The Gap Webinars bridge

The Gap Webinars bridge

The Gap Webinars bridge contains everything you need to market and deliver educational webinars to clients and prospective clients, with new webinar topics published regularly. Each webinar is designed to educate attendees while positioning ways that you can better support them.

Important info
Use the content in the Webinar Templates bridge to design and deliver your own bespoke webinars following the tried and tested Gap process.

Note
Hosting webinars for your online audience is a highly effective education marketing strategy, and a proven pathway to fastrack your ROI from The Gap. 

To access the Gap Webinars bridge, navigate to Main menu >  > Bridges > Gap Webinars. 

Understanding the Gap Webinars process

Webinars are an efficient and engaging method of delivering education marketing to your existing and prospective clients. Hosting webinars positions you and your firm as proactive experts while taking the 'hard sell' out of positioning your business development and advisory services. Delivering webinars is an effective marketing and selling strategy because you're providing value before you extract value, in a highly leveraged way. Each webinar should have a clear call to action, with complimentary, low-cost, and full-service options positioned as next steps.

Tip
Offering complimentary and low-cost resources or service options is a great way to get attendees on the value ladder. It also allows you to support all attendees (regardless of their budgetary constraints) which will promote client stickiness and referrals.

Ensure you review the Process Guide prior to marketing the webinar, it outlines best practice to successfully market and deliver each Gap webinar, including how to use the content.

Note
The content in the Gap Webinars bridge is not separated into separate folders for process, marketing, selling, delivery, and review like other bridges; all content is listed within the bridge.

Scheduling a Webinar

Most Gap members use Zoom or Microsoft Teams to deliver webinars. The platform you use will depend on your firm's specific needs, e.g. likely number of attendees, webinar frequency, current software packages used, available integrations, etc. Please check your chosen platform's website for instructions on how to schedule and deliver webinars.

Marketing the Gap Webinars

Ideally, you'll have at least a three-week lead time to market your webinar. A shorter lead time may be required in some circumstances when you need to quickly convey important information to clients in a leveraged way.

The Webinar Information Form should be completed by the presenter to share key information with the marketing team, including the agenda, panellist information, marketing requirements, and feedback survey questions. This information will be used to build the Webinar Plan, which clearly articulates attendee learning outcomes and points of value, webinar goals, target market, and a schedule of marketing activities.

Note
The Webinar Plan in each of our Gap webinar kits has been pre-populated with specific client learning outcomes, client points of value, and positioning information to help you clearly market the webinar to your audience.

Each webinar has marketing email templates available as a Word file or to send via BOMA. Click the name of the email to download the Word file, then copy the email body and paste into your email campaign software.

Using BOMA to market your webinar

  1. All marketing emails (as well as short content for posting across your social channels) are available as templates in the BOMA platform. Click the  button next to the name of the email to seamlessly create your email campaign in BOMA. Prior to scheduling the email and social posts, ensure that you have:
    1. Updated the date and time
    2. Added your registration link and deleted any instruction text
    3. Reviewed and updated the intro content and email body to match your firm's digital voice
  2. Navigate to Main menu >  > Marketing > The Gap + BOMA > The Gap + BOMA Content Library Catalogue  to find additional education marketing content relevant to your webinar topic that you can use for lead generation.

Delivering Gap Webinars

Webinar duration

Each webinar generally takes 45-60 minutes to deliver,  including 15 minutes for Q + A. The timing will depend on your unique delivery and the level of engagement with attendees. It's better to overestimate the length than underestimate - attendees will appreciate having spare time if the webinar finishes early rather than running over time.

The PowerPoint Template

Each webinar has a PowerPoint Template ready for you to download and customise: 
  1. Follow the instructions on slide 1 to update the PowerPoint, then delete the slide
  2. Review and update the speaker notes as required
  3. Some slides are animated; the speaker notes indicate when to click to show animations
  4. Ensure the call to action from the webinar is clear, i.e. how your attendees can engage you to improve their outcomes

Workbooks

Workbooks should be prepared and sent in the housekeeping email prior to the webinar. Attendees should also be able to download the workbook from within the webinar software. Navigate to  Main menu >   >  Bridges >  Gap Webinars >  Webinar Templates to access our  Workbook Template, available to download to Word. Alternatively, set up the workbook in Google Docs.

Practising your delivery

It's essential the presenter has practised delivering the webinar a number of times to ensure confidence during the webinar. 
  1. The presenter should practise delivering the webinar in presentation mode
  2. Some presentations may require you to switch between the PowerPoint and other software or websites - practise this several times
  3. The presenter and moderator should also practise running through the introduction and handing over controls
     

Using a moderator

We recommend always using a moderator. The moderator will:
  1. Introduce the topic
  2. Run through the webinar controls
  3. Introduce the presenter/s
  4. Manage questions throughout the webinar
  5. Collate questions from attendees and ask at the end of the webinar

Using polls to engage your webinar audience

Using polls during a webinar is a great way to engage your audience and make your webinar interactive. Depending on your webinar software, you may be able to set up a poll within the software. Alternatively, Mentimeter is a quick and easy way to add polls to any webinar or seminar and allows you to ask a range of different question types, including open-ended questions.

Ensure you add a slide to your PowerPoint presentation with the poll question, then follow the instructions for the relevant polling software to launch and run the poll. Show the results on-screen and briefly discuss them before moving to the next slide. If relevant, export the results and attach them to the Thank You Email.

Using Mentimeter
  1. Go to Mentimeter.com. Create an account or log in to your account. For more information about getting started with Mentimeter, check out their Help Centre.
  2. Create a presentation containing your poll question or questions. For more information about creating presentations, check out their Help Centre.
  3. After the webinar, export the results of the poll. You may like to share the results in your Thank You Email (if relevant).
Using Zoom
You can set up a poll in both  Zoom Meetings and  Zoom Webinars, using single-choice or multi-choice questions.

Using GoToWebinar
You can set up a poll in GoToWebinar using single-choice or multi-choice questions.  Check out GoToWebinar's support centre for more information about creating polls.

Calls to action

As an outcome of attending the webinar, attendees should have a clear call to action. Each of our webinars relates to at least one Gap service, with recommended service options listed on the Next steps slide in the PowerPoint template. We recommend each webinar has:
  1. A complimentary service option, e.g., a resource relating to the webinar topic or a questionnaire or worksheet to help attendees implement their learnings
  2. A low-cost service option, e.g., a DIY version of the full service option with a review meeting or phone call
  3. A full service option, e.g., one of the Gap services

Creating your own bespoke webinars

Navigate to  Main menu >   >  Bridges >  Gap Webinars >  Webinar Templates to use our systemised process to create your own bespoke webinars. The Webinar Templates bridge contains blank templates of the standard content available for all Gab webinars. Ensure you establish the points of value, client learning outcomes and calls to action for every webinar.

Reviewing your Gap Webinars

Ensure you have a post-webinar feedback survey for attendees to complete. Ideally, you'll be able to load survey questions into your webinar software for attendees to answer at the end of the webinar. If your software doesn't allow this, consider setting the questions up in SurveyMonkey or Google Forms and emailing the link to attendees following the webinar.

Note
The Process Guide and Webinar Information Form contain suggested feedback questions for each webinar.

Post webinar follow up

Ensure you have a clear process to follow up with attendees regarding their feedback.
  1. Send a thank you email to attendees immediately after the webinar - a template is available in the bridge and in BOMA
  2. Send complimentary resources or service options within 24 hours of the webinar 
  3. If the presenter positioned the price of the service during the webinar, a proposal should be sent within 48 hours
    1. If not, you should discuss price and client objectives to ensure you have conceptual agreement before sending a proposal
  4. Engage attendees who haven't requested a service but have provided great feedback - these attendees should be followed up by a Client Manager or Partner
  5. Send a follow up email two weeks after the webinar to those who didn't request a service - a template is available in the bridge and in BOMA

Providing access to the webinar recording

It's best practice to provide all registrants with access to a recording of the webinar unless it was positioned as live only.

Tip
We recommend editing the recording prior to providing access. Remove the moderator's webinar control scripting, any long periods of silence during the webinar or technical issues that may have arisen during the live event.

Utilising the webinar recording as a marketing asset

Your webinar recording is a valuable marketing asset.
  1. Cut out short snippets to share on your social media
  2. Publish the full recording on your website, accessible only after contact details are provided

    • Related Articles

    • Education marketing

      Delivering education marketing is a clear pathway to achieve a great ROI from The Gap. Education marketing is particularly powerful for firms who wish to: Better engage and support their existing clients Generate leads for new client growth Better ...

    • The Gap Seminars bridge

      The Gap Seminars bridge contains everything you need to market and deliver educational seminars to clients and prospective clients. Each seminar is designed to educate attendees while positioning ways that you can better support attendees. Important ...

    • Delivering digital marketing using BOMA

      The Gap integrates with BOMA, a digital marketing tool for accountants and bookkeepers, allowing The Gap and BOMA users to seamlessly deliver education marketing campaigns promoting Gap services. New content is published each week; each containing a ...

    • The Marketing Plan bridge

      The Marketing Plan bridge helps firms facilitate the development of a 12-month Marketing Plan, recording the client's marketing goals, KPIs, and activities to achieve their goals. To access the Marketing Plan bridge, navigate to Navigation panel > ...

    • Using the marketing area

      The Marketing area contains content to develop and support your marketing strategy. The Marketing area Navigate to Main menu > > Marketing to access the marketing content. Advisor Marketing Resources contains a Guide to Marketing Your Firm, content ...