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CONDUCTING A SUCCESSFUL WEBINAR

HOW TO CONDUCT A SUCCESSFUL WEBINAR 

Step 1: Find a killer topic

How do you make sure your topic doesn’t bomb? Simple:

  • Get clear on who your true audience is.
  • Research its key challenges and pain points.
  • Present a solution.
  • Frame your topic angle in a best-practice, original research or industry-news format.
  • Create a compelling title.

Step 2: Put all your chips on email marketing

It’s most frequently used and rated as most effective among our audiences.

TIP: If you don’t have a solid email list, it’s time to build one. The truth is that building an engaged and sizable email list is hands-down the most long-term, profit-generating investment you can make.

Since you now have a killer topic and title, generating interest should be a snap if you craft a great email invite. Here’s how to create a great invite:

  • Keep the message short.
  • Keep the copy casual.
  • Keep the design clean and simple.
  • Repeat the call to action at the top and at the bottom.
  • Include a bullet list that focuses on the recipient, e.g., “You will learn:”
  • Experiment with animated GIFs and video.
  • Mix up your templates.
  • Test different names as the sender.

For best results, mix up your templates. Look at the examples from UserTesting.

Both emails get a lot right. They have:

  • Obvious session title in bold
  • Short and snappy description
  • Prominent call to action

The color change from red to blue is a good example of how to capture your audience’s attention with a different look without changing the core template.

You also can change things up by sending plain text invites every now and then. They’re easy on your design resources and sometimes more effective than a fancy HTML template. 

Step 3: Find a partner

What’s better than your email list? Getting access to the email list of a partner.

For us, co-marketing generates about 25% of our total registrations.

Look for companies that have products or services adjacent to but not competitive with yours. Then make sure they reach an audience that mirrors your target audience.

Armed with a shortlist of potential partners, reach out to their marketing leadership, content marketing, or event marketing team to see if there’s interest in co-creating and co-marketing a webinar.

For the best success, suggest a handful of potential webinar topics that are (1) of interest to the joint audience and (2) a topic covered by your target’s existing content.

TIP: A webinar with multiple presenters tends to make for a more engaging event.

Step 4: Advertise on Facebook

  • Create a short video teaser promoting the webinar.
  • Use that teaser as a Facebook video ad.
  • Retarget site visitors and build a lookalike audience based on your visitors.
  • Send clicks to the webinar landing page to generate registrations.
  • If you’re willing to put a budget behind your webinar promotions, Facebook ads are your best bet for driving additional registrations.

Step 5: Optimize your landing page for conversions

To maximize conversions and control your registration landing page layout, invest in a custom design.

The key elements of a successful landing page include:

  • Big, obvious title
  • Clarity on date, time, and duration of the event

Two big call-to-action buttons

  • Short description and bullet list of benefits
  • Minimal registration form
  • Background on the speaker(s)
  • Social proof from past webinar participants

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