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January 24, 2006
Podcasts vs. webinars
Brian Critchfield of grassroots marketing firm Blueline says companies should dump their webinars for podcasts or videocasts.
I couldn't agree more. The industry average for webinar attendence is 33% of registrations. Those are OK numbers, but not great. The self-serve nature of mobile media means people can listen to podcasts /videocasts when and where they want, not tied to a computer at a specific time.
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I wonder about the wisdom of communicating via podcast vs. in-person seminars.
The seminar itself typically serves more purposes than just as a communication vehicle. These purposes include:
1) a credibility builder (the question & answer period being an important way to prove that your speaker or speakers aren't just talking heads)
2) a vehicle for interacting with your customers and potential customers BEYOND the sales process (despite the somewhat lecturey setting, seminars can be informal, giving your customers the opportunity to let their hair down, away from the territoria imperativa of the office);
3) a way to demonstrate the breadth and depth of client base to your existing clients and prospective clients (when your biggest pain in the butt client sees how many other clients you really have, that sometimes provides a modicum of respect); and last but not least
4) another way to humanize your business and business processes (in many marketing related fields, the dreaded supply-side consultant is trying to reduce procurement of these services to a commodity, like paper and office equipment. Appearing in person is important to demonstrating that intellectual capital is a higher level service than buying paper clips).
Podcasts might be great to provide to your attendees, who can then share your wisdom with their colleagues, and first providing that critically important review: These guys rock! and They're the real deal!
I agree podcasts and videocasts are the way to go, in this day of mobile media and the need to have and be able to access information on the go, being tied down at a computer for an hour and a half listening to a webinar that 8 out of 10 times is incredibly boring can be a turn off for many people.
Lots of potential here!!
Eric, totally agree that podcasts/webinars aren't as good as in person events for a number of the reasons you mention. But the original message was regarding podcasts/videocasts vs. webinars (seminars on the web).
While I can certainly see some value in having an "event" happen at a specific time, web based or otherwise, I just can't ever make them. I say have the webinar if you so choose. Make it beneficial to actually be there at the time (the ability to ask your own questions live of the personality you're listening to, for example). But once it's over, podcast that baby!
I think there's room for all of it. There are awful webinars and there are awful podcasts and videocasts.
In fact, at the moment, I would argue that as a percentage, podcasts are way poorer quality than webinars. Too many amateurs who think they know how to interview someone for my liking. Until you've built your reputation as a decent pod/videocaster, not many people are listening to you anyway.
Good point, Laura.
I still beleive that Webinars will hold a place in the marketing realm. However, the point I was making is that it will pale comparison to the adoption of podcasts and vidcasts. Webinars will continue to work for press announcements, user groups, and any other event where attendees have a vested interest in attending.
However, too many people use this as a prospecting tool, which it is not. As a former Webinar enthusiast, it became painfully apparent that getting people to attend was the worst part of it. I had to literally pester them to attend, and this was people that had already signed up for it. However, we got great response from people downloading it after the fact. That, my friends, is also known as a podcast or vidcast.
Where podcasts win out over webinars is in the prospecting realm. They are easy to pass along and they fit my schedule, not force me to fit into theirs. It is the very essence of permission marketing. My prediction is simply that Webinars will fit a niche where podcasts will become much more pervasive.
By the way, Laura, I agree with you that the professionalism is lacking on many of today's podcasts. I am assuming that those who produce professional Webinars can also produce a decent podcast.
Also, if you are looking for a well-produced podcast, check out the Church of the Customer. I am a loyal listener.
That’s a good point, but in the context of the complex sale, I respectfully disagree. I use podcasts and they are no doubt more “buzz” worthy than webinars. But what if your audience doesn’t use a portable MP3 player so basically they are tethered to their desk anyway?
I can never give blanket advice but I'll say this... People want different information, in different ways, and at different times in the buying process. The choices they'll make will depend on their role, their need at that time, and the time frame they have to solve that need.
I have one question to ask before you do anything: Do you truly understand your customers buying process?
Your way of selling and marketing must conform to the customer's buying process, driven by a clear understanding of needs and the impact of those needs on both that company and its customers. Every potential customer will have a slightly different buying process.
I have found it helpful to look at the potential customer's buying process on the basis of modalities it employs at each buying step. To that end, I've developed a model that hypothetically shows the correlation between steps in a prospect's buying process and the sales effort together with tactics that might be of interest at each stage.
For strength and stability, a table requires all four legs. To lose one is to become less sound, less secure. So too with lead generation. I suggest that marketers take a multimodal approach that incorporates various tactics based on how their customers need and want information.
Great discussion thread. I have touched on some of these same issues in my Webinar Blog at http://kmolay.easyjournal.com, and I just added a long new entry specifically on the topic. My contention is that podcasts are not an effective medium for lead acquisition and that they are fundamentally different from webinars, which are better suited to the task. Yes, raising percentage attendance is difficult for a webinar, but that doesn't mean that because you can just post a podcast and let people download it at their convenience, it magically becomes a better lead generation tool. You can record webinars and make them available for time-shift viewing if you want. They'll still be less effective than the live webinar and a different animal than an information-dispensing podcast.
Good to see Brian C. here in his rightful place as the Mayor of the "C of the C" message boards. His enthusiasm knows no bounds.
The effectiveness of webinars, podcasts, or blogs, really all depends on the preferences of gathering information of customers. I love "going to church" on iTunes because, when I want to be informed, I have to hear it. I'm a listener. If Brian had an announcement that he really was running for mayor, I'd want to hear it as a webinar instead of reading it on his blog or, back in the 20th century, as a press release, and definitely not on a podcast because... it's an event.
What I would love to see is a study on the effectiveness of blogging between readers and listeners. Measure lead generation, ability to remember, likelihood to pass on what one has read. That would be interesting...
Wireless World: Enormous innovation, but big challenges
A record number of mobile phones were shipped last year, and analysts and investors are now saying that the promises made 10 years ago about the potential for the wireless economy are truly being realized. Still, some of the foremost investors and analysts tell United Press International's Wireless World that they are nervous that the United States may not maintain its competitive edge in the global information economy unless certain changes are made -- by federal policymakers and business leaders -- soon.
"There is enormous innovation in our economy -- no doubt," said James Melcher, founder of the New York City-based hedge fund, Balestra Capital Management, in an interview with Wireless World. "It's incredible. But there are problems. Why are countries with only 40 percent of the world's population (e.g., China) graduating ten times as many engineers and scientists as we are? Why are our schools pumping out so many lawyers? There is no value-added in legal work." By Gene Koprowski
On the issue of webcast v podcast v in-person seminar or any other lead gen or marketing program, there is simply no silver bullet here. Any good outbound marketing strategy should inlude a mix of programs that align to a set of clear objectives. And much of this particular marketing subject (lead gen) really depends on your buyer. If your buyer carries a device that is podcast capable AND of your buyer uses podcasts to learn about new products, then they should be part of the marketing mix. If your buyer is a CXO and does not use podcasts to gather information about products or solutions, then podcasts are irrelevant to the marketing mix. And if, like many companies, you have a complex sale which dictates selling to multiple levels of people in a company, you might need to have a mix of different lead gen programs. In lead gen, its hard to be successful with a one size fits all approach.
By the way, a podcast doesn't have to be downloaded to an MP3 player to be a podcast. It can be listened to on the web or downloaded to iTunes or some other aggregator to listen to on your PC. The key is it is on my time.
The pervasiveness of podcasting is helped by portable players, but not completely reliant on it.
It makes sense to me that people with the flexibility to choose to listen to something at their convenience will do so. Podcasts will win every time in my book.
Know your marketing strategies for lead generation. I love reading stuffs about business. Thanks for sharing them and other references.
Nice post. Very informative.
