A well thought out and developed webinar would not be of any use if it does not have a sufficient number of relevant attendees. A webinar needs to be promoted well so that the maximum possible numbers of potential attendees know about it and the advantages it offers. The following tips would help you do just that.
- Why are you organizing the webinar? You would have your own interests in mind, but what are you willing to give to the participants in return? For a regular business organization the reasons for hosting a webinar would most likely be getting leads and generating sales. To achieve these, the organization may provide its webinar participants with useful information about the industry, products and services, existing and future trends, and information culled from recent research and study.
- Now that you have defined your goals, you would need to decide when you will start advertising the webinar. Beginning too early would be a bad idea, as many people who sign up for it may forget why they signed up in the first place by the time the event day arrives. Ideally you should consult an industry expert to understand when you should begin the advertising. Keep in mind, people don’t always sign up for a webinar the first time they see it. You may need to run the campaign 2-3 times to get the optimal number of attendees.
- On similar lines as above, you should have a definite idea of who should attend the webinar. This should clearly come across in the promotion. People who see your ads should immediately understand whether the webinar would be useful to them.
- You might have a certain minimum number of attendees in mind that you believe should attend to make the webinar a success. And if that many attendees sign-up do you stop promoting? No. As far as real life experience goes, around half of the people who sign up for a webinar do not attend it. So your target for registration should be at least double the required number.
- It goes without saying that you should put up ads/offers related to your webinars in sites where they have better chances of being spotted by targeted users.
- Getting registrations is not enough. When people sign up for your webinar, you should get their email addresses and also verify whether it’s all right to send them related information periodically. You can then use these emails to send reminders. To add extra value, send pieces of useful and interesting content along with the reminders. The content could also revolve around information about the upcoming webinar, its presenters etc. This would keep the registered users motivated to attend the event.
After the event is over you can email those who had registered for the webinar but didn’t attend or missed it. Tell them they can still watch a recording of the event and provide the appropriate links. You can also use the emails to keep your targeted user base informed about products, services, and upcoming events. But remember not to overdo it.