How Webinars can supercharge your sales funnel
For those now aware of what webinars actually are let alone how they can be used to supercharge your sales funnel, in this article, I aim to shine some light on how to make webinars work for anybody.
In short, a webinar is a seminar conducted over the internet. Webinars are usually presented in a slide show format and may include audio and video components. Many times, webinars are used to provide information or training on a particular subject matter. Webinars can be used as a marketing tool to promote products or services.
Webinars can be helpful because they allow large groups of people to interact and learn from each other without having to physically be in the same room. Additionally, webinars provide an easy way for experts to share their knowledge with a wide audience. They can be recorded and watched at a later time, which makes them convenient for busy people who cannot attend live events.
In this article, we won’t dive into what the best webinar tool is, but more so how to incorporate them into your sales funnel effectively no matter what you use.
How Are Webinars Changing How People Do Business?
Webinars are changing the way people do business by making it easier to connect with potential customers and clients. Webinars also allow businesses to show their products and services in a more interactive way, which can be beneficial in terms of building relationships and closing deals. Additionally, webinars tend to be more engaging and informative than traditional marketing methods, such as email marketing or print advertisements. Webinars can also help businesses save money on travel expenses associated with sales presentations or conferences.
If you’re not using webinars as a part of your sales funnel, it’s my opinion that you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to accelerate your sales. Especially when combined with the top sales enablement tools. Webinars are incredibly powerful for boosting the performance of your sales funnel, and there are a number of ways you can use them to do so.
Why Incorporate Webinars?
There are many reasons people have for incorporating Webinars into their funnel and/or business model. In my opinion, there are 4 major reasons behind what makes webinars so powerful
1. Webinars generate leads
Webinars are an excellent way to generate leads. By hosting a webinar, you can attract people who are interested in what you have to offer and get them into your sales funnel. You can promote your webinar through various channels, such as email marketing, social media, and paid advertising.
2. Webinars build relationships
Webinars are also a great way to build relationships with potential and current customers. By hosting a webinar, you can create a personal connection with your audience and build rapport. This is important because it will make people more likely to buy from you when they feel like they know and trust you.
3. Webinars can close deals
Webinars can also be used to close deals. If you have a product or service that you’re selling, you can use a webinar to give people a demo of what you’re offering and then offer them a special deal that’s only available during the webinar. This is an effective way to get people to buy from you because they feel like they’re getting a great deal.
4. Webinars for upsells and cross-sells
Finally, you can use webinars to upsell and cross-sell your products and services. If someone buys something from you, you can offer them an upgrade or additional product that would complement what they’ve already bought. This is a great way to boost sales and increase the value of each customer.
Your Average Sales Funnel
Your average sales funnel consists of only a few major parts and if you break most sales funnels down to their basic model, it will look similar to the following.
- The Traffic: This may include paid or organic traffic using ads or popups within SEO-optimized content.
- The Lead Capture: This is how you capture visitors generally via them submitting their email to you in exchange for some form of value or lead magnet.
- The Email Funnel: Using a series of emails, you aim to warm up the lead for an eventual sale.
- Closing The Sale: You aim to close the lead on product sales, whether a physical product, software, or information product.
The Problem With Average
The problem with average is that during this entire model from step 1 to step 5, there is very limited personability. And with a lack of personability comes a lack of trust.
There is a reason that video is dominating all Social Media platforms right now, and before that it was images, and before that it was text. People respond best to things they can see, hear, and feel. In fact, the more of the senses you can touch, the more of an impact you are going to have on your audience and potential buyers.
With a Webinar, you’re not only serving up video and sound. You’re able to serve up live video and sound with interactions, with tools like live questioning, chat, and polls.
In short, the more senses you hit on = the more trust you build, and the more sales you’re likely to make.
How To Best Incorporate Webinars
There are a number of ways you could Incorporate webinars at every step of a sales funnel.
Your main content could be an SEO-optimized live webinar on YouTube where you rank for a specific, live, or trending keyword. You could use a webinar in place of your lead capture and attempt to send traffic directly to the webinar where you capture their emails after watching it. I always say that anything is worth experimenting with since you never know how each audience is going to respond.
However, in my experience, the best place to incorporate webinars is near the beginning of the funnel so you can increase personability and familiarity early, but also not too early by where you are trying to sell right off the bat.
The Traffic: This may include paid or organic traffic using ads or popups within SEO-optimized content.
The Lead Capture: This is how you capture visitors generally via them submitting their email to you in exchange for some form of value or lead magnet.
*RIGHT HERE*
The Email Funnel: Using a series of emails, you aim to warm up the lead for an eventual sale.
Closing The Sale: You aim to close the lead on product sales, whether a physical product, software or information product.
A Successful Model
A successful model and the model I recommend is the Email Invite Free Webinar, as it includes all the factors we want to hit.
- It’s not asking for too much attention too soon in the funnel
- It allows for early personability and familiarity
- It’s an event that’s free that you can easily build a sense of urgency around, even if it’s pre-recorded
- It’s a novel lead magnet. Pdfs and free training are the standards and people have seen that all before
- It allows all of the interactivity that comes with webinars (chats, polls, and Q&A)
In practical terms, the funnel would then look like the following
The Traffic
Traffic goes into the funnel based on the value or intrigue you have created within your ads or content.
The Lead Capture
The lead capture isn’t a PDF or something people have seen before, but access to an exclusive webinar, which is interactive and where they can ask questions. The access is the lead magnet. I’ve heard this referred to as ‘the VIP club effect,’ which is essentially just scarcity.
The Email Funnel
The first or second email gives instructions on the date and time of the event. If pre-recorded you can use scheduling options and allow the user to choose a time best suited to them.
Closing The Sale
The webinar should offer a tonne of value hitting on all of the major pain points of the audience.
In copywriting, there is the PAS formula (Pain, Agitate, Solve). Your webinar should include this. That is, speaking to the pain or your audience, agitating the problem, and solving it to some degree.
People often follow the structure of offering the what but not the how. I like to offer some of the how so that the audience gets a taste of what else you have and trusts that you know what you’re talking about, which makes them willing to pay for the more in-depth information or highest value product, which is where the close comes in.
You can close sales right there on the webinar, and include either an extra email list they can join or a credit card/signup form right there on the page. Again, anything is worth experimenting with.
To Wrap Up
There are many ways that adding webinars can supercharge your sales funnel. If you’re not using webinars as part of your sales funnel, now is the time to start experimenting. They are an incredibly powerful tool that can help you boost your sales and accelerate your business growth.
The biggest thing you need to remember is that the higher the personability in an interaction, the higher level of trust and sales you’re going to make. And in the hierarchy of things, there is only one thing that can offer better personability than video.
Interactive, personable video, also known as a webinar.
If you’re looking to create Webinars or even full-scale online events, click here to find out more.
By Chris Hardy – https://selfmadenewbie.com
About the Author / Akeem Okunola
