How to prepare for your first webinar

Want to know how to prepare for your first webinar? Running your first webinar is a landmark for many online business owners. As a marketing and sales mechanism it isn’t quite as simple as just ‘showing up’ on social media, which means that only serious business owners take the time to run webinars. I’m so excited that you’ve decided you are ready to run your first webinar and I can’t wait to help you prepare so you can make your first webinar as successful as possible. Keep on reading to find out how to prepare for your first webinar.

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HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR FIRST WEBINAR

1) Define the purpose of your webinar and set some webinar goals

Before you even start to think about what tech you need to run the webinar and what you presentation should include you need to get clear on why you are running the webinar in the first place.

If you are like most business owners you’ll be using a webinar as a means of selling a service or product, and it might also act as a lead magnet in your sales funnel.

To ensure you are clear on the purpose of your webinar answer the following questions:

What are you going to sell via the webinar?

What volume of sales do you want to generate through the webinar?

What type of person do you want to attend the webinar and to buy your product or service?

Answering these 3 questions will help you to be strategic and appropriate decisions when moving forward and preparing for your first webinar.

2) Ensure you have the right tech or software in place

Webinars are delivered online so you’ll need to have the right software to successfully run a webinar, and you’ll also need the right software for things that need to happen before and after the webinar. In the most simple version of a webinar you need software to do the following things:

Allow someone to register for a webinar
For emails to be sent to webinar registrants (before and after the webinar)
For you to be able to host the webinar and for people to be able to watch you
A webpage that you are directing people to at the end of the webinar.

Now there are a number of specific webinar software that exist such as WebinarNinja. However, since the focus is on how to prepare for your first webinar then I would recommend keeping things as simple as possible. Therefore, in terms of delivering the webinar, I would recommend you use Zoom.

A Zoom Pro account will allow 100 people to attend with no cap on the length of the webinar. This capacity cap is usually enough for your first webinar and it is easy enough to increase your capacity if you see your registration numbers are drastically higher.

With the running of the webinar taken care of that just means you need software for people to be able to sign up for the webinar, to deliver the emails and a page to direct people to at the end of the webinar. This can be done through a combination of an email marketing tools, such as Mailerlite or ActiveCampaign , and a website. Or you can make your life super easy by using one piece of software that can do all of those things, such as Kartra.

Kartra is a one-stop solution for running your entire online business. It will enable you to make registration forms for your webinar and send emails pre and post webinar. Then if you are selling a group programme or course where people can buy instantly you can use Kartra to create a sales page and accept payment. If on the other hand, you are using the webinar to sell 1-to-1 services where you want to talk to someone first you can direct people to a calendar page on Kartra too. To find out more about Kartra, and to try it out for 14 days for just $1, click here.

3) Map out your webinar funnel

If you are using a webinar to sell your services or products then you should map out the full sales funnel so you have a clear understanding of all of the components. A usual webinar funnel will involve the following:

Drive traffic to the webinar registration form
Individuals sign up via the webinar registration form and their details are sent to your email service provider
You send emails pre-event with all of the information registrants need to access the webinar
Webinar is ran
A follow-up email sequence is sent following the webinar. There are two different sequences one for those who attended and one for those who didn’t

Getting the whole webinar funnel written down whether that be visually or in a list form will enable you to understand all of the different components that need to be made.

For example, based on that funnel above you would have

Registration page
2 emails pre webinar (1 straight away and one 24 hours before)
Presentation for the webinar
1 email sequence for attendees
1 email sequence for non-attendees
The sales page for the offer (group coaching programme)

4) Set the topic, choose the headline and outline the contents of your webinar

By now you are clear on why you are running the webinar, you’ve got all the necessary tech in place to get going and you know exactly what you need to create for the funnel. At this point, most newbie webinar hosts think they need to create the whole webinar, but you don’t. Instead, you should just focus on creating a killer headline and outlining the contents of your webinar.

Having your headline and understanding the contents of your webinar is enough for you to be able to create all the components in the list above, which is what you should be focusing on right now. The first thing you need to focus on is creating the landing page and having the 2 pre-emails set up. You can do that with just the headline and a clear idea of what will be covered. I repeat: you don’t need the whole presentation completed at this point.

When choosing the topic be sure to think back to the purpose of the webinar. What do you want to sell and who do you want to sell it to? Ensure that the topic of your webinar is closely related to what you want to sell and ensure the messaging you are using speaks to your ideal client or customer.

5) Create the registration page and pre-emails

In order to start marketing the webinar, you just need the registration page and pre-emails created. Everything else can wait. So refer back to your headline and webinar outline and create your sales page. Make sure it is clear to someone signing up what they will learn from attending your webinar and make it as clear as possible who it is and isn’t for. The clearer you are now the better your conversion rate will be later on.

6) Run a marketing campaign for the webinar

If you want people to turn up to your webinar then you are going to have to tell people about it. Now you could just decide from the day you make the page live to the day of the webinar that you are just going to concentrate on promoting the webinar. However, if you want to make your life easier (and ensure you still have the time to run your business, prepare the presentation for the webinar and have a life) then I recommend you create a little marketing plan for your campaign.

To start you’ll need to decide on the following things:

The period of time you’ll be promoting the webinar
The marketing channels you’ll be using

When deciding what marketing channels to use it is sensible to think about what you are already using in your business. What social media channels do you currently use? Do you have a mailing list you can contact? Will you have any long-form content that is released during that period?

Then you could think about adding additional marketing channels into the mix. It is also common to consider using ads as well. This could be on a social media platform such as Facebook, Instagram or TIkTok, or a search engine, such as YouTube, Google and Pinterest.

You might also want to consider if there are any partnerships or collaborations you could do (paid and free) with other brands/businesses that have an audience that is perfect for the webinar.

Once you’ve decided on your channels and the amount of time you’ll be promoting you can bring it all together. I like to have a spreadsheet where I have the channels on one axis and then every day on the other axis. This way I can see exactly what is meant to be happening on a day-by-day basis for each channel.

To go a step further you can even add in a bit of detail. At this stage, you don’t need to go into full detail but just write the focus and/or format. For example: a video making the first announcement, a graphic with the key information, a short-form video with the 3 areas that will be covered in the webinar, a graphic testimonial from a client that is relevant, a behind-the-scenes photo of me putting the finishing touches to the presentation etc.

Adding this detail will help you to understand the quantity of content that you need to create, but you can also get an understanding about what you can batch and schedule, and what will have to be done live.

Then you can start creating and running your marketing campaign.

NOT CONFIDENT ABOUT PUTTING YOUR WEBINAR MARKETING PLAN TOGETHER? I CAN HELP YOU!

I’m a Chartered Marketer that specialises in supporting solo coaches, consultants and online service providers. I create marketing plans for everything from launching new services to promoting webinars. So whether you want a plan put together just for the webinar or for the webinar and your ongoing marketing then I can help.

To discuss your business and your specific needs book a call here

Or you can send me a message via my contact form.

7) Create the webinar content (aka the presentation)

The registration page is up and your marketing is driving people to sign up so now it is time to create the presentation. For your first webinar, I recommend you keep it to a max of an hour. Webinars can last longer, and I’ve sat in webinars that are 90 to 120 minutes, but time is precious so try to be as concise as possible and keep it under an hour. Remember that the purpose of the webinar is to provide value (so people don’t feel as if they’ve wasted their time attending), but to sell.

The latter part of the webinar should focus on selling. Don’t skip this bit. It is easy when running your first webinar to want to miss this bit out, but you’ll regret it later.

Once you’ve designed the webinar practice it multiple times. If possible, and you have someone who is willing to give up some of their time, then do a dry run where you can practice using the tech and see how long it last when you are doing it in real-time.

If you don’t have someone to do a dry run with please don’t panic. It is a great addition, but not necessary!

8) Create the second half of your sales funnel

Step 5 focused on the first half of your sales funnel, but you need to ensure before you deliver the webinar that the second half of your funnel is setup. This means having your post email sequences set up and the webpage you’ll be driving people to at the end of the webinar.

In most cases, you’ll be driving people to a sales page where they can sign up to whatever you are selling. However, if you are using the webinar to sell a 1-to-1 service it might be that you direct people to your online calendar. Ensure you have an easy link for the page you are driving people to. You want to be able to include that in the presentation, ideally drop it in the comments during the webinar and then continue to link to it in the post-webinar email sequence.

9) Deliver the webinar

By now you’ve done everything you need to do and the time has come to run your first webinar. Make sure you are in a quiet space, put on something that makes you feel great and show everyone what you’ve got! You’ve done everything you can to make it as successful a webinar as possible. Now it is time to show up and enjoy.

***Bonus* – Do a post-webinar review**

I’m guessing that if you’ve decided to prepare for your first webinar that you’ll likely want to do more in the future. It is important to learn from each time you run a webinar and then make changes for the next one. That is what business owners do before they automate their webinars. They’ll run it multiple times and each time they are tweaking the presentation, the email sequence, the landing page and the marketing assets until they are happy they’ve got the conversion rate to a good place.

Look back through your stats. How many people registered? How many people attended? How many people bought your offer? This will enable you to see your conversion rate and different stages in the funnel.

Then on top of the data and some anecdotal thoughts. What do you feel worked and what didn’t? What would you do differently next time?

Write this down as soon as possible after you’ve finished the webinar. We can quickly forget what we’ve learnt and if you are planning on running the webinar again this is valuable information that could make the next run even more successful.

That’s it! You know now how to prepare for your first webinar.

Running your first webinar is a landmark for many online business owners. As you can see there is a lot you need to consider and do as you prepare for your first webinar. However, I’ve broken this down into as much detail as possible so hopefully, it feels achievable.

If you’ve found this blog post helpful please let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear about your business and what you are planning on doing for your first webinar.

WANT TO GROW A THRIVING ONLINE SERVICE-BASED BUSINESS AS A SOLOPRENEUR?

I’m a Chartered Marketer, with a decade of marketing experience, who now spends my days supporting solo coaches, consultants and online service providers to grow thriving online businesses.

I offer a range of services to help solopreneurs improve their marketing, attract their dream clients and ultimately build a business they love.

All of my services are 1-to-1 so no matter what stage of business you are at you’ll get advice that is tailored to where you are – and most importantly, where you want to go.

To find out more about my services click here.

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