What do you need to know before hosting your first webinar?

Hosting a webinar isn’t enough to generate leads. Even if you have a load of sign-ups, this doesn’t mean those attendees are ready to buy from you. That’s not why people join webinars. The most successful webinars are the ones that teach people something. It’s what you do after your webinar that turns attendees into clients.

However, before you get to that stage, you need to establish a few things so that you’re hosting the kind of webinar people actually want to attend.

What are you selling?

You're not selling a service. You're not selling a product. You're selling a solution. But, you can’t just tell people what that solution is. Instead, your webinar should guide them through it based on the topic you’ve chosen to speak about.

For example, if you sell coaching for business owners, the topic of your webinar could be “3 daily habits to beat burnout.” You know working with you will help people achieve this, but you need to communicate this to your attendees, not just tell them. 

Being clear on the outcome will keep the event clear and conscience. The best way to stay on topic is to communicate with attendees right at the beginning what you’ll be focusing on during your webinar and what they’ll walk away with by the end.

Who do you want to join?

The goal of your webinar isn’t to have a big turn out. The number of people who show up for your webinar is irrelevant in comparison to who turns up. For your webinar to generate leads, the people attending need to have an interest in your service.

Who you're connecting with on LinkedIn will have a big effect on this considering you can only invite people who are already in your network to attend. You have 1000 event invites to use up each week but don’t waste them on connections you know won’t attend.

Filter your invites by industry and locations you know your service is a fit for. These are the people you want in your virtual audience. Even if they don’t buy, they’ll gain something valuable they might share with someone else who will buy.

What pain points will you cover?

This one is a little bit of a trick question because the most successful webinars don’t focus on pain points, they focus on the wants and desires of their audience. Pain points should be included but they shouldn’t take up the most time in your webinar. Instead, use them as a bridge to get to the main point: the want or desire your webinar will fulfil for attendees.

Also, don’t get caught up on how much value you’re giving away during your webinar. Of course, you don’t want to give the whole game away but you need to be giving people a reason to come back. Instead of focusing on solving a big problem, pick a small part of what you do and narrow the value into that specific area.

The thing to remember is that any information you share can most likely be found somewhere else. However, the transformation you’re promising to your attendees can’t be. People need you - not information - to help them achieve this transformation.

What outcome do you want to achieve?

Throughout this whole article, we keep coming back to the same thing: the outcome of your webinar. The reason for this is because before, during and after your webinar, this is what people are going to care about most. The outcome is what they will sign up for, attend for and want to learn more about once the event is over.

Knowing this outcome before you host your webinar will increase the success of promotion beforehand, the number of people who attend and how receptive they are to your selling efforts afterwards.

If you have a webinar idea you’re not sure how to bring to life, DM the PINAKL team on LinkedIn to find out what you need to do next.