Winning with Webinars and Webcasts: Lessons from the Trenches

When done right, webinars and webcasts can be a very effective tool for reaching prospects, customers, and co-workers. Since people can join easily and from anywhere around the world, they are a powerful tool to drive business, brand recognition, and corporate objectives.

And in addition to being used as a stand-alone lead generation tactic, today many savvy marketers are also integrating webcasts and webinars to add power and focus to their tradeshow and event programs.

To create winning webcasts and webinars, consider these 5 lessons so your webcast or webinar is engaging and relevant for attendees, and supports your business objectives.

1) Content is King
The “Content is King” adage is true for a reason. If you’re asking participants to take time out of their busy schedule, there has to be something in it for them. A thinly veiled sales pitch won’t do. Provide something relevant, of interest, and ideally information that meets one of their pressing needs.

So, when thinking about what to cover, think from your audience’s point of view. What is their biggest challenge? What keeps them awake at night? If you don’t have this information at your fingertips, conduct informal or formal surveys. You can also employ crowd-sourcing–-asking questions to user groups, online communities, and other relevant social media networks.

2) Platforms
Once you decide what your content will be, and how you’ll want to present it, start investigating webcasting platforms. There are a lot of reliable platforms available, so here are just some questions to consider:

• Does the webcast provider allow for live, or just pre-recorded streaming?
• Can video be streamed in addition to audio and slides?
• Will an archive be created?
• What kind of technical support is provided during set-up, and the actual webinar broadcast?
• Are social media sharing tools integrated?
• Can participants view the webcast on mobile devices?

3) Redundancy & Back-Ups
Another important part of selecting a dependable server platform—what kind of redundancy and back-up plans are in place? Choose a dependable server platform and technical partner who will offer to test and re-test your webcast before the big day.

And ask them to provide details about a back-up plan should there be server issues. Many times there are redundancies in place that will keep things running smoothly, even if the worst-case, totally unexpected scenario happens!

4) Good List Management

With a strong technical foundation in place, and great content planned, you have to pull out all of the stops to get the audience you’re looking for. Let’s face it, you can produce the best webcast or webinar in the world, but if no one knows about it, it’s a stark reality that “If you build it, they still might not come.”

Mine your in-house prospect and client lists, and consider renting outside lists to expand your reach. Tap into as many promotion channels as possible, including:

• Email and direct mail
• Web marketing
• PR
• Social media channels and blog articles
• An organized sales team campaign

 Keep in mind typically, only 30-50% of those who register for a webcast actually show up, so you’ll want to try to get 2-3 times as many people to register over your goal attendance number.

5) Always Be Testing
A webinar has many moving parts—the technology, the speaker, audio, slides, and video. You also may be monitoring audience polls, chat, Q&A, and the social media backchannel. For a smooth participant experience, make sure you test every component well in advance of actual webcast.

Do an advance test broadcast for several colleagues or friends, and ask them to all try all of the different features. You may find, for example, that it takes time for poll results to start coming in, so you may want to cover a short content segment and come back to the results later.

By following these 5 tips, you’ll be well on your way to making your next webinar or webcast a winner.

 

Looking for even more ways to make your next webcast a success? Download the 8 Ways to Wreck a Webcast eBook.