So you've spent weeks—maybe months—working on your webinar, and now it's time for the big reveal.
It's at about this point that the nerves can really set in. Did you miss anything? Is there something you're forgetting? Webinar platforms have become crucial to doing business, particularly in the age of COVID. But a business' first webinar can be a nerve-wracking experience.
After all, there are many moving parts, including audio/visual components, slideshows, opt-in pages, etc. So it's no great surprise that businesses often make common mistakes when just starting out.
We've got you covered. Here's a list of the top seven webinar mistakes, as well as some helpful webinar tips.
1. Poorly-Designed Webinar
This is common. A poorly-designed webinar can be a killer.
This is because first-time webinar hosts often overlook the need to create an attractive presentation. The result is that people may abandon the webinar early, forget all about the presentation, and fail to purchase the offer.
A well-made presentation is the key to success. No matter how great the product is or how valuable the information is, if the presentation is not done correctly, the message will not be heard.
Here are a few suggestions:
Keep the text brief on your slides, and always use a lot of pictures.
Do not use your slides as a teleprompter. Your audience will tune out if you're just reading text to them. Instead, use both oral and visual content to engage your audience.
Work to keep your audience interested and engaged with a compelling presentation that incorporates audio, visual, and storytelling components.
2. Too Much Like a Sales Pitch
Does anyone want to listen to a sales pitch in their spare time?
Most likely the answer is no. And your audience is going to have the same reaction.
A business webinar that sounds too much like a sales pitch will most likely achieve the precise opposite of what you're aiming for. So it makes sense that if you think you're being too pushy with your sales pitch, your attendees will almost certainly feel the same way. And that's an easy way to alienate them.
Avoid this error altogether by providing information that's actually useful. If your tips can be acted on, that's an even better solution.
The point of a successful webinar is to provide useful solutions to your customers' issues. So don't spend the whole time overselling your service or product. Solve your customer's problems first, and they'll know that you mean business and naturally consider your product or service.
3. It Just Won't End!
This is where a first webinar can really go off the rails.
Less is more! Webinars should typically only last about an hour - perhaps less if you can get to the point more quickly. But then there are the nightmare webinars that last for hours. The reason is that they are not structured properly, and the presenter has too many ideas that haven’t been edited appropriately..
There's no shame in hosting a short webinar. In fact, it's often much better to do so. Trust us—a brief, hard-hitting presentation is infinitely better than a snoozefest. If your webinar does stretch in multiple-hour territory; however, it’s best to break it up into two separate sessions.
4. Inadequate Follow-Up
If a single email blast on your list could result in thousands of people instantly registering for your webinar, you wouldn't be researching this in the first place.
So we shouldn't have to tell you that sending just one email, or making a few Facebook posts here and there, isn't going to cut it. Far better to devote the time and energy to creating a comprehensive outreach and marketing strategy. And what works in your other marketing efforts will work in marketing your business webinar.
5. Lack of a Back-up Plan
When it comes to the mechanics and best practices of hosting a webinar, having an adequate back-up plan is a must.
Because no matter how much you plan and prepare, something will go wrong. Your objective is to minimize the disruption this causes, and having a warning and backup system is helpful in this situation.
The worst thing that could happen is that you'll panic or freeze up when something goes wrong, as it inevitably will. Don't let that happen. Stay calm and collected, and remain relaxed. One way to do that is to know you've got a backup or an escape plan, of sorts.
The best way to do this is to have a colleague or coworker on hand who will warn you if something's up. They can also help bail you out if the issue is beyond your powers to fix. So, to repeat, disruptions will occur. The key is to stay calm, and have a friend or coworker nearby who can help you troubleshoot or even take over in a pinch.
6. Poor Integration
A poorly-integrated webinar can quickly become a bust.
Using landing pages are a good choice to help you secure new leads, and also boost attendance at your webinar. A good landing page will integrate with calendar and social sharing features, so that spreading the word is as easy as possible. Whether it's an application like Google or Outlook, or just integration with Facebook or Twitter, these tools will help you increase the reach for your business webinar.
7. Not Enough Back-and-Forth
Finally, we should point out that one of the most frequent webinar mishaps is to turn it into a straightforward lecture.
Don't let that happen. Go ahead and include plentiful chat features, connect it on social media, and encourage your audience members to ask questions. This keeps everyone engaged and feeling like they're actually participating in something.
Let Your First Webinar Shine
Hosting a webinar is stressful enough.
That's why you should keep these mistakes and mishaps in mind when learning how to create a webinar. No matter how experienced you are, it's important to think about these considerations so you can create a high-quality presentation.
Now, you can go it alone, or you can rely on the services of a professional virtual event streaming provider like Parasol Video. Our team can take the stress out of the webinar process, and ensure everything comes off smoothly.
So book a meeting with us today, and we'll show you what we can do.