Webinars can be a successful, cost-effective tool for moving prospects along in the buying cycle beyond mere leads and into the land of real contenders. But the content of the webinar, the way that you hone in on your target audience, and the way you adhere to your brand, all affect prospect’s experience and will impact the quality of leads you pass off to sales. So, as you begin your next webinar plan, here are some best practices to make you more efficient and successful.
- Content is king. It’s never a good idea to do a webinar on content that is not your specialty. If you’re focusing on a vertical, do your homework and get subject-matter-expertise that is relevant and trusted. Nothing spoils a great lead in the pipeline like the nagging feeling that prospects get when you don’t really know what you’re talking about.
- Sell softly and carry a big stick. Any webinar that is too pushy for your product or doesn’t offer additional value outside of being an electronic pitch, is a turn-off. And a waste of your prospects’ time. Clearly we develop webinars to engage with prospects and ultimately to carry them through the sales funnel. They know that too. But mind your manners and don’t be overt about it. They’re agreeing to spend time (1 hour, typically) with you and they expect to be treated like a guest, not a piece of your pipeline.
- Review your target audience again and again. And then one more time. It’s absolutely critical that you understand WHO you are inviting to your webinar, and more importantly, who is accepting your invitation. Take the time to research (prior to finalizing your content presentation) what participants might already know. Nothing stalls a webinars’ success like talking down to your participants (think of a webinar for nuclear physicists where we explain the components of an atom—not good). The solution here is in the research: visit the blogs that your participants visit, talk to your sales counterpart about this audience, create casual focus groups, implement an online survey. But, make sure you know them and know what is important to them.
- Test your technology. Test everything at least twice. Test the web presentation, the audio, the Q&A functions, etc. Testing should occur 1 week prior to launch as well as that same day if you’re doing a live webcast. You’ll feel better knowing that you’ve done due diligence and I guarantee you’ll save yourself stress and mistakes. Don’t forget to test the dial-in to make sure the number is working for participants and call in at least 10 minutes prior to start-time so that someone is on the line for any early birds.
- Tell them what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them. Create a clear, succinct agenda and be very clear about when you’re taking questions and the format for Q&A.
- Send slides and a recorded version of your webcast to participants within 24 hours, and tell them during the webinar you will do this. Participants will expect access to this information anyway. Following up quickly helps motivate people towards their next stage in the buying cycle while your webinar is still top-of-mind.
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Of course there are more tips, tricks, and strategies for best-in-class webinars. And of course, Yates would love to help. But these 6 tips for an effective webinar should give you a great start and get those wheels turning as to how to implement this effective and informative offer into your strategy.
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