A short promo video I produced for Virtual Noir at the Bar – a non-profit arts project offering online author talks during these interesting times. See Linked In article for details on this.
The Webinar Process – a free resource
Following on from my introductory article on Webinars I ran a promotion plan for a client last week – from start to finish, building an email list, creating an email programme, registration process, hosting and running a public facing interactive webinar with 10 panelists and follow up email campaign with CTA included.
It was a lot faster than would normally be ideal, but these are strange times we’re living in.
As I built the schedule I thought there are probably a lot of other small companies having to think about this for the first time, so I put together this simple introduction flow chart for things to think about.
It’s high level and there’s a lot of important marketing decisions and creative to be carried out sitting behind it, but it’s possible to get it done in a relatively short space of time. (205 registrants in a week and excellent feedback for a specialist subject last week convinced me of that).
I hope this is of help for some of the smaller companies out there thinking about running webinars for the first time, or needing a refresher course.
If you need any help with the detail, you can of course contact me at simon@bewickconsulting.com
Good luck with your Webinars.
Copy of Webinar Processes
A Beginner’s Guide to Webinars
This article was written in response to a few acquaintances’ physical events having to be cancelled due to ongoing coronavirus issues. A number of them were considering alternatives to promote their products/ services/ teaching sessions but worried webinars were too difficult or expensive for them to run. This short, non-technical article is an attempt to show them they aren’t. It is NOT intended to be a ‘how-to’ guide (click on any of the supplier links in the document and you’ll get all their information on that), nor is it intended as a vendor comparison tool. Both of those things are available if you want them, but there are a thousand and one sites offering them. What this IS intended to be is a basic introduction as to how online meetings and presentations can be used, and a few common concerns I’ve experienced in the past. I hope it is of some use in first thinking you may have about online events in these weird times we find ourselves…
Click on the link for the free-to-download PDF.
Intro to Webinars
Implementing a Complex CRM System
I got a reminder today on a social media platform that it was seven years ago that I spent a week and a half in Mexico. The reminder didn’t mention why I was there, but I remember it well: a complex training and implementation of Salesforce to almost a hundred users.
What made it so complex?
It was the fourth and final phase of a global roll-out of a system for sales, marketing, research and management teams: a project which had covered migration of old data, new functionality and training and on-going support to over 500 users across more than 50 countries ensuring they were using a global system but with local additions necessary to recognise country requirements: practical, organisational and legal. The rollout had gone well: to time and budget. It had gone so well in fact, that the Mexico team decided to come on board with it – not something originally scoped, and more complicated than anything that had gone before.
There were several reasons this implementation was going to be a complex one: a radically different education system which required accommodation of both private and state schools, teaching a wider range of subjects and using different materials to do so than any other market, a different sales and marketing process, a complex hierarchy of reporting and visibility required. Oh, and the system had to be re-written into local language as the vast majority of the workforce did not speak English, meaning the translation of all screen labels, menus, onscreen help and all support materials. And all end-user training delivered in Spanish. And I don’t speak Spanish.
The project was a success: rolled out on time and to budget and still in place to this day.
What made it possible? Here are a few memories of the experience that may be of interest for those considering a CRM implementation project.
What Teaching Teens Business Taught Me…
This is an article I wrote recently on Linked In.
I was recently asked to teach a couple of classes on Management and Digital/ Marketing to non-native English Language students aged 16-19. I was working on a long-term project which allowed for a couple of weeks break over the summer period so I agreed.
It’s been around 25 years since I taught teenagers formally and a lot has changed in that time – both in terms of the subject, the equipment and resources available – I was curious to see if the students had changed in terms of their attitude or approach, because for good and bad, 25 years has changed me a lot. The training and workshops I have run throughout my professional life have been geared to in-work professionals of varying experience and seniority but I wanted to be as non-patronising with the students as I was with their older counterparts: I hope I succeeded in doing that, and hope this article follows that intention.
Bewick Consulting 