In the financial services and insurance industry webinars have been crucial for reaching new audiences, increasing brand awareness, highlighting new products and services and much more. Yet in the past 2 years, webinars have evolved as technology continues to transform this traditional marketing tactic. Static slide presentations with unseen speakers have been replaced by professional video production live engagement features like chat and Q&A, and other dynamic interactive features.
Because of this, webinar marketing has taken on greater importance. Webinar fatigue has made some potential attendees apathetic, and more hesitant to register. In this guide, we'll show you how to properly market and showcase your webinars in 2022 for maximum impact.
Let’s quickly review why webinars as a marketing tactic are a key piece of your events strategy:
Webinars drive conversions.
Selling products and services in the financial and insurance industry can happen through various tactics, such as outbound emails, direct mail, product launches, social media, etc. depending on your business type. We know sales reps only have so many hours in a day to conduct calls, emails, and demos to create pipeline but imagine if they could talk to 100 people at the same time for the same product? And being able to convert 25 of them immediately, and maybe even more down the road! Webinars can really help you up that conversion rate you have set your sights on.
Webinars generate leads.
When leveraged properly, webinars become lead magnets that bring in new customers and leads for your organization. It is estimated that between 20-40% of the webinar attendees become qualified marketing leads. To achieve this, you need to make it easy for members and web traffic to register and easily showcase the value of the content being shared in the webinar. If this value is significant enough, people will share their contact info to join your webinar. And just like that, you gain quality leads through your offering!
Webinars retain viewer attention.
Unlike advertisements, webinars will not intrude into your audience’s screen time, as people would willingly sign up for your webinar to learn the knowledge you share. On average only 40% of users watch webinars from start to finish. This allows you to take some time to establish your brand and product’s credibility before you make a product or services pitch.
Webinars help you warm up leads quickly.
Since people sign up for webinars of their own volition, it means they are interested in the content offered. Perhaps they are at the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey, which means they are aware of their problem, want to learn how to solve it, and find the quickest and best possible solution. If your webinar helps guide them in finding this solution, they are likely to remember your brand.
Now that we have established why webinars are a key part of your marketing strategy, let’s talk about the ways you can take your webinars from boring to buzzworthy. We know that attendee expectations for webinars have changed. Are you keeping up?
If we treat webinars more like virtual events, you will increase attendance, deepen, and extend audience engagement, and ultimately, see a greater return. You might read this and think you need to increase the investment or time spent producing a webinar, but the reality is it’s time to become more intentional about the webinars you do produce. From the initial email invite, to the registration page, to producing the live presentation, to the post-show playbook, you must now seek to create moments that set your webinars apart and drive deeper audience engagement and participation.
1. Put your audience first
This may sound like an obvious and easy concept (and it is!) but you need to think about your audience in a new way. From start to finish, consider the experience. By making the registration process as simple as possible and offering content that resonates with industry trends, you make your webinar more attractive to your audience. Make it very easy for people to understand what they are going to gain from your session.
2. Try new formats
You might ask yourself “is the format we are using what our audience is still interested in, or are they tolerating it because it's just the way it is?" Maybe your webinar program started out by hosting 5, one-hour webinars each week. But what if you could double attendance by hosting 10, 30-minute session each week? Or maybe certain ‘hot topics’ could be 10-minute webinars that include live Q&A with your audience? What about hosting small, moderated discussion groups with a capped attendance for more sensitive, personal topics that you specialize in? By knowing your audience and what they need from a webinar, you can experiment with new formats. Don’t be afraid of diversifying your webinar program and trying new things.
3. Pick the right tool
There are lots of streaming webinar platforms out there and you need to find the one that’s going to allow you to produce quality, engaging content while also not adding a ton of complexity to your plate. One you know the format for your webinar, decide if you are going to play high quality videos or use traditional slideshow visuals for a one-to-many presentation. Maybe you want to host a round-table discussion where all attendees can be on video? These decisions help you select the tool that will be support the creation and production of your webinar. The technology is responsible for what your audience sees, so make sure to do your due diligence and pick the best tool for your content, budget, and bandwidth.
4. Brand your environment
Brand awareness is a key piece of any webinar strategy, so it makes sense that first impressions count! Make sure your attendees know where they are and who’s talking to them. Separate yourself from the competition by including your logo on the webinar screen and using your brand colors on the webinar console. Now if the tool you are using does not have some of these capabilities, you can get creative and ask speakers to include a branded mug to their background, wear company gear or use a virtual background. Don't forget that your speakers are a representation of your brand and going the extra mile to create a great backdrop goes a long way.
5. Leverage graphics and video
This might be another simple one, but I don't want to assume everyone is proficient in graphic design or creating videos, so let’s reinforce how graphics and videos can amplify your message, engage your audience, and add a break from the talking heads in the middle of your screen. Some of the ways you can consider using graphics and video include product introductions, customer story videos, countdown videos and product demonstrations. These add extra elements to your story, reinforce the presentations and act like hooks to help pull people back in.
6. Interact with your audience
We discussed earlier how historically webinars have been static presentations where attendee interactivity was limited. With the technology being used for modern webinars you can greatly increase satisfaction and engagement by interacting with your audience. Don't be afraid to jump in chat, ask questions, or conduct polls. If done well, all these elements can add extra layers of engagement to your presentation. We know that an engaged audience is a receptive audience.
Conclusion
Webinars are an easy way to make an impression on new audiences. But executing an impactful webinar means your webinar needs to hit ‘just right’. Give yourself some time for trial, error, testing and to see what's working. Nothing is an overnight fix, and you aren’t necessarily going to be buzzworthy overnight but if you can commit to a new way of thinking and implement these best practices the tide will start to turn.
Continue to learn even more with Cvent’s eBook, “Next Level Webinars."
About Cvent
Cvent is a leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider, and an industry partner of FICP.