When I first started hearing about webinars, I just couldn't wrap my mind around how they worked or why people kept going on and on about them!
I finally tried doing webinars, and now I can say that webinars have been the #1 factor in growing my brand and business since 2015!
How to Host a Webinar
In this epic guide, I'm going to walk you through how to host a webinar, including the Four Phases of webinars ("The 4 P's") and what you can expect when you set up a webinar for the first time.
Webinars will quickly become your favorite marketing channel.
You'll be able to grow your email list, your authority, your relationships and your sales when you learn to master the art of the webinar.
The Four "P's" of a Successful Webinar
Successful webinars can be broken down into 4 phases or what I like to call the "4 P's" (you'll see why in a minute!).
When you understand these 4 phases, you'll be able to use webinars to stand out in your niche and start growing your audience quickly!
I've created a handy cheatsheet that you can reference. You should definitely save it to Pinterest so you can find it easily!
Phase 1: Preparation
The first "P" of webinars is "Preparation".
You'll want to start this phase about 7-10 days before you plan to deliver your live webinar. That should give you plenty of time to get your content together, promote the webinar, and set up the backend.
You can even grab our set of checklists to make sure you don't forget everything and to see the exact order you need to do it in!
During the preparation phase, you are getting everything ready so that you can promote the webinar.
Choose Your Webinar Topic:
First, you have to choose your winning webinar topic.
Here are 3 surefire ways to pick a webinar topic that your audience will love:
1. Copy stalking:
Research and look for topics in Facebook groups or forums, comments, Google search suggestions and on Pinterest. Your most valuable skill as a business owner is being a good listener.
What are people asking about in your niche on these public forums, and how can you help them with a webinar?
2. Look at Your Most Popular Content:
If you have a blog, YouTube channel, or even a social media presence, look at your stats and turn your most popular existing content into a webinar.
This is a validated topic for you, and you can literally pull from your existing popular post or video as the outline for your webinar content!
3. Keep it Small & Specific:
Focus on giving your attendees one quick win. The more specific and succinct it is, the better.
Some examples are, "How to Find Focus in 5 Minutes" and "One Habit To Fall Asleep Quicker".
We dive deep into choosing a webinar topic on episode 39 of the podcast,which you can listen to here.
Pick A Webinar Title:
Next you need to name your webinar and create a few bullet points about what your audience will learn during the webinar.
Come up with a name that attracts your ideal customer and has a hook or a "secret".
You're not being cheesy here, just create some curiosity with your title.
An example could be "How to Grow Your List Without Facebook Ads or Blogging", so that people are super curious to find out what the strategy will be!
Create Your Registration Page:
Next you'll need to create webinar pages such as the Registration and Thank You pages.
You can create these with a number of different online software, or you can even use your own website!
We use Squarespace for all of our webinar pages, andwe've created our own templates that you can use too.
Create Promotional Material:
Now it's time to create promo materials and graphics that you can share on social media.
You'll want to create promo graphics in each optimum size for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
You can use Canva to easily create these, or Photoshop if you have the skills!
Outline Your Webinar Content:
At this stage, you do not need to have your webinar completely done and ready to go. All you need is a solid outline of your training or presentation.
So open up a document and outline in bullet points what you want to share.
Remember, this should be based on your ideal customers' or clients' biggest questions, frustrations, and desires!
If you ever get stuck on what to include for content, just research, listen to what they are asking, and copy stalk some more!
Know Your Webinar Offer:
Again, it doesn't have to be 100% finalized at this point, but you need to have your offer in mind so that you can create a webinar that aligns with what you sell.
In the Pitching phase, you'll finalize creating your webinar offer, bundle, and bonuses.
Phase 2: Promotion
It's time to promote your webinar!
It's really important not to hold back when you're promoting your webinar, or else it will impact your results. Go all out! You can't be shy about promotion.
Promote your webinar to your email list:
If you have an email list, even a tiny one, make sure to invite your own audience to your webinar.
Most importantly, ask the people on your list to help you spread the word about your webinar by sharing the link to the registration page on social media with a tweet or Facebook share.
Post a Relevant Blog Post:
About 5-7 days leading up to your webinar, publish a blog post (or podcast, or YouTube video, whatever channel you use!) that has relevant information to the topic of your webinar.
Then link to the webinar registration page in your content as a "call to action".
(Remember to update this link after the webinar promotion period is over!)
Promote on Social Media:
You'll want to create custom promotional images for Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Promote your webinar on the social media platforms where you have a following, or where your audience is already hanging out.
For example, if your audience spends time on Instagram, promote your webinar there with the relevant hashtags.
If your ideal audience hangs out in a Facebook group, promote your webinar in there (when appropriate).
In Webinar Rockstar, we have a social media promotion calendar and templates you can use.
Phase 3: Pitching
This is the actual live webinar itself!
Once you've been promoting the webinar for a few days, and have gotten some registrations, it's time to "go live"!
I know this part makes people nervous, but once you have the process laid out and know exactly what to expect, it's so much easier!
I was always nervous about my live webinars, getting all anxious in the moments leading up to hitting the "go live" button.
But once you are live and delivering your content, all that fear melts away and you get into a good groove! You just have to go for it, and you'll realize it's all worth it.
The Key To Pitching:
You need to provide tons of value during your webinar. Educate your audience, entertain them, and give them the best info you can in the 30 minutes of training time that you have!
Then, once you've delivered great, actionable content for about 30-45 minutes, it's time to offer your product, service, or program that you're selling.
The general outline for your webinar is:
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Introduction: This lasts about 10 minutes and includes a welcome, some important info about the webinar, a "hook" to get people to stay to the end, and your background or story.
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Content: This is the "heart" of the webinar where you teach your best stuff and present your teaching content! This lasts about 30-40 minutes.
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Transition: This is a short section - only about 3 minutes - but is potentially the most critical piece of the entire webinar. If you don't deliver this short but crucial few minutes of content correctly, people will either log-off of the webinar or not be receptive to your offer. This is so important! It's why we give you the exact script of what to say in each section in Webinar Rockstar.
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Pitch: The pitch lasts about 10 minutes and gives lots of details of the offer, what's included, what they get when they buy now, and any other logistical information. It's important to "show, don't tell" during the pitch!
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Q & A: After your pitch, you'll open up the webinar to a Q & A session where people can ask your questions about the content or your offer for about 15 minutes.
Urgency and Bonuses:
Part of what makes webinars so effective is that they have some kind of "urgency".
That means that there is either a limited-time bonus, a price increase, or something that inspires people to take action now instead of later.
We usually offer a webinar-only bonus for people who sign up or purchase the offer during the live webinar.
Phase 4: Post-Webinar Follow Up
Whew!
You did it! The webinar went great and you're feeling good, but your work isn't done yet!
There are still some crucial things you must do after the live webinar.
These few follow-up steps can potentially double or triple the sales you made live on the webinar, so they are absolutely necessary!
If you don't do the proper post-webinar actions, you'll be leaving money on the table.
Post-webinar Emails:
After the webinar ends, we have a "replay period" where those who couldn't attend live can watch the replay for about 24-48 hours.
This is also their limited window to purchase the offer you made on the webinar!
You need to send 3 emails after the live webinar ends, spread out over the next few days.
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First is an email with the link to the replay of the webinar. (And people will email you about the replay!)
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Next is a reminder that the webinar offer is expiring.
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The final email is a last chance reminder.
The content of these emails is SO critical, which is why we include word for word scripts for each email in the templates included in Webinar Rockstar.
After the replay period, you close the offer, make sure to redirect all your pages and links to a "You missed it!" page (example below), and then you deserve a break for a webinar well done!
There are also tons of awesome ways you can actually re-purpose your webinar recordings - either by monetizing the replays, turning them into content, or using them to build your email list. We cover all of this advanced replay monetization in Webinar Rockstar.
Host Your Own Profitable, Fun Webinar
Now, you know the Four P's of a successful webinar:
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Preparation
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Promotion
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Pitching
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Post-Webinar
I want you to take action and plan your first webinar!
I recommend you get the Ultimate Webinar Checklist and start planning your first webinar!