How to Create and Host a Webinar
About 33% of marketers that host a webinar to promote their products and services see a higher conversion rate than those who don’t.
Webinars are an important part of any sales funnel. They’re used as training tools, a way to build a brand and promote your products.
They can be used at almost any stage of the sales funnel, too. The problem with webinars is that they’re intimidating to produce and develop.
Don’t worry about that, because this article has you completely covered. Keep reading because we’re about to show you how to produce a high-converting webinar step-by-step.
1. The Purpose and Topic of the Webinar
What is your webinar about? It seems like such a simple question, but a lot of thought and research has to go into it.
A webinar needs to address a major question that a potential customer has.
You also have to decide the purpose of the webinar so the topic and purpose are aligned. For instance, if the purpose of the webinar is to generate leads, the webinar topic should address issues that prospects have early in the buying process.
For instance, an accounting firm can create a webinar about getting ready for tax changes next year. This can help potential clients get important information and become a lead for the company.
2. Choose a Format
What type of format would get the most engagement and interaction from prospects? Is this a one-time webinar or an evergreen webinar that will run continuously?
A typical format is to have the main speaker and a slide deck to present the information. You might include polls and ask questions during the webinar to get people to enter information in the chat.
Some might consist of a screen share and voice-over. This is good for technology tutorials.
A Q&A is another format that you can use to engage users. Some webinars will have a roundtable discussion.
Hosting a live, one-time webinar is good if you already have a large audience. However, if you’re trying to build your brand and generate consistent leads, an evergreen webinar is a better choice.
3. Delivery Tools
Webinar software is the backbone of your webinar success. There are hundreds of webinar tools out there, and you don’t have much time to find the right one for you.
Take the work that you’ve done thus far and come up with a list of features that you need. If you decide to do an evergreen webinar, you’ll need a platform that delivers that.
If you just need to do a quick recording on a Mac computer, you can find a full rundown of webinar tools at https://setapp.com/how-to/how-to-record-webinar-quickly-mac.
What are other features that webinar software should have? Cloud recording, branding, and interactive tools are the main features to look for.
The webinar software should also have excellent reporting features so you know what works well and what doesn’t.
You may need a separate landing page tool. A landing page is part of the funnel that captures viewers’ information so you can add them to your list.
You may be able to integrate the tool with your CRM and email platform for easy lead generation and communication.
4. Create and Rehearse the Content
Outline and write the content for the webinar. Build your slide deck or any other visuals you plan to use in the presentation.
Webinars get used to qualify leads. You can do that at the very beginning of the webinar by saying who the webinar is for and who it’s not for.
People can self-identify which group they belong to and either stick with the webinar or exit early.
Once you have the content down, you have to rehearse it. If you don’t rehearse the content, you’ll have a lot of verbal ticks come through like “umm,” “you know,” or “basically.”
These are things that all speakers do, but if you overdo them, you’ll distract the audience from your content. The best way around that is to know your content inside and out.
5. Promote Your Webinar
How you promote your webinar depends on the purpose of the webinar and your audience. Facebook ads are usually successful for both B2B and B2C businesses.
LinkedIn is a great venue to promote a B2B webinar. It allows you to reach the right audience. Some people leverage LinkedIn events to deliver the webinar as well.
Your email list and social media channels are other platforms to promote the webinar.
6. Do a Test Run
It’s safe to assume that something will go wrong during a cold run of the webinar. There will be tech issues or you might not know the content that well.
Get the bugs out of the system by doing a test run of the webinar. Record it and rewatch it. It lets you experience the webinar from an attendee’s perspective.
You can make adjustments to improve the overall experience and boost your conversion rates.
7. Record and Repost the Webinar
The great thing about doing a webinar is that you have a lot of content that you can repurpose. Take a recording of the webinar and edit the content into smaller segments.
These can get posted on social media channels to promote the webinar. For clips from a live webinar, you can promote the next one with the clips.
Are You Ready to Host a Webinar?
You have what it takes to host a webinar and be successful.
This article broke down the tasks for hosting a webinar into simple action items. The most important one is the first one. You have to understand your audience to know what they need from your content.
Delivering the content is pretty simple after that. Choose the right platform, format, and rehearse the script.
Check out the other great tech articles on the blog today!
