The What, Why, and How of Webinars
Webinars have been around for quite a while (you’ve likely attended quite a few over the last year or so!), but with the sharp rise in popularity of video marketing, it’s worth revisiting this format and finding a way to bring webinars into your digital marketing toolkit. Here are some tips from our digital marketing strategy team.
What are Webinars?
These are web seminars hosted by a business or individual, taking the format of a workshop, Q&A, presentation, or lecture, and hosted online through Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or another video conferencing platform. They’re usually interactive, although many webinars are recorded and sent out or hosted on a website for viewers who were unable to make live attendance.
Unlike Facebook Live events, Instagram Stories, Snapchat, and TikToks, webinars usually offer more professional content that’s targeted at specific people within an industry, people who are in a specific field or position within their industry and are usually educational in terms of their approach.
Why Should Your Business Start Hosting Webinars?
The most important benefit of hosting webinars is because it gives you a chance to educate and empower high-value leads within your industry through a professional and interactive process.
Rather than promoting fun or catchy engagement with everyday consumers, webinars are also well-suited for professional relationship-building, building authority as an industry leader or specialist, and sharing key insights on new developments, regulations, consumer behaviours, products, or industry issues. Like all digital marketing tools, webinars get your brand out there into the world, building awareness and allowing you to create a voice for your business.
Webinars are also beneficial in that they help you build a list of interested, high-value leads for use in your database, as each person has to sign up to view and participate in the event. These leads are the ones your business really wants – they’re interested in what you are offering, want to understand it further, and they want to see if it can be applied to their business.
Webinars can also be used to train employees, onboard new customers, and support product launches, uses which are practical and well-suited to remote working environments.
How to Run a Successful Webinar
It’s a little bit of a learning curve, but getting a webinar just right is easier than you think!
- Topic – Choose a topic that is focussed on a specific purpose for your business (growing a lead list, sell a product, train an employee, etc.) and that meets a need in your audience. Make it topical, interesting, and relevant, and make the title and description clear so that people know what they’re signing up for at a glance.
- Presentation team – The right presenter makes all the difference in a webinar! You need someone who understands the topic in-depth, is comfortable with public speaking, has some charisma, and handles stress well. You should also have a couple of assistants who can handle more basic questions and administrative queries while your presenter works, feeding the most valuable questions directly to them and handling the technical side of things.
- Content – Like any presentation, you need time to plan your content so that the event flows, covers all the relevant bases, is engaging, and keeps everyone watching right to the end. Webinars are typically 20-40 minutes long, so make sure you have enough content and a clear storyline for your set time. Keep the sales pitch for the end – you want your content to be 80% informative, 20% sales.
- Prep your space – Choose a space where there is little external noise or distraction, good sound, and the right setup to handle technical needs. Try a run-through to see how your presentation looks for the viewer, so you can frame it correctly, get the visuals right, and polish your delivery. A good idea is to attend some webinars yourself and see how they work.
- Schedule and promote – A good time for a webinar is in the middle of the week, with Tuesdays being the most popular. Choose a time of day that will work best for all your guests, especially if they are in different time zones. Start promoting your webinar well in advance so people can block it off in their calendars. Use blogs to highlight the topic you’re addressing, incentivise people to register using a limited discount or useful freebie, send out an email blast with follow-ups, have regular mentions and teasers on social media, and invest in some paid ads.
Get Your Webinar Game On with Our Digital Marketing Specialists
Digital Freak isn’t your ordinary digital marketing agency. Friendly and straightforward, we’re here to make digital marketing work for your business – whatever your industry, whatever your size. Chat to us about running your webinar campaign and we’ll help you get great results!
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