Since leaving the corporate world in 2008, a lot has changed for me.
I have delivered 227 webinars, and generated 1000’s of leads that have converted into a six-figure profit.
I get asked how how to use webinars effectively to generate leads on a regular basis, and because of this, I wanted to write this piece of content on exactly how I achieved this, and continue to understand how to use webinars effectively.
Webinars are (for me) one of the best ways to build brand awareness, and position myself as an expert in my industry. This, in turn, generates leads which turn not only into paying customers, but repeat customers.
I have realised that throughout this process, becoming an expert and building brand awareness are the end goals. To achieve these goals, it means nurturing my database because remember; it takes on average 7 times for a potential customer to “touch” your business before they feel ready to buy.
I have members of my audience who have been following everything I do for close to two years and only NOW are they ready to spend their money with me and that’s OK because I know that the trust has been built and moving forward, they will become repeat customers.
This process may start through seeing me speak at event to then following me on Social Media. They then become a part of my email database, and sign up to various webinars. Only then do the feel ready to make that purchase but as soon as they do, they know it’s money well spent because of everything I give away in my blogs, webinars and seminars.
The importance of data has been something I have learnt over the years. Analysing my data tells me that 50% of the people that land on a signup page for a webinar will leave their details, with 30-35% turning up to that webinar live. From this, I know that 8-15% will purchase the product I upsell at the end of my webinar when looking at how to use webinars effectively.
So, what do I do for the 65-70% who don’t turn up to the webinar live? I offer a recording. This not only encourages those who could not turn up live to watch, but also people who missed my marketing around the webinar to catch a recording after failing to sign up in the beginning. This sometimes equates to a further 50% of viewership.
I have a strategy for every webinar I run which includes various points of contact with my audience, and I am going to be sharing this with you today. Here is how to use webinars effectively.
1. Find Out What Your Audience WANTS
When it comes to running a webinar, I always have a few different topics in mind based on products I have coming up, but I will ALWAYS ask my audience what they WANT.
You can do this by running a Twitter Poll, or asking for feedback via a survey. To get the best sign-up rate possible, you need to be delivering a webinar on a topic that your audience is interested in and part of this is understanding their PAIN, and you finding a way to solve this.
2. Pick A Title
After doing your research, and choosing your subject, you then need to pick a title for your webinar. This can be difficult but think about how your audience likes being talked to. I know that the phrase “how-to” works well because my audience always want to know a step-by-step easy to follow strategy that they can implement.
Think about using words like “increase” and “generate”. You will also need to think about their needs. I know that increasing sales and engagement is something my audience is always looking to improve so by saying that my webinar will “increase brand awareness by 150%” encourages my audience to sign up.
3. Choose A Time/Date That Works For Your Audience
If you are new to running webinars, and can’t go on previous experience, you are going to have to do some research by asking your audience WHEN works for them. It is impossible to please everyone, but a general consensus is important.
Knowing that my audience are time-poor businesses, who tend to have a family, I run my webinars in the evening at 7pm on the weekday when they are available to sit down for an hour. I have tested this, and I know that Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are good days for my audience.
4. Choose A Reliable Tool To Run Your Webinar
As great as live streams are, something can always go wrong. I use a tool called GoToWebinar and have done for years because I can rely on this tool to not only give my audience a clear visual and sound, but also to record the webinar so that it can be watched back at a later date. This is a tool that does cost money, but for lead generation purposes and because I do make sales through my webinars, it is worth every penny.
5. Email Marketing
If you are a part of my email marketing list, you will know that I promote my webinars via email more than once; 3 times to be exact.
I will send a dedicated email to my audience exactly 7 days before the webinar, as well as the day before and on the day of the webinar. My first email contains written text with a nice header image. My final email will be a lovely visual poster as I know this connects with my last-minute audience members.
I always make sure to include the “name” using merge tags inside of my email marketing tool so that the audience member’s name appears in the subject line; this personalised the email from the get go. I also make a point to change the subject line for each email to show the time they have left to sign up.
I know that my audience like to receive emails in the morning, so that they can read it before they start work, or to save it to read at a later point in the day.
Do some testing, and analysing to see what will work best for your audience when looking at how to use webinars effectively.
6. Website Marketing
Email is the first step, but what about the people who are not in your email list, or don’t read all of the emails you send? Marketing the webinar on your website is so important and I do it through three different ways:
- Dedicated webinar page
- Website pop-up (I use OptinMonster)
- Blogs – I write blogs focused on the webinar topic so that I can lead into the importance of the webinar at the end of my blog and then syndicate these articles on other websites.
7. PPC
Over the last year, PPC (Pay Per Click) has been an amazing way for me to attract audience members inside of the places they most like to “hang out”.
I run PPC campaigns on Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest directly to my audience by taking the email addresses out of my email marketing tool, and uploading them for my PPC ads. I will also target a “lookalike” audience.
8. Social Media
Share your webinar with your community across all of your Social Media platforms, and also reach out to companies on Social Media who continue to share your content on a regular basis. Always use visuals when talking about your webinar on social media, or even a video/live-stream.
9. Work With Partners
The final piece to my “how to use webinars effectively to generate 1,000s of leads” puzzle is to build partnerships.
I have individuals and companies that I work with on a monthly basis who will send emails to their database about my webinars and this is a win-win. They get to nurture their database, knowing that it is something they are interested in whilst I also get to generate new, and engaged leads. This can be done through a partnership, or JV (joint venture) with a percentage split on sales.
That is my secret formula to getting the success I get through my webinars. Now that you understand what it takes when looking at how to use webinars effectively, why not watch the recording from my Visual Marketing webinar.
This is one of the best visual learning opportunities you’ll have this year – and it’s 100% free.
AND HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULD CARE:
- 90%… YES 90% of information transmitted to the brain is VISUAL
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- 40% of your customers respond better to images than text
- Posts with images get 3x more clicks than those without
As a business marketing online, are you staying brand consistent through the images that “tell a story” about your business?
I know that as a business you are time short, but If I could help YOU boost your brand awareness and sales through the images you share online in just 60 minutes would that be time well spent? I think so!
BUT HERE’S THE IMPORTANT PART:
- I will be sharing the 1 social network that 55% of businesses are using to win new clients with visual content.
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HOW YOU’LL BENEFIT:
- Understand why images are so important for your SOCIAL MEDIA activity
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- The best social network to find target customers using images
- Successfully integrate your image marketing into your overall marketing strategy.
- Develop an Image Content Plan using proven templates
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- How making a Visual MISTAKE could cost you £1,000’s
If this sounds like something YOU need HELP with, sign up below to access the recording!