Why Webinars Are Essential Marketing Tools

Nothing turns prospects into motivated leads like a good webinar. With an unmatched ability to engage potential customers at scale, a webinar platform is one of the most effective tools in any marketer’s tool kit.

Nearly three-quarters of B2B marketers and sales leaders cite webinars as the most powerful tool for generating high-quality leads. Even more compelling, studies have shown that between 20 and 40 percent of webinar attendees become qualified leads.

When you take a look at what makes webinars so impactful, you can see that a webinar platform isn’t just a handy marketing tool – it’s an essential channel that can help customer-centric brands thrive in the digital era.

Webinars move people through every stage of the buyer’s journey

Whitepapers build brand authority. Blogs generate leads. Social media marketing engages, and email marketing drives conversions.

But, a webinar can do it all.

With a webinar platform, marketers can walk their target buyers through the entire buyer’s journey.

You can use presentations, both visual and verbal, to educate buyers, bringing them from the awareness stage to the consideration stage.
With a webinar solution that includes live attendance chat, buyers can ask questions and learn what other attendees think of a product or service. This can help them overcome any doubts about a product and provides social proof, moving them from the consideration to the decision phase quickly.
At the end of the webinar event – when buyers are excited about how the product can solve their problems – you can provide clear next steps, such as a link to make a purchase or to download a free demo. You can also use the webinar’s email list to contact attendees right after the event with a call-to-action to buy.

Webinars provide true value to attendees

Today, people are looking for value beyond the product or service a company offers. Think of some of the most successful brands today – Google, Nike, American Express. These brands offer way more than a product. They provide useful content, experiences, community, and loads of valuable information to help people thrive.

With a webinar, marketers can offer in-depth insights, teach people a new skill, or provide an online event experience where people can connect, learn, and grow.

Giving your target audience genuine value with webinar content isn’t just about scoring brownie points with buyers. It’s a key ingredient in the recipe for long-term success. Havas Group’s 2019 report on the importance of creating value for the consumer found that meaningful brands outperform the stock market by 134 percent.

Webinars are interactive

Unlike other forms of marketing, webinars allow people to interact with your brand. Similar to what happens at live events, attendees can seek answers, listen to speakers, watch live presentations, collaborate, and feel inspired by a community. It’s a chance to invite your existing and future customers to be a part of something – it’s a shared experience with your brand and with dozens, or hundreds, or other like-minded attendees.

With a webinar platform that includes a variety of engagement tools, such as dynamic chats with avatars and emojis, live polls, easy screen sharing, and capabilities for multiple presenters to present at the same time, your attendees will be completely immersed in the experience.

Webinars let you connect at scale

With a webinar, you get the ability to create an interactive, highly-engaging experience at scale. With today’s digital marketing tools, it’s possible to reach out to thousands of people in an instant when you publish a new blog post or share a video on Facebook.

But, these marketing channels aren’t very interactive. They don’t offer a real-time human connection in the way that a live event can. A webinar may be a digital event, but with the quality and capability offered by a leading webinar platform, you can give your audience a full-on, immersive experience that can convince them that your product – and your brand – has a lot to offer.

Finding a platform that lets you create compelling experiences

Webinars are an essential marketing tool. However, you want to make sure you’re using a solution that offers the features you need to create winning online experiences. Look for a platform that will make setting up and running a webinar seamless for you – with tools like cloud recording, one-click screen sharing, and built-in reporting. And, look for features that will create a stellar digital experience for your attendees, such as HD video recording, rich chat features, and real-time Q&As.

From promotion tools like custom invitations and registration pages to follow-up surveys and emails to your attendees, Intermedia’s webinar solution is an all-in-one platform that can help you grow your business. Try it out today with a free trial.