A webinar – what is it, what are some webinar tools and how to attract customers with it?

The growth of the Internet in recent years has been really impressive. This is indicated by the fact that only in 2019, 4.39 billion people used the global network, i.e. about 56% of the entire world population. It is worth noting that at least several hundred million new Internet users are recorded every year. This is the best evidence that improving the methods of Internet marketing allows you to reach more and more new customers. One such method is the increasingly popular webinar. What is it and how can you attract new customers through it?

What is a webinar?

From a strictly definition-related point of view, webinar is a “modern training format in which the presenter uses real-time audio-video transmission” (according to: internet-planet.pl). In this case, the transmission uses streaming technology, i.e. live data such as voice, image, slide show and presentation. Thanks to this, webinar participants do not have to be physically present at the training to take an active part in it. They can do it in a convenient place, i.e. at home, in the office or in a cafe.

Webinars are called a few different ways. You can come across such terms as webcast, online training, online broadcast, online seminar, online meeting or web conference. Regardless of the names, the purpose of this idea remains the same, namely the presenter shares his/her knowledge via the Internet with recipients.

How are webinars organised?

Basically, this type of training can take place in different ways, and a lot depends on the format adopted, as well as the speaker. The common point of all webinars is the fact that the presenter shares his/her knowledge live using data transmission via the Internet.

The webinar host usually uses a presentation, displaying and discussing each of the slides. Often, various techniques are used to engage participants, e.g. by asking questions, asking for a simple task to be performed or providing online surveys to be completed, the results of which are shown immediately on the screen. Thanks to such processes, the webinar becomes fully interactive, turning the “listener” into an active “participant”. As a result, the knowledge presented is better absorbed by the recipients.

How long does a webinar take?

Regardless of how the webinar works, it’s good if it does not exceed one hour. There are, however, exceptions to this rule and this largely depends on the topic discussed. In practice, if the subject of the webinar raises a really important issue, and the presenter is able to “sell” his/her knowledge in an attractive way, online training can take up to several hours. This situation can happen, for example, in the case of a “conference” during which several presenters take the floor or when the topic is so interesting to the participants that they have many questions after the presentation.

How to use webinar in internet marketing?

Another issue is how you can use webinar in internet marketing. You must be aware that this form of training is used not only in the coaching or training industry. More often also other companies take advantage of them and their activities are not associated with training in any way. This is determined by one very important feature of webinars, namely the accessible way of transferring knowledge.

A webinar as a content marketing tool

Although much depends on the presenter, undoubtedly participation in such an online meeting is definitely more attractive to the recipient than, e.g. reading articles or books. Practice has shown that audio-visual materials are significantly more popular than text materials. Therefore, people are eager to participate in webinars, even if they are organized by companies not necessarily associated with training. As an entrepreneur, you can use this type of meeting as part of content marketing.

Therefore, using webinars in your marketing activities brings exactly the same elements as content marketing. First of all, you provide your current and potential customers with the knowledge they are looking for. At the same time you do it in a way that is easily accessible. You also introduce yourself as an expert, which will positively influence the image of your brand. You should also know that webinars are an additional channel that will strengthen your brand awareness among your audience.

How to acquire customers through webinars?

All of the above elements are “soft” effects that are sometimes hard to measure. You can get the effectiveness of webinars in acquiring new customers thanks to one interesting feature which is registration of participants. Virtually every tool for organizing webinars allows you to create registration forms in which anyone who wants to participate must provide their email address, and also often a phone number.

With the right selection of a topic that will interest the group of recipients you want to reach, you obtain contact details to your potential customers. You can send them an email with an offer, or make a direct phone contact, or take other action that will turn a lead into a customer.

What are some tools for organizing webinars?

You are now aware of how to use a webinar to achieve your business goals. The choice of the right tool for you remains a separate issue. Fortunately, the potential of this form of training has been noticed by software developers for a long time, hence you will find some interesting tools for organizing webinars.

LiveWebinar

One of such solutions is LiveWebinar. It stands out from the competition by the multitude of features it offers. In addition to standard options, such as the ability to show slides, a chat window, the ability to enable discussions or creating registration forms, it features a dialogue box that allows you to draw freehand graphics in real time. It also has the ability to record the entire webinar, which you can download and use in the future.

What’s interesting is that LiveWebinar also makes it possible to create your own training platforms. You can also integrate it with marketing automation systems such as HubSpot, MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, SalesManago and many other tools. In addition, you can easily integrate it with your Slack or Moodle platform.

You can have all these benefits in one of the following three plans: Free, Pro and Enterprise. When using the free plan, you can organize webinars for up to 5 participants, record max. 2 hours of training, share the screen, create surveys, and conduct marketing automation. The number of available features increases with the purchase of higher packages, while for the most demanding users, LiveWebinar also makes it possible to tailor the plan to your needs.

GetResponse

GetResponse offers very similar features. The only difference is that this tool can be integrated with a much larger number of external systems, such as WordPress, Shopify, Magento, PrestaShop or BigCommerce. It is also worth noting the feature that allows you to create a landing page, which you can use, e.g. to promote a webinar or create an end screen with a discount for each participant.

Unlike LiveWebinar, GetResponse does not offer a free plan. You must pay at least $ 50 a month for the lowest package. You can also use the Plus or Professional package, as well as customize the package to meet your own needs. If you choose the latter solution, the price will be agreed with you individually.

MyOwnConference

MyOwnConference is a very popular solution all over the world. Annually, it is used by about 10 million participants who take part in a total of over 880 thousand webinars. It offers very similar features to LiveWebinar, with the difference that the webinar room view can be displayed in one of 16 languages. So with the right organization, you can translate live webinars to reach the international community.

However, what really makes MyOwnConference stand out among other tools is security. The authors have put a huge emphasis on this aspect. All data is kept in one of 10 databases, meeting the TIER III standards and above. In addition, the entire website is based on over 200 servers, including 2 cloud-based servers. All this is a guarantee of reliability of webinars, and also ensures that the collected data about participants will not be leaked.

You can have all these features in one of two plans – free and paid. You can organize webinars for 20 participants for free, which can be led by 3 presenters simultaneously. You will get a little more options as part of a paid plan, whose final cost will depend on how many participants you want to run webinars for at the same time.

Webinar – a modern way to acquire customers

Organizing webinars is a modern way to attract new customers. It is a form of content marketing that is becoming more and more popular and is used by a growing number of entrepreneurs. It is worth trying out webinars. Remember that if you want to reach foreign recipients with this type of training, you don’t have to worry about translations. Use our convenient form and receive a free offer for translation or interpretation. We are here to help you!

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