Fast Company served up a tasty little treat for marketers last week – Howie Jacobson’s flashback to the pre-email software, pre-Google AdWords marketing era. (Does anyone remember what we actually DID back then?) In way-back mode, Jacobson ponders talking with customers and prospects over the phone and web, and even “shooting for the moon” and recording those events. Pretty incredible, when you consider his audience is a marketer in 1998.

MarketingProfs says: 70% confidence in webinar effectiveness

So of course the technical reality Jacobson defines is table stakes for today’s marketer. But pop quiz: how often do you pull this tool out of your kit? Not often enough, if the MarketingProfs/Content Marketing Institute’s 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report is any indicator. While we have a 70% confidence rating of webinar effectiveness, only 46% of us are using this tactic. Seems like we should move that needle…

Closing the webinar vs. in-person event gap

And while we’re moving needles, can we narrow the “not the same as being there” gap that Jacobson references? True, the webinar will always be short the lukewarm coffee, frigid ballrooms and rubber chicken dinners of its big brother, the in-person event. And, yes, sometimes the audio crackles or a slide lags a few seconds. Maybe some of us even miss that glass of warm white wine with hot prospects at the networking reception. But the reality is we’re all going virtual – at least some of the time – and there are plenty of ways we can give our customers a better webinar experience.

Service

The last time I turned up at a users’ conference, staff members stood ready and waiting to check participants in, provide conference materials, answer questions, moderate panels, manage Q&A, and generally create a positive experience. Not once did a presenter have to climb off the podium to handle any one of these activities. That’s a danger with webinars – the idea that, since it’s all virtual, the presenter should just handle it. The reality is that does a disservice to the presenter, the audience, the participants who have questions and, in the end, the content. Food for thought: during one webinar we produced last week, there were 14 chat questions within the first 5 minutes. Option a) the presenter ignores those, frustrating part of his audience. Option b) the presenter pauses to reply, frustrating a majority of his audience. There’s a reason in-person events staff for audience support; a producer can make your webinar run equally smoothly.

Networking

Even when the white is warm, networking is hot. It’s one of the reasons some of us still go wheels up to trainings in Houston, sales meetings in Chicago and user conferences in Miami. Absent the wine and stick-on nametags, how can you give your customers the benefit of a little peer brain-picking? A little planning here goes a long way. In this brave new social media world you can certainly embrace social tools for a little pre-event connecting. If your event size is appropriate, you can encourage some good old-fashioned ice-breaking. If you want to foster in-session discussion, pre-screen your registration list for a few credible, collegial faces you can call on to start quality conversations. Leave time at the close of your event for some friendly chit chat, or consider offering a breakout room or two for those who might want to continue a debate. The possibilities are endless, with just a bit of preparation.

The long and short of it? There are things folks will always miss about in-person events. But time and budgets mean your customers are likely attending more webinars than in-person events. With a little effort, can we shift the customer perception from “not the same as being there” to “you really should’ve been there”?