Based off of a recent study that we just completed surveying over 500 demand generation and marketing practitioners, results showed that 64% of the respondents said they were looking to increase their webcast spend in 2015. Well my thought process is, if you’re going to allocate more spend to your webcast strategy, make sure you promote them and execute them the right way. Here are four guidelines to abide by to help drive more traffic to your webcasts in the New Year
- Compelling – Content is king and the content that you bring to your webcast needs to be compelling. I think companies need to look at three things to make their content as attractive as possible. The topic needs to be current and a hot button within your current industry. In terms of presenters, it adds to your creditability when there is a 3rd party involved. Examples include; customers, partners, analysts, academics, etc. And then finally, the way your webcast is delivered should be thought leadership-driven in approach. We’re finding that end user engagement is higher when presenters are taking a thought leadership stance on industry challenges as opposed to giving a product dump. By product dump, we mean product demos. I understand there’s a time and place to give a product demo. We give demos every day. But an audience of 100 people doesn’t want to see you click on icons and drop down lists. They want to hear your take on the best way to tackle the challenges they face every single day
- Time – Simply put, people aren’t giving themselves enough time to drive the right amount of traffic to their webcasts. I can’t tell you how many times I see companies only promote them for a week and half to two weeks. We believe you need three weeks minimum, but a month is preferable. It give you more time to space out your promotions and reach the key targets you want to get in front of
- Integrated – Your promotion plan needs to take an integrated approach and by that I mean leveraging multiple channels to promote and drive traffic to your webcast. Use every channel at your disposal; website, dedicated email blasts, company newsletters, social media, plugging them in blogs, writing a press release, and leveraging 3rd parties. Your target audience consumes content in different ways and through different mediums. Be cognizant of that and adjust your promotional approach accordingly
- On-Demand – The great thing about online environments like webcasts and virtual events is that you can extend their life span for months, or even longer. Having an on-demand plan is crucial to make sure that your team stays engaged with the folks that were interested, but for some reason or another couldn’t make the live date. Your promotional plan to drive traffic to the on-demand version should be similar in scope to the plan you had to drive traffic to your live webcast. Perhaps not as robust, but similar nonetheless
If you’re compelled, please share your feedback below. Talk soon
Jason Stegent is the Founder & President of Elastic Solutions. Email him @ jstegent@elasticroi.com