“The philosophy behind much advertising is based on the old observation that every (wo)man is really two (wo)men—the (wo)man (s)he is and the (wo)man (s)he wants to be.” Quote from William Feather.  Read entire article: Ideals and Promises: Selling an Achievable Dream to Your Target Market >>

Web events are great for building brand awareness, positioning your company as an expert in the industry and generating sales leads. From Webcasts, Web Conferences and Webinars, these content driven techniques work very well in B2B environments, where you can adapt them for product demos, market research presentations and/or educational sessions in exchange for contact information. 

With that said, don’t poison the effort with overt sales pitches and marketing messaging.  In the beginning, it’s all about the audience; if they respond with interest, you can then start communicating your specific value proposition. 

Depending on the audience and purpose, you can promote a Web event like any other online offering.  Your goal is to capture a targeted and captive audience and to deliver quality content, allowing 15-45 minutes of uninterrupted user contact.  Make sure you segment leads via the signup form about registrants’ levels of interest, so you can easily follow-up on the most profitable leads first.  

Webcasts: Generally refers to a live, video-only, Internet broadcast.  Inherently passive, it’s delivered from one speaker to many listeners, often 50 or more.  Mostly, works best in B2C environments for performance events, entertainment and/or educational content.   

Web Conferences:  Primarily used for small group presentations that are data or document driven.  Web conferences support two-way interaction and are generally used near the close of the sales cycle.  Conferences mostly involve some combination of teleconferencing, PowerPoint presentations, live desktop-based whiteboards, and chat software. 

Webinars: Webinars are the most complex format, mixing multimedia components such as one-way audio conference, PowerPoint presentations, (sometimes video), whiteboarding, live polls or surveys and one way instant messaging for participants to submit questions. 

Making Webinars Work

Designed to reach a large number of participants over a widespread geographic region, Webinars generally require a sequence of activities to be successful: promotion, registration, confirmation and reminder emails, thank you messages, access to presentation materials, usually recorded Webinars for those who couldn’t attend, and feedback via surveys.   

Expect fall-off from registration to attendance; perhaps only 30-40% of pre-registrants actually show up.  Of those, you’ll probably find only 5-10% of your registrants are close to sales ready.  Move carefully in these environments.  Use these opportunities to build credibility and trust.  Establish a relationship and answer questions objectively.  Timing is everything. 

Here are some tips for planning Webinars: 

1. Focus on high quality, relevant content to attract a strong attendance.
2. Your promotion should clearly answer, “What’s in if for me (WIIFM)?” 
3. Consider paid ADV or newsletter sponsorships to promote your Web event.
4. Record and post your Web event on your web site to provide ongoing value.
5. Obtain feedback via online surveys – maybe even share the feedback as part of your follow-up “thank you” email.
6. Always include contact information for future contact.

Consider Web events as premium branding and lead generation opportunities.  Various web-based solutions are available from Gotowebinar, Microsoft Live Meeting, or WebEx, just to name a few.  Have ideas to share, please do in comments below.

A caricature falsely highlights various anomalies while diminishing the boring parts,” writes Seth Godin, well-known marketing author. Examples would be - Jay Leno gets a ridiculous chin (or Pamela Anderson’s female features are even more exaggerated). 

The concept also relates to business, says Godin. “The BEST brands are caricatures of their true selves,” he continues. “Yes, they must have exceptional features (a step that’s easy to skip, but without would lead to failure) but then, over time, those select features SHOULD become highly intensified much like a caricature.” Key examples Godin sites include: 

FEDEX: Many years ago FedEx ads depicted fanatical drivers doing whatever it took—even renting helicopters—to deliver a package on time. A wild exaggeration, of course, but it made the point.

STARBUCKS: The standard joke as it relates to Starbucks — is the spectacularly complex order (i.e. “no fat, no sugar, half-caf, extra hot, tall latte, with soy, extra foam, in a double cup - yes, with a sleeve.”) Yes, everyone likes to make a joke out of it, yet they know when they go to Starbucks they’ll get exactly what they want.  

Think about a few ways you could intensify your brand’s unique traits by creating a caricature, which in turn could actually make your company’s most outstanding features more memorable.

Summary:  Playing it safe and being ubiquitous to please a large percentage of customers, means you’ll likely be B-O-R-I-N-G.  It’s a lot faster, cheaper, easier and much more interesting to have a couple of pronounced features. 

Source: Seth Godin’s Blog. You can read the entire post here.