With the uprising of social media marketing, we find that most of the interaction we have each day happens over the world wide web. Whether it be through emails or direct messages on things like Facebook and Twitter, using the internet is undoubtedly the main way to reach out to our audience. But when it comes to things like podcasts and how to make a webinar presentation, things can get a little more complicated. So what can you do?
Dustin Matthews knows. Dustin is the president of Speaking Empire, a company that works with small businesses and the like and teaches them how to create killer presentations in order to generate more traffic. He’s also the co-writer of an amazing book with the Dan Kennedy, titled No B.S. Guide to Powerful Presentations: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Plan to Sell Anything with Webinars, Online Media, Speeches, and Seminars. With that much experience under his belt, it’s safe to say that Dustin knows what he’s doing, and he’s here to give you the top five tips on how to make a webinar presentation and do it well.
The CLICK Technique: “K” For Keep Going
Before we jump into the details of what Dustin has to offer, we can’t forget to talk about The CLICK Technique! A free five-day service that I created myself, The CLICK Technique is an easy-to-use instructional guide for small businesses that are just getting off the ground. Each letter in the word “CLICK” stands for a different component needed for true success, and when they’re combined together with a little hard work and perseverance, the results are guaranteed.
In the case of how to make a webinar presentation, we’ve categorized it under the “K”, which stands for “keep going”. After you’ve put in the hard work of constructing your website, getting your ads all lined up, and gearing your marketing strategies, you’ve got to push forward to see success. You have to keep going, and put in the time and elbow grease to make sure you’re still doing everything that you can to cultivate results for you, and your business.
This case is no different! Once you’ve gotten your legs into the ground, you have to keep pushing forward in order to reach out to a wider audience. You need to have a foundation in order to start selling and really increasing your presence, and utilizing the power of a webinar is one of many ways to start the push and get your name and brand out there! If you put in the effort, you will reap the benefits.
How To Make A Webinar Presentation: 5 Components
Now that we know what to focus on, it’s time to discuss how to make a webinar presentation. Dustin—with his years of experience—says that there are five core components necessary for creating a webinar, and pulling them together can give you the results you’re looking for. Those components are as follows: intro, story, body, offer, and close. Each section is important, and each section flows into the next, providing you with an easy-to-follow yet highly informative webinar that’ll give people the value they’ve come to see.
Firstly, though, we must make sure that—regardless of what you’re doing—you have a structure to it. And the most important thing, maybe above all else, is getting people into action. They need to want to be apart of whatever it is you’re selling in order for the webinar itself to work, and how to make a webinar presentation relies highly on your ability to keep things smooth and entertaining.
Step 1: Intro
The first step in how to make a webinar presentation is making your introduction. Dustin starts his process off by encouraging himself—and others—to look around at pop culture. For example, when you go to a professional sports game, the stadium goes dark as the sportscaster booms over the speakers with a killer introduction for the home team. The lights go crazy, music is blasting, and the anticipation in the room involved with seeing their favorite team in the flesh is enough to make the entire experience worth it, right off the bat.
With webinars, it’s no different. You want to look into what people are doing and model your introduction after what’s already working. Using that feeling of excitement and anticipation in regards to how to make a webinar presentation makes people enjoy the experience all the more.
In addition, whenever you give a presentation, get someone to introduce you and get the crowd warmed up. When you go to a concert, the headlining band always has two or three acts open for them, and in your case, having an announcer is your opening act. As Dustin says, you need to make yourself seem like someone who’s worthy of being introduced. That gets you on the map.
Step 2: Story
After you’ve created the perfect introduction, the next step is to work on a story. Every great marketing message—and by extension, webinar—has a story, and the best ones are the ones about transformation. You want to get your audience on your side by sharing the beginnings of what you did and how you got into what you’re currently pursuing. Showing your genuine interest is what people remember the most, and it makes for an interesting start.
On top of that, Dustin says you want to make sure you tell the story of “before” and “after”. Using what you’re offering as a platform to showcase what you were, and what you could help people understand what they’re getting themselves into, and when it comes to examples? You are one! A walking success story is a convincing thing, and when it comes to how to make a webinar presentation, personal success is as genuine as it gets.
Step 3: Body
Once you’ve told your tale, you want to get to the real meat of what your presentation is all about. The body is where the value comes from, and when it comes to how to make a webinar presentation, the body is arguably the most important part of what you’re trying to do.
The body is where you talk about what you’re selling, and in order to make things run as smoothly as possible, you want to make things simple and break down what you’re doing into easy to follow steps (sound familiar?). For example, say you’re a health instructor, and your webinar is about weight loss. In your case, your pitch might sound something like “The 5 Best Solutions To Weight Loss”—giving you a clear cut of where you’re going and giving the audience a system to follow that isn’t complicated. If you have a process for making people and/or your product successful, then break it down!
Then, once you’ve gotten your process broken down, make sure to tell a case study between each step you list. And no, Dustin doesn’t mean a cheesy testimonial, but a real story with real results and how they affected the person involved. For example, let’s circle back to the health instructor. If their first step was to tell a client to drink more water, the story they tell might include checking up with a patient after a week of drinking water every day, and the patient has lost three pounds because of it. The truth is what people need to know, and the truth is what you should deliver when discussing how to make a webinar presentation.
Step 4: Offer
Once you reach the end of the body, you need to think of an offer that’ll get people motivated to give what you’re selling a shot. And when we say “selling”, we don’t mean the actual act of exchanging goods and services for money.
It’s your job as a communicator to deliver value, and that includes letting them know that there is a problem. Sometimes, people aren’t entirely aware of what they’re going through and enlightening them to what the situation helps them in the long run, as well as yourself—and your business.
In terms of how to make a webinar presentation, you’ve also got to bring education to your value. There’s a challenge that exists in the world of marketing, and you’ve got to remind that there’s a solution to what they’re going through and the problem that they’re facing. (That solution, of course, is you and your product!)
Also, when you’re wrapping things up, make sure to open your statement with something along the lines of: “Would you like me to share with you the same system that [x company] uses?” The people who didn’t believe at first—along with those that did—will say yes, and when they do, that’s when you create the irresistible offer they’re looking for.
Step 5: Close
Closing out the webinar involves a lot of interaction and engagement between you and your audience. If you want to sell your service without selling it, along with getting people into action, you’ve got to give them massive value, and case studies that provide proof for what you’re trying to push.
An important thing to note as well during your process of how to make a webinar presentation is making sure that you’re engaging with your audience throughout the duration. With things like podcasts, that tends to be a little more difficult, as you’re not in real time with the people listening. However, with webinars, you have to work the chat box. Tell people to engage, ask them questions, and learn what their biggest takeaway is from what you’ve offered them.
If you’ve got the means, having someone else run your chat box for you is an easy way to stay connected to your audience without making the frame all about you, and attempting to keep up with the replies. Dustin uses this technique all the time and can speak to its success rate and how it makes interaction that much easier.
A final note to leave on is a piece of advice that Dustin says will help anyone: whatever your goal is, take one small action a day towards making that goal a reality. When you do that, even if it seems small, you’re creating momentum towards your final destination. By the end of the year, you’ll have done a minimum of 365 actions towards your goal! Inspiring and full of wisdom and success stories, Dustin is a man bursting with useful information, especially when it comes to how to make a webinar presentation. His words give us momentum to get going, and hopefully, his easy to follow process can help you with your future webinar endeavors!