If you have a service based industry or if you sell information products, then there is a great chance that at some point you’ve considered webinars as a marketing tool. Hosting a webinar is a super smart way to build trust with your audience, win over new prospects and convert followers into buyers. In short, webinars work!
Here are just a few reasons why they do.
1. Webinars are engaging.
It opens up a dialogue between you and your audience. Many webinars are real-time which increases trust. This is a huge benefit if you are a coach or a consultant because prospective clients will want to get a feeling for who you are and how you share information.
2. They give you a chance to extend your platform and spread your message.
We live in a short soundbite clip type of world where we’re all trying to squeeze as much information into tiny posts as often as possible. Sometimes, you just need a better way to engage your audience and webinars provide that to you. With a webinar, you generally set a timeframe upfront. So your audience is prepared to settle in and learn and you’re don’t have to compete for their attention as much as you would if you were sharing a social media post.
3. They are insanely valuable to your customers.
The telltale sign of a great webinar is how much someone learned from you. Most webinars are set around a specific topic and are aimed at helping a customer solve a specific problem. So as the webinar host, you know that you are attracting an audience that is right for your service or course. And for your viewers, they know they will walk away with some solutions. (So make sure your webinar is actually jam-packed with knowledge and solutions!)
4. They work across the entire customer journey
Webinars can work with every lead you have, no matter how they’ve engaged with you in the past. Whether they are brand new to you or they have been a long-time follower, they can benefit from learning more from you.
Of course, in order for anyone to actually enjoy the benefits of a webinar, you actually need to attract registrations!
If you’ve ever been terrified at the thought of hosting an extensively thought-out webinar to one attendee or you’ve ever struggled to attract sign-ups to your webinars, then we have everything you need to pull off a successful webinar!
1. A “why” for your webinar.
This one is incredibly important and, often forgotten! Why are you hosting your webinar? There are many reasons to host a webinar:
Reach a bigger audience
Grow your email list
Promote a new product
You have to know why you’re hosting a webinar and what you hope to get out of it.
While you’re at it, be sure you have built all the existing like, know and trust factors within your audience so that the webinar will actually help you reach your goal. For example, you may want to create a webinar to sell your new course BUT if you haven’t built an existing social media audience or an email list, then you’ll be trying to sell to a cold audience. You can still host a webinar but you might want to adjust your goals so that you’re increasing brand awareness, growing your following and building trust.
2. A fantastic title
Your webinar title is a major influence on whether or not your audience clicks to even learn more about your webinar! It’s the headline of every piece of communication and marketing material and it communicates the value of your webinar.
The best webinars will solve a problem or teach your audience something new. Your audience will want to know how your webinar helps them before they consider registering for it. Consider common problems your audience struggles with, the solutions they want and the common questions they ask.
Then you need to turn it into a catchy title! Your title needs to be clear, concise and specific.
Would you register for “A Few Things That Will Make Your Emails Better”
Or would you register for “10 Easy Tricks That Will Improve Your Email Marketing Open Rates”
With the second option, it’s clear what to expect from the webinar and what results you will see.
There are a few simple formulas for choosing a webinar title that will make it much easier to find the right name!
How To’s
How To webinars immediately tell attendees what they will learn and they present you the webinar host as a boss who is an expert in their niche.
Numbers
Concrete numbers give attendees a clear sense of what they will learn in your webinar.
Niche Audience
In a niche audience title, you clearly define your audience and use it to attract their attention. For example, “Pinterest Hacks for Mommy Bloggers.”
Timeliness
This webinar title is all about relevance and timeliness. For example, “Tax Season Tips for Entrepreneurs” or “2019 Social Media Marketing Trends.” It’s perfect if you are showcasing the most up to date knowledge or if there is seasonality in your industry.
You can use any one of these formulas or you can mix and match them to find the one that best fits your webinar, its goals, and your audience!
3. An email list (or the capability to build one)
Being able to email your webinar attendees before and after your webinar is crucial for its success! That means you need an email list or an email marketing tool.
With your email list, you can:
– Promote your webinar. Sharing an email address is a larger show of trust than clicking “follow” on a social media platform so your email list will probably provide a greater opportunity to attract attendees. If they already receive your emails than they already know a little bit about who you are and your expertise. Since they already know and trust you, they are more likely to want to sign up for your webinar and learn more from you!
– Email reminders before the webinar. Remember that your audience is busy and your webinar might slip their mind! We recommend sending email reminders one day prior and one hour prior to your webinar start time.
– Email post-webinar. Your attendees might have to leave early or they might arrive late so emailing a recording post-webinar can provide the value even if they aren’t able to attend live!
– Email follow-ups if you make an offer. If you are using your webinar to promote a special offer, then you should send email reminders about your offer and how fantastic it is! You can use emails to provide more details and to remind attendees if your offer is expiring.
The good news is you can automate many of these emails, specifically those pre and post-webinar. If you don’t have an email list, don’t worry! Webinars are an excellent way to build your email list.
4. A super solid marketing strategy
You can’t max out webinar attendees without a super solid marketing strategy! Remember that you are providing massive value from your webinar so you want to make sure everyone knows about it.
Here are a few tactics we always include in our webinar marketing strategies:
– Create a descriptive landing page
A landing page will give your potential attendees some more detailed information on your webinar and you can use it to capture email addresses and names of registrants so you can build your list and remind attendees about your webinar. We use Demio to host our webinars and they have landing page capability built-in but you can also create a page on your website or use a landing page software like LeadPages to create this.
On your landing page, be sure to include:
- Title
- Date and time
- Description of your topic and what your attendees can expect to get out of your webinar.
- Who is presenting and some background on the speaker
- Any extras or bonuses you’ll be offering! Use mystery to build excitement around this so your attendees will want to show up live!
Promote it on your website
Don’t let your website visitors miss out on your webinar. You can add an announcement as a pop-up or in the “News” section of your site. We love using HelloBar to promote upcoming webinars. It’s a sleek way to add an announcement without overpowering your website.
Add a call to action on your blog posts
If you are regularly sharing value-filled blog posts then invite your blog readers to sign up for your webinar with a simple call to action at the bottom. A strategic way to do this is to write a blog post with a topic related to your webinar. If your blog readers are interested in that topic, then they will be interested in your webinar as well!
Use social media
Finally, make use of your social media platforms to promote your webinar. Remember that many of your followers won’t see your post the first time you share it so follow the old rule of “write once, promote twice.”
If you are a MeetEdgar user, you can create a specific category for your webinar and add it in with the rest of your content. This way you know that you won’t be overly promoting your webinar but you’ll still be consistently sharing about it.
Social media videos can also be extremely effective for promoting webinars because using a video gives your followers an idea of how you share information. When they watch your webinar, they’ll be watching you so give them a sneak peek with a video!
Webinars can be one of the most effective marketing tools for solopreneurs so why not give them a try? Follow these steps and we’re sure you’re going to see success from your next webinar.
Looking for more info on how to make your webinars a smashing success? Join us for Content Creator Day on March 14th!
MeetEdgar is teaming up with Demio, Podia and ConvertKit to empower entrepreneurs who rely on content – including webinars – to drive their business!
Learn more and register for free here!
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