Guess what – eight out of ten professionals prefer webinars over other content to fuel their growth. That’s not just a trend; it’s a tidal wave of opportunity you want to ride. Imagine captivating your audience, building your brand, and generating more customers, all through the magic of a virtual, one-hour event.  

Today, we’re your backstage pass to mastering Webinar Marketing – 11 game-changing tips to help you create webinars your audience can’t resist.

What is Webinar Marketing?

Webinar Marketing uses online seminars to promote your product, service, or brand. You present a topic your target audience cares about and use that as a platform to introduce what you’re selling. 

Webinar marketing is like giving a free sample of your expertise to get people interested in buying the full experience. The live format also lets you answer questions and interact with people in real time, making it easier to build relationships and trust.

Why is Webinar Marketing Important? 

Webinar marketing is not just a trendy tactic but a versatile and impactful strategy that can benefit businesses in multiple ways.

1. Lead Generation: Webinars are excellent tools for capturing high-quality leads. People who sign up for a webinar are already interested in your topic, making them more likely to engage with your brand in the future. Roughly 73% of marketing professionals regard webinars as useful for capturing high-quality leads.

2. Builds Authority: Hosting a webinar on a subject relevant to your industry establishes you as an expert in the field. This can elevate your brand’s credibility and attract more customers.

3. Education: Webinars allow you to educate both potential and existing customers about your product or industry. Well-informed customers are often more loyal and easier to retain.

4. Cost-Effective: Compared to physical seminars or trade shows, webinars are much more cost-effective. You can reach your audience without the costs of travel, venue, and printed materials.

5. Real-Time Engagement: The live aspect of webinars allows for real-time Q&A, immediate feedback, and interactive polls, creating a two-way conversation between you and your audience.

6. Content Repurposing: The content created for the webinar can be repurposed into various formats like blogs, podcasts, and social media posts, extending its lifespan and value.

7. Data Collection: Webinars provide you with attendee data, engagement metrics, and feedback, which can be invaluable for future marketing strategies.

8. Customer Retention: Existing customers can also benefit from webinars, using them as a tool for ongoing education or updates about your products or services, which can improve customer satisfaction and retention.

Global Reach: Webinars can be accessed from anywhere worldwide, allowing you to significantly expand your audience and potential customer base.

Webinar Marketing Tip 1: Set a Clear Goal

Be very clear on what you want to achieve through this webinar. Your goal will inform everything you do, from the promotional assets to the speakers to how you measure success. 

Common goals include the following: 

• Lead Generation: If your primary aim is to gather potential customer information, your webinar could be valuable gated content. In this case, the focus would be on offering high-quality, irresistible insights encouraging attendees to share their email or contact details.

• Brand Awareness: Here, the focus would be less on selling and more on offering valuable information or insights that showcase your expertise and your brand’s value.

• Customer Education: This would be especially useful for SaaS companies or businesses with products requiring some instruction. The goal is to educate existing or potential customers on how to get the most out of your product.

• Community Building: If you focus on nurturing a community around your brand, your webinar could offer exclusive access to insider tips, Q&A sessions, or collaborative projects that bring your audience together.

• Product Launch: If you’re releasing a new product or feature, a webinar can be the perfect platform to unveil it. In this case, your goal is to generate buzz and excitement that leads to early adoption.

Webinar Marketing Tip 2: Identify Your Audience

Before you even start planning your webinar, decide who you’re talking to. A well-defined audience will guide every aspect of your webinar, from the topic to the type of content you’ll produce. 

This isn’t just about general demographics; you need to dig into what challenges your audience faces, what solutions they are seeking, the industries they’re in, and how they consume content. 

• Identify the industries your potential clients operate in and their specific job roles. For instance, if you’re marketing a cloud-based project management tool, targeting project managers in the tech industry will be more effective than targeting an intern at the same company. 

Webinar Marketing Tip 3: Choose Great Speakers

The speaker you choose can make or break your webinar. A knowledgeable and engaging speaker can captivate your audience, turning a mundane topic into a riveting discussion. Dylan Kohlstadt, CEO and founder of Shift ONE Digital, also recommends not to partner with a competitor or big-name guest who could “steal” your audience and distract from your business. 

• Keep in mind that a great speaker is not just someone who knows the subject matter inside-out but is also capable of conveying complex ideas in a relatable and engaging manner; someone who is charismatic and connects well with the audience. They need to have a presence; otherwise, attendees will doze off.  

It’s alarming when you consider that only 40% of webinar participants stay attentive from start to finish.

Even a fantastic product or insightful data can fall flat without the right person to communicate its value.

Webinar Marketing Tip 4: Decide on a Format

The format should align with your objectives, whether that’s education, product demonstration, or audience engagement. 

A panel discussion featuring industry leaders can be highly effective, especially for topics that benefit from multiple perspectives, like emerging technologies or market trends. For instance, if you’re in the SaaS space offering a new Customer Relationship Management solution, a panel discussion involving a tech expert, a sales leader, and a customer success manager can provide a 360-degree view of how your product fits into different aspects of a business. 

Different types of webinar formats include:

• Single Speaker.
• Multiple Speakers.
• Panel Discussion.
• Interview Format.
• Case Study.
• Gamified. 
• Storytelling.

Webinar Marketing Tip 5: Choose a Topic

In the B2B space, topics that address urgent industry challenges or capitalise on emerging trends are usually a hit. For example, Shift ONE Digital’s Mastering B2B Marketing webinar series has covered everything from ChatGPT to Thought Leadership. Our team are on the pulse of industry trends and leaps at the chance to share insights with our clients.

Here are several tips to help you choose a great webinar marketing topic:

• What are your competitors talking about? Do that, but better.
• Ask your audience. What questions do they have? What are they interested in learning? Run a survey or social media campaign to find out. 
• Check trending topics. Is there a new technology on everyone’s minds? Talk about that, but take a unique angle. 
• Ensure your topic relates to your brand and/or services.

Webinar Marketing Tip 6: Offer an Engaging Experience

While the experience you offer attendees will depend on your webinar market, one rule applies: whether you aim to educate, inspire, or entertain, you need to make the experience worth their time. 

Here are several tips for creating an engaging webinar marketing experience:

• Slide Design: Use slides with compelling visuals, minimal text, and interactive elements (such as clickable buttons) to keep attention.

• Live Demonstrations: Show, don’t just tell. Use live demos for products or concepts when possible.

• Personal Stories: Share anecdotes or stories that are relevant to your topic; this humanises you and makes the content more relatable.

• Live or Text-based Q&A: Dedicate time for a live Q&A session. This can be at the end or interspersed within your presentation. Or, use a feature that allows attendees to submit questions in writing. 92% of attendees desire a Q&A session.

• Live Polls: Pose questions during the webinar to gauge opinions or test knowledge. Polls can also break up the monotony of a long talk.

• Moderated Chat: Have a moderator interact with the audience through live chat, offering additional resources or clearing up any misunderstandings in real time.

Webinar Marketing Tip 7: Promote, Promote, Promote!

The more effectively you promote your event, the larger and more relevant your audience will be. Here are various techniques to promote your webinar:

• Press Releases: Send out press releases to relevant publications.

• LinkedIn Groups: Share your webinar in relevant LinkedIn Groups or forums where your target audience may hang out.

• Landing Page. Create a custom website landing page that breaks down the webinar agenda, speaker bios, and important details like date and time. About 80% of B2B marketers drive registrations through their websites.

• Segmented Emails: Segment your email list based on interest or other factors and send targeted invites.

• Follow-up Emails: Send a series of reminder emails with more information, benefits, or testimonials to ensure a high turnout. An astounding 73% of webinar registrations come from email marketing!

• Social Media Content: Go live or simply share videos, images, and carousels that tease your audience with the value they can expect in the webinar. Be specific. 

Social Media Ads: Run targeted ads on relevant platforms to expand your reach and get the word out about the webinar.

Webinar Marketing Tip 8: Share Value

Webinar marketing is NOT a sales pitch. You need to provide your attendees with value and don’t hold back. Share all your tips and insights, and those who need your help will still reach out for your services. But to make that decision, they need details. 

78% of attendees complain that “too-salesy” and product-focused webinar content is the primary reason they won’t attend a webinar.

• Get Practical. When they leave the webinar, will they be equipped to apply your advice and insights?

• Be Specific. Not “we increased our reach and impressions,” but rather “we increased reach by 50% compared to last month when we started running Facebook ads.” 

• Share Case Studies. This allows attendees to visualise the tips you’re sharing to ensure they understand what success looks like in the real world. It also adds credibility to you and your business. 

• Give Away Resources. Free e-items, such as downloadable templates, checklists, and even the webinar slides, are perfect to give to your attendees. 

Webinar Marketing Tip 9: Trusty Tech

You’re on mute. You’re speaking about slide seven when the screen shows slide five. Your internet goes down while you’re presenting. These are all nightmare scenarios that can be traced back to the reliability of your webinar marketing technology. 

We recommend the following:

• Conduct a dry-run so everyone can test out their technology and presentation before the live event.

• Create a backup plan so your attendees aren’t left in the dark if your technology fails you. 

• Record the webinar so you can access the content at any time.

• Get support on standby if you run into issues during the live webinar. 

Webinar Marketing Tip 10: Follow-Up Actions

When the webinar ends, don’t just wave awkwardly and hope your attendees contact you to buy your product. Your work isn’t done. You need to nurture these potential customers. The follow-up phase is your opportunity to solidify the relationships built during the webinar and guide attendees through your sales or engagement funnel.

• Send a thank-you email immediately after the event, expressing gratitude for their participation and providing a quick recap of the key takeaways.

• Include a link to the webinar recording in your follow-up email so attendees can rewatch the session or catch up if they missed it. 

• Ask for feedback through a post-webinar survey to gain insights into what worked well and what could be improved for future events.

• Segment your registrants based on their engagement level during the webinar, such as active participants, passive viewers, and no-shows, to tailor your follow-up messages.

• Share additional resources that complement the webinar content. These could be blog posts, whitepapers, or links to related webinars.

• Track post-webinar engagement metrics like open rates of follow-up emails, clicks on additional resources, and social media mentions to gauge the effectiveness of your follow-up strategy.

• Set up automated email sequences for different segments of attendees, nurturing them towards the next steps you want them to take.

Remind attendees of upcoming webinars or other events you’re hosting, especially if they’re closely related to the one they just attended.

Webinar Marketing Tip 11: Analyse Results

By carefully analysing your webinar results, you’ll be better equipped to understand its impact and make informed choices for your future online events. 

You think the webinar went well but did it? What does your audience think? How many people signed up vs. how many people actually attended? 

• Track key performance indicators like attendance and engagement rates.

• Identify peak and drop-off times to gauge content effectiveness.

• Use tracking codes to measure promotional channel success.

• Review post-webinar survey and email metrics for attendee feedback.

Monitor social media mentions for audience sentiment.

Create Your Webinar Marketing Strategy

We get it – webinar marketing can feel like you’re lost in a maze. That’s why at Shift ONE Digital, we want to be your go-to guide, your all-in-one pit stop. Based in the heart of Cape Town but with a global reach, our team brings you world-class service with a personalised touch.

Contact our team to make your next webinar a hit!

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