Having worked on a number of successful webinars over the years, we thought we’d put together 5 top tips for a successful webinar to help you make the most of them.

1.     Pick a compelling title

Think about who your potential customers are when picking a subject, to make sure it is something topical and will add value to them – even better if it is something that will address a concern or show them how to do something – but do try not to be overly promotional. It can be challenging to come up with a good webinar title, we often think in terms of the Goldilocks rule – it has to be ‘just right’. Not too long, not too short, and compelling enough to really grab the attention of your target audience. Something that, when marketing ahead of the webinar, will look good and pique interest in all email platforms whether being viewed on desktop or mobile. It can be useful to put yourself in your target registrant’s shoes, and succinctly outline what they will learn and take away from attending, then be sure to deliver on your promise.

2.     Use a dedicated webinar platform 

We suggest this, because we are aware that many companies are using platforms that are broadcast only, with no or very limited interactivity possible. This is a missed opportunity to find out more about an audience and their pain points, which is data you can use in turn to inform other areas of your content strategy. Dedicated webinar platforms have marketing functionality built in, so that you can find out more about the audience from live polls, this kind of activity really helps with audience engagement. There are lots of dedicated platforms in the market to choose from, visit your search engine of choice.

3.     Lights, camera, action!

Long gone are the days of faceless broadcasting your message out there on a webinar platform. People buy people and like to see who they are hearing from. Make sure the environment you are sat in is quiet, not likely to be disturbed, and is well lit. It can be useful to do a run through, so that you have your content fresh in your mind and you can iron out any issues you spot with your chosen location. If you have technical issues during the webinar, stay calm, and carry on. 

4.     Evergreen content

Not all registrations turn into attendees – generally we would expect around 50% to turn up on the day. This could be for many reasons, people forget - even though they may have been sent timely reminders, people may have registered knowing they couldn’t attend live but expecting a recording, and things can crop up, after all. It’s good practice to send the recording to all registrants and host it on your website so that people can sign up and watch the recording in the future, leading to further valuable data collection.

5.     One webinar, many content opportunities

After all the planning and effort to run the live webinar, the great news is that you can use content from the event in myriad ways. Ideas include taking quotes from the webinar and using them on social media, this can drive new registrations to the webinar after the event; taking the audio and publishing it as a podcast for those who would prefer to listen rather than watch; you can even use some of the questions posed by the live audience to generate new content ideas.

Webinars are a valuable part of the marketing toolkit. If you’re thinking of holding a webinar and would like some advice, please get in touch with us on 01730 719603 or email us hello@spreadtheworddigital.com, we’d love to talk.

Sergey Zolkin on Unsplash.