How to promote B2B webinar online in 2021

Webinars are one of the most effective ways to attract a new audience to your products, acquire new leads for your sales team and drive brand awareness. As challenging it is sometimes to decide the next webinar topic, structure or content, it is even more important to think about how to promote your webinar online to fill up all the seats and make it worthwhile.

There are multiple ways to promote your webinar successfully and cost-effectively. Here are our favorite top 10 recommended approaches on how to promote B2B webinar in 2021.

1. Utilize your social media accounts

Promote your webinar on your company’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram accounts. Make frequent posts with professional and clear banner posters to attract attention and raise awareness. Think about interesting post formats - gallery, SlideShare, presentation, video, photo banner, illustration, etc. Start promoting your webinar already 3 weeks before the event date. Repeatedly make posts each week to create buzz and stay on top of people’s minds.

2. Try promoting your webinar with B2B influencers on LinkedIn

An emerging trend of B2B influencers and micro-influencers on LinkedIn has been proven to be a very effective and successful way to promote webinars and generate healthy registration rates. Companies with whom BrandRefer has worked have seen 20% conversation rates. This is a very effective way to activate large networks of professionals in niche verticals, capture high-quality leads and reduce cost per lead acquisition.

3. Optimize your own website for direct promotion

For sure you have healthy website traffic from your existing customers, warm leads, perhaps some from your SEO ad campaigns, etc. Make sure your website visitors can also find information about your upcoming webinar easily. Include a promotional banner on the main page - separate section, carousel, video, banner, etc. Lead visitors to a dedicated webinar registration landing page with clear information, agenda, dates, times.

4. Leverage your newsletter subscriber list

Typically B2B newsletters see over 20% open rate, so send out a special invitation or announcement email to all your current newsletter subscribers. Highlight a few key reasons to join your webinar and ask to share with someone who would benefit from it as well. If possible include social share buttons already in the newsletter making it super simple to share. Your newsletter readers could become your strongest webinar promoters, including your current customers.

5. Update your team’s email signature

Imagine how many emails your sales, customer support and marketing team are sending out on a daily basis. Include a simple promotional line in their email signature with the key value proposition and a direct link to register. Easy, effective and fast way to spread out the message in a settle way.

6. Send personalized invitations via emails or LinkedIn messages

People are busy with their day to day task. It is worth investing time in sending out personalized messages directly to their inboxes and gaining their undivided attention. Plan ahead of the webinar and start sending out 2-3 weeks before the event date. This way you will have enough time to send out a follow-up reminder and increase the registration rates.

7. Create joint webinars and collaborations

Think of running joint webinars with your business partners, current customers or other thought leaders. This way you will extend your direct network and engage a new audience from your fellow companion’s network. Win-win. Create branded webinar poster banners to showcase both companies and all speakers. Make it clear, visible and interesting to join.

8. Switch on your team

Ask and remind your team to share webinar promotion also with their direct network. Each of your team members, irrespective of their focus area, can help to increase the awareness of your upcoming webinar. Similar to any “decision making” process, it all comes down to repetition and being able to create multiple touchpoints with your audience.

9. Create additional content dedicated to the webinar

If possible create extra content pieces, such as blog posts or press releases, and post them online - on your website, social media, or via your media contacts. It all helps, especially if done in advance giving some time for the content to pick up the speed and attention. Discuss in detail the selected topic, share your expertise and promote your upcoming webinar to the readers.

10. Leverage established event platforms

Don’t miss out on the event platforms that have gained popularity among professionals. It is worth creating an event page on LinkedIn and promote your webinar there (here’s how). You can also leverage platforms such as EventBrite to gain some extra exposure. Look up some interesting forums or discussion groups where you could join and share news about your webinar.

From the experience, our team at BrandRefer has seen that the best webinar registration results come when webinar promotion and invitations are personalized as much as possible. Meaning, webinar landing pages clearly communicate value to the target audience. Promotional social media posts are shared with personalized unique endorsements and comments. Key people and brands are tagged within social media posts and conversations, bringing engagement and buzz. Promotions are shared with the target audience who would actually benefit from the webinar and find information highly valuable.

It all comes down to testing and trying different approaches and seeing what works for your business vertical, chosen region, product and audience.

Continue reading: 5 Ways an influencer marketing agency can help your marketing team

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This article was prepared by BrandRefer, your trusted full-service influencer marketing agency for LinkedIn.