Webinar marketing has been around for a while now, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not popular. In fact, more and more people are sinking their teeth into it. Even though less than half of marketers actually participated in or hosted a webinar, the majority found the strategy to be extremely effective. In fact, webinars have built up so much steam that almost half of the marketers state they want to participate in one or host one in 2020.
Why is this so? Well, marketers have begun to see the benefits of webinars and are eager to get in on the action. They can help you build thought leadership, share your knowledge, and humanize your company. As well as that, this is one of the most effective ways to reach a new audience.
1. Make it attractive and useful
There are two main goals that are tied into webinars, goals that are tightly connected. The purpose of a good webinar is to educate the audience, to actually help them learn something new. Purpose number two is to show your expertise to as many people in your field (or who want to be in your field) as possible. You want to show people your mastery over a certain subject, you want to present yourself as a professional, as a specialist that knows what he or she is doing.
Of course, you also want to make it attractive. You might be the leading expert in some area that, simply put, is not that interesting or popular. Unless you can put a new spin on your webinar, unless you have the knowledge or a system or method that hasn’t been uncovered yet, people won’t really be signing up to hear you speak.
2. Promote it
Heavily connected with our previous point on keeping the webinar attractive, you want to promote it properly. It can be the absolute best webinar in the world, but without proper promotions and advertisements, you won’t really get the results you want and the conversions you expect. We suggest you set up a proper marketing/promotional campaign and strategy.
So, first things first – get an interesting title. Something attractive, something that pulls people’s attention. Keep it short and to the point, and present relatively clear results that can be obtained from the webinar. For example, “Increasing your conversions by 20% through better WordPress usage” is much better than “Get rich quick through digital marketing, now!”.
Promote the webinar through various networks and platforms. Use social media to your advantage. Set up several channels, use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram… Share your webinar with other influencers and experts in your field, ask for help from mentors, friends, and associates…
3. Be thorough
If a webinar is to be successful, it needs to work properly. You need to show how professional you are, and how seriously you take your work. A poor internet connection, low sound quality, poor video, ugly lighting… All of these things, by themselves, aren’t that much of a serious issue. However, the more they appear, the worse the webinar experience becomes. So, be thorough, and don’t pinch pennies.
We advise you to get professional assistance when it comes to your webinar setup. Get good hosting platforms, invest in solid equipment (or rent it for the event). Hiring professional digital event services, like Redback Connect, for example, is also always a good idea.
4. Make it easy to use (and to pay)
You want the entire process to be as user-friendly as possible for your potential clients and viewers. Remember that attention spans are not that strong in the 21 st century. So, keep the entire process easy and simple from beginning to end.
In practical terms, this means that the signup form should be simple and easy to use. Give as many payments and charging options as possible. Keep the checkout landing pages fast, keep your website running smoothly, online payments need to be properly integrated, the whole shebang.
5. Be engaging
Webinar goals can roughly be divided into three categories – making conversions, networking, or altruistic education. It’s safe to say that most people want a combination of all of these, with a frequency and intensity of one of them depending on the marketer, and the industry. But, whichever one of these you want, you need to be engaging. You need to interest people, you need to show how good you are. We already mentioned that the actual topic needs to be interesting, but that’s not enough. You need to wow your audience.
So, be engaging. Watch how you speak, think of your voice, your cadence. Have a script, but don’t follow it blindly. Rather, let it guide you through your presentation. You also want to engage your audience. Ask questions, keep the entire thing interactive. Remember to leave room for a good Q& A session.
Now, we all know that small businesses want to save up on IT support. That is a fine goal, but for things like these, poor internet and lag is death. People won’t want to engage, it will make the already present electronic barrier that much worse.
