Marketing Your Mental Health Services With Webinars | STP51
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[00:00:10] James Marland: So, hello and welcome back to the Scaling Therapy Practice. This is James Marland, your host. This is the show where we encourage you to take intentional steps towards sustainable growth. Today I'm joined by Dawn Gabriel. Hello, Dawn. Welcome.
[00:00:26] Dawn Gabriel: Hey James. Good to be here.
[00:00:28] James Marland: today we're gonna talk about webinars and why do you sign up for them and how do you use them and, you know, are there any good webinar platforms out there? Uh, I did do a recording before this episode with, uh, Dr. David Hall from Psych Maven. He runs some excellent webinars. Uh, I think, I think he runs one of them monthly. You know, get on his email list. Yeah. 'cause he runs like monthly webinars and you might not like. All his webinars, but once or twice a year, you're probably gonna run into something that you do like. So I'd get on that. Um, get on his webinar list and if you wanted to, um, all that'll be in the show notes and you'll be able to, uh, examine or view some of his webinars.
[00:01:12] James Marland: So check that out. So let's listen to, uh, my interview with Dr. David Hall. Well, David, thanks so much for coming on the show.
[00:01:22] James Marland: I've really enjoyed your wisdom and experience over the years and I admire how you run webinars. So thanks so much for coming on the show to talk about, uh, tools and tips about webinars.
[00:01:34] David Hall: Happy to James. Yeah, I enjoy webinars. I, I, James was talking, uh, before about me being an expert. I don't know if I'm an expert, but I, I do feel I know more than some,
[00:01:46] David Hall: and I have experienced things I like and don't like. About doing webinars and so happy to share the things I've learned.
[00:01:52] James Marland: All right, so let's, uh, I guess just what, what's a webinar and what, uh, what are some of the things best practices
[00:02:01] David Hall: So the term webinars, it's a combination of web and seminar,
[00:02:08] James Marland: webinar?
[00:02:09] David Hall: yeah,
[00:02:09] David Hall: it's a, it's a seminar online or on the web. Uh, it, it can mean a few different things. Some
[00:02:15] David Hall: people will use it differently, but I. In the parlance of most online business, it usually entails. One thing for sure were, or usually for sure, and then one thing, often the first component is webinars are usually free.
[00:02:30] James Marland: Hmm.
[00:02:30] David Hall: there are such things as paid webinars, but that was, is not typically when you hear about a webinar, it's usually a free thing or at least free to watch. Um, people will use webinar formats to teach in paid sort of form, uh, uh, settings. But they'll usually phrase it differently, calling it a masterclass or an online course, or if if I see webinar, I'm usually assuming it's going to be free.
[00:02:58] David Hall: And so that's one aspect of it. The other aspect of it is it is usually live, or at least was live At some point people will do prerecorded webinars and that is a thing, or on demand webinars, but more often you'll usually find them. . The energy of webinars often comes from a live experience, and even for ones that are prerecorded, oftentimes it is a replay of something that was live at some point.
[00:03:25] David Hall: Uh, so free typically free them, not 100%, but if it's not typically called something different and often live, and that's a certain sort of that energy. And in the idea of it being a free offering, it's usually . an on-ramp. Uh, one may call it a sales process, though I think that can have some negative connotations, but it is an on-ramp for a deeper offer.
[00:03:51] David Hall: People will use it to sell a coaching program or a membership, or an online course, or a, uh, digital or physical product.
[00:04:00] James Marland: Online course. Online.
[00:04:01] James Marland: yeah,
[00:04:01] James Marland: Class. Yeah.
[00:04:02] James Marland: Yeah.
[00:04:03] David Hall: it, it's
[00:04:03] James Marland: it's like an introduction
[00:04:04] James Marland: to that.
[00:04:05] David Hall: yeah, it's, it's usually this on-ramping process to the next thing.
[00:04:11] James Marland: Great. So that's what a webinar is. Why, uh, why, uh, why should, should a therapist think about Running a webinar for their course or their product or a service.
[00:04:22] David Hall: Even their
[00:04:23] David Hall: practice, I
[00:04:24] James Marland: And the
[00:04:24] David Hall: their, yeah.
[00:04:26] David Hall: Um, there's a lot of things that you can benefit as a business owner that can benefit you in doing a webinar. And there are lots of things that can benefit your potential . Customer or client in that, um, we'll start with the customer, client side. It can give them a chance to get a sense of you.
[00:04:46] David Hall: I think a lot of if just talk about therapy
[00:04:49] James Marland: Mm-Hmm.
[00:04:50] David Hall: can be a, a hesitancy because of either intimidation or even just some unanswered questions of what is working with this. You as a therapist going to be like,
[00:05:02] James Marland: Yeah. Who are, who is this person? Do
[00:05:03] James Marland: I know them?
[00:05:04] David Hall: Yeah. And.
[00:05:05] James Marland: them?
[00:05:06] James Marland: Yeah.
[00:05:07] David Hall: In doing a webinar, it allows you to get in front of a group the same way you could imagine maybe going and speaking to a church, small group, or a rotary club or a civic society, or a school, or kind of all those sorts of things.
[00:05:20] David Hall: It gives you a chance to get in front of a group of people where there's a, there's a very low barrier for entrance for them because you're doing something for free. And then to kind of get a sample of what your dynamics are like, and it can . They can go away for that. Ideally with a lot more enthusiasm in the idea of working with you, whatever that looks like.
[00:05:43] James Marland: Hmm.
[00:05:43] David Hall: I know for me, I sell a lot of online courses and that's often how I use webinars and what I do. And for people in that situation, it gives them the opportunity to have a sense of like, well, I like him as a teacher. Does he have information or a teaching style that . Is gonna be helpful for whatever I'm trying to accomplish.
[00:06:03] David Hall: And a webinar allows me to give them a kind of a sample of that without, um, a lot of barriers, uh, to get in. And, and so it, it's kind of a see before you buy sort of thing, test driving a car, you know, lots of things like that. For, for me, uh, there are lots of benefits. One, it it, it, it's more likely to
[00:06:26] David Hall: Convert somebody into a paying customer if I offer them something quality for free,
[00:06:32] David Hall: like a webinar.
[00:06:34] James Marland: Yeah, the, the, one of the things I've heard is like, you're not, you're not, uh, offering junk in this webinar. You're solving a problem like somebody signed up for your webinar because your title or however you promoted it, said, come to this webinar. You will be
[00:06:49] James Marland: able to solve problem X. You're gonna be able, you're gonna be exposed to tips for this.
[00:06:55] James Marland: Like,
[00:06:55] James Marland: I'm gonna share good content with you. And that's why people, that's why people show up. They don't wanna be, uh, sold to
[00:07:04] James Marland: for 45 minutes.
[00:07:06] James Marland: I gave you one one crumb of something. Now for the next 40 minutes, I'm gonna try to convince you to, to buy my product. That's not what we're talking
[00:07:15] David Hall: not a good webinar is people will do it. It's just not as good.
[00:07:19] James Marland: for sure.
[00:07:20] David Hall: And there is that balance between, and, and I tell people too, you can teach too much in a webinar. The, the way I delineate a good webinar from your offer, your webinar should be connected to your offer. Um, but a good webinar teaches really well to the question of what?
[00:07:39] James Marland: Hmm.
[00:07:39] David Hall: offer answers the how. So for example, let's say you are running a . Your offer is a, uh, intensive retreat on, uh, social anxiety. A good webinar will really describe the what of social anxiety, like what is social anxiety, what are the causes of social anxiety? What are the, the common family dynamics of social anxiety?
[00:08:07] David Hall: It allows you to establish credibility, but your offer of come join us for this retreat is the transformation
[00:08:14] David Hall: of how to move through it. And because I think people will mess up on webinars on both sides. One, they'll teach too little and it's too salesy,
[00:08:24] David Hall: and that's a real turnoff for a lot of individuals.
[00:08:27] David Hall: I don't like going to webinars that I feel I'm just getting this little crumb, like
[00:08:30] David Hall: you said, James, and like then they're just pitching the entire time. I wanna teach really well. But if you give them too much on the how. Even if it's not really enough for them to implement it, you don't want, you're doing a disservice to your audience if you, if they go away from your webinar feeling that you've give them everything they need on how to implement the solution, because they won't take you up on your offer more than likely.
[00:08:56] David Hall: 'cause it's like, well, I've got enough. But it can be a disservice to them, particularly if they're not really been given enough to implement.
[00:09:04] James Marland: Hmm.
[00:09:05] David Hall: And so you . Answer the question of what really well and give them value. But you're setting yourself up as the person that can take them on the journey of transformation
[00:09:20] James Marland: Yeah,
[00:09:20] James Marland: I've gotten you this far.
[00:09:21] James Marland: you you know me now. I think you like me. You know what I can offer. I gave you good value.
[00:09:26] James Marland: Do you wanna go further with me?
[00:09:29] James Marland: I click this button. Let's go
[00:09:31] James Marland: you know, let's, let's move forward.
[00:09:33] David Hall: Yeah.
[00:09:33] James Marland: Uh, so what are some things, so I wanna get to some tech and tools that you use, but just briefly, can you tell us like, what are some things to not do?
[00:09:42] James Marland: Like what are some mistakes you've made in the past and you're like, oh, I'm not doing that again.
[00:09:47] David Hall: Um, I, I think not. Um. What I've already kind of mentioned, I think in the past sometimes I, I, didn't structure webinars well in this idea that a webinar is
[00:10:00] David Hall: supposed to be a good quality experience, but it is designed to lead,
[00:10:04] David Hall: it is like a good appetizer,
[00:10:06] James Marland: mm-Hmm.
[00:10:07] David Hall: I don't mean like the TGI Fridays jumbo plate appetizer that you can replace a meal with.
[00:10:12] David Hall: It is the true sense of an appetizer that it awakens appetite.
[00:10:17] James Marland: Mm mm-Hmm.
[00:10:19] David Hall: But it is still enjoyable experience and I think sometimes I did not think about my webinars in those ways. One of the best resources I would recommend in the online world for webinars is, um, a book called Expert Secrets by a guy named Russell Brunson
[00:10:34] David Hall: and Russell. yeah.
[00:10:35] David Hall: Russell Brunson, um, is kind of known in online, uh, business world as kind of one of the main webinar guys. He is a part of a company called ClickFunnels.
[00:10:47] James Marland: Mm-Hmm.
[00:10:48] David Hall: And it's a great book, but it really kind of shares his model of how he thinks about webinars. I, I do a modified version of a Russell Brunson webinar.
[00:10:58] David Hall: Um, so one of the things I've learned in, in kinda my style of doing webinars, I make a clear promise in the, uh, title and. So my audience knows exactly what they're getting from the title, and I can have a very clear, measurable on what I'm delivering. For example, um, a very common sort of title I'll have is, uh, I'm, I'm working on a new webinar right now for a course I have on working with narcissism.
[00:11:29] James Marland: Hmm.
[00:11:30] David Hall: the, the working webinar title is gonna be something like three things that People Mistake about . Three common mistakes that people make about narcissism, or three hidden mistakes, or three false assumptions that people make about narcissism.
[00:11:46] David Hall: And I, I like numbers like that because it gives a clear expectation.
[00:11:51] David Hall: The title of, you're gonna attend this webinar and I'm going to share with you the what, what are three things that people often mistake about narcissism? And so that clear sense of promise and then deliver. Important you want, and you want to make sure to deliver what your title promises. And so don't over promise, don't promise something you're not gonna give them.
[00:12:15] David Hall: Uh,
[00:12:16] James Marland: Yeah,
[00:12:17] David Hall: like I'm not gonna, the, my Narcissism course is called Becoming a Narcissist Whisperer. I would not do a webinar with that because I don't believe in an hour I can actually teach
[00:12:27] David Hall: somebody how to become a narcissist whisperer.
[00:12:29] James Marland: Mm-Hmm.
[00:12:30] David Hall: And if I name the webinar that, and I'm giving a promise. They come to the webinar and I'm not delivering on the promise, then I'm not doing a good webinar.
[00:12:37] David Hall: So I, I think some of that is really kind of dialing in very clearly of what's good value, but it's still going to invite them onto something deeper. And I'm realizing that any number of people that attend my webinars are not going to do that. It's only a, you know, 10%, you know, five to 10% of people that attend a free webinar.
[00:12:59] David Hall: I, I do.
[00:13:01] David Hall: We'll then buy, and that's okay because 90% of people may have just been interested in a curiosity sort of sense, or it may not have been the right timing.
[00:13:10] David Hall: I've had people that have gone through webinars multiple times before they buy the offer, and that's okay. Sometimes they need that. But the benefit in a business too, if webinars is, it also is a great chance for you to build up audience because in the webinars system that I use, you
[00:13:27] David Hall: Sign up for a webinar. You've opted into my email list and so you may not take action on that webinar, but you're gonna get, you know, email newsletters from me and you're gonna hear about other things I do in the future. Maybe another webinar. And you may not buy that thing. You may buy something else.
[00:13:41] James Marland: And
[00:13:42] James Marland: I think your, your newsletters like you're constantly adding value. Like I think people keep, stay, stay on your newsletter because, oh, I might not like this webinar, but I know David's gonna send out in a month or three weeks or something, another webinar and another course and another free offering.
[00:13:58] James Marland: And I. Um, just continually adding value keeps you one, you're doing the newsletter with peace of mind or, um, top of mind stuff. You're reminding them where that you're there and talking. But two, you're not just saying buy my stuff.
[00:14:12] James Marland: You're like, Hey, would you like to know more about narcissism? Would you like to know more about the, I know you have, uh, one of your teachers has an Enneagram
[00:14:21] James Marland: course. You know, would you like to know more about this? You're adding you're you're continually adding value. Not saying Bye bye. Bye bye.
[00:14:30] David Hall: Sure. And there are people that do nothing on my email list besides take advantage of the free samples.
[00:14:35] David Hall: And I'm genuinely okay with that because I've had people that have opted into free things sometimes for years, and then they eventually buy something and if they felt, I want people to feel free just to hang out.
[00:14:48] James Marland: Mm-Hmm.
[00:14:48] David Hall: if that's all they do, but they have goodwill towards what I offer them and I help them in their work. You know, as long as enough people buy, I'm okay with it. I don't need necessarily everyone to
[00:15:00] James Marland: Hmm. So, uh, this is why, you know, talking with you now, I realize why our podcast together we're an hour long 'cause you keep more and more questions. But let's, uh, let's kind of try to start wrapping up with like, tools to use
[00:15:13] James Marland: or, uh, like tech for
[00:15:16] James Marland: webinars.
[00:15:18] David Hall: uh, people will do webinars in a lot of different ways. I think in recent years, the most common way that people will often do webinars is with Zoom. And I do not like doing webinars in Zoom for lots of
[00:15:28] David Hall: reasons. Uh, but it, it is, I don't think zoom's good for webinars. I think Zoom is fine for meetings.
[00:15:35] David Hall: It's, it's, but it's. You know, it, it will pitch itself as like, oh, this is great for webinars, but I don't particularly like it as a webinar platform. I don't like the look of it. Um, it's very, you know, you'll end up with everyone's kind of screens up and I've recorded webinars in Zoom and I'm having to manage that.
[00:15:54] David Hall: You know, people there microphones turn on and it interrupts the,
[00:15:58] David Hall: the
[00:15:58] James Marland: I think you can upgrade your Zoom
[00:16:01] James Marland: to a webinar platform, but I've never done that.
[00:16:04] David Hall: Yeah, for more money.
[00:16:05] David Hall: And it just, I don't, I don't think it looks good for it.
[00:16:08] David Hall: Um, there, it doesn't have. And so I prefer systems that are really designed for webinars that they have. You can create opt-in pages, um, registration pages, because I, that's not really a thing you can do in Zoom, um, that it connects to my email.
[00:16:24] David Hall: CRM contact, uh, CRM is contact.
[00:16:29] James Marland: Customer
[00:16:30] David Hall: Customer relationship
[00:16:31] David Hall: management. Yeah, that's, Yeah,
[00:16:33] David Hall: you, you learn acronyms, forget what they mean. But your email management, so whether
[00:16:36] David Hall: it's ConvertKit, which is what I use, active
[00:16:38] David Hall: campaign,
[00:16:38] James Marland: Mm-Hmm.
[00:16:40] David Hall: whatever. So you know, there are a lot of webinar platforms that will integrate with that.
[00:16:43] David Hall: So when someone's opts into your webinar, they'll get it on your email list automatically. Um,
[00:16:48] James Marland: What do you use for webinars?
[00:16:49] David Hall: use Webinar
[00:16:50] David Hall: Ninja.
[00:16:51] James Marland: Webinar Ninja.
[00:16:52] James Marland: Okay, and why do you like Webinar Ninja?
[00:16:54] David Hall: Um, because it, it allows me to do what I want to do in webinars. It is a, a really seamless live webinar experience. I find it's very presentation focused and so it fits my style of webinars.
[00:17:09] David Hall: Uh, it has clear ways for people to, to register. I can create registration pages and it. Connects with my contact with my email management system. Um, there's, once you register, they have their own messaging system, so it will send out reminders through the webinar system. Like, Hey, the webinar's about to start.
[00:17:29] David Hall: And that's a way to message people without, um, constantly sending them emails that they may unsubscribe to. This is
[00:17:37] David Hall: the, it's just the messaging through the webinar itself, but it makes the, the likelihood of people showing up is better. It automatically. Records and stores on my webinars, which is another, uh, nice thing about doing webinars is you can repurpose your information.
[00:17:52] David Hall: Um, I've got dozens and dozens of webinars at this point that I've done and recorded, and I can pull in clips from them for other things I want to use. Um, so yeah, I, I, I like it for all those reasons. Um, Dimeo is one I also recommend to people.
[00:18:09] David Hall: Uh.
[00:18:09] James Marland: DiMio, DIMO di.
[00:18:12] David Hall: D-E-M-I-O, Demio.
[00:18:15] James Marland: Okay.
[00:18:15] David Hall: Um, that's, uh, pat Flynn Smart Press of Income, uh, that he's a big proponent of Demio.
[00:18:22] David Hall: It's what he uses. I, if I wasn't using Webinar Ninja at this point, I'd be using them. There's some other companies like EverWebinar and Webinar Jam and, um, you'll find different pricing for different ones. Um, you can spend a lot on a webinar platform, but, uh.
[00:18:37] David Hall: Uh, webinar Nin is what I use right now, so I recommend that.
[00:18:40] David Hall: I don't recommend using something like Zoom.
[00:18:42] David Hall: I just don't think it's a nice experience.
[00:18:46] James Marland: Okay, good. Uh, so this has been a lot of great information. Uh, do you have a course on webinars? Like
[00:18:56] David Hall: thought about it. I've thought about doing a course on webinars, but I, I'm, uh, I, I get behind in the courses
[00:19:03] David Hall: in my mind, like I'm, I'm, I'm writing actually on the day that we're recording, I'm trying to get my slide deck done for a new ethics course for therapist that I'm recording later
[00:19:12] David Hall: this week. We'll be releasing it
[00:19:15] David Hall: next year
[00:19:15] James Marland: you're a busy guy.
[00:19:17] James Marland: so uh,
[00:19:17] David Hall: it's just, it's just finding the time. I'd like to do a course on webinars at some point in the future. I think I might.
[00:19:22] James Marland: so to wrap up, where, uh, where can people find you? What are some of your offerings? What's your webpage and
[00:19:27] James Marland: things like that?
[00:19:29] David Hall: for those interested in kind of mental health professional development resources, which is a lot of what I do. Um, I am the education director for a group called Psych Maven. We provide approved continuing education as well as career development resources for behavioral health professionals. Uh, you can find [email protected].
[00:19:48] David Hall: Uh, and in there we have links to whatever webinars we're doing currently to, uh, both paid and free courses. We usually have free courses available at some different ones rotated in different times, but if you come on our website, you can find something for free that hopefully has value. Um, I am a group practice owner at Haven uh, counseling Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.
[00:20:10] David Hall: You can find us for that for haven counseling center.com and .I also am, uh, the dean of a nonprofit institute where we provide, uh, resources for, uh, specifically churches and different, um, ministry or parachurch organizations in the Christian tradition looking to integrate the best of behavioral science in.
[00:20:34] David Hall: The work that they do, and it's just kind of an underserved niche that I feel very passionate about. Uh, that's called Nev Institute. You can find us [email protected]. Dot org. And our current podcast we have for that is the church Psychology podcast. You can find information on [email protected].
[00:20:52] David Hall: And that comes out weekly On Mondays, it's just adding the list of the things , as James said, that I do, which is keeping
[00:20:59] David Hall: me from doing a webinar course right now. So
[00:21:01] James Marland: Well, you'll get there
[00:21:02] James Marland: eventually. Yeah. Yeah. Well, David, it's been a pleasure. Thanks so much for joining us on the show.
[00:21:08] David Hall: Yeah. Thank you, James.
[00:21:09] James Marland: All right, and welcome back. Uh, thank you David for those, uh, insights and all those links will be in the show notes. So Don and I are now gonna have a conversation about webinars and marketing your services with webinars. And I, uh, don, you said you like webinars, right? Like you're, you're a big fan.
[00:21:31] Dawn Gabriel: I actually like doing them like myself. Yeah. But I, I do, I am a big fan of them as well. 'cause I think you get to know the person, um, you get to hear them live. It's better than social media because you really get to either, it depends on what type of webinar, but sometimes you can interact and you just get to know them personality wise.
[00:21:52] Dawn Gabriel: I feel like it's one of the best ways to just really engage an audience on a more live. Way. Um, but when I sign up for 'em, I kind of look for like just something I'm interested in and that I need to learn.
[00:22:07] James Marland: Yeah, I, I like to, uh, I like, I, I sign up for a lot of tech ones, you know, and often it's like, uh, I, I use this program called D Script. It's what I edit the show with, and they, they, they have weekly ones now. I don't go to them every week. But often it's like, how do you use templates? And I'm like, oh, I wanna know how to use templates in DS script.
[00:22:29] James Marland: It saves me time. And then it'll be like, how do you create social media posts? I'm like, oh, I wanna create social media posts. Let's show me how to do that. Uh, and so, um. It's solving a problem. It's not solving my universe of problems, but it's gonna show me one way on how to use the tool better. And yes, of course they're, they're gonna sell to people at the end for people who don't use D Script. It's just a, it's solves a problem for me. One of the reasons I go to them, how I. Um, then, uh, choose if it's gonna help me or not, is if it's gonna solve one of those nagging problems that I have. And I think that's one of the, the big reasons why people sign up for webinars. What do you, what do you think?
[00:23:15] Dawn Gabriel: I agree. It's, it's basically like I need to learn something and this is a quick way to do it.
[00:23:21] James Marland: So Dawn, what makes you stay in a webinar or what makes you leave a webinar?
[00:23:27] Dawn Gabriel: Yeah, I've left a few webinars. Um, I think , I think if they like market something and they're not fulfilling what they said
[00:23:37] Dawn Gabriel: and it's it's stuff I already know and it feels like a waste of time. I know that sounds bad, but, um, or if it's so boring, I can't like, attach to it. I just bounce.
[00:23:49] James Marland: Yeah. Yeah. If they, they start with the main, so, you know, you got 30 to 90 minutes. Okay. And if they start with, they, they, they hook you with that promise, like, you're gonna learn this, you're gonna do this. And then they don't deliver on that for like 10 or 15 minutes. Oh man.
[00:24:06] James Marland: Like I got, I got other things to do,
[00:24:08] James Marland: or I'll be doing my email.
[00:24:10] Dawn Gabriel: yeah, like, you better tell me the upfront what we're covering, so I know I'm gonna stay or not. Um, I know, I think somebody once had like a. Some giveaway at the end. I stayed for that. Um, also if they're just personal and more engaging, but if they're boring and like they're just reading the slides, they're showing like, like, let me just read then don't just, yeah.
[00:24:34] Dawn Gabriel: So it needs to be more innovative and more engaging.
[00:24:38] James Marland: And, uh, stories help. I think stories
[00:24:41] Dawn Gabriel: Mm-Hmm.
[00:24:41] James Marland: like use cases and like, this is how I did it, uh, speaks, speaks volumes.
[00:24:47] James Marland: And then the energy. You know, I, I've gone to one where maybe I wasn't a hundred percent sold on what they were saying, but they were very. Enthusiastic. You know, they, they were the biggest fan of what they were doing, and it, it made the, the whole presentation better.
[00:25:05] James Marland: Um, and I've left, I've left webinars from audio issue issues, you know. Like if there's like audio or video issues. Uh, I did stay in, when, when D Script was doing something with squad cast, they, they joined with squad cast and they had a, they had an issue and they had to restart the video a couple times. Like what they were offering though was so amazing. I, I stayed through all the technical issues 'cause I was just like, I gotta figure out what is this is going on. 'cause it was something I needed,
[00:25:40] Dawn Gabriel: Yeah.
[00:25:41] James Marland: uh, I needed. Um, well, what makes you buy from a webinar? Have you bought anything from a webinar
[00:25:49] James Marland: before?
[00:25:50] Dawn Gabriel: That's a great question. Um, probably I've worked with some, yeah, probably like a consulting service or something. Um, or signed up. That's the other thing. I think I, I went to one once, . And I didn't realize it was gonna be so they could just sell the next thing they were doing. And I thought it was very not authentic and it didn't really give me much, it was literally just a sales webinar.
[00:26:15] Dawn Gabriel: So I was really mad about that. But, um, when the person where I, my, I can't stop thinking about it and yeah, I like, I'll sign up for co consulting probably.
[00:26:26] James Marland: Yeah, and it's, it's often, um, you know, I did buy from Joey eventually,
[00:26:31] James Marland: but I went to his webinar twice and there was like 11 months in between, like I wasn't ready.
[00:26:38] James Marland: I wasn't ready the first time I went to it. So I, but I stayed on his list
[00:26:43] James Marland: 'cause he kept offering great stuff. I think that's one of the big reasons people have webinars is just you, uh, you get to know them.
[00:26:52] James Marland: Like
[00:26:53] James Marland: you get to know them, know their personality, know what they're at. And then one of the big things with buying is the, uh, for authentic marketing, I think is you're not pressuring people to
[00:27:04] James Marland: buy. You're, you're on their timeline. Actually, that's what I appreciate about webinars. It's like, if this isn't your time, then you know, this isn't your time, but why don't you stay on our list and maybe it will be
[00:27:15] Dawn Gabriel: Yeah. Well, and that's, that's what I, when I do webinars, um, mine are all free and it's really for people to get to know me and get to know my consulting work and my, like, what I'm offering them. So I know two of the biggest ones I did was one was on, um, creating a leadership team for your group practice.
[00:27:37] Dawn Gabriel: And I've been able to use that with, give it to consulting clients or anyone. And I feel like I've gotten a lot of good feedback on that one. And that one's free. It has some really, and I did it with a friend, and so we use it all the time and just give it
[00:27:49] James Marland: and, and you, but you use it in your practice too,
[00:27:52] James Marland: like. Like it was something you needed
[00:27:55] Dawn Gabriel: Mm-Hmm?
[00:27:55] James Marland: for you and you figured it out and you wanted to share it with other people,
[00:27:59] James Marland: and it's just one of the things you offer.
[00:28:02] Dawn Gabriel: Yeah.
[00:28:02] James Marland: And, uh, I think that's, if it's authentic like that and you're just sharing it, like there's no manipulation for that. It's just like, this is something I use and do, and you can do it too. And I'm gonna tell you about it,
[00:28:16] James Marland: that that's a perfect use case for a webinar. Uh, that I don't, I don't like, uh, the ones that, that feel too salesy,
[00:28:26] James Marland: like.
[00:28:26] Dawn Gabriel: No, not at all. Yeah.
[00:28:29] James Marland: What is the, I think it's, um, Graham Cochrane. He does the, uh, online course. He does online courses, um, and he's on YouTube and whatever, and he has this value circle.
[00:28:40] James Marland: I don't know if you've heard about it. It's just like you, you, you start with like a lead magnet or your webinar and you offer value and then you give the, you're on their newsletter and you give them more value, and then eventually when they're ready, they buy something from you. They get even more value.
[00:28:59] James Marland: You overdeliver
[00:29:00] Dawn Gabriel: Mm-Hmm. .
[00:29:01] James Marland: and they get more value. Like it's this value circle and then they, they give, you get one, you know, you get some money or some recognition and that allows you to offer more. And I think that's, if, if webinars are part of your value circle, I think that's a great way to market your products and services, your team to other people.
[00:29:22] Dawn Gabriel: Yeah, I'm, I'm laughing 'cause the one, the very first webinar I did, I was so used to Zoom being like interactive and so I got on thinking it was like a meeting like of like 20 people and I was ready to interact and then all of a sudden nobody is showing up and I'm like. What's going on. And I didn't realize webinars like, like nobody can interact unless they ask a question.
[00:29:48] Dawn Gabriel: You have to read it. And I was like, oh my gosh. I'm so used to reading faces and feeling the energy of the room. It freaked me out. So I almost, it's funny, I'm doing one, uh, next week and I'm like, can we please make this like just a group meeting so I can
[00:30:03] James Marland: You want a Zoom meeting? Interactive? Yeah.
[00:30:06] Dawn Gabriel: The webinar.
[00:30:08] James Marland: Yeah. For some reason. Um, I like reading the crowd too better. It, it does feel uncomfortable reading, you know, reading your slide and then telling a story. And then there's no like eye contact, no feedback, no laughs, no no nonverbal stuff. Um, I, I think that's why some of the best. Uh, webinars have some sort of like poll or interaction or like time for people to give feedback 'cause that keeps them interested and then it also keeps you interested. Um, I've been to some really big webinars, you know, people from author, you know, people who have authors and whatever. And those people are, um, they're masters at. Audience interaction and, um, it's just exciting. Like when you get that many people responding things,
[00:30:59] James Marland: it's, it's, it's really
[00:31:01] James Marland: exciting. So do you have any, um, uh, so anyways, the, to answer my question about what makes you buy for me it's value and giving me space to, to buy and, uh. And not, not being disingenuous, uh, for that. So do you have any tips, like, do you know, you, you gave gave us a tip already about like you like the interactive side, but do you have software you use or how do you set it up? Do you use slides?
[00:31:28] Dawn Gabriel: Yeah,
[00:31:29] Dawn Gabriel: I.
[00:31:29] James Marland: running your webinars?
[00:31:31] Dawn Gabriel: I've been using Zoom, but I'm actually looking for different platforms and I was, if you have any, I'd love to hear 'em. Um, you don't. Oh.
[00:31:42] James Marland: In fact, I sent, I just sent out a new, I'm sorry, everyone who's not listening to this on Monday, the 27th of November. But there is a program called Sessions. It's on sale right now, and I actually, I. It wasn't on sale, like I bought it and then it went off sale. I bought it on, um, app Sumo,
[00:32:05] James Marland: by the way, tip tip for people, if you do not subscribe to App Sumo, you're missing out because eventually there's these gems that you will find. Not all of them are gems, but they're, it's like. Software trials
[00:32:19] James Marland: that, uh, often they offer lifetime deals for their service instead of the monthly fee and sessions is one of them. And
[00:32:27] James Marland: I just sent out a newsletter on sessions because I was so excited. Like I was like, it went back on sale. I'm gonna tell, I'm gonna blast it to my people. I don't get any money for it. But, um. Sessions and if you can, you can still buy it by the month. But, um, for me it was like two or $300 for a lifetime
[00:32:50] Dawn Gabriel: Ooh.
[00:32:51] James Marland: It offers, I bought tier three plan, which means I can hold six webinars a month,
[00:32:56] Dawn Gabriel: Oh wow.
[00:32:57] James Marland: at 150 people per webinar. It's a Zoom replacement, although I don't know if it's HIPAA compliant, but you can schedule Zoom meetings.
[00:33:07] Dawn Gabriel: Okay.
[00:33:07] James Marland: Um, and uh, it also has a scheduler feature, so I originally bought it crazy. Me, I originally bought it to replace Calendly. Do you know Calendly?
[00:33:20] James Marland: Because it has an a scheduler and this was a lifetime deal. I can have multiple. You know, links to schedule with me. And so, but it does so much more than that.
[00:33:32] James Marland: And now I use it for my meetings when I'm meeting with clients and it's my Zoom. I stopped, I stopped Zoom. So Sessions, I'll send you the link after this. I'll put the link in the, in the show notes too. I doubt they're Black Friday sale will be on, in fact, it dropped when I bought it after about a month or two.
[00:33:49] James Marland: I was like, you know what? I'm probably, when I run webinars, I'm gonna need. I think my, the original was like 50 people on tier one. I'm like, well, I'm gonna need more than 50 people. So I went back to buy it and it was, it was not offered in the lifetime deal anymore. It's like, well, I missed out, whatever. And then when I saw it on Black Friday, I'm like, oh, I gotta tell people about sessions. So I would, you get a two month, you get a two month trial. With it? I think so. I would, I would at least check it out because it's, it's polished. Like sometimes, you know, those, those beta programs aren't really polished. I feel like sessions is fairly polished and they're still building it out.
[00:34:29] Dawn Gabriel: That's awesome. I will definitely get off and do.
[00:34:31] James Marland: tip. And if you're listening to this afterwards, go check. Go check out sessions because if it can replace Zoom candidly, and a webinar program. It does other stuff too. Uh, it's, it's fancier than what I'm using it for.
[00:34:47] James Marland: 'cause you can have agendas and product demos and share your screen and just all the regular stuff. I think you can have breakout rooms too. Like it is, it's a pretty cool full features program. I don't have an affiliate for it. I just like it and I think other people will like it too. So, um,
[00:35:04] Dawn Gabriel: That's a great tip.
[00:35:05] Dawn Gabriel: Yeah, and I would say my tip is to use Canva for the slide, for the slides. It's so easy, it's intuitive. Um, I used to, before that I used to use, um, . Not power. I use PowerPoint and then I switch to Google Slides. But Canva is by far easier for slides, presentations. Uh, it's intuitive, meaning like if I wanted to change a color to match my branding, I literally press one button and then it says, do you wanna apply this to all the slides?
[00:35:33] Dawn Gabriel: And I say Yes. And so it's so easy and they're beautiful and there's
[00:35:39] Dawn Gabriel: templates, it's endless. So that's my tip is use Canva for slides. Um,
[00:35:45] James Marland: and you can, um, I have it in a blog post. Back, back about a year ago. You can make an outline
[00:35:55] Dawn Gabriel: Mm-Hmm.
[00:35:55] James Marland: in Word. Using the headings, like heading one, heading two, heading three, and heading one will be, you can then upload your outline to Canva and it will make the slides according to in your template with the, with your
[00:36:11] James Marland: outline.
[00:36:12] James Marland: So it's, It's.
[00:36:13] James Marland: a pretty, uh, it easy way to, you know, you don't have to type everything out in Canva. You can do make your outline on Word or whatever, uh, Google Docs and then upload it. So it's,
[00:36:24] Dawn Gabriel: Uh, yeah. And you know what else? I just found out I was, um, doing a retreat, uh, just a couple weeks ago and we were gonna be, um, I wasn't gonna be able to use my slides for a presentation, so I actually just went to Canva and hit I. Like converted it to a booklet and printed the booklet. It was so easy.
[00:36:44] James Marland: Oh, yeah, yeah.
[00:36:45] James Marland: They're starting to do a lot of those, uh, conversions. Um, and it has some ai, they, they're adding AI
[00:36:53] James Marland: features to it. it's it's pretty nice. I, I'm a, I'm a Canva Pro subscriber. It's one of the tools I use almost every day. So it's fun. Spent a lot of time, uh, I think I got a, like you've made a thousand projects in Canva Awards,
[00:37:09] Dawn Gabriel: Oh my gosh.
[00:37:11] James Marland: Yeah, I make a lot.
[00:37:13] James Marland: Uh, alright. Okay. So, um, those are some tips for, uh, webinars. I think webinars are, are great for connecting with your audience and sharing and solving a problem and letting them get to know you. Um, uh, as we end on, what's one thing you want the audience to remember about using webinars for marketing?
[00:37:35] Dawn Gabriel: Yeah, I would say, um. Be personal and authentic and not salesy.
[00:37:42] James Marland: That's great. Uh, I'm, uh, that, that reminds me, I'm listening to Mike Michalowicz's book, get Different. It's all on marketing. And, uh, he said Different isn't different. Different is you, like you're d different is more of you. So be more of you. Uh,
[00:37:59] James Marland: I I Love that part. And, and you're, um, so my, my tip would be, uh, add value, you know, just add value. You're not necessarily trying to sell on marketing. I mean, you know, you want people to buy things, but they don't, if they're not getting value, they're not gonna buy
[00:38:16] Dawn Gabriel: Yeah,
[00:38:16] James Marland: So make your, make your, uh, webinar something that solves a problem for them, that they're gonna want more of you if the, if your webinar is so good, your free stuff is so good, what is your paid stuff?
[00:38:30] James Marland: Like, like, make 'em think about that. So that's, that's my one thing.
[00:38:33] Dawn Gabriel: that's a good point.
[00:38:34] James Marland: , so this is James with uh, Don Gabriel. Thanks for listening to the show. We encourage you to take those small steps that lead to big growth. We'll see you next time. ā€‹
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