3 reasons why webinars are more powerful than speaking to a live audience

Events/webinars
5Comments

online-business-webinars-1I’ve done my share of speaking to a live audience, but having kids at home (that was a while back) and living in a small, rural town made it hard. Instead, I focused on webinars. And webinars have been a great way for me to reach many people.

Speaking, however you do it, is a powerful way to connect with your audience, your potential customers or clients, your target market. People are more enlivened when they listen to your voice than they are when they read what you write (which is what you’re doing now). You can elicit a strong, emotional response more easily by speaking than you can by writing. Of course, many people have been inspired by writing, but unless you’re a very skilled writer, you’ll find engaging your audience is easier when you speak.

Speaking to a live audience is very powerful and the connection is strongest when you’re in the same room with your audience, but speaking live has some disadvantages.

So here are my 3 reasons why webinars are more powerful than speaking to a live audience. Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein

Why aren’t you speaking? (Survey results)

Events/webinars
6Comments

why aren't you speaking-1I believe that you need to speak to get your message out to the world. Yes, you can write, but people get to know you better when you speak. And I’m a firm believer in speaking online because you can:

  • Reach more people
  • Save time and money
  • Grow your subscriber list faster
  • Easily partner with others who will promote you

But many people aren’t speaking. To find out why, I did a survey, asking people why they weren’t speaking. Some of the results were typical, but some surprised me!

When I asked, “Are you reaching enough people now?” almost everyone said, “No.”

Here are the results and my comments.

I hate hearing my voice

What? I’d never heard this before! I’ve heard, “I hate how I look” but not this. Here’s my take… Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein

Why authors may not be good marketers–and what to do about it

Email marketing
Events/webinars
Partnering
7Comments

online-business-authors-business-1A subscriber wrote me, “Mostly I need to learn how to promote my books. I am good at writing but a novice at promoting.”

Is that you?

Authors tend to like being solitary. After all, writing is basically something you do by yourself.

Promotion is the process of connecting with others — and encouraging them to connect with you. It isn’t something you do by yourself.

Accept the fact that you need to connect with others to promote your books. It might feel scary, but you just need to set up a step-by-step system and follow it.

Find where likely readers hang out

Luckily, you don’t need to promote to people who are not likely to be interested in your books. This is a good thing, because you’ll get more support and fewer rejections when you stick to people who are already interested in the topic of your books. Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein

Trends for online marketing in 2017 and beyond

Events/webinars
Social Media
Success
WordPress/blogging
8Comments

How are you going to compete with all the marketing noise out there?

As I’m sure you know, the Internet is a busy place. Think about all the social media notifications you get, for example. What makes one stand out over the others?

And then think about how you can be the one that people remember! Be the turquoise when everyone else is gray!

Have you ever signed up for a free online report, gotten on someone’s email list as a result, but when you starting getting emails, you had no idea who they were from? That happens to me quite a lot and I end up unsubscribing.

How can you be memorable?

I have a coaching client who teaches mortgage loan officers how to be memorable so they can get more leads and close more mortgage loans. She creates quirky images that are very memorable. And her techniques are designed to keep her customers “top of mind.”

Here are some trends for online marketing that will help you be memorable, leading to more engagement and more sales.

1. Engage regularly

Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein

Why you should charge if you want engagement and results

Email marketing
Events/webinars
6Comments

online-business-chargeWhat percentage of people open your emails? For your regular newsletter, it’s probably 10-15%.

How about training? If you give free training, it’s probably about the same.

But what happens when you charge? All of a sudden, people value your training more. They made a commitment and so they’re more determined to get value from your programs. In fact, the more you charge, the better results you’ll get.

On the other hand, when something is free, it’s easy to think that it isn’t valuable and to throw it away (like garbage).

Of course, that’s not what you want your customers to do with your products and programs!

Free isn’t always best

online-business-why-you-should-charge-1Would you like to get open rates like these?

As with any series, whether it’s your autoresponders or a course, you’ll get fewer opens later on. In this case, they started at 75% and ended at 48.7%. But that’s still a lot of engagement.

That’s because the people on this list paid for a webinar series. If I gave it for free, the open rates would be much lower.

This program is low-cost, but it’s also directed towards professionals who bought the series for their work. In some cases, their employer paid for the series.

That affects the open rate to be sure.

So how do you get individuals to open your emails when they don’t feel obligated by their employer? Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein