Webinars continue to grow in popularity. Marketers worldwide are using webinars as a cost-effective and convenient tool to create event-like experiences for their prospects over the web.
According to a report by Content Marketing Institute, they have been reported as the 3rd most effective content marketing tactic.
The question now is not why webinar but rather at what stage of the buying journey you should host it
Here are 5 scenarios in which you contemplate hosting a webinar:
Thought leadership
According to Sirius Decisions, B2B buyers go through 2/3rd of the journey before interacting with salespeople.
Engaging your prospects through content marketing much earlier in the buying process is essential.
Effective engagement at the early stages can help you build a relationship with your prospects, providing you with great returns in the long run when your prospect is ready to buy.
According to a report by Content Marketing Institute, thought leadership webinars at the early stages of the buying funnel are highly effective.
Hence, it would be best if you considered hosting webinars that focus not on selling your products or solutions but on providing knowledge about the industry and recent trends.
For this purpose, consider inviting an industry expert who can share their expertise with your prospects. This would not only build your credibility among your prospects but also increase your reach.
Educational
You can conduct webinars to educate your prospects or existing customers about any new product/service you would have launched.
Here, it would be best if you focused more on how your solution can solve the real pain points of your prospects. You can also consider calling an industry expert or a customer to offer his thoughts on your new launch.
This would help you in building your product’s credibility among your prospects.
Solution
Similarly to educational webinars, solution webinars are hosted when you need to educate your prospects about your solutions.
This can serve two purposes: First, it can provide additional use cases to your existing customers who might not be aware of the same. Second, it educates those prospects who still need to be made aware of your solutions.
Hence, this can increase the usage of your solution and, at the same time, enable you to open new areas of growth.
Demonstration
There are times when you have to give an actual demonstration of your product to explain its benefits to your prospects.
This is especially true in the case of technical industries like IT, manufacturing, etc.
You can use webinars to give product demonstrations, spread your word without a physical touch, and simultaneously take up live questions and feedback.
Training
There might be a case when new customers or employees need training to be onboarded effectively.
Webinars can also be a great tool here due to their interactive nature and low physical involvement.
You can also consider mixing webinars with your physical trainings as pre-training preparation material. This can help you conduct effective physical trainings where you can focus more on the practical rather than the theoretical aspect.
Conclusion
It is common knowledge now that webinars are being increasingly used as a tactic to woo prospects at each stage of the buying journey.
The next step for you is to include them in your marketing calendars. Additionally, instead of focusing on one-off webinars, you should instead consider conducting webinars at all stages of the buying journey to engage your prospects and continuously build your pipeline.
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