Webinars are cost-effective alternatives to hosting events that is been currently used by 60% of marketers. So, if you are a freelancer and looking for an effective way to turn your presentations into conversations and engage in fruitful online discussions with potential clients, then starting a webinar should be your imminent goal.
The webinar is an umbrella term used for events held on the internet. The event could be a conference, a meeting, a lecture or seminar which is attended by an exclusive online audience.
Since it is a form of one to many communications and quite cheap to execute, a freelancer can use this format to host events, promote his skills and gather various business opportunities. Here is a free guide on awesome tips to host a webinar guide for freelancers.
Awesome Tips on Webinars for Freelancers
Unsure about how to start a webinar? Here are some amazing tips to host some effective webinars.
1. The audience is your Focal Point – Engage Them Throughout
Just like any other marketing tactic, you need to engage your audience before, during and after the webinar. Your audience should look forward to the event.
How can you do this? Create a buzz by running a contest or publishing a blog post with relevant hashtags and keywords. You can also give away prizes during the event.
Welcome the guests with interesting presentations such as a slide or images. During the webinar, keep your audience engaged by asking relevant questions. Follow up with your clients or audience post the webinar by sending additional information or services.
2. Choose an Interesting and Specific Topic
This is the most challenging part – narrowing down to a specific topic. For example, if you are a blogger, you may consider content marketing an interesting topic.
However, the problem is content marketing is a huge and vast subject and not everything can fit into one webinar. Instead of choosing the entire subject, narrow your webinar topic to a more specific issue such as the benefits of keywords or backlinking.
This will not only help you plan effectively but it will also keep you on a single track.
3. Go for the Best Webinar Format
You have to be quite smart in choosing the webinar format as this depends on how well your event will go. You can try one from the list;
- Interview – You can interview an expert from the field, either together or on-screen with a screen share mode. This format is quite engaging as well as rewarding.
- Presentation–It is easy to create but less interactive. In this format, you create a PPT presentation and give out a rehearsed speech.
- Panel – Just like you see in the news channel, here you will have several speakers discuss a certain topic. Panels are a great way of sharing ideas and insights and a very good source for gathering clients.
- Product Demo – You can demonstrate your product or service to increase leads and reach out to more customers. If you are a wedding photographer, you can share the albums you have created and explain your process of producing the perfect memory.
4. Get in Touch With The Right Webinar Platform
After having selected the topic and format, it’s time that you choose the right webinar platform or software to get started. Here are some recommendations;
- google hangouts – Free software from google. It contains screen sharing. It also allows automatically record videos and publishes on YouTube. Includes streaming options as well.
- GoToWebinar – The software includes HD recording, polls, surveys, and registration systems. It is not free. Price starts at $89 per month.
- Webinars OnAir – This is additional software that you can add on to your GoogleHangouts that enables you to charge participants for joining.
- Adobe Connect – Comes with high-quality recording, streaming integration, invitation management, mobile connectivity, collaborations, and archiving option. The plan starts at $1250 per year for the webinar.
- Bright TALK– The software helps freelancers find the right community for the webinar. It is also integrated with the Salesforce system and the price starts from $850 a month.
5. The script is the Wheel of the Webinar
Just like any other event or function where the script or dialogues decide how the night would turn into, Webinar script is an essential roadmap to keep you ahead of others.
You might be a passionate worker but if you can’t articulate it as many words and capture the audience, then you may just fail. Your webinar could be a challenge if is not scripted.
6. Promotion is Important
Yes, as we said previously, you should lure your audience into the theatre, webinar here, with attractive, witty and continuous promotions.
A blog post or a case study is an interesting way to start the promotion. You can also send out emails and update the same on your social media channels. You can also consider associating with a fellow industry leader for the promotions.
7. Use Several Types of Media for Interactions
Instead of relying on PPT or video slides, you can use different types of media to present your webinar. Examples would be video or animations. If you want to demonstrate how the product works, make a real-time presentation instead of showing photos or pre-shot videos.
For example, a make-up artist can demonstrate a wedding makeover live with a model. This will create a greater impact on the audience.
8. Your Webinar Should be Interactive and Not a Monologue
One of the best ways to make your webinar a hit is by constantly taking your audience into consideration. If your audience is not participating, then it will soon turn out to be a flop show.
Make your webinar interactive, right from the promotions to the delivery. Ask participants to suggest ideas or topics discuss, invite them to talk on a common topic or quiz them, take surveys and even ask for feedback.
9. Few Additional Tips
Yes, this is the final word of advice. It is important that you dress up well and talk as if you own the audience. At the same time make sure you aren’t dominating, boasting and superimposing. If you want to share a new idea make sure you present measurable information regarding it. (1)
Start on time and don’t keep your audience waiting. Create a landing page for registration. Prepare for contingencies or emergencies like power shutdown, Wi-Fi back-up or any other hiccups. Finally turn off, gadgets and other distractions.
By following the above tips, we are quite sure that you can come up with some amazing and impressive webinars!
