Why you shouldn’t exclude webinars from your marketing strategy

Creating good and informative webinars is an excellent way to increase brand awareness and generate leads. Building relationships with clients takes time, and you can start establishing credibility in your field by showing your audience how your services or products can bring them value. Webinars also provide you with additional material to later repurpose on both your website and social media platforms.

Conferences, trade shows, and other live events have always been popular with companies. Still, a global pandemic showed us the importance of using online tools to share knowledge, forcing marketers to get creative. Live webinars are the second-best thing to getting personal with your audience. Although some companies choose to air pre-recorded webinars, live webinars allow you to connect with your audience in real-time.

How can webinars leverage your marketing efforts?

Webinars allow brands to interact with their clients directly, especially if there is a question-and-answer period in the end. The information you are giving to your audience affects how they see you. Is your content addressing their needs and concerns? Is it valuable to them? Is it accurate? If you know your audience, the answer should be yes.

Webinars are also a reliable way to re-engage current customers and attract new ones. You can host an entire webinar series or host webinars every few weeks, all with different purposes and topics. Regardless of where your audience is in the marketing funnel, you can create tailored content to lead them further down the sales funnel and eventually build relationships.

The trust element is a significant factor in whether audiences will allow you to contact them after the webinar. Suppose someone attends your webinar and is satisfied with your content, it makes it easier for them to be responsive to future communications you send, whether it concerns promotions, events, or surveys.

Increase leads through a solid webinar marketing strategy 

Promote webinars early

When you’ve established your marketing plan and have decided to incorporate webinars into your marketing strategy, make sure you start promoting them weeks ahead of time. Not everyone can be available at the last minute, but if you give them notice 4-6 weeks ahead of time, you’ll improve your chances of increasing your number of attendees.

Promoting on social media platforms goes without saying. Followers obtain most of their updates from their favorite brands through their social media newsfeed. What’s great about advertising on social media is your followers’ Shares and Likes help your brand reach new audiences through their contacts list. Posting a couple of times in the weeks leading up to your webinar date is a sure-fire way to stay on their radar.

What about paid ads? Social media platforms, like LinkedIn, allow you to niche down and target your audience based on industry, location, and title. If you’re hesitant, keep the paid ad for any big long-term webinar series and promote the stand-alone webinars organically.

Email marketing is another way to promote your webinar. This audience segment has already consented to hear from you, so use this to your advantage and promote your webinars to your existing customers and followers.

Make your content relevant and valuable to your audience

Although you want to create a webinar that sells if your sole focus is on selling, your audience will detect it, and you won’t reap the benefits of all your hard work. That doesn’t mean you don’t talk about yourself. A brief description of your company and the presenter’s qualifications at the beginning is recommended, as it introduces your brand to those unfamiliar with it. 

Creating content to re-engage prospects and bring in new leads is how you should position yourself when choosing a topic. Using a blog post and turning it into a webinar can be a good way to explore a specific subject that your audience has exposure to. Webinars are beneficial for breaking down technical content. Some people have difficulties understanding technical content through words alone. Having an expert break it down for them in live time can give you the advantage of showcasing your expertise and credibility and clearing up any confusion.

You can also choose FAQ topics or “Three mistakes to avoid when using ….” or “Five secrets to …” subjects. Everyone loves mystery, and everyone loves discovering something secret or uncommon. Whether you create a sense of mystery or urgency, make sure you feel like your audience is getting something valuable that they will incorporate into their professional or personal life.

Have a strong Call-to-Action

After a webinar, your CTA needs to be lively and worthwhile for the audience. Offers such as promotions and free trials are popular after a webinar as they show appreciation for the attendees’ time. However, offers should only be revealed at the end to avoid a drop in attendees midway through the presentation. Mentioning at the beginning that you’re running a one-time 24-hour promotion is a sure-fire way to get attendees to stay, and it allows you to identify those qualified leads.

If someone stays throughout a 45-minute webinar, your chances of making a sale and establishing a solid connection have just increased tenfold. After is when your sales representatives will be able to take over and close the deal.

Post-webinar best practices to generate leads

Take the time to poll your audience on how they feel the webinar went and how much value they received from it. This shows you respect their time and value their opinions, and helps you plan for future webinars based on the feedback. Alternatively, you can poll at the start to find out what main topics your audience is interested in for future presentations. Still, you obtain no solid feedback on how the attendees received your current webinar.

Send a link to the recorded webinar and the offer to everyone who registered, even if they missed the live presentation. Those who missed because of valid reasons will appreciate the the gesture of receiving both the webinar and offer and will help you determine who is serious about your brand.

Upload your recording to your YouTube channel or on your website for everyone to consult. It might seem counterproductive, but you are still providing information to your audience, and months later, new prospects might find your recording and choose to register for your current webinar. Using small recording snippets is also helpful in creating social media posts to attract attention for future webinars.

If you have never hosted a webinar, don’t get too caught up with perfection. Professionalism overrules every time. If your first webinar receives less than five attendees, don’t get discouraged as everything takes time to perfect. What your audience wants is to gain something from the whole experience, and with time you will find out what works and what doesn’t. Webinars are a multi-purpose tool that can enhance your brand’s reach, and it provides lots of content that can be repackaged and reworked as extra material.