For those who have not come across a webinar before, they are essentially a seminar held online. They give you a platform to communicate to a large audience, in real time, about a specific topic or interest. Imagine being able to present to hundreds of people without anyone needing to spend the time or money travelling to a venue.
Using a webinar software, you can host an event that people can attend, contribute to, and re-watch later, all from behind their computer screens. This type of virtual event is being used by businesses to communicate to large groups of their target market in an efficient manner.
A typical webinar lasts about an hour, during which the following information is presented.
- Introduction to company, service or product
- A demonstration of the value of that service or product
- Useful insights that will help solve audience member’s problems
They often end with a Q&A session, encouraging audience members to participate. By following this simple formula for presenting webinars, you can create a marketing tool that brings value to your audience and your business alike.
Small Businesses and Webinars
For many small businesses working in the B2B space, the thought of running a webinar is out of the question. Perhaps it’s because they are perceived to be costly, difficult, and time consuming to implement. This doesn’t have to be the case—there are many platforms available that make running a webinar a viable option for small businesses. By following a few simple rules, you can easily implement webinars that work for your business.
If done right, webinars can be a helpful resource throughout every stage of the sales funnel, making them a perfect solution for small businesses. Since many small businesses don’t have the level of marketing spend as their larger counterparts, it is imperative that they make every bit of it count. This one marketing tool can help benefit every stage of your funnel.
Here are some of the things webinars can do to help with your marketing efforts.
Generate New Leads
First and foremost, webinars are an excellent lead generation tool. To attend the webinar, prospects must give you their contact information in exchange for details on how to login. You will also find that many of the people attending the webinar are stronger sales opportunities than leads created through other forms of content marketing. This, in part, is due to the time commitment they make to attend the event.
Connect With Existing Prospects
Webinars are a great way to form a real connection with potential customers already in your sales funnel. Good practice for a webinar is to include a Q&A session at the end of the event. This will give prospects the opportunity to ask you questions and receive direct feedback about potential concerns they may have.
Demonstrate Value
Webinars present an opportunity to get in front of an engaged audience. During this time, you can demonstrate real value to your target market. Present the solution that you solve for your audience and how you solve it. Don’t make it a sales pitch, but rather a tutorial on how to help them overcome their challenges, and you will find that you get a positive response from the sales-ready members of your audience.
Push the Next Step
At the end of the webinar you can give a very clear and confident explanation on what your potential customers should do next. This could be getting in touch with you to discuss their interests further or attending a workshop-style event. Whatever it is, webinars present the opportunity to help guide your prospects further down your sales funnel.
Develop Existing Customers
Webinars are even great for customer development. Consider running a webinar about a new product that you are launching. Not only will you attract potential new customers, but also existing customers that might have a need for this product. You already have their contact information, so it is easy to promote the webinar to them. It will also give you an opportunity to re-connect with customers that might have gone quiet.
Teach Something
This is again great for building relationships with existing customers, but also helpful for potential new customers. If your product requires a bit of technical knowledge to use or to get the most out of it, consider building this information into your webinar. Not only are you helping to make sales, you are now providing training on how to use your product.
A Complete Marketing Tool
As you can see, running a webinar is not just about generating leads. It is about generating strong leads, developing existing prospects, training, and building customer relationships. All of this from one piece of content. If you are not already running webinars, maybe it is time to think about doing so.
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