This past Thursday, I taught a new webinar and 11,228 people registered for it. That’s a whole lot of people who registered for something that's dead or going out of style.
I want to share an observation. I have been in business for going on 12 years. I started my business in 2010 because I couldn’t find the kind of legal job I wanted after graduating from law school in 2009 in the midst of a recession. That means I’ve had to study marketing and develop the skills to get potential clients to notice me and my business for almost 12 years. Whether I was selling legal services, digital products, courses, coaching, events, physical products like posters, t-shirts and tote bags, books or retreats – no matter what I created, I had to figure out how to sell it. After selling a lot of stuff over a long period of time, I have noticed a pattern.
Something is always dead.
I have seen articles in the last six months that claim that webinars are dead. I have also seen Twitter threads about how blogging is dead (except now newsletters are booming and they are almost the same thing). I’ve seen content about Facebook ads being dead. And I read an article several years ago claiming podcasting is dead (but it’s only gotten bigger).
My point is that there are always going to be folks declaring that certain strategies or tools just don’t work anymore. Often it’s the declaration that our favorite marketing strategy no longer works that sends us into a panic – not the actual strategy not working – just the thought of the strategy not working. It’s up to us to choose whether or not to believe the heralder’s of death. Are you listening to the heralders of doom, [First Name]?
The same is true for economic downturns.
There is a lot of scary messaging out there declaring that a recession is looming and that inflation is out of control. The real estate market is cooling and we all better brace ourselves for impending doom.
There’s obviously truth to economic patterns and bear markets and bubble’s bursting. Gas prices are up. Travel costs are expensive. I checked my stock portfolio the other day and the value has definitely gone down. However, I don’t plan on selling anytime soon so I’ve chosen not to worry about temporary fluctuations.
Again, it’s the scary messaging that often sends us into a panic and causes us to start making decisions rooted in scarcity and fear. Even though we may not have experienced any significant change in our lives related to current economic conditions.
This means, when folks tell you that certain strategies don’t work anymore or they tell you that your business idea isn’t viable or they tell you that you need to hide and laylow until the recession passes, know that even if there are some cold, hard facts to back that up, your commitment to your business is what matters more.
The tried and true remains tried and true
The truth is that not all webinars, businesses, or economic downturns are made equal. Webinars may stop working for one company and work extremely well for another. The recession may create increased demand in your industry, which could be great for your business. And your focus, commitment and determination are a massive factor that should not be disregarded. Don’t trust what folks say about what will and won’t work right now. Don’t allow other people’s opinions to send you into a panic. Remember what you know to be true about your industry, business and clients, and let that be your guide.
Here’s what I learned after hosting an 11,228 person webinar this week.
1. Topic is everything. Webinars are only dead when your chosen topic doesn’t at all resonate with your audience. In my case, my team and I assessed what people ask us for or asked about the most over the last year. We looked for that one piece of content that keeps coming up over and over again. For us, it’s my $10k in 10 days challenge. The concept of making $10,000 in 10 days really resonates with people (and it really works!). My audience wants to make more money and in this webinar, I showed them exactly how to do it quickly. If you want a ton of people to show up to your webinar, teach it on a topic that your audience is obsessed with.
2. Set a big ‘ol goal. My team and I set a goal of 10,000 registrants for this webinar. I believe the most we’ve ever had register for a webinar in the past was 6,000 prior to this event. But we wanted to go big or go home. We set the goal of 10,000 registrants and then got busy trying all different kinds of ways to get the word out so we could offer the opportunity to join us to as many people as possible.
3. Choose a strategy. Our strategy to get our webinar in front of enough people that 10,000 could join was a classic combo of organic reach, paid ads, and our existing list. We wrote a series of organic emails to invite our audience to the webinar. We also wrote social media posts and recorded a podcast on the topic to help get the word out. In addition to all of that, we ran Facebook ads, and we had our lowest click through rate in recent history because of the interest in the topic. We did not spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads – in fact we spent much less than we budgeted.
4. Commit to the win-win. How can you ensure that you win and your customer wins? For example, I definitely want everyone who attended the webinar to join The Club. But I was also committed to giving so much value and step-by-step strategy that anyone who took the time to attend would be able to conduct their $10k in 10 days challenge, even if they didn't join The Club. We wanted this webinar to be a wild success because we love this topic so much and because we wanted to help as many people as possible. (We also are hosting our annual $10k in 10 Days Challenge in the Club during the month of June and really wanted as many people as possible to know about.)
5. Lastly, we wanted to have a super strong month financially. We’ve taken a couple of lumps over the last few months – we made bets that did not pan out (I am sharing the details of this on an upcoming podcast episode) so I really wanted a win for myself and my team. When you really want something you don’t do the ho hum business as usual. Instead, you spend more time obsessing over the slides. You spend hours finding the perfect gifs and the fun throwback photos. You tell your friends, and record videos, and make reels (even though you hate making reels). You have daily meetings with your team to game plan and divide the work. You review every email, landing page copy and social post. You obsessively check Ontraport to see how many registrants are rolling in and tracking reality in relation to success metrics. When you really want to have a smashing success of a webinar, you do things differently. You show up with a focused energy, and that energy translates into every bit of the experience.
What made this webinar work so well is the same things that have worked in business since the beginning of time: 1) caring deeply about your customers 2) desiring to serve them at a high level, 3) being so passionate about your message that you are willing to embarrass yourself and try new things to get it out into the world as far and as wide as possible, 4) delivering on your promise and 5) having a good time while you do it.
If you would like to catch the replay for this webinar that got so much attention this week, you can grab the replay for two more days here.
And if you want to learn sustainable business strategies that allow you to grow your business in any economic climate (and have the community to support you when naysayers start telling you “blogging is dead”) you should join The Club.
The Club is my membership community for entrepreneurs and aspiring millionaires who want access to business education, impactful coaching and a powerful, engaged community of diverse entrepreneurs.
And I am thrilled to share that we are now offering interest-free, no-fees-of-any-kind financing through our third-party partner, Wizebank. You get access to capital to purchase high quality education at no cost to you and we get to work with you as our client. The epitome of win-win. Check out your personal payment plan here.
I’m here to tell you that if you want an 11,228 person webinar, you can have it. It’s within your reach.
xo,
R
PS: The doors to the Club close very soon. Register now and earn back your investment (and then some) during our annual Club $10k in 10 days challenge next month.
