10 Ways to Get More Webinar Leads That Cost Nothing
While Zoom burnout is a real thing, webinars in the B2B world aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
That’s because a webinar can be one of a marketer’s best channels for educating the market and generating new leads. And, people are still signing up for them!
In just a half-hour session, companies can deliver incredible value to their target audience by presenting key information that empowers them to solve a specific problem.
The benefits of hosting webinars, even in 2022, are many:
- Directly communicate with customers during live Q&A, gaining insights into what their current challenges are, their doubts about your product, and so on.
- Create meaningful connections with prospective buyers and nurture existing relationships by creating a forum where they can engage you.
- Repurpose the webinar to easily produce new forms of content like ebooks, blog posts, social media videos, and podcast episodes.
- Motivate attendees to try your product during the exact moment when you have their full attention!
Don’t have an advertising budget to promote your next webinar?
Luckily, there are several ways to spread the word about your webinar organically and max out that registration list!
Let’s take a look.
1. Add a blurb to your corporate email signature
Think about how many times a day your fellow employees send emails externally, especially on the sales team! Then, imagine how many times each one of those emails gets opened or forwarded!
What’s great about adding a little promotional blurb to your company’s email signature is that it doesn’t have to take up much space, but is sure to catch attention. Even better, you can add a small giph or graphic to encourage more clicks.
At one of my previous workplaces, a developer created a tool that allowed us to roll out dynamic content to our corporate Gmail signature.
Thanks to tracking via UTM parameters, we found this trick alone helped to increase our webinar registration on average by 20%.
2. Write an opinionated Linkedin post
Have you ever seen those bold claim Linkedin statuses? They usually have a hook; a controversial opinion, provocative question, or an absurd story.
After the first two lines, you want to know where the author is going with their point, so you click ‘Read more.”
Here is an example:
The secret to promoting your webinar on Linkedin is to not start the status by saying something like, “Hey, I’m doing a webinar on XYZ!”
Because no one cares.
Instead, spark some interest in your topic by sharing a surprising key insight or uncommon viewpoint, then invite everyone to the webinar to continue the conversation.
3. Promote within relevant Linkedin groups
There is a Linkedin group for just about everything. If your webinar is about using AI-driven recruitment methods, find Linkedin groups dedicated to Human Resources, People Ops, DEI, etc. and share the link to your webinar sign-up page there.
TIP: Pick the groups with the most members and that get a lot of activity. You’ll have to request to join, so keep a lookout for the notification that you’re in and then post away!
4. Send 1–1 emails to key contacts
If you have contacts that you keep in touch with, such as old clients or partners who aren’t already on your email marketing list, send them a quick note with the link to sign-up! It’s a great way to have them opt-in to your email list and, thus, stay updated with your company even after the webinar.
5. Add a banner to your website
Your website is prime real estate. The good news is it costs nothing to add a temporary, contrasting banner at the top!
Here’s an example:
6. Ask other brands to do a cross-promotion
For any company in any industry, it’s instrumental for growth to develop an ecosystem of companies that you have synergy with to cross-promote one another.
Scratch their back; they scratch yours.
7. Create a teaser video
Video content consistently outperforms text on social media and professional platforms like Linkedin. Ask your speaker(s) to share a brief clip of themselves explaining why someone should attend the webinar. That way, you leverage their network and also have a greater chance of breaking up the newsfeed!
Tristan Lombard at Provar Testing does an excellent job of this in his post:
8. Add a CTA to popular and relevant blog articles
Chances are, you have some content on your website that relates to the topic of your webinar. Look up which pages perform best in Google Analytics and then assess which of those you could update with a CTA to sign-up for your webinar.
9. Spread the word in Slack communities
Similar to #3, there are also new Slack communities cropping up every day around various professions, hobbies, and interests. You can find them with just a quick Google Search. Make sure to spend some time learning the etiquette within each community before you write your first post. Remember, try to add value to the group instead of coming off too salesy!
10. Promote the webinar inside your product
Last but not least, if possible, create an in-app message to promote your webinar to your customers! You can do this without having to code if you have already employ a tool like Drift, Intercom, Pendo, etc.
There ya have it…
Off the top of my head, these are 10 effective ways to increase webinar leads with zero ad spend.
Would love to hear your ideas in the comments!
This article originally appeared on my personal website.
