In May, I wrote an article on Webinar Wire talking about a new webinar production company called Business Expert Webinars. Last week the company issued a press release highlighting their 100th for-fee webinar. I decided to call up the president and CEO of Business Expert Webinars and ask him about this early period in his company's growth.
Lee Salz was willing to share some of his discoveries, as well as what he has changed in the basic business model to make the offering work better for speakers and audiences. As a quick backgrounder, the basic idea is that business subject matter experts on a wide variety of topics can sign up to deliver educational courses in their area of expertise. Lee's company handles the technical side of the webinar production and promotion, and splits the enrolment fees with the speakers. Lee has been using ConferTel as the underlying web and audio conferencing provider.
Lee told me that the single biggest thing he learned early on is that being a subject matter expert does not make a person an expert in how to market or promote their topic. He would send speakers a form asking for a description of their webinar and receive "a sentence and two bullet points." He tried giving educational seminars for speakers on how to describe and promote web events so that audiences will be interested, but didn't see a big improvement in the promotional materials he would receive. People may not have the skills or the time needed to create effective marketing copy. So Lee finally decided to change his operational model. His company now produces the marketing copy for each event and lets the speakers concentrate purely on their content.
Lee also mentioned that attendance at events varies not just with the topic, but with the speaker's perceived expertise and drawing power. The site has dramatically expanded the amount of information available about speakers. You can search through a gallery of head shots and drill down to find a biography, testimonials, optional audio or video greeting, links to articles or blogs, and even a link to Amazon to buy books written by the speaker. Lee says that speakers who invest the time to build up their professional bona fides on the site are rewarded with higher attendance rates. This area is also important because Lee remains adamant that webinar content must remain marketing-free. If someone pays to learn about a subject, they must not receive a promotional pitch for the speaker's services or company. So the profile information becomes the only place that speakers can promote themselves. There are now over 150 speakers signed up with Business Expert Webinars.
The company promotes and markets the seminars through a combination of affiliate sites, newsletters, search engine optimization, and Lee's own internet radio show. Lee says they are still in a growth period and he continues to invest in new enhancements to the website and support features for speakers, while building awareness about their business topics and educational offerings.
It's nice to see this venture growing and experiencing early success. I think we are likely to see more entrepreneurs trying out variations on this business model. Lee is nicely positioned as an early visionary in the space.
