Webinars, when executed properly and handled with proper project management tools, can be a great way to help spur company growth. When you are making sales at scale and are operating in a B2B industry, they are invaluable.
As a concept that is hardly new—they have been around for years—webinars are used by many companies, however, it is often the case that they are executed poorly. In fact, as somebody who likely has an interest in business, you have probably seen an example of a poor webinar first-hand.
If you are considering using webinars as a sales and marketing, then you should avoid making the same mistakes that many businesses make each year.
Simple Tips for Effective and Actionable Webinars
If you want to see real and measurable results coming from your webinars there are lots of things you can do. To make your life easier, we have rounded up five simple tips that you can draw inspiration from.
1. Use webinars sparingly
Some companies will host lots of webinars each year… we’re not talking about two or three times per month, either, we are talking about hundreds of webinars per year. You are unlikely to find yourself in a situation where holding multiple webinars each month would be necessary, and you’ll never ever be in a situation where you need to do more than one per week. With webinars, use them sparingly and focus on quality over quantity.
2. Promote your webinar properly
You’re not going to get as many people as you want to watch your webinar without promoting it. Part of the planning stage for a webinar should involve a promotional element where you target the people you want to watch with controlled email blasts, for example. You can also try bringing in new viewers who aren’t subscribed to your mailing list by taking advantage of targeted Facebook marketing.
3. Make it visual
People are going to get bored pretty quickly if you are just monotonously reading off of a bullet-pointed PowerPoint presentation. Today, it’s all about the visuals and you need to be making a lasting impression with big, bold, and impactful visual slides. Awesome visuals will ensure your content is memorable and that your audience is fully engaged throughout—you don’t want people falling asleep on you.
4. Efficient project management
Webinars are a project like any other within your organization and, as such, webinars need good project management behind them. If you approach your webinars with the attitude that they can just be half-baked and thrown together in 5 minutes, then you may as well not bother. Proper project management with the same care and attention exercised as with any other company project is the only way you should proceed.
5. Publish your webinar’s footage immediately
If somebody is interested in your webinar, chances are that they will very quickly lose that interest or forget about it entirely if you don’t follow up. You need to keep your leads engaged and one way you can do this is by sending out a recording of your webinar immediately. This keeps the webinar fresh in their mind and provides an immediate reference point. In addition to this, your webinar’s recording can be used as a means to follow-up and engage people who did or could not attend your webinar. These people can still be good leads and they should not be written off. Don’t make the mistake of judging the quality of prospective leads on who did and did not attend your webinar.
Project Management is the Takeaway Here
Efficient project management is the key to running a successful webinar. If you only put 20 percent effort in and treat webinars inappropriately, then they are not going to deliver the ROI they are capable of. Far too many companies either disregard webinars entirely or make a very poor effort of it. Most of the time, this is because webinars have not been treated like and managed in the same manner as other company projects.
If you are going to play around with webinars and see if they work for you, don’t make this fatal mistake. Put 110 percent effort in, and you will see results.
