Webinars provide a great opportunity for advisors to create high-quality content while promoting their brand and services. And because webinars require no additional overhead costs, once produced and hosted, this particular strategy is incredibly cost-effective.
A webinar should not be thought of as a sales process though, rather it is about providing value to current and prospective clients. In this blog post, we will look at how you can use webinars to generate more leads in 2022. Feel free to check the table of content below to jump to a particular topic.
Table of Contents
- What is a Webinar
- How Should You Prepare For Your Webinar?
- When Should You Have Your Webinar?
- What Tech Should You Use to Host Your Webinars?
- How Should You Promote Your Webinar?
- What Post-Webinar Communications Should You Implement?
- How Should I Follow-Up to Convert Webinar Attendees?
Up to 40% of webinar attendees become qualified leads.
business
What is a Webinar?
A webinar is simply an online video workshop, lecture, or presentation. Often business-related, these sessions are used to share knowledge, inform on new ideas and update people around the world. They can also be used to improve relationships, strengthen bonds, promote/demonstrate a product, or build authority around a brand. In short, it’s an “online classroom” where you learn with other “students.”
How Should You Prepare For Your Webinar?
Preparing for each webinar can be different, however, this is the baseline prep that we like to follow at Twenty Over Ten to get ready for upcoming webinars:
- Choose a time
- Choose a title/topic
- Identify your technology (and test it)
- Appoint a moderator
- Start mapping out your presentation & agenda
- Plan out your promotional schedule
When Should You Have Your Webinar?
Choosing the optimal time to host your webinar can be a tricky decision. However, it’s no secret that timing is everything, so take into careful consideration when you will host your webinar to ensure that it gets the highest amount of attendees possible. LiveWebinar found that 10-11 am was the best time for the highest attended webinars.
What Tech Should You Use to Host Your Webinars?
Before you can determine which tools you want to use for your webinars, first ask yourself some critical questions. Some things to consider:
- What is the setup and registration page going to look like on your website?
- How many seats can you set within your allocated budget?
- Do they offer any email capabilities to send reminders to registrants?
- What in-app engagement features do they offer (Think polls, chats, Q&As, etc.)?
- Will the software integrate with your CRM or other marketing platforms?
Once you have an answer to those questions you’ll be able to better decide upon the most optimal technology for you to use.
Pro Tip: Learn the technology BEFORE hosting!
Along with choosing the webinar providers, there are a few other tech tools you’ll want to have available:
- Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint to build your presentation/slide deck
- Microphone
- Computer
- Headphones
- Hardwire Internet connection (ideal but a strong WiFi connection will suffice)
How Should You Promote Your Webinar?
Promoting your webinar is just as important as hosting the webinar itself. Without this step, the effort you put into your webinar will all be for nothing. After all, how are you supposed to get registrants if they don’t get the memo that you’re hosting an upcoming webinar?
Landing/Registration Page
Before you can start promoting your webinar in emails, social media, ads, etc. you need a place to collect registrations. Below is a webinar registration page example from Twenty Over Ten client, Mark Sharp Retirement. This registration page was built on the Twenty Over Ten platform and includes all the essential elements of a high converting webinar registration page.
Now that you have a dedicated registration page to drive people one of the first avenues you’ll want to promote your webinar on will be via email. Try sending a series of emails to your current contacts about the upcoming webinar to encourage them to register. You can also incorporate information about your upcoming webinar into your other communications like newsletters. The best approach to generating the most webinar sign-ups is to set up a series of emails:
- Initial invitation – 15 days out from webinar date
- Confirmation – To be sent when someone successfully registers
- Reminder #2 – 8-14 days out from webinar date to those who haven’t registered yet
- Reminder #3 – 1-7 days out from webinar date to those who still haven’t registered
- Final reminder – To be sent the day of your webinar date as a “last chance to register”
- Post webinar – To be sent 24-48 hours after your webinar to attendees and non-attendees with a link to the recording (see further information below about this important email)
Social Media
Social media is a great promotion tool in general, so why not utilize your social media platforms to promote your webinar? Create social media posts that include both imagery and a registration link to the webinar to encourage people to register. Bonus – you’ll not only gain more registrants, but you’ll also gain more followers as people will share your posts.
What Post-Webinar Communications Should You Implement?
Congrats, you did it! You’ve successfully hosted your webinar but now comes the most essential part – communicating with your webinar leads post-webinar. Below are some tried and true post-webinar communication strategies to help close the deal and convert those leads into clients for your advisory business.
Pro Tip: Don’t overdue post-webinar communication, so its best practice to choose one strategy to implement.
- Send a follow-up email to ALL who registered and include a link to your calendar to book a meeting to discuss further (Pro tip: segment your registration list by attendee and non-attendee and send two different emails).
- Ask attendees to complete a survey to gauge their interest in future webinar topics
- Encourage them to subscribe to your newsletter or blog
- Share your social media profiles to encourage them to follow your accounts
- Create a blog post with a replay – Embed the video recording, include a call to action (CTA), and upload the slide deck to SlideShare to include
How Should I Follow-Up to Convert Webinar Attendees?
Post-webinar is when
Step 1: Identify Hot Leads
A hot lead is someone who is actively seeking a solution to solve their pain point and has shown interest in your services. When it comes to identifying hot leads from your webinar there are a few key attributes to look for in those that attended your webinar:
- Time spent in the webinar
- Engagement levels
- Responses to survey questions (Pro Tip: Ask attendees DURING the webinar if they are interested in your services)
- Previously attended webinars
- Past marketing touches
Step 2: Follow-Up #1 (Week 1)
After you’ve sent your initial email with the webinar replay (see above) you’ll want to send another email within a week encouraging leads to book a time on your calendar.
Step 3: Follow-up #2 (Weeks 2-4)
If the lead has not yet booked time on your calendar from the previous email your next follow-up email should be a follow-up with relevant content. Why? Checking in a month after the webinar will help deepen the conversation and sharing relevant content from your blog, YouTube channel, etc. will help you stay top of mind.
Key Takeaways
Before you dive into the deep end with webinars having a strong webinar marketing strategy in place will ensure that your events are successful from beginning to end. We know that hosting a webinar may seem like a daunting (maybe even impossible) task, but it is worth it, we promise! If you’re looking for a way to prove your value and differentiate your firm, hosting webinars are a viable option.
Editing Note: This post was originally published on April 20th, 2020, and was written by Lauren Beichner. It has been updated to ensure accuracy.
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About The Author
Justin Adams
Justin is a content marketing specialist who loves to cook and play with his cats. He’s also currently learning how to play guitar and piano. He’s always thinking of ways to solve problems and puzzles. He says one of his best skills is his ability to always come up with ideas and hopes to sharpen that skill as his career progresses.
