The pandemic has acted as a catalyst for rapid digitalisation. Of course, the migration to more digital spaces was always on the cards, but no one could have predicted the fast-tracked nature at which it occurred.

This digital shift has meant adapting to a more remote way of doing business, marketing products differently, appealing to customers who may never visit your stores, and finding new ways of making loyal customers return to your brand.

Webinars are a powerful tool to increase the exposure of your business. As webinars are virtual events, they can be promoted via mini-marketing campaigns utilising digital channels. 

For example, you can promote your webinar through:

• Social media platforms, 
• Email marketing, 
• Or embed it on your website.

Doing something new is often scary, so we understand hosting your first webinar may be a daunting task, but the rewards are well worth the initial intimidation. Venturing into uncharted territory by hosting a webinar can help you establish your authority and fill your sales funnel with leads. 

So, let’s take a closer look at steps to developing a webinar strategy that will generate leads for your business.

Create a List of Realistic Strategic Webinar Partners

You can find success flying solo when doing a webinar. However, if you’re looking for new, qualified leads, the most effective way to acquire them is to join forces with another company.

When you partner strategically with someone to co-host a webinar, four clear victors emerge – you, your partner, and both of your audiences. Not only are your followers exposed to new and valuable insights, but you and your partner gain access to each other’s community.

Do your research; choosing a brand partner is all about strategy. Are they experts in your industry or another related to it, one of your clients perhaps, or someone whose webinar you recently attended and admired? These would likely make suitable partners, and ultimately a harmonious partnership will result in a more congruent webinar. Create a list of all the companies that you think fit the bill, and keep it updated to make partner prospecting easier over time.

Map Out a Plan

Managing expectations is an integral part of any undertaking, especially one that potentially involves input from brand partners outside your immediate team. We recommend putting together a simple agreement to send to each partner that outlines two essential elements of a successful webinar – promotion and deliverables.

Promotion 

The first base to cover is a promotion. Your webinar is like any other digital content and, as such, needs to be actively promoted. Therefore, your partnership agreement should request that all parties send out the same number of marketing materials, including a link to register, to your full subscriber network leading up to the broadcast. This should include social media channels.

Deliverables 

The second critical element to your plan is the deliverables. Whoever runs the technology to broadcast the webinar is responsible for creating and hosting the landing page. This partner should be willing to share their lead list with the other partners. Finally, the non-hosting partner is in charge of creating the webinar deck using content and input from both parties.

This division of labour allows you to share the work easily between your teams, so the responsibilities of identifying topics, creating content, promoting the project, and hosting the webinar don’t all fall on one party. 

Listing these deliverables, allocating them due dates, and a designated point person for each step ensures both parties are accountable for their responsibilities, and your nerves can rest easy.

Take Care with Topic Selection and Self-Promotion

If you want to get people excited about what you have to say and potentially tune in for future webinars, you have to cover intriguing topics and share unique takeaways with your audience. 

You naturally want to discuss something that’s accessible to your audience, but not too simple that they could have just as easily gone to Google for similar insights and perspectives on the topic.

It’s important to remember the following: 

• There’s a time and a place to be promotional on webinars. 
• Reserve a slide for your resources and one for your partner’s, but don’t let promotion dominate your webinar. 
• Save any promotional content about your products or services for the end., 
• And as a courtesy, give your attendees a heads up before you start your pitch. It’s the little things that your audience will appreciate. 

Follow Up with Attendees Immediately

Attendees almost always request access to the slides and the webinar recording, so be prepared for this by compiling a follow-up email in advance, which you can quickly send out afterwards. An email is a simple way to thank people for joining and to keep them engaged with your brand once the webinar is over. In addition, it allows you to stay top of mind, offer continued education about your webinar topic and its area of expertise, and nurture qualified leads through your sales funnel.

You are probably already creating content for your brand, so think of webinars simply as another tactic to harness in your content marketing strategy by partnering with brands you trust to tap into new audiences. Remember to outline your project appropriately to present original work and execute your promotion and follow-up plan to unlock your webinar’s lead generation potential.