While it is true that running a webinar can be a significant investment particularly in terms of time, they are probably one of the most cost-effective marketing activities that you can do. Why? Well if you start to measure what you are getting when running a webinar, you can see a whole range of associated benefits that make it a very attractive option.
So, what are the benefits and what extra can I hope to get from my webinar?
Marketing Effect
Firstly, Webinars can be a cost-effective alternative to hosting an in-person event because they enable you to deliver your message in a controlled, convenient and totally measurable way. Webinars now use high speed broadband and can be viewed on almost any device which means that they are very accessible. From a business perspective they are able to do the following for you:
- Build your brand
- Help establish you and your company as an industry leader
- Generate leads
If you consider the alternative methods used for these brand building and positioning activities, webinars offer a very effective option. The controlled environment also means that you can limit the risks as you aren’t dependant on external factors that could affect your brand; for example, if only a handful of people physically show up at an event then the experience and resulting image are tarnished, something that you can control with a webinar as only you will know how many people actually attend.
On top of this, people like webinars as they are usually built around the attendee from the point of view of when and where they can attend.
Cost per Attendee
The costs of hosting a meeting can be significant. Booking hotels/meeting rooms along with associated food and refreshments can add up. Added to that you potentially have travel costs to be considered as well as the time that is taken up planning and working with the venue. There is also the added risk that even if people don’t turn you will have already budgeted and paid for them.
When you run a webinar there are none of these costs or risks. There can also be significant economies as scale as you could double your audience and the cost is still the same. When this is calculated as the cost per attendee, the real benefits can be seen – doubling your attendees doesn’t double your costs but instead half’s your cost-per-attendee.
Content Produced
Another consideration is the quality and quantity of the content that is produced. Webinars can be re-purposed to produce all kinds of associated content. For example, recorded webinars can be replayed on-demand, the transcripts can be used to produce written content such as blogs and white papers and audio recordings can be used as podcasts. The real benefit comes when you start compiling collections of on-demand webinars and start to build up a valuable library of content which can be used in its own right as a valuable resource and asset for the business.
There are also a variety of tools available to monitor and analyse cross-webinar activity among your attendees so you can start to see what is working and what topics are most popular.
Key Person of Influence Engagement
Another added benefit of running a webinar is the engagement and relationship you can develop with your speaker. Often these people are key opinion leaders and this can be a great way for you to introduce your company to the speaker and also a way for some of your team to meet and work with them.
There is also the implicit endorsement that you get for having an important speaker and your association working with them.
Conclusion
Webinars are now a firm fixture in the marketing mix and when you consider the whole range of benefits that come with running them, you can see why they are becoming so popular.
WebinarNow offers a fully managed webinar service in Ireland and an e-Managed webinar service worldwide. For more details contact us at hello@webinarnow.ie.