Are Webinars the Next Big Thing in your Marketing Mix?
If you’re a business that already runs in-person events, running a webinar is almost certainly going to be a lot less work and cost you a lot less money.
It will also broaden your potential audience by including people not able to get to a specific location at a specific time. If you’re not used to running events, then a webinar is a relatively simple and inexpensive way to get things moving in the right direction. It’ll allow you to test whether it’s something that could work for your perfect prospects at scale.
Bottom line though, for many businesses there is a real benefit to having a part of your marketing mix which allows you to speak directly, and in-depth, to a large number of people at the same time.
If you’re like most people, you’re probably worried about getting into something you’ve not done before. I get it, it took us a while to start doing webinars as well. But we’ve not looked back, and webinars now form an important part of our own marketing efforts.
If you're curious about what webinars could do for you, then read on!
Promotion is even more important than great content
You should expect to spend more time promoting your webinar than you do creating the great content itself. This is true for all forms of content marketing. A piece of perfect content is only as effective as the number of perfect prospects who see it.
Don’t let technical concerns stop you
It’s not as technical as you might think. There are a number of great platforms to help you run things on the day. Relatively cheap cameras and microphones will do a great job.
Re-use, re-use, re-use
Make sure your webinar is not a single day event. Can you run the same or slightly modified content for other audiences? Recordings of the webinar should be promoted to your audience and available for on-demand viewing. Once you’ve got to all the effort of creating great content, you want to make sure you leverage it wherever possible.
Think deeply about the topic and the title
Be strategic about what you intend to talk about. Ideally, it’s at the intersection of what you’re great at as a business and where your audience is currently feeling real pain. Also, make sure the headline is crafted in a way that the right people need to know more about it.
Have a clear goal
Have a clear outcome you want from the webinar. Help make this a reality by creating a strong and clear “offer” promoted during and after the webinar.
Deliver value
Stay focussed on delivering real value to the viewer. This is not about you, it’s about them. This applies to everything from the content through to the length of the webinar.
Not everyone will make it on the day
Not everyone who registers will attend. And not everyone who attends will stay until the end. Both of these facts are OK and not a sign you’re doing something wrong. Even people who don’t attend are still valuable. You’ve got their email address and it would be entirely appropriate to send them a link to the recording and follow-up to see if there is anything you can now do to be of service to them.
Attendees are real people
The people you see on your invite and attendee lists are just as real as those who attend events in person. For many businesses, a real-world event with 50 people is a huge success. You’ll typically find it a lot less work to generate these sorts of numbers for your next webinar. And with a webinar, there are no physical limits on the number of attendees.
Partner up!
There are a lot of businesses who share similar customers to you. If they’re not a competitor, why not reach out and see if they’d be interested in a co-branded webinar where you share contacts to increase your reach and grow your database?
A free guide to get you started
At Rocket, we have developed a clear process for running webinars and have taken this knowledge and published it in a free downloadable guide “How To Run The Perfect Webinar”. It’s a 21-point guide to ensuring your next webinar gets you leads and sales. If you’d like to run your first webinar or improve your existing webinars, then this guide will deliver lots of value.
If you’re interested in speaking to a team who can help scale your marketing investment as needed to reach your business goals then get in touch. We always love to have a chat and can be reached on 1300 059 620 or by contacting us here.
David Lawrence is the MD and Co-Founder of Rocket, an award-winning Australian digital marketing agency. He is also the co-author of the Amazon #1 best-selling marketing book 'Smarter Marketer'. David has presented at several events including Inbound, Search Marketing Summit, Mumbrella360, CEO Institute and a variety of seminars and in-house sessions.
David has built his expertise from a diverse career, starting with an economics degree before jumping into all things web in the late 90s.
Today, David is Rocket's Managing Director and is known for his ability to find clarity in the bigger picture. He is highly respected as a digital marketing authority, sharing his expertise with an extensive network here in Australia and around the world.
