The importance of webinars

(Posted on 20/05/21)

When executed well, a webinar provides an interesting and informative platform for new and existing customers that will deliver really valuable content to your target audience. It’s a great way to build up relationships and create awareness of your brand. It can be particularly useful as a means of showcasing or demonstrating a particular product.

 

What is a webinar? 

A webinar is an online presentation or workshop that allows one or more speakers to share multimedia content with an audience, which can be located anywhere in the world, using webinar software. Named from a combination of ‘web’ and ‘seminar’, a webinar is a means to share thoughts, ideas and news.

Not only are they very affordable, webinars can be extremely cost-effective too. The content can be re-purposed into blogs, print articles and even e-books, making them excellent value for money.

 

How does a webinar work?

A wide variety of webinar software is available and there is an extensive range of platforms to choose from. The recent lockdown has certainly made many people a lot more confident to engage with video technology such as Zoom or Teams, and either of these platforms can work well for hosting a webinar. Even if someone is not particularly familiar with it, they are simple and intuitive to use and it is easy to invite someone to take part as a guest, even if they have never used it before.

 

The best webinar format

Once you have decided on the platform, you have many options open to you regarding the format. This can be as simple as a Powerpoint presentation, a direct piece to camera, an interview between two people or a discussion panel. The audience can be invited to submit questions beforehand to form the basis of a lively Q and A session. This encourages engagement and makes the webinar really relevant to the audience too. Other ideas could be a virtual tour of a facility such as a manufacturing plant or a live demonstration of a product – particularly useful for a new product launch.

When deciding on content for your webinar, we advise our clients to put their best spokespeople forward. They are being positioned as experts in their sector, so it is important that they have credibility with the audience.

Ideally, to encourage engagement and build credibility, you can develop a programme of webinars to be held regularly, perhaps once a month or every six weeks. Consistency of branding is important, but the format can be different every time to keep it fresh and depending upon the topic. It is essential to remember that it needs to be worth your audience’s time - there is a lot of competition for their attention so the content needs to be highly engaging. Make sure your audience has an opportunity to ask questions too. Feedback from the audience is extremely useful for anyone holding a webinar, as this is a great way to find out what topics are most important to customers and identifies potential ideas to focus on in the future.

With the growing trend toward content and inbound marketing, webinars have earned their place as one of the most effective and innovative tools for marketers to tell a business story and reach people at scale. 

 

Speak to us to see how we can help you reach your digital audience.