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What do you think is the biggest factor when determining how many registrants sign up for a webinar?
Is it based soley on promotion of the event? Or does it have more to do with the content of the webinar?
Events
- Dos and Don'ts of Small Business Marketing May 29 @ 11 am PT
- Lead Nurturing 202: The Next Generation May 31 @ 11 am PT
- The Tricks to Paid Media June 6 @ 11 am PT
- Display Advertising for Brand Awareness June 20 @ 11 am PT
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4 Answers
When you invite someone to a webinar, you are asking for one of their most valuable commodities: their time. Your invitation needs to communicate that they will obtain something of value in exchange for their time. This starts with the title of the presentation. Use the title to summarize the valuable information that will be communicated during the event and then follow that up with an engaging description that clearly states the context for presentation, identifies a problem or issue and promises the articulation of a solution.
It is also important that you identify who is likely to be interested in your content and that you promote to them specifically. Those who are more familiar with you are more likely to accept your invitation.
Another key is create a consistent program of ongoing events. Those who have registered for previous events are more likely to register for your next event especially if you deliver on your promise of providing valuable information.
Lastly, offering on-demand viewing can extend the life of your presentation and dramatically increase the number of viewers. Much of that on-demand viewing happens in the first 72 hours following the event, so posting the on-demand version right away can help you increase your audience.
Here's more information on optimizing webcast programs and what you can expect for the ramp up of registration before and after your live day: http://www.brighttalk.com/r/dbS
Hi Rachel:
Of course, there has to be promotion but I think the quality of the invitation has to hit home with the audience you are targeting. It has to be timely, relevant and leave questions unanswered that you believe they want the answers to.
For example:
In this webinar we will address -
- Why you need to have a written call opening and questioning strategy
- The four big mistakes most sales people make to cost them a sale
- The seven questions your sales people must be able to answer for every prospect
If I'm in sales or sales management, those questions might be of interest to me. Now all I have to know is when your webinar will occur, and whether or not it will be recorded for playback later.
A friend of mine runs a company that hosts webinars for his clients, and they are all recorded. Statistics he kept over a one year period told him:
- If you have a relevant topic and good promotional piece 50% of the people who sign up will attend
- Over a period of 1 year, the number of people who listen to the webinar will be 4x the number on the actual call if you archive it and make it available. (I think that's pretty cool!).
Hello,
Like Steve, I believe the first step to getting people to register for a webinar is to present them with a strong invitation, but I also believe participant takeaways should be clearly stated.
The first question someone will ask is "What will I get from attending this?" If that is clearly stated the curiosity may lead to a registration.
Of course, as a webinar coordinator, you will want to make sure your speaker's content clearly delivers on those takeaways, or participants may be gun shy when registering for a future webinar.
I've been at content marketing about 17 years and have to admit that I have been surprised at what seems to work (convert) the best. One would think that the takeaways and webinar content matters most... maybe it *should* matter most?!... but in my experience the "who" makes the biggest difference in registrations. If you'll have even an intro or brief comments from a person with a following/brand name, then registrations seem to take off even if there are no concrete takeaways and the topics to be covered sound boring.
Conversely, if you've got the typical company execs lined up + killer webinar content + killer take-aways, it's likely to be a nerve-wracking battle up to the last minute for registrations.
One more thought - typically only around 50% of registrants show but in my experience (and, again, contrary to what I thought), being a show/no-show doesn't seem to correlate with being ready to talk with Sales.
Also posting a replay (often thought of as a 'throw away' sort of marketing activity) can be really useful for more lead gen. I've seen clients get about 150% more leads from the replay than the live event. That kind of makes sense when you think about what you're asking of a prospect -- in one case they have to be somewhere at a set (online) place and time; in the other, folks can self-serve and stay more arm's length.
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