list grows, set up an automatic invitation to view the webinar and watch your sales increase because of this one nearly effortless process.
SEO Rank
You’ll want to have descriptions of your webinars that include your top SEO keywords, and you’ll get even more exposure if you post links to the webinars on social media sites.
Post Sales Education
Face-to-face education is expensive and time consuming, and most people prefer to learn in their own way and in their own timeframe. By posting educational webinars, you can reduce your training costs while improving customer satisfaction – a double bonus.
Thought Leadership
Use webinars to help establish your company as an innovative though leader. Whatever your product, you can comment on pending legislation that might affect it, advances in the field, new uses for the product, how other countries or cultures approach the problem your product solves or any other topic that interests you. Just as they do when you post thoughtful commentary on social media sites, people will eventually learn to value your input and perceive your company as a leader in the industry, despite your small size.
Employee Training
There is always a need for employee training, whether it’s a result of new procedure, employee turnover or company growth. To ensure that all employees have consistent training, record training sessions. By recording, you ensure that you don’t leave out important points and that employees can review the training multiple times until they know the topic cold.
Community Outreach
Like thought leadership webinars, this will help you build your company’s reputation. While it might be best to stay away from politics or religion, you can speak about topics such as community fund drives or local cultural events. When your customers perceive that you are a caring and involved force in the community, they will be more likely to bring you their business.
