Are you looking to grow your business by using webinar services? The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work and communicate, with working from home becoming the new normal. As a result, remote events and meetings have become more popular than ever. And it’s no surprise because webinars are a great way to tell your story to a large audience. Also, they’re an excellent way to engage with customers, partners, and prospects.
Many companies interested in starting to host webinars don’t know how to go about it. But it doesn’t have to be daunting, and we’d like to help you learn just how easy it can be. Here are our tips for how to prepare for a memorable webinar and give your attendees a quality experience.
How the Pros Use Webinar Services to Generate Leads
- Setting the Agenda
The success of your webinar depends on having a well structured agenda. Setting an agenda allows you to allocate the right amount of time for each section you want to cover. As a result, you create a more cohesive experience for your audience. Here are some tips to remember when setting the agenda for your webinar:
- Keep the agenda structured in a way that works for your topic – you want your “story” to flow and be cohesive.
- Ask your audience members to engage with you so that you can gauge their interest in the topics you’ve chosen – this could be through the use of polls, Q&A or a follow-up survey.
- Know your topics. Prepare, prepare, prepare – you want to ensure that you sound like an expert.
- Choosing the Right Webinar Services Platform
Choosing a quality webinar services platform is critical to the success of your webinar. Start by setting clear goals and developing a list of requirements. Now use these goals and the list to help you narrow down the best platform for your needs. Consider the following:
- The number of events you plan to produce
- The level of attendance you expect
- The goal of the event (is it for thought leadership? Brand awareness? Training?)
- Whether you need mobile reach
- Whether you need branding and customizability
- Your budget
Ideally, you want a feature-rich webinar platform that meets all your current needs and gives room for growth.
- Choosing the Right Layout
Determine the right layout for your webinar console. Using the appropriate layout makes it easier to present your message effectively. Here are four common types of webinar layouts:
- One speaker: Here, you have a single speaker talking to an audience.
- Interview format: This kind of webinar needs at least two people. One is the subject expert, and the other is the interviewer. The interviewer asks the expert predesigned questions during the webinar.
- Panel webinar: This is similar to a panel discussion or roundtable – for example, those used by news channels. It features several speakers who discuss a predefined topic.
- Question and Answer: This webinar format allows attendees to ask questions directly to the subject expert.
- Choosing the Right Time
You have a lot of decisions to make before the webinar. Key among them is what day of the week you should hold the event. Online event organizers usually schedule webinars on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. On Monday, people are usually busy settling back into work, and, on Friday, people are often preoccupied wrapping up loose ends and preparing for the weekend.
Choose a time of day convenient to most of your audience members based on their time zones. According to Outgrow, webinars held in the morning are 93 percent more successful than those held at night.
- Using the Right Equipment
Having the right equipment is a critical requirement for running a successful webinar. For this reason, you should make sure your speaker(s) have a high-quality camera, microphone, headset, and good lighting.
- Choosing a Winning Webinar Topic
Choose a topic that will resonate with your audience. Some places you may want to pull topics from include frequently asked questions, popular posts on your blog and social media, customer pain points, and industry trends. Above all, make sure the topic delivers real value to your audience.
- Creating Great Visual Content
People remember 65 percent of the visual content they consume versus 10 percent of what they hear. To host a successful webinar, use content that creates an innate psychological resonance with your audience. Be sure to use high-quality images, infographics, videos, and other media to create engaging and highly effective webinar content.
- Promoting the Webinar
For your webinar to be a rousing success, don’t wait for people to find it organically. Instead, promote your webinar effectively. Here are some ways to get the word out about you event:
- Send personalized e-mails to your e-mail list or to a purchased list of your target audience.
- Promote the webinar on social media.
- Run paid ads.
- Creating Effective Event Reminders
Getting people to register for your webinar, while an important first step, is not an end in itself. In fact, it’s just the beginning. Your prospects might register today for an event that’s taking place in a month and then forget about it. You must keep your registrants engaged and your webinar top of mind. You can do this by having ongoing outreach to them throughout the period leading up to the event.
One way to keep registrants engaged is to send details about your event, agenda, speakers, and host. Send plain-text reminder e-mails that are short and simple. Use an active voice to make your sentences flow better and easier to understand.
- Follow Up
It is important to follow up with your attendees after your broadcast. The e-mails can serve a number of purposes such as:
- Giving attendees a bonus gift for watching until the end (if this is something that was offered)
- Reminding them of your limited time offer (as appropriate)
- Describing customer case studies and results
- Offering to answer additional questions
- Driving them back to your website or sales page
Finally, don’t forget to follow up on the no-shows. Send them an archived version of the webinar with a call to action and your contact information.
Conclusion
Once you have all these pieces in place, you’re ready to share your webinar with the world. If you do it right, webinar marketing is an investment that will pay out dividends in due course. To help you along, give the coolest webinar solution on the planet a try, get started with webinar.net, today.
