One year into the pandemic perhaps we have a clear idea that it will be difficult to organize events in attendance, at least for the time being.
This is why webinars remain an important touch point for meeting prospects and customers so beloved by marketing and sales teams.
Webinars give every company a chance to connect directly with its target audience and users a chance to interact with speakers by exchanging opinions and sharing knowledge, but not all go smoothly.
How do you organize webinars to intercept the right leads and get results that your sales team wants to pursue?
The key is the alignment between sales and marketing teams, both should work side by side for:
- determine webinar goals
- identify topics and create content
- plan pre- and post-webinar communication
This way you can offer relevant content for your potential clients, helping your colleagues close deals faster.
What are webinars for?
Webinars are effective tools for marketing or sales efforts if you have the right information, tools and content to guide users on this journey that can convert them from prospects to new customers.
The collaboration between marketing and sales has a higher ROI and a lower customer acquisition cost. It streamlines sales processes to the benefit of productivity, with the ability to attract the right buyer persona, i.e., the ideal customer.
You will understand that video conferencing tools are a worthwhile investment for businesses of all sizes. Here are some of the most widely used:
Zoom: is a widely used app, although it has proven on several occasions to be unsafe. Remember also that it requires users to download the app on both computers and mobile devices in order to be used.
Microsoft Teams:If your company already uses Microsoft Office as a suite, Microsoft Teams is a good option for video conferencing. This tool makes virtual collaboration possible with screen sharing, chat capabilities, digital whiteboards, and direct integration with your favorite Microsoft Office apps (Do you want to get started with Microsoft now?).
Google Meet: For teams that rely on Google Workspace apps, Google Meet is a viable option. It offers secure, straightforward video conferencing software for teams and businesses. It's easy to join scheduled meetings with Google Meet for users on a wide range of devices, and it integrates directly with Google Calendar, one of the best calendar apps for businesses. (Don't have Google Meet yet? Ask our team)
Why choose webinars?
If you are still wondering why you should choose webinars, let's start by saying that they are very engaging. According to the latest Big Book of Webinar Stats from Go to Webinar, the average viewing time for attendees is 61 minutes--what other type of content can do that?
Webinars are an engaging way to connect with your audience, hosting also is significantly cheaper than a live event.
They work along the entire customer journey.There are different types of webinars: from open boards to weekly live demos, dynamic and effective ways to turn potential customers into successfully completed negotiations.
Generate high-quality sales leads. So much information is provided to your prospects during webinars. By asking to fill out registration form you will get the leads' contact information and the sales team can use this information to start tailoring future communications.
Let's look together at tips from HubSpot's Martina Bretous and discover how speakers and participants can contribute to more productive webinars together.
1. Set the tone
Each webinar has a different format. There are educational ones and others that are more interactive, so it's good to let your audience know what to expect from the start.Send an email as a reminder to registrants a few days before the webinar and include the day's agenda, making sure to answer these questions:
- Are participants expected to have their cameras and microphones on or off?
- Should participation be encouraged? If so, how?
- Is some preparatory work needed?
You can remember this information at the beginning of the webinar while you wait for everyone to log in.
2. Don't betray expectations!
Imagine: you are at a restaurant and you ordered steak, but you get chicken wings. That piece of chicken maybe delicious, but you don't care because it is not what you ordered.
Meeting expectations is very important when you are trying to gain the trust of your audience.
Back to webinars, there are few things more frustrating than attending a presentation and getting something completely different. It can be confusing and lead to high dropout rates.
Furthermore, each type of webinar has a purpose and targets a unique audience, so resist the temptation to turn it into a promotional opportunity (or anything else) if it is not on the agenda.
3. Practice in advance
Technical difficulties can interrupt your presentation and sometimes it can be difficult to recover, prevent them by practicing in advance.
First familiarize yourself with the hosting platform you will be using. Find out where you can:
- share your screen
- play audio and/or video clips
- highlight participants and adjust their audio/video settings.
A moderator could assist you during the presentation to monitor the chatroom, for example.
Once you have become familiar with it, take a trial run through the presentation from beginning to end. This way you will know how much time to devote to each section to meet your schedule.
4. Read the questions and answers aloud
When you physically attend a presentation in person you can feel that you are being asked, online things work differently.
Depending on the hosting platform you use, you'll probably have a question-and-answer feature that allows participants to ask the organizer directly. This means that other participants won't know who asked the question and what it was .
This is why speakers should always repeat questions aloud before answering so the audience can understand the full context. Keep the user's name anonymous unless they have asked otherwise.
5. Make the webinar accessible
Webinars can be excellent sources of information, but they do not always have the accessibility features necessary to reach all audiences, including those who are deaf, hard of hearing (HoH), and visually impaired.
Start by examining your hosting platforms. Applications such as Google Meet have built-in real-time transcription and subtitling features. You can also send participants presentation slides in advance to familiarize non-native speakers with the content.
Depending on your budget, you can hire an interpreter to help you. If this is not possible, look into video rebroadcast service providers who will connect your audience to interpreters during the presentation.
For slides, remember to prefer high-contrast colors to make it easier for participants with visual impairments to view.
6. Record the session
When you host a webinar it is possible that only a percentage of the registrants will attend due to time of day or prior commitments. Many people rely on video recordings to review missed sessions.
This is not necessary, but it is a great way to provide value to users interested in your products and/or services who are unable to attend. If you wish, you can limit registration access to one or two weeks following the live webinar and add a password to access the video for added security.
Good manners don't go out of style: rules in webinars are often just common sense
The fact that work is done by many in smart work makes everyone feel a little bit at home. No one expects the same formality, but it's worth maintaining some rigor during video meetings. Let's not forget good manners.
Have you ever heard of netiquette?
The word netiquette is a fusion of net(work) "network" and (e)tiquette "etiquette" and is intended to regulate the behavior of online users as they relate to each other.
Transgressing it carries no penalty, but not following it is impolite and this can immediately generate a bad impression in our interlocutors.
Remember, manners do not go out of fashion on the Web either. Even if it's just common sense we wanted to focus on the rules to follow during webinars, let's go over them together.
1. Be on time
Webinars generally follow a strict agenda, this means there is very little room to catch up on the minutes you accumulate during your presentation.
Make sure you are on time and logged in at least 10 minutes early. There is usually a period of one to three minutes for participants to log in to the hosting platform.
To be on the safe side, attend the webinar a few minutes early to make sure you don't have access problems. This will give you enough time to contact the organizer and ask for help. You can also set reminders in the days before to make sure you are ready when the event starts.
2. Beware of camera and light
It's nice to talk while looking at your interlocutor, isn't it? Always enable your camera, if you turn it off you might as well have a phone call. Don't worry, most online meeting Apps today also allow you to blur the background for privacy issues.
The camera should be high resolution (HD) and positioned so that the lens looks as natural as possible. The right light is also very important; never position yourself with the window behind you, as your figure may be obscured by the light. If you encounter connectivity problems turn off the camera or adjust the resolution of the video.
3. Microphone: mute if the host has not already done soo
To have a pleasant, non-metallic voice, use headphones with a microphone and remember to choose a quiet environment; no one wants to hear doors slamming in the background. Respect the other participants, when your talk is over mute it if the host has not done so before.
4. Background
Background is important, avoid passing rooms, prefer bookcase, avoid white walls.
5. Share your desktop
Make sure the relevant windows are open, the ones you want to show. Remember that you can share the whole screen or just a window.
6. Chat with the focus of the webinar in mind
If you want to ask questions in the chat keep in mind the focus of the webinar and what is being discussed. On many occasions the Q&A section is reserved at the end of the webinar.
Suppose you are attending a webinar on email marketing automation. In the webinar they are explaining the benefits of setting up email sequences once a lead takes a specific action. You could write in the chat to say how effective this practice has been for your company.
It is not helpful to start the conversation by talking about email click-through rates or to move on to your experience by mentioning a particular automation platform.
As a general rule, if it is not in line with the presentation, leave it out of the chat and be sure to remember not to write everything in all caps, because it corresponds to shouting.
7. Do not interrupt
Do not interrupt the speaker unless you explicitly state that you are welcome. Often interruptions can really throw the speaker off track, no matter how knowledgeable he or she is!
Attend instead for a call to action. There could be a slide devoted to questions and comments, or a call to action to add something.
8. Avoid self-promotion
Self-promotion during webinar organized by someone else is like blowing out candles on a cake that is not yours, it is in bad taste.
If required, it is appropriate to mention your company in relation to the content of the presentation. What you should avoid is referring other participants to your company through your website, social links or other strategies.
By following a few simple steps, you can help create a more positive webinar experience that everyone enjoys.
In the next article we will tell you about the tools for organizing a successful webinar, keep following us.