Now more than ever, webinars are great way to show an interested audience exactly what you do and how you do it. Ever since we had a worldwide lockdown, webinar attendance and engagement has gone up as more people use online technology to showcase their business.
As this works so well for us (although we are always improving), I wanted to share what we’ve found and how you can run a webinar yourself for your business or side hustle.
1. Define what you are selling. It may sound obvious but thinking of the end result that you want to achieve for the webinar is essential, to begin with. Eg. Do you want to actually make a sale at the end of the webinar, or do you want to book an appointment for the next stage of the funnel?
“Typically, for lower priced products (below $2k).
it is possible to sell during the webinar but for higher-priced offerings.
the next stage would be an appointment with a specialist to close the deal.”
2. Choose your platform. If you are a beginner there are plenty of options that are free such as Google Meet or Zoom. As soon as you start getting serious about webinars though, you’ll need a pro software solution that can help automate, moderate and manage your webinars more professionally. Over the years we’ve tried a few with mixed results but as someone transitioning from one of the free platforms our recommendation would be Easywebinar or Webinarjam. Both of these offer great support, relatively simple interfaces, and an expandable feature set as you grow our attendee and conversion rates.
3. Content delivery. Choosing the correct way to deliver your content and how that looks can be an important element to your branding. So switching between your office/home environment and a screen share should be a consideration. What’s your home/office setup look like, and have you done a good job with your presentation slides? All of these aesthetic things go to add to the look and feel of the webinar and helps the audience see the kind of organisation or individual they are buying from.
4. Content schedule. Having the correct flow to your webinar will improve your results no end and following a basic system as follows will help:
i. Introduction: meet and greet webinar rules, agenda with outcomes and value gained, incentivise to share.
ii. Show the problem you faced and how you overcame it. Show the common situation and your common solution.
iii. Demo or show the features of your product or service. Emphasise the value and the problem that is overcome by using it.
vi. Show the deal/pitch/price. “Stack” the offer by showing everything that is included and why it’s such a good deal. Include an exclusive “webinar only” deal – make this genuine. Offer a guarantee if you have one at this stage.
v. Q&A: Take questions and deal with them live for all the viewers. Congratulate purchasers live on air (or those that have booked an appointment.
5. Practice and record. Practice, practice, and practice again then when you are ready, record a live session so you can use it for reruns or automated webinars through your chosen pro webinar system. The slicker you get, the more conversions you will make and the more success you will see.
Of course, these tips are great but they are no use to you if you can’t get people to attend! This would be a whole other subject to write about in itself, and there are of course a lot of variables dependent on where you are with your business and your database. However, social media, Eventbrite and Google ads are a great place to start to build an audience, to begin with, coupled with a robust booking and confirmation process to get more attendees to turn up.
All of this should help set you up to start hosting webinars that will grow your business and build a sustainable income.
