Tag Archives: webinar marketing
Great Webinars: They’re Not Over When They’re Over
You planned. You promoted. You delivered. The learners learned. The leads rolled in. You archived your webinar and extended your reach. Now what? Wring every last drop of value from the content you worked so hard to create, of course.
One of our clients compiled the (many!) questions from a compliance training series to create an internal FAQ site related to the issue. Webinar hashtags have sparked great conversations. We’ve seen webinar polls form the basis for everything from blog posts to white papers. Slide decks have been placed behind lead capture forms and on public sites such as SlideShare.
Gotten more mileage from your webinar? Share your secrets in the comments.
When to Host a Webinar
Now that you’ve heard the bad news about webinar timing, we’ve got good news. But first, a few disclaimers. This dive won’t be our deepest, and it won’t account for the differences between webinar categories – i.e. marketing webinars, training webinars, etc.; this first look is simply aggregate data. And we’re not addressing content here, but content is still king. Now for the good stuff.
The Webinar Bests
True, the majority of webinar hosts played it safe, but those who ventured gained attendees. Again, we’re not saying it’s the metric, but it’s certainly one quantifiable metric.
Best month: December
Best day: Friday
Best time**: 5:00 p.m.
So is it time to start scheduling all of your webinars on Fridays at 5? No! (Sneak peek: Especially not if you’re a trainer!) But should some webinar timing taboos die? Definitely! We’ve got more data and a lot of theories about it for you, so stay tuned for more Intellor-gence.
Tried a ‘nontraditional’ webinar time? Let us know how it worked for your audience.
*Based on average number of attendees
**Based on ‘traditional’ business hours (9-5) and stated in US Eastern Time
Is It All About You? Your Webinar Really Should Be.
I get tons of webinar invites. The marketing field moves pretty fast and a webinar can be a great way to keep up, so I attend my fair share. As a marketer for a webinar producer, admittedly, I bring my own unique perspective and bias to these productions. But is it me or is it astounding that from promotions to landing pages, webinar platforms often promote the vendor as much as the host?
Now I’m not nitpicking things like vendor/platform names in URL strings, configuration/technical details in access instructions or privacy policies in footers. Those sorts of things are certainly fair and reasonable. But promotional emails that speak as much or more to the vendor as the event host/content? Only co-sponsors are welcome to promote their companies/products to my list in my invite, thank you very much. How about a landing page that features the vendor logo but doesn’t have a place for mine? What about requiring attendees to create an account with the technology vendor? Personally, that drives me nuts; I really do not need yet another account out there. But forget the nuisance factor for a moment. Every member of my list, every registrant for my webinar is my asset. Why should I turn my asset over to you? What will you do with it?
Different vendors have different answers to those questions. Some may market their company/product. Some may market other webinars – up to and including your competitors’ – using the rationale that your webinar marketing will also reach your competitors’ assets. Clearly, some marketers subscribe to that theory, but it doesn’t work for me. Each of my prospects is hard-earned and highly valued. There is a plan for the nurturing campaign that will move them through the funnel. I can’t imagine the interruption of your blanket campaign will add value to my prospects, so I’ll thank you not to market to them, webinar vendor.
You’re hosting a webinar for your prospects, your clients, your learners, your employees. Shouldn’t your webinar vendor make it all about you?
Worth the Stretch?
Reach more people due to easy access and reduced expense. Reach people longer with post-event recordings. Yeah, we mentioned that in the last post. Everybody mentions that as a webinar benefit. But is it really worthwhile to stretch your content with a webinar? You betcha!
Over the coming weeks we will be sharing real-world ideas and impacts gleaned from the thousands of events we’ve produced. As a sneak preview, though, here’s a thought: 13%. We recently produced a demand generation webinar with an on-demand archive. Of course the webinar generated leads, but the archive increased the number of leads by 13%. So any double-digit increase in leads is interesting, of course, but let’s think about this specific case for a minute. The content was already done. The target audience was already defined. The only thing to be done was to pop it on to a hosting page and let people know about it. (Disclaimer: in this case, we did both on the client’s behalf.) Not really breaking a sweat and generating 13% more leads? Definitely worth the stretch.
Webinar Tips: Marketing, Part Two
Last week we looked at the webinar marketing success story of an inbound marketing rock star, taking away solid, if high-level ideas. The follow-up questions are tactical: Who? When? How often? What?
Larry Chase has an excellent piece on just this topic, which is well worth the read. While we definitely agree on topics and tactics, here are a few additional thoughts to consider.
50% isn’t unprecedented. Various factors – content chief among them – do impact. Especially if it’s early days for your webcasting efforts, though, 35-40% may be a more realistic target
Reminders need to remind registrants why they signed up, not when the event takes place. Chase’s suggestion – sharing additional content – is one excellent option. What about a call for questions? How about introducing an event hashtag? Could you create a circle or host a hangout? Is there an option to entice, to excite, to engage registrants before they attend?
You missed it isn’t just for those who missed it. Follow your event with a link to the archive for those who registered, whether they did or didn’t attend, certainly. Don’t forget to put the archive behind a registration page, as well, to extend your content’s reach – over time, into your list and beyond your list.
You’re Not Kevin Costner
So now that the “if you build it they will come” plan is off the table, how are you going to get people to attend this webcast you’ve worked so long and hard to create?
Earlier this year, MarketingSherpa offered a thorough breakdown of HubSpot’s incredible Science of Timing webcast. Short version: ~25,000 registrants and nearly 10,000 attendees. That’s great, you’re thinking, but you don’t have an opt-in list that’s a half million strong. You don’t have marketing support to create custom landing pages. Your keynote speaker isn’t likely to generate a thousand registrants purely from his personal social media following. Is there an applicable takeaway? Absolutely.
Live and learn: What have you done (online or off) in the past that’s been successful? Drawn a crowd? Gotten positive feedback? What lessons can you apply to this webcast?
Buzz: Use every resource – email, social media, your speakers – to get the word out. And don’t forget your sales organization, if appropriate. Give your sales teams a good reason to reach out and they won’t hesitate.
Show some support: Drawing a crowd is hard work; don’t undermine it by stranding them at a locked door. Make certain you have a means for supporting registrants at every stage.
It ain’t over ‘til it’s over: This piece focuses on HubSpot’s use of social media to extend awareness, but don’t overlook the reference to the tried-and-true event archive. Put your content behind a registration page to reach your no-shows and attract new viewers.