Oct 9, 2017
Somebody quadrupled the business of one software company they worked with. Then 12x’d the growth of another software company they worked with. And did it with the help of leveraging over 200 partner webinars. So naturally, we had to get this incredibly intelligent marketer on the show to reveal his strategies.
In this episode, the legendary Sid Bharath explains how he strategically used partner webinars to get free traffic, build relationships, and grow LemonStand and Thinkific to exponential heights. Plus, plenty of actionable tips and growth strategies you can implement in your webinar marketing to experience massive results.
Episode Discussions:
- The difference in effectiveness between webinar swaps and big boom launch promotions and how to decide which one is right for you
- The webinar trick that turns cold traffic into super-hot traffic (and keeps popping up in the show)
- Direct selling on partner webinars: yes or no?
- The most effective webinar content for attendees from internal lists, partner webinars, and cold traffic
- Tips on nurturing relationships with influencers
- When it makes sense to outsource marketing tasks
- Marketing strategies Sid used to grow a software company with an e-commerce platform
- Marketing strategies Sid used to grow an online course platform
- Why partner webinars are the most effective strategy for consistent growth
- Where and how to find influencers
- How to contact industry influencers and get them to do a partner webinar
- Your main focus during massive webinars with large audiences should be this
[2:27] What makes Sid special:
-Lover of learning: Reads books, follows other marketers, listens to podcasts, takes courses
-Is exposed to various companies by working with them
-Ties together core concepts behind successful people and comes up with repeatable solutions to implement in other companies
[3:15] Sid's first full-time role as head of marketing for LemonStand (software company with E-commerce platform)
- His core strength was content but needed to produce quicker results
- Used targeted ads to boost content and achieved instant results
- Created e-book "50 Shades of Growth" with 50 growth hacks for e-commerce platforms
- Got industry influencers to contribute to and promote the e-book
- Promoted book launch with a contest to win discounts from various software companies
- Did JV webinar swaps with other software companies
[6:34] The difference in effectiveness between webinar swaps and big boom launch promotions
- When you're doing a big promotion or boost, you connect with influencers and start relationships which can be converted into a partnership webinar down the road.
- If you have the resources, do both and you'll get big spikes and steady growth.
- If you don't, lean toward the partner webinars which provides dependable growth
[8:30] "If you have a good list of partners, influencers, or affiliates who are willing to push your contest on launch day, then your contest will be successful. Contests work on momentum."-SB
[9:12] For consistent growth, strategy, and progress, partner webinars are more effective.
[9:25] The great thing about partner webinars is you're building relationships with some really awesome people and that's the name of this game — the name of marketing."-JE
[10:09] Head of marketing for Thinkific (online course platform):
- Used ads while creating partnerships and content for long-term strategy
- Worked well and hired a full-time employee to allow Sid to focus on exploring other channels.
- Whatever worked was outsourced. Whatever didn’t was scrapped.
[11:08] Testing:
- Focused on getting more traffic using ads and scrapped ads that didn't produce.
o Twitter ads didn't work
o Facebook Ads worked
- Discovered Convertkit consistently did partner webinars
- Hired someone to contact influencers and software partners to build relationships and book webinars
[12:47] What was your strategy for contacting these influencers and how would you get them to agree to a partner webinar?
- Started with people who were still building their influence.
- “Even if they sent 10 people, I'd still do the webinar because one day they may be big. But it was slowly building up our base to which we could go to bigger influencers and work our way up the ladder to get those bigger names."
- Continued to build relationships over time.
Pro tips in dealing with influencers:
- Start by giving value and helping them with their needs before you ask for anything in return.
- As you give value, approach them about doing a webinar together.
- Keep nurturing relationship with influencers that say no.
[16:28] Where do you find all these influencers?
"We expanded into the [influencers] that no one's heard of."
[19:11] For massive webinars where people have already signed up for a free version of software, the focus is on delivering pure value and motivating them.
[20:20] Sid aims for a 15% conversion rate, 20% is great. Has reached 30%.
[20:49] Most effective and impactful content inside the webinar itself:
- The content depends on the source of the attendees.
- If they're coming from an internal list, they're already aware of the platform. Gear the content toward helping them be successful on the platform.
- For partner webinars, focus on more basic information about the product and how to use it.
- For cold traffic, help them get an instant result during the webinar (Sid offers no free trials and still converts at 10-15%)
[24:11] What's next for Sid:
Started own consulting business helping other companies with their marketing. Hopes to eventually build his own software product or e-commerce business using the same learnings from growing other businesses.
Connect with Sid:
Follow and watch a behind-the-scenes look at how I’m personally launching a brand new 6 & 7 figure product from scratch at SoldWithWebinars.com/TV
Join our Facebook group at SoldWithWebinars.com/Experts