Webinars have gained a ton of popularity in 2020 and the trend is still growing. But why do people host webinars in the first place? And how are they different from a regular video conference?
Webinars are essentially video seminars, which happen at a specific time. To attend a webinar, you’d be required to register to save your seat. The seats in a webinar are usually limited.
The host is typically well-seasoned in a specific field and shares his industry knowledge about a specific topic. The topic and advice is often also very actionable – something the attendees can put into practice right away.
That’s why people attend webinars – An industry expert is teaching them something valuable during a live video session.
A webinar is different from a regular video meeting or a video broadcast, because webinar host tries to interact with the attendees as much as possible, by for example:
- Launching polls – The attendees can interactively answer some questions that the host as prepared
- Chatting – The attendees can chat with the host or with each other
- Answering questions – Attendee questions will be answered live typically at the end of the webinar
- Sharing resources to download – Attendees can download worksheets or materials they can use
- Launching interactive offers – Attendees would have to opportunity to conveniently buy what the host is selling
The host also makes the presentation as visual as possible using their webcam, slideshow, videos, screen-sharing, and sometimes the whiteboard tool.
But why go through all of this in the first place?
Essentially, webinars are a marketing and sales tool. These marketers host webinars to:
- To educate their attendees – to teach them something
- To sell their products, courses or coaching sessions
These interaction tools are the reason webinars have such a great success rate. The more engaged the attendees are, the more likely they are to buy.
Webinars work best for expensive online products.
This gives the host an opportunity to explain the value of the product in great detail, show testimonials of their previous customers and answer questions and hesitations that the attendees might have.
Oftentimes, the webinar host offers a steep discount on the product. The discount typically lasts until the end of the webinar session. This creates an urgency, which encourages the attendees to make a purchase fast.
Because of these reasons, webinars have proven to be one of the most effective strategies for selling online products, courses or coaching sessions.
To summarize, webinars have some significant advantages, for example they’re:
- Easily accessible, easy to attend online
- Typically free or very cheap
- Encouraging interaction from the attendees
- Are educational and often actionable
The 3 most important things for a successful webinar are: preparation, practice and a professional webinar software.
- Prepare the contents of the webinar – lay out the presentation outline, what are your attendees going to learn and how you’re going to present the information
- Practice, practice, practice – Keep some bullet points or notes next to you, do a dry run and pace yourself in your delivery
- Choose a professional webinar software – this can make or break your webinar. Make sure it’s easy to join and the interface is easy to understand.
So, if done right, webinars can be educational and actionable to the attendees. And an effective marketing and sales strategy for the host.
