You're Invited...How to Get People to Attend Your Webinar
Webinars are short lectures, interviews or tutorials that take place online. You can lead a webinar yourself or invite experts (those who have intimate knowledge of the niche you market to) impart some of their wisdom on those who attend. Getting people to attend requires you to build up anticipation and excitement. After all, what's the point of creating an informative webinar about a topic most people in your niche would be interested in learning more about if you can't get them to sign up and attend?
Send Invites Early
Announce your webinar a few weeks in advance of the date. Post information about it on your website, blog or social media pages in addition to sending a mass email to subscribers. In this email message, include a description of what subscribers can expect, the date, time and dial-in information. Include any other information subscribers should read beforehand.
Most marketers limit webinars to a few hundred, so make sure you stress the importance of registering early. Include a sign-up box (name and email address to send confirmation information) in your message.
You should also include a list of any special materials such as headphones, speakers and other audio equipment subscribers may need to get the most from the webinar.
Follow-Up Messages
Send your first follow-up message about two weeks before the webinar to reach those who may have missed your first email and to remind those who forgot to sign up.
Add a little more urgency to email content by encouraging subscribers to 'Act now while there's still room!' or 'Hurry because time is running out!' Provide the same information you did in the invitation - time, date, presenters names and other information along with a sign-up box.
Send two more messages - the first about one week before the event and the other the day before. Stress the urgency for signing up and remind subscribers of what they will gain from the experience.
Free Gifts
Including a free gift such as a report, short Ebook, tip sheet or other piece of information usually helps people sign-up for webinars. Other information about the webinar worth adding in your bulk emails include:
- Lecture itinerary
- Speaker notes
- Speaker credentials (this is especially powerful if most people in the niche know who this person is)
- Reading materials (supplemental for better understanding of the topic)
- Whether attendees will be able to ask questions
- Length of webinar
Webinars can be a very powerful tool to sell products and build a strong list. Make sure you deliver on all promises made about the webinar and provide a link of the webinar recording in a future email so those who could not attend can still benefit from all the information discussed.