A webinar is a seminar or web conference conducted via internet in real time. The main features of live webinars are interactivity, the ability to discuss, send and receive information in real time. You’re able to invite another participant to be part of the presentation, share your desktop and a variety of digital materials. There are many advantages to webinars, the main one being that anyone can participate no matter what country you from, or just being at home or in the office, business trip or vacation.
What are the benefits of hosting a webinar?
Webinars are a powerful tool and hosting your own event would be a very smart strategy. Webinars are convenient for both presenters and attendees. This is why the format grows more popular every year. You don’t have to stress about venue rental, coffee breaks and transfers. Holding a webinar conference is as easy as several mouse clicks! Here are 6 benefits:
- Hosting webinars develops authority and trust
Hosting a webinar is a great way to showcase your expertise, abilities, skills, products and services. Not only that, but it also allows you to put a real face to your business. This results in your audience becoming more emotionally invested in your business and creates trust in your products and services. - Creating good business relationships
there is a great benefit in speaking to a group of potential clients through a webinar as it allows the people to get to know you at a much deeper level than what could get accomplished in a 30 second commercial at a networking event. After all, people do business with people not with companies. Hosting a webinar allows them to know you more as a person allowing them to like you and trust you from the information you share. - Understanding your audience through webinar interactivity
Through your interactive question and answers sessions, a webinar allows your business to get to know you target audience better. You get to learn their needs and challenges which could help you better understand what motivates your audience. Fromm this understanding you can adjust and amend your products and services to match the needs of your target audience. - Brand awareness through hosting webinars
By delivering high quality content through your webinar, you effectively raise brand awareness as you are not simply doing a sales pitch. With no limit at all, a webinar allows you to go “all-out”. Hosting a webinar is also really cost effective and allows you to be very flexible with your content and how you present it to your target audience. Webinars allow you to skyrocket your business with little or no cost at all. - Affordability
Having conventional meetings, conferences and seminars are all expensive and need a lot of time to arrange. To host a successful webinar all you need is:
– Very good internet access
– Webcam
– Headset
– Webinar hosting system - Builds your list and generates qualified leads
You can have sign-up forms for your webinar which could allow you to collect lead information, including email address, job titles and contact numbers. All the information you provide to your audience serves to qualify them as leads and you can go on to use these details to inform them about your products, services and expertise, thus creating a perfect sales lead in the process.
10 steps on how to host a webinar
- Chose a date and time
It is important to choose a time & date that works for all attendants from different time zones. It is important to qualify options regarding time zones. An example time would be Thursday at 12pm PST / 3:00pm EST. - Choose a topic for the webinar
Choose a topic that will motivate attendees to want to join, it’s always interesting to have guest speakers if the topic allows it. - Customise your branding
You can choose a theme for your webinar – customise your page by adding your logo and possibly some of your design elements for consistency with your brand. - Create a hashtag for your webinar
Successful webinars require promotion, and by creating a hashtag you create an opportunity for people to talk about it and engage with it on social media, thus spreading the word. - Send out webinar invitations
This is when you really want to make the event public, send invites to your email list, share it on your blog or website, even on social media to get as many attendants as possible. - Build your content
Make your content interesting and engaging. Adding slides, polls and hangouts will make a big difference. - Do a test run
Get your speakers comfortable by going through the webinar controls and make sure things go smoothly beforehand. - Host your webinar
Now for the BIG day, this is where all the preparation pays off. Always make sure to record your webinar for people who would like a copy of it or upload it on a video sharing platform like your website post event. - Follow up
It is always nice to follow up a few days after your webinar and ask the attendees if they have any more questions or requests or ways to improve your next webinar. - Upload your webinar recording
A recorded webinar is a great way to keep generating leads. By publishing your recording you can broaden your reach and create extra interest in your product and services for people who weren’t aware.
What platforms can be used to host a webinar?
Here are 8 best Webinar software’s available:
Google + hangouts
Skype
GoToWebinar
Facebook or YouTube Live
Cisco WebEx
Adobe Connect
MegaMeeting
Ready Talk & Much more
In conclusion
People who register for your webinar will be leads generated for your business. It is important to keep in mind that some will be competitors as they will want to see what you’re up to, but for the most part, people will be interested in doing business with you. You can decide whether you want to hand the leads to your sales people or if you want to have a lead nurturing programme where they can go into your system and follow-up on content to push them towards making a decision. Webinars allow you to boost your revenue, minimize your costs and develop good relationships with clients and industry leaders.
