An effective webinar strategy should be put into place if you’re planning to incorporate webinars into your business game plan. It is no surprise that webinar management is no easy task. But with a well-thought-out strategy put in place, you’ll be able to master every webinar you need to host. 

Here is a step-by-step process on building a successful webinar strategy you can always apply:

1. Plot your timeline

The timeline is of the essence when it comes to your webinar strategy, so don’t underestimate it. It’s best to start planning and even promoting 5-6 weeks before your intended date. This will allow you to properly take care of the essentials for your webinar event. You’ll be able to research a good topic, develop the content, reach out to thought leaders and other professionals to be your speakers, and more.

2. Define your audience

Building a successful webinar strategy - Define your audience

You also need to make sure to define your audience for every webinar you will conduct. Your target audience can change in every webinar you do, and so are their buyer personas, their needs, and their wants. You need to adjust and be wise about how you’ll approach them, from the content of your webinar to your promotion tactics. 

3. Pick a reliable webinar service

Your webinar service is one of the biggest factors of a successful webinar strategy. Once you picked a reliable managed webinar service—one with world-class presentation features, secure payment processing, and other favorable webinar features—stick to it. This will not only affect your attendees but also you as a host. 

4. Invite well-known speakers

Inviting well-known speakers for your webinar is a good strategy you need to practice. Business professionals and thought leaders will make good speakers. They’ll be able to provide invaluable information that will help make your webinar unique and significant. Well-known speakers will also capture the attention of your audience and their own audience, and therefore can result in a better attendance rate. 

5. Utilize a gated registration page

It’s also wise to utilize a gated registration page. A gated registration page asks the audience to submit a form or prompts them to pay via a paywall before officially registering for the event. This allows you to get the necessary information to immediately earn revenue, generate leads, convert these leads into sales, and more. 

You can also apply this kind of registration page when it comes to late registrants or on-demand viewing. This will help you generate leads and expand your email list even after the live event. 

Be sure to keep these things in mind when creating the registration page:

  • Include the important details (time, date, speakers, webinar description, etc.)
  • Use CTA’s (call-to-action)
  • Create urgency and scarcity

6. Promote on social media as well as emails

Building a successful webinar strategy - Promote on social media emails

Social media will give you an edge when it comes to promoting your webinar. When 2.65 billion people in the world use social media, you need not waste the opportunity. Promoting on social media will help you reach your target audience and even help you attract new ones.

Using email as a part of your webinar marketing, on the other hand, is still effective as ever and should always be a part of your webinar strategy. Keep in mind the various effective webinar email tactics when creating emails. These can help you expose your webinar and increase the attendance rate. 

7. Conduct post-webinar follow-ups

Your webinars are not done until you conduct the follow-ups. “Thank You” emails, “Sorry, We Missed You” emails, recording links, surveys—these are just some of the webinar follow-ups you should send to your attendees and non-attendees. These will help you close leads and generate more, gain fans, and analyze results that will help you improve your next webinar. 

Make sure to include these steps in building your webinar strategy. The more you perfect these actions, the more you can make sure your webinars will succeed.