Webinars: Everything You Need To Run The Perfect Webinar

ClearBrand Marketing Podcast

As the business world continues to go remote, conventional means of in-person networking are becoming continuously less effective.

Have you considered how frequently you attend seminars or other in-person business events in recent years? If so, you may have noted that the number of events like these has been steadily decreasing over time–especially over the past two to three years.

As entrepreneurs become increasingly comfortable with remote work, seminars are becoming less and less common. Instead, webinars are rapidly growing in popularity for their convenience, interactivity, and ability to reach a wide audience.

Those used to presenting at traditional seminars may find the transition to a digitally-based format cumbersome. The need for equipment and technical know-how can be intimidating.

Still, a webinar is an important tool – for both marketing and networking. Understanding how to effectively connect with attendees via the digital medium will enable you to gain higher-quality leads on a consistent basis.

ClearBrand is a marketing agency, and we’ve created webinars with great results. In the process, we’ve learned a thing or two about how to prepare and ensure your webinar runs smoothly. 

Below, you’ll learn how to craft a webinar that drives engagement and helps your company grow. 

Is Presenting For A Webinar Different Than Presenting At A Seminar?

In some ways, presenting for webinars is less stressful than presenting for seminars. 

The ability to present from virtually anywhere means that webinar hosts can present somewhere comfortable and rehearse in a consistent environment. 

The result is a higher-quality webinar.

The decentralized format of a webinar allows a more hands-on experience from the audience’s perspective. Traditional seminars don’t normally provide the interactive benefits of software and can seem static in comparison to webinars.

Script Outline

The main reason to host a webinar is to provide value that attracts high-quality leads. The best way to do this is by appealing directly to your customer’s real-life experience.

Your goal is to craft a narrative that keeps listeners engaged while sharing what they need to know about your products and services. When your audience leaves, you want them to see why they have to work with you to get the best results.

Here’s the outline we use for our webinar scripts that gets a 25% conversion rate.

0:00 – Welcome
1:30 – What you’ll discover
2:30 – This is for you if…
3:00 – What a good solution would include
4:00 – Problem
6:00 – “My Story” – how I experienced the problem
9:30 – Attempted solution
12:00 – But it didn’t work
14:00 – Breakthrough
16:00 – Main teaching
35:00
– Recap Big Idea
– How to make this happen?
– First, this is not for you if…
38:00 – Offer (what’s included)
46:00
– Pricing
– Price anchoring/justification
– Repeat what’s included
– Reveal pricing
– Offer discount with deadline
– Purchase instructions
– No risk guarantee
– Offer second discount with deadline
– Purchase instructions
– Recap what’s included with purchase instructions
– Repeat the value
– Repeat what’s included with purchase instructions
55:00 – Q&A

When Is The Best Time To Host A Webinar?

Webinars hosted at noon on Wednesday or Thursday attract more participants. Many employees watch webinars during their daily lunch break, which is most often around noon.

This makes logical sense. Most people don’t want to attend webinars before work when they’re busy getting ready. If a webinar takes place after working hours, then your attendees are likely too tired for your webinar to make it’s maximum impact.

Hosting webinars during lunch hours creates better outcomes for two reasons. Aside from most viewers being available at about noon, it’s also easier to keep an audience’s attention after they’ve recently had a meal.

How Long Should My Webinar Be?

There isn’t a concrete rule, but most webinars last about 60 minutes. 

Webinars often take place during business hours. If yours is too long, you risk alienating your audience by wasting their precious time.

When deciding how long your webinar should be, consider its content. Does everything you plan to include contain information of value?

If you host an hour-long webinar that only contains 10 minutes of quality information, your audience may not stay until the end.

We do a 60-minute webinar, followed by a Q&A that lasts as long as it needs to.

What Equipment Do I Need To Host A Webinar?

The only requirements are a high-speed internet connection, a webcam, a microphone, and presentation software. Additional equipment can enhance webinar quality but isn’t explicitly required.

It’s easy to view technical requirements as a barrier to entry when you consider hosting a webinar. But if you’ve purchased a laptop in the past 10 years, you probably already have everything you need. 

If you don’t, individual components are available online for a relatively low price.

If you’re going to buy something, start with a microphone. We use the Shure MV7 in our webinars for clean, crisp audio to keep messages clear.

Simple setups are often the most effective. If you’re interested in hosting a webinar, it doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars in equipment.

What Technical Difficulties Should I Anticipate When Hosting A Webinar?

Weak internet connections can result in poor-quality audio and video. Cameras could fail, microphones might break, or software may exhibit bugs and glitches that affect your ability to deliver your webinar as planned.

It’s important to account for as many possibilities as practically feasible. During a webinar, any of the scenarios above could complicate the quality of your delivery.

Protect your webinar from going south by installing a simple no-break system to reduce internet interruptions during power outages.

Keep multiple microphones on hand to provide additional options if one breaks. The same goes for cameras.

When dealing with equipment, redundancy assures that the show can go on in almost any situation.

Some issues – like power outages – are sometimes unavoidable, but taking all available precautions against common technical failures will mitigate interruptions.

Laptop showing webinar on screen

What Platforms Are Best For Webinars?

Weak internet connections can result in poor-quality audio and video. Cameras could fail,  microphones might break, or software may exhibit bugs and glitches that affect your ability to deliver your webinar as planned.

It’s important to account for as many possibilities as practically feasible. During a webinar, any of the scenarios above could complicate the quality of your delivery.

Protect your webinar from going south by installing a simple no-break system to reduce internet interruptions during power outages.

Keep multiple microphones on hand to provide additional options if one breaks. The same goes for cameras. 

When dealing with equipment, redundancy assures that the show can go on in almost any situation.

Some issues – like power outages – are sometimes unavoidable, but taking all available precautions against common technical failures will mitigate interruptions, helping you produce the webinar you’ve always imagined.

How Can I Attract New Contacts To My Webinar?

Direct advertising is the quickest way to spread the word about your webinar. Search ads, video ads, and social media posts are all effective methods of attracting webinar attendees from outside your email list.

Whether writing an email to your current list or an ad to attract new contacts, the StoryBrand techniques mentioned earlier are applicable to emails, webpages, lead magnets, and most other deliverables that rely on persuasive messaging to attract quality leads.

The other option is by word of mouth. If you’ve already hosted a fantastic webinar, previous attendees are more likely to recommend your content to their own contacts.

With engaging and persuasive content, new attendees can frictionlessly be converted to customers.

How Can I Improve Turnout For My Webinars?

The best way to improve attendance for your webinar is with an announcement to your email list. Consider the customer journey and use it to craft a persuasive narrative that demonstrates what attendees have to gain from your event.

Your attendees are professionals with their own goals and responsibilities. If it’s your first webinar, you may be wondering how you can convince them to put down their duties and hear you out.

Would you like to sit through a webinar that doesn’t offer you any valuable information?

No. Attendees want a webinar that provides actionable, impactful information from the start.

The StoryBrand framework provides an effective way of appealing to your customer’s exact needs.

Learn more about it in this video.

How Can I Convert My Webinar Attendees To Paying Customers?

The most effective way to convert your webinar attendees is by revealing what they have to gain from attending your webinar in a direct, relatable way.

For this, messaging is key.

If your webinar has attendees, that’s great news – your leads are right in front of you!

To seal the deal, you can again use StoryBrand messaging techniques to create a sense of urgency and drive conversions.

As you consider the content for your webinar, don’t just ask what your customer needs. Ask yourself why they need it. This generally provides an excellent starting point for a narrative that puts your customer’s journey front and center.

Should I Charge Webinar Attendees?

Webinars with the intention of advertising products and services shouldn’t charge attendees at all. Webinars for education and in-depth information can charge entry fees, but every case should be considered individually.

If your intention is to advertise a product or service, then charging an entry fee will limit attendees to those who are already willing to give you their money.

Permitting free entry provides a great way to get your foot in the door with unknown leads who may convert to paying clients in the future.

Effectively-Planned Webinars Are Great Marketing

Crafting a webinar that contains exclusive and valuable content is a great way to drive continuous lead acquisition.

Because webinars take place online they can be recorded and reutilized for marketing purposes not just today, but also in the future.

Taking the time to plan your webinar effectively leads to increased brand recognition, higher-quality leads, and faster customer acquisition.

Worried you won’t have the time to write a webinar for yourself? Contact ClearBrand and speak with our Marketing Specialists to learn more about implementing marketing systems that get results fast.

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