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Drive Traffic to Your Webinar with These 9 Terrific Tips

BySheila

webinarA free webinar is a proven and effective tool to generate leads, build credibility and authority, attract new business, give your brand a boost, retain customers, and educate your target market. Everyone knows how well webinars work. But, to come out ahead of the pack, you need to know how to promote your webinars and get the right people to sign up, attend and stay through to the end.

We all know that people will sign up for your webinars simply because they’re free. But when push comes to shove, those same peeps will schedule other commitments and bypass the actual free webinar. They may feel that your no-cost session is not all that important, will have information they don’t really want or need, or that if it’s “free” it has no real value.

Here are 9 tips to get people to sign up and really anticipate your memorable, interesting, and useful webinar.

Pick a killer topic

“It’s really, really hard to get people to attend your webinar if your topic stinks,” according to Hubspot. “Try to select a topic that’s broad enough to attract a large audience, yet targeted enough to provide actionable advice that attendees can implement the second they hop off your webinar.”

Make the webinar sound priceless

Even though your session is free, people need to understand the value you offer. Your promotional copy must have emotional impact. If you don’t create that kind of impact, the session they casually signed up for will become meaningless to your targets…lost in all the noise of everyday life and the countless emails and content.

So it’s critical to make sure your copy shows your peeps how your webinar and your solutions will change their lives or their businesses for the better. When you reinforce your emotional message, your information will be priceless (instead of simply free!).

Make sure they know exactly what to expect

Be clear. Be honest. Set realistic expectations.

When you set up your webinar landing page and promotions, be certain to:

  • Clearly define your purpose, so they can’t wait to hear what you have to say
  • Create appealing, attractive, memorable, and intriguing messaging
  • Repeatedly state the specifics…the day, time (in several time zones), and how to access the webinar

Choose the right day

No webinar should take place on a weekend. The days with the highest attendance rates are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Monday and Friday always seem to get filled up with “catch-up” and “last-minute emergency” happenings around the office. In WhatCounts poll, the data suggested that their audience preferred Wednesday or Thursday for webinars. (At Solamar, we agree!)

Promote the webinar with emails, social media and blogs

Use email as your main marketing tactic to drive traffic. Email all contacts who may be interested or know someone interested in the event. Also, promote the webinar on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and any other relevant social media. On LinkedIn, promote the event in relevant groups and on your personal profile page—and ask your speakers to do the same. On relevant online forums and groups, comment and post the event link. And be sure to have a dedicated, relevant hashtag.

Don’t forget about blogs, either. Use your blog (and other blogs if you have the relationships) to promote your webinar and the topic it covers. Be sure to leverage your homepage to promote upcoming webinars.

Use live streaming videos

Live streaming is becoming the hottest way to engage with audiences. Periscope and Facebook Live are popular live streaming platforms that allow you to go live on video and start talking to your audience immediately.

Because of their fast-growing popularity, people are always on these networks (and Facebook in general), looking for new live streamers to watch. You can occasionally pop on, drop a quick tip about a topic related to your webinar, and then mention your redirect URL so that viewers can register for your upcoming webinar.

Make it buzz-worthy

Keep your target audience excited about your upcoming webinar. Don’t underestimate the “buzz” power of word-of-mouth marketing.

If you’ve had webinars that people loved, be sure to capture and use their testimonials. Tell everyone how much they’ve missed before…and how much they can expect this time.

Remind, remind, remind

As soon as you have a plan in place to get people to sign up, also make an equally effective plan to get it on their calendars and attend.

A series of effective reminder emails are the most common way to follow-up and keep the webinar at top-of-mind. Other possibilities to consider include: sprinkling reminders throughout your website, news releases, social networks, affiliate promotions, newsletters, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Google ads, or direct mail. You can even shoot a bite-size video to describe what people will learn, and incorporate the video into any webinar marketing.

The more ways you engage people the more likely they will be to attend.

Promise the perfect perks

Last, but not least, give attendees something to look forward to. They’re already expecting some worthwhile information, so don’t leave them hanging with just that. Get them excited about the webinar before it happens with some of these perfect perks:

  • Special access to a product demo
  • A free download of a white paper/ebook/report
  • A prize to the first 10 people to register/login
  • A limited discount (if available)
  • A feature in a blog, customer story on website, youtube video, conference, etc.
  • A workbook to complete

These may seem like small bonuses, but they’re big-ticket items to your prospects that could push you over the top.

Want to make sure to drive traffic to your webinar and get those sign-ups to attend and stay until the end? The easiest way is to reach out to Solamar. Our pros know how promote webinars that work every time!