Convert Your Webinar Leads into Sales Pipeline Using the BDA Strategy

Webinar marketing has emerged as an integral marketing tool amidst the global shift due to the pandemic. Among the several ways that B2B marketers have found to stay in touch and stay relevant in these times, webinar marketing is a great way to generate high-quality leads from your audience. 

Webinars have been popular for over a decade but 2020 has introduced a massive shift towards digital meets and conferences. In terms of safety as well as reach, webinars have proven to be a reliable and integral part of B2B marketing plans. 

What Is Webinar Marketing?

Webinar Marketing, quite simply, is using webinars to promote your business. But as the popularity of webinars has grown, the term has become somewhat ambiguous. Webinars have some of the most promising attendance rates at over 44% for marketing webinars. It can go up to 60% if it is a training webinar. 

Given that the average webinar duration is about an hour, webinars are one of the longest engagement-generating content formats that you can create. It is only a matter of strong promotion to get the ball rolling with the attendees, and most marketers agree. Then why aren’t businesses using this miracle tool to bring in a ton of webinar leads for their business?

Honestly, they are. But conversion rates for webinar leads are very low. Most marketers expect a single-digit webinar conversion rate even though studies show that well-hosted webinars can have up to 40% conversion rates. So how do you make sure that you employ the best practices to create a webinar? 

Before you get to that, let’s take a look at the webinar sales funnel and how it works.

How Does a Webinar Sales Funnel Work?

A webinar sales funnel isn’t too different from the regular sales funnel. The only real difference is the object of sales is not a product or a service but an event.

Webinars have to be planned like events and sold like products. Once the event planning is underway, you will have to attract participants through awareness stage content and marketing. Once you have interested participants, it is up to the sales team to push them further down the sales funnel with offers, expert content, and encouraging guidance. If this process is done right, webinar funnels can bring in several webinar leads over a period of time.

But if you are looking for a webinar strategy to ensure you have a successful webinar, you need to look beyond the basics.  The right content, the right subject matter, and the right time are all essential. But for unprecedented results, you have to employ unprecedented tools. There are a few lesser-known elements that are overlooked when it comes to converting webinar leads into a strong sales pipeline. Deck 7’s BDA strategy is an excellent approach to webinar marketing and helps you prepare for the webinar well in advance.

What Is the BDA Strategy?

The BDA strategy is Deck 7’s original strategy that breaks down the success of any event or plan into three steps i.e., before, during and after (BDA). This allows us to step back and take a look at the event, in this case – a webinar, in terms of actionable time periods. The strategy offers specific instructions for each stage and offers a path to successful conversion of webinar leads. 

How to Use BDA for Webinar Success

Let’s take a look at the elements of the Before, During, and After Strategy.

Before the Webinar – Attract Leads

Communication

• Know your audience: understand your buyer and their pain points to make sure that you attract the right audience to your webinar. The better your targeting is, the more webinar leads you will convert.
• Send the first email informing your audience about the webinar one month in advance.
• Follow-up regularly with details and information.
• Send webinar-related content and specifics to generate and retain interest.
• A day before the webinar, send a reminder.
• A final one goes 10-15 minutes before the webinar starts.

Equipment

• Make sure you have good-quality equipment for audio and video recording of your webinar. 
• The platform must be easy to use and have adequate features to help you navigate.
• Your webcam and computer must be webinar-ready too!

Promotion

• Bring in guests and co-hosts for your webinar. Co-hosting a webinar or bringing in a guest with certain expertise will allow you to reach a new audience and target new webinar leads. 
• Use multiple channels to effectively promote your webinar. LinkedIn may be a reliable platform but don’t limit your efforts to a single channel.
• For wider reach, use paid advertisements to promote the webinar. This not only increases the visibility of the webinar, but also builds brand awareness for your business, bringing in more webinar leads for conversion.

During the Webinar – Engage Leads

Engagement

• Address the attendees with their first name.
• Instead of waiting till the end, add intermittent questions for more engagement.
• Use digital whiteboards to draw out your ideas or frameworks.
• Give an opportunity to the sales reps to join the webinar so that they get firsthand know-how of the audience and their critical requirements which will help target webinar leads better in the future.

Polling 

• Never ever forget to poll your audience. That is where you get their clear intent. 
• Be creative when framing your poll questions. Understanding what you want to know from your audience can be a good first step to creating your questions.
• Keep the poll choices simple and clear for you to understand their real intent.

After the Webinar – Nurture Leads

Communication

• Send an email within 24 hours after the webinar thanking the attendees.
• Ask for audience feedback through a survey within 48 hours after the webinar.
• Engage with the webinar leads by sending them follow-up emails with related learning material and a clear call to action. 
• Be responsive in communication and nurture your webinar leads till they convert.

Retargeting

• Retarget your audience through ads and campaigns.
• The sales team can target the attendees by sending them the recording and slides of the webinar.
• The webinar can be turned into a resource on the website for future visitors and be used to generate new webinar leads.

The BDA strategy is designed to help you get high-quality leads that are actively engaging with you. These leads can be further sustained by creating a blog post about the webinar. To know more about the strategy, connect with a Deck 7 expert today!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do webinars generate leads?

Webinar leads are filtered down through a sales funnel. Not all webinar registrations turn into attendees, but those who do are interested in your business. Of the attendees, some are just interested in the webinar and some resonate with your ideas. These are new webinar leads ready for conversion.

How do I convert webinar leads? 

One of the primary ways to convert webinar leads is to host a smooth and well-conducted seminar. Add information and interactive elements to the webinar. Another way to convert webinar leads is to follow up with your webinar leads after the webinar.