Even though they’ve been around since the late-1990s, webinars remain criminally underutilized for marketing and lead generation. Much of this has to do with the fact that webinar promotion remains an obscure and hazy science, still at nascent stages, leading many marketers to give it a pass. However, the efficacy of the humble webinar remains indisputable, with an average conversion rate in excess of 55%.
Whether the aim is to convert click-throughs into leads, or to move warm leads further along the sales funnel, webinars have a place in every step of the process.
In this article, we cover some tried-and-tested best practices, and marketing secrets that seasoned professionals use to shore up attendance for their virtual events, to maximize awareness surrounding their brand, product, or service.
Create Captivating Invites
The first course of action is to broadcast your upcoming event to existing customers, subscribers, or prospective leads. Even if you have a strong, responsive mailing list, getting invitees to RSVP to your event takes a phenomenal invite that exudes zing, pep, and fervor.
Grabbing attention, and compelling action with email marketing is an art and science in itself, but when it comes to webinar invites, there are a few elements that can fundamentally enhance conversions.
This includes things like setting expectations with “..What You Will Learn?” creating a sense of urgency with a “Save Your Seat Now!” CTA, along with a banger of an introduction that clearly conveys the value proposition to prospective attendees.
Go All-Out On Social Media
A bulk of new webinar sign-ups come from social media channels, and there are plenty of avenues for driving engagement, and virality with the right approach on social media, making this absolutely indispensable for all types of event sales techniques and strategies.
An ideal strategy in this regard would include a scroll-stopping graphic that clearly conveys the value, and intent, along with a short text accompanying the same. This works perfectly for Twitter, and Facebook, the two major sources of social traffic, with plenty of features catering towards businesses.
Apart from this, many power-users drive engagement by compelling their audiences to like, comment, and share, in return for discounts, freebies, and more. This stands to fundamentally enhance the reach of a simple organic campaign, with nothing more than a small investment for any giveaway.
Try Paid Ad Campaigns
The first two strategies are mainly focused on leveraging earned and owned channels, which most new businesses and startups may lack. In this case, instead of spending months growing organic reach on social media, launching quick, self-serve, and inexpensive campaigns can yield quick results.
Ad campaigns such as these are usually launched two weeks prior to the event, and again involve an attention-grabbing, or eye-popping graphic. Optimizing campaigns on Twitter and Facebook takes all the more time and effort, with multiple versions of the ad, and different targeting, resulting in varying results.
The most appealing aspect of social media advertising is the level of ad targeting and tracking, based on locations, demographics, income levels, interests, professions, and more, resulting in a steady stream of qualified leads, which can then be converted into paying customers, or moved through the funnel.
Final Words
Webinars retain the top spot in a marketer’s toolkit when it comes to building brand equity, instilling trust, and projecting authority. While it is yet to catch-on in consumer sectors, it remains indispensable when it comes to high-ticket B2B products.
If you’re having second-thoughts about hosting one, owing to the lack of any owned audience, keep in mind that a webinar itself can be a means of building a strong followership, especially when using the paid advertising methods mentioned-above.