The document provides an 8 step guide ("8G's") for creating an effective webinar campaign. The 8 steps are: 1) Get organized by determining goals, topics, platforms and logistics; 2) Get content by creating engaging slides, scripts and polls; 3) Get social by promoting on social media and with influencers; 4) Get ready for the big day with rehearsals and technical preparations; 5) Get the wow factor by starting on time and keeping attendees engaged; 6) Get recycling by repurposing the webinar recording as blog posts and videos; 7) Get analytical by evaluating metrics and feedback; 8) Get started by following the provided checklist. The guide emphasizes planning, promotion, engagement

1. 8G’s: Harness the
power of webinars
Webinar Guide

2. Introduction
Webinars are a great tool for leveraging your content marketing and
generating qualified leads. They’re more convenient and less
expensive than holding a real life event and can extend your
geographic reach.
Webinars allow market experts to share a wealth of knowledge and
encourage direct engagement through polls/Q&A sessions.
Getting your webinar strategy right will directly and positively impact
the quantity and quality of your leads
Yet many B2B businesses are failing to take full advantage of the
benefits webinars can bring. Why?
The most common reasons are poor implementation or not knowing
how to get started.
To help you harness the full power that webinars can bring, we have
outlined the 8Gs to creating a full proof webinar campaign.
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3. First things first, consider if a webinar is right for you and your
business’ needs. Start with your marketing goals. Live product
demos are ideal for incentivising existing leads to make a
purchase, whereas thought leadership content such as training
webinars and Q&A sessions are best for lead generation and
customer retention.
Whatever your goal may be, you must bear in mind that the
majority of online audiences lose interest after one hour (unless
your goal is to discuss the best PokémonGo strategy) so a day
long training seminar is futile!
Breakdown the topic into digestible 30-45 minute videos to
avoid viewers losing interest.
To help with picking a topic, we would also suggest researching
industry related webinars and speaking to sales/customer service
teams to establish what your customers’ pain points are. Then
review these internally to see if the topics resonate with key
stakeholders.
Get a plan
G1

4. 2G
Get organised
Once you have established your goal and
picked a topic, you must decide on the logistics.
Ask yourself the following questions:
What webinar platform will you use?
Will it integrate with yourmarketing automation
system? Are there registration restrictions to
your webinar platform?
Picking the right platform is vital to your campaign so
make sure you choose one that is in line with your
marketing goals.
If you use Google Hangouts you’ll be restricted to just 10
sign ups - Not an appropriate platform for generating leads
but definitely one to consider for product
demonstrations (customer retention).
ReadyTalk, WebEx, GoToWebinar, Webinars OnAir, Zoom
and ON24 are a few webinar platforms that are available. To
find the right webinar service for you, ask your marketing
agency or use a comparison website.
REVIEW AND COMPARE

5. 2G
Where will you record the webinar? Who will host
the webinar? Who will supportthe operational
side of the webinar?
Picking the right location to
present your webinar is
paramount. You will need
somewhere quiet that doesn’t
allow for an echo, is
free from distraction,
and, of course, has
excellent access to
the internet.
Recruiting the right speaker(s) and support team is also
vital. You don’t want someone who has a voice that
sends your viewers to sleep. Although, you also want to
avoid somebody who has a strong accent or speaks too
fast as viewers may struggle to understand them.
Webinars tend to have a lot of dependencies such as
copy writers, designers and third party speakers that can
impact deadlines. To avoid delay, create a project plan to
ensure that the deliverables are achieved and everyone
is aware of the production deadlines.
ProWorkflow, Basecamp, Slack and FunctionPoint are
great tools that improve the collaboration of projects.
Pro tip:
Feature an industry
expert to co-host your
webinar. This will
attract more sign-ups
and will expand your
social reach
through affiliate
marketing.

6. 2G
What time and day will you present the webinar?
Will you hold a one-off online conference, two of
the same session or a series of webinars?
Whether you have one or several, the time and
date you pick is crucial to getting registrants to sign
up - especially if you have a global audience. Avoid
low turnouts by ensuring all of the major time zones
in your target market can attend the event.
Do some research and be prepared to test days and
times to find the optimal one for your audience.
Content needed
* Email (Promotional
1,2 and 3)
* Social suite
* Slide deck
* Webinar agenda

7. 3
Get engaging
content
Use a compelling call to
action (CTA) alongside an
optimised form to ensure
prospects register and that
you attain the relevant data
for your business goal.
Creating an
optimised landing
page is fundamental
to attracting
attendees, since this
page is
where prospects
will sign up.
Tracking codes and unique URLs should be used
so you can establish where the leads come from.
This will benefit you in the long run as it will
teach you about your audience’s user journey.
The content used must
be engaging and concise.
Include 3-5 key points that
summarise the key
learnings from the webinar.
Pro tip:
Optimise your thank
you page by adding
freemium content
that is relevant to
your
webinar topic

8. 3Avoid reciting your slides
word for word – stick to one
point per slide and elaborate
around the subject (Lucky for
you registrants can’t see you
during the presentation, so
don’t stress about memorising
your script).
You could also improve your reach potential by adding social share links to the
thank you page that have unique trackable URLs. Share Link Generator is a
great
Create a compelling slide deck
and write a strong script to go
along side it. Keep the layout
and colour scheme consistent
and remember, less is more,
so don’t clutter your slides
with paragraphs of text.
Try to build an
And don’t forget, visuals are
your friend – use diagrams,
relevant imagery and
infographics to help portray
your message.
emotional connection
and engage with registrants by using
personal anecdotes, genuine examples, polls
and humour (No dad jokes please).
tool that allows you to do just this and lets you
pre-populate the message of the post to give
you control over the quality of the social post.

9. Stagger the marketing of your webinar using social media and email marketing.
Oktopost, HootSuite and TweetDeck are excellentsocial publishing tools that will
allow you to schedule your posts in advance.
Amplify your social promotion by using Oktopost’s employee advocacy board. The
tool will leverage your social reach and encourages employees to share up to date
content.
Create a webinar specific website, profile and company page banner to heighten the
exposure of your event. Creative social post images will capture the attention of
your online audience and unique trackable links should be used to establish exactly
where your leads have come from.
4GGet social

10. Affiliate marketing is a great strategy to extend your online reach. Use industry
influencers, third party speaker connections and partners to promote your webinar
across their social profiles and company newsletters.
Dependent upon your webinar goal, why not create a LinkedIn group. This will allow
you to publish content about your webinar, promote supporting material and
generate discussions around your topic. If you don’t have time to create a group, join
an existing one. However, ensure you check the group's purpose and how the
members operate, as many groups tend to limit discussions to core business activities.
Maximise your campaign potential and use PPC. When targeting is used properly
LinkedIn, Facebook, Google and Twitter are excellenttools for increasing exposure
and generating high quality leads. Pulse posts and blog posts are other effective
methods that generate registrants and enhance your thought leadership image.
4G

11. Pro tip: Utilise your third party
speaker and get them to send
promotional emails to their
database too. But don’t forget
to suppress against those
who have already signed
up to the event to avoid
spamming.
4G
17% 23% 22% 24% 11% 2%
BEST DAY FOR PROMO EMAILS
Days with the most registrants:
MON TUE WED THU FRI S/S
ON23 Webinar
Benchmarks (2015)
Harness the power of marketing automation to send dedicated emails to your existing
database. Most webinar campaigns involve sending 2-3 emails. These tend to go out
two to one weeks prior to the webinar, then the day/hour before the go live date.
Act-On, HubSpot and Pardot are some of the few marketing automation systems that
allow you to integrate with webinar platforms.
When scheduling promotional emails, you should consider the time and day they are
sent. Researchconducted by ON24 into Webinar Benchmarks (2015), established that
the worst days to send B2B promotional emails are Monday, Friday and the weekend.

12. 5
Get ready for
the big day
Assistants can be used to monitor live twitter posts, the Q&A box and
polling questions. These people need to understand the subject matter so
that they can assist in answering the audiences’ questions. Assistants
should also check that the polling questions are ready and have been
loaded into the platform before the go live date.
Have a dress rehearsal and practise until you are familiar with the software, script
and presentation. Winging it is not the best idea! Check that:
Pro tip: Have a contingency plan. Technical
difficulties can occur; the internet could
drop out;or a presenter could fall ill. Make
sure you have a plan in place in case any of
these unfortunate situations occur.
The facilitator understands how to troubleshoot any issues, has checked
all the equipment is working and they are booked for the go live date.
Facilitators should also ensure the presenters know how to use the
speaker equipment (i.e. headset, telephone or conference speaker).
Presenter(s) have prepared the slides and the agenda, recognise
they must leave a few minutes for the audience to answer their
polls and are familiar with using the equipment.

13. 6
G
Get the WOW factor
It’s D-day and today is all about making sure
everything goes off without a hitch. Publish
an eleventh hour tweet, schedule a final
promotional email and dial in an hour before
you go live. This way you can attract any last
minute registrants and iron out any technical
difficulties.
Let registrants dial in ten minutes before the
webinar is due to start. This will allow for
keen early birds to get settled and will ensure
you to start on time.
Prior to the webinar starting, hit record and
notify registrants that you will be starting
soon.
Recording the webinar is essential as you can
use the video for post-webinar promotion -
plus it will give you an excellentpiece of
content that you can repurpose in the future.
MORNING
10 MINS TO GO
5 MINS TO GO

14. 6
G
If you used a designated hashtag for
promoting the webinar don’t forget to remind
registrants so they can engage with you online
during and after the webinar.
AT THE
START OF
THE
WEBINAR
Use the following housekeeping rules to
guarantee a triumphant performance:
✓ Don’t ignore your attendees. If people
join the webinar early, let them know
you’ll be starting on time.
✓ Be courteous. Present your agenda and
let participants know you will be using
polling questions (and addressing
questions at the end).
✓ Limit background noise. Avoid rustling
paper, use a coaster for your drink and
make sure all the windows are closed.
✓ Speak slowly and clearly, and allow for
small breaks in between polling
questions. Attendees will need time to
read the question and respond.
✓ Be gallant. Thank everyone for taking
time out of their day to listen to your
presentation and make your slide deck
available to participants.
✓ Use a short post webinar survey to ask
for feedback. This will help the next
webinar be more successful.

15. 7G Repurpose your webinar:
‣ Create a post-webinar blog post
‣ Upload the video to Vimeo and
YouTube
‣ Add the slides to slideshare
‣ Promote the recording on social
media.
You could also use the recording to
create an in-depth white paper or a small
piece of “snackable” content, such as an
infographic.
Get
recycling

16. G
Get analytical
Evaluate your attendance and drop off data. If only
a few people registered, then think about ways to
improve your promotion strategy. If a lot of
attendees disengaged after 10-15 minutes of your
webinar starting, reconsider your topic and review
whether the landing page truly reflected the
message of your presentation.
Analyse your poll results and the questions raised
during the webinar. This will teach you about your
target audience and what their exact pain points
are. Their comments may even highlight areas for
producing other content.

17. The return on investment from your
webinar will be determined by the
length of your business's sales cycle.
So the key question you must ask
yourself is: are the quality of leads
derived from running a webinar of a
satisfactory standard? This will then
help you decide what to do
differently, or the same, for your next
webinar.
Final insights
Connect with us
Questions?
01189 001920
We can help. Contact us at:
Or visit our website:
www.sharpahead.com

18. Webinar
Checklist
Determine your goal and pick a topic.
Select speakers, a webinar team
and resources.
Pick a webinar platform.
Decide a location, pick a date and create
a project plan.
Create an optimised reg and thank you
landing page (Include a title, description,
form, date and time, CTA, speaker bio,
speaker headshot and social share links).
Produce a slide deck, webinar script, webinar
hashtag and polling questions.
Create the webinar session and integrate
the system with your landing page form.
Produce a social suite using your hashtag
and trackable URLs. Then schedule the
posts.
Design website and social banners, then
upload them to relevant profiles.
(If you have time) create a LinkedIn group,
blog post and pulse post.
Create promotional emails with trackable
URLs and schedule them (Don’t forget to
suppress against registrants to prevent
spamming).
Upload the slide deck and polling questions
to the webinar platform,
Dry run of the webinar. Check the equipment, audio and
the webinar team understand their role.
Send reminder emails complete with sign-in information
and, if applicable, your webinar hashtag.
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! Check the equipment,
audio and the webinar team understand their role.
Schedule a last minute tweet and email.
Record the webinar.
Follow and explain the relevant webinar housekeeping
rules to registrants.
Send follow up email to attendees and add them to
the correct lists for future marketing.
Send follow up email to non-attendees and add them to
the correct lists for future marketing.
Repurpose the webinar and create “snackable” content.
POST WEBINAR
ON THE DAY
PRE WEBINAR: 2 WEEKS TO GO
PRE WEBINAR: 4 WEEKS TO GO
PRE WEBINAR: 6 WEEKS TO GO
Live tweet and respond to questions.
Update the landing page form and copy.
Analyse the webinar results (i.e. drop off rates,
engagement, participation) and leverage findings.
Edit the video and upload it to video host (Vimeo/YouTube).
Upload the slidedeck to Slideshare and your landing page.
Schedule post webinar promotion (Emails, social posts,
blog etc).

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TO DO
TO BUY
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20. THAMES VALLEY OFFICE
Davidson House, The Forbury,
Reading, RG1 3EU
PHONE: 01189 485766
EMAIL: info@sharpahead.com
YORKSHIRE OFFICE
1 Mariner Court, Calder Business Park,
Wakefield, WF4 3FL
PHONE: 01924 851500
EMAIL: wakefield@sharpahead.com