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7 Sure-fire Ways to Get More Webinar Signups


Whether you’re using e-mail, marketing on your blog, or building a landing page, following these simple 7 steps will get more signups.

1) Speak directly.

Use “you” and “your”, not “us” and “our.” Banish the gobbledygook and the fancy words, just talk plainly, in a personal, chatty tone of voice.

2) Offer to make something difficult easy.

Describe how you’ll walk people through the steps, share the secrets, etc. Nobody wants to hear about your “customizable advertising mechanism”; they won’t know (or care what is is).

3) Use emotional triggers, not “rational” arguments.

These include: earn money, minimize risks, save time, win praise, to make your audience sit up and take notice of all the special, great stuff they will learn.

4) Add extra goodies.

Not just the webinar, but a special toolkit with more secrets and templates (again turning something hard into something simple) your readers can use in their own businesses.

5) Multiple links.

Put links throughout the email or the landing page. Give people several opportunities to sign up, at different points in your copy. Some may be ready to sign up after your first paragraph, others may need more information.

6) Limited time offer.

Urging people to act immediately increases the sense of urgency. You can throw in an extra bonus (more templates, an audio recording, etc.) for the first X people who register.

7) Scarcity and exclusivity.

Don’t admit everyone, restrict registration to a specific number of people. To make it even more exclusive, you can make the call “live” only – no recording. Attend, or miss out.

Photo: cambodia4kidsorg

US Health Care is Broken!

I know, this is supposed to be a blog about marketing, but I’m just so mad I can’t stand it.

My family just had a scary medical experience. In a nutshell, my dad was told he had an awful disease (no effective treatment and a life expectancy of 2-5 years) and his doctor wanted to do an invasive, painful test to confirm it.

We all went to a second doctor yesterday, who thought it best to check and treat simple conditions first, before jumping to conclusions that were complicated and exotic (hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras).

I started wondering about the way our health system “works.”

Each year, I get a thick book from my insurance company, with listings of doctors on their plan. The book is heavy, but the information in it is minimal; mostly limited to name, address, specialty, and hospital affiliations. There’s no way to tell if the doctor is any good or not, whether he or she has been disciplined or sued, the effectiveness of the treatments s/he provides, or “customer satisfaction.”

Years ago, I had a “zebra” condition. For five years, I went from doctor to doctor trying to get a diagnosis. I was treated for conditions I didn’t have. I was told things like “you’re delusional,” “just live with it,” and other nonsense.

I admit, it was weird and my symptoms were idiosyncratic, but would any other business stay in business telling its customers they were imagining things?

And what about prices and services? If I buy a book from Amazon, the price is clearly marked. If I go to the doctor it seems I can be charged whatever he or she likes (or the insurance company will reimburse).

Why are there no ratings? I can go online and find out more and better information about a bathroom scale, an mp3 player, or a tea kettle (don’t get the orange one) than I can about a doctor! Where’s the crowdsourcing? (I understand that Angies List has doctor ratings, but you have to pay to join.)

How can we fix this?

Can someone build a doctor rating site? Give ratings with stars for the good guys and white ducks (quack, quack) for the bad ones?

Start a campaign to lobby the Congress?

Dress up as ducks and picket the bad docs’ offices?

Write letters to the President?

Got a better idea? Share it here.

UPDATE: Some months ago, Zane Safrit asked the members of Seth Godin’s triiibes for their ideas on broken health care and how to fix it. Get the result here.

(Back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow, with a post about promoting webinars).

Is Direct Mail Boring?

image of bored woman“Do I have to use direct mail? It’s sooo boring and old-fashioned. Can’t we just send electronic media kits with case studies and company info?”

This question came from a company in London that wants to break into the US market.

Unfortunately, the target audience (reporters) isn’t likely to care about company background information and case studies. Neither will her potential customers. Reporters want a story that will get them column inches. Prospects want to know what you can to for them.

Never, ever, ever plan a strategy based on what YOU think is old-fashioned, or interesting, or cutting-edge: do what will appeal to YOUR AUDIENCE. It’s NOT about you. It’s about what they think. You may think that sending beautifully designed electronic press kits will get you coverage. The press will think it’s spam.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/riotjane/2216996071/ riot jane

Who Wants to Win Awards?

Award

We all like to win awards. It shows that our peers recognize our genius and our hard work. Awards are great, but here’s a secret. Your customers don’t care that much about your awards, they care that you can help them get their message across (and make more money).

If you do win an award, say so. It is recognition by your peers. But, don’t base your marketing strategy on your awards. Don’t expect them to lead to profits either.

Instead of talking about the awards you won for your video, or your wealth of creativity and talent, tell a story. Talk about how people felt when they saw that video, not the techniques and equipment you used to produce it.

Eight Steps to Better Deals From Trade Shows

trade show imageMarketing Sherpa (7/16.09) reported that one trade show exhibitor did just that – and closed deals that were 36% larger! The exhibitor, a large insurance company, decided to “flip the whole thing on its head.”

Instead of talking about themselves, they decided to talk about their clients instead. So, they created “Client World,” transforming their exhibit into a display that highlighted their clients’ services, rather than their own.

Some of what they did relies on bigger resources than small companies typically have (such as paying for clients to attend, reserving an entire floor at a nearby hotel for meetings and networking, and purchasing client products), however, here’s the takeaway that you can adapt:

1. Feature your clients (not yourself).

Give them the opportunity to tell their stories in video testimonials. If you’re a video expert, you’ve already got the tools; if not a $200 Flip camera will do the job.

2. Write case studies from the clients’ point of view.

Highlight the ways that your products or services helped them sell their services.

3. Tell your clients what you’re doing.

Invite them to the show (if you can swing it). If not, showcase their products and services at your booth and feature them in a booth giveaway.

4. Hold your own mini-event.

Have a cocktail party (or other get-together including food) so that your clients (and the people you want to reach) can meet, talk to each other, and talk to you.

5. Give away clients’ products.

Feature the products in your booth and offer them as prizes.

6. Promote the event to your house list.

Generate advance interest, and encourage the recipients to register for the event and your networking party.

7. Use on-site scanners to record attendees’ badges every time they interact with you or your staff.

Each interaction equals another chance to win one of the prizes.

8. Follow-up after the show.

Add prospects to your database and offer post-show networking opportunities (perhaps online at your site) so that people who met at your party can continue to interact with each other (and with you).

Your clients will be delighted, it would be remarkable, and people would talk about it.

Photo: calm a llama down