How to set up a webinar to collect emails

Lead generation is a nonnegotiable part of every successful marketing plan and the key to a thriving business. After all, if you’re not consistently generating interest in your products and services, and getting new prospects onboard, you won’t have a business for long.

While there are many ways to generate leads, one of the most effective methods is using webinars to collect emails.

If you’ve been in the business trenches for any length of time, especially if you use digital marketing to promote your business, you’ve no doubt attended a webinar (or 10) and been on the receiving end of pleas to sign up for many more.

That’s because webinar marketing is a surefire way to enhance sales, which makes learning how to set up a webinar to collect emails — or generate leads — a great use of your time.

If growing your email list and generating leads are your top goals, then read on to learn how to use webinars to do just that.

Benefits of webinars 

First, let’s cover a few benefits of webinar marketing:

• According to a Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs report, many B2B marketers — 61 percent, in fact — consider webinars the best content marketing method.
• Webinars can reach a larger audience than you can reach in person, which is especially important during the coronavirus pandemic, as in-person events aren’t feasible. Depending on your webinar software and the subscription plan you choose, you can accommodate thousands of attendees.
• Webinars create brand awareness and help you establish yourself as an expert in your field.
• Webinars generate leads and increase sales. Because participants have to register to attend, you’ll have a ready-made email list of interested prospects to follow up with afterward. And you’ll have the perfect reason for following up — to share a recording of the event or give attendees more information about the products, services, or programs you covered in the webinar. Some of these leads will naturally convert to sales.
• You can break your webinar content into smaller pieces to use in the rest of your content marketing — blog posts, social media updates, and emails.
• You can repurpose a webinar recording to use as a high-quality lead magnet or content upgrade to collect additional emails.

How to set up a webinar to collect emails

Let’s assume you’re sold on using webinars in your content marketing. How do you optimize webinars to get more email subscribers and leads? Collecting emails in this case really means getting webinar registrations, and there are several ways to do that.

13 ways to generate webinar registrations

1. Write a blog post or a series of blog posts about your webinar. Talk about who it’s for, the benefits of attending, and what attendees will walk away with. The call to action at the end of the blog post will direct readers to your webinar registration landing page, where you’ll collect emails to send more information and reminders.
2. Share the blog post to all your social media platforms. If it’s in the marketing budget, use paid social advertising via Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn ads to promote the blog post.
3. Create short, dedicated content — like graphics — specifically for each social platform you use, and post it in the days and weeks leading up to the webinar with a link to the webinar registration page.
4. Promote the webinar itself directly using ads on the social media platform that your leads frequent the most.
5. To collect more emails, make sure you mention that the webinar is free and that everyone who registers will get the replay when it’s available.
6. After you deliver your webinar, use the recording as a lead magnet or a content upgrade people have to sign up to receive — more leads!
7. Host a joint webinar with another business owner who offers complementary products and services. Each business will promote the webinar to their respective audiences via email and social media, creating the opportunity to collect additional emails.
8. Email the webinar invitation to your current subscriber list and ask them to share it.
9. Ask your current clients and customers to share the webinar invitation with their colleagues.
10. Be sure there’s a webinar registration lead capture form on a prominent page on your website or on the web pages that have the most traffic.
11. You could even go all out and write a press release about the webinar and distribute the release through PR Newswire or another press release distribution service.
12. If you have a sales team, ask them to promote the webinar.
13. If there are influencers in your audience who you’ve developed good relationships with (the “good relationships” part of the equation is key), ask them to promote the webinar.

While webinars might require more forethought, planning, and time to build than other content marketing assets, they can also produce a greater return on investment — in all the ways mentioned above. And unlike other forms of content marketing that often require many months to see results, a strategically crafted webinar promoted to the right audience can pay off quickly in the form of new email subscribers and qualified leads.

Ready to get into the webinar marketing game? Jotform offers a robust selection of customizable lead generation forms, including webinar registration forms.