Webinar: A Valuable Tool for Lead Generation
Simply put a webinar is “a seminar conducted over the Internet” but using it to identify new prospects; utilizing its details to turn those leads into new sales opportunities and establish a brand name, needs careful planning.
Before the Webinar
Once your team decides to go ahead and use a webinar; your experts should look at the following guidelines for preparing for one:
Registering
The challenge of registering enough people can be met with the pragmatic usage of the business databases of Infofree.com having 95% accuracy and consumer databases with approximately 90% accuracy. If you have blog posts by experts and other allied content, it’s a good read to link your webinar announcements to that directly. Avoid a webinar landing page with great promises but not much face-value to the user.
Content & Experts
Concentrate on content to be provided; experts of your team who will run the show – as better the engaging — better will be your end result. There is a vast market of hunger for knowledge and people want to learn from the experts. The usefulness of your webinar is the most important factor in increasing user engagement.
Blogging
A webinar is considered a relatively low-cost but a very powerful way to interact with a targeted audience. If your team has been blogging and/or providing expert opinions on specific questions related to your business, then a webinar can work brilliantly in your favor. Blogging, the best stepping stone to trust generation, can be used for people to register, reserve their slot and attend your webinar.
Social Media
Not only blogging but also hitting the social media with the links to webinar page and blog posts helps. Also depending on your budget and time, there are venues to go for paid media or through keynote experts in the field.
Pre-Webinar Questionnaire
A simple but effective method employed, using your loyal and regular customers is to ask if there are questions/doubts on the subject of your webinar. If you reach out to 100 people, and you get 5 questions/pointers, it’s a great win. Your experts should also prepare their own questions and relevant answers beforehand.
During the Webinar
Time period
Your team must make sure the time period is 60 minutes or less and they stick to punctuality of start and finish, with segregated sections for presentation, reflection, and Q-A to engage.
Clarity
You must make sure that technically your equipment and the programs you are using are impeccable. Any static or loss of connections etc. can cost you dearly and can be very difficult to bring back the listeners and participants ever again.
Engagement
The key to a successful webinar is engagement; it’s a proven fact that when people are engaged, there are results, right on the spot. Stay time for your participants depends entirely on their engagement with your subject, presentation and expertise levels.
Q-A
Without dragging the presentations for long, there should be a lively question and answer session, The stay time will be defined by the not only the relevancy of the content but also the expertise level so attendees can stick around during the Q&A. To begin with, you can have loyal customers throw some pertinent questions to get the ball rolling. Also, encourage the hesitant new prospect to engage in clearing doubts.
On the Spot Offers
Another interesting aspect is some undeclared goodies in the bag. Offer prospects a trial period once they show interest in your product.
Post-Webinar
Follow Up
After a successful webinar, a follow-up period is essential as your team sends out not only dry thank you notes but also provides links to the web-session and related blog articles. Moreover, an offer to clarify any doubts or answer any questions will help the prospects to stay connected.
Matter of Belonging
A well-planned web-session can be one of the most powerful tools for taking your lead generation strategy to the next level. If you have engaged with a select group of prospects, you’ve generated a vital feeling of belonging and trust; which is sure to benefit you through leads and sales.
