The new realities include audiences with:

• Even shorter attention spans
• Even tighter time schedules
• High demand for relevance
• Preference for on-demand content
• Higher quality standards
• Increased webinar options

Meanwhile sales pipeline management demands higher front-end loads and consistent addition of new leads - in short, we need to feed the beast.

Webinars are a preferred method, but it's time to raise the bar and change the experience. Today's webinars are ridden with:

• Low professionalism and quality
• Poor delivery
• Poor targeting/relevance
• Poor follow up
• Declining outcomes

Today we proclaim the end of the "novelties and notions" approach to webinars.

Given the communication principles of "relevance" why wouldn't you conduct six webinars for each of your primary offers, every month?

Consider a common scenario.

You typically sell to multiple stakeholders, for example -- executive level, technical and user group. To be relevant to each group is indeed a different conversation.

The same is true for buyers in different stages. Early suspects (lead generation objective), mid-process (lead nurturing and education objective) and customers (cross and upsell objective). No way you want to speak to your customers using the same language as the other groups.

So: 2-3 stakeholder groups X 2-3 buying stages = six to nine discrete webinars.

Sound overwhelming, a non-starter? Not with a good strategy, content engine and process in place?

We recommend a change:

• From the 45-minute plus Q-and-A, to the 20-minute (5 + 10 + 5)
• First 5 min: Provocative issues & impact
• Next 10 min: Point of view & approach
• Next 5 min: Promoting additional content
• Supported with a microsite of relevant content
• From one size fits all, to audience-specific and segmented programs
• From random acts, to a planned series with cross-promotion
• From unfocused, to targeted at specific buying stages
• From only live, to more on-demand content
• From show up and throw up, to pre-produced for tighter programming and higher quality

Webinars provide a cornerstone activity for a marketing content strategy. We recommend you:

1. Leverage webinars for content acquisition – use them to acquire subject matter expertise beyond the webinar-specific content. This additional content can feed lead generation, lead nurturing and sales enablement programs.
2. Plan webinars as part of an overall campaign, where webinars generate leads, and on-demand content nurtures and carries the message forward, all tracked and measured using the principles of Digital Body Language.
3. Consistently execute for target audiences – consistently deliver to gain momentum and a build-on effect of your marketing, for every audience/role/product.

How well do you differentiate your organization through the content you create and the way you deliver?

What do your webinar participants experience when they attend your webinars?

For the cost of a typical webinar, you can deliver video as part of your webinar. You can also present your participants live through a webcam.

In fact, you can turn a traditionally passive experience into a highly engaging and social experience.

This capability vastly expands the possibilities for web conferencing technology. In fact, it may be closer to video conferencing, but over the web.

Click here to schedule a meeting to discuss your requirements and options that might address them:

Avitage Blog – 7 Ways to take your webinars to the next level – More specifics on ways to improve the impact of your webinar program

Avitage Blog – Rethinking Why you do webinars? – Why webinars are a key tool to enable your content acquisition

Webinar – How does your webinar program stack up? (Citrix & DemandGen) – Industry statistics and comparatives around your webinar program

Blog Talk Radio Interview – Zak Pines Link Into Sales on Webinars – Interview on the state of webinars today and discussion on how customers are getting greater results from their webinar programs

PDF – Webinars 2.0: Maximizing Webinars with Social and Interactive Engagement – 7 key areas to maximize Your Webinar Program – a DemandGen white paper

Computing Software Industry Report – Computer/Software Companies Rank Webinars As Most Effective Marketing Tactic – PDF snapshot summary

Content Marketing Institute – Is Your Content Marketing Relevant to Buyers? – This article comments on IDG Research stating that the ideal length of webcast is seven minutes

Avitage Blog – Applying Digital Body Language to Webinars – How marketing automation can be applied to your webinar program

SmartBlog on Social Media – Should webinars be part of your social media – a Q&A with Ann Handley – Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, discusses the benefits of webinars and how she recommends using webinars to drive content creation

SalesVPI Blog – Request to Webinar Sponsors – Jim Burns calls out must-have components of webinar programs

Fast Company – How TED Connects the Idea-Hungry Elite – Within this article, Richard Saul Wurman, founder of TED, says the best length for a presentation (or webinar) is 18 minutes

TED – Designing your event Preparing speakers – TED tips for preparing event speakers (which applies well to webinars)

Eloqua Blog – Why Webinars?: Lisa Horner On 4 Ways To Spice Up Your Strategy

Marketo Blog – 5 Ways to Increase Webinar Attendance