Webinars as a Marketing Tool

July 28, 2021

How can my brand use webinars to connect with prospects and customers?

Now more than ever, webinars are a powerful tool to help marketers increase brand awareness, establish their brand as a thought leader, increase purchase and/or subscriptions, educate consumers, as well as provide an opportunity for content to be repurposed.

The best kind of webinar is engaging, inspirational, provides value and useful information, and makes people want more. However, part of hosting a successful webinar is making the experience seamless, easy, accessible, and visually pleasing.

According to Search Engine Journal, only 7 percent of "webinar viewers prefer mobile over desktop," however, it's important to include this small demographic as "there's still a chance a bunch of your watchers will be tuning in on their phones."

Timing is also everything. Thursdays are the most popular day for webinars, according to Search Engine Journal, so keeping days and time zones in mind helps garner more attendees. In addition, according to ON24's recent study, 2020 saw an increase in webinars delivered on the ON24 Digital Experience Platform by 162 percent.

The study went on to mention that "more than one-quarter of a million ON24 webinars hit the web. And of those, more than 100,000 virtual events had more than 100 participants" with an overall attendee increase at 251 percent, reaching more than 60 million.

Further, ON24 went on to state that consumers "will choose conversation and two-way interaction over passive experiences. They will choose to access content on their own terms."

Personalization is key to attracting audiences, and the fact that webinars are live events that consumers can easily attend in the comfort of their own living rooms is huge. This brings people from various locations together to create a diverse virtual community easily, which is especially valuable in a pandemic.

Below are resources to help marketers harness the power of webinars.

Resources: Benchmarks and Consumers

Webinar Benchmarks Report. ON24, 2021. This study examines statistics across a webinar's lifecycle, including webinar promotion and registration metrics, interactivity metrics, audience viewing habits, and both live and on-demand attendance and conversion metrics. It compiles and analyzes the most interesting webinar questions and statistics that'll help you produce the best webinar possible, like average attendance and conversion rates, the best day and time for webinar and promotion and attendance. It also looks at best practices, how remote work impacts production, what to expect, and how other webinar practitioners feel about their programs. ON24 also produced a separate strategy guide.

Why Consumers Sign Up for Webinars. HubSpot, September 2020.
Because webinars require viewers to sign up and remember to tune in, it takes clever marketing to ensure that a large audience attends. Additionally, with most brands going virtual in 2020, several competitors in your space might very well be planning a similar webinar that your audiences might be more drawn to. By researching your target audience and learning more about what drives attendees to sign up for webinars, you can create and promote an event that effectively pulls in and delights your audiences. HubSpot surveyed 400 consumers about their webinar preferences and what motivates them to attend these virtual events. This highlights a few key findings to keep in mind as you develop and promote your webinar content.

Best Practices

How to Create an Amazing Webinar. HubSpot, February 2021.
Since the rise of remote work, people rely on technology for education and social interaction more than ever. This means more Zoom meetings instead of in-person meetings, more walks to a home office instead of commutes to a high-rise, and of course, more webinars instead of live events. Because companies are turning to webinars to replace their live events, the market is experiencing an over-saturation. It's even more difficult to make your virtual event stand out from the pack. HubSpot and GoToWebinar teamed up to bring you the ultimate webinar planning kit that can help you create a compelling, effective webinar. It includes creating a webinar, brainstorming the right topic, choosing a format, picking the right tool, team roles, content production, day and time selection, practice, promotion, and follow ups.
Guide to Webinars: 41 Tips for Successful Webinars. Search Engine Journal, September 2020.
Webinars are powerful. When done right they can build your brand, establish and grow your authority in your industry, generate a ton of leads, and be repurposed into blogs, videos, and other types of content. But there's a problem: not all webinars are created equal. While a select few enjoy massive success and over 500 attendees (2 percent, to be exact), most fall flat, with low attendance and high drop-off rates. This guide provides 41 tips for pulling your webinar out of the mediocre, forgettable, zero-conversions zone.
Webinar Marketing Plan. G2, September 2020.
The key thing to keep in mind about webinar marketing is that it's not meant to be salesy. Rather, webinar marketing is about delivering valuable information, wisdom, and experiential knowledge to your audience to help them overcome a common problem or reach an initial goal. As you help your audience reach this baseline goal via your webinar, you'll also be preparing them to face the next step in their journey, which will require the use of your premium products or services to accomplish. This article digs into all that goes into creating an engaging and informative webinar for your target audience, and how to inject these initiatives into your overall marketing plan.
What to Do After Your Webinar Ends – 7 Aspects of a Webinar Follow-up. Click Meeting, March 2021.
This post-webinar checklist provides ways that you can squeeze every ounce of benefit out of your digital event, and includes:

Sending a Thank-You Email
Conducting a Post-Webinar Survey
Contacting Leads Who Didn't Attend
Analyzing Your Webinar Stats
Evaluating the Feedback You Receive
Repurposing Your Webinar Content
Planning Your Next Webinar

Tools

Webinar Planning Kit. HubSpot, October 2019.
HubSpot created a set of tools to help you produce webinars that both your prospects and sales reps will love. From determining goals to planning your post-webinar nurturing flows, this kit has you covered. It also includes:

Webinar Program Playbook. ANA/Demand Metric April 2018.
Use this step-by-step playbook and set of 26 premium tools and templates to create a comprehensive webinar program.

For Your Consideration

ANA Webinars.
The ANA regularly hosts webinars as well: join industry leaders and subject matter experts from the comfort of your office or home and tap into a wealth of information on key topics surrounding the marketing and advertising industry. Webinars are complimentary for ANA members, and most are recorded and are available to ANA members for playback on demand.

The Marketing Knowledge Center actively connects ANA members to the resources they need to be successful. You can visit the ANA website to engage with the MKC in three ways.

Explore content to access best practices, case studies, and marketing tools. Our proprietary content includes Event Recaps, which share actionable insights from conference and committee presentations.
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