IN THIS ISSUE
Here we are halfway through April and well into Q2.
This issue of Driven brings you articles on these topics:
- Webinars are a great way to build your brand and generate leads. That's why most of your competitors offer them. How can you make your webinars and virtual events stand out in a crowded field?
- Have you seen important enterprise deals slip in Q1? Do these 2 things now to stop it from happening in Q2.
- Lots of countries are enacting privacy policies and regulations. If you do business across national borders, here's a helpful way to know what you must do to comply.
MARKETING | COMMUNICATIONS | EVENTS
How to make your webinars and virtual events stand out from the crowd in 2021
"It’s no longer enough to put up a slide deck and talk through bullet points. These tips will help you make a more compelling webinar—and make sure that people attend it."
Challenge
When Covid-19 shut down live events in 2020, marketers quickly shifted to online summits and hybrid events and webinars.
Webinars are among the most effective channels for brand building and demand generation.
But now that nearly every B2B SaaS company (or so it seems) is doing online events, it's hard to get your target audiences show up for yours.
Your prospects are likely overwhelmed with webinars.
So they they have to be selective about which they attend and how much time they commit.
Ideas to consider
1. Stop worrying how many people show up for your initial webinar.
If you plan your event carefully, it doesn't much matter whether only 4 people show up or 2,500.
Sure, vanity is on the line within your company. But you can explain to your management team that things have changed.
It used to be that you wanted a lot of people showing up for your webinar.
Now the important thing is that people watch your event—or even just portions of it—at their convenience.
2. Your webinar or event is a cost-efficient way to create content you can use in multiple formats and channels.
It takes a lot of effort to produce a good webinar. That effort is largely wasted if you focus mainly on the people who attend the webinar when you air it.
Once you've created a webinar, you can edit if for use in many different ways.
For example, you can...
- Cut it up into small pieces and post key segments as audio or video segments to social media
- Post the full or edited video to YouTube for search engine optimization
- Summarize key points in one or more blog posts. Consider linking to the original recording for people who want more.
- Post full or edited segments to a resources section on your website so visitors can view it on demand.
- Make a copy available to guests or subject-matter experts who appear in it. Suggest that they promote it to build their own brand.
3. Make your webinar interesting and memorable.
Keep these ideas in mind:
- Keep it short. There's no rule that you must end on the hour or the half hour.
- Don't try to sell. Educate.
- Think more like a journalist and less like a marketer. Serve the interests of your target audiences before you think about your company's commercial goals.
- Put extra care into creating your visuals.
- Look to National Public Radio (NPR), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as role models for how to make interesting audio and video content.
4. Make your webinar content easy to consume in various formats and channels.
To make your webinar or event content easy to consume for people who have little time, you can...
- Publish an edited transcript with time-stamped subheads. This format makes it easy for people who prefer reading to easily find the segments that interest them.
- Make your webinar available as a podcast so people can listen to audio only.
Source
"How B2B Marketers Can Get the Most Out of Webinars in 2020." Joshua Night. July 28, 2020. Top Rank Marketing blog.
This is a solid article about how to plan effective webinars. It will appeal most to companies that don't run more than a few webinars a year.
Related
The 2019 Webinar Strategy Report. Demand Gen Report. GoToWebinar. 2019. [Downloadable PDF. 17 pages. No charge.]
This survey research shares trends in the use webinars as a marketing channel. Although the data come from before Covid-19 shutdowns, the content is still relevant.
The Ultimate Webinar Marketing Guide. Lewis Howes. 2012. [131 pages in print. Available in Kindle format only. 73 reviews on Amazon.com. Average rating 4.4 out of 5].
"How To Create a Webinar from Scratch in 10 Simple Steps." Shane Barker. Megan Leap. Updated in 2020. Convince & Convert blog.
"10 Tips for Creating Great Webinar Content.". On24. Mark Bornstein. Undated. [On-demand webinar. Registration required.]
"10 Common Webinar Mistakes to Avoid in 2019." Mark Bornstein. 2019. On24. [On-demand webinar. Registration required.]
Although this webinar is a few years old, its content is still current. On24 and Mark Bornstein provide solid webinars with valuable information.
"7 Secrets to Avoid a Boring Webinar." Mark Bornstein. Undated. On24. [On-demand webinar. Registration required.]
toprankblog.com
SALES & SELLING | ENTERPRISE DEALS
How to reduce the risk of enterprise SaaS deals going sideways
"Having a sales plan not only fuels your sales growth but also helps mitigate risk. It gives your team insight into when they might hit a roadblock."
Challenge
As Q1 ended for many SaaS companies, some found themselves scrambling to rescue important deals they had forecast to win. Or they were looking for ways to replace revenue they expected to close but didn't.
Enterprise deals are uncertain by their nature. And the bigger the deal, the more uncertain it's likely to be.
Why it matters
If losing a big deal causes you to miss your number for a quarter, jobs are at risk. In small SaaS companies, cash flow may also be at risk.
Senior revenue leaders lose credibility with board members, investors, and their peers.
The pressure intensifies next quarter.
Ideas to consider
1. Don't scapegoat individuals.
When your company loses a big deal you expected to win, it's common to blame sellers and sales leaders.
But it's likely you won't fix the problem by replacing them.
That's because the root cause is more likely to be defective processes or systems in your company.
To fix the real problem, you have to fix broken or ineffective processes.
2. Consider hiring an enterprise deal coach.
A handful of consulting companies offer such services. You probably get a part-time deal coach for much less than the cost of hiring a full-time sales leader or replacing an enterprise seller.
The ramp time is also much faster.
Deal coaching is also likely to be less expensive and more effective than sales training. It's likely to show results faster, and the benefits are likely to last longer.
Driven subscriber (and my business partner) John Stopper offers such services specifically for companies that sell enterprise SaaS. They're very effective. If you're interested, please inquire through me.
3. Do effective sales planning.
Some technologies and tools are available to help you structure your sales-planning process.
Revegy, a SaaS company in Atlanta, is among the technology vendors you might consider.
Like most software for sales and marketing, Revegy's app promises to make it easier to scale the process across many sellers and accounts. It may also make your process more consistent.
But for a small sales team with a small number of active accounts, you probably don't need Revegy to help you do a better job of of sales planning.
Source
The Ultimate Guide to Sales Planning.Revegy. 2021. [Downloadable PDF. 19 pages. No charge.]
Among other interesting ideas, the document suggests that sellers should work with buyers to create a mutual plan for closing a deal.
The idea isn't new to veteran enterprise sellers, but it may be an important insight for companies with less experienced sales teams.
revegy.com
SAAS | INDUSTRY TRENDS
Privacy regulations: Do your SaaS products and internal HR systems comply in all the countries where you do business?
"Companies must ensure they follow a privacy-by-design approach when dealing with the sensitive data of their employees. Classic HR policies will not deliver the protection this data needs."
Challenge
As more countries enact laws to protect the online privacy, the patchwork of international regulations becomes more complex and confusing.
If your SaaS company sells products or has employees in multiple countries, you must be aware of privacy laws in every jurisdiction where you do business.
Ideas to consider
- Privacy budgets have grown since the beginning of the pandemic.
- Over 60% of European employees want their employers to delete as soon as possible any medical data they collected in response to the pandemic.
- Remote work opened new opportunities and created new risks related to privacy.
- Companies must set a higher priority on their employee privacy initiatives.
- Regulators around the world appear likely to multiply their enforcement actions against companies that undermine the privacy rights of their employees.
Source
"Use Forrester's Brand-New Map of Global Privacy Rights and Regulations To Navigate the Evolving Privacy Landscape." Enza Iannopollo. March 15, 2021. Forrester blog post.
forrester.com
WRAP UP
That's it for this issue.
Driven continues to evolve through experimentation and your feedback.
If you don't share your feedback, I'm left to guess what you want.
If you've enjoyed this issue, please share it with a friend or colleague.
See you next on April 24.
Best,
Dave Vranicar
Dave Vranicar at Driven
ABOUT DRIVEN
Driven is a fortnightly digest for busy revenue leaders in business-to-business (B2B) SaaS.
It's likely to be most useful if your company sells higher-ticket products that require moderate to heavy involvement of professional sellers.
Driven is here to help you:
- Achieve your most important goals
- Overcome your biggest challenges
- Solve expensive problems
- Become a better version of yourself.
You'll find an online archive of back issues 12 through 43 at this link.
About links, commissions, and endorsements
When I provide links to articles from vendors, does it imply an endorsement?
Only of their content. Not of their products or services.
If I recommend a service or a book, it’s because I think it’s likely to help you. Period.
I get nothing from providing links to any commercial service, including the books for which I provide a link to Amazon.
That may change. I’ll tell you when it does.
Dave Vranicar at Driven