How Webcasting Has Reshuffled the Deck for Businesses

Webcasting can easily improve your team’s marketing efforts. Still underused by plenty companies, at this point, knowing how to take advantage of this could put your company front and center of your target market. If you want to build awareness for your brand and business, this can be a wise and practical move.  

 

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Higher Engagement

DMN says about 71 percent of employees who took part in a survey stated they had had already attended a video webcast before. Out of those attendees, more than three quarters of them reported that the ability to see the presenter improved their engagement. That’s the kind of response you want from your audience. It’s not enough to send in emails anymore or chat. Visual interaction is changing the landscape and taking consumer engagement to another level.

 

A lot of Apprehensions  

Given those results, it’s a surprise to know that only about 4 in 10 employees say they’re willing to undertake the task of hosting one a video cast, with about 6 saying they were apprehensive and not the least bit comfortable with the idea. In fact, out of 10, only 2 have had experience in doing so in the past.

 

Resolving Those Issues

Much of it, one can imagine, involve one simple issue: lack of training. Without one, most aren’t comfortable using new technology. But if that were provided for, then one can expect those fears and issues to be addressed and resolved, sooner or later. Technical training, especially, will prove to be invaluable, giving users the ability to troubleshoot issues on their own, which could lead to better webcasts and fewer bounce rates.

 

Massive Reach

Aside from yielding higher engagement levels, webcast solutions also expand market reach in a most effective way. It allows users to get their message across to a higher audience. Whether the point is to update everyone in the company all at the same time, or to reach out to a consumer audience that’s wider and bigger than ever before, tools like the BlueJeans corporate webcasting software allow for massive reach. What differentiates this mode of communication from the rest—emails, voice calls, chats—is the sense of being able to talk to someone, face to face, to hear them speak, to see their thoughts flash across their face. This brings communication levels to a different level. It’s the difference between watching a film and a play up close. With a film, you can pause it mid-way to take a break. You can go to the kitchen for some popcorn. You’re detached. You know it’s an illusion. That’s why many consumers are disengaged. As soon as they hear a pitch, they ru the other way. With a play, you’re not just the audience, you’re a part of the experience, just by being there. That is exactly the kind of connection visual interaction taps into. You aren’t just a bystander now. You’re a part of the whole.

 

Bigger Crowds, Smaller Costs

It’s not surprising that about 90 percent of businesses says saw a marked and significant increase in market reach after using webcasts to promote their brands, says Small Biz Technology. In a way, this has also allowed companies with smaller pockets to compete with big brands and businesses. They won’t have to spend millions in advertising dollars just to reach out to their target segment. It’s a win. They get to expand their reach without blowing their budget. Another way this has proven to be cost-effective is that webcasts mean businesses can reach out to anywhere without the need to travel. That means no hotel costs, transportation fees, gas, food and other travel-associated expenses.

 

Bigger Revenues

Webcasts make it easy to connect to and engage with customers. That helps teams reach out to more customers in a day, improving lead generation. That, in turn, leads to better sales and conversions. At the end of the day, as market reach improves and conversions rise, it’s easy to see how effective webcasts can be in changing a company’s ROI and bottom line.


Meaning Matters

Still, one of the first things companies must learn if they hope to stay on top of their game is to remember that content still reigns. Consumers are tired after a long day at work. They aren’t in the mood to listen to a pitch after hours of tap-dancing for the boss. They haven’t slept. By knowing your audience inside-and-out, you’ll be able to hit upon the ideal topics. These are the topics that matter to them, that they’d be unable to resist, that they’d click and listen to as soon as webcast pops on their feeds. That’s the level of engagement you want.

 

Final Thoughts

Don’t stay stuck in marketing old-think. If you’re still using email to connect to your target audience, exploring newer and far better options is already long overdue.

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