Ready to leverage the power of webinars for your business? Use this webinar plan template to execute well-polished and effective webinars that get real results.
The Power of Webinars
Webinars aren’t a new strategy or tool. Yet, they can still be incredibly powerful. In fact, in the new post-COVID-19 normal, webinars may play an increasingly important role in many businesses.
COVID has definitely pushed for things to go online so webinars are a good way to replace offline in-person events such as conferences that you would need to go to typically to sell to potential clients.
A webinar can be used for demos and sales. It can be used for training and unveiling products. They can be used for fundraising.
There are two main types of webinars. Live webinars and pre-recorded replays which can be used again and again. Once recorded they can be used repeatedly as video content.
One of the best benefits of webinars, especially compared with old live in-person presentations is the ability to reach hundreds of prospects at the same time. All without losing any time or money on travel. They can be very efficient.
Now, more than ever, we can expect consumers of all types to use webinars for learning and making decisions.
As some of the top startup accelerators like Alejandro Cremades teach, webinars are a good way to entice potential customers and to push them over the edge to become loyal to your brand.
Webinar Plan Template
Start with a brief anchoring overview that summarizes your webinar and plan. Just a couple of sentences.
This is like making a clear introduction and showing the attendee what they are about to watch. It is a good way to provide important context. This way the attendee is not left wondering about what is about to come their way.
Goals & Objectives
What are the targeted goals and objectives of this webinar?
What specific metrics are you aiming for? How many webinar registrations, attendees, and sales of funds raised are you expecting for this to be a success? At what point will it be considered a success or a ‘learning experience’.
It may be worth reiterating your values, mission, and vision here as a decision-making tool for everything else.
Items Needed
What are all the things you required to host and produce your webinar and get the results you want most?
Slides: While your webinar could be live with you on screen, many hosts also prefer to use a slide presentation or a mix of the two.
The webinar script: It can be wise to have a professional script created in addition to prompts and speaker notes along with any slides you’ll be using.
Marketing materials: From promoting your webinar with Google Ads to social media ads and posts to emails, landing pages, to reminders to all of the follow-up series you’ll use to convert after the event, there is plenty to create. Be sure you list out all of these items so they can be done well in advance.
Back up devices and connections: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. The key is being prepared. Have back up laptops and phones. Microphones if you are using them. You may even want a backup location to stream from in case of bad weather or power outages. A second or third internet connection is smart to have too.
Specifications
What format will you be delivering your webinar in?
What presentation tools or software will you use?
How long will it be?
Marketing Plan
How do you plan to market your webinar?
What ads will be created? What channels will be used to promote? What is the messaging to be used? How much is your budget for marketing your webinar?
What steps will they take, and how much of each of these strategies will they do. For example, how much direct mail, how many trade shows, blogs, or what will your monthly Google Ads spend be.
If you need to present this to your team, executives or board, and investors, it can be smart to include three different implementation options.
Arrange them by budget. Start with the leanest, and have more expensive and robust options. Detail everything they will include. If needed, advanced options can be grown into as our early marketing pays off and delivers cash flow and a positive return.
Who
Who will be responsible for all these items? Be clear in these plans so that each member of their team knows their roles, who is doing what, and to ensure all items are covered. Who will coordinate, create, and approve everything?
If you’ll be featuring any other speakers or will be cross-promoting with others, then make sure they are listed and there is someone dedicated to coordinating those efforts as well.
The Timeline
Create a timeline countdown. What will be done each day or week in terms of content creation, publishing, and marketing, and editing to pull this off without rushing it at the last minute?
Also, create a timeline for your follow-up sequences after the event.
Especially if you are using the webinar as part of your sales funnel. The real conversion into a customer does not happen right away. For this reason, following up is a critical thing of ultimately making things happen.
Summary
Webinars can be extremely efficient and powerful tools. They may continue to grow in value in the new era of business we are in as well. As you can have a look, there is a lot more to a great webinar than you may think. There are many more parts than just turning on your laptop camera and randomly broadcasting to the internet.
Webinars are typically a great way as well to create loyalty with potential customers. You have here the opportunity to have the devoted attention of people that are interested in getting educated in what you are doing whether that is your experience or the service that you are providing with a brand or product.