How many times have you been on social media and you run across an ad of a person with a compelling story? Within the content of this ad, the person outlines a problem that you can relate to and offers a free informational webinar. Without hesitation, you enter your email address and get brought into a funnel of email campaigns inviting you to the webinar, offering resources, and selling consulting services or products. When it’s time to access the webinar, you have read through the shared resources and may have even watched a brief video that brings you right back into the compelling story that you can relate to. At this time, you are hanging on to the end of your seat, awaiting the answer to your relatable problem. After the brief video, you enter the webinar. The presenter gives a compelling story about a hardship that they overcame, another story about something personal that tugs at your heartstrings, and proceeds to ask several questions about how you are feeling and why this webinar is a suitable webinar for you.
After 20 minutes pass, the webinar host is still explaining what is in it for you, and you are hanging on by a thread just waiting to hear the solution to your problem. You continue to stay, and by the end of the webinar, the solution has not been provided. At this point, you playback in your mind all of the things you could have achieved within that 45-60 minutes and how you will not be able to get this time back.
This, my friends, is a story I have witnessed too many times. However, I have good news for you. You can start to change the culture of webinar content and win as a consultant by not following some of these “Guaranteed Six-Figure” webinar formats. Great webinars include an excellent introduction of the speaker, a compelling story, and what is in it for the audience. Amazing webinars provide the audience with tools and resources that help them solve their problem. Now many may wonder, if I give information away for free, will the audience member purchase my product or service? The answer is YES! Your audience is facing more than one problem. Therefore, providing a solution to at least one of them will help you establish trust and positioning as a subject matter expert. This positioning will keep your audience engaged in the sales funnel, inclusive of evergreen content. This positioning will keep you top of mind with your audience.
In closing, when planning your next webinar, take the following actions steps:
Identify the relatable issue you would like to utilize to lead marketing content and ads.
-Outline several problems that your audience may be facing.
-Make the promise to solve at least one of them on the webinar.
-Offer services/products that provide solutions to the remaining problems.
-Allow audience members to place questions in the chatbox and provide straightforward solutions.
My promise to you is that showing your audience that you value their time by solving a problem will keep you on their minds for many years to come. My favorite example of this is the format used by Donald Miller for “My Story Brand” and the format used by Marie Forleo. These two leaders aren’t afraid to give away something free because they understand the value of their audience’s time. When planning your next webinar as the start of your sales funnel, remember to provide a solution as your promise.
Email me if you have any questions.
-Mia
info@moderncreatif.com