I learned something important during the launch of the Product Launch Essentials seminar. Included in the launch activities were 3 webinars I conducted to help generate awareness, and to encourage viewers to download my new ebook.
Too hot, too cold or just right?
The challenge I encountered with the webinars is content. There is a delicate balance between engaging the audience while not giving away content that we typically sell. I had a belief that it was not good etiquette for me to overtly sell the seminar. I didn’t have any evidence to support that belief, but I had it just the same.
In the first webinar – 10 Ways to identify an Impending Product Launch Disaster – I had one slide that provided upcoming locations and dates for Product Launch Essentials and a URL to the launch landing page on the Pragmatic Marketing web site. It should be OK to mention the seminar and let viewers go learn for themselves, I thought. In the second webinar – Tips for Product Launch Marketing Success – I followed the same pattern. It was really more of an “oh by the way we have this new seminar” mention.
Apparently too cold
Then a funny thing happened. I received requests from viewers wanting more information about Product Launch Essentials. Some were even perturbed I didn’t discuss it more. The situation embarrassed me. I was so afraid of offending my audience that I glossed over the whole point of the webinar series – to sell the audience on attending Product Launch Essentials. It was about SELLING. I just didn’t want to be seen as the Sham-Wow guy.
At this point I was wondering if I was doing my audience and Product Launch Essentials a disservice by not discussing it in more detail. Did I blow it? Would they be back to watch the third installment in the series?
Going for it
I had one more chance. For the third webinar – Launch Owner: Superhero of a Product Launch – I shifted gears. I set my fear of offending my audience aside and added content that provided more context about Product Launch Essentials and even a little sample from the seminar content itself.
You can be the judge. Too hot, too cold or just right?
