How to Create Webinars for Lead Generation
One of the primary objectives of nearly every digital marketing campaign is lead generation. However, trying to generate valuable, promising leads can be challenging. The secret is to offer industry-specific content that people really want, and exchange that for contact information. While there are plenty of different tactics that you can take to generate leads, webinar marketing may be one of the most effective. Discover how to use webinars on your company’s quest to generate leads.
Choosing a Webinar Topic
The first step of webinar marketing will be choosing a webinar topic that appeals to your target demographic. If you are a business that sells baking supplies to amateur bakers, then a webinar about making the perfect cookie or how to plan for a holiday dinner might be a great choice. Your ideal customers are the ones that will be most interested in the webinar, allowing you to connect better. If your webinar is going to be in a generic topic, or in a subject that is so niche that few people are interested, you are severely limiting your target consumer demographic. Once you have a general idea of what you would like to discuss in your webinar, find out how to bring in experts to make the event more noteworthy. In the baking webinar example above, it might make sense to feature a professional chef or bakery owner who can impart truly fascinating and helpful tips. The average webinar is around 65 minutes, which is enough time to captivate the audience without feeling too long or too boring. Try to fill that hour with props, whiteboards, slides and multiple speakers on camera.
Decide What Contact Information to Request Upon Signup
The primary objective of webinars could be educating your audience, but the real benefit to a business is lead generation and a better brand image. While you can and should offer the webinar at no cost, you should require every participant to sign up for the webinar. Create a basic sign-up form that requires individuals to put down their name, their line of work, their business title, their geographic location, their contact information or any other details you find pertinent. Some webinars won’t need career information, and others may not factor in location. By requiring this sign-up information before the webinar, you are bringing in leads of people most interested in the services you offer. This truly is a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Generate Interest and Excitement About the Webinar
In order for webinar marketing to be successful, lots of potential participants need to find out about the webinar and have the opportunity to sign up. The most obvious way to advertise the event will be through your company’s website and existing social media channels. Generate interest days and weeks in advance by sending out emails to existing contacts and past customers that might appreciate the information. By limiting spots to a certain number of participants, you might also encourage individuals to sign up quickly rather than miss out on the opportunity. Finally, take advantage of herd mentality by broadcasting how many hundreds or thousands of people have already signed up.
Offer Recorded Webinars After the Fact
After the webinar has concluded, send out follow-up emails to everyone who signed up for the event. Let them know more about your company, sum up the highlights of the webinar and remind them who organized the webinar. You may also want to offer a link to a video recording of the webinar to anyone who missed the live version.
Webinar marketing is a way to generate leads that doesn’t feel like overt advertising to potential customers. Participants will learn something about a field they are already interested in, and you will gain valuable leads for prospective customers.
