INXPO Webinars Create Demand And Fuel Your Sales Pipeline .

WHY WEBINARS AREESSENTIAL FOR EVERYMARKETER

INTRODUCTIONWebinars (also known as “webcasts”) are nothing new. Infact, they’ve been around in one form or another for morethan 10 years.The use cases for webinars have included trainingsessions, employee communications and demandgeneration.What is new, however, is the advancement of webinartechnology, making it more effective than ever as ademand generation vehicle to fuel marketers’ salespipelines.In this white paper, we’ll have a look at:1. Why webinars have become such an effective demandgeneration vehicle2. How to use webinars to create demand3. How to develop a follow-up strategy based on webinarengagement data1WHY WEBINARS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EVERY MARKETER73% of marketingand sales leaders saywebinars are one of thebest ways to generatequality leads.

YOUR SALES FUNNEL WILL BENEFITWebinars are no longer only for “top of the funnel” leads—they’re a great way to engage and rank suspects, prospects and nurturedleads at different levels in your sales funnel. In fact, webinars are a fantastic way to influence decision-makers as they make theirfinal purchase choice.Use Case: Lead Generation - Focus on challenges.AWARENESSHost an online event or webcast around a trending industry topic, keep the contentneutral while indirectly promoting your brand.Tactics: Thought Leadership Webinars, Industry-Related EventsUse Case: Solution Selling - Focus on solutions.INTERESTCONSIDERATIONPURCHASEGROWHost an online event, webcast or series of programs to educate and help prospectsduring their evaluation process, showing them why you’re the best choice.Tactics: Analyst Panels, Subject Matter Expert SessionsUse Case: Delivering ROI - Focus on benefits.Host an online event or webcast series demonstrating the benefits of your offeringand how you deliver against KPIs and help them grow their business.Tactics: Customer Case Studies and Panel Discussions, Live DemosUse Case: Customer Engagement - Focus on value.Host an online event or webcast series to kick off your relationship and set yourcustomers up for success with ongoing knowledge and support.Tactics: Best Practices Series, User Conferences, Customer CommunicationsUse Case: Retain, Cross-Sell & Up-Sell - Focus on success.Host an online event or webcast series introducing new products and services along withongoing educational webcasts to continue to drive interest.Tactics: Product Launches, Training, Customer Loyalty Programs2WHY WEBINARS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EVERY MARKETER

WEBINARS ARE EASY TO CONFIGUREFive to 10 years ago, the lead time on awebinar (i.e. the time you needed to begin theplanning steps in advance of the broadcast)was around 60 to 90 days. Presentersrequired intensive training on the webinarplatform while the webinar vendor requiredseveral business days to configure thewebinar console.Wizard-driven tools provide presenters with a step-by-step guide to webinarcreation, all while preserving the branding and personalization required foreach presenter.Gone are the days of presenter training sessions—vendors have made theirsoftware so easy to use that they no longer provide user guides or manuals.The long lead time (per webinar) meant thatmarketers could only do a handful of webinarsper quarter—or perhaps even just one.Advances in technology have madewebinar configuration and setup easierthan ever. The best providers enable theability to publish webinars and webcastsimmediately for on-demand viewing, makingit easy to create a vibrant flow of intuitive andaccessible content for your audiences.Today, presenters with a slide deck and aninternet connection can set up a webcast—and begin a broadcast—in just five minutes.3WHY WEBINARS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EVERY MARKETER1. Settings4. Handouts2. Speakers5. Invites3. Content6. Go LIVE

WEBINARS ARE INTERACTIVEWebinars used to be one-waycommunication tools in which subjectmatter experts would present to largeaudiences.Today, audience members want to bea part of the conversation in the sameway they participate on social channelssuch as Facebook, Instagram andTwitter. Advances in webinar technologyfacilitate these interactions.Later in this paper, we’ll cover how theseinteractions factor into lead qualification.Modern webcast platforms now enablevideo conferencing with the click of abutton, allowing multiple speakers topresent in an interview or on a panel fromany location in the world.Now, presenters can engage with theiraudience in real time and adjust theirpresentations accordingly.In addition, audience members caninteract with one another to sharethoughts, comments and ideas.4WHY WEBINARS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EVERY MARKETERThis results in an engaging, TV-qualitybroadcast experience that keeps youraudience tuned in and improves retention.Conversational program formats, includinginterviews, case studies, panels anddebates, are now easier than ever todeliver globally.

WEBINARS ARE MEASURABLEWEBINARS ARE INTEGRATEDAs viewers (i.e. prospects) increase their interaction withinyour marketing webinars, they generate additional data pointsfor lead scoring and lead qualification.Being able to integrate key data into your marketingautomation and customer relationship management (CRM)platforms is critical in establishing proper lead scoring andfollow-up strategies, to qualify leads and move them downthe funnel.Compare the measurability of webinars to static contenttypes.With banner ads, you can measure impressions and clicks. Forwhite papers, you can measure conversion rates and leads.With webinars, you measure leads as registrations orattendees—but you also must analyze metrics such as: Registration/attendee conversion rates View time Live and on-demand views Total views Responses to polling questions Questions submitted Group chat commentsEngagement and other behavioral data can be insightful andguide your nurturing plans.For example—you can score leads based on whether theyregistered or attended.In addition, you can increase their score based on howengaged they were in the webcast.For reference, here’s a sample scoring model:ActivityScoreRegistered for Webinar10Attended Webinar on Demand15 Responses to surveys Documents downloadedAttended Webinar Live20Engaged Attendees30This added layer of behavioral data provides a deeper look atyour audience and allows for thoughtful segmentation, leadscoring and follow up—better qualifying your leads for sales.(e.g. asked questions, commented in chator downloaded a handout)5WHY WEBINARS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EVERY MARKETER

WEBINARS ARE REPEATABLEWEBINARS ARE REUSABLELike your other marketing campaigns, you’llbuild a repeatable process that can be usedconsistently. Once you’ve created one webinarand branded it the way you like, think aboutmaking this a template for future programs.Marketers can look to webinars as a “Swiss Army knife” of content creation.This way, it eliminates the need to start fromscratch and you can personalize based on thetopic. Video can be broken up into bite-sized chunks and used on blogs andacross social media to drive traffic to the gated, on-demand version or afuture programMarketing webinars tend to involve speakeridentification, pre-promotion, registration, livebroadcast and post-webinar follow up. Audio from the webinar can be turned into a podcast that you can host onyour websiteOnce you define and document the process,webinars become part of a repeatable machineto fuel demand and grow your pipeline.6Consider that: Slides can be posted to SlideShare, turned into an Adobe Spark page oran infographic The presentation can be turned into a series of owned blog postings orblogs managed by your partners And of course, the webinar itself can be used to drive incremental leadsvia prospects that register to view the on-demand archiveWHY WEBINARS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EVERY MARKETER

HOW TO USE WEBINARS TO CREATE DEMANDTHE FUNDAMENTALS:BE USEFULBE ENGAGINGIn the past, the goal of marketers was to be relevant to theirtarget audience. Today, marketers must move up the valuechain from providing relevance to providing usefulness.Sales prospects attended (or viewed) your webinar for areason. They could have easily downloaded a white paper orvisited your website instead.To be useful, webinars need to do one of two things:But they took the time to join your webinar.1. Address a business needTherefore, be sure to provide a captivating and engagingexperience by showing enthusiasm, using eye-catchingvisuals and varying the media often—that meansincorporating audience engagement throughout yourpresentation, including multiple speakers, video, polls, Q&A,screen sharing and chat.2. Teach viewers how to solve a problemWhether it’s webinars, white papers, website content or blogpostings, your content should provide one (or both) of these.As such, don’t pitch your company’s product unless you’redemonstrating to prospects how it addresses their needs orhow it solves their problems.If your product does address both, be sure to focus on thesolution (how) rather than your product (what).7WHY WEBINARS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EVERY MARKETERTry and get your audience to contribute to the discussioninstead of just presenting to them.

BE INTERACTIVEVideo webcasts provide a tremendous opportunityfor marketers—a real-time connection between yourorganization and your sales prospects.A one-way broadcast is a failure to capitalize on thisopportunity. Rather than involving your prospects, a oneway broadcast forces them to sit idly on their hands whileattempting to remain engaged.Interactive webinars provide a more enjoyable userexperience while creating far more touch points betweenyou and your prospects.Which would you rather have: an idle and boredaudience or one that’s actively engaged with you and yourbrand?88% of webcastsinclude Q&A.8WHY WEBINARS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EVERY MARKETER

DID YOU KNOW?74 percent of attendees respond topolls in live webcasts.This powerful tool provides immediate feedback whenpresenting live.Kick off a presentation with an icebreaker poll or suggest afew topic areas for your audience to vote on. Polling lets youlearn more about your audience and their interests.9WHY WEBINARS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EVERY MARKETER

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR SALES PIPELINE VIAWEBINAR-BASED LEAD QUALIFICATIONThis paper has referenced interactivity multiple times. The use of interactive features in webinars is critical in creating enjoyableexperiences, sustaining demand (i.e. interest) and driving the lead qualification process.INTERACTIONGENERATES VALUABLEPROSPECT DATAIt’s our belief that interaction hasreplaced consumption. The use of realtime engagement tools (e.g. interactivepolls, Q&A, group chat, etc.) creates anexperience that engages prospects.To date, web analytics (i.e. for yourcorporate website) have focused on staticmeasures, such as page views, bouncerate, time on site and pages per session.10With interactive webinars, we’veagain moved up the value chain.Now, we can analyze answers topolling questions, percent of programviewed, questions submitted tothe presenter and chat messagescontributed to the conversation.With web analytics, you decipher whatthey consumed.With a video-based online platform,you know what participantsconsumed—but more importantly—youalso know what they said and howthey feel.WHY WEBINARS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EVERY MARKETERAs a marketer, this information iskey in understanding your audience’sinterests and what they find valuable.