A common misconception regarding hosting a webinar is that it will be successful based on good content alone. While that would be convenient, a lot more goes into a fruitful webinar than just good content. One of the most critical aspects of hosting a webinar is marketing. Without a marketing strategy in place, even a stellar webinar is bound to fail.
Marketing a webinar can be quite tricky, especially if you are new to hosting webinars. However, implementing basic marketing best practices in the weeks leading up to the event will undoubtedly yield tremendous results. An effective webinar marketing strategy is what will ultimately ensure a fantastic turnout and webinar success.
If you are looking to perfect your webinar marketing strategy, look no further. Here are some important do’s and don’ts of marketing a webinar to guide you.
The Do’s
1. Give Yourself Sufficient Lead Time
When planning a webinar, it is imperative to give yourself sufficient lead time. The weeks leading up to the webinar are important, because that’s when your audience will learn about your webinar. Allocating a long enough lead-time for audience notification will ensure that you have plenty of time to reach a larger audience. You can dedicate this time to promoting bite-size chunks of the upcoming webinar content on different social media platforms. Ideally, you should start promoting the webinar two or three weeks in advance. It is imperative that marketing a webinar begins at least a week prior to the webinar date.
2. Include an Add-to-Calendar Feature in Your Email Reminders
Sending email reminders is of vital importance when marketing a webinar. You can also kick it up a notch by adding an add-to-calendar feature in your email reminders. Several webinar hosting platforms allow hosts to include this feature in their email reminders. Having a calendar available means interested parties won’t forget about your webinar and you should have an excellent turnout.
3. Create a Concise Yet Comprehensive Registration Form
A lengthy registration form is tedious to fill out and create a roadblock to audience webinar participation. Take care not to ask for more information than is required, or you might turn away prospective participants. In most cases, the email address and name of the attendee should suffice for a registration form.
4. Offer Incentives for Attendees
Incentivizing your target audience to join is also a convincing tactic when marketing a webinar. Your primary focus should be the quality of the webinar itself. However, rewarding your attendees with an incentive is a promising way of getting them to sign up. Incentives could be in the form of a special bonus or a discount code that your audience receives at the end of the webinar.
The Don’ts
1. Make the Webinar Marketing Too Salesy
Storytelling and anecdotes relevant to the topic are bound to spice up your webinar and make it more interactive. Asking willing participants to share some of their experiences can also help keep things interesting. However, make it a point to share only such stories that are professional and work-appropriate.
2. Market to the Wrong Audience
Audience targeting depends mainly on the purpose of your webinar. Marketing a webinar to the wrong audience will end up cluttering your email list while yielding poor results. Choose your target audience carefully and make sure they are relevant to the end goals of your webinar. If you select your audience carefully, you will guarantee yourself a better attendance rate, as well as boost lead generation. It’s also crucial to validate each new lead that you generate in order to retain them.
3. Give Yourself an Excessively Long Lead Time
An excessively long lead time can be just as detrimental to your turnout as one that is too short. If your lead time is longer than three weeks, your attendees may not remember about the event. Even worse, their interest may start to wane until they have lost interest altogether. To prevent this, give yourself a minimum of one week and a maximum of three weeks for marketing.
4. Neglect Post-Webinar Follow-Up
Hosts often neglect to follow up post-webinar with prospective clients, even though it is crucial to future sales. Having a follow-up sequence in place for the days after the webinar goes a long way in generating leads. Sending your attendees a recording of the webinar along with notes and resources is good practice if you want to expand your client base.
Smart Practice
Implementing the above do’s and don’ts will ensure that your webinar gets the attention that it deserves. It’s important to remember that the value that your webinar provides is what will ultimately make it a success for you and for your audience.
