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Chapter 36—Webinars

Webinars are online seminars offered live to participants, and
then later available for download. They are relatively new
digital tools. They hold a lot of promise but take a lot of work
and need the right situation to deliver strong results. Some
B2B companies use webinars to great effect—but often,
despite great effort, they don’t generate the desired results.

To use webinars effectively, you need a list of about 500 people
to invite. F the content is a good match for invitees, you’ll get
about a 10% uptake, i.e. 50 people will sign up. Of those who
sign up, roughly half will actually attend.

Like all B2B marketing, the event itself will not deliver all
the value—it’s the before and after activities that do. Before
the webinar, you should promote the event to your existing
customer base (if it’s relevant for them), your prospect list,
and any other group—it’s great to partner with an industry
association to promote the webinar to their membership.

Start promoting the webinar—three to four weeks in advance,
and send reminders one week ahead and one day ahead.
When someone registers, send an acknowledgment email
and a calendar invitation, so the time will be held in their
calendar.

Following the webinar, post the archived session on your
website (this is valuable content, so consider requiring
registration to access it).

Send a follow-up to those who attended and provide ways
for them to continue to engage with you—invite them to an

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© 2012 Lisa Shepherd