Webinar Strategies for Marketers

Back in the late ’90s, Microsoft provided the technology for webinars to go public with the launch of the NetMeeting platform. There was no such concept as webinar marketing. Since then, webinars have come a long way since its inception. As we approach 2020, the next phase of digital marketing has already begun to take shape. Outstanding user experiences as well as user interface designs for all content, including webinars, have become essential. AI has enabled data privacy and cyber security to take first place and digital platforms need to be designed with the upcoming 5G revolution in mind.

In light of these future downturns, businesses will need to rethink how they approach webinar marketing in order to stay ahead of the curve. Many times, webinar marketing strategies that follow more webinar participants lose focus on the larger view, i.e., creating potential content of the highest quality, more focused on the audience. Getting your audience to click on your webinar link and reach your landing page is only half the battle. The make-or-break situation lies in creating a content strategy that keeps them intrigued with valuable information for direct webinar of 30–45 minutes.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at 5 essential successful webinar strategies that traders can often end up bypassing.

1. Nail your invitation email
An optimal sequence content marketing strategy for a webinar should have invitation emails that look like this:

First contact — invitation email 3–4 weeks ago
Memory Email — 2 weeks ago
Second reminder email — 1 week ago
Last reminder — 1 day ago
Feedback / Thanks email — 1-day post

The best time to start sending your promotional email invitations would be about 3–4 weeks before the webinar event. Yes, first invitation emails should be separate and it is important that you do not leave any useful information, but what is even more critical is follow-up and reminder emails to cover everyone from your webinar funnel. A typical open email rate in B2B marketing plans is only 15.1%, so keeping periodic emails is vital for maximum exposure. According to Drip, not following your webinar invitations could result in you losing up to a third of your sales. Ideally a first follow-up email should be sent 1–2 weeks after your first invitation. Here is an example of how Foundr makes reminder emails:

2. Select the Right Media for Promotion
To continue with your lead generation game, you need to promote your webinars on the right channels to gain maximum exposure. Having a comprehensive approach to promoting your webinars will provide you with more webinar registrars.

Impact marketing:
Collaborating with an influencer for your business venture can be the perfect way to generate more audience for your webinars. Influencers typically use their social media presence to raise awareness of your webinars with headlines like: ‘I will be attending the XYZ webinar on targeted marketing; is a great way for marketers to stay in the loop of current marketing trends. “Having the right influencers to support your brand will certainly make a big difference in your webinar marketing plan in the way your contacts in the industry approach your webinar promotion.

Social media:
For B2B trends do not ask for more than LinkedIn. Share your registration forms in the webinar with links and don’t forget to attach a personalized InMail along with it. You can also create events on and a Facebook ad to promote your webinar, as well as use Twitter by generating relevant hashtags as part of your social media marketing strategy.

3. Select the Optimal Webinar Software
Hosting a live webinar can come with many technical challenges. Poor connection, audio quality, occasional disconnections can become a real obstacle to your webinar success. The days of a one-lead lecture at webinars are over, audience engagement and interactive tools for active participation are essential. With this in mind, some of the factors to consider when choosing your webinar software platform for a perfect digital experience include:

Compatibility with browsers and operating systems
Have a user-friendly interface with easy navigation
Very fast hassle-free configuration and start-up time
Number of participants that the software can handle
Automatic integration of direct recording and playback
Autoresponder features
Necessary interactive tools
Considering these points here are some of the best software solutions you can choose for an upcoming webinar:

Adobe Connect
ON24
Cisco Webex
Goinar in Webinar

4. Plan according to the viewer time zones
Time is everything, whether you are creating weekend promotional offers or the holiday season campaigns. When setting up your webinars, factor in the background and location of your audience. Some days and times will definitely work best when trying to attract the largest possible audience.

When it comes to webinars for B2B marketers, the vast majority of data shows Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are most likely to get maximum participation.

As for time, a recent poll by GoToWebinar showed that 11am is the most attractive with 2–3 PM coming as the second most preferred area.

5. Outstanding audio quality
When it comes to communication, only 7% of the meaning comes from the words we use while 38% comes from the tone of voice, and the remaining 55% from nonverbal suggestions. Needless to say, while hosting a webinar presentation, audio quality is very important to neglect. Poor audio is bound to cause an immediate shutdown and thwart all efforts you have made to get your viewers to the webinar in the first place. If you end up sounding distant or cracking, this will seriously affect what might otherwise have been a tremendous message.

Final Thoughts
Webinars are an effective way to build lasting relationships with your prospects and play a crucial role in their customer journey while allowing you to simultaneously differentiate your brand from your competitors. With the evolution of buyer preferences and video consumption statistics growing through the roof, marketers will need to become creative and develop their own internet marketing strategies over time. Use these tips as a basis for knitting your creative marketing plan to become a great web host. For further in-depth analysis, you can also view our webinar standards report here.