How to Promote a Webinar for Your Small Business

Webinars have played a critical role in business marketing for years. They’re great ways to impart knowledge about your offering or to share important tips. It costs relatively little to produce a webinar, and they’re almost unrivaled in their ability to engage attendees. And many who sign up are warm leads with a proven interest in what you have to offer. 

Of course, the challenge is getting people to attend. Without attendees, you can’t reach your goals and your message won’t go very far. It’s a frustrating reality for many business owners, but it doesn’t have to be yours.

If you’re wondering how to promote a webinar for your small business, we’ve got you covered. Below, you’ll find proven, effective ways to get the word out.

Align your content with your audience’s needs

Before you start marketing your webinar, make sure that you’ve got the basics down. No webinar will be successful if it doesn’t match the needs of your audience. You can trumpet the word from the rooftops, but if there’s a mismatch between needs and content, your audience won’t materialize. 

Find out what’s on your audience’s mind. What do they care about? What issues are driving their behavior? What’s a new trend that they must know about? What problems are they trying to solve? Once you have that answer, craft your webinar content around it. 

Resist the urge to turn your webinar into an infomercial about your offering. This isn’t QVC or HSN. Deliver valuable content that resonates with your audience and then gently slot your offering in as the solution to the challenge or problem. Remember that webinars are about informing and educating. They’re not about the hard sell.

Build an effective landing page

You’ll want to get people to sign up for your webinar, which means you need to drive traffic to a landing page where they can do so. Make sure that the page’s content is effective and resonates with visitors. You’ll need to think about a few components here:

• Your headline must be catchy and effective in getting people to read further.
• Describe your webinar in a way that’s engaging and convinces people they need to sign up for it.
• An opt-in form where people can add their name and email address.
• Graphics that accentuate your message and align with the webinar’s topic.

Tap into your email database

Chances are good that you have a ton of emails that you’ve collected. Each of those addresses represents a potential lead who might be interested in the webinar. Make sure to tap into that resource. But what makes an effective email?

Start with your subject line. Make it problem-centric to let your recipients know you’re listening to their needs. Next, craft the body text. It doesn’t have to be too long, but it should be long enough to get your message across. You’ll also want to give your potential attendees all the details, like the date and time of the webinar, along with key takeaways of what they expect to learn from the webinar. You get bonus points if you’re recording it and will distribute it later to those who register for it. Finally, link out to your landing/signup page.

Include an add-to-calendar feature

People are forgetful. It’s just our nature. Even if we really want to go to something, we’re likely to forget about it unless we have a reminder. By including an add-to-calendar feature in your landing page and each promotional email, you let your audience choose to set a reminder. When they click that button, the event will be automatically added to the calendar they use, ensuring that it’s on their schedule even if they forget about it in the interim. It’s best to send a reminder email the day before and the day of, too. Many webinar management tools — like Zoom —  will have this type of email reminder feature built in.

Get social

Use your social media channels to help spread the word about your webinar. On Facebook, you can create events and then market the webinar that way. LinkedIn has this option, too. Most social networks offer the ability to create targeted ads, so make use of this (while watching your budget). However, don’t neglect the power of organic posts. 

With each post, make sure you include an evocative graphic to grab attention. You’ll also want to provide a hook (a compelling reason for your followers to sign up for the webinar) and a link to your signup page.

Get your guests to help

If you’ll have guest speakers, get them to help spread the word. They can dramatically expand your reach by sharing information about the webinar with their own audiences. They can share the message through email, social media, blog posts, and word of mouth. You’ll find that people who follow your guests are much more likely to opt into your webinar even if they’ve never heard of your business or offering before. 

Add a timer and mention it on your homepage

Don’t forget to promote your webinar through your website. Adding a countdown timer or pop-up banner to your homepage can catch casual visitors who may not be on your email list or following your business on social media yet, allowing them to opt into the webinar and expanding your reach dramatically. 

Be ready for the shock of success

With the tips we’ve discussed here on how to promote a webinar for your small business, your attendance should skyrocket. That means you’ll have a dramatic bump in customer interest for your offering. Make sure you’re ready for that. Working with a virtual receptionist service like Smith.ai ensures that every lead generated from the webinar is screened and every phone call is answered by a human being. 

Our North America-based virtual receptionists can book appointments, take payments, and even enter information into your CRM through our rich integrations. It’s never been easier to promote a webinar for your small business or capitalize on the results. To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai.