How to… get the most from your webinar
Webinars have been steadily growing in popularity among B2B brands as a way to attract new prospects and grow top-funnel leads. Pre-Covid, almost 95% of marketers saw webinars as a vital part of their marketing strategy and 73% said they are the best way to generate leads — a number that has likely shot up thanks to the global lockdown.
When done right, webinars can be a valuable tool to boost your company’s reputation, build relationships, and increase your thought leadership. Here are our top tips for getting the most from your webinars.
1. Promote beforehand
To get the maximum attendance and impact from your webinar, you’ll have to shout about it. Leverage all of your marketing channels, from email, to social, to blogs, to let your target audience know your topic, your speakers and when your webinar is. You can even ask people to submit questions beforehand or share a webinar-related competition to build excitement around your event.
Traditionally B2B webinars will attract between 400-800 registrants, so you should generally aim for that number unless targeting a very niche audience. Likewise, a timely webinar with well-crafted content and a popular thought leader can attract much more than this.
2. Hone your content
Engagement during your webinar is vital, otherwise, people will zone out and possibly leave midway through. Insightful and vibrant content like videos, graphics, graphs and polls will keep boredom at bay.
After your webinar, you can also repurpose your content into blogs, short videos, and infographics to use for other marketing efforts like PR and social media. The information you obtain from polls can even be used to inform other content like blogs and white papers.
3. Leverage your experts
If you have a well-known team of internal experts, make sure you include them in your webinars as a way to attract new attendees. For instance, you can invite your Chief Product Officer to speak about your new product features, or your CEO to speak on your company’s growth and future plans. Of course, make sure it’s worth their while — keep your webinars closely aligned with your business strategy and ensure your audience are high-value targets.
4. Follow up your leads
Every effective webinar has a clear plan for following up after the event. Webinars are particularly effective for generating new leads and they’ll need further nurturing before they commit to a sale. Follow-up with an email series, recommended reading, or even a personal note from the speakers to get the conversation flowing.
An invaluable marketing tactic
With their growing popularity and effective results, webinars will soon be the backbone of every B2B marketing strategy. Optimise your webinar’s impact by attracting your target audience, engaging them with the right content and thought leaders, and by following up post-event.
Get in touch with The Henley Group today and discover how we can help you take your webinars and content marketing to the next level.
The Henley Group is a B2B communciations agency, based in Henley-on-Thames, UK. We specialise in public relations, content marketing, corporate communications and strategic consulting for clients in the UK and overseas. We advise, plan, produce and deliver engaging communication programmes for clients across a range of B2B sectors.