How to Promote a Webinar

Webinars are a great way to learn something new. They can cover just about any subject imaginable. A well-produced webinar offers nearly everything a live, in-person seminar could provide – minus the hallway conversation. What do you do if you want to host one of your own? How do you get people to log in and participate during the presentation?

Hosting a webinar of your own makes it easy to share information on a subject you are an expert in. Webinars can assist in building a reputation as a reliable resource on a given topic, as well as aid in promoting other products (like books or services) attendees might be interested in after having attended your course.

It’s no secret that audience participation is an important aspect of many successful webinars. Whether they’re free or accessible after paying a fee, having someone there to actually hear what you have to say is important.

In this article, we will take a look at a few tips that can help increase attendance during your next webinar.

Start Promoting it Early

When is the best time to start promoting your webinar? A week in advance? A month? The best time is the moment you have it booked. As soon as you know when and how someone can attend, you should start executing your marketing plan. The more time in advance people have to plan around your webinar, the more likely they are to attend.

Repetition is a powerful selling tool. By starting early, you can also gain the advantage of repeat promotional pushes without seeming as though you are suddenly spamming someone. Spreading out your email campaigns, promotional tweets, Facebook posts, and any advertising for the webinar over a month or three months, you can gain more traction.

Get Your Audience Invested in Attending

If someone has a vested interest in a component of your webinar, they are more likely to attend. Start asking questions, taking polls, and requesting the assistance of your audience in structuring your webinar so they have a vested interest in the final product.

Consider joining groups on Facebook or Google+ that are formed around a subject that matches or complements your webinar. If you have an email list, don’t be afraid to ask them what topics you should cover. This is a great way to spread the word about your webinar without appearing to be self-promotional or spammy.

Facebook and Google+ groups are generally formed for people to help each other. Ask for advice on what you should cover, or not cover. Asking for help makes it easier to spread the word about what you’re producing. You also get a better sense of the most common pain points around your topic.

This tip doesn’t work as well for advertising as it does for social media promotion. This is a pull strategy, and while it isn’t as flexible or easy to execute as traditional push (one-way conversation) marketing, it does a great job of helping your webinar stand out.

Tell People How Your Webinar will Help Them

Here’s an example webinar scenario you might be able to relate to: Imagine putting together a webinar that teaches people how coin grading and pricing works. No one wants to attend a webinar that’s promoted as a lesson in coin grading and pricing. That’s boring. What would sound more interesting is if you market it as a treasure hunt. Take a look at the two messages below, and see the difference a change in wording can make.

Learn About Coin Grading and Pricing – Enroll for Our Webinar Today!

Your Coin Collection Might be Worth a Fortune – Find out by enrolling in our Webinar today!

How you word your promotional messages makes a big difference on how people perceive your class. You will attract a larger audience by phrasing your message in a way that demonstrates the benefit of signing up.

This rule applies across the board, whether you are using banner ads, Twitter posts or virtually any other medium. Keep the ideal target audience in mind with every message. If your webinar is geared towards advanced enterprise IT professionals, positioning it as an introductory guide will probably not result in a successful push. If, however, you position it as a class with advanced strategies to improve efficiency and reduce costs (which are two things every IT department is actively searching for), it might well hit its mark.

Consider these tips when planning your next webinar. You might be surprised how much a few questions, and audience-targeted wording can influence attendance.