At the moment, we don’t shake hands anymore, as we used to. The current pandemic has led many companies to increase the use of live content and conferences to:
- be discovered
- increase your notoriety
- educate customers and prospects
- convey your competitive advantages
- replace conversations that the sales force is no longer able to have!
Selling is a matter of trust.
Trying to build trust when real contacts decrease day by day increases the challenge of all the sellers on the planet!!
As a result, sales forces have turned to the web with an increased presence on LinkedIn but also, with the appearance of content conveyed on audio-visual and interactive platforms.
The competition is stronger!
Alongside the traditional webinars, we have seen the explosion, since the beginning of the pandemic, of interactive conferences and meetings on Zoom, Teams, Skype and especially, Facebook LIVE.
How many of you have downloaded a webinar since the beginning of the crisis?
How many LIVE lectures have you watched?
That’s what I thought….
Attending webinars was often very low on the ‘to-do’ list, prior to COVID-19, and LIVE conferences and meetings were almost non-existent. Likewise, for local or international conferences, we were face-to-face. In the last few months, everything has changed!
Everything has become virtual, or almost
Interactive LIVE conferences are here to stay and to be effective, they must be relevant, offered at the right time and tailored to your clientele.
To plan the content of such virtual conferences, take inspiration from:
• Your most popular blog posts; search for current keywords for your area of business / expertise.
• Visit question-and-answer sites, such as Quora.
• Take a survey on your LinkedIn or Facebook business page. The ideal is to:
Understand the needs of prospects and customers and don’t fall into the trap of producing conferences whose content is ONLY focused on the benefits and characteristics of your products and services.
It’s too easy and usually your target clientele can find it on your website. If you do that, your interactive web conference will have no added value…
Do you want to know what your prospects and customers WANT to consume as a priority?
The best way is to do a “live”
• Your “connection” will be better
• The “confidence” factor will be higher
• Lives are faster to prepare
• You will have the opportunity to answer questions live, demonstrating your expertise
• Conversations live are flexible and two-way
• It allows you to ‘scan’ the intentions by asking probing questions to those asked by the participants
• From their questions, you know where they are in their buying cycle
• Each answer automatically brings value to someone
• Having answered “real” questions asked by the public allows you to develop content that arouses interest
• Reference effect is excellent! You have created ambassadors
• They become a place where people see the value of being there because they quickly seize the opportunity to ask THE question that puzzles them, which makes the live presence … a priority!
• The more you do, the more they will trust your brand.
• Take the opportunity to invite your best customers. They will feel privileged, in collusion with you and, will be able to ask lots of questions without feeling the “timer” ticking 😊
Finally, also address the people who will listen to your “live” in replay. Invite them to comment because you…
• Collect data on the views (read the comments)
• Will answer any questions they leave (they will be notified)
• (It gives you good leads… but keep it to yourself)
How are you going to plan this?
1) Start with a customer’s problem, a question that arises. Take a relatively narrow subject with a complex answer.
2) What additional questions should they ask themselves?
3) Continue thinking, get into their heads. Educate.
4) Are other questions emerging?
5) Prepare a “live” on these questions …
Remind participants repeatedly of the importance of asking questions!
And voilà!
Not to mention that a “live” attracts more attention. It plays on the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Keep coming back to your ads frequently, so that prospects and customers can ask the questions they’re concerned about and get an answer!
You can choose to be generous about your knowledge where it counts, unlike all the content you publish that sometimes only serves to educate your competition.
Would you like to learn how to make your own “lives” that are of interest?
Watch the launch of StudioExo in the coming weeks!
