Webinars are a powerful tool for B2B businesses, especially those operating in the tech sector. They give your business the opportunity to showcase complicated products and services in an engaging format.
Webinars bridge the gap between sales and marketing by creating a two-way dialogue with your prospects. Notably, 73% of B2B marketers think that webinars are vital for generating high-quality leads.
But why do webinars work so well? We run through the top 5 reasons below.
Webinars generate new leads
Nearly all B2B businesses will have some kind of focus on lead generation to bring in new business. As most businesses will unfortunately know, there’s a huge difference between lead generation and high-quality lead generation. This is where webinars come in.
With webinars, some form of registration is required which helps to pre-qualify your leads. Prospects who sign up for your webinar have introduced themselves as interested in whatever your subject matter is.
Finding these interested prospects is one of the most important parts of your webinar campaign. Here are some examples of how you can get suitable attendees for your webinar:
An interesting and educational webinar is a fantastic way to start a relationship with a new lead as you’re providing value from the outset. Webinars also allow you to develop more in-depth relationships with cold leads than any other form of content marketing as you’re able to have a two-way conversation.
Webinars help you to nurture existing clients
Something that we feel passionately about at EnquiryLab is the successful nurturing of existing clients. Many companies fall into the trap of focusing 100% on lead generation while letting their current customers drift along. However, existing customers who are already having a fruitful relationship with your company are arguably a much better prospect for an upgraded product/service than a cold lead is for a brand new purchase.
Speaking of product or services upgrades, what better way to introduce such a thing to your current customers than a webinar?! Setting out the information in a webinar allows you to softly introduce your existing contacts to the enhanced experience you have to offer.
Webinars deliver value from the outset
Webinars stand out from any other content creation in that when done properly they create an unparalleled level of engagement. Hosting a webinar instead of an in-person presentation/meeting breaks down geographical barriers and allows you to give the same experience to everyone attending no matter where they are in the world. It provides your leads with a low-effort way to engage with your product or service, without putting them out of their way which adds value.
Webinars also allow you to interact with your leads throughout the scheduled time - you can give your attendees the opportunity to ask questions and offer feedback which offers even more value.
Delivering value at its base level comes from your knowledge and expertise, which leads us nicely to the next point.
Showcase your expertise
Webinars give you the opportunity to show off your knowledge and expertise. Hosting a webinar about a topical issue in your industry shows your leads that you’re on top of current events and are acting as a ‘leader’ within your field.
The natural next step is to gently inform your attendees about how you can help fix their issue, with your product or service. The best webinars don’t teach first and sell later, they do both at the same time. The content throughout the webinar should be designed to teach your audience what they want – your fix to their problem.
You may think hosting a free webinar isn’t a great way to qualify leads, or doesn’t justify the time and effort you spend creating webinar content. However, if you consider it from the attendee's perspective you’ll see it’s a two-way street. To attend a webinar your prospect has to register, give their details, set aside time for the webinar, show up at the right time and then give you 1+ hours of their time.
If your prospects are B2B decision-makers then their time is no doubt of great value and hard to come by. This is why highlighting your own expertise is such an important aspect of hosting a webinar – you have to make sure your content is worth your prospect’s time.
Webinars will help speed up your sales process
As we touched upon earlier, webinars are a fantastic way to start conversations with both your existing customers and new prospects. By facilitating these conversations in a structured environment, you can give much more information than you could in a simple phone call, without overwhelming your contact.
By being able to provide comprehensive information in an engaging fashion, a webinar can do the leg work of several calls and emails put together. In doing so, webinars can help reduce time spent chasing prospects and help to speed up your sale. A great webinar will build trust, deliver value, and knock down objections in a short space of time – providing a fantastic boost to the sales process.
Get started with your own webinars
As B2B webinar enthusiasts, we have created multiple resources to help you host a successful webinar. You can download our webinar checklist here, or take a look at our webinar eBook here.
If you’d like some help to kick start your webinar strategy, please get in touch with chris@enquirylab.com or 01327 368378.