In-person seminars, presentations, and seminars help you nurture prospects and close new business.
Are you investing resources in running in-person seminars, presentations, and webinars to nurture prospects and close new business? Congratulations, you’re on the right track! Benchmark research conducted by RainToday (How Clients Buy 2009 Benchmark Report on Professional Services Marketing & Selling from the Client Perspective) shows buyers of professional services use in-person seminars (66%), presentations at a conference or event (62%), and webinars (45%) to initially identify and learn more about service providers.
But which marketing approaches should you use to reach prospects to let them know about these events? As it turns out, buyers learn about in-person seminars and presentations in relatively similar ways. Direct mail tops the list, with roughly three-quarters of buyers learning of seminars and presentations via an invitation or brochure they receive in the mail. The majority of buyers who attend these events also learn about them from a colleague or via an email sent directly to them from the service provider.
Buyers learn about webinars differently: three-quarters of buyers learn of these events from an email sent by the service provider, the most common publicity method. Roughly 42-44% of buyers also learn of webinars from a colleague or via direct mail from the provider.
Paid advertising—whether in print or online—fell near the bottom of the list. Not surprising.
If you use in-person seminars, presentations at events, or webinars in your services marketing plan, which outreach methods best work for you?
