Over the last few decades webinars have been growing in popularity, but with the rise of pandemic - when traditional face-to-face tools are unavailable and more and more people work remotely - they became a crucial part that fills the gap between offline and online business communication.
Small and large businesses alike use webinars to increase brand awareness and fill the existing pipeline. Customer engagement is now more important than ever as it helps gain valuable market share and attention - and webinars help fill this gap.
What is Lead Gen?
Lead gen (or lead generation) is essentially a process of collecting personal data of your potential customers (or leads). This valuable information is usually collected via lead from where visitor has to enter all kinds of data - from name and email to job title and company name.
Usually this information is entered in return for some bonus - such as participation in webinar, getting some free online tools or valuable informational resources.
How to Boost Your Webinar Lead Generation
1. Define ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) and Buyer Persona
An ideal customer profile (ICP) is a marketing term for a generalized representation of a company that could potentially buy your product or service.
You can easily identify your basic ICP buy using such metrics:
- Company size
- Company industry
- Company location
- Annual revenue
- Technologies in use
- Company industry
Please keep in mind that in most cases you will have not one, but at least 2-3 ICPs (e.g. - different industries) - depending on your product specifics.
Buyer persona is an essential mix of characteristics of a person who will most likely be your customer - based on demographics, job titles, goals and challenges they have.
Based on this segmentation, you will have an ICP and a few types of buyer personas - this structure will help define your targeting.
2. Define Best Placements Where Your Buyer Personas Can Be Targeted
The next step will empower your lead generation in selecting the right mix of advertising platforms to place your ads at. I usually make a draft media plan that contains the recommended platforms and the selection depends on the ICP.
If your webinar is aimed at a younger audience you may rightfully choose TikTok and Instagram, while for mature business audiences LinkedIn might be your tool of choice.
3. Define Clear and Consistent Messaging
Since you are attracting webinar leads, your message has to be clear and concise, as it has to be used all through your creative assets, landing pages, email newsletters, etc. Because attention span tends to get shorter and shorter, it’s important to use only essential content, like webinar description, speakers information, date and time, CTA (call to action).
Call to action should containing words aiming to increase urgency - like “register now”, although you can test multiple variations that can work best for you.
4. Create Clear Creatives With Relevant Graphics Or Images
You will need a lot of creative materials for webinar promotion - like landing page, banners for ads or social groups, banners for emails, etc. As we know, ads convert best after multiple “touches” with the audience - so as best practice, you should plan that your buyer persona will see information about your webinar from different sources.
And this is why your visuals should be are the same (or contain a strong and recognizable pattern) across all platforms - website, ads, social groups, messaging, etc. It will make them more memorable and convert better.
5. Experiment With Targetings
So many platforms give us so many possibilities to experiment with different targetings. The more options you try, the better the chances of improving your lead gen are.
For example, in LinkedIn you can choose between company sizes, while on Facebook you can play with interests. Some platforms are exceptionally good for generating awareness (like Google display network).
Don’t be afraid and remember that part of your success depends on the number of a/b tests or number of different targetings you have tested.
6. Define Clear and Consistent Landing Page
Landing pages can be different but what’s essential is that they are a crucial part of webinar lead gen success.
Over the number of years I have found some useful elements that can be used on a highly converting landing page. Among them are:
- Clear CTA (call to action)
- Speakers' photo + bio
- Webinar benefits (what visitor will get as a “benefit” - knowledge, secret bonus, etc.)
- Lead form in a properly visible space, with email filed
- Clearly visible date and time of the webinar
- Relevant language (depending on the webinar region)
Webinar lead generation requires time, patience and creativeness. Combined with the steps above you are sure to hit big and hack those lead gen targets!