For a different take on how information marketing could work I also reached out to a guy I’ve been working a lot with in recent months, Steven Essa. Steven is an absolute genius when it comes to using webinars for businesses, so I figured he’d have some important insights for us.
So for someone looking to use webinars in their info marketing business, how should they go about it? “It’s fairly simple – you have useful information to give to people, so you put it together into a PowerPoint presentation and market it with strong hook, something like ‘how to make $10,000 thanks to blogs’. Set it up on either GoToWebinar, which is $99 a month, or even just in Google Hangouts, and invite people from your list to attend. Then go through the content step-by-step, and make an offer at the end.”
Steven has a very interesting business model that he’s been putting together for a few years now, and which makes the most of outsourcing principles. “When I started, I was working 14-16 hour days,” he said, “and although I was making good money I didn’t feel like that was right. So after a few years I started going into partnerships with other experts and helping them launch their businesses and taking half-ownership. So now I work with six companies, and I have various people working for me – one guy who does web design for all six, one on social media for them all, one doing the admin, and so on. I think of it as the ‘medical centre model’ – a medical centre rents out its space to doctors, and we rent out our expertise and resources to people so that they can concentrate on working with clients.” In that way, Steven has helped others to create their own information marketing businesses, while avoiding one of the key pitfalls of the industry – too many people in this business end up with a brand that only revolves around them, and then suffer from long hours and burnout.
“Webinars are so much better than just having a standard website, because they let you interact with potential clients, take questions, offer solutions, and build rapport and confidence. It can feel a bit awkward selling things to people at first, but as long as you have a product you believe in, by the end of your webinar you’ll have the confidence to tell people what you’re offering because they’ll make it clear that they need and want help.”
Freedom Business Fact File
Name: Steven Essa
Location: Australia
Where will you be in 5 years?: I plan to be using the same model but with about 20 experts rather than the current 6, and with a very streamlines procedure that lets me spend two to four hours a month with each of them, like I currently do. Webinars are starting to blow up as a niche, so I’d be crazy to walk away from it anytime soon.
Software: GoToWebinar, although it can be a little buggy at times; my own Webinator software that lets you record and play back webinars; PowerPoint or Keynote, the presentations I’ve made with those have brought in millions of dollars for me and my clients; Skype, of course; Screenflow, for recording webinars as well – it’s just impossible to choose only three!
Gadgets: Apart from my iPhone, I’m very much a pen and paper kind of person, I don’t use a lot of gadgets.
Where can we find out more?: You can check out my own webinar software that we’ve been developing for four years at www.webinator.biz, and I have a blog at www.stevenessa.com where you can sign up for our newsletter.
