Marjorie Clayman is VP of Client Services at her family’s full service marketing firm, Clayman Marketing Communications.
A webinar can be a tremendous win-win for the company hosting the event as well as for the attendees.
Naturally the hope is that attendees will find the information valuable. On the company’s side, the hope is that the webinar will showcase expertise as well as perhaps earn the company new customers.
What you might not have considered is that webinars can also nurture relationships you have already created with your customers. Here are three ways to nurture customers with webinars.
1. Dedicate a webinar to an issue that concerns your customers
Because webinars take a large investment of time to create, the temptation exists to make sure that your webinar will to some extent promote your company, your products, your own expertise, and convert prospects into sales.
If you have the time and the staff available, however, developing a webinar that focuses more on problem solving for existing customers can also be a valuable investment. This type of webinar may not focus at all on what your company specifically does.
For example, if you are a manufacturer of medical grade tubing, you might know that a lot of your customers, medical device manufacturers, are likely concerned about taxes related to the Affordable Care Act. Your webinar in this scenario could break down the ACA and offer objective analysis on what your customers will have to deal with over the coming months.
This may feel counter-intuitive. Inviting people to a webinar you are hosting without directly relating your content to your own company may seem downright crazy. However, it is important to remember that your customers have already bought from you. You have already successfully pitched your company to this audience. They now need a reason to stay with you.
An informative webinar offering information they otherwise would have had to research themselves can go a long way.
2. Co-present a webinar with a customer
Perhaps one of your customers recently approached you and said, “You really helped me solve this problem.”
Often times, a company will immediately ponder how this kind of testimonial can be used to further promote the company to prospects. However, these kinds of scenarios can also provide fodder for actionable, informative webinars.
Working with your customer, you can talk about what obstacles they were facing (other customers as well as prospects will be able to sympathize most likely). Then you will be able to cover how you worked with the customer to work around those issues and improve the situation.
This is a win-win-win. Your customer gets exposure and is positioned as a company that is moving forward and progressive. You get a real-world testimonial that goes into more detail than a simple quotation on your website. The audience, meanwhile, can learn from your customer and you. They can ascertain how to solve their own problems and how you can help them reach their objectives. Moreover, other customers and prospects will see that you are willing to shine the spotlight on customers in your marketing.
3. Present a webinar with an outside source (not directly related to your company)
This concept is similar to number one, and indeed the two could be accomplished at the same time.
I first encountered this kind of idea when I read John Jantsch’s The Referral Engine. He talked about how sometimes even competitors got together to provide a small community with the best information possible. There was no promotion or competition. It was simply about offering solid, objective data.
Tying the first concept and this one together could mean that your company hosts an expert on the Affordable Care Act to present information, instead of you trying to research and present the information yourself.
Presenting a webinar with an outside source can make your customers feel more confident that your information is not self-serving. They might be more inclined to act on the advice given if they feel it is objective, and they might appreciate the information more if it comes from a source outside your company. Be willing to step outside the selling relationship as you nurture customers.
No matter the size of your company, webinars represent hefty investments of time and effort. Make sure you have the budget, the time, and the staff to handle these events before beginning to put a proposed program together. If you do have the ability to develop multiple webinars, however, consider dedicating one to nurturing existing customers. They will appreciate and remember your knowledge, time, dedication, and effort.
For more marketing advice from Margie, click here.
Image: lumaxart (Creative Commons)