Market Your Small Business With Live Video and Webinars

As video becomes more important in small business marketing, live streaming and webinars offer powerful and cost–effective tools for promoting your company. It can also expand your reach and interact with customers and prospects.

Unlike a one–way video, live streaming and webinars enable two–way conversation and real time interactivity to help customers form a personal connection with the company that can be difficult to obtain in other marketing channels.

Effective live videos and webinars should accomplish two primary goals: giving viewers information they can apply, and providing a promotional opportunity for your small business. For example, broadcasting live on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn is a great way to reach customers and expand your target market.

Connecting With Your Audience

Small business live videos can encompass a variety of topics:

• New products and promotions
• Advice about using products or services
• Live demonstrations of your products or services
• Answering customer questions
• Interviewing team members, customers or industry experts
• Providing a behind–the–scenes look at your company
• Hosting live sales, like an online shopping channel

Some examples of how–to videos that have been streamed live include bakeries and restaurants showing how various items are prepared, a house painter demonstrating preparation techniques, and a sheep farmer demonstrating shearing.

While your business may not have the visual appeal of shearing sheep, there are a variety of ways you can prepare an informative and entertaining stream or webinar for your customers and prospects.

Planning Your Content

As you’re planning your live stream or webinar, it’s helpful to outline the points you want to make during the presentation and have a rough idea about how much time you want to spend discussing each topic. This will help you maintain your focus and improve your ability to make all of your points.

It’s also a good idea to identify questions you want to ask viewers to promote discussion during your stream. This will help prompt questions and promote engagement during your session. Similarly, you should also think about questions you are likely to be asked, as well as short answers you can share.

Be sure to define a desired outcome or action you want customers to take, such as scheduling a one–to–one call with you or purchasing products using a discount code you distribute during your livestream. Save this toward the end to reward viewers and to make your session feel more educational than promotional.

Equipment Needs

You can get started livestreaming with just your smartphone or tablet, and your platform’s mobile app. For slightly better quality, you can use your laptop and an external camera. Some people find it helpful to have a second device handy to monitor comments, or to provide a backup in case there’s a technology glitch with your primary device.

The screen–sharing and online chat functions of webinars typically require specialized software, which is available from a variety of providers at different prices.

Promote Your Session

Be sure to promote your live stream or webinar by posting the date, time and site where it will take place using your social media feeds, email list and company website. Mention the topics you will be discussing and that you’ll be taking questions and comments.

These steps, and a little experience, will help you gain the advantages of live streaming and webinars in promoting your small business.