How to Create a Webinar

Are you ready to launch a new product? Want to promote a new feature? Ready to tackle some common Q&A’s from your audience?

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This is precisely what you can do if you create a webinar.

Webinars are a direct communication strategy to introduce your audience to new information in real time. Whether promoting a marketing message or selling a new idea, webinars allow you to leverage a 1-to-1 sales style on a bigger scale.

In today’s article, let’s look at everything you need to go live with a webinar for your business.

Why Create a Webinar?

If you’ve never created a webinar, you might not realize the amount of time and effort to set one up. In addition to creating a valuable experience in 30 minutes to an hour, there is also the integral marketing side to attract participants to your webinar.

However, when you successfully pull off the process of creating and delivering a powerful webinar, a few things occur:

• Webinars build trust. Trust is a fundamental factor when considering your products and services. When people can see the face and the personality behind the business, it allows people to feel more confident about a purchase they were questioning before.
• Webinars connect with your audience better. When people interact with your business online, there’s a detachment from who you are and what you stand for. Webinars allow buyers to see you on a whole new level. Instead of being a business seeking to put money in your pockets, you become a naturally humanized person.
• Webinars are essential if you want to stand out as an authority. Webinars showcase your expertise. Although there may be a lot of work involved, from prep to follow-up, you can deliver a memorable experience that puts you in the position of expert leader in your niche.
• Webinars build engaged email lists. If people are willing to sit through a lengthy webinar listening to your expertise, they’re more than willing to receive a few emails after that. From a business perspective, webinars are an easy way to build an email list genuinely interested in what you offer.
• Webinars are a low-cost marketing strategy. Depending on how you create a webinar, costs can be low. All it takes is a webcam and a hosting platform that can host monthly webinars to attract new leads to your business. It’s that easy.

Choose Your Webinar Format

The format of your webinar will determine how you relay your message. Consider the following four webinars formats:

• Single Speaker. This popular webinar format allows you to engage directly with your audience. Typically, the speaker will present the webinar’s contents and follow up with questions afterward. This is a great webinar to use for smaller audiences.
• Interview Format. This requires a speaker to act as an interviewer and ask pre-scripted questions to subject experts invited to the webinar. This is a very engaging style of webinar offering valuable insight for attendees.
• Q&A. Similar to the interview format, Q&A webinars tackle questions from the audience. Collect the questions beforehand to prepare for the live webinar if possible. In addition, Q&A segments are usually included at the end of every webinar format.
• Moderated Panel Discussion. This format has a variety of speakers who participate in a pre-selected topic. There will need to be a moderator who will facilitate the flow of the webinar.

Create Webinar Visuals

Text-only webinars rarely work. Webinars rely heavily on audio and visual elements to capture attention and deliver information. Here are a few things to consider when creating your webinar:

• Use an introductory slide to capture critical information about the webinar (i.e., start time, points of discussion, etc.)
  
• Follow this with slides introducing the presenter, their expertise, and experience.
  
• Then, create slides that cover all the essential points for the webinar and will be expanded on by the presenter.
  
• Anytime you reveal online tools, websites, and resources, try to show your screen in real-time to be as helpful as possible.

Where to Host a Webinar

There are a few platforms you can use to host your webinar. Let’s look at 3 of the most popular, and hopefully, you can find the right one for your webinar:

#1: GoToWebinar

GoToWebinar allows you to create seamless webinars hasslefree. You can quickly move from planning, preparing, and promoting your webinar then analyze the results in a few simple steps.

You can set up a one-time live event or a series of sessions. This will depend on the webinar model you choose. You can also record your webinar and than report it on a platform like YouTube for others to view or give access to participants to watch again.

You can include interactive features such as slide-in questions, polls, surveys, and more during the webinar.

Price: Starting at $109 / month

#2: Zoom

Zoom is a reliable and scalable webinar hosting solution. You can quickly increase your reach and engage a larger group of people. For example, you can organize a webinar with up to 10K+ attendees with 100 live video panelists who can interact with the audience.

You can also broadcast your live webinar with Facebook Live and YouTube integrations. This gives you optimal reach and exposure when building your audience. It also included reporting details, providing insight into who was the most interested.

If you’re unsure which platform to host your webinar, zoom allows you to host meetings with up to 100 participants with a time limit of 40 minutes.

Price: Starting at $14.99 / month

#3: GetResponse

If you’re looking for an all-in-one platform for your newly created webinar, try GetResponse. Not only do they offer complete webinar marketing solutions, but they also include well-known email marketing features.

You know there’s a lot with a subscription: from easy-to-make landing pages, social media integrations, and follow-up automation to detailed reporting.  

Price: Starts at $49 / month

Ready to Go Live?

When creating a webinar, you need a prepared concept and an audience to attend. So long as you focus on delivering value and relevant information, webinars can become the cornerstone of your online marketing success.

Some last points to remember are:

1. 400;”>Send reminder emails to participants who signed up for the webinar.
   
2. Tuesday is generally known to be the best day to promote a webinar.
   
3. On the day of the event, send a direct link to your webinar in emails and marketing messages.
   
4. 400;”>Social media is the standard go-to for spreading the word and finding participants.
   
5. Use a landing page to collect leads and email automation software to keep your list engaged.
   

Are you ready to go live with your webinar? Tell us how it went in the comments below; we’d love to hear about it!

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