1. Monetizing Your Webcasts: Will
Customers Pay for Content?
Melanie Turek, Industry Director
Enterprise Communications & Collaboration
March 2011

2. Online Events: Changing Delivery for a Changing World
• Growing number of dispersed
workers, business partners and
suppliers.
• Education, training and best
practices are critical in a global
marketplace.
• More people are comfortable with
online events.
• Change the delivery, not the
business model.
2

3. Webcasts Offer Benefits Over In-Person Events
• Eliminate Travel
• Reduce Costs
• Reach More People
• Better Deploy Trainers
• Customize Content
• Interactive Sessions
• Build a Better Brand
• Record for Later Use
• Demonstrate ROI
3

4. Web Conferencing Addresses Key Event Needs
Web Conferencing Tools
• Web-based presentations The Training
Advantage
• Collaboratively share
applications and files • Maximize Reach,
• Annotate documents Lower Costs
• Sidebar chats • Deliver Customized
• Q&A
Presentations
• Polls and surveys • Follow Up Anytime,
Anywhere
• Record and archive
meetings
4

5. Web Conferencing Offers Two Ways of Learning
One-to-Many
Primarily used for:
• Sales and marketing presentations
• Training
• Company-wide meetings
• Investor Relations
• Events/ Conferences
One-to-Few/Few-to-
Few
Primarily used for:
• Project teams
• Business planning
• Research and development
• Departmental meetings
5

6. Content is King
• Clear Information
• Hands-On Training
• Actionable Best Practices
• Market Trends – and Interpretation
• Interaction
• Q & A, Polling, Surveys
6

7. Other Key Considerations
• Cost
• Topics
• Time
• Technology
7

8. For Additional Information
Melanie Turek
Industry Director
Enterprise Communications
(970) 871-6110
melanie.turek@frost.com
8

9. Who We Are
 Started as online newsletter for educators
 About 25 webinars a year
 Target audience is k-12 administrators
 Most listen in groups
 Used for professional development
The Competition
 Nonprofit education groups with free events
 Other for-profit webinar companies
1

10. Webinars and the Internet: Perfect together
 Time sensitivity
 Fills specific need
 Unique—no one else is offering the same
event
2

11. Look for ways to increase desire to buy now
Offer premium for sign up by specific date
(We offer free CD-ROM)
3

12. The big value of the recording link
 People are motivated to sign up for event
offered on specific date, but… many can’t
make it on that date.
 Link provides almost immediate gratification
for people who ask if it will be offered
again—much better than just offering them a
CD.
4

13. Good content alone is not enough
 Consider hiring stars in your field. They bring
in bigger audiences and know how to keep
it interesting
 Look for ways to break up the presentation
by using chatbox creatively and including
polls when appropriate.
 Consider use of short breaks for discussion
at remote locations
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14. Pricing: Give value, but don’t undercharge
 Look at what others are charging in your
field, but don’t be afraid to charge more for
good content
 We provide live webinar, link and CD for one
price when registrant sign up by deadline
 Offer discounts for multiple sites
6

15. Promotion schedule
 Series of 5 emails
 Send first email 4 weeks in advance
 Expect most sign-ups to come in last 2 weeks
Other Approaches:
 Affiliate arrangements with others in field
 Advertising /links on select websites
 Get presenters to promote webinar to their lists
7

16. Who can use paid webinar model
 Providers of specialized information
 Large universe of prospective registrants
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17. Paid Content Can Provide Real Value for Customers
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18. Intro to Mary O’Brien
 Employee #68 at GoTo.com
 Focused on Search Engine Marketing Since 1998
 Trained over 7000 advertisers on SEM in Yahoo and
Adcenter Workshops and through PPC Summits since
2003
 Currently teaching online classes on AdWords, SEO &
Social Media, Small Business Search Marketing, Effective
Ecommerce, Lead Generation and Landing Page
Optimization
 Accent – English? Irish? American?
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19. Intro to Internet Marketing
Institute
 Providing actionable and strategic internet marketing
training to small and medium sized businesses and
agencies in an accessible, affordable way
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20. Internet Marketing Institute
Initial Offering
 4 - 5 paid Seminar series per year
 Designed to provide accessible expert content at attendee’s
convenience
 Seminars are recorded and accessible for 90 days after event
 Each Seminar series focuses on a specific Internet Marketing topic
 Seminar’s for 2011 cover:
 AdWords Advertising
 SEO & Social Media
 Online Retailing
 Inbound Marketing
 Typical Series – 18 Classes, 18 – 20 Experts, 45 – 70 minutes long
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21. Seminar Value
 2 Free Preview Webinars per Seminar
 Pricing: Early Bird - $297, Regular - $597
 Content is focused on Actionable Strategies and expert
insider tips
 Lots of Q & A and access to at least 18 experts
 Members area for:
 Additional questions
 Bonuses & white papers
 90 day access to recordings
 Session transcripts
 Interaction and brainstorming with peers
 Typical bonuses offer dollar value equal to the event price
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22. Business Case for Webinars
 Webinars are less expensive to produce and cost
savings can be passed back to attendees
 Webinars are more accessible to international
customers
 Webinars support a broadening of our online offering
 Webinars lend themselves better to the training model
than large conferences
 Webinars provide many of the interactive features of
live events that allow for effective adult learning
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23. Previous Model
 1 and two day conference events
 200 – 300 attendees
 10 – 20 sponsors/exhibitors
 Specifically about Paid Search advertising
 Typically $695 - $1295
 Long sales & marketing cycle
 Very expensive to produce
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24. Current Marketing Model
 Typically 6 – 8 week marketing cycle
 Most people register to take advantage of Early Bird rate
 2 preview webinars per event
 Marketing via email to large list and some Social Media,
also testing direct mail and search engine marketing
 Shorter marketing cycle allows us to offer more niche
content, more frequently
 Recognizable experts are a real draw
 Using email reminders, live chat and recording through
Ready Talk system to increase attendee engagement and
learning
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25. New Business Model
 More manageable cash flow
 Able to provide training to a much larger audience
 Opportunity to build a global brand
 Extend our online product offering
 Maintaining integrity of events and continuing to
receive high reviews and positive feedback from
attendees
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26. Contact Us
mobrien@internetmarketinginstitute.com
Follow Mary O’Brien on Twitter:
@MktgInstitute
Upcoming IMI Events:
AdWordsAdvantage.com May 10 – 19
SEOandSocialMediaSuccess.com July 12 – 21
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