Ten steps to running lead-generating webinars
Webinars have become popular among digital marketers, primarily due to its effectiveness in delivering an impact. However, for a webinar to make an impression, it needs to be carefully orchestrated. This guide walks you through the entire process of running successful lead-generating webinars, from signup to follow-up.
Why use webinars for lead generation?
Here are some worthy reasons why you should be using webinars for lead gen:
- Ability to capture high-quality leads: If someone goes through the trouble of signing up and watching your webinar, it shows they’re interested in what you have to offer. This is something you can leverage over time to convert them into customers, as they have an inherent interest in what you do.
- Breeding trust and building authority: Hosting a webinar establishes your brand as an expert in your field. It allows you to interact with the audience in a personal and immersive way, build rapport, and put trust-building on the fast lane. People want to do business with people they know and trust.
- No geographical limitations: Unlike seminars, webinars allow you to reach prospects from all over the world. With that, you can easily grow your clientele internationally.
- Partnership opportunities: Webinars present you an opportunity to partner with other brands whom you can tap into their customer base to grow your business.
How to host lead-generating webinars in 10 simple steps
Define your goals and audience
Quite obviously, your sole objective here is to generate leads. So your work begins with identifying the leads you want to capture.
This will be directly proportionate to your prospective customers because they’re the ones to buy from you.
You don’t want to waste your time, money, and effort targeting the wrong folks. So first, create a buyer persona to help identify your audience. This will help you later on when working on your webinar package.
After you’ve defined your goals and audience, you may want to assign metrics-based goals to measure success. These can include the number of registrants, the conversion rate from registrants to attendees, the engagement rate during the webinar, and the response rate to the call-to-action (CTA).
Pick your partners
Partnering with another business to run a webinar allows room for combining knowledge. It also allows you to gain exposure to your partner’s subscriber list.
However, only partner with businesses that share a similar audience and offer complementary services, not competitors.
Also, choose partners that offer high-quality content and products. Your reputation is on the line when you introduce them to your audience.
Choose your technology
With tons of webinar platforms on the market, you will need to do a bit of research to find the best option for you.
Some popular ones include ClickMeeting, GoToWebinar, and Zoom. But, I recommend ClickMeeting because of the enormous features it packs.
Additionally, make sure you have a fast and reliable internet connection, plus a high-quality microphone to ensure good sound quality.
Set up your landing page
With a landing page, you’ll be able to collect registrants’ details like name, email address, etc.
One reason you needed to choose your technology early is so you could set up a landing page early on.
That’s because, by default, your webinar platform will give you a landing page for attendees’ registration. But you can take it a step further by integrating it with your marketing automation software if you’re using something like HubSpot, Marketo or Pardot.
With that, attendees get added to your lead database as leads automatically. And some marketing activities like follow-up can be automated.
Since the goal is to generate as many leads as possible, you’re probably offering these webinars at no cost, so don’t forget to mention in your landing page that the event is free.
Promote the event
The number of leads you generate depends on how well your webinar is attended. So to ensure many high-quality leads attend your webinar, promote it heavily.
Here are some ideas?
- Send email blasts to your subscriber list.
- Include a blurb about your event in your newsletters, blog posts, and social media updates with a link to the signup page.
- Use paid online advertising, such as Facebook or Google ads.
- Encourage your sales team to promote the webinar to their contacts.
Track the effectiveness of individual strategies so you can put more effort into what works.
Prepare your webinar package
There are three key factors to consider when preparing your webinar package:
- Type: Is it going to be a masterclass, a demo, a Q&A, or what?
- Content: What valuable information do you want to share with the audience?
- Presentation: What shape will your presentation take, from beginning to end?
In most cases, whether or not your webinar is going to be successful and generate leads depends on the quality of your package.
Your information should be highly relevant to your audience, detailed, and very helpful. Also, the content direction and level of detail should match the customer journey of the audience.
Do a bunch of dry-runs
After creating a compelling package, you just have to rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse again. And again!
Run through the webinar from start to finish with the technology you’ve chosen. Do this in the same environment you intend to conduct the webinar to make sure the acoustics is satisfactory.
As a test run, you should have someone sign in as the audience to ensure every function is working properly.
Test out features such as chat, poll, screen sharing, and your Google My Business listing so you get rid of every potential technical glitch during the live event.
Make it happen
Your webinar is your “sixty minutes of fame,” kind of. Ensure you rock it!
- Communicate your credibility, professionalism, and trustworthiness.
- Include an irresistible CTA in the end.
- Keep your webinar interactive by talking to your co-host or using functions such as chat, Q&A, and poll to engage with your audience.
- Loosen up, and make it a fun experience for all.
- Set up a well-equipped, distraction-free environment and a clutter-free background.
I can go on and on, but you get point, right?
Follow up
In some cases, the webinar alone won’t cut it. Rather, it’s just the beginning of your relationship with the audience.
You need to further help your bottom line by sending out a follow-up or lead-nurturing email series to the registrants and/or attendees.
Make it evergreen
You have put in a lot of time and effort into creating the webinar. It’s good to make it keep on delivering results.
You can edit your recording (e.g., cut out mentions of specific dates or time-sensitive offers) and turn it into a piece of evergreen content.
Next, update your landing page and continue to use the webinar as a lead magnet.
You can include a link to the webinar replay and information about the offer made during the event.
Conclusion
Using webinars for lead generation is more than just switching on the webcam and talking. Your presentation needs to be carefully orchestrated and strategically aligned with important business goals.
Go sign up with a platform and get started.
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