Some of the most effective marketing tools these days are webinars. They are inexpensive (sometimes free) to attend. And since you can participate from wherever you are there are no travel costs and frankly the time commitment isn’t that great.
The question is, what are the best ones to attend? Years ago I must admit I attended two in a row that were not only very basic but an infomercial for the company who was presenting. I understand that hosting companies need to see the value, but I believe the payoff will be big if the webinar is done correctly. My goal is to walk away learning a few things and unfortunately that didn’t happen during the ones I attended.
Some of the companies and associations (I haven’t attended many of these) that have webinars include:
- American Marketing Association
- CASRO
- Confirmit – software
- Cvent
- Dunn & Bradstreet
- Forrester Research
- Global Bay – software
- GMI
- Marketing Research Association
- MarketTools
- Nielsen Claritas
- Peanut Labs
- Vovici
Now your turn to add to the list:
- What webinars have you attended?
- What webinar did you learn something from?
- What webinars would you recommend?
I look forward to reading your comments.
Beth Rounds says:
Merrill.
MarketTools is one word.
MTi has received very positive feedback on their webinars and is a big part of their marketing strategy.
Beth R
Merrill Dubrow says:
Beth,
Appreciate you mentioning that. That was my mistake – we will get it changed right away.
Speak to you soon.
Merrill
Paul Kirch says:
I think Perficency (www.perficency.com) puts on as good of a Webinar as anyone. Most Webinars are not that engaging, but I think Tom Batchelder comes up with very relevant topics and does a nice job of getting the message across.
Melanie says:
I think that MRA has the best Webinars in the industry. If you think about it, why are Webinars so bad? Lot’s of Webinars are pure sales. However, MRA strives to serve the industry with high quality education rather than just regurgitate a sales pitch. Another reason Webinars can be brutal is when the speakers are reading or simply untrained. At MRA, there is a whole committee of professionals dedicated to hand picking industry leaders to present Webinars on the latest and most current market research topics. MRA also trains their speakers before the Webinar. We all know that practice improves any performance. Finally, all MRA Webinar attendees get to take a hard copy of the Power Point deck home with them to refer back to later on. I always find this helpful. So, all in all, my favorite place to watch a Webinar is MRA.
Ellen Heinz says:
It’s a fact – MRA has the best webinars out there!
Merrill Dubrow says:
FYI – HERE IS SOME FREE UPCOMING WEBINAR’S
From the leaders in Online Qualitative Research solutions, 20/20 Research is proud to announce our upcoming schedule of FREE webinars. (Click on the title for more information)
1. An Introduction to Online Qualitative Research
2. An Exploration of QualMeeting
3. An Exploration of QualBoard
4. Answers to the Top 10 FAQs for Moderators New to Online Research (Guest Speaker: Judy Langer)
To register for any of these sessions, CLICK HERE and respond with the Title and Date of the sessions(s) you wish to attend. Feel free to forward this e-mail to your colleagues.
Thanks for your interest in 20/20… and, as always, thank you for your business,
Steve Henke, President
(800) 737-2020, ext. 324
FOR THOSE FAIRLY NEW TO ONLINE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH…
An Introduction to Online Qualitative Research uses case studies and real-world applications to help you understand the top platforms available today:
– Online bulletin boards
– Webcam focus groups
– Video-based research
– Text-message mobile research
Dates & times:
– Friday, March 20 – 11AM Central (12Noon Eastern, 9AM Pacific)
– Tuesday, March 24 – 3PM Central (4PM Eastern, 1PM Pacific)
– Friday, March 27 – 3PM Central (4PM Eastern, 1PM Pacific)
– Tuesday, March 31 – 3PM (4PM Eastern, 1PM Pacific)
– Friday, April 3 – 3PM Central (4PM Eastern, 1PM Pacific)
– Tuesday, April 7 – 11AM Central (12Noon Eastern, 9AM Pacific)
– Tuesday, April 14 – 3PM Central (4PM Eastern, 1PM Pacific)
Limit: 25 participants per session
Merrill Dubrow says:
HERE IS ANOTHER WEBINAR THAT I THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE:
Come join me at MRGA 101 Web Seminar Official Platform Training on Market Research Global Alliance
Market Research Global Alliance
A By Invitation Only Global Social Network for Market Researchers
Eric Bell – MRGA Founder Eric Bell – MRGA Founder has invited you to the event ‘MRGA 101 Web Seminar Official Platform Training’ on Market Research Global Alliance!
Dear MRGA Members,
Back by popular demand, The MRGA is offering a second training session this time in the evening from 6:00 PM – 7PM Pacific Time April 9th for those of you who couldn’t make the f
Time: April 9, 2009 from 6pm to 7pm
Location: Web Conference
Organized By: Eric Bell – MRGA Founder
Event Description:
The MRGA is launching a series of classes designed to help you make the most out of this gobal social network.
Community Overview and Navigation
Key Features (Quick Start)
Chat Feature
Search Features
Platforms
Standard Web Browsers
Smart Phones (iPhone)
Site Navigation (Understanding the basics)
Community Events
Community Blogging
Community Forums
Community Special Interest Groups & Strategic Alliances
Community Resources —> Linkedin —> Facebook
Giving back to Market Research Global Alliance
Business Development on the MRGA
This session is a paid event to cover the cost running the session each seat is $25.00 per person. You will recieve an invoice after registering for the event.
See more details and RSVP on Market Research Global Alliance:
http://www.themrga.com/events/event/show?id=1793824%3AEvent%3A23161&xgi=gYUHtl7
About Market Research Global Alliance
A By Invitation Only Global Social Network for Market Researchers. Get Sponsored Or Apply Today To Become A Member E-Mail: eric@themrga.com.
2267 members
168 photos
130 discussions
29 events
63 blog posts
Kristy says:
As a marketer, I find a lot of value by the webinars put on by the American Marketing Association.
I have also just recently been introduced to Webmarketing123.com and they put on some great webinars. I just attended my second one with them today and would recommend anyone interested in website analytics to check them out.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Hello Merrill,
Join MarketTools and Quirk’s Marketing Research Review for a complimentary webcast!
Topic: Serenity in the Storm – How Researchers are Achieving Deeper Insight in Spite of the Chaos
Host: Quirk’s Marketing Research Review & MarketTools
Date and Time: Wednesday, March 25, 10am PT | 1pm ET | 5pm GMT
Researchers are caught in a bind. They are being asked to complete more projects, with quicker turnaround times and a smaller margin of error, for less money-while also dealing with increasingly unresponsive consumers, fraudulent respondents, fragmented audiences, and fast-changing market conditions.
Greater control is within your reach. Join us for a discussion with a number of enterprising research leaders who are shaping smarter research programs. You’ll learn about:
1. Getting more done with less budget by selectively outsourcing research functions
2. Centralizing data to create continuous learning rather than ad hoc projects
3. New approaches for dealing with fraudulent respondents.
Speakers:
Brad Bortner, Forrester Research. Principal Analyst
Alissa Jaquish, Southwest Airlines. Customer Insights Manager
Robin Wolkoff, Virgin Mobile. Director, Market Research
Wendy D. Farina, MKM Partners. Chief Strategist, Equity Intelligence
Mike Waite, MarketTools, Inc. Vice President, Enterprise Products and Marketing
——————————————————-
To register for the online event
——————————————————-
1. Go to https://quirks.webex.com/quirks/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=660450448
2. Click “Register”.
3. On the registration form, enter your information and then click “Submit”.
Once the host approves your registration, you will receive a confirmation email message with instructions on how to join the event.
——————————————————-
For assistance
——————————————————-
You can contact Quirk’s Marketing Research Review & MarketTools at:
webinar@quirks.com
http://www.webex.com
Mike says:
To be completely honest, I have found that most webinars I have attended out of curiosity have tended to disappoint. They are just far too condescending at times. Hyping up social networking and whatever like it’s the latest greatest thing in the world, it sounds akin to hearing a 4A talking about viral marketing and how they want to implement it for a project…. sure it’s out there, but they don’t really understand the dynamics of the beast.
Show me something new and upcoming, some new breakthrough. Showing off a platform that magically links together a survey RSS, vbull forum, wiki and a wordpress blog doesn’t really do it for me. It’s convenient, sure, but it’s not worth any $20,000 a year when the tools are already there to create one yourself in a day or two for free.
I have sat through a few webinars that toss around the results of some general interest study, and that’s fine and dandy, but rarely does it ever cut down deep to the heart of the issues.
Do a webinar on surveying platforms on the market and drawbacks for each. Do a webinar on the common tools as well as lesser known tools. Do a webinar on implementation of innovative hybrid studies. Do a webinar on panelist fatigue in relation to survey length and format. Or do a webinar on best practices for more efficient operation.
Whenever I attend a webinar, I always find myself asking “why should I care?” and usually thinking “this could have been completely summed up in a 1-page overview”. Perhaps I am just jaded from working in the linguistics field for a few years and realizing the entire time that a normal paper is about 4 new ideas wrapped around endless citations and bundled together with a few pages of bullshitty ranting. Not unlike a client pitch.
Here’s an idea to throw out to the industry for a sellout webinar:
Survey fatigue: why it happens and how to avoid it.
Compile all that data you have on the hundreds of thousands of survey dropouts and do analysis on it.
Which demographics/segmentations are most compliant?
What are the most risky formats to use and how to overcome it?
What helps draw attention back to a survey after those risky questions?
What invite formats increase your response rate?
What is the regional dispersion on fatigue trends?
How to get them back when they give up?
etc.
There is a lot of “oh that’s just common sense” that is passed around, but I have yet to see anything solid on it. With all that data, it could make a seriously great tool if implemented properly… and with more data being poured into it, it would always be fine-tuning.
Webinars on “game changers” is what I am after, ones backed up with actual effort. Things that help us make our clients happier and don’t come off as a gimmick. Crazy idea eh?
Merrill Dubrow says:
From the leaders in Online Qualitative Research solutions, 20/20 Research is proud to announce our upcoming schedule of FREE webinars.
To register for any of these sessions, Click Here and respond with the Title and Date of the sessions(s) you wish to attend. Feel free to forward this e-mail to your colleagues.
FOR THOSE FAIRLY NEW TO ONLINE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH…
An Introduction to Online Qualitative Research uses case studies and real-world applications to help you understand the benefits of the top platforms available today:
- Online bulletin boards
- Webcam focus groups
- Video-based research
- Text-message mobile research
Dates & times:
- Tuesday, April 21 at 3PM Central (4PM Eastern, 1PM Pacific)
- Friday, April 24 at 11AM Central (12Noon Eastern, 9AM Pacific)
- Tuesday, April 28 at 3PM Central (4PM Eastern, 1PM Pacific)
- Friday, May 1 at 11AM Central (12Noon Eastern, 9AM Pacific)
- Tuesday, May 5 at 3PM Central (4PM Eastern, 1PM Pacific)
Limit: 25 participants per session