Do you know the industry average conversion rate for a regular sales page (your page about solution with its benefits) is generally accepted to be just 1%? Now, here’s the catch. However, for a webinar, the industry average conversion rate is generally accepted to be 10% or more.
Webinars, or in simple words, web seminars, today has become one of the most effective and innovative tools in content marketing. More and more businesses today are using webinars to engage with consumers and clients and also to pitch sales.
For those who are still confused with this marketing tool, webinars are seminars on the digital platform. Just like physical seminars, here too, attendees can listen to more than one speaker and ask questions. The only difference: the entire event in a webinar takes place online.
A speaker of a webinar doesn’t require any great technical knowledge. All he/she needs is a computer with internet connection. Both the speaker and the attendees can be present anywhere in the world and take part in the webinar. An attendee needs to register to the webinar with the email ids. Notifications and reminder emails will be sent to the attendees’ days before the webinar is scheduled.
Marketing expert David Newman, also the author of “Do It! Marketing, considers webinars “seriously.” “Webinar is about understanding the audience, where they are, who they are and what they need and what they want from you as a communicator or as someone who can solve their problem,” he says.
Now, if you are still thinking why you should add webinar to your digital marketing mix, here’s one more stat to help you decide why you should leverage the power webinar for your business. More than 60% of marketers are using webinars as part of their content marketing programs, according to Content Marketing Institute.
Still not convinced?
Then, here are 6 reasons why webinars are effective and how they can improve your business.
Every businessman harbors the dream of expanding the business. Webinar is a great tool to tap the market or the potential clients in any part of the world and that too without even visiting the country. There’s no location barrier for webinars and this is the biggest advantage of this digital tool. In simple words: webinars are global and can increase your brand awareness.
Agree, face-to-face meetings, conferences and seminars are more productive and you can develop a personal connection with the clients and consumers. But here again, there is a problem. How many people or client can you call in a particular seminar? This is where webinar scores big time. Apart from the existing clients and customers in your database, you can reach newer people irrespective of a geographical boundary. Through a webinar to get to know the audience which you didn’t know existed before and the two-way communication model of a webinar help the speaker to forge a bond with the attendees too.
In short: you can broaden your audience base and client list. But keep in mind the time zone and use a language (read English) which is universal.
The reach of the webinars increases manifold when promoted through email and social media. You can also record the webinar and then promote it on various marketing funnels.
Stat says content with visuals and videos attracts 3x more inbound links. Now, you can imagine why webinars are gaining increasing popularity among marketers.
Digital entrepreneur and digital marketing expert Jeff Bullas said if you generate more leads, but have an average product – you still win.
The rule of the trade is that you cannot hope to be successful in business if you don’t generate leads. Webinars can come handy in the generation of leads.
A webinar requires online registration, which needs your target audience to fill up the basic information and contact details. Why would somebody listen or sign up your webinar if they are not interested? That means you get pre-qualified leads through webinars.
You can then leverage the power of social media to attract more registration especially minutes before the webinar goes on air. The speaker can go live on Periscope and Facebook and encourage more participants to join. This will also help in generating more leads.
It’s extremely useful for the company holding webinars to build a strong list of database. These leads can be further nurtured through email campaigns or other tools of digital marketing.
Also, if your content in the webinar is purposeful, resourceful and conversational, then the attendees can contact you for further information on your products or services. In this way, you can convert a lead into sales too.
Webinars also provide the opportunity to nurture the existing database by sending them recorded versions of webinars and automated campaigns. You can also post the recorded video on your website to engage new and more traffic.
Establish yourself as a thought leader and build trust
The attendees of a webinar take out time from their schedule to listen to you. They attend a webinar thinking they will be benefitted from it. Now, if you are able to provide valuable information to them, they will trust you and come back to you later too.
That means you need to create value in their lives. Webinar gives you the power to make them come to your digital room for a specific period of time. It gives you the power to share the knowledge you have. Just like in a physical conference or seminar you speak on a subject you are an expert in; in a webinar you showcase your knowledge on the digital platform. A webinar can have multiple presenters and you can make the content interesting by adding slides and personal experience. If your webinar is interactive, informative and educative, and has engaging content, and your attendees gain something from it, you can build a long-lasting relationship with them.
Thus, webinars provide a great platform for your business to establish yourself as a subject matter specialist or thought leader in the market. Also, if your company is known in the market for continuously holding successful webinars, then you can expect to build some real connections with important people in the market.
And if known as a trusted and credible thought leader in the market, then you will remain in the ‘top-of-the-mind’ of your clients and consumers too.
The interactive Q&A session not only helps a speaker to bond with the attendees on a one-on-one basis but also help you establish yourself as a problem solver in their lives too. Also, their questions can provide you with insightful content for your next webinar.
Webinars can be a prominent platform for a company to make an announcement of a new product or service. Through a webinar you can reach an unlimited number of people at a specific time, thus it can be a profitable platform to launch a new product. You can invite the potential clients and they can ask you variety of questions regarding the product. Webinars can also be used to announce changes to the existing products or services. You can inform the audience up, close and personal about the changes and what you are planning to do in the future. However, you also need to be cautious here. People are trading time to listen to you. So, they should go back with something substantial. Even if you promote your product or services, be subtle and informative. If you just focus on selling, then your attendees might get disinterested.
There are a number of factors that can impact the cost of a company. And among several expenses, holding seminars, conferences and sales meets and booking hotel accommodation and arranging for refreshment for such programmes can incur a heavy cost to any company.
According to 2016 Corporate Travel Index compiled by Business Travel News, the average daily cost for meals, car rentals, and hotels for business travel in the US rose to $319 per day. Now, that is expensive.
Here comes the advantage of webinars. Webinars are easy to organize and host and are low cost. A lot of pre-event work goes into organizing a physical seminar. But in a webinar, neither do you need to book conference rooms in hotels, nor are you required to provide refreshment to the attendees. Also, the cost of travel is nil. As already mentioned, you can hold a webinar sitting anywhere in the world, if possible, even from your car.
Also, webinars can be used for internal training in a company. This will also help in reducing the cost. If you have multiple offices across multiple locations, you can address your employees from a single location. Once the webinar is recorded, it can later be sent to the employees who weren’t present during the session. The content can be referred whenever necessary.
Organizing a webinar require a minimum budget. You need to pay a certain amount for the webinar software and require microphones, cameras and headsets.
Also, webinars help a company to reuse the content in various forms. The same content can be converted into article, slides, and ebooks.
A webinar gives you the opportunity to develop a partnership with other business. Once your partnership on the webinar is a hit, you can further expand your market, tap into newer markets, reach the new audience and also enhance the popularity of the brand. The attendees will also gain insightful information from more than two companies. In this way, your loyal customer base will increase.
According to a survey by ReadyTalk, nearly 20% – 40% of webinar attendees turned into qualified leads. As indicated by Ascend 2, webinars are the second most effective type of premium content for marketers of the lead generation tactics available. With each passing day, webinars are proving its importance and utility in the digital marketing mix. Treat your attendees as customers and you can reap benefit from this digital marketing tool.
Here’s a link of a webinar conducted by CII in association with Indus Net Technologies on Digital Marketing Demystified for MSMEs
