A staggering 72% of marketers agree that webinars are the ultimate powerhouse for generating high-quality leads (GoToWebinar 2017). But, there's more: when you nail the perfect combination of captivating content & engaging delivery, webinars can become your secret weapon for customer loyalty.
So, are you ready to explore how to effectively achieve your customer acquisition and loyalty goals through webinars? MeltingSpot is excited to share its 5 essential tips with you.
Webinars: A Thriving Format
The global Covid-19 pandemic has significantly accelerated the digital transformation worldwide. For both B2B and B2C businesses, virtual events, particularly webinars, have become a top priority to maintain strong connections with customers.
And here's the great news: the "confinement trend" has now evolved into a new normal. Today, digital events (especially webinars) have seamlessly integrated into the daily routines and practices of digitally connected individuals in France.
To truly grasp the enthusiasm surrounding webinars, it's important to understand the essence of this format. Combining "web" and "seminar," a webinar refers to the delivery of engaging digital seminars or online conferences. With webinars, businesses can effortlessly bring together and actively engage their communities, irrespective of geographical boundaries.
This format opens up a myriad of possibilities: live video training sessions, document sharing, interactive written and verbal communication with participants, real-time surveys, and more. Moreover, webinars are characterized by their concise, dynamic, and data-centric nature, making them an ideal tool for analyzing audience behaviour and enriching your inbound marketing strategy.
However, to fully leverage the advantages of webinars, it's essential to establish a strong foundation right from the event planning stage. Are you eager to discover our expert advice on creating an extraordinary webinar that will help you accomplish all your objectives?
5 Key Tips for Crafting a Powerful Webinar
Webinars have the potential to be a game-changer for businesses seeking to attract and retain customers. However, to make the most of this powerful tool, it's essential to master the art of creating an impactful webinar strategy. Get ready to unlock the secrets ⇒
1- Targeting Your Audience and Understanding Their Expectations
The secret to a successful webinar begins long before the actual event, it lies in the preparation phase. Several weeks, or even months in advance, it is crucial to carefully target your audience.
- Start by defining your ideal participant, and the persona you want to attract to your conference. Consider their industry, job role, interests, and the type of content they typically engage with. Gathering this information sets the stage for effectively targeting and engaging your prospective attendees.
- Next, prioritize your objectives based on your target audience. Do you aim to convert prospects into customers during the virtual event? Or do you want to strengthen relationships with existing clients? Clearly defining your goals is a crucial step in planning a webinar.
- Finally, don't hesitate to involve your audience in the event's co-creation to achieve maximum impact. Prior to the webinar, conduct surveys on your preferred social media platforms or through platforms like MeltingSpot. By capturing your audience's interests and preferences, you'll gain valuable insights and ensure your webinar aligns with their expectations.
2- Engaging and Enticing Participants
Creating excitement and attracting participants to your webinar are essential for its success. To effectively acquire participants, consider the following tips:
- Craft compelling invitations: Whether it's through emails, LinkedIn messages, or notifications on your Event-Community Platform, ensure that your landing page and invitation messages are engaging and persuasive. They should pique curiosity and motivate people to register, be eager to explore the valuable content and hear from the featured speakers. Choose impactful words that leave a lasting impression and increase registration rates.
- Avoid last-minute outreach: At MeltingSpot, we recommend sending invitations at least three weeks prior to the webinar. This timeframe allows ample opportunity for follow-ups and facilitates the planning of a comprehensive communication schedule leading up to the virtual event.
- Embrace co-branding opportunities: To expand the webinar's reach, consider partnering with a brand or industry professional. Co-branding not only exposes your event to a broader online audience but also enhances your company's reputation and credibility. It's an effective way to charm and attract a qualified audience during the registration process.
3- Embrace Engagement Features: Before, During, and After the Webinar
An effective webinar thrives on community engagement. The more engaged participants feel, the more vibrant, captivating, and successful the event becomes! To achieve this, it's important to leverage engaging features at every stage of your strategy: before, during, and after the webinar.
While traditional webinar platforms offer features like chat, Q&A sessions, and live polls during the event, these tools alone may not be enough to truly captivate your audience. It's time to go above and beyond, well before the live session kicks off.
To boost audience engagement, why not supercharge online networking before the event? Create discussion groups on the web, allowing participants to connect and get acquainted either collectively or through one-on-one interactions prior to the live session.
This feature facilitates seamless professional connections, enabling participants to schedule meetings with fellow attendees. Your sales team can also proactively reach out to registered participants in advance, seeking opportunities to arrange meetings and cater to individual interests. This proactive approach helps you achieve your acquisition or customer retention goals.
4- Presenting Your Services Smartly
webinars are a golden tool for achieving your sales and marketing goals. However, this event format should not become an advertising obsession. Even though the underlying objective is to promote your company, products, or services, beware of overly self-centred speeches!
Participants register for your webinar after being captivated by a specific issue, a promise of valuable content, or the expertise of a guest speaker. Their main expectation is not to listen to a sales presentation; otherwise, they would have scheduled a meeting with your sales team.
This online webinar is an opportunity to get to know your community, establish connections, interact, and provide maximum value. However, the objective is not to solely correlate the content with your company. For instance, consider allocating a brief time frame (like 3 minutes) at the beginning of the webinar to introduce your company and its solutions. At the end of the event, specify how the audience can contact you (via email, a link to a webpage, etc.) to continue the conversation.
To present your services intelligently, you can also leverage a Community Platform like MeltingSpot. In addition to the webinar, our solution allows you to create virtual booths or exhibitor spaces in advance. These spaces enable you to effectively showcase your solutions without overshadowing the online event's content.
5- Maintaining Contact with the Audience After the Webinar
To achieve your conversion or retention goals, it's essential to consider the webinar as a marathon rather than a sprint. Everything is not determined in the short term and in a rushed manner on the day of the event. To convince participants to become clients or be more engaged as clients, efforts must be sustained over time. Therefore, MeltingSpot recommends the following:
- Collect feedback right after the webinar: Every experience is valuable, so don't underestimate this step. Gather participant feedback via email, social media, or even on one of the pages of your Event-Community Platform. Their feedback will help you continuously improve while staying engaged with your community.
- Present participants with your upcoming events program: Be proactive. Share a list of upcoming events right after the webinar, such as training sessions, virtual conferences, or forums. You can also express openness to co-create digital events with your audience to strengthen the relationship.
- Utilize the webinar video replay: Often, some participants cannot attend the live conference. By sending them a personalized replay, you maximize your chances of acquiring new prospects or nurturing existing clients.
To help you apply these valuable tips, here's a handy infographic summarizing all five key points.
Are you ready to create an effective webinar with MeltingSpot?
Whether you want to win the hearts of new prospects or strengthen relationships with existing clients, MeltingSpot supports you in organizing relevant and high-performing webinars through our all-in-one tool. From before, during, and after the event, our Event-Community Platform helps you achieve all your objectives. So, are you ready to bring together, engage, and animate your community through the webinar format?
