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Webinars: Where It's At

February 22, 2010

Marketing today is all about developing a dialogue between organizations and their markets. And b-to-b marketers must recognize the vital importance of listening to the market, as opposed to shouting taglines and slogans at it."

Solid perspective from Scott Voigt, VP of Marketing at Silverpop. He provides some intelligent insight in a recent article featured in B2B Magazine. Check it out:

http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100118/FREE/301189960/1065/MEDIABUSINESS

As the media landscape continues to morph, the nascent value of webinars is quickly escalating. Why? Because, as Scott points out, our prospects are already formulating opinions about our products and services - based on user-generated content like blogs. Webinars are emerging as the one key channel for controlling the message - and the conversation - with customers and prospects.

We helped develop a webinar for Microsoft a few years ago that proved highly successful. It incorporated all of the key ingredients needed for making it work: a compelling story framed by case studies, a number of first-person testimonials from actual customers - and clear value of the products, services and applications germane to the topic. The production value on this specific example was extremely high, giving it the aura of a television infomercial or programmed event. But in this era of high-quality, low-cost video production and online presentation delivery, it's possible to develop webinars with a higher degree of frequency for a fraction of your overall budget.

Moderating questions and answers from your attendees is critical to the success of webinars. It provides input from your audience in an an immediate context, empowering you to address challenges and educate the market in a more tangible fashion. To echo Scott's point once again, it's all about nurturing the "conversation" with your market (does this sound vaguely familiar... like Dale Carnegie touting the impregnable ethos of relationship-building???)

I like that Scott reinforces the value of peripheral marketing programs like email, surveys, landing pages, newsletters, etc. It's still an integration story, combining the best practices of a multi-touch initiative that offers various opportunities to cross-pollinate and reach deeper. But the stickiness of the webinar is becoming paramount: it can be supported by the pillars of white papers and executive briefs, but it offers a more pronounced channel for interacting and influencing your prospects. It also has residual (and even viral) value, easily making the leap from live to recorded and adapting seamlessly to online video ecosystems like YouTube.

In the end, it's all about content – and how it shapes the dialogue with your future customers. This "content conversation" is critical, and webinars have proven their value for fostering credibility and building brand awareness. With a focused lens on your thought leadership, you can create greater opportunities for education, enhance your market loyalty – and ultimately win more business.
 
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