Every business is constantly looking for new and innovative ways to increase sales and growth. One of the best ways for marketing and sales companies to grow is through webinars.
Webinars are seminars - usually taking the form of a group discussion or presentation - that are held over the internet. By using video calling software, a webinar takes a traditional sales method and updates it to the age of the internet.
Webinars have become increasingly popular over the last few years. While it may not seem obvious how they can help to create business growth - especially if you’ve sat through some bad webinars - more and more businesses are relying on them as a sales strategy. A recent report found that 72% of marketers have said that webinars directly contribute to their revenue production.
So how exactly can webinars help to increase your sales? And what are some of the best ways to use webinars to grow your business?
How do Webinars Increase Sales?
There are many ways in which webinars can increase sales. At the same time, there are many different types of webinars, used by a wide range of companies. However, these are the main ways in which webinars can be one of the best tools for sales enablement.
1. Access to a Global Audience
Obviously, webinars are not restricted to a local audience, meaning that they can reach a far greater number of people than traditional sales methods. Online video calls can be easily and freely accessed regardless of where your potential customers may live.
This means that webinars are a great way to expand your business into the global market.
Source: Unsplash
2. Emphasis on your Expertise
An audience member who takes the time out to attend your webinar does so because they think you have something valuable to say. By taking this opportunity and demonstrating your expertise you can establish your company as a leader in the sector.
This builds prestige for your company, growing brand reputation and making your company more trustworthy. Prospective clients will always choose businesses with authority within an industry.
3. Opportunities for Lead Generation
Organizing a webinar requires collecting the emails and other details of attendees. Any good webinar will send out reminder emails before the event as well as information after the webinar has ended.
Generating quality leads is the key for all sales businesses. By having access to a pool of interested potential clients, webinars are one of the best ways to produce more leads.
4. Creation of an Engaged Client Base
Webinars are different to other forms of online marketing tools such as online advertising. Firstly, webinar attendees are engaged purely by the action of attending the webinar - this means that they are thinking about you and your product more than scrolling past an advertisement.
However, good webinars should also improve on this engagement by having an interactive discussion in the webinar. This means that attendees leave the webinar having established an engaged relationship with your company.
This opportunity to build relationships with clients can’t be overlooked by any business looking to increase sales.
5. Retention of Existing Customers
Of course, webinars are a great way to attract new customers. However, they are also a good opportunity to build retention amongst your existing client base.
Attending customers can benefit from the increased engagement and prestige offered by a webinar. As well as this, you could ask clients for a customer testimonial - this helps to persuade potential customers while also growing your relationship with the client.
Retention is just as important as attracting new clients if you want consistent sales and webinars can help you to improve retention rates.
Tips for Webinars that Increase Sales
The benefits of using webinars to grow your business are clear. But not all webinars automatically lead to more sales. Luckily, there are some basic ways in which you can create effective webinars.
Source: CloudIncome
1. Quality over Quantity
Always focus on creating the best possible webinar, rather than the highest amount of webinars in a year. Reputation is one of the biggest benefits of webinars but organizing lots of poor-quality sessions will only harm your prestige.
Similarly, keep your webinars short but packed full of quality. People don’t have the time to spend over an hour attending your webinar - between 30 and 45 minutes should allow enough time to build engagement without it being too long.
2. Promote the Webinar
There’s no point in having a webinar if no one turns up! Use your existing bank of email addresses and contacts to spread awareness of the webinar, while also repeatedly promoting it on your various social media channels.
Consider using a PandaDoc proposal to create effective proposals advertising your webinar program to interested clients and prospective attendees.
3. Put Yourself in the Audience’s Shoes
When designing a webinar it can be easy to focus on the information that you want to get across. However, how your webinar looks and feels is just as important.
Personalized videos are a great sales tool and the same principle should shape your webinar. It is also essential to make sure that your webcam is on and that you are lively and engaged when presenting.It can be useful to use slides with exciting and informational visuals. All of this means that your audience gets to know you as a person - helping to build relationships - while they are also kept engaged throughout the webinar.
Free to use image sourced from Unsplash
4. Make your Webinars Interactive
You don’t want your webinars to resemble a dry college lecture. Integrating fun quizzes during the session can be a great way to keep the audience involved as well as frequently asking for input from the audience.
As well as this, remember to leave time for a Q and A at the end. On top of engaging the audience, this helps to cement your position as an authority in your industry.
5. Follow up after the Webinar
In our busy lives, it can be easy to forget about something as soon as it is finished. This is as true for webinars as anything.
In the hours following the webinar, try to send a recording of the session and a copy of the slides to all of the registered emails. This can also help grow your reach further as some registered attendees may have been unable to attend.
As well as this, send a follow-up email a few days later with links to your website and contact information. This can be complemented with other customer engagement ideas, to further maintain and build your relationship with your new clients.
Webinars: Boosting Sales Growth in 2022
Using webinars is one of the best ways to increase your sales and grow your business. They can establish your expertise and authority in your industry across a global audience. As well as this, they are a great way to build a new engaged client base while improving retention rates among existing customers.
The opportunities for lead generation are obvious - and can be boosted by following some basic tips. Most importantly, by making your webinars engaging and interactive you can easily build relationships with your customers.
Webinars should be of high quality and not too long, while also being visually interesting. All of this means that when you follow up with attendees and registered non-attendees, they will be more likely to enter into business with you.
If you want to improve your leads and establish your company’s prestige in your industry, webinars are the way forward for you.
