Lessons learned from marketing with a guest webinar

As part of marketing and self-promotion I took the opportunity to run a webinar. This was part of a series that a tools vendor runs (They hold one or two webinars a month, since they have a bigger mailing list than I do, it was a good opportunity to get my name/face/attitude/brand out there to more people).

I've presented webinars for other companies before, this was the first one that was paid for - the money doesn't cover the time to prep the webinar but it was better than nothing. I've been asked to present 'paid' webinars before but previously the recording has always been behind a pay wall. I figure if it is going behind a pay wall then its going to be my paywall. The recording for this webinar is behind free registration wall - which I'm comfortable with.

I'm becoming more sales and marketing savvy so I negotiated some additional marketing requirements. The contract had to be amended to include these so I assume they don't normally do this.

I made sure that we had in writing, an agreement that:

• I would receive a recording of the webinar and I could use it in my own marketing (they originally wanted sole copyright of the recording)
• I would receive a list of the emails for the people who registered for the webinar
• I was allowed to send an email to everyone who registered, after the webinar with a link to sign up for my own mailing list
• I was allowed to include upsell links to discounted products in the email and during the webinar

The webinar was run through on24, which is a good, but expensive webinar software. To present the webinar we had to use the phone line. I normally use a mic connected to my PC which has great sound quality. I was a little concerned about the audio quality over the phone, but it was their request so I went along with it.

As part of the webinar I made sure that I recorded it locally on my irig mic, and also recorded a webcam session from my laptop. So I could later splice these together and create a 'high quality' replay of the webinar live stream. I created this by editing in Camtasia Studio on Windows.

For my email marketing I use Mailchimp. But Mailchimp doesn't like sending bulk emails to people who haven't double opted in. Neither do I. So I needed to find a bulk mail tool.

I don't trust email applications that would sendout bulk emails with bcc, I've received too many emails from agencies where my email address has bled out to other particpants through the agencies inability to use the email software properly - I didnt' want to take the risk of doing that.

After looking at a whole bunch, I found that Mozilla Thunderbird has a MailMerge plugin. That would allow me to setup the email list as a csv, and iterate over each email address sending an email using the MailMerge.

After a few test runs to my gmail account using 'plus' addressing. I clicked 'send' onthe mail merge that would iterate out over 1000+ emails.

In the MailMerge (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/thunderbird/addon/mail-merge/) I used 'send later' so that I could review the emails before sending and could start and stop the email sending by using the "Send Unsent Messages" feature. 

After sending 600 or so emails, my web host blocked my IP address. I couldn't send emails, nor could I access my web site. I had to phone them to unblock my IP Address. But I still have 600 or so emails to send out.

I started up my trusty VPN and every 100 emails I stopped the mail client, changed VPN to a different IP address, and then re-started the email sending.

I suspect that if I do this again that I will investigate the Amazon bulk email service https://aws.amazon.com/ses

More Online Webinar Meeting Services: AnyMeeting.com and Spreecast.com

I have previously used Skype, MeetingBurner and Google+ for small meetings with clients and webinars and now it seems like there are ever more competitors in this space.

And the services seem to become ever more affordable.

Two more services to add to your evaluation list:

• AnyMeeting.com offers meetings for up to 200 participants for free (ad supported)
• Spreecast.com seems to offer free webinar streaming for unlimited participants

Upload webinar videos to youtube

I upload the lo-fidelity version of my webinars to youtube.

By lo-fidelity I mean:

• minimal editing - only start and end, and any major mistakes in the middle
• the meeting burner recording with audio - rather than my local mic
• edited video to remove start and end elements
• edited video to add additional slides or music required
• I don't edit out any ums, or ahs - that is for the later premium version

Why would I give these away when I plan to turn the webinars into a premium product that people pay money for?

• I monetise these with ads - I don't expect to make much money from this, but every little helps, and avoiding ads is a benefit of a paid premium product.
• I don't have to schedule timed re-runs of the webinar, so they are available for view.
• I can link to my other products and services for organic upsales.
• It is faster to release than a premium product.
• I gain tracking statistic information that helps me see which types of content people are looking for.

So what would a premium product add?

• Better audio
• No Adverts
• Better Editing - split into logical chunks for easier viewing
• Additional content for explanations
• The Q&A sections - expanded with more detailed explanation

At least this is my current plan and theory.

Checklist for uploading Webinars to Youtube

I have listed below my current checklist for uploading to Youtube:

• This video
• Edit video
• save as mp4 720HD
• Upload as private
• Add description
• Add Title
• Add annotations to link to previous webinars
• Choose thumbnail
• check monetised
• Make public
• Previous videos
• amend description to link to new video
• add annotation to link to new video
• Slideshare
• amend slides to have link to the youtube video
• upload slides to slideshare
• add youtube video after the last slide
• Tweet the video has been uploaded
• Blog the video has been uploaded with links to slideshare and embed youtube video

Lessons Learned from Conducting Webinars

I have conducted a few Webinars now so the time has come to document some lessons learned.

I have conducted webinars both live, and recorded. I prefer recorded, but it still requires a lot of work because it has to be even more polished and professional.

My live Webinars that I do to promote my consultancy work and products I use MeetingBurner.com and I have done Webinars for other people they have typically used Gotomeeting.com. I like MeetingBurner.com because it is affordable and easy to use.

I've created this braindump list, and might revisit it in the future if anyone wants me to elaborate any of the points, and as I learn more.

Webinar Lessons Learned

• If you are just using slides then use presentation mode and share the full screen. Drop your screen resolution down to the recording level you are going to use.
• This helps prevent issues with screen resizing that I've seen happen with GotoMeeting (i.e. people watching only see the top left of your screen)
• If you are switching between apps etc. then use your normal resolution but share only a portion of the screen at the resolution you want people to see e.g. 1280x720
• Use a good microphone
• Test the audio quality from your microphone using Audacity or your screen recording tool
• If you use a headset mic then position it to avoid breathing noises as much as possible (test for this using audacity)
• Practice the audio level you need to speak at to get a consistent sound throughout the Webinar
• I now use a Blue Yeti and have it on a microphone stand rather than the desk stand to avoid 'desk bashing' 'mouse moving' or 'keyboard noise'
• Practice
• Know what you are going to say
• Run it through at least once
• Logistics
• Set the expectations at the start of the webinar for logistics e.g. use chat for questions, I won't support you for sound, this will be recorded etc. etc.
• Maintain a checklist of logistics for your webinar and keep it up to date e.g. anything you learn in the webinar - add to the checklist so you don't forget

Recorded Webinar Lessons Learned

• Use a recorded webinar if you are not going to answer people's questions verbally
• Use a script. This helps it stay to time and make sure you get your message across clearly.
• Edit the recording to remove uhms, ahs etc.
• Say it adhoc, write it down, create slides around content, repeat
• Add more slides than you would if you were presenting because you need to keep the visual elements moving. So don't use bulleted slides, use a slide per bullet. Keep the visuals changing every 30 seconds or so.
• Use a good microphone. I know use a Blue Yeti and have it on a microphone stand rather than the desk stand to avoid 'desk bashing' 'mouse moving' or 'keyboard noise'

Live Webinar Lessons Learned

• Play music During the setup before you star the meeting
• Play this so that the microphone you will use picks it up - this is a good test that your audio is working
• Practice - this helps create more slides than normal and so you know what the timing will be
• Have a recording of your practice session so that if it all goes wrong you can at least upload the practice session to youtube
• Create a local recording as well as any Webinar hosting recording. Your local recording will be better quality.
• Talk
• even if you are fiddling trying to solve a problem e.g. your microphone slipped, or you are answering a chat message of someone on the webinar
• the audience don't know what is going on, you have to tell them

MeetingBurner Lessons Learned

• Configure your account prior to any meetings
• Use the "My Account" tab to edit all your defaults
• Ensure your meeting room URL sends the message you want, amend it to your company name if you want to brand it as your company.
• Edit your profile if you want to brand your page with your company logo
• Configure your default Meeting Room settings (I've listed the important ones below)
• I don't:
• show the participant list
• because people can be anonymous if they want to
• take the meeting temperature
• it would only distract me
• have screen sharing only mode
• because I want people to be able to chat and use headsets
• I do:
• Allow chat 
• becuase I want people to interact and help each other with sound issues etc. while I get on with the webinar
• Enable full size recordings
• This is incredibly important and I think should be the default, but it isn't so make sure you set it.
• Show the listen button
• because I want people to use computer speakers and headsets
• Require Registration
• so I can contact people
• Allow sms reminders
• set Sharing Quality to "Best Quality"
• The screen portion doesn't show sizes so have a size window on your screen so you can tell what size to make your sharing window - I setup Camtasia Studio to record a portion of the screen of the correct resolution then use the Camtasia Studio on screen recording guide to size my MeetingBurner window.
• Make sure you switch screen sharing on before you start - add this to your checklist

My Current CheckList

• Meeting Creation and promotion
• Created Meeting
• Added meeting to my calendar
• Sent Invites
• Tweeted
• Blogged
• Double Check Meeting configuration
• Recording at high res
• Capture Emails and Names
• Created Intro Slides
• Logistics slides
• Practiced content
• On the day
• Retweet webinar existence with sign up link and time
• Conducted Test Meeting
• Checked Audio
• Checked Recording
• Checked transmission
• Cheat sheets printed
• Cheat sheets visible on screen but outside recording area
• Prior to meeting start - 10 to 15 minutes prior to meeting
• Start meeting
• Start Recording on MeetingBurner
• Start Recording on Camtasia Studio
• Play music so it can be picked up through the microphone
• In chat window say "Can you hear the music?"
• In chat window say "Can you see the slides?"
• Be quiet, but welcome people and answer any questions in chat
• Periodically say "We will be starting in X minutes"
• End of meeting
• Thank everyone
• Stay on to answer chat for a while
• Finish on time
• Stop meetingburner recording
• Stop local recording

Using Webinars for Marketing with MeetingBurner

I've recently started using Webinars for marketing purposes.

I had a look around at all the tools and services available - and there are a lot of them. And I settled on MeetingBurner.com

MeetingBurner.com had the features I needed:

• Simple to use
• Free to use for small meetings (10 people)
• Create recordings of sessions
• Automated replay of sessions
• Capture email addresses prior to sessions
• Chat during the session
• Affordable for larger meetings

I don't need a lot of features for marketing but I basically wanted to know who signed up and have the ability to market to them afterwards, and reschedule meetings automatically.

I did a bunch of test recordings prior to the meeting (you have to change your settings in your account to make sure that the recordings come through at a high resolution).

My plan was to:

• sign people up,
• host and record the meeting,
• reschedule the meeting for automated replay
• offer an upsell on my training to those who attended the webinar (that's why I needed their email address)

In the end I didn't reschedule the meeting automatically. I simply uploaded the recorded video to youtube. Why?

Because it would have taken me longer to reschedule the meeting across the multiple time zones that I have to support, and I probably still wouldn't have managed to create a good time for people to attend. So I save time by making it a pull on demand system.

I don't get their email address by doing this, so I can't upsell on the back of them watching the video. But I can nudge them towards signing up for my mailing list, because I plan to do more than one Webinar.

I think I will gain more 'reach' for my services and material by making the live recording free. Since it is the first in a series. I don't know if I will make every webinar free, or if I will keep them all out there free forever, but the first in the series is the basic one, it adds value by helping people get started, but doesn't cover everything that I can talk about.

It remains to be seen how well this will work. But I like the ease of use of MeetingBurner.com that helps me reach up to 1000 people in a single webinar, and do it affordably. The free account allows you to get started at no cost.