The first webinar I ever watched was a webinar by HubSpot‘s Mike Volpe in 2005 or 2006. I remember being in awe that I could sit at my desk, learn something from someone who knew what he was talking about, and it was free! Well, that got me started on my “webinar junkie” path (which clearly had an impact on me starting this site), and looking back, I realize I was really lucky to have gotten started with one of the best companies in the webinar space. Here’s what I like about HubSpot’s webinars and why I think they “get it”:
1) They’re not overly salesy
Many webinar hosts set out to be neutral in what they present, but oftentimes end up selling themselves more than teaching the concepts. I do agree that hosts need to “sell” themselves at some point during the webinar to help with lead generation, but that should not be the focus (unless of course, that’s explicit in the webinar description). In my 4-5 years of watching HubSpot webinars, there was only one where I thought it crossed the line of being too salesy.
2) Highly Interactive
HubSpot always make sure they have plenty of time to answer participants’ questions. I think it helps they they have someone monitoring the chat and Twitter, so they notice trends in the questions, or can answer the better ones first.
They also just started a new series of webinars called “Weekly Live Website Optimization: Using Website Grader for Marketing Sucess” every week on Tuesdays and Fridays. All HubSpot does during this webinar is look at and review 3-5 of YOUR websites, and make suggestions for SEO, getting found online, increasing conversion, etc. There’s no agenda, no PowerPoint presentation… just a live review, with the website owner on the phone to answer any questions and comment. Here’s the information for their next session, and a video of last week’s session is below.
3) They deliver what they say they’re going to deliver
The title and agenda they lay out in their emails and on their site, is always delivered upon on the webinar. I never feel like I was a victim of “bait and switch.”
4) They are knowledgeable
HubSpot definitely knows what they are talking about. I don’t take this for granted, as I have seen many webinars where the host seems to only know what they have written in their script, and nothing more. So listening to the Q&A section is not worth the time. Mike Volpe and the rest of the HubSpot crew really know their stuff. And, if you think about it, using webinars as a lead generation tool, that’s probably one of the most important success factors in converting a webinar viewer into a customer.
Other hosts I have seen who similarly ”get it”, are Awareness Networks, Likeable (formerly The Kbuzz), MarketingProfs, VistaPrint and WOMMA.
Have you had similar experiences with HubSpot’s webinars? What other hosts do you feel really “get it”? What other success factors do you think show that a company “gets it”?
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