How to Create Webinars That Convert
If you're looking for additional ways to market your business, webinars and live presentations can be very effective. They allow you to interact with potential customers directly, and they give you the opportunity to showcase your expertise.
But how can you be sure that a webinar will convert?
The answer is simple: simply follow these tips!
Determine your niche
You can’t just create a webinar that talks about everything and anything, because it will be difficult for you to stand out from the crowd.
Instead, figure out what your audience needs and wants and then focus on providing it. This will make it easier for you to build relationships with your audience, and it will help them stay engaged with the webinar. To find out what people want, you can try running surveys or talking to them directly.
Once you have a niche, make sure it's clear in the content of your webinar. If people don’t know what they're getting into when they sign up for it, they won't stick around for long.
Webinar Content
Each webinar should include the following:
what are they going to get out of it (value proposition)?
who is this for? (target audience)
what do you need from them? (call-to-action)
how can you help them? (unique selling proposition)
what happens if they don't join? (social proof)
Identify a topic
Before you start creating a webinar, consider how the topic of your webinar relates to your audience.
Is it relevant? Does it matter to them? Will they care about it? These are all questions you should ask yourself before deciding on a topic.
The topic of your webinar also needs to be relevant for your business. If you're in the health industry, for example, then a webinar about improving office workflow probably won't do much for sales or conversions.
Finally, choose topics that are relevant within their industries and niches: if you're going after an IT audience but don't have any experience in security systems management or networking hardware design/installation, then your chances of success will probably be limited. Especially since these are highly specialized fields which require years of training before someone can become proficient at them (and even then there are still more advanced levels).
The job of your webinar
The job of your webinar is to help your audience solve a problem, make a decision or take action by providing them with the information they need.
This is the most important part of your webinar: it has to be relevant and useful to them. If you can accomplish this, then people will come back for more (and tell their friends about the great content you provide).
The most important thing you can do is to make sure that your webinar answers a specific question or problem. For example, if your audience wants to know how to create a profitable online business, then you need to provide them with the information and resources they need so they can do this (or at least get closer).
You don’t have to provide all of the answers. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. Your audience needs to feel like they have a partner that understands their problems and wants to help them solve them. If your webinar is too much about selling something, then people will get turned off and leave.
Design your presentation and landing page
The first thing to do is design your webinar landing page. This will be the page that people see when they click on your promotion, so it's important that you spend time making sure it looks good and works well.
Once you have created a template for your landing page, the next step is to add all of the elements that will make conversion possible. You should add an opt-in form (asking attendees for their email address), a video introduction explaining what they'll get from attending, as well as social proof or testimonials from other satisfied customers or clients.
If there are any extra costs associated with attending the webinar, like purchasing a product or service, make sure those costs are clearly outlined before asking people to sign up for the event.
Create the content for your presentation
Don't skimp on content. It's tempting to let your slides do all the work, but if you want your webinar to convert, you need to create a presentation that is relevant to your audience.
Have a conversation with them instead of telling them everything about your product or service. Use a conversational tone, style and format for best results:
Conversational tone: Be friendly and approachable—don't make it seem like they're talking with an old professor who has no idea what's going on in their lives!
Conversational style: Avoid sounding like a corporate drone reciting jargon from a script. Instead, write out what you want to say as though you were having an actual conversation with each person watching (which is exactly what this is).
Conversational format: Keep things short and sweet by using bullet points rather than paragraphs on each slide; this makes it easier for people who are multitasking while watching the webinar (or even just checking out the presentation later).
Determine the format for your webinar
First, you need to decide whether you want to do a live or recorded webinar. If you choose the former, be sure to pick a time and date that won't conflict with any other events going on at the same time. If your audience is global and people have different sleep schedules, consider offering several times during the week so that everyone can watch when it works best for them.
If you're doing a recorded version of your live event, know that it's not as easy as just pressing "record" on your computer and then sending out an email blast announcing its existence sometime later in the week. You'll need to edit out any glitches and mistakes, and you'll also need to ensure that the recording is of high quality. If people can't hear or see clearly what's going on, they're likely to be confused and distracted instead of engaged in the content.
Create a list of questions to answer during your presentation
This is important! If you don't ask questions that are relevant to your audience, they won't be as likely to stay tuned in.
Here's how it works:
Ask questions that are relevant to your audience
These are the most important questions for getting people engaged. They should help you understand who your target customers are and why they need what you're selling. Take note of any concerns or objections from your attendees (if there are any), so you can address them later on in the webinar.
Ask questions that will help you understand their needs
You want to make sure that attendees know exactly how much this product or service will benefit them, and why it's worth paying money for it instead of something else on the market right now (or even tomorrow).
Try asking these types of questions:
“How much extra do you spend every month?”
“What would happen if we didn't offer this feature?”
“Is there anything else I could provide today so we're not leaving anything out?”
If you're selling a service, ask questions about how much extra time and money they want to save each month. Use an example to show how much this product or service will save them. This way, they'll be able to relate it directly with their own situation.
Try asking these types of questions:
“How many hours do you spend on this task every month?”
“How much money do you spend on that each year?”
“How much time would it save if we didn't have any more delays?”
The idea is to get them to realize that this product or service will make a big difference in their lives. You want to help them see how it can benefit them personally and professionally.
If they're not convinced by the end of your conversation, offer to send additional information later on (but don't push too hard).
Deliver and Analyze Your Presentation
When you're delivering the presentation, you want to be prepared to answer questions. You may be asked about the product or service, how it works, how much it costs and so on.
When you're done with your presentation and the Q&A portion of your webinar has begun, stay in front of your computer and monitor chat activity closely. In this case, you'll need to answer questions individually for each person who asks them. If there are a large number of people participating at once (or even just one person), this could take up a lot of time — but that’s why it’s important to have an assistant!
Afterward, when everyone has had their chance to ask questions (and hopefully they’re satisfied!), there will likely be some lingering queries that weren't answered during or after the webinar itself. Be ready for these too. If possible try answering them in real time via email so that those who weren't able to reach out during live Q&A still have access to answers later on if needed!
Conclusion
I hope you find these tips helpful as you create your webinar. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to do everything on the list—just do what works for you! If you want to create an interactive presentation, ask questions or poll your audience.
If you want to focus more on providing information and giving away free content, build slides into your presentation. And if all else fails? Just wing it!
Need help building out your webinar? Contact me to learn more about how I can help you create a highly-engaging presentation that will improve your bottom line!