How Lunch & Learns help educate advertisers and drive revenue

I recently had the opportunity to help host a Lunch & Learn on branded content for a room of 20 advertisers. It went so well, we’re already talking about doing it again in two months. Lunch & Learns are great events. They are low cost, you get a captivated audience, have the chance to showcase your knowledge and products and the likelihood to leave with potential sales is incredibly high.

Lunch & Learns don’t have to just be for sales, they work very well for other areas of your business-like circulation and editorial where you can use them to explain processes, products and answer questions. They also are terrific internal learning opportunities if you are trying to teach your team a new skillset or review an important best practice.

Today, I want to center on the branded content Lunch & Learns we’ve been doing for clients and why I think you should be holding your own events.

1. What your Lunch & Learn should focus on

This year, I have conducted Lunch & Learns on branded content in major metros and in small communities and the topic has resonated bigtime regardless of the size of the cities and staffs.

I think the session should focus on a topic where people lack knowledge and awareness but also feel a genuine sense of curiosity. The opportunity (product) has to apply to a wide range of advertisers.

Branded content really hits a lot of those checkboxes for this kind of session.

There are other sales topics that could make sense. Just make sure they fit what the audience you’re inviting actually needs.

2. How you should run the event

• Position the event as invite-only and a very exclusive experience. If you are trying to get 20 people there, invite 50 people and assume that 30 may say yes, but that 20 will attend. Create a nice invitation.
• Make the event at least 90 minutes, usually 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and you can host it at your building or a space in town if you don’t have a spot big enough or are a remote company. Have lunch available and allow attendees to network ahead of time, get their food and take their seats.
• Have an executive from the company (the CEO or president if possible) welcome everyone and introduce the speaker. The session should be an hour and if about 20 people attend, allow for questions throughout the session. Make sure that you have an expert who can really deliver a strategy, insights and actionable takeaways. The speaker should explain the product, talk to the opportunity, explain how it works and then how the media company can help them.
• Allow for 15 minutes of Q&A at the end.

+ Bonus idea: If someone is already using the service, invite them and ask if they are willing to share a positive experience. This happened this week during our event and it really resonated with the room.

3. How to drive sales during the event

Advertisers are coming to learn something, but they are probably very aware they are going to get pitched something. So, it’s completely OK to be promotional and talk about the value throughout the presentation but make sure you make this also a quality educational experience for them.

Have a special offer for attendees at the end of the presentation. That could be anything from a buy one gets a second story free, a special added value (like a free Reel with your first story) or a discount applied to an e-blast.

Whatever you offer, make it attractive where people can’t say no. Have sales reps in the room who can meet with their clients after and try to get a commitment.

For those who don’t say yes on the spot, give them a deadline (24 or 48 hours) to still receive a discount, though maybe not as sweet as those who sign on the spot. For those who don’t say yes after a time period, have a process to connect with them after and find a way to create a program that is going to work for them. It may not need to be as great as the earlier offers but establish a way to get them to start with you through some kind of discount or perk, even if it’s just doing a single story to start.

We can run a Lunch & Learn for you

We can come to your market (or do a Zoom) and host a Lunch & Learn on a host of sales, circulation and editorial-oriented topics. Reach out to me today so I can share the details.

Phone: 832 407 0188

Email: David@davidarkinconsulting.com