6 Reasons Why Other Companies Webinars are Better Than Yours: Real-life webinar examples and tips from ReadyTalk customers
As a marketer, you ve probably tried a number of different lead generation tactics to attract new prospects or maintain current customer relationships. From blog posts to infographics to email marketing, the success rates are different and can seem disappointing compared to the time and effort you put into those campaigns. While every successful marketer knows multi-channel marketing is a key to success, what they might not know is webinars could be a marketing best kept secret. Despite the startling percentage of B2B marketers who use webinars to prospect or nurture leads (62 percent according to the Content Marketing Institute 1 ), a number of our customers are getting ready to host their first webinar or need help in hosting and promoting webinars to attract the right kind of leads for their business. At ReadyTalk, we know webinars produce a higher quality lead for a lower cost per lead (CPL), and we re here to help you maximize your webinar potential. Real-Life Examples In order to provide you with the best possible recommendations, we polled some of our webinar customers and asked: Share one best practice that makes your webinars successful. During your webinars, you always make sure to Wish I had known when I hosted my first webinar. We ve gathered some of the most common and best responses from our clients, and we want to share them with you. Enjoy! 1
WEBINAR BEST PRACTICES FROM READYTALK CUSTOMERS Webinar Recommendation #1: Connect early and set expectations. Expert: Kelsey Harms from Illinois Education Association One best practice that makes your webinars successful: Connecting EARLY!!!! It is SOOO much easier to get your webinar off on the right foot if you have dialed-in early, uploaded your slides (make sure to give time to convert), and have a few minutes to just breathe before jumping in and getting started. Set the expectations for Q&A. I usually run presentations by myself (and in share desktop mode I can't be bothered by checking the chat window while I'm giving a training on complicated software). I need to prepare the audience by letting them know they can type in their questions as they think of them, but they won't be answered until the end of the presentation. Wish I had known you can show the chat box in share desktop mode when I hosted my first webinar. Login and get ready about 30 minutes before the webinar begins so that you can make sure your slides are working correctly, everyone who will be on the webinar makes it on time and you have a couple of minutes to relax before you begin. Always announce when questions will be answered at the beginning of your presentation. If you expect questions during your webinar that need to be answered, have another person from the marketing team handle questions and support during the presentation. Chairperson tip: Login for your webinar about 30 minutes in advance and set expectations early. #betterwebinars When you see this, click the Twitter icon to share the quote with your followers. 2
Webinar Recommendation #2: Customize content, use polls to increase engagement and block all distractions. Expert: Sharon Marchant from Profiles International Sharon's best practices for successful webinars: For webinars where participants are from different companies, I customize the registration form to include not only the person's contact information, but also who referred them to the webinar and the name of the company they are associated with. This allows me to follow up and thank customers who are making referrals and to better understand where our participants are coming from. The day of the webinar I review all the registrants to see if I can customize content to meet the needs of specific attendees based on client data in our contact management software. Insert at least one poll in the webinar to keep engagement. For webinars that include slides, make sure the slides grab a person's attention. Present a new slide every 15 to 20 seconds to keep participants interested. After connecting to the audio portion of the meeting, put my phone on Do Not Disturb so it doesn't beep if a call comes in while I'm on the phone. Set Microsoft Lync status to "Do Not Disturb and shut down Outlook so incoming chat messages or emails don't flash on my screen for all to see. Only share an application (versus my desktop) when sharing something with participants. When using the lead form to prospect for the webinar, it is helpful to ask them a question about why they are attending the webinar. Make your slides more visual than textual so people will focus on what you re saying instead of spending time on reading. Check out our Slideshare library for some great examples. Make sure all of your technology distractions are turned off or set to Do Not Disturb so you can conduct your webinar without any interruptions. Wish I had known I could share single applications instead of my entire desktop when I hosted my first webinar. Review registrants the day of to customize webinar content for attendees. http://rdy.tk/e50ir #betterwebinars 3
Webinar Recommendation #3: Prepare for your webinars and check in with attendees to make sure everything is clear. Expert: Clare McCormick from Result Group One best practice that makes your webinars successful: Preparation. Depending on the type of session, I prepare differently. If informal, I always go through the presentation in my head - what we are going to discuss and potential scenarios - then prepare for that. If it is more of a formal session with a predefined agenda, I'll prepare for that accordingly. Check as I go along to see that everyone is seeing what I'm seeing and get input from who I'm presenting to so it is not just one-sided. And that they are nodding in agreement! I have a joke that if I don't hear anything (sometimes people mute themselves if it s a demo or training session), I check to see if they are all still listening/awake. I say, I can see you are nodding in agreement, so I assume that all makes sense. Wish I had known how to make the invite more clear when I hosted my first webinar. No matter what the topic, you should prepare for each webinar by having reference notes for each slide and doing a dry-run before you host a webinar. Don t be afraid to ask if people can hear you or understand what you re saying; they ll appreciate that you asked. Check out the ReadyTalk integrations to see if there are tools to make your life easier when inviting people to webinars. Prepare for your webinar by creating an outline to reference when presenting. http://rdy.tk/e50ir #betterwebinars 4
Webinar Recommendation #4: Utilize your network for promotion, start on time and know your subject matter. Expert: Brian Hansford from Heinz Marketing Wish I had known my subject matter better when I hosted my first webinar. One best practice that makes your webinars successful: Have your community and advocates promote webinars for you. Start ON TIME. No B.S. instead of Bear with us while we work out the technical issues. Rehearse and get it right for your audience. Minimize the bullet point slides. Don't read verbatim. Encourage audience interaction with surveys or feedback throughout the presentation. Make it easy for your partners or community to share your webinar by providing them with an out-of-the-box social update or link. Use surveys or polls to increase engagement throughout the presentation. Don t have a webinar about something you know nothing about; either have a guest speaker who s an expert on the webinar or promote a topic that you know well. Ask partners and advocates to promote your webinar; they re your best billboards. http://rdy.tk/e50ir #betterwebinars 5
Webinar Recommendation #5: Set expectations with speakers and remind attendees to use chat to increase engagement. Expert: Eric Wagner from Utilities Telecom Council (UTC) Wish I had known I could edit the recordings when I hosted my first webinar. One best practice that makes your webinars successful: Set expectations with the presenters of our sponsored webinars. We have a form that details what we do for them and what we need from them. Part of that process is a dry run the day before the presentation where we usually get the final version of the presentation. Remind people to use the chat feature for questions, monitor questions and put them into the question tab for the speakers (so they don't have to worry about all the "noise" in the chat) and make sure I respond to general questions individually. Have a list of requirements and timelines when sponsoring webinars with other companies or organizations. Remind attendees of the chat functionality so they can engage and ask questions. With ReadyTalk, you can edit the recordings so you can cut out the waiting periods of the webinars for easy listening. Sponsor webinars with other companies or organizations to increase your reach and audience. http://rdy.tk/e50ir #betterwebinars 6
Webinar Recommendation #6: Use email marketing for promotion and familiarize yourself with your webinar software features. Expert: Candice Stennett from SCORE One best practice that makes your webinars successful: We promote our webinars using email marketing. It's by far the biggest driver of webinar registration. We include a compelling event title, brief summary including the main takeaways of the presentation and the presenter headshot and bio. We promote our events in at least 2 newsletters (4 weeks and 2 weeks prior to the event). During our webinars, we always make sure to include contact information for our organization and any guest speakers. This often includes a Twitter handle and hashtag, email address and phone number. This helps our attendees keep the conversation going offline and gives them a means to get more information after the event. Wish I had known about all of the features of ReadyTalk when I hosted my first webinar. By starting promotion via email more than seven days out, you can increase registration up to 36 percent. 2 Provide additional contact information so attendees can reach out if they have additional questions. If you re a ReadyTalk customer, schedule a meeting with your account manager to learn about all of the features of ReadyTalk. By promoting via email more than 7 days out, you can increase webinar registration up to 36%. http://rdy.tk/e50ir #betterwebinars 7
WHAT OTHER READYTALK CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING I wish I would have known how awesome ReadyTalk support is and that I don't need to know everything! What makes our webinars successful is an easy answer - ReadyTalk! I type up the webinar details, can send invitations from the website and, when it s finished, I can review the recording, follow up with those that attended, as well as those who couldn t make it. I can share it on social media and so much more. Sheri Washington Settle, HydroGeoLogic, Inc. Reena Chudgar, NACCHO I wish I would have known about ReadyTalk when I hosted my first webinar. The service is stellar and worry-free, so I can focus more on my presentation and delivery. Truman Tang, Influitive 8
Conclusion Whether you re new to webinars or you ve been doing them for years, you can always find new ways to increase your engagement or expand your reach. Use these webinar recommendations to attract more high quality leads for your business, or share some of your success stories with us by using the hashtag #betterwebinars. Want to learn more? There are a lot of misconceptions about webinars, and we ve debunked 8 of them. Download our Top 8 Common Webinar Myths Flip Book for more: Download Ebook Now 1 2 http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2013/10/2014- b2b-content-marketing-research/ http://www.readytalk.com/blog/demand-generation/ after-the-webinar-how-do-you-compare-infographic 9