Hosting a webinar - how to succeed

In these digital times, more and more companies are investing in organizing webinars. But how do you actually create an interesting and relevant webinar that generates the leads you want? And how do you make sure it builds your brand in the right way as a knowledge leader and industry expert? That's what I thought we'd find out in this blog post.

What is good about a webinar?

Why are webinars one of the most effective marketing tools? According to GoToWebinar, the average time a participant watches is over 60 minutes. What other type of content delivers that result? Webinars are an engaging way to build relationships with your visitors on a more personal level. They're also a cost-effective activity compared to other efforts.

1. they deliver along the entire customer journey

There are lots of variations for your webinar, allowing you to appeal to participants throughout the customer journey. They are an effective way to move your visitors from need to decision so that you reach your goals.

2. they generate quality leads

If you conduct your webinar in the right way, you can find out a lot about your participants. Asking the right questions before, during and after the webinar will ensure you get enough data about your leads to focus on the right things in your sales efforts.

3. they can deliver inspiring content

The power of a webinar is in the format itself. With moving images, sound and various forms of interactivity, it's possible to create exciting experiences and space for personal reflection. There is a good chance that your potential customers would rather spend 45 minutes watching your webinar than reading your written material. This gives you, as a marketer, a unique opportunity to deliver inspiring and educational content directly to participants. The best webinars are those whose primary purpose is to deliver valuable insights to their participants.

Working marketing and sales together

Together is an important keyword when organizing a webinar. To succeed in your ambitions, it is important that marketing works together with sales to:

• Identifying goals and ambitions
• Defining topics and content
• Plan the activities before, during and after

This ensures that your webinar delivers relevant content to your key audiences whether it's live or on-demand. It also means that the sales organization is well prepared to directly process the hot leads that emerge and marketing can prepare follow-up long-term activities towards the leads that are slightly colder.

Set goals together

A half-hour meeting with your sales reps will go a long way in answering the most important questions about your webinar in terms of generating new leads, nurturing existing ones, speeding up the sales cycle and increasing closing rates. Here are examples of some of the challenges you need to discuss:

• When during the customer journey do most potential customers drop out and what can we do here to counteract that?
• What do you need more of, more leads or higher quality leads?
• Is there any information that your potential customers are missing or that you would like them to have before a sales discussion?

Choose a topic together

Compile a list of relevant topics that could be of value to your potential customers. Brainstorm with your sales team to select and prioritize both the topic and the most appropriate format, such as a knowledge panel, best practice tutorials, live Q&A, product demonstration, etc. Here are examples of questions you may need to discuss to find the right one:

• Are there any pain points that we are not addressing with current content?
• What do you often need to explain many times to potential customers?
• What do you think they would find interesting to learn in a webinar when there is plenty of time?
• What type of CTA should we choose for each part of the customer journey?
• What do you think is the next step for most of the participants?

Once you have chosen the topic and format, it is important to continue working together to develop the content and final presentation.

Choose the right CTAs together

What is the next step a participant should take? Together, you can prepare to really get the most out of each potential lead by choosing the right CTA depending on where they are in their decision journey, such as downloading the e-book, signing up for the blog, registering for the next webinar, reading a case study, visiting your FAQ pages, watching a demo or trying something out. Here are some questions you should discuss to make the choices easier:

• What are they most likely to do?
• What kind of content do you think can back up the webinar?
• What type of content do you usually share at this stage?

Create an internal webinar hub

To make it easier for your own organization, you may want to create a webinar hub. If you have an intranet or a brand portal, this can be a suitable place for the hub. But anything from a well-organized Excel file to a board in Trello works well. The most important thing is that it contains all the information needed for each webinar, all the documentation used and the times and technology for each new webinar.

Create an external webinar hub

To make it easier for potential customers and participants, it is smart to create an external webinar hub as well. Either open or with login for specifically selected people. It can either be a "campaign page" on the company's website or a standalone platform outside of the normal digital context, depending on the purpose and objectives. Most importantly, it helps keep the right potential customers informed before, during and after each webinar. Of course, this is where you should provide materials to download and re-watch the webinar. And if you run series of webinars on the same or similar topics, it will be easy for the visitor to find something new interesting and relevant to sign up for.

Promote your webinar

If you want to attract the right people, it is important to promote your webinar in good time and with the right tools. In addition to your normal channels and invitations, use your sales team to spread the word about the event in meetings and social channels. A smart way is to include a link to the notification in the email signature. Make sure your salespeople are well aware of the activity by providing them with information about the objectives, logistics, target audience, topic and your promotional activities so they can help spread the word.

Follow up your webinar

From the marketing side, there are many things you can do to support your sales organization in the follow-up of the webinar. Feel free to conduct a survey or poll after the webinar to gather additional data. Gather as much information as you can about each participant and where they are on the decision journey. Provide salespeople with email templates that they can use to follow up on the webinar in person. Also, make sure you follow up with both the recording and other documentation from the activity. For best results, you should make sure that participants have this within 24 hours. If possible, have a follow-up meeting with the sellers to create a report and evaluate the activity based on the criteria, for example:

• New leads
• Existing leads engaged
• The survey evaluation of the webinar
• New customers

With a well-documented joint review of the activity, you are more likely to get even better engagement from the sales organization at the next webinar. I hope this blog post has helped you with your tactics for your next webinar.