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This is part 2 of our 3 part series on webinars. Check out part one *Make these 4 Shifts If You Plan on Hosting Webinars Next Year * right here.
A webinar is more than just a sales tool, it’s an opportunity to help your ideal customer understand the context of their problem, what it takes to get to a solution and make a decision. The biggest challenge most online entrepreneurs face with webinars is crafting one that actually gives value and converts.
If you want to better understand what it actually means to create valuable content on a webinar in a way that works for your niche and your audience, without the tired sales tactics, then this episode will teach you how.
In the second episode, you’ll learn:
- what exactly you need your webinar to do
- the over / under teaching dilemma
- how to sell without sounding schmucky or pushy
- four specific things to help you challenge yourself to create tangible (non fluffy) content that converts
Be sure you’re subscribed to the show so that you’ll be notified when part 3 drops where I’ll teach you three scripting secrets for authentic and effective webinars.
Episode Show Notes:
Everyone’s into webinars now. It is an extremely powerful tool to help you generate business when done right.
And I’m sure that you’ve probably hosted a bunch of them or have attended a handful in the past, right?
So you probably know by now that not all webinars are created equal.
While some offer really good content…most fall flat. ?
The Problem with Webinars
Have you ever attended a webinar or signed up for free content because the title and the hook of it really had you?
And then you get there and end up disappointed realizing that you don’t really feel like you walk away with things.
It’s like 25 minutes of somebody talking about themselves with some fluffy generic training and then they go into all these testimonials and they pitch you. ?
Working with my clients and students, I always ask, what do you want people saying at the end of your presentation? What do you want them walking away with?
Hands down the word that comes up all the time is I want people to take away tangible things that they can actually do. That’s the reason why we are so turned off by the fluffy pitch fest.
Remember that for people to wait for your webinar and spend their time on it, it has to be good.
Now how do we create tangible, valuable content that serves our audience while respecting that we have businesses?
So here’s the honest truth: we are in business.
We’re not just teachers, we’re also marketers!
You should be talking about what you do all the time. People should very much know what you do and what you sell. Make it very clear to them that you are selling. That needs to be normal.
This is why you hear me talk about my clients, my students, my program – the Speaker Society.** I share these things because I am reinforcing, “hey, I’m a speaking coach. I actually make money doing what I’m doing and have people pay me for it. And hey, by the way, if you ever want to level up your speaking and create a signature talk, if you want to improve your webinars, I’m your girl, right?”
If you’re not constantly making invitations to people or talking about what you do, how could you possibly expect them to come to you when they need help?
The secret to creating webinars that give value and convert is remembering this.
“The job of your webinar is not to teach. It’s to help people make a decision. That decision is whether or not they believe that your solution will actually help them solve their problem. And that solution is not your program, it is the method approach or system that you teach inside your program.”
So I want you to feel confident sharing what you do and be confident knowing that it will not be for everyone, but you are a business. You need to have the lights on.
4 Things to challenge yourself to create tangible (non fluffy) content that converts
1. Be more intentional with what you want your audience thinking as they go through your webinar.
I want you to continually ask the question: how do you want people to feel and what do you want them thinking during and at the end of your presentation?
How does this apply to webinars?
Let me give you a quick example.
Donald Miller of the StoryBrand shares his experience where they were doing these live in-person trainings and they were going over the workshop survey results and all the survey results kept saying like, “oh, man, that was a firehose of information. This was so much, so much. Wow, it’s awesome but there’s just a lot.”
When his Team went back and listened to the recordings and realized in the beginning of the presentation, Don welcomed his audience and said, ” I’m so excited you’re here. We put together so much awesome information. We’re going to come at you like a firehose. You’re just gonna get so much incredible value and it’s going to be awesome. We’re going to have so great, here we go.”
Don was literally giving them the script to write in the survey and it proved to be true. That became the reality and that’s what people wrote in the survey.
I think so often when we are creating content online, we are waiting for people’s validation and feedback. We’re waiting for them to buy our program instead of just putting stuff out there hoping they resonate and react well.
Here are some suggestions I want you to have your audience thinking when you’re speaking to them in a webinar. I call these the 5 Heck Yes Moments your audience will have when you share a magnetic message (and I encourage you to steal these):
- OH! That’s me, that’s my problem.
- YES! That is what I want!
- WHOA, I’ve never thought about it that way before.
- Ah! I can see how this all fits together.
- OKAY! I can totally do this.
That is the experience you need to be working someone through on a webinar in order for it to be easy for them to move forward with you. And if they resonate with your teaching style, they’re going to be a heck yes into your program.
2. Make your story about your audience, not about you.
Keep your story short and focus on the path to success, not proving your experience. Don’t take 20 minutes to just get into the content. Practice your opening and jump right in.
The only thing your audience cares about is how you can solve their problem which is why they came to you. That’s what they want to know. So make it about them right out of the gate.
Learn how to tell your signature story in a way that serves your audience. It should be the story of your struggle and solution around why you do what you do now.
You have to remember why you’re telling the story. Are you telling this to prove that you’re an expert? Or are you telling it to connect with your audience and serve them? That’s the big question.
3. Align your webinar with the promise of your program.
Your teaching must set up your solution so make sure that what you focus on is the method or system or solution to the problem. And no, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to teach it all in detail, but you have to show your audience how it all goes together.
How does this apply to your topic?
Start asking yourself: is what I’m teaching actually aligned to what I am teaching them or is it some abstract topic?
Give the context and the bigger picture for how your program shows up in their world. You must help your audience understand why they aren’t getting the results they want. This is critical to them feeling confident that a path exists and that it is doable.
4. Address the objections your audience has to your solution.
This is the most important piece of your webinar, you should always address objection questions before you teach it. It’s not about objections to buying your program but I’m talking about the objections your audience has around your solution.
Let’s say for me, my solution: is helping people to develop a signature talk.
My method: how I do that is through the Magnetic Talk Formula.
My program: Speak Up to Level Up
Objections: “But I don’t need a signature talk because I’m not speaking on stages, but I don’t need to do that yet because I’m not going out to be a professional speaker”.
I’m not talking about the objections to the Speak Up to Level Up but ‘m talking about the objections to the solution, not the program. And if you do not know those, that is your homework assignment.
Listen to the full episode where I go into these topics deeper, and be sure that you listened to part 1 if you still haven’t and come back to check out part 3.
- Part 1: Ep 122: Make these 4 Shifts If You Plan on Hosting Webinars Next Year
- Part 3: Ep 124: My Top 3 Scripting Secrets for Authentic and Effective Webinars
Links mentioned in this episode:
