Webinar Best Practices

When it comes to making human connections in a digital world, nothing beats engaging, interactive, data-rich webinar programs. Done right, they’re the most effective marketing channel for driving demand.

We’re here to help you do it right — join our ongoing Webinar Best Practices Series with Mark Bornstein, ON24 Chief Webinerd Officer and VP of Content Strategy, for a closer look at our featured best practice, “How to Bring Physical Events into the Digital World“

View On-Demand

Be the best webinerd you can be and use our step-by-step Webinar Best Practices to learn everything from planning out your program to optimizing webinars for engagement to turning that engagement into actionable data.

PLANNING AND STRATEGY

SET YOUR GOALS

From lead generation to product demos, webinars can serve a lot of functions. Before you start creating, decide what you want your webinar to be. Ask yourself where your audience is in the buying cycle. If they’re top of funnel, your webinar should focus on thought leadership and lead generation. For a mid-funnel audience, think positioning and influencing. The bottom of funnel is all about demonstrating and closing.

Anatomy of an Awesome Webinar

What are all the parts of a successful webinar? Our Chief Webinerd spells it out and shares all the elements that go into making your webinars awesome.
Break it down >

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Now that you’ve set your goals, it’s time to focus on audience personas, so you can really tailor your content to resonate with the right people. Think about who you’re trying to reach. Is your target audience a prospect, a customer or a partner? Are they executives or practitioners? Do you want to target specific industries? Write it all down, along with any other key demographics. Once you know who you’re creating your webinar for, you’ll have a better picture of what your content should be.

5-Step Webinar Checklist

You've heard about the 4 Ps of marketing... well, webinar marketing has its own set of Ps: planning, planning and more planning, oh and persistence. We know it sounds like a grind, so we're here to help you get started with webinar must-dos.
Get me started >

CREATE KILLER CONTENT

Now the fun part begins because it’s time to brainstorm topics and content ideas. Start by focusing on your audience’s pain points and business challenges. Then, review the performance of your existing content to see what’s already performing well. Look at industry trends, hot topics, the latest innovations and new regulations. Get insights directly from your audiences by conducting pre- and post-webinar surveys, live chats, webinar Q&A and social listening.

10 Tips for Creating Great Webinar Content

Content is king! Webinars epitomize that prediction made by Bill Gates back in the '90s. So, make sure you know the latest and greatest for developing unique webinar themes, exciting presentations and experimenting with new mediums. Get the skinny straight from the content king himself, our Chief Webinerd, Mark Bornstein.
Rev up the content machine >

BUILD A DREAM TEAM

Brainstorming works better with multiple brains. The size of your team will vary depending on the scale of your webinar, but at the very least, you’ll want to assign three key roles: a producer to make sure the technical components run smoothly, a promoter to spread the word through all relevant channels and a presenter to build the presentation deck and deliver the webinar.

Transform Your Team from Webi-newbie to Webinerd in 30 days

Webinars are a team sport, and the webinerds at Hortonworks have three superstars who work together to make it happen. The software company takes an integrated approach that involves their head of webinar marketing, head of demand generation and head of operations. By involving these key players, Hortonworks was able to get their program running in just 30 days and already found ways to optimize results.
Be a team player >

DRIVING REGISTRATION

PLAN AHEAD

What difference does a week make? A lot. Our benchmark data shows you can increase your registration by 42% by promoting it more than seven days in advance of your event. To avoid overwhelming a prospect’s inbox, we recommend emailing the first invitation 14 days ahead of the webinar, a second invitation seven days in advance and a third invitation either the day before or the day of the event.

Driving Webinar Registration Best Practices Guide

Creating a compelling webinar takes art, while getting your audience there takes science. That may sound daunting, so we've gathered best practices and secrets that have helped companies build their audiences from tens to thousands by optimizing email, leveraging social media channels and offering teaser content along the way.
Widen my reach >

EMAIL IS ESSENTIAL

While other marketing tools help widen your reach, up to 80% of webinar registration is generated by email promotions. Send your first invite two weeks in advance, the second invite one week ahead and the third the day before or the day of your live webinar. Experiment and test by mixing up your email formats: HTML will deliver a consistent brand experience, but a plain text email can feel more personal.

Using Paid Promotions to Drive Webinar Registration

At ON24, we run a LOT of webinar campaigns. That means we do even more promotion. Get an inside view of our own paid promotion strategy to help get outside your database and engage new audiences.
Open the kimono >

SIMPLIFY REGISTRATION FORMS

You’ve caught your audience’s attention enough to get them to click through to your landing page and register for your event. This is no time to scare them off with a cumbersome registration form asking for a ton of information. Ask only for the basics: name, company, title, company size and email address. You should be able to gather plenty of additional details about each of your attendees through their interactivity with engagement tools inside the webinar. Polls, for example, are a great way to get more in-depth information about your prospects and customers, without having to ask for it inside a form.

Keys to Driving Webinar Registration and Attendance

Get a step-by-step guide to improving your registration results and making sure those sign-ups convert to attendees. Our Chief Webinerd, Mark Bornstein, will walk through all the most recent tips and show detailed examples of the tactics that can help grow your audience.
Give me the keys >

BEFORE YOUR WEBINAR

INTEGRATE WITH YOUR MARKETING TOOLS

Your webinar is going to generate a wealth of data. Make sure you’re set up to quickly and easily spread those data-rich insights across your company by integrating your webinars with your marketing automation, CRM platform, social media channels and more. Direct access to your data will help you understand what your audience wants, so you can optimize future webinars.

How ON24 Drives Demand with Webinars

There's a lot that happens behind the scenes to make sure webinar data gets integrated across marketing operations... it gets messy fast. Our VP of DemandGen, Neal Amsden, gives an inside look at the nuts and bolts of our own webinar marketing operations, so you can get your own engine running fast.
Be a smooth operator >

DESIGN A PRESENTATION THAT RESONATES

We all know first impressions count—so don’t put your audience off with cluttered presentation slides filled to the brim with dull stock imagery and cheesy clip art. Keep your slides clean, with no more than three bullet points per slide. If you are going to use imagery, choose eye-catching photography that adds value to your talking points, and beware of low-res images that look grainy or pixelated.

How to Build the Perfect Webinar Presentation

What's the first rule of a great webinar presentation? It's not about YOU; it's about your audience. Get the scoop on how to design your content around the people you're trying to engage, and add interactivity throughout the entire experience.
Forget about me >

EQUIP YOUR TEAM FOR SUCCESS

Nothing ruins a great webinar faster than lousy video or audio. Equip your team with the technology they need to create a captivating webinar. For audio-only webinars, invest in a good-quality headset and do your best to dial in from a landline or use the microphone on your computer. Even better, use your webcam to present by video during your webinars. A video presentation puts an energetic subject matter expert in front of your audience, humanizing your brand and making an emotional connection with your audience. Make sure you’re using a good quality camera with a built-in mic, and test it before you deliver a live event.

5 Ways to Integrate Video into Your Webinars

Death by PowerPoint or a live-streamed talk show? We agree, the former! That means you'll need to run a video webinar, which takes a little skill to master. Luckily, we have the Chief Webinerd himself sharing tips and tricks for adding video to your webinars.
Ready for my close-up >

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

People are busy and getting busier every day. Asking someone to give up an hour of their time in the middle of a hectic workday can be a big ask. That’s why scheduling your webinar at a convenient time can make a big difference. Avoid times when your audience is likely to be away from their desks, such as commute times and the lunch hour. Don’t ask your audience to start their days early or stay late. Avoid weekends at all costs.

ON24 2018 Webinar Benchmarks Report

Take advantage of the lessons learned by the thousands of webinars running through the ON24 network every day and get a sense of optimal timing for your webinars.
Time it right >

DURING YOUR WEBINAR

PRESENT LIKE A PRO

You’ve got your killer content, your presentation is knock-it-out-of-the-park gorgeous and registrations are rolling in. Now you need to make sure you’ve got a well-rehearsed, energetic and engaging presenter that can bring it all to life. Your presenter can be someone internal or a third-party speaker, but they must be an expert on your chosen topic and a well-rehearsed public speaker. If you’re using a first-timer, informal formats like roundtables or coffee chats can help take the pressure off. Once you have everything and everyone in place, practice. Then, practice some more. When it’s showtime, speak slowly and clearly, make eye contact with the camera (not your computer screen) and smile.

How to Become a Superstar Webinar Presenter

A webinar is your time to shine. Rise to the occasion by following the example of our own webinar superstar Mark Bornstein. He'll share practical advice based on his many years in front of the lens.
Make me a star >

INVOLVE YOUR AUDIENCE

Give your audience a voice during your webinar by inviting them to share ideas, provide feedback and brainstorm. Open the floor to Q&A, and break up your slides with surveys and polls. Encourage attendees to spread the word on social media, and provide hashtags to help them do it. Get everyone talking, and keep the conversation going even after your event ends.

The Art of Becoming a Great Webinar Presenter

Whether you’re a webinar superstar in the making (see above) or a behind-the-scenes Spielberg who wants to make the most of their on-screen talent, this guide can help you understand how to host a webinar that people love to watch and want to share.
Light me up >

AFTER YOUR WEBINAR

ON DEMAND PUTS YOUR AUDIENCE IN CONTROL

With the right on-demand strategy, your best webinars can live forever. Convert your webinar to on-demand assets right away to allow your customers and prospects to engage at their convenience post-event. Make sure you provide the same interactive functionality as a live event. Follow up with prospects to let them know your webinar is now available on demand, then promote your event to drive registration.

Keys to Building a Webinar On-Demand Strategy

Want to increase your attendance by 30% without having to do any more work? Sounds too good to be true, but that's the beauty of on-demand webinars. Once your webinar is over, the content and engagement continue. Get our guide to make your webinars live on.
I want to live forever >

MAKE THE MOST OF POST-EVENT FOLLOW-UP

Show your audience some post-event love. Keep them engaged with an effective follow-up strategy. At the very least, you should thank attendees for coming, and let them know the event is available on demand. Remind them that you are available to answer any questions, promote upcoming events and recommend related content.

Bring Your Webinars Back from the Dead

For a marketer, there's nothing more depressing than letting resources go to waste. So, keep your webinars flourishing, turning the content into other assets or simply repurposing the live version as an on-demand webinar. Our Chief Webinerd Mark Bornstein explains how to revive your webinars and reincarnate the content.
Stayin' alive >

DO MORE WITH YOUR DATA

Congratulations, your webinar was great! Now, use what you learned to zero in on your most engaged prospects, and share a detailed profile of their behavior with your sales team. Qualify leads by using engagement to uncover a prospect’s intent and readiness to buy before passing them onto sales.

Better Engagement, Better Leads

You know that moment when you get an email that starts with, "Hi [insert name], your [insert company]" and all you want to do is delete? We share your pain. It's time to stop treating leads as data points and start engaging them as people.
Ready for an upgrade >

WEBINAR ROCKSTARS

Check out how webinerds across the world make their webinars rock.

SAP

SAP makes their webinars all about who’s watching and in this case, it’s an audience of time-constrained state and local government officials. The webinar series Smart Cities pulls the audience in right from the start by rolling video to introduce the topic and presentation. Then, the software company gives participants the opportunity to consume the content at their own pace by dividing the webinar into chapters.

From the fully branded console to the use of video to deliver a thought-leadership discussion, this SAP webinar is more like a TED Talk than a humdrum Powerpoint presentation and brings the company’s thought leadership to life.

Drawbridge

Drawbridge is all about helping companies have a 360-degree view of their customers, unifying data to make customer experiences that make an impression. So, it’s no surprise that Drawbridge delivers a cohesive webinar experience.

Every single touch point is branded, with their company identity thoughtfully infused into every element. This shows Drawbridge’s commitment to helping brands with their omnichannel strategies.

Qlik

Boring seminar or dynamic talk show? Even for the complex topic of analytics, enterprise software company Qlik makes their webinars like must-see TV by opting for a video-based panel discussion over a typical webinar presentation.

Qlik’s strategy is about more than entertainment. This approach shows how webinars help transform B2B marketing from stiff, sterile transactions into consumer-friendly experiences that reach the individual.

Professional network LinkedIn knows the importance of making connections. Their webinar series, “Live with Marketers,” draws on the power of networks by turning their webinar into a forum for live peer-to-peer discussion.

With interactivity throughout the session, LinkedIn creates an online conversation that surfaces what’s top of mind for marketers in real time. And, just like their platform, it becomes a destination for marketers to get industry and peer-driven insights that they can’t get anywhere else.

Weight Watchers

For a consumer brand as widely known as Weight Watchers, it can be a challenge to expand into the B2B space of employee wellness benefits. So, Weight Watchers turned to webinars to enhance its human resources wellness programs.

Through webinar-driven nutrition classes featuring celebrity chefs, Weight Watchers helps its business partners engage their employees in developing healthy habits and understand the individuals at the companies they support. This high-value program sets Weight Watchers apart and helps companies deliver nutrition expertise at scale.

BCMS

As an international investment bank specializing in advising small businesses on a sale of their company, trust is BCMS’ greatest currency. That’s why webinars are their primary tool for upholding that reputation in the market.

By presenting in simulive format, BCMS ensures its webinar content is delivered flawlessly and the information they are sharing is just as reliable. Their consistent branding throughout the webinar further cements their audience’s confidence.

ON24 2018 Webinar Benchmarks

56 Minutes Average Webinar Viewing Time
35% Webinar Viewers are On Demand
82% of Webinars Engage with Live Q&A
100+ Average Webinar Attendees
40% Average Attendee Conversion Rate
40 Average Data Points Per Attendee

1B+Minutes of Webinar Engagement

Resources

Take advantage of some inside knowledge

Check out award-winning campaigns, examples of killer content and other great resources from ON24 designed to help you make the most of your next webinar program.

AFTER THE WEBINAR: SECRETS TO EXTENDING THE LIFE OF YOUR CONTENT

Watch the webinar >

WEBINERD AWARD WINNERS 2019

Download the eBook >