Teleseminars
Holding educational workshops has always been a very good way to build business. The problem with this strategy though is that it has become increasingly difficult to get prospects to come to workshop type events. In addition, the cost of holding a physical event involving a room, refreshments and audio-visual equipment makes this type of event a sometimes risky venture.
Recently, businesses of all shapes and sizes are turning to seminars conducted by phone or teleseminars to easily present information to groups of prospects.
The teleseminar format, in which attendees simply dial in to a conference line to listen to a presentation, has much to offer the small business presenter and the attendee.
The cost to put on such an event can be fairly small and, for the attendee, the ability to dial in from anywhere, without the need to travel, can be very appealing. Many organizations find these benefits so appealing that they have come up with many uses for the teleseminar that reach beyond traditional sales efforts.
For example, use teleseminars to:
- Present an ongoing series of topics
- Demonstrate how to use a product
- Conduct a training program
- Hold group coaching sessions
- Offer service tips to get more from a product
- Conduct focus groups and research
- Answer questions
- Recruit employees
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Like all marketing tactics the best way to employ a teleseminar component is to approach it systematically. The first step is to determine how you plan to use teleseminars in your business. It is best to take a bit of a long-term approach as this tactic may take some time to build the momentum you need. If you want to use teleseminars as a way to promote your business and enhance your reputation as an expert, plan to stick with it for a period of at least six months, holding a new teleseminar each month.
Decide what technology platform you plan to use. You can find free and very low cost conference lines but I would suggest that you look at one of the following options. If your teleseminar is an extension of your business, then you need reliable, service oriented conferencing with features like automatic recording. You can conduct phone only conferences or phone and web demonstrations. Web demonstrations from services such as WebEx can add some very powerful presenting capabilities but do present some potential technology roadblocks for your users. The costs of these types of services vary depending upon your number of attendees.
Telephone only
Conference Calls Unlimited - http://www.conferencecallsunlimited.com/chaz
Great Teleseminars - http://www.greatteleseminars.com
Web based
GoToMeeting - https://www.gotomeeting.com/
WebEx - http://meetmenow.webex.com
So, where do you go to get attendees? If you have your own mailing or email lists, then start with this group. They know you and will be a good source to tap as you are getting your feet wet.
Without such a list you may need to look to industry lists, chamber lists or other purchased type list to run a direct mail campaign. Remember that the low cost feature of a teleseminar means you don't really need many attendees to make it work.
Strategic partners can also be a great place to go to acquire attendees. An accountant might go to a law firm, or several law firms, and offer to conduct a free teleseminar for their clients. A construction attorney could go to a construction related trade group and offer to conduct a free teleseminar for their members.
When you promote your teleseminar it’s best to require your attendees to sign-up. This way you have the data for future sessions and you can contact the attendee with reminders and follow-ups.
As you begin to promote your teleseminar make it easy for prospects to tell others about your session. Add a script to you web sign-up page and automate this process.
http://www.javascriptkit.com/script/script2/tellafriend.shtml
http://www.stadtaus.com/en/php_scripts/tell_a_friend_script/
Make sure that you use an autoresponder like AWeber to automatically send a sign-up confirmation and "day of event" reminder with the conference call-in information and access codes.
One tactic that works very well and will help you when it comes time to create the content for your teleseminar is to encourage your attendees to ask a question about the topic prior to the event. You can do this in your confirmation email.
When you present a teleseminar you must present good content. If you simply treat it as a sales pitch your attendees will be turned off. Even free sessions must be valuable if you expect people to take the time to listen.
Have an Offer
Even though you shouldn't sell throughout your presentation, you should have an offer at the end. This can take the form of some other, more advanced, free information or evaluation or simply a special deal to act today. Don't just hang up without a call to action.
Get testimonials
One tactic that you may also wish to add is a call for testimonials. This can be very important as you start your teleseminar series and help build credible proof for future events. One thing you might do is offer a written transcript of the call to anyone who sends in their (glowing) feedback.
One of the biggest benefits of holding teleseminars is that they present a great platform for
creating permanent content. You should record each session and create a method to archive and promote
this content on an ongoing basis. You might want to consider turning the content into a podcast.
(See: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/newsletters/podcasting.htm)
or create an entire CD collection.
Transcribing your audio sessions through a service such as
Cyberdictate - http://www.cyberdictate.com/ is another way to extend the content.
John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide published by Thomas Nelson
He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com.
