8 Ways To Choose a Webinar Topic In a Day

Webinars are a fantastic way to market your business and establish yourself as an authority in your industry. But getting started can be a difficult and daunting task. While some companies just seem to have a great rhythm and lists upon lists of ideas for future Webinars; many of you may be struggling to come up with a single idea.

This guide is intended to help you think critically about how you can come up with a Webinar topic, quickly.

1. Look through content you’ve already produced.

If you have a blog or active social media channel, you can repurpose a few of your posts to create a Webinar. This is a great way to go further in depth into a topic and to engage with your audience.

Pro tip. Once you host this webinar you can repurpose your Webinar back into blog posts focusing on your additions or audience engagement topics to keep the ball rolling.

2.  Invite a customer to speak.

Do you have a customer who just get’s it or is using your product in unique and powerful ways? If so, ask them to join you on a webinar. You can set this up in a variety of ways. You can ask them to do a walk through of how they use your product, set the webinar up as a Q&A or ask they to prepare something a bit more aspirational and weave your product into their story.

3. Host a panel with experts in the industries of your customers.

Your customers have many pains and needs outside of the scope of your product. Say your product is a CRM designed for pharmaceutical sales reps. Get a panel together with a top sales rep, someone from your executive team and maybe a doctor to share their expertise and take questions. Having a member of your team sitting on the panel helps gives your business more credibility by association and also helps to occasionally point the conversation to your product and the pains you resolve.

4. Ask your customer service team’s advice.

The fastest way to get a Webinar topic is to ask your customer service team what you should do. Chances are your support staff has fielded many questions and received lots of feedback on a variety of topics. There are probably many topics they wish your company has an official statement about. This will also show your customers that you are listening to them.

5. Share Industry & Product Insights.

Conduct a poll or survey about your industry and product. Then analyze the results and jot down a bit of commentary. You can host a Webinar where you share the results and your commentary live, then ask your audience to join in a guided discussion.

Pro tip. Dive deep into your product’s usage data to see how customers are using your product. Are there any best practices from this data or are their any underused features that you wish to promote. Sharing insights into your product usage can lead to interesting conversations and aha moments for your Webinar’s audience.  

6. Respond to Thought Leaders.

Have you seen a speaker in your industry, but have a slightly different take? Have you read an article from a competitor, but thought it was a little off-base or didn’t provide enough value? These are opportunities to join conversations that are already happening and already have an implied audience. Spend an hour researching what else is out there and come up with a unique position to talk about or simply aggregate a bunch of different positions to give your audience a 360 degree view of the topic.

Pro Tip. Ask yourself what Thought Leaders or your competitors aren’t talking about. We’ve all had those questions in our heads that seems no one else has asked. Usually, we drop these from our minds. When it comes to a webinar, these are the perfect questions to answer. While they might be more research intensive as there may not be a lot of resources available; it’s almost guaranteed that your customers or potential customers have had the same questions.

7. Be social.

From Quora and Reddit to LinkedIn Groups and more, business leaders are always seeking for answers to questions they have about their businesses. Find out what these questions are and if you could answer them through a webinar.

Pro tip. you can use these same groups to market your webinar. Send a quick reply in the discussion forum with a link to sign up for your Webinar to let everyone know you will be discussing that very topic.

8. Explore ideas or early prototypes.

It’s human nature to want to see something before anyone else does. It feels like a privilege. If your team is working on something new, host a joint webinar with your marketing, design and engineering teams to give a sneak peek into what you are working on. If you are still in early development, share wireframes, prototypes or sketches to entire and retain customers.

Pro Tip. Construct this type of webinar in a way to get lots of feedback from your audience. Not only are you engaging your audience you will be able to improve your upcoming products and features with direct insights from your customers and prospects.

Ready to host a webinar? AnyMeeting has pioneered small business offering a completely free, full-featured and easy-to-use webinar and web conferencing service tailored for small business users. start your 14-day free trial now. 

Exploring The AnyMeeting Public Profile

If you are an existing AnyMeeting customer, you know the value AnyMeeting brings to you and your business with its simple, affordable, and state of the art webinar and online meeting platform. What’s more, AnyMeeting’s smart features, like the “Public Profile” (located in the Account Manager), can be a very powerful marketing tool when utilized to its full potential. Whether you are an existing AnyMeeting customer who hasn’t had time to explore your profile, or a new AnyMeeting customer, take a moment to learn more about the AnyMeeting Public Profile, why it’s valuable, and how to leverage its power to boost your business.

Features

Your public profile and its URL are customizable so you can maximize the benefits of using AnyMeeting, and promote your online events at no additional cost. Once you take a moment to fill out the profile prompts, you will be able to view your personalized page by clicking “View My Profile.”

As you can see, your name appears at the top of the profile page, followed by the details you have chosen to provide, such as: About Me, Interests, Upcoming Webinars, Past Webinars. The far left side of your AnyMeeting profile showcases your selected profile photo, as well as a homepage link and any social media integrations you desire to enable (your website, your blog, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).

Benefits

Taking a few minutes to complete your AnyMeeting Public Profile is one of the easiest and quickest ways to market and promote your webinars.  Use this profile as your webinar landing page by directing interested prospects to the page with your personalized URL. To make your webinars show up on the Public Profile, when scheduling your upcoming webinars, scroll down to “Public Profile & Social Notification Settings” and select the box that reads: “Make Public.” This way, your attendees will be able to register for your event directly after visiting your personalized landing page.

Your AnyMeeting account is more than just a platform for broadcasting your message — it’s also a robust marketing tool for your webinars. Be sure to log in to your Account Manager, and take advantage of this quick and easy-to-use promotional tool.  For more information about AnyMeeting’s free webinar service, visit www.anymeeting.com.

Recorded Webinars Make Great Content

Content from your recorded webinars is a valuable tool for marketing, training or customer support. In fact, studies reveal that visually appealing content, such as video, is more effective in marketing and generating leads than traditional written content. So why not make the most of your webinars? AnyMeeting’s recording feature can record almost every aspect of your webinar, including the screen sharing, video conferencing and the audio, so you can reuse your presentation or demonstration again and again.  (But keep in mind that YouTube videos can’t be recorded due to copyright issues!)

Once your webinar has concluded, AnyMeeting provides you with a link, and download option, so you can upload the video to a desired destination (your website, YouTube channel, etc.) and start directing folks to your content via blog entry or social media post. AnyMeeting also provides settings to enable your recordings to be password protected, if that suits your needs. This video content can be easily repurposed for multiple promotions or training sessions.

Ready to build a whole library of content and create a valuable resource for employees, customers or prospects? Just press “Start Recording” and AnyMeeting does all of the work for you. For more information about AnyMeeting’s free webinar service, visit www.anymeeting.com.

Be A Better Speaker With These 5 Tips

Let’s face it, compelling public speaking abilities do not come naturally. Most people, both introverts and extroverts, will admit that public speaking can be scary. In fact, public speaking often tops the list of “biggest fears” for surveyed Americans. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Whether it’s your first time on an online meeting, or you want to get better at speaking to your online audience, the following 5 best practices for webinar, web conference and video conference presentations will help you nail your message delivery:

1. Create a presentation outline or script to follow: The very first thing you should do when preparing for a webinar, web conference, or video conference presentation, is to organize your material by creating an outline or script. You will most likely make several revisions, so don’t feel pressure when it comes to creating the first draft.
   
2. Practice, practice, practice: Start with simply reading the script, then record a practice run or two for your review. Listen to your recorded voice — do you sound bored or nervous? Are you rushing through your slides? Do you need to make revisions to the script? Be sure to time yourself during these practice runs. If you are practicing for a video presentation, pay attention to your body language, and where your eyes are focusing during the recorded rehearsal.
3. Speak with confidence, and enthusiasm: Yes, in reality, you might be a little nervous, but having a solid outline and practice under your belt, you will come across as credible and polished. Keep in mind, if you are interested in the presentation’s message, your audience will follow suit, so make sure your voice reflects the importance, excitement, and value of your topic.
4. Prepare for questions from attendees…and have the answers: A successful online meeting presentation includes audience engagement and participation. This could be in the form of “chat” during the presentation, or maybe questions asked during Q&A at the end of the presentation; regardless of when questions pop up, it helps to be prepared. Even the most seasoned “experts” get thrown-off by questions, and the last thing you want is to lose focus. Know what kinds of questions might be asked, and jot down informative responses. Try practicing your presentation in front of a colleague or friend, and invite them to come up with challenging questions for you to answer, so you can get a real sense of what your attendees might say.
5. Keep it light (and short): Be sure to humanize yourself by adding light humor to your presentation, or personalize your information in some way that is relatable. This will keep the audience from drifting off or multi-tasking, and ensure the presentation is memorable. It is also important to respect the audience’s time by keeping the presentation concise and to the point. Studies have revealed that the average audience member prefers a presentation that is no longer than 30 minutes, and ending early (without rushing through the material) is always a plus. 

See? Public speaking doesn’t have to be intimidating. Just remember: you are the expert, you are in control of the presentation, and AnyMeeting has your back.

 

Following-up After A Webinar: Why It Matters

Sometimes you don’t think you have time to do it. Maybe you don’t see the importance in doing it, or just don’t know the best way to do it. But regardless the reason, following-up with potential customers after your webinar is vital to your business operation. Think about it: 24 hours after you wrap-up a webinar, you have the perfect opportunity to capture your attendees’ attention while the information is still fresh in their minds.

AnyMeeting makes it simple to follow-up with attendees after a webinar concludes, with easy-to-use email and survey features. In the AnyMeeting application, you can email attendees to thank them for participating in your online event, share a link to the webinar recording, and close with a call to action and/or some sort of incentive. You can also send attendees to a survey directly following your event, to gain presentation feedback and get a sense of attendee engagement.

So, what will you get in return when you follow-up?

• An opportunity to qualify webinar leads: Savvy marketers already know that in general, webinars produce highly engaged leads.  But exactly which of your audience members are most interested in your product or service? Which are your best leads? You will know the answer to these questions once you receive responses from your follow-up efforts, and from there, you can determine which webinar attendees are the best leads to pursue.

• Attendee feedback – Using the AnyMeeting survey tool, you are provided the opportunity to gauge attendee demographics, ratings for the webinar presenter, content, and technology, plus any custom questions you may have for participants. It’s important to gain feedback on each of your webinars, so you can improve and evolve as a presenter, and determine the direction you’d like to go when it comes to online presentations.

• Webinar ROI: Ensure that time and money put into creating, promoting, and hosting webinars is worth your while. Are you attaining enough business to offset costs associated with webinar presentations? If, so, GREAT! Keep hosting webinars on a regular basis and watch your business flourish. If not, it might be time to figure out why, and work on your webinar presentation skills.

Follow-up doesn’t stop after the post-webinar email and survey. Follow-up is fluid, and should continue with the leads gathered from the initial round, through sales demos, presentations, etc. It’s now up to you and your sales team to take communication to the next level.   For that, you might need a great online meeting product… 😉

Why You Should Be Holding Online Meetings On A Regular Basis

We all know that web conferencing and online meetings are great technology. But how exactly do they improve our business, and why is it important to use this technology on a consistent basis? Here are a few specific points.

• Web conferencing promotes workplace flexibility: Research conducted by Global Workplace Analytics reveals that currently 3.7 million U.S. employees (2.5% of the workforce) now work from home at least half the time.  Video conferencing and web conferencing virtually tear down the walls of the conventional office and provide a more flexible work environment.  This growing trend also allows employers the freedom to hire the most qualified and talented people they can find, without being restricted to a limited geographic radius. Whether working remotely or working in the office down the hall, video conferencing and screen sharing vendors like AnyMeeting allow employers to easily connect with their employees in real-time.

• Video conferencing increases engagement: When you need to have a call, why settle for a phone call? Studies show that people are more likely to multi-task during phone calls vs. video calls. Video conferencing is simply more engaging because it offers real-time visuals — ensuring that your audience is paying attention. With 65% of the population consisting of visual learners, doesn’t it make sense to video conference?

• Screen sharing increases productivity: Screen sharing is another effective method to engage the team during an online meeting, because it keeps everyone on the same page (or screen). There is no room for miscommunication or important details being lost in translation when the team is seeing, hearing, and contributing to the same document.

• Web conferencing improves internal communication flow: Web conferencing fosters the ultimate team experience: meeting anytime, from anywhere, armed with a variety of tools to enhance productivity. Employees can share progress on their current assignments, discuss upcoming projects, attend training sessions, attend performance reviews, conduct group stand-ups, and more.  By providing the context of your screen or documents, your live video image, and innovative integrations like collaborative notes, web conferencing provides a rich collaboration experience that simple phone calls or a video call can’t match.

Implementing a web conferencing solution into your daily work environment is smart business. And whether working with colleagues, consulting with clients, or presenting to sales prospects, AnyMeeting provides all the features you need for a great web conferencing experience.

 

Why You Should Be Holding Webinars On A Regular Basis

You probably already know that holding webinars is a great way to grow your business. But how often do you hold webinars? To truly maximize the benefits, it’s smart to hold webinars continuously, delivering a stream of value into your business. Here’s the kind of value I’m talking about:

1. Generate quality leads: Webinars are a smart tool when it comes to lead generation, but do you realize the quality of leads you are achieving? Your webinar attendees have registered for your event because they are interested in what you have to offer, and in addition, they are providing contact information, demographic information, and are committing their valuable time to listen and learn from YOU!  With proper follow-up, these valuable attendees ultimately become paying customers! 
2. Great content marketing strategy: With content marketing trends shifting to more interactive and visual materials, webinars and webinar recordings are an ingenious way to distribute your valuable content. According to a recent report from Content Marketing Institute, B2B Content Marketing 2016: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America, 66% of B2B marketers said that webinars are one of the most effective tactics for content marketing; 62% said videos (like your webinar recordings!) are most effective in content creation and distribution. 
3. Establishes you as an “expert” and “thought leader”: When your name and brand are attached to a successful and informative webinar, you are the expert. Once word gets out that your webinars are worth attending, and that you are a credible leader in your industry, attendees will flock, leads will spawn, and business will flourish. It’s that simple. 
4. Helps you practice public speaking: Bright lights and live audiences can be exceptionally daunting when you haven’t done it much, but webinars can be a stepping stone towards being a great public speaker.  Getting comfortable speaking to your online audience from the comfort of your office will help build up your confidence — especially when you start seeing all the positive feedback filling the online text chat!  The more you do it, the more of a guru will become, and public speaking engagements will become much less intimidating. 
5. Partnership opportunities: Bringing in partners as “guest hosts” is a strategic way to build stronger business relationships, expand your customer-base, and bring fresh content to your audience. Not only will you keep things fresh, but you will ultimately maximize your brand’s exposure by broadcasting your webinar to a wider audience, and generate new leads. 
6. Helps you hone-in your message: As a business leader, you want to make sure that when you speak to prospects, your message resonates and enforces your value proposition and market position.  When you do this on a regular basis, you will get better and better, figuring out what works and what doesn’t. In addition, be sure to survey attendees after each webinar, and include questions that will help you assess if your presentation was effective in relaying your message. Incorporate this feedback and with each new webinar, you will further refine the message that resonates with your customers.

Ready to plan some killer webinars? AnyMeeting is ready to help!

 

9 Easy Ways To Promote Your AnyMeeting Webinar

So, you’re hosting a webinar using AnyMeeting! Awesome! Your presentation material is polished, you have completed the webinar set-up in the AnyMeeting app, and you are ready to lock-in some valuable attendees by promoting your online event. But where to start? With so many promotional tools out there, how do you maximize your reach in a timely manner, without the added cost?

The following 9 promotional channels are free, almost effortless, and will truly amplify your online presentation’s exposure:

1. Your Email Contacts: This is the easiest place to start your webinar promotion.  When scheduling your webinar, you can copy and paste your email list of your targeted audience…and just like that, your promotional campaign takes off! Your webinar is set-up, your people have been invited via email, and they’ll even receive reminders on the day of the webinar!
2. Your AnyMeeting Public Profile: The second easiest channel to use for AnyMeeting webinar promotion is an informative landing page. Use your AnyMeeting Public Profile as a landing page, by directing potential attendees to this page (located in the Account Manager under the “Public Profile” tab — make sure it’s on the “public” setting).  This is an ideal way to direct traffic to all of your upcoming webinars.  As long as your mark your webinars as public when scheduling them, they will show up on this page with all the info your attendees need!   
3. AnyMeeting Social Integration Tools: While you are still in the AnyMeeting app, click on your AnyMeeting Public Profile tab to share and promote your upcoming webinars quickly and easily through Twitter and Facebook. Once the integration is set up, your scheduled webinars are automatically posted to your stream. How easy is that?
4. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is an ideal place to promote your business webinars, and can be done so quickly and easily. You’re on there every morning anyway — why not drop a note about your upcoming event?
5. Instagram and Pinterest: A picture is worth a thousand words — especially when it becomes viral. Snap a cool photo or create a catchy graphic that represents your webinar topic, load it with hashtags, event info, and your AnyMeeting landing page link, and voilà!
6. Your Blog: Already blogging for your business? Great! Be sure to post about your webinars as they approach. You can do this in a way that is fun and interesting, by creating a consecutive series of blog entries that touch on topics which will be covered in your upcoming webinar. Without giving away too much valuable information (save it for the webinar!), you can spike interest and even collect questions from readers to address at the upcoming event. Always close the series with details about the upcoming webinar, and a call to action: “Secure your spot today!”
7. Another’s Blog: To cast an even wider net, try promoting your online event by joining forces with a popular blogger in your industry. “Guest Blogging” is a great way to reach new potential attendees, and create relationships with other voices in your line of business.
8. Video Channels: Periscope, Vine, and YouTube are fun and out-of-the-box channels for promoting your webinar. Using viral video tools, you can quickly create free promotional materials that are sure to get potential attendees’ attention. Think fad-like social media channels like Periscope and Vine are not marketing tools? Think again! Live and unedited promotional pitches show authenticity and creativity, and break up the monotony of traditionally written promotion that may be ignored.
9. Your Email Signature: While it may seem too simple to be true, adding upcoming webinar information with a link to your email signature is a highly effective, and effortless way to promote your upcoming webinar. Think about all the people you exchange emails with on a daily basis who may click your link, or forward the info to a colleagues.

Okay, we have only touched the tip of the iceberg, my friends! I’m sure we could list dozens of more easy ways to promote webinars, but we know you need to get back to work.  😉

Have any fun ideas to add to this list? Leave us a comment!

Webinar Recap: “Smart Financial Management” from Part 3 of the free webinar series, “Accelerating Your Business Growth”

Part 3 of our free webinar series, “Accelerating Your Business Growth” entitled “Smart Financial Management”. This series is presented by AnyMeeting, SCORE, a non-profit association dedicated to helping small businesses launch and grow, and Comcast Business, a provider of advanced communication solutions to millions of small business.

In this series, we’ve presented webinars featuring business leaders and SCORE mentors speaking on topics important to small business.

This webinar features SCORE mentor John Harman who discusses tips on working with financial statements, financial ratios, cash flow forecasts, and trusted advisors to drive and fund your business’s growth.

John is Managing Director of Adulant Consulting Services, which advises small and mid-sized businesses on strategies for growth and operational excellence, and a SCORE mentor. John’s prior experience includes senior executive roles at Eastman Kodak, the Gartner Group and Pitney Bowes in sales, marketing, quality management, strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, and new market development. Before entering the business world, John was an adjunct professor of history at the University of Rochester and worked in the Office of Research Administration as Assistant Director. John is currently an adjunct professor in the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University in Connecticut.

Get insights and listen to actionable advice as John engages the audience in live Q&A.

Whether you are just starting your business, looking to accelerate your growth or simply want to gain an edge to get your business to the next level, you won’t want to miss out.

Watch the full webinar recording here.

 

Want to view and download the presentation from the webinar complete with John’s resources? Get it from Slideshare.

Be sure to check out the other webinars from this series and stay tuned for our next webinar coming soon!

Webinar Recap: “Strategies to Boost Your Sales” from Part 2 of the free webinar series, “Accelerating Your Business Growth”

Part 2 of our free webinar series, “Accelerating Your Business Growth” entitled “Strategies to Boost Your Sales”, presented by AnyMeeting together with Comcast Business and SCORE, featured speaker Carleton Smith, the former Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for Harris Corporation, a Fortune 500 company with worldwide operations. During his forty year business career, Carleton managed turnarounds, acquisitions and mergers, and worldwide sales and marketing for companies and divisions in difficult markets with demanding customers and tough competitors. Carleton has been a volunteer business counselor with SCORE in Austin since 2006.

Carleton’s insightful and engaging presentation is designed to help small business owners and marketers learn how to accelerate sales by:

• Expanding your distribution channels,
• Building and motivating your sales team,
• Benchmarking,
• Using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to manage and retain customers.

Get insights and listen to actionable advice as Carleton engages the audience in live Q&A.

Whether you are just starting your business, looking to accelerate your growth or simply want to gain an edge to get your business to the next level, you won’t want to miss out.

Watch the full webinar recording here.

Want to view and download the presentation from the webinar complete with Carleton’s resources? Get it from Slideshare.

Be sure to check out the other webinars from this series and sign up for the latest webinar today!