Webinars are a cost-effective business game-changer. A survey from ON24 reveals that 95% of respondents said webinars play a key part in their marketing efforts, while 76% of marketers say that webinars help them reach more leads. Let’s dive into Webinar best practices to make your webinar stand out.

Webinar Best Practice: Create A Clear Strategy

Every successful endeavour begins with a well-defined strategy, and webinars are no exception. When a client approaches us to host a webinar, we initiate a robust and collaborative process known as the Rapid Discovery Workshop. This workshop is the foundation for the entire webinar project, allowing us to dive deep into critical topics and key insights. 

Rapid Discovery Workshop aims to establish:

• Goals, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and objectives.

• Target customer segments and personas.

• Agenda, content strategy, topics and themes.

• Speakers.

• Asset design.

• Choosing the right platform.

• Paid and organic messaging strategy.

• MarTech and technical requirements. 

Webinar Best Practice: Define Your Goals

Setting clear webinar goals and KPIs is crucial in planning and executing successful webinars. These goals help you define the purpose and expected outcomes of your webinar. Ask yourself: what is the purpose of the webinar? What do I want to achieve? 

Common webinar goals include the following: 

• Thought Leadership: Establishing authority in your industry.

• Lead Generation: Capture potential leads for future conversion.

• Audience Education: Provide valuable insights and knowledge.

• Brand Awareness: Increase visibility and recognition in your industry.

• Engagement: Foster real-time engagement with your audience, building a community.

• Product/Service Promotion: Showcase your offerings and their features and benefits. 

• Training: Educate and train your staff or stakeholders.

Webinar Best Practice: Choose Your Target Audience

Define the size and characteristics of the businesses you want to attract, and identify the decision-makers within those companies or industries. Choosing panellists who align with your webinar’s Audience is also important.

Additionally, ensure that your webinar’s message is consistent and resonates with your target audience; you can achieve this by first understanding your audience’s pain points and their needs and goals. This strategic approach ensures that your webinar effectively reaches and engages the right audience for maximum impact.

We recommend creating a detailed persona document for each of your target audience segments. 

Webinar Best Practice: Select Your Theme

Choosing the perfect theme or topic for your webinar is pivotal. You want to focus on addressing your audience’s pain points while showcasing what your brand can provide as a solution. The goal is to create a mutually beneficial scenario where your audience and business gain value from the chosen topic.

A key component of choosing a theme and topic is also creating a clear agenda. An agenda keeps your webinar organised.

• Determine who will speak, when, and for how long.

• Prepare PowerPoint presentations, if needed.

• Gather speaker bios and introductions.

• Plan video usage and sound and lighting requirements.

Webinar Best Practice: Identify Your Speakers

67% of webinar attendees believe that the presenters’ passion and engagement are the most important factors, highlighting the significance of great panellists/speakers. When choosing speakers for a webinar targeted at a specific audience, the emphasis should be on expertise, relevance, engagement, adaptability, and the ability to establish a strong connection. 

These speakers serve as the face of your webinar, and their ability to captivate the audience plays a pivotal role in the success of your event.

Identify your panellists carefully:

• Consider a wide range of people, from team members to subject matter experts and CEOs.

• Invite clients to share their success stories and enhance credibility.

• Seek thought leaders and influencers from your industry, but ensure they complement your message.

• Exercise caution when involving suppliers (to avoid conflicts of interest).

• Do you need a master of ceremonies? This individual helps to maintain engagement and keep the webinar flowing smoothly. 

Webinar Best Practice: Create Your Assets

When designing assets for your webinar with a specific target audience, think beyond aesthetics. Every asset should serve a purpose and enhance the audience’s understanding and engagement of your webinar and brand.

 By tailoring your designs to the preferences and characteristics of your intended viewers, you increase the likelihood of attracting and retaining their interest throughout your webinar.

• Create social media promotional designs that align with your brand identity.

• Develop landing pages to attract potential attendees and streamline the signup process. A landing page should include the speakers, dates and times, reasons to attend, who should attend, and plenty of calls to action. 

• Craft email templates for effective communication.

• Design PowerPoint templates for engaging presentations. Your PowerPoint should be professional, incorporate case studies and video, and remember: don’t read your slides! That’s public speaking 101.  

• Establish a consistent webinar background theme based on your objectives and brand.

• Adapt your assets to suit the tone and purpose of your webinar.

• Write an article that covers your webinar topic in great detail.

Webinar Best Practice: Refine Your Channel Messaging

When it’s time to promote your webinar, remember your audience. Where are they active, LinkedIn or email (for example)?  Understanding your audience is essential in crafting a compelling and consistent message.

• Understand the power of your channels. If you are in the B2B space, leveraging LinkedIn and email is a smart idea. If needed, you can also integrate multiple platforms.

• Craft marketing content that directly addresses the primary concerns of your audience. Seamlessly integrate your messaging throughout all channels, from email to Instagram, to deliver a unified and crystal-clear brand message. 

• Maintain consistency so that each piece of communication reinforces the same theme and information, creating a cohesive brand presence.

Email Marketing

Did you know? 57% of event registrations stem from email marketing. Email gives you the ability to craft tailored webinar invitations that are precisely segmented according to the information within your email lists. This lets you personalise invites for individuals most likely interested in your upcoming webinar.

• Initiate introductory mailers two to three weeks before the event to build anticipation.

• Send reminders a few days before the webinar to keep it top-of-mind for attendees.

• After the webinar, send a thank-you email with a video link and introduce the next webinar.

• Consider Zoom auto-mailers for registration confirmation, reminders, thank-yous, and follow-ups, including feedback forms.

Social Media Marketing

In the planning phase of social media webinar marketing, know your audience and set your objectives. You’ll also need to choose your platforms wisely.

The second phrase is about content creation. Create shareable assets, write compelling copy, and encourage and leverage user-generated content from your audience and community.

When it’s time to distribute your content and promote your webinar, consider the following:

• Community management. As you create content and share content, don’t forget to take care of your community. Answer FAQs about the webinar and encourage discussion.

• Employee advocacy. Encourage your employees to post about the webinar and reshare the company’s promotional assets. 

• Paid advertising. Allocate a portion of your budget for paid ads to boost your webinar’s reach on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter), and through remarketing on Meta and Google.

• Online groups and forums. Join these digital playgrounds to mention and promote your webinar.

• Partner with influencers and industry leaders. This allows you to spread the word about your webinar.

• Live updates on the day of the webinar.

Press

Boost your webinar marketing by leveraging press coverage. Craft an engaging press release focusing on your event’s unique value and highlighting the repute of your speakers. Then distribute that press release via public relations (PR) channels and share it on social media. 

These tactics will drive registrations and establish your webinar’s authority.

Webinar Best Practice: Choose Your Platforms

By carefully selecting a webinar platform that aligns with your brand and is conducive to the preferences and needs of your target audience, you create a more compelling and tailored webinar experience. Equally important is the technology available, and its capabilities. 

• Zoom: User-friendly interface with high-quality video/audio and screen sharing. Interactive features, recording, integration, analytics, and large capacity.

• Steamyard: Beginner-friendly with live streaming integration, interactive features, custom branding, and automatic recording.

• BigMaker: User-friendly interface with customisation options, high-quality videos and audio, engagement features, integration, recording, and easy snippet creation.

• Livestorm: User-friendly, no downloads required, multi-language support, custom branding, integration options, and engagement features.

• WebinarJam: User-friendly interface with live chat and Q&A, customisation options, detailed analytics, and automated webinars.

• LinkedIn Live: Large professional user base, easy networking, profile integration, basic analytics, and live engagement opportunities.

Webinar Best Practice: Remember Your Post-Webinar Actions

By implementing a well-crafted follow-up plan, you maintain audience interest and capitalise on the opportunities presented by your webinar to build lasting relationships, drive conversions, and enhance your authority in your industry. It’s a vital step in the journey toward successful webinar marketing.

Here is how to nurture leads after your webinar:

• Send thank-you emails to attendees.

• Reach out to those who missed the webinar with a follow-up invitation.

• Gather feedback from participants to improve future webinars.

• Make calls and send emails to follow up with leads generated during the event.

Ready to implement these webinar best practices? Shift ONE is here to make it easy. We’ll help you set goals, pick topics, and assemble your team. We also have the tech know-how and social media marketing expertise to promote your webinar effectively. Contact us to manage your webinar.

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