There are a lot of ways to market a business or product that are very effective. Digital marketing takes on many forms and there is always a great, effective, and low-cost way to get your message out there.
One method that often gets overlooked is doing a webinar. A webinar is a virtual event that can serve as a fantastic way to get the word out about your business and is very economical. When you get it right, a webinar will help to grow your leads and turn those leads into customers.
In this article, we will go over exactly what a webinar is and why it’s important for any business to try one.
What is a webinar?
Simply put, a webinar is a virtual seminar. In the past, companies would try to get people to sign up for a seminar and come to a hotel conference room where they would hold an event in which they would explain an offer and try to get people to sign up for more information. Those people that would sign up become leads and then hopefully customers.
These days, it is all done online. The format is essentially about getting information out to people without trying to make a sale right away. It’s part of a sales funnel that will entice people to get into the funnel and come out as a customer.
An online webinar is very effective because it can use a lot of different elements to provide information that is relevant to the product or service your company provides. For instance, you can hire a video marketing company like Zipinmedia to produce a professional video that helps highlight a part of your business that can be viewed during the event.
There is also the possibility to add in a poll that viewers are able to vote on during the webinar so the hosts can see important information about the viewers in real-time. Since the format is virtual, there are so many possibilities to make it effective that can’t be achieved with an in-person seminar.
Audience engagement
The primary reason that webinars work so well is how easy it is to encourage audience engagement. It is a far more active experience than going to a seminar because of the reasons outlined in the last section. An active audience is more likely to take action.
It’s a two-way street when you use a webinar. Your audience is able to learn more about your company and the product or service you are promoting. At the same time, you are able to learn more about your audience so you can more effectively give them what they need.
Lasting influence
Another huge benefit of hosting a webinar is that it is not a one off event. After it has been done live, it can live on to continue to be used to create leads for your offer.
Webinars can be saved and shared on social media for instance. Try to encourage the audience to share the saved version of the event on their social media or with people that they think would need to learn more about your company and what you do. The more professional the webinar is, the more likely it is to be shared and keep the ball rolling.
It can also be hosted on platforms like Youtube so it can be accessed and seen by far more people than you had in the webinar that day. Youtube’s algorithm is ideal for getting the video in front of the relevant audience that will help the event live indefinitely.
At the end of the day, it is simply more content that is generated that can be used across a wide variety of platforms.
Build an email list
No matter what business you’re in, building a healthy email list is extremely important. Many people coming into your sales funnel will have a different pace of where they are in the buyer’s journey. Email is a great way to market to them for each specific phase of that journey so you can connect with them when they are ready to become customers instead of just leads.
Since a webinar is mainly informational, it is a good way to get people to sign up for the email list. Since they need an email to sign up for the event, you have people who are actively looking to be marketed to. Don’t try to be too salesy in the webinar and they will stay subscribed.
