There are two challenges to obtaining webinar attendees: Getting people to sign up and getting people to show up. To keep people interested, pick a must-know subject and keep in contact with those who register.
Hosting a webinar can be tricky, but it’s helpful to think of it as if it were a typical in-person presentation. Doing so may make it easier for you to prepare. However, webinars are generally easier than in-person events because there is no stress over the venue, materials, or expenses. For a webinar, you just need to consider the topic, the presentation, and the attendees.
Thankfully, there are some strategies that can help you gain more attendees at your next webinar so you can convert them into customers or followers. A webinar marketing agency can assist in implementing these strategies effectively.
1. Invite Well-Known Professionals
Everyone has someone they look up to or have high regards for. Inviting a well-known individual or partnering with them will help you garner more interest in your webinar and gain attendees. Look for someone who is successful in your industry or successful in relation to your topic. This is a beneficial co-marketing tactic that will help your webinar and your network.
2. Pick An Interesting Topic
Most people won’t listen to something they aren’t interested in. If people lose interest in your presentation you won’t see many conversions. Pick a topic that attendees will want to learn about and can get excited about. Choosing something trendy or relevant to your industry will help gain attendees and conversions.
3. Strategize When Picking A Day and Time
The host of every webinar should know their audience and use that to their advantage. Choose a day based on your audience’s business schedule. What days are typically less busy than others?
Check around and make sure there aren’t any other events going on that day within your audience. One might also consider if there will be multiple time zones attending the webinar, pick a neutral time for all.
The day of the week may play an important role as well. Most people will be mentally checked out by the end of the day on Friday. Earlier in the week might be a better choice if you want to hold people’s attention, and it may also get you more attendees.
4. Use Incentives
People love free stuff! Give your audience an incentive for attending, such as free tickets to an event or a gift card. Follow up with them once they sign up for the webinar. Remind the registrants with a friendly email. This is a great way to promote your webinar and get the most attendees possible.
If you’re asking your attendees to fill out a survey at the end of the webinar, you can make their free gift contingent upon the survey’s completion. That way, you’ll get your data, and your audience will leave with the information they sought and a smile on their faces.
5. Choose the Goal of Your Webinar
You can’t say whether or not an event was successful unless you have a definition of success. Choose a number of attendees as your goal then compare that with how many you receive once it is over. Track your progress of who is attending and make sure to reach out and thank them for tuning in!
It will help, but there are other factors to consider like the day and time of the webinar. Even an industry leader probably won’t be enough to fill a webinar on Monday at 10am. A webinar marketing agency can help you schedule the event for the best day/time based on your industry and potential competing events.
The mark of success is going to be dependent on what your goal for the webinar was. Was it to attract a certain number of attendees? To transition X attendees to leads? To generate signups? Set your success goals early and then structure the webinar to achieve those.
You’ll be sending email reminders to registrants at various stages leading up to the actual event. Consider using those to promote attendance incentives as well. You could offer everyone who attends everything from a substantial discount on their first order to tickets to an industry event or a gift card. To ensure that people put in the time to earn their incentive you could put out a survey immediately after the webinar and tie the incentive into its completion.
