wwWebevents

Best Practices for Training Webinars

bnewman — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 12:59:03 +0000

by Bruce Newman

Webinar technology is rapidly growing in both usage and capability. Although webinar sales are expected to exceed $3.4 billion by 2014, it is its rapid growth and adoption in other areas that is so noteworthy.

One of the areas experiencing such rapid growth involves education and training. Largely because of significant savings in time and money, companies are increasingly turning to online technology for education, product demonstrations and training. Even when training is performed by an outside company, it increasingly utilizes online instruction. This in turn has radically altered the training landscape by reducing the number of in-person training opportunities, instead requiring the creation of a wide range of online courses.

Online education courses can be lucrative for several reasons:

• Most importantly, they adhere to the basic webinar premise: the one-to-many capability. For roughly the same amount of time and energy that you expend to train one person, with a webinar you can train any number of people.
• Although they are usually less expensive to attend – making them more attractive, they are also more profitable because they require fewer personnel and overhead.
• Educational webinars can be easily modified or tweaked, as needed.
• They provide continuing education credits making webinars highly attractive, particularly if attendance is during non-working hours.

So how do companies generate revenue with training based webinars? Often, it’s by simply charging a one time attendance fee. Some of the more successful companies are now bundling several of their training webinars together to form a series or curriculum and awarding a certificate of completion to attendees who attend all the requisite webinars.

When a company sets up a fee based webinar, it must consider the following:

1. Determine what is of specific interest to its target audience. What will they pay money for?
2. How in-depth can you make your presentation? For free webinars, your audience will show some tolerance with the level of your content. However, for paid educational webinars, they are far less tolerant. Regardless of the price, they demand and expect outstanding content.
3. Your promotional materials must strongly reflect your content. If a well-known speaker is providing the webinar, be sure to promote him or her. A big name can significantly increase the number of attendees. Testimonials or endorsements by well-known attendees or organizations can also be extremely beneficial.
4. Eliminate any marketing and sales in the webinar except for a brief call to action at the end for any additional services or products you may offer. People already paid for your webinar. They will not tolerate their time being wasted by an additional pitch. Your primary sales tool – your credibility – will be the quality of your webinar. Whether your attendees decide to sign up for additional webinars from you will largely depend on that quality of your material and presentation and whether or not they believe they received a high return on investment.
5. Make sure you have a follow-up program in place that will enable you to get feedback and remain in front of your audience.

There are many educational webinars currently being offered. While their cost may vary enormously, the major point of differentiation between them is the quality of their promotion, content and presentation, all of which contribute to the bottom line: Did the webinar deliver what it promised and if so, how well? Most tellingly, would you attend another one of the presenter’s paid webinars?

Bruce Newman is an expert on social media strategies and webinar creation and promotion. He is also the creator of The Complete Webinar Training Course, a powerful course for both “newbies” and experienced webinar presenters and is guaranteed to improve the success of any webinar.

Remembrance and Social Media

bnewman — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 12:53:12 +0000

by Bruce Newman

There are times when I don’t know what I will write about in this column. Social media is just such a big and rapidly evolving area that determining which sub-area to focus on takes both thought and effort. However, there are also times when some occurrence or situation arises which demands my attention and almost immediately becomes the subject of my column. Such was the case with my good friend and tennis partner, Artie.

Artie is a retired policeman. He spent many long days and nights working in a tough precinct in the Bronx. He truly loved his work and although he retired a year ago, still regularly visits his precinct.

Artie is also a 9/11 First Responder. Every six months, he goes into the city to get his lungs and respiratory system evaluated. Particularly on hot, muggy days, Artie sometimes has trouble catching his breath and requires the use of an inhaler. In the near future, he will be moving to Arizona from New York in part because of its superior air quality and lower humidity.

I was truly moved when Artie mentioned all of this to me. Despite playing tennis on a regular basis with a good friend – albeit one who is very reticent, it made me start to wonder about the nameless thousands of 9/11 First Responders who are also enduring these lingering and often debilitating health issues and what is being done to help them. I knew the basics of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 (Zadroga Act) and that it required an act of Congress (spurred on in part by the actions of Jon Stewart) to allocate $4.2 billion for the creation of the World Trade Center Health Program. What I did not know about was the amount of online material and social traffic related to it.

In previous articles, I have discussed the power of social media and its increasing importance for non-profits in many areas – particularly fundraising and publicity. A recent study by the University of Massachusetts reported that 89% of charitable organizations are now utilizing social media marketing with 45% of them using it for some form of fundraising.

Social media allows these organizations to communicate directly with followers and supporters. Through frequent communications, organizations can rapidly build trust, stay in front of their target audience and persuade people to become volunteers or partners who donate both their time and money. Just by the nature of social media, when followers discuss some important subject with friends and other people in their network who in turn discuss it with people in their immediate network, highly effective organic word of mouth growth is gradually achieved. This results in a larger and more responsive audience.

So how does this help Artie and other heroes like him? What is the benefit of social media to them?

I believe it is as important for the rest of us to remember and honor them as it is for them to have a common – and maybe private – thread for themselves, particularly since many responders are suffering from some form of posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD). It’s just too easy for people to forget or overlook the major contributions from a relatively small handful of people – whether they are First Responders or troops fighting in distant wars.

In searching online, I found a number of websites, videos, groups and conversations dealing with the details and facts of 9/11 and its aftermath. I did not find many websites or active groups involving First Responders. Although there were a number of testimonials and videos on YouTube by First Responders, they usually focused on the politics behind the Zadroga Act or on the ailments of individual responders. Unfortunately, the activity and communication levels was shockingly low. They deserve better.

I will be joining and contacting several of the groups and organizations I found online starting with the Facebook group, 9/11 WTC First Responders Foundation, to see how I can help. I will keep you informed on my progress.

Tips To Help Your Content Go Viral

bnewman — Wed, 15 May 2013 08:25:55 +0000

by Bruce Newman

One of the big marketing desires of most companies is to have their content go viral. It is a question I am regularly asked about by both clients and social media followers.

While having content that goes viral may increase sales and branding, it should still be only one aspect of your marketing campaign. It is not the ultimate outcome that many companies dream of and envision. Unless you’ve gone viral because of an Oprah Winfrey endorsement, your fame is only fleeting except in very rare instances.

We see this in the real world when as the result of some situation, a person is thrust into the spotlight and lands on the news, a reality show or even late night television. Two weeks later, they are again unknown.

Similarly, in the online world, if an article posting goes viral, it will help brand the author as an industry leader and possibly an expert in his/her field. Whether or not this translates into additional immediate sales is questionable. Most likely, the most notable result will be an immediate increase in the number of followers. However, along with this increase are increased expectations. The author must continue to provide outstanding content or else he will rapidly lose a significant number of his followers. By making extensive use of social media and enhancing communications with these original and new followers, he can help ensure a high retention rate while remaining in front of them.

It is therefore extremely important to have a marketing plan in place that is able to take advantage of this viral effect. Even if your postings don’t go viral, utilizing an effective social marketing plan will greatly enhance its reach and elicited response.

In 1997 – prior to the onset of social media, I developed a product, PC Mirror (which I still sell), that was featured on the Microsoft home page, the front page of The Westchester Section of the Sunday NY Times and in many other publications. The next day, we received a huge increase in our number of sales. That surge lasted one week. This short-lived response emphasizes one of the key differences between traditional advertising and publicity and social media: staying power. Social media provides the platforms and tools to remain in front of your audience.

In today’s world, companies are constantly striving to use social media to improve branding, customer relationships, sales and a host of other activities. They are seeking a way that will enable them to stand out and differentiate themselves from their competition.

Having a post that goes viral may temporarily help them achieve that goal. Be warned, however, that it can also backfire. In 2006, Sony got caught promoting one of their videos within a viral campaign by using “superficial facades shielding mouthpieces for the corporation”. This generated such an online uproar that Sony was forced to apologize. It is unknown, however, whether the uproar from this campaign lead to increased sales.

Viral Campaign Tips

Include something unusual, something people don’t expect. Graphics and videos help but they still must be sufficiently unique in order for people to take notice and then want to discuss them with their friends and followers. Incidentally, if you’re doing a video, music significantly helps.
Provide something new or different. This could include something unique, inspiring, or funny. Eliciting emotional reactions from your audience can also trigger a viral campaign. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a positive response such as to some pictures of animals, either. Look at the recent reaction to Congressman Akin’s comment on “legitimate rape”, for example.
Offer great content, particularly when it can easily help a wide variety of businesses or is highly relevant to a red-hot topic. Do not sell.
Make it easy to share. (This is obvious.)

I believe that the majority of content that goes viral is accidental. There is just so much information being posted daily that to expect any one item – particularly if it’s not outrageous or wildly appealing, to go viral is wistful thinking. Using any of the tips listed above will certainly increase your chances of having your posting go viral but remember that this reaction is short-lived and one whose effect you must continue to reference in future postings and marketing campaigns.

Look for Bruce Newman’s new course, The Complete Webinar Training Course, in early December.

Bruce Newman is the president at wwWebevents.com and an expert on webevents (webinars and virtual events) creation and promotion and social media marketing. wwWebevents.com offers a free (and premium) listing, search and customized notification service for any webevent as well as webinar creation, promotion and review services to help drive attendance and conversions. Make sure to sign up for Bruce’s upcoming webinars and the Webinar Productivity Series. Bruce can be reached at bnewman@wwWebevents.com

The Importance of Outstanding Written Content

Where’s the Beef?

bnewman — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:55:19 +0000

by Bruce Newman

A highly accomplished friend of mine recently suggested that I look at several of the very popular women coaches who have rapidly built multi-million dollar businesses in the past few years. Since this very good friend is in fact a highly regarded presentation and business coach, I decided to follow-up on her suggestion.

I viewed several presentations and accessed two products in the $500-$700 range. I was not impressed with the content of either package, judging both of them to be pretty pedantic. I was, however, highly impressed with their packaging and social media marketing. (Incidentally, I will not publically disclose the presenters names since I am not endorsing them and wish to avoid any public dispute with their audience. I will however, disclose their names upon request via email.)

First, let’s address their content. In social media, we constantly talk about the importance of excellent content and how it is responsible for list building, successful webinars and inbound marketing. In fact, a recent webinar I attended by Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger – one of the most successful online blogs, attributed his remarkable success to content marketing.

The basic question all of these products attempt to address is: What do you need to do to successfully build your business online? Simply put, here are the basic steps:

You need to determine your target audience
You need to be able to reach them
You need to provide them with excellent content
You need to entice them to buy your product or service
You need to somehow remain in front of them

The content of the two products I accessed appear to (at least) reasonably address these issues and identify several pain points, benefits and solutions. However, they are also fairly expensive. A third product whose landing page I will discuss shortly, costs $1,000 (actually $997). Can it help a business? Probably, but so can far less costly programs. The difference between these programs to a large degree is their marketing.

Without going into too much detail concerning this landing page (whose analysis would be much longer than the page itself), I will merely focus on several of its key features. (Note: a landing page is any page in which people are manually or automatically directed to. It is designed for some specific purpose – usually to make a sale or complete a sign-up form.)

The top of this landing page contained a short, well-made video that automatically started once I landed on the page. (I hate videos that automatically start once you land on a page but studies show that they are far more effective than pages that rely on viewers to manually start a video.)

Examination of key terms in the page revealed the following emotional phrases:

“… for effortlessly creating 6-figure launches” – The implication being that it’s easy to create an extremely profitable launch. It is not. It rarely happens and takes a lot of planning and work. In fact, every successful product release requires a lot of work.

“My step-by-step formula to convert 100% of exactly the RIGHT PEOPLE into your offering.” – First of all, I don’t know how you can do 100% of anything. How do you even define who the right people are? I assume this implies that you have accurately identified your target market.

“The most heavily guarded secrets…” – which we will receive for $1,000. Obviously, they have limited security.

“I’ll show you how you can fill your call – EVEN WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD OF YOU BEFORE.” – This excites me. It certainly sounds a lot better than: “Make sure to ask all your social media friends and acquaintances to promote my product.”

As I said, semantics laden with emotion can be extremely persuasive and these landing pages are replete with many similar phrases that I could also have selected. Not surprisingly, these phrases and follow-up text comprise the majority of the landing page, the remainder consisting of testimonials and the product offer itself which is actually the smallest landing page component.

My purpose in this article is not to disparage these moderate-to-expensive products. Some of them are certainly worthwhile and can greatly help a business, the $2,000 product I use being one of them. However, an increasing number of these “be successful/be your own boss/earn a six figure income” products are merely repackaged content that is beautifully presented in a limited-time manner through email and social media to elicit an emotional response. They are correct from one perspective, however: They do help the presenter generate a 6-figure launch. Look carefully before you jump and make sure there’s a 100% return guarantee.

No related posts.

Branding, Webinars and Social Media

bnewman — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 01:14:00 +0000

by Bruce Newman

One of the topics that was briefly discussed at the recent Westfair Communications Social Media Roundtable (that I moderated), involved branding. Unfortunately, because of time constraints and the wide range of social media topics that the excellent panel discussed, we did not address branding to the depth it deserves.

Branding is the creation of an image, symbol or name that provides a consistent theme for a company’s product or service across a wide range of mediums. When successful, a brand can significantly help a company differentiate itself from its competitors and increase sales.

Every branding campaign requires consistency and clarity. If a brand is not consistent and crystal clear throughout a company’s internal and external communications, its message will become diffused and its impact severely diminished. Even with a crystal clear message, branding requires consistent repetition (and sometimes saturation).

Using webinars to help promote a brand is one of the key goals of many webinars. It allows companies to remain experts before their clients and prospects while also generating leads. A series of informative webinars can greatly enhance a company’s reputation and help establish them as an industry leader.

Companies spend millions of dollars to establish their brand. It’s important for their brand promotion that they get before a large targeted and possibly interactive audience; one that will respond to their content. It is the aim – and hope – of most online marketers to be able to engage this interactive audience to such an extent that it will willingly extend the communications to friends and followers, potentially generating a viral amount of attention and buzz.

According to Claire Stoddard, President of Branding Universe, “Understanding the wants of your customer is critical to the success of any branding campaign. You must interact with prospects and customers, not only to determine whether or not they are satisfied with your brand, but what it is about your brand that has a unique value to them. Social media is a terrific tool to help accomplish this type of research and dialog.”

This interactivity is one of the most useful and potent aspects of online branding. By creating a dialog with a target market, companies can not only develop real insight about their product and how it is perceived but can also reinforce – and possibly modify, if necessary – its reputation. Since word of mouth and the speed of the social web is crucial to the continued success of any product or service, this interactivity can rapidly enhance or reduce a brand’s perceived status. This is one of the major reasons why companies are increasingly starting to track brand sentiment and why webinars are so important.

Starbucks has a very prominent online branding presence. Its Facebook YouTube and Twitter activities (among others) allow it to feature events, promotions and interviews. Not only does it make Twitter announcements but it encourages feedback from its many followers. Dunkin’ Donuts uses Facebook for brand promotion and features contests and games.

Although services (such as Google) recommend advertising as a means of promoting your brand, what they don’t say is that these advertisements are significantly more effective when brand recognition is involved. People are far more likely to click on an advertisement in which they recognize the brand recognition than one lacking that recognition. This makes it essential for companies with limited budgets and incomplete branding to not fall prey to the advertising hype and instead utilize the social aspect of social media – dialogs, postings and effective platform techniques such as using hashtags on Twitter that incorporate a company slogan to help build their brand rather than a full-blown advertising campaign. A very limited and targeted advertising campaign can be more effective – for both market research and promotion – when done properly, particularly when coupled with a supporting webinar.

One further point: Although social media has rapidly become an integral component of most branding campaigns, it is important to remember that it still remains just a component of a consistent marketing campaign. It must still abide by the key aspects of any branding campaign, namely clarity, consistency and repetition.

Protecting Sensitive Company Information

bnewman — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 01:22:55 +0000

by Marcy J. Maslov

(This article was originally published in The wwWebevents newsletter)

A co-worker gives notice, announcing she accepted a job with a competitor. She is asked to leave immediately by Big Boss. You discover she copied confidential information on products, services and costs before leaving. Is this ethical? Why or why not?

Costs are one of the most sensitive “intangibles” a business has. It is right up there with the customer list and employee information. So how does this co-worker’s action impact the company? And what is your responsibility here? Good questions! And again a true story from experience.

What is your gut reaction? For many people when I discuss this scenario it’s a sense of outrage. How could that worker just take this information? Many people do this innocently without thinking. They may feel entitled to the information because they did the research or created the program or designed the product. The fact is that most larger companies have some sort of policy stating that items created while on company time or salary are property of the company. (This is another ethics dilemma for another time…)

What’s the harm in taking this information, you say? Well let’s explore that. If a competitor knows your costs and they’re in good financial position they could undercut your costs and win bids for new projects. If a competitor knows what products you’re about to launch, they might be in position to beat you to market or adjust one of their own products to match you. Just to name a few potential consequences of this co-worker’s actions.

Do we always ask where information comes from when a colleague presents it? Or do we take our colleagues on trust? Ah, the ethics issue begins to take shape. And if the company culture encourages “friendly competition” among co-workers, then leadership is essentially condoning behavior that could inspire “win at whatever cost” without looking at the consequences (or acknowledging the risk of getting caught). Just look at the issue with the New Orleans Saints “bountygate” (paying a bounty for knocking out key football players) for an example of this.

So let’s turn to your responsibility here. So do you report this or not? Is it our responsibility to protect the company’s sensitive information? Most people would say yes but would have a hard time identifying what that sensitive information really is. And if this co-worker did not work for you, the only thing you’re held accountable for is following the company’s official code of conduct. Does the code of conduct explicitly state what to do in a case like this? Most of the time the answer is no because companies are more concerned with the physical assets rather than intangibles like cost information or customer lists.

So what do you consider to be your responsibility? And how would you handle this? Contact the co-worker and ask for the data back or threaten a lawsuit? Ignore it? Tell the boss and wash your hands of the follow-up? There are a lot of possibilities here as well, many now depending on your own experience and interpretation of the risks that affect you directly. But protecting the company’s assets ultimately protects your job and the company’s reputation.

So how would you respond to witnessing this event? Write in your comments and share your perspectives on this situation.

Marcy J Maslov earned her ethics stripes over 25 years working in Fortune 500 companies including Pepsi, Motorola, and 20^th Century Fox. In 2003 Marcy started her coaching business and offers workshops on building trust, business ethics, and finance for non-accountants. Marcy invented e-Factor!®, a business ethics educational board game, to help people solve ethics dilemmas in a fun, creative and engaging manner. Marcy has an MBA, BS (Accountancy) and CPA registered in Illinois. Marcy can be reached at Marcy@e-factorgame.com or via the website www.e-factorgame.com

The World Speakers Summit – an Interview

bnewman — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:00:39 +0000

by Bruce Newman

Today, I am interviewing Brian Douglas who is the host of The World Speakers Summit.

What is the World Speakers Summit?

The World Speakers Summit is a 3 full day plus 4 weekday afternoon event – live event – similar to a hotel-based event. We decided that people needed great information about building, improving and creating a speaking business that avoids all of the travel and time costs. Because it’s virtual, we can get better speakers who don’t want to have to travel.

We created this virtual event to help them build their business.

What makes it special?

We have some great talent talking on key areas of speaking including: how to craft and perform the perfect story, which helps your audience understand your message. How to get booked on stages and at the right price. How to get booked when and for how much you want. You’ll learn how to sell while on the physical and virtual stage. Some faculty will discuss how they present in a webinar format. It can be very important for seasoned speakers who need to make that transition. We have publishing experts to help people do branding and be able to sell their books. How to use social media to build your audience – particularly Facebook – to promote your message and enhance your credibility. Turning Facebook into a resource into building your audience. How to speak for free but get paid. You can make a lot of money in this way. We even have a specialist in outsourcing to get the work done while you focus on your top priorities.

We all have a message we want to share. I want to give people the tools to better communicate their message regardless if it is in a large stadium, a small conference room or on a webinar. I want to help people to better communicate and get your message out there.

In many ways, it comes down to this:

You need an audience (we’ll help you find one!)
If you have a topic people are interested in and people are interested in it, they will listen to you if they can tell that you are speaking from your heart – particularly if it is congruent to their beliefs and is compelling. You can overcome every obstacle by your content.

We cover every gamut of this business from building, promoting, presenting, converting and cashing the check.

I’ve even got some amazing experts that will reveal how you can booked on radio—and never have to leave your home.

(ed. note: Here’s the link to their page: www.worldspeakerssummit.com/secret-page )

What trends are you seeing in the speaking business these days?

The biggest challenge is the cost facing meeting planners today. So the trends we’re seeing are moving towards virtual and away from in-person communication. It means we have to be more dynamic. Also means that there’s more of an opportunity for competition of speakers and audience. Not only must you be a better speaker, you must be more creative and a better marketer.

The speaker really needs to be a marketer now. You’ve got to focus on getting yourself in a position to be seen as the pre-eminent expert so you can get booked.

I believe that you’ve got to be the master of your own destiny. If you want a guaranteed speaking spot, you need to create your own events so you are in touch with your destiny. Use techniques of cross-promotion and pollination—it’s the best way of becoming a better speaker and more effective business person.

Where do joint presentations (not summits) fall into this?

Cross pollination & joint venturing – I’ll promote your webinar to my list and vice versa. Can be done as an affiliate or JV.

It can help your list, your sales, etc. But in order for it to work, you need good, relevant content that can serve your audience.

The key thing seems to be content.

Absolutely. Without good content, you’ll be a short-timer. People won’t want you on their stages-and word spreads FAST! You need to focus on providing content and solid business relevance.

The trending is to stop defining stuff and simply see what our audience needs. What does your list need? It’s your audience. They’re just a group of people with specific needs. We need to understand why they are there. You as a speaker are a leader. You are leading them down a path that they need to be led down. They trust you to lead them, Otherwise, they will jump ship.

You must be adaptable when doing a presentation. Things happen. We must adapt. Always be honest when problems occur. Your audience knows what’s going on, and transparency gives them a reason to respect and believe you.

Is this going to be a pitchfest?

NO! Our faculty is doing 90 minute presentations with complete focus on serving our audience. It’s all great content. Will they have follow-up courses and materials? Of course. And there will be incredibly good deals on them—but the offers made will be brief. Our focus is on serving our audience.

How long have you been doing summits?

This is our second summit as a weekend program. I have done stage and webinar programs for 26 years. People loved the first weekend summit. Our audience grew throughout the summit and the feedback was off the charts.

What we do that makes it different is how we do the transition between speakers. How do we keep people engaged? We decided to have hot seats for people in the audience. They would share their biggest challenge, and everyone could jump in and provide suggestions. This was also recorded. It was a very powerful experience for them, and it was one of the highest-rated parts of the event.

We’ll be offering 5 of them each day, I think!

You will be unstoppable if you attend the summit. No man is an island—the key to this thing is to build and leverage relationships and learn from the people you are with.

How much does the summit cost?

It should be $597, but we’ve discounted it to $297.

However, through a very special link, you can grab it for only $97 (www.worldspeakerssummit.com/secret-page)

You also get lifetime access to all of the video and audio recordings. AND it includes transcripts.

23 speaking slots. – 38 hours of content for $97.

Plus exclusive bonus content from the faculty, too. With all we’ve put together, it’s really a no-brainer!

My bottom line? It’s simple. We can change people’s lives. Everyone has a message to share. And we want to help you make it happen!

Bruce Newman is the president of wwWebevents.com.

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Successful Customer-Centric Selling: 5 Tips

bnewman — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 14:35:43 +0000

by Katie Mead

(This article was originally published in the wwWebevents.com newsletter.)

Regardless of your industry and whether or not you consider yourself to be a ‘salesperson’, chances are you’ve heard of ‘customer-centric selling’. It’s guaranteed that your sales and marketing efforts will be more successful if you take a customer-centric selling approach, but what, in a nutshell, does this mean?

The easy answer: customer-centric selling is selling with the customer in mind – i.e. every decision you make focuses on the customers’ needs, not on a pre-conceived agenda. Here are five tips to help you do this effectively:

What do your customers want?

The honest truth is that your customers don’t care about what you want. They really don’t care about your revenue goals, profit margins, or inventory problems. Customers are self-focused: they care about their problems and goals.

Don’t fall into the trap of telling your customers what you think they want: always position your product or offering in terms of what the customer wants. Then go further and illustrate how your product solves their problem.

Remember that the devil’s in the details: the more you can use “you” and “your” instead of “our” and “we”, the more you will connect and the better off you’ll be in your communications with customers.

What do your customer’s need?

Your customers might not know what they need: it’s your job to help them uncover this. Use probing questions to get to the bottom of your customers’ pain points. When you can draw out what the customer actually needs instead of what they state they might want, you can better serve them and tailor your selling and offering accordingly.

Use your customer’s language

To uncover what your customers really need or want, you must first make sure you’re all speaking the same language. Great customer-centric selling is reliant on excellent communication skills. It’s essential to remember that customers don’t necessarily speak your language. It’s pretty much guaranteed that your company-centric jargon and industry-speak is confusing to them – put aside the acronyms and industry jargon you use every day.

Discuss your selling in terms of the problems you are solving for the customer. Customer-centric selling avoids generic language like “easy to use,” “simple,” “fast,” etc. These phrases tell customers nothing and will negatively impact your credibility. Take the time to learn about your customers and make your discussions ‘all about them’. One of the best ways to do this is to speak to them in their language.

Address your customer’s fears

You’ve gotten in the door with your customer because of the fears that they believe you and/or your product might be able to alleviate. Instead of trying to pinpoint what YOU think these fears might be, customer-centric selling addresses customers’ fears from their perspective. By speaking to those underlining concerns and fears you will effectively uncover the ways your product makes those fears disappear.

Practice active listening

Chances are when it comes to meetings with your customers you’ve got something to say. Instead of adhering to an agenda that may be more or less relevant to your customers’ true needs, have the courage to shut up and really listen to what they say. Don’t spend time preparing what you’re going to say next; instead, really hear what they’re saying and adjust to the topics they want to cover. Give up the need to control the conversation – instead guide it based on what your customers truly want to discuss. In this way you’ll not only uncover their true pain points, but show your customers that you respect their needs and are listening instead of focused on ‘selling them’.

These tips seem pretty straightforward, and indeed, customer-centric selling is very commonsensical: keep your customers’ needs in mind, put your own agenda away and listen, listen, listen. Practice customer-centric selling and through your success you’ll notice the difference.

Katie Mead – Director, Business Development, Travelport

Katie.Mead@travelport.com

The Importance of Outstanding Written Content

bnewman — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 04:03:35 +0000

by Bruce Newman

In this era of copious amounts of written text on websites, blogs, white papers, press releases, industry studies and social media sites, it is difficult to stand out and be noticed. It is even more difficult to get people to regularly follow or subscribe to an author or company. People act very impulsively – particularly when online – and are likely to leave a website or presentation for any reason including a slow download.

This puts a premium on the quality of the content. High quality content will enhance brand awareness, generate a following and usually include some aspect of search engine optimization (SEO). It helps establish a company or individual as an industry leader and can generate considerable interest and attention. Our wwWebevents.com newsletter, for example, has grown to over 10,000 opt-in subscribers due to the strong adherence to our core belief that content-is-king.

Here are key rules you should adhere to when writing your content.

It Must Be Well-Written

It’s amazing how often this seemingly obvious rule is violated. Grammatically incorrect sentences and incoherent thoughts are immediate reader and follower-killers and yet they are very prevalent. Studies have shown that they are the most common reason behind lost followers. Another all-too-common problem concerns the content itself; it’s not new and original. Instead, it is merely re-written and re-formatted content that can be found on numerous other online sites.

What does stand out is great writing and content. It’s why everyone follows certain writers and blogs – because they are well-written and provide great content.

It is Targeted and Provides Great Value

Several months ago, I attended a webinar in which the presenter discussed how she landed several accounting clients because she had a background in accounting and could speak their language. The same was true for a technical company I used to run. Having a technical background, I could answer all of the technical questions on the spot while most of my competitors had to contact a technician.

The same holds true for your writing. The better you understand your target audience, the better your content can be directed towards their needs. Remember that it’s their needs and not your products that they are most interested in. If you can provide them with new and interesting content that addresses their needs and interests, they will follow you. They will also comment and discuss your content. Listen closely to them and be willing to discuss all aspects of your content with them. It will enhance your ability to communicate with them and to better understand and address their needs. You will also gain additional insight concerning which keywords are particularly effective in generating traffic.

It is Clear and Concise

For most articles, the optimal length is 450 – 700 words or roughly, one single-spaced page. Most people will not read an article longer than 700 words (with the exception of studies and white papers). Keep the articles short. Many top online writers place their most captivating (and important) information in the first two paragraphs of an article because they realize they will gradually lose attention and readers throughout the course of the article.

Since the attention span of readers is very short, it is also critical that the content be very concise. A writer does not have much space – and readers have less tolerance – for meandering or confusing text. Being clear and easily understood is the goal of any writer – particularly those that are online.

Spend Time on Your Headlines

It’s sad to admit that headlines are extremely important. You can write the greatest articles in the world but with bland headlines, you will not generate the attention and buzz that your articles deserve (unless you are an industry leader and people will automatically follow you despite your titles). Be cautioned however, that even with a great headline, if you have substandard or even mediocre content, you will still have a limited number of followers.

Great content that you consistently promote to your audience will help brand you as an industry leader and differentiate you from your competition. It will drive traffic to you and generate significant buzz. In a future article, I will discuss how you can take advantage of some of the online writing, content and distribution services that are currently available to help build your audience.

Bruce Newman is the president at wwWebevents.com and an expert on webevents (webinars and virtual events) creation and promotion and social media marketing. wwWebevents.com offers a free (and premium) listing, search and customized notification service for any webevent as well as webinar and 3MinfoVideo development and promotion services. Make sure to sign up for Bruce’s upcoming webinars and the Webinar Productivity Series. Bruce can be reached at bnewman@wwWebevents.com.

Tips To Help Your Content Go Viral

Healthcare and Social Media

bnewman — Mon, 28 May 2012 14:58:59 +0000

by Bruce Newman

Westfair Communication’s recent roundtable on medical issues spurred my interest in medical social media. At this roundtable, five distinguished panelists answered a number of questions concerning the state of the medical experience and care, insurance, costs, Obamacare and a host of other issues. Unfortunately, there was no discussion on the impact of social media.

Social media has become an important component in the health field. According to an April 2012 report by the Health Research Institute, “45% of consumers said information found via social media would affect their decisions to seek a second opinion. More than 40% of respondents reported that information found via social media would affect the way they coped with a chronic condition or their approach to diet and exercise”. A further analysis revealed that “community sites had 24 times more social media activity on average than any of the health industry companies”.

In short, people are increasingly dependent on social media to learn more about all types of medical issues. The two most widely used platforms, Facebook and YouTube (and others), allow people to share information, support and interact with each other and learn about specific treatments or procedures. Not surprisingly, they also discuss doctors and hospitals.

Word of mouth referrals are extremely powerful social media marketing and sales tools. A recent study showed that 68% of all decisions to buy a product online are affected by online discussions and comments. That same loquaciousness is also present concerning medical issues and products and patient care with a majority of people willing to share health information on social media.

While it is not surprising that the community sites would be more vocal than those of health industry companies, that it is 24 times more vocal should be unnerving to the entire health industry. Negative reviews – whether justified or not, can severely impact on a medical practice. One doctor who we worked with was the recipient of several negative – and anonymous – reviews of her practice which if left unchecked, would probably have hurt her practice.

Given this huge reliance on social media by the general population and the impact exerted by their negative and positive comments, many insurance, hospitals and medical practices have begun to direct more resources towards their social media marketing and management. Social media offers a tremendous opportunity for them to enhance their brand, improve communications with existing patients and attract new ones. It is also far more cost-effective than most of their advertising and marketing campaigns.

Some healthcare organizations are using social media and webinars as important education and training tools for their staff. They are also starting to share success stories involving research or treatments on social media. A handful of hospitals are even tweeting live-from-the-operating-room procedures. (This is going a little overboard for me.)

Most importantly for these medical organizations, is the ability to provide accurate information to their patients before and after an appointment. Patients want to know and understand all about their condition and be able to receive support – which is becoming increasingly important – from their institution and through social media. With 73% of patients searching online for relevant information, it is essential that these medical organizations provide accurate and informative content – which can improve their patient care and attract new business.

The Mayo Clinic, for example, is using (inexpensive) Flip cameras to post videos of patients, doctors, treatments and their experiences. Videos can be very powerful instruments that elicit enormous responses, particularly when integrated into a comprehensive marketing strategy. When one of the Mayo Clinic’s videos went viral, in six weeks it received over 2.1 million views.

The social media strategies and implementation that medical practices, hospitals, vendors and insurance companies use can greatly affect their brand, patient perception and trust. It also can improve health management while providing important and relevant information and education to increasingly integrated consumers and providers.

Bruce Newman is the president at wwWebevents.com and an expert on webevents (webinars and virtual events) and social media marketing. wwWebevents.com offers a free (and premium) listing, search and customized notification service for any webevent as well as webinar and 3MinfoVideo development and promotion services. Make sure to sign up for Bruce’s upcoming webinars. Bruce can be reached at bnewman@wwWebevents.com.