Webinar Wire

Bad News For Travel Budgets = Good News For Webinars

Posted by Larry Kilbourne February 20 2009 11:13 PM EDT

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By Larry Kilbourne

A recent business journal article calls attention to a study released by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives showing that over 70% of its member companies are planning to cut corporate travel expenditures by 10 - 20% in 2009.  The cost impact, they say, could exceed $2B.  That's not small change - talking either money or plans!  The association noted that this downsizing in travel is a major shift from corporate plans a mere five months ago.

In a similar vein, The New York Times reports that a survey conducted jointly by American Express and Meeting Professionals International shows that 7% of meetings scheduled to be held in 2009 have been cancelled, while attendance at those remaining will be down.  And Rachel Wimberly at Tradeshow Week noted just yesterday that President Obama's warning to financial institutions to avoid Vegas 'junkets' on the taxpayers' dime is likely to further depress the convention economy this year.

Ok, no surprise here; we're in a major recession after all.  But this news is likely to have major repercussions on sales and marketing efforts of companies as they will now face a daunting challenge of how to get their products and services in front of prospective customers.  Trade shows and one-on-one meetings with prospects continue to be the lifeblood of sales and marketing tactics and strategy.  Even in the Internet Age we still go in person to see and hear Steve Jobs or Steve Ballmer unveil their respective company's latest techno-inventions.

So the economic downturn means that sales and marketing executives are going to have to scramble to find new ways of reaching out to customers and prospects alike.

The silver lining to this otherwise dark cloud is that it carries the potential to thrust webinars to the top of the sales and marketing toolbox.  I emphasize potential, because the generally poor track record webinars have as revenue generators means that a lot of skepticism (usually borne out of bad experiences sitting through them) is going to have to be overcome. And not just skepticism, but the root causes of ineffective webinars will have to be addressed as well.  (See my recent series, Ways Webinars Fail and Webinar Follow-up: Why Leads Don't Become Customers).

However, assuming that their practitioners allow webinars to reach their yet-to-be realized potential, here's the good news and the opportunities they present for sales and marketing departments:

1. Compared to trade show attendance and travel costs for one-on-one sales presentations, webinars are inexpensive - by magnitudes.
2. Webinars allow an organization to put its best sales resources in front of an audience.
3. Webinars allow you to reach a geographically dispersed audience without anyone having to go anywhere.
4. Since webinar attendance is self-selecting, you are more likely to have prospective customers attend them than the typical 'lead' you generate at a trade show (who's really only giving you a business card to get a chotchkey anyway).
5. A well-attended webinar can include an audience in the hundreds.
6. You automatically have contact information from webinar attendees (and with a little pre-registration effort, you can gain other valuable information about them and their organizations).
7. A well-put together webinar can be re-broadcast multiple times live, requiring little additional work (other than the registration process).
8. Webinars can be recorded and links made available to registrants who for one reason or another don't show up - all for little additional cost.
9. Because a webinar allows you to 'dip' attendees in your product or service for an hour,  they can significantly reduce the usual sales cycle.  Follow-up calls and emails can get right to the point and don't face the hurdles of getting past gatekeepers, having to explain who your company is and what it does, etc.
10. Well-crafted, well-produced and well-executed webinars gain instant credibility for your company and its product.

I could go on.  But I think we get the point.  There's tremendous potential for webinars as marketing tools, and moreover, in recessionary times the cost-points and realized savings make them a no-brainer.

That's the silver lining to today's generally unfriendly business environment.  Will sales and marketing organizations seize this opportunity?