The #webinar – technology’s gift to #marketingautomation – Part Two of Three: The Abstract
This is the second of three posts about using Webinars in a more strategic way when pairing them with a Marketing Automation Platform. Click here for the first post in the series.
The Abstract – Part Two of Three
Whether you are presenting a webinar for Prospect Acquisition or a webinar to Further Engage existing prospects, the key to getting registrations is a good Abstract that will be used for promoting the webinar.
I was speaking in a track at a technology show a few years ago. After the session, one of the organizers stopped me and commented that I must be a great speaker, as over 50% of all the registered attendees at the show were at my talk. While the thought was nice, I had to correct him. The fact that all those people chose to attend my session was not because I was a great speaker, it was because I wrote a great abstract. The fact that they all stayed for the entire session was the proof that I was a good speaker. J
This applies to webinars as well. Your abstract should be clear and concise. Its purpose is not really just to get people to sign up, but to get them to self-identify their area-of-concern by registering. I use a simple format for an abstract. For a 35 to 45-minute webinar, I first generate a list of 4 or 5 bullet points with the heading, “What you will learn in this webinar.” Having this bullet list focuses the webinar and even helps when generating the slides and talking points. If you are trying to get your attendees to walk away with more than those 4 or 5 points, you will be “fire-hosing” them with too much information and most likely end up with an unfocused presentation. I then generate a “who should attend” list. Some people don’t like publishing this list for fear of driving away a potential attendee who doesn’t see their job title on the list, or they create such an extensive list that you might as well be saying that your webinar is appropriate for every attendee in the world. You are trying to attract qualified attendees who have a high probability of purchasing your product or service. That task also means that you want to deflect unqualified attendees, so that you are not wasting time and resources on them later.
I then take those two lists and combine them into a 4 to 6-sentence paragraph. When I promote the webinar, I lead with that paragraph and follow it with the two bullet lists. Some people will respond to the long form paragraph, some will respond to the bullet lists.
If you are producing a Prospect Acquisition webinar, then registrants (who registered based on a very targeted abstract) should instantly be put onto a segmented list and into a nurture program within your Marketing Automation Platform. If your webinar is about Further Engagement, then registering for the webinar should significantly add to their Lead Score and move them along the journey to Marketing Qualified Lead.
Next Post – Segmentation and Qualification