A webinar is an online seminar, lecture, or even conference that businesses hold on a regular basis.
The advantage of a webinar is that people from all over the world can attend with just an Internet connection.
Not all webinars are free or open to the public so it is important to clarify this. Often times there are a links and passwords to get into the more exclusive webinars.
The goals of webinars depend on a business so not all tools are necessary for a business to have. The following is a list of top tools for businesses and who should incorporate them when prepping for their next webinar.
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The Purpose of the Webinar
One of the biggest purposes of a webinar is to become a thought leader in an industry. Informative webinars that are done on a weekly or monthly basis can become a resource for those in a certain industry. Driving sales and marketing using a webinar should be done in careful fashion.
Nobody wants to listen to a webinar that sounds more like a commercial. Let the content of the webinar do the selling for the business. If it is interesting enough, people might decide to purchase a product or service from the company. Do not host a webinar too frequently if the content begins to be repetitive or stale.
How to get the word out:
Companies use email lists of contact information they have gathered over the years.
Ads are taken out on industry websites to entice visitors.
Invite an industry juggernaut to speak and reap the rewards.
LinkedIn groups can be a useful marketing tool.
Have a staff member write a guest blog on an industry website.
Participate in another webinar and mention your company’s upcoming webinar.
Tools
GetResponse Webinars is easily integrated if a business already uses GetResponse for their email marketing campaigns. Email marketing as stated above is one of the best ways to get the word out about a webinar. Unlike some other webinar tools there is nothing to install as these webinars are hosted on the cloud.
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Attendees might decide not to sign into a webinar if they have to install something that could potentially slow down their computers. This is the most economical option as the pricing comes in at $49 a month with the ability to host 100 attendees. AnyMeeting is used frequently in many different industries. While this is a viable webinar tool, it allows screen sharing between attendees which can make it perfect for business meetings. There is an option for a business to host 1,000 attendees but their basic package is $78 per month for up to 100 attendees.
While this might not live up to the other tools on this list, it should definitely be considered as a resource for a business’ next digital meeting or presentation. Adobe Connect has the advantage of name recognition. This could be why this is the most expensive webinar tool on this list. For $1,250 a year, 100 attendees can be involved in a webinar. That is around $102 per month for this tool. Adobe does let the user host unlimited events and have unlimited storage, which is a positive.
How to pick appropriate tools:
Get a realistic number of attendees and not an outrageous goal.
If a business is already using one tool from a company, a package deal usually makes this cheaper.
Assess the goals of the webinar and find the tool that aligns closely with them.
Take a look at the security of these tools. All the tools in this article have solid security settings but some lesser known tools might not be as secure.
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Regardless of what the main purpose of a webinar is, these tools can make the process of holding one much easier and efficient. Try out a few of these tools as they could speed up the production of a webinar.
Remember to make the content of the webinar new and interesting. Boring webinars tend not to have repeat attendees. Drive sales or drive brand recognition with a webinar for a business today. This is a huge marketing tool for many businesses that shouldn’t be overlooked.
