Hosting Webinars That Engage and Convert: Expert Tips
Webinars have long been a crucial tool for businesses aiming to engage with their audience, generate leads, and establish authority in their industry. However, hosting a successful webinar requires more than just choosing a date and time.
Think of your own experiences attending webinars. You can quickly tell if a webinar will be worthwhile, and the ones that aren't leave a lasting negative impression.
Hosting a webinar involves meticulous planning, the right technology, engaging content, and effective promotion. This guide will walk you through the key steps to hosting a webinar properly, ensuring it both engages and converts.
Looking to host webinars that truly generate leads? Lagom Consulting can help.
As a specialist growth consultancy, we can provide marketing strategies, frameworks, and guidance as a fractional CMO, as well as add capacity and capability to your existing marketing teams. Our extensive experience includes implementing webinar frameworks and coaching companies on hosting sessions that consistantly attract over 500 attendees per session.
Why Webinars Are a Great Marketing Channel
Webinars offer a unique opportunity to connect with your audience in a direct, interactive, and inexpensive way. They allow businesses to demonstrate expertise, provide valuable insights, and interact with potential customers in real-time.
In an article published in June 2024, Hubspot asked marketers about their primary goal for using webinars in their content strategy. The results were as follows:
Brand awareness (46%)
Lead generation (42%)
Educational content delivery (32%)
Product demonstrations (29%)
Webinars are valuable tools regardless of the stage of your pipeline and can be used for various purposes, including product demonstrations, educational sessions, and thought leadership discussions.
Let's explore a few reasons why webinars are still a great marketing channel:
Direct Interaction with Audience
Webinars facilitate real-time interaction, allowing businesses to engage with their audience on a personal level. This interaction can include Q&A sessions, live polls, and chat functions, making the experience more dynamic and tailored to the audience's needs and interests. This immediacy helps in addressing customer queries, gathering feedback, and building stronger relationships.
Demonstrating Expertise and Thought Leadership
Hosting webinars allows businesses to showcase their knowledge and expertise in a particular field. By providing valuable content, businesses can position themselves as thought leaders, which can enhance their credibility and authority in the market. This is particularly beneficial for industries where trust and expertise are critical for client acquisition and retention.
Cost-Effective and Wide Reach
Compared to traditional in-person events, webinars are significantly more cost-effective. They eliminate the need for physical venues, travel expenses, and other logistical costs. Moreover, webinars have the potential to reach a global audience, breaking geographical barriers and enabling businesses to expand their reach far beyond their local market.
Lead Generation and Nurturing
Webinars are powerful tools for lead generation. By requiring registration, businesses can collect valuable contact information from attendees. This data can be used to nurture leads through targeted follow-up emails and personalised marketing campaigns. Webinars also offer an opportunity to engage with leads in a meaningful way, helping to move them through the sales funnel more efficiently.
Repurposing Content
The content generated during a webinar can be repurposed in various ways. Recorded webinars can be used as on-demand content, shared on social media, or embedded on a company’s website. Additionally, snippets from the webinar can be used for blog posts, infographics, and other marketing materials, maximising the value of the initial effort.
Enhanced Brand Awareness
Regularly hosting webinars helps in building brand awareness. Each session provides an opportunity to reinforce your brand’s message and values. Over time, this consistent presence can help to establish a strong brand identity and keep your business top-of-mind for potential customers.
Measurable Results
Webinars provide detailed analytics that can help measure their effectiveness. Metrics such as registration numbers, attendance rates, engagement levels, and post-webinar feedback can offer valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t. This data-driven approach allows for continuous improvement of your webinar strategy.
Technical Setup and Technology Options
The first step in hosting a successful webinar is ensuring you have the right technical setup. This includes reliable internet, good-quality audio and video equipment, and a quiet, well-lit environment (if you will have your video on).
Choosing the right webinar platform is vital as it influences the functionality and overall experience. Here are some popular options:
Zoom: Known for its reliability and ease of use, Zoom is a popular choice for webinars. It offers features like screen sharing, breakout rooms, and Q&A sessions, making it suitable for both small and large audiences. Lagom Consulting’s Managing Director, Jonathan Greenstein, was interviewed as part of a Zoom case study whilst working in-house within another consultancy. You can read the case study here.
GoToWebinar: GoToWebinar is user-friendly and offers robust features like automated emails, polls, and analytics. It's ideal for businesses looking to host professional and interactive webinars.
WebinarJam: Designed specifically for marketers, WebinarJam provides features like live chat, automated recordings, and detailed analytics, making it perfect for lead generation and engagement.
LiveWebinar: Offers a comprehensive suite of tools including whiteboards, polls, and screen sharing. LiveWebinar also supports integrations with various CRM systems, enhancing its utility for marketing and sales teams.
ON24: Known for its advanced analytics and interactive features, ON24 is ideal for engaging webinars. It offers comprehensive audience engagement tools like polls, Q&A, and surveys, along with customisable experiences. ON24 seamlessly integrates with major CRM and marketing automation platforms, making it perfect for lead generation and nurturing.
Riverside: Recognised for its high-quality audio and video recordings, Riverside is suitable for professional presentations. It offers user-friendly features, high-quality remote recording capabilities, and real-time editing tools, streamlining the post-production process for a polished final product. Riverside is also great for podcasting.
What Makes a Great Webinar Host?
As a host or moderator, your role is to guide the webinar smoothly while keeping the audience engaged. This involves:
Preparation
Thorough Rehearsal: Practise your presentation multiple times to ensure a smooth delivery. Familiarise yourself with the webinar platform's features, such as screen sharing, chat, and polls. This reduces the risk of technical issues and helps you stay confident and composed.
Content Mastery: Know your content inside out. This enables you to speak confidently, handle questions effectively, and adapt to any unexpected changes during the webinar.
Script It: Always have a script and running order.
Audience Engagement
Use of Interactive Elements: Control features like polls, Q&A sessions, and chat to encourage audience participation. Interactive elements not only keep the audience engaged but also provide valuable feedback and insights.
Energetic Delivery: Maintain a lively and dynamic tone to keep the audience interested. Vary your voice intonation and pacing to emphasise key points and avoid monotony.
Personal Connection: Address participants by name, if possible, and acknowledge their contributions. This can be done easily during the Q&A section of the webinar. This makes the experience more personal and engaging.
Pacing
Structured Flow: Plan your webinar structure carefully to ensure a logical and smooth flow of information. This includes clear transitions between sections and a balanced distribution of time across different topics. As mentioned under preparation, having a script and running order written down in front of you can help.
Time Management: Keep track of time to ensure you cover all planned content without rushing or dragging. Allocate specific time slots for each section and stick to the schedule. When hosting webinars, our consultants are always taught to start a stopwatch on their phone and have it in front of them. The anticipated timings should be noted in the script and running order, and using a stopwatch helps keep track of them.
Managing the Visuals
Effective Use of Slides: As the host or moderator, you may be in charge of managing slide decks and other visuals. Ensure slide changes are noted in your script so the visuals always match the audio content.
Based on our experience, we would like to highlight a few more tips for webinar hosts and moderators:
Choose a quiet, well-lit location with a clean and professional background. This minimises distractions and maintains a professional appearance.
Test all equipment, including your microphone, camera, and internet connection, before the webinar. Have backup equipment and a contingency plan for any technical issues.
Try to get all presenters and panellists to join the session 10 to 15 minutes early to ensure all of their equipment works as well.
Prepare for potential issues by having backup plans in place. This could include an alternative internet connection, extra equipment, or a co-host who can take over if needed.
Provide clear instructions to participants on how to interact with the webinar and what to do if they encounter technical difficulties.
Different Webinar Formats
Choosing the right format for your webinar can significantly impact its success. Here are some popular formats:
Presentation with Slides: Ideal for educational webinars or product demonstrations.
Panel Discussions: Great for discussing industry trends or hosting expert debates.
Interviews: Engaging for audiences who prefer a conversational style.
Workshops: Interactive sessions that provide hands-on learning experiences.
How to Engage with the Audience During a Webinar
Engaging your audience is crucial for the success of your webinar. Here are key strategies to ensure high engagement:
Interactive Features
Polls and Surveys: Use polls and surveys throughout the webinar to gather feedback and opinions from the audience. This not only keeps participants engaged but also provides valuable insights.
Q&A Sessions: Allocate specific times for Q&A sessions where attendees can ask questions. Encourage questions by addressing them promptly and thoughtfully.
Live Chat: Utilise the live chat feature to facilitate real-time communication. Encourage participants to share their thoughts and comments during the presentation.
Audience Participation
Icebreakers: Depending on the format of your session, you can start with an icebreaker activity to make the audience feel comfortable and involved right from the beginning.
Feedback Loops: Again, depending on the format of the session, regularly ask for feedback during the webinar to keep the audience engaged and ensure the content is resonating with them.
Tips to Ensure Your Webinar Generates Leads
To maximise the lead generation potential of your webinar, consider the following tips:
Effective Promotion
Multi-Channel Marketing: Promote your webinar across various channels, including email marketing, social media, your website, and partnerships with relevant organisations. This ensures a wider reach and attracts more participants.
Compelling Registration Page: Create a registration page that clearly outlines the benefits of attending the webinar. Use persuasive language and highlight key takeaways to entice potential attendees.
Engaging Content
Value-Driven Content: Focus on delivering valuable and relevant content that addresses the needs and interests of your audience. High-quality content keeps attendees engaged and positions your brand as a trusted authority.
Don’t Sell: People join webinars to learn, not be sold to. The best webinars are those that educate and inform.
Strong Call to Action: Conclude your webinar with a strong call to action (CTA). This could be an invitation to a free consultation, a discount on services, or access to exclusive content. Make the next step clear and easy to follow.
Post-Webinar Follow-Up
Follow-Up Emails: Send follow-up emails to attendees and registrants who couldn't attend. Include a thank you note, a link to the webinar recording, additional resources, and a CTA that encourages further engagement.
Analytics and Feedback: Analyse webinar metrics such as attendance rates, engagement levels, and feedback. Use this data to refine your approach for future webinars and improve your lead generation strategy.
Leveraging Webinar Content
Repurpose Content: Repurpose your webinar content into blog posts, social media snippets, infographics, and downloadable resources. This extends the life of your content and continues to generate leads long after the live event.
Recorded Webinars: Offer recorded versions of your webinar as on-demand content. This allows those who missed the live event to access the material and provides another opportunity for lead generation.
By implementing these strategies, you can ensure that your webinars are not only engaging but also effective in generating high-quality leads for your business.
Conclusion
Hosting a webinar properly involves a blend of technical preparation, engaging content, and strategic promotion. By following these steps, you can ensure your webinars are not only well-executed but also effective in engaging your audience and generating leads. Webinars are a powerful tool in today’s digital marketing landscape, and mastering them can provide significant benefits for your business.
Ready to transform your webinars into powerful lead-generation tools?
Lagom Consulting specialises in helping businesses like yours achieve marketing success through expertly hosted webinars. From strategic planning to hands-on coaching, our services ensure your webinars engage and convert. With proven success in hosting webinars for audiences ranging from 100 to 600 attendees, we provide the expertise you need. Contact us now to discover how we can support your marketing efforts and drive growth for your business.
Who are Lagom Consulting?
At Lagom Consulting, we pride ourselves on being more than marketing and management consultants; we are your strategic allies in building marketing strategies to market into financial services market.
Our ethos centres around delivering first-class service, underpinned by a hands-on approach that melds practical problem-solving with time-tested marketing solutions. We recognise that effective marketing is an ongoing journey, not a one-off exercise. We steer clear of ‘random acts of marketing’, opting instead for a comprehensive and sustained approach.
Working with Lagom Consulting means gaining more than a consultant; it means acquiring a partner committed to your enduring success.