How To Avoid Running Webinars That Suck

?? Getting Webinars Right

Today's issue originally published here.

A LinkedIn connection of mine DM’d me last week. Let’s pretend his name is Paul.

He filled me in on a 2-day, in-person workshop he’s hosting in late May. He wanted some advice on ways to promote and sell it.

He didn’t have much to spend on paid promotion. He was more interested in organic channels.

We set up a coaching call to talk options and put a plan in place. On my list were:

1. Organic social media
2. Newsletters
3. Webinars
4. Landing page

I ordered them this way intentionally. These four channels pair well with the four stages of Paul’s (and everyone’s) sales funnels:

Awareness: Paul will post valuable content on 1-2 social channels will bring awareness to the problems his workshops solve.

Interest: As his social connections become aware, he’ll move them to an owned channel like email where he can continue to give value and earn trust.

Desire: He’ll announce 1+ webinars to his email list (and social), where he’ll give more value and showcase his style & expertise — moving prospective customers from “I like it” to “I want it.”

Action: As he crosses from marketing to selling, his landing page will enable his prospects to take action and pay for his workshop.

There are other channels for each stage. These are just some of my favorites, and a good match for Paul’s needs and budget.

He’s also short on time, otherwise we would have also considered lead magnets and waiting lists.

Making good progress, until…

Paul took a few pages of notes. He was stoked with the plan so far… Until we got to webinars.

I remember saying, “OK, the next one to set up is a web…”

He cut me off, “Jay, let’s skip webinars. I don’t want to run them.”

I asked why. He shared, “They’re just not for me.”

I probed some more.

To paraphrase, he revealed, “They just feel weird. Like, no one is going to plunk down their credit card after listening to my hour-long sales pitch. It will also take too much time to build. Plus I’ve never run one and now doesn’t feel like the best time.”

I smirked and said, “Man, you’ve been to some shitty webinars.”

I continued, “That’s definitely NOT what I had in mind. Let’s talk it through a bit and then you can decide if we keep it or replace it.”

“Fair enough.” Paul replied.

I was able to show Paul how I create webinars that feel good, deliver value, and convert well.

What follows are some of the key takeaways that led Paul to commit to running his own webinar.

By following along, you’ll learn:

?? How to overcome the typical pitfalls & objections of our first webinars

?? The unrivaled conversion rates of webinars — not just for selling workshops, but any product or service

?? How to avoid running webinars that suck

Here we go.