Webinars can enhance your image, help close sales, retain customers and build your network. They're truly a vitamin for your wellness business!

What you need to know about webinars

A webinar (web+seminar) is simply an event hosted by your wellness business and delivered over the Internet rather than in person.

The best-known web-conferencing providers include GoToMeeting and Webex.

Avoid discount web-conferencing services. The top providers just aren't that expensive, and the discounted services usually offer lousy technical support. You'll be saving pennies now and buying problems later when you desperately need fast, easy-to-understand assistance to resolve a problem five minutes before your event starts.

Webinars are very affordable - starting at around $40 - $60/month for unlimited events with 15 - 25 attendees, and around $80/month for unlimited events with up to 1,000 attendees/event.

They also save money because they avoid many of the costs of in-person events, like room rental, refreshments, and travel costs.

They're convenient. People can listen and watch from wherever's convenient - home, office, or Starbucks. And you can easily record webinars for later playback at your customer's convenience or even for future sale.

Now, let's get started! These webinar strategies give you five ways to strengthen your wellness business:

1) Get publicity - establish yourself as an expert

The concept: Offer a complimentary webinar on a topic related to your niche. You'll promptly enhance your professional image and reputation.

Why? This kind of webinar offers a wonderful opportunity to establish your wellness business as an expert in a given area. The audience at this kind of webinar immediately perceives the presenter as an authority in his or her field, with deep expertise.  Don't limit the invitation list to known leads and prospects. Submit it to online and offline listings of free events and let your local media know.

Examples: A club which caters to women might offer a presentation on "Myths & Misconceptions: Fitness After Fifty." A healthy lifestyles business might offer a webinar on "Ten Lies About Healthy Eating".

2) Develop leads - nurture potential customers

The concept: Offer webinars focused on customer success stories or case studies to accelerate your prospect's buying decision.

Why? These topics reduce the prospect's fear of making a bad decision.

Examples: Invite several of your most successful and enthusiastic customers to participate in an online panel discussion on a topic like "Tips, Tricks and Traps: Five ABC Gym Members Share Their Lifestyle Secrets". You can bet that they'll sing the praises of your gym - and it'll be sincere and unscripted.

3) Retain customers - extend special benefits to members

The concept: A free, invitation-only webinar offered as a member exclusive helps your customers feel appreciated by your business.

Why? Surprising customers with lagniappe (a Creole word meaning "a little something extra") is a wonderful way to help your customers feel that they're getting extra value from your wellness business - more than they paid for.

Examples: A corporate wellness provider might invite its corporate clients to a webinar featuring the human resources vice-president from a well-known company discussing "Lessons Learned: How Company ABC Took Wellness To The Next Level." A personal training studio in the Rockies might invite a local snowboarder to share war stories in a webinar on "Airdog: The View From Above."

4) Enhance revenue - sell information products

The concept: Deliver a live webinar. Record it. Sell the recording.

Why? You can usually offer a recorded webinar at a lower price than the original live event because your potential market is so much larger. Since customers can watch it when they please, selling the recorded version makes it available even to people with crazy schedules. And it gives your business an easy path to expand its reach by selling products online.

5) Strengthen your network - create opportunities for others

The concept: Invite other professionals in your network to present at webinars hosted by your business.

Why? Successful businesspeople value the opportunity to increase their name recognition, enhance their brand and polish their image and reputation.

Examples: If your health club targets folks in their twenties, invite a local realtor to present a topic like "The Big Move: Surviving Your First House." You'll help create a sense of community among your members, and you'll position your club as a business that understands its customers. A yoga studio might invite an acupuncturist or osteopathic physician to give a talk on "Fibromyalgia: Drug-Free Answers."