I tend to have a bit in common with my clients. Like them, I’m a solo, service-based business owner. I run a lean operation. I’m passionate about supporting people to do what they love and I have found a way to do that for a job.
And when I tell someone what my job is (“I’m an online business manager”) the most common response is,
Oh. [Slightly blank stare] And… what does that mean?
If you’re a certain kind of service provider, particularly niche consultants and coaches, I’m sure you encounter this a fair bit too. When I find myself on the other side of this conversation, a question I love to ask is: So what does a typical day look like for you? The answer to that question can bring their role to life as I hear about the specifics of how they support clients or deliver their services.
That’s what I want to dive into today, with a real example of what it looks like to work alongside me as the OBM in your business as you create and host a free webinar. This is a common marketing strategy and can work really well for email list-building or to sell into a product or course you run.
Side note: you might have seen people online complaining about the free webinar strategy. And yes, there are operators out there who do it badly, leaving the viewer feeling like they’ve wasted their time because they learned nothing, or the whole thing was a sales pitch. I agree, that’s gross.
But free webinars are an effective marketing strategy and there’s a reason they’ve remained popular. When done well they deliver value, give the audience a tangible takeaway, and give them a sense of what it would be like to work with the host. And when they have delivered value – even if it’s just one nugget you can use – the exchange is your attention as they tell you about their paid thing.
what you need to host a webinar
Although it can seem simple, there are a few pieces you need to have in place to promote and host your webinar. This includes:
- The marketing: invitation emails, social media content, ad content, and if it’s a sales webinar, the pitch and post-webinar sales emails.
- The content: what is it about, what will it teach people, and how will it lead into your paid offer (if that is the next step).
- The tech: a platform to host it, sign up pages, automated email sequences, an add-to-calendar tool or process.
There will be certain pieces that belong to you, particularly in relation to the content. This is where you showcase your expertise and demonstrate why you are the best person to help your audience with the outcome they desire. But you certainly don’t have to do all of this yourself.
What I bring to the table as an OBM includes tech and systems knowledge, content marketing expertise, and a strategic eye across your business and goals. Here’s what that can look like as a division of labour, using a recent client project as a real example.
case study: hosting a sales webinar
Purpose: a value-led session with a pitch for a paid group program as the next step.
The host: a business coach for women with service-based businesses, who brings expertise in visibility, marketing, and sustainable strategy.
The webinar: workshop style, with time during the session for attendees to implement what was being taught.
The outcome: an understanding of how to create unique content that will stand out in the sea of AI-generated sameness, highlight you as the expert, and build connection that encourages people to buy. And, tangibly, the beginnings of a content plan ready to implement.
working with an obm for your sales webinar
When splitting out tasks to support this webinar, we each took what keeps us in our strengths. For this client, she was leading strategy, and worked on the workshop content, visual design, and marketing. I was mostly responsible for setting up the tech and reviewing marketing copy (especially emails) to ensure we stayed on track with strategy.
While the client focused on…
- Crafting a webinar that delivered value and is strategically aligned to her group program
- Designing the sign up page
- Creating a marketing campaign, including emails, social media content, and ads
- Connecting with people after the webinar to deepen the conversation and further establish trust.
I was busily handling…
- Setting up the opt in form and automated sequence of confirmation and reminder emails (complete with triggers and tagging)
- Creating a zap that sent a calendar invite to all registrations
- Reviewing, refining, and scheduling post-webinar emails
- Setting up an analytics dashboard and tracking, for an at-a-glance look at how the webinar sign up page was converting, and what sources were driving traffic to it (including which emails got people to sign up)
- Making sure the program sales page, checkout, and onboarding process were ready for people to join following the webinar
- Being wing woman on the webinar: keeping an eye on the chat, sharing links, troubleshooting workbook access, and monitoring the waiting room and mute button.
And throughout we were…
These projects always start with a conversation about strategy and planning – so we are clear and aligned before anything gets built.
During the project, we’re using Asana to capture and assign tasks as they come up (even with the best planning, there will always be bits and pieces that come up during the project) and share updates, capture notes, save links, and so on.
We’re also frequently checking in via voice note to clarify details, refine the strategy, test changes to the sign up page to improve conversion, and soundboard ideas to make sure they’ll improve the strategy and aren’t just shiny distractions.
how an obm supports better outcomes
The majority of solo business owners I’ve worked with built a lot of the systems behind their businesses alone. That was me, too – for the first 6 years or so it was just me in my business, which meant I built my website, set up my email marketing systems, figured out how to connect different platforms and automate different tasks, and so on.
These women might not say they need an OBM. They’re smart and they can figure shit out. But what happens when I’m by your side is that you no longer have to do it all yourself. And more importantly, you don’t have to carry the mental load on your own anymore. Your energy gets saved for the pieces only you can deliver: your IP and frameworks, building relationships with your clients and audience, and showing up as the person behind your business.
You feel more confident in your decisions and strategy because we have worked through it together.
You’re not up at 11pm trying to figure out why your sign ups aren’t getting tagged properly. I’m doing an intelligent review as I build the systems and upload the content, not just copy-pasting it with typos or building an automation I know is faulty because that’s what’s on the to do list you gave me.
That’s the real return on investing in an online business manager who can work alongside you to build the pieces that bring your vision and strategy to life. I sometimes describe myself as an amplifier – because together we accelerate the progress of your business growth.
If you’ve ever wondered ‘what does an online business manager do, exactly?’ this is one example of what it can look like to have one in your corner. Together we determine all the parts that go into a successful project and divide the labour to get it done, instead of it all landing on you to figure out and manage on your own.
To understand what this could look like for your next project or launch, click here to get in touch. I’d love to have a conversation with you!
