3 Secrets of Winning Webinars

3 Secrets of Winning Webinars

1. Brainstorm Session: How Can You Leverage Online Events?
Imagine the creative new ways in which you could utilize online events, without incurring the costs and heavy-lifting of in-person events. Here’s some ideas for you to consider: Educating customers and investors, marketing to prospects, up-selling customers, updating employees and partners or working the press.

Take a look at your list of business goals and brainstorm how online events could help you achieve them. Want to strengthen relationships with customers or get prospects “talking up” your company? Host a half-hour webinar—for example, “10 Tips to Overcoming Procrastination”—to highlight your company’s expertise.

Power Tip: Begin planning your webinar six weeks in advance, and promote it two to four weeks out. Ask yourself: What specific goals do I want my event to achieve?

2. Schedule Event, Then Systematize Your Invitations for Maximum Show Rates
Setting up an online event should start with a date and then work backwards from there. Create compelling, targeted HTML invitations and text for those whose email accounts don’t accept HTML. Be sure to include a series of teasers, touch-points and reminders automated to be sent via an auto-responder so your reminders and confirmations go out without fail. Automated e-mail management makes registration and follow-up e-mails a snap.

Power Tip: Add questions to your enrollment form to gauge attendees’ interests and needs. Also, designate the destination page attendees will be sent following the event. Ask yourself: What will be my call to action? What specific benefits will participants gain from attending?

3. Capture Attention With Powerful Features
Lively conversation and quality content aren’t always enough to maintain your audience’s attention. Put on a good show for them with plenty of visual and auditory variety. Engage their eyes with PowerPoint presentations, animations and streaming video as you drive the discussion over your phone or microphone.

Let your guest speakers take center stage while you field questions from the audience, then launch a poll or to maintain the interaction. When it’s over, post the recorded event on your website for those who missed it.

Power Tip: Score your attendees (and no-shows) based on their event participation and enrollment responses, then import the data it into your CRM or follow-up system so you can quickly reach the most qualified leads. Strike while the iron is hot and recognize that hosting webinars that make you money is both a process and an event.