As marketers start looking at their 2017 plans (can’t believe it’s right around the corner), the tools and methods they have at their disposal to drive leads and pipeline growth are greater than ever before. Whereas it used to be limited to cold calls, marketing emails, and conferences/trade shows, it’s now expanding to include videos, eBooks, infographics, SEO/SEM/PPC, social, account-based marketing, etc. It’s a good thing in the sense that there are more options available, but it’s a bad thing at the same time because too many marketers think ‘If I can just do a little bit of everything, we’ll hit our goals.’
Today’s buyer has more power to do the homework themselves – and when you combine that with the fact that there are thousands of other marketers vying for their attention, it’s vital to make each interaction that much more impactful. You have to create competitive differentiation and leverage tools that allow you to truly measure ROI.
Too many marketers keep doing the same thing every year and expect a different result – AKA, the definition of insanity. Going into 2017, think about how you’ve interacted with your prospects in the past. You created an incredible eBook or infographic that gave you a ton of downloads; you spent a fortune at an industry trade show, had some conversations and got a good list of names; you created a series of sexy videos and got a number of people to watch them. That’s great, but outside of the downloads, lists of names, and views, what did you really learn about your buyer? Are you able to measure that ROI?
For today’s marketer, the best way to measure ROI is through audience engagement. Webinars (and virtual events in general) provide more measurable data than any tool available. Think about it. You get 45 minutes to an hour to present to your audience in a number of different ways. It’s not just about audio and slides or video and slides anymore. It’s about creating an interactive, truly engaging experience that can provide powerful metrics on the back end. So not just knowing that they attended, but having visibility into what they did over the course of the webinar – how long they attended, questions they asked and group chats they participated in, content they downloaded, polls and surveys they responded to, social platforms they shared it through, etc.
This is the kind of data that allows marketers to trim the fat and separate the pretenders from the contenders, and keep their sales counterparts fat and happy. Can your fancy expensive videos or even more expensive tradeshow sponsorships measure engagement like that? Nope. However, webinars on the Elastic Solutions webcasting platform, Elastic Meetings, can deliver that and more. We specialize in putting together customized webinar strategies that drive awareness, generate more qualified leads and close more business.
So as you plan for 2017, think about all of the expensive marketing tactics you’ve traditionally leveraged and ask yourself if they’re truly worth it. Think about programs that generate the best leads and the most bang for your buck. Think about ramping up your webinar strategy.