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Hello, entrepreneurs! Welcome to The Searchlight, your weekly business compass. Let’s dive in 👇️ 

• Podcast: I was stuck for 20 years, starting my business changed my life - Eric Thomas

• Biz Hack: Increasing the ROI on your webinar through fit scoring.

• Biz Essentials: LinkedIn enables brands to sponsor user-generated newsletters

• Save the Date: Shift, the hottest developer conference is here.

  But first, a tour of the headlines…

Weekly Catchups

News | Industry Insights | Trends

•  📈Sky High

  Eli Lilly reported robust Q2 earnings, driven by strong demand for its new weight management drug, Zepbound, which generated $1.24 billion in U.S. revenue. A $1,000 investment in Eli Lilly has seen significant returns over the past decade.

• 👀Google’s Anti-Trust Ruling

  A U.S. judge ruled Monday that Google holds a monopoly in the search market, and invoked the case of Microsoft from more than two decades ago.

• 💰️$12.7 Billion

  The amount that crypto exchange FTX and crypto investment fund Alameda Research have to pay fraud victims, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Biz Hacks

Strategies | Tools | Marketing Tips

Increase ROI On Your Webinar With 5 Simple Steps

Webinars can be loosely translated into two buckets: webinars for potential customers and webinars for existing customers. We’re strictly talking about the first bucket today. What is the aim of these webinars? 

Leads, leads, and more leads. Today, we dissect  5 steps to get webinar leads that convert. Stay with us.

Step 1: Define Lead Quality Through Fit-Scoring 

Fit scoring is a method to evaluate and rank leads on how well they match the ideal customer profile (ICP) and marketing-qualified lead (MQL) criteria. 

Purpose: To categorise new incoming leads.

How it works: When a new lead registers for the webinar, they are scored based on how well they ‘fit’ certain characteristics, such as industry, job title, seniority, business size, and technical knowledge. 

Example: A lead from the Technology industry with the job title Senior Software Engineer, at a mid-sized company (200-500 employees) may be the ideal target. 

Step 2: Fit-Scoring as Ranking

Let’s widen the picture a bit more. 

We have the ideal fit for the webinar, how do we determine how involved they were in the webinar? 

Purpose: To rank and qualify leads based on their engagement and fit score. 

How it works: After the webinar, leads are further evaluated based on attendance, rewatch %, email interactions, and their initial fit score. 

Example:  So, from our initial example: 

Lead Qualification Score = (Senior Software Engineer) + (Attended Webinar) + (Rewatched Webinar) + (Clicked Through Follow-Up Emails) = Highly Qualified Lead

Step 3: Clearly Define Webinar Content and Partner Involvement 

• Consider adding a partner(s) in a panel or workshop-style webinar to extend your reach.

• Look for individuals or businesses that are complementary, but not competitive.

• Ensure that all partners involved agree on a promotional plan ahead of time. 

Step 4: Draft a Webinar Check List

• 4-5 weeks out build registration page, create email invitations + reminders, social partners and paid creatives.

• 6-7 weeks out: Identify the webinar topic, and write boilerplate copy for the event. 

• 2-3 weeks out: Begin promotion on all channels and conduct first run-through on platforms with all speakers.

• 1 week out Second run-through, reprobation on socials

Step 5: Nurture What You Captured

Form a real relationship with your lead. Audience segmentation is key. Here’s a framework & plan of action: 

Biz Essentials

Stay Ahead of the Curve

• Engage 🗣️ This is Bezos’ writing framework. What’s yours?

• Check this out: Tired of creating boring ads? There’s an AI tool that turns links into viral videos  🎦 

• Productivity: ChatGPT can create flowcharts and diagrams. Here’s how 🤖 ✏️ 

• Webinar Alert: Obama’s speechwriter will reveal how effective leaders must communicate in this special webinar 🗣️ 

• News: LinkedIn Will Now Enable Brands to Sponsor User-Generated Newsletters

• Take a break: A new app wants to shake up online dating. The catch? You can only use it on Thursdays… 💌 

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