Tactics to Promote a Teleseminar or Webinar

Filed Under OperateItRight

Question: Beryl, I decided to host a Teleseminar to increase awareness of my business, how can I promote it?

Answer: You’ve found the right conference line, you’ve outlined your presentation and even created a handout, you know you are going to have a great Teleseminar. But the big question is, “Who is going to be there?” Getting people to your Teleseminar is often the most difficult aspect of hosting a Teleseminar, but here are a few tactics to make it easier.

Offer your Teleseminar for free. Offering your Teleseminar for free takes away the pressure to attend. People will feel less pressured to sign up because they have nothing to lose if something comes up and they can’t make it. Their only cost is their time.

Make it during a convenient time. While it is impossible to make your Teleseminar convenient for everyone around the world, do try to make your Teleseminar convenient for your target market. For instance, if your target market is WAHM’s don’t schedule your Teleseminar for the afternoon or early evening, or if your target market is for people transitioning from a job to their own business, don’t schedule your Teleseminar during drive time. Of course you can always record the Teleseminar and make it make available to everyone that registers, whether they attend or not, to alleviate some of the time inconvenience.

Focus on the benefits. When you’re promoting your Teleseminar, tell people what is in it for them and why they should attend. Say something like, “during this Teleseminar you will learn… and by learning… you will be able to…

Ask for reservations. Make the Teleseminar limited to a particular number of people. This creates a sense of urgency and motivates people to sign up. It also creates a sense of responsibility, because when people have a reservation they are more committed to the appointment. They may feel a sense of obligation to attend as well, because they’ve reserved a coveted space on the guest list.

Email signature. Your email signature is more powerful than you might imagine. Think about all the people you email each and every day and all the people your email is forwarded to. If your Teleseminar is promoted in your email signature, you’re reaching a whole group of people who can benefit from your Teleseminar.

Email marketing campaign. Speaking of email…email marketing is extremely cost effective. Plan an email campaign to promote your conference to your opt-in list. No opt-in list? Make sure your affiliate marketers know of the campaign and have the email to send to their list. Start the campaign at least a month before the conference to really get the ball rolling.

Event and Teleseminar directories. The internet has a slew of search engines and directories where you can place your Teleseminar announcement. Some are geared toward target markets, and others are topic- or location-based. My favorite two to use geared toward Teleseminars are planetteleclass.com and cculearning.com.

Send out reminders. Send email reminders to everyone who registered a week before the Teleseminar, especially if it’s necessary to use a password to attend. Then email another reminder the night before, or even the day of.

Hosting a Teleseminar can have a tremendous effect on your business. In fact, as you host more and more Teleseminars, you’ll be able to use the past Teleseminars to promote future ones.

Comments

One Response to “Tactics to Promote a Teleseminar or Webinar”

  1. Ross, Eventimez on June 28th, 2008 6:31 pm

    Another thing that needs to be addressed is time zone conversions - particularly if you have an international audience. Eventimez is a free tool that takes care of the time zone conversions for teleseminars.

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