4 Keys to
Generating More
Leads with Webinars

4 Keys to Generating More Leads with Webinars

With average costs between $100 – $3,000 (depending on the technology involved and promotional investment), a webinar can be a great, cost-effective lead generation tool for B2B companies: recent studies suggest that 20% to 40% of webinar attendees turn into qualified leads (source), not including warm leads from the 55-65% of people who register but don’t attend (source).

 

But if you want your webinars to generate even more leads, make a recording available on your website in exchange for contact information. After all, 78% of webinars have 50 or fewer attendees, maybe because 84% of B2B customers opt to watch replays over live webinars. 

 

To generate even more leads from your webinars, here are four key rules to follow:

#1 – Pick the right topic

 

 Not every piece of content is a good fit for a webinar. When choosing your topic, ask yourself these questions:

 

   –  Which of my customers would be interested in this topic?

   –  What benefit will attendees get from the webinar?

   –  Has this topic already been covered extensively, or do we have new information to offer?

   –  Do we have enough “meat” to make it content-rich, or will we just be giving our opinions?

 

Here are a few examples of good and bad webinar topics:

  • A panel discussion on an industry trend
  • A how-to tutorial solving a common problem
  • A "report back" of learnings from an industry conference
  • An interview with an influencer in your industry
  • Company or product news
  • Your sales presentation
  • A general topic such as "ways to reduce costs"
  • A demo of an old, well-known product

It helps to focus on the specific audience you’re targeting and generate topics of specific interest to them. It may be tempting to choose a topic broad enough to appeal to a wide audience – after all, webinars take a lot of time and effort to put together, so you want the most bang for your buck. But by trying to appeal to everyone, you effectively appeal to no one.

 

If you’re unsure what kind of content would be interesting to your audience, refer back to your buyer personas!

#2 – Create 30 minutes of content, leaving 30 minutes for Q&A

 

It’s counter-intuitive perhaps, but 60-minute webinars are the most successful; two-thirds of all registrations are for 60-minute webinars, and 30-minute webinars only attract 8% of registrations (source: gotomeeting).

 

Don’t worry about coming up with a full hour of content; break up the time into Q&A, a live demonstration, video clips, or all three.

#3 – Schedule it at 10:00 am or 11:00 am on a Wednesday or Thursday

 

According to Gotomeeting’s research, 10:00 am and 11:00 am on a Wednesday or Thursday are the time slots with the highest webinar attendance rates. If your prospects are spread across different time zones, choose the time slot that hits the most prospective attendees at 10 or 11 am local time.

 

Before scheduling, be sure to check your competitors, trade media, and trade groups for competing webinars or events which could divert prospective attendees.

#4 – Start promoting a month out, and don’t stop until an hour before it starts

 

Start promoting your webinar at least four weeks in advance, with regular emails and social media posts. You can also include some trade media advertising if budget allows. Be sure to take advantage of your sales team’s email signatures and the home page of your website as well.

 

Increase promotion the week prior to your webinar, especially the day before and even the day the webinar takes place: 59% of registrations occur less than a week before the webinar, and 17% occur the day of.

Email should be at the heart of your promotion strategy, as it’s been shown to be the most effective – and it’s free. When timing your emails, aim for the time slot between 8:00 am and 10:00 am in your recipients’ local time zone: 36% of registrations occur then.

 

Webinars are an excellent, low-cost lead generation tool for B2B businesses when done correctly. For help developing a comprehensive lead generation strategy, drop us a line. 

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