299: Organize a Virtual Summit for Instant Traffic, Credibility, Subscribers and Sales with Tom Morkes

Tom Morkes and his company Insurgent Media specialize in virtual summits, affiliate marketing, and book launches.

A virtual summit is a virtual online event where 10 to 30 subject matter experts each present in their sub-area of expertise with you as the organizer. This is a fantastic way to build a list, get credibility, and network with your peers. He walks us through his entire 4-6 month process in 5-6 phases that he plans with clients:

• strategy/planning: 1 month (two half-hour calls)
• research/recruitment: celebrities, leaders, popular/interesting topics (14 days for research, 2 months for recruitment)
• trust building: start conversations
• pre open-cart / pre-promotion: 2 weeks
• summit: 1-2 weeks

Tom also discusses upsell opportunities. For example, summits are not very evergreen and tend to contain specific, cutting-edge information, while a membership site (which you can have as an upsell) contains evergreen information. You can also have a lot of fun with your summit and offer it for free, but later charge for replays and shownotes.

Quotes:                                                                                                                                   

“The nature of a summit is that it's live to some degree. It's exciting because it's happening now, so it's cutting-edge material.” – Tom Morkes

“There has to be congruence across everything you do. There has to be a purpose behind it.” – Tom Morkes

“Summits that work best are selling something beyond just content—some kind of service, software, experience—not just ‘here’s more content.” – Tom Morkes

Takeaways:

01:55 Virtual summits are powerful lead generation tools that offer free, high-quality education to potential customers.

12:42 Successful marketing campaigns focus on solving specific problems within a narrow, well-defined niche.

27:16 The most effective summit upsells are services or experiences, not additional content.

25:50 Virtual summits work best as time-sensitive, live events that create excitement and urgency.

29:46 Selling more content after a free content-rich summit is challenging and often ineffective.

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Filed in: Archive 2: 2017 • Interview • Podcast