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Webinars are visual and interactive, making them an ideal way for companies to connect quickly to their audience and build a relationship. They allow brands to dig deep on the topics most relevant to their customers and show off their unique expertise.
The scheduled element also means they are quick, usually kept to an hour, and can attract significant new leads and traffic in a short amount of time. But even though webinars are a great marketing tool for lead generation, it’s important that they don’t come across as too
salesy.
Before anything else, webinars must provide value to participants. If you’re considering adding webinars to your marketing plans, remember that if your webinar content is too surface level, you run the risk of losing trust with your audience.
People sign up for webinars to learn more about a topic or company, not to hear a sales pitch. But with the right content strategy, your webinars can help you drive brand awareness and success.
When crafting your webinar presentation, it’s important to know how to sell your brand organically. The content of the webinar should connect naturally with what your company offers without name dropping too many of your products and services.
Pose questions, challenges, or debates that your company can solve, and always end on an actionable item to give attendees some concrete direction.
For example, the end of your webinar might prompt attendees to read more about what your company does on your website or blog, or to get in touch with you for pricing, or to attend future virtual or in-person events that your company may be hosting.
Participants want to feel like they learned something from your webinar, and that you’re an authority on the topic that they can rely on.
Marketers should keep in mind that there’s more to a successful webinar than the topic and presentation itself. A lot of people sign up for webinars and don’t attend them live, but still want to stay connected. That’s why email and webinar marketing go hand-in-hand.
Send a confirmation email with all the details about the webinar when people first register, but also be sure to send multiple reminders leading up to the event.
Be thorough enough that participants know exactly how and when to access your webinar well before its scheduled date. You want the tech process to be seamless for people when they’re using the webinar platform and whenever they may interact with the speakers.
Post-webinar, people who registered then expect to receive follow-up emails from the host brand recapping the key takeaways along with a recording of the presentation. If they weren’t able to attend at the scheduled time, they might still want to be able to take in the information at
their own pace.
Signing up for webinars also puts you on a company’s emailing lists, which is an easy way for people to make initial contact with a brand that they are interested in learning more about.
The best method for ensuring that your target audience knows about your webinar, why it would be valuable to them, and how to sign up is to promote it.
Roll out your marketing plan weeks in advance with promotional emails, social media posts, banner advertisements, and spots on your website dedicated to calling out the upcoming webinar. Get people interested with just enough information in your promotional materials without giving it all away.
It’s also a good idea to cross-promote with any speakers featured on the webinar that aren’t associated with your company. Talk up their work and experience in your promo campaign to demonstrate why they will be a knowledgeable and valuable speaker on the webinar.
Food & Nutrition Marketing Services can be your support team for these webinar needs and more. We specialize in digital marketing for suppliers of ingredients, and we help them reach their goals through brand awareness, lead generation, thought leadership, and targeted marketing campaigns.
Our webinar series offers ready-made packages that can help you reach and educate the most relevant audience and generate qualified leads through a targeted marketing campaign. Your brand can opt for your own 30-minute supplier showcase for maximum visibility among a focused live and on-demand audience.
Contact us today to learn more about the services we offer and what challenges we can solve for your brand.
Author
Beth Newhart
31 August 2022