Are your webinars suffering from low attendance? Do you feel like your webinars are just … blah-blah-blah? Are you putting a lot of effort into organizing them with little or no reward?

If this is the case, you need to start doing things differently so that future webinars are more successful. Achieving this success will help you generate the leads that you need to expand your business.

Why your webinar is not so successful?

Now, in order for this to happen, you need to understand why your webinars are not successful in the first place. It is important to understand the problem, so you don’t make the same mistakes over and over again. There are several possible reasons and fails why your successful webinars have been… not so successful.

Failing to think of the audience

It’s important to remember that your webinar should not be focused on you and your business. Yeah, believe it or not, it really isn’t all about you. It should be aimed at providing a valuable experience for the audience. This means that you have to understand your audience and what type of content is likely to interest them and keep them engaged.

If you do not put your audience first, they are unlikely to sign up for your webinar. This means that you could put a lot of effort into creating a high-quality event that few people see because it’s not centered on the right topic. Now what good is that? Hosting a webinar without an audience is pretty much the same as you singing alone in the shower.

It would be best if you also considered the practicalities of arranging a webinar for your chosen audience. For instance, what time of day are they likely to be available? How long would they be willing to stay put for your webinar without losing interest? The truth is, everybody is busy, even if they’re doing nothing — they’re busy. Most people are only willing to commit to one webinar each week, so getting your timing right is essential.

A lack of marketing effort

A lot of people underestimate the need for effective marketing for webinars. It is assumed that just a random email, or a quick mention is enough to get people interested in attending a webinar. Boy oh boy, how wrong they are. Just letting people know about your webinar is not the same as marketing it. Simply sending an email invite to people on your database is not going to cut it. If you are not creating solid marketing plans for your webinars, there is a good chance that this is why they are failing.

It would help if you planned to start promoting a webinar, at least one month before it’s due to take place. This gives you sufficient time to build your audience. Your promotional efforts should include creating content around the subject of the webinar and sharing it across social media channels such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. You should also take your webinar email marketing seriously. Create tailored emails with eye-catching headlines so that your potential audience actually reads your email rather than just ignoring it as spam. These are some of the best ways to inform people about your event and help to optimize your lead generation success.

Too much sales-related content

There is no doubt that a successful webinar can lead to sales down the line. However, if you are treating your webinars as sales events from the start, they are unlikely to be successful.

Your audience does not want to be sold to. They want to learn something new and to understand better how you are a knowledgeable organization within your industry. So the focus should never be too centered on what you’re selling, at least not yet.

You should always concentrate on informing and engaging your audience rather than selling to them. If they become leads as a result, your sales team can then work to acquire their business.

Failure to deliver on promises

No one likes to be promised something only for it never to materialize. For this reason, you should never make promises you cannot keep. If you advertise that your webinar will provide certain knowledge and this does not happen, you are never going to succeed. Frankly, it gives the perception that anything you say cannot be trusted, and that’s definitely not a good reputation to have amongst potential customers.

You need to ensure that you can actually provide your audience with what you promise. This could involve teaching them a new technique or providing them with learning that they can use to develop new strategies. If people get what they expect, they are more likely to sign-up for future webinars and recommend them to others. Plus, aim for the highest value you can provide. Even if you can deliver what you have promised, don’t settle for just an average standard. Teach that technique or idea as best you can, and even add other tips you feel will be of value to the audience if possible. They will love you for it, and keep coming back for more.

When you are considering the promises that you make, do not forget to factor in the length of your webinar. People are taking time out of their busy day to attend. So if you promise a 30-minute webinar, they are not going to be impressed if it drags on for an hour. On the other hand, if you promise that a webinar will last for an hour, people are likely to be disappointed if you only give them 30 minutes. In summary, stay true to your word!

Not enough interaction

There is no point in inviting people to a webinar if they are not going to be able to participate. You might as well simply produce a pre-recorded video. If all your webinars involve talking to an audience all through the event with no means of interaction, this could be why they do not succeed.

You need to make use of the latest webinar technology, which allows you to interact with your audience. Interactive tools that you can consider using include mood emoticons, live polls and text chat. Using these tools means that you can have a real dialogue with the audience. This makes the webinar more interesting for those who attend. It also helps you to learn more about the audience, which can be useful when it comes to developing new products and services.

Problems with equipment or the platform

Choosing the wrong platform to host your webinar can easily lead to failure. You have to select a platform that gives you access to the features that you need to produce a high-quality webinar. You also need to make sure that your audience size can be accommodated and that the platform is supported on all devices. Taking time to choose the right platform helps to optimize audience numbers and improves your chances of creating a successful event.

The platform is not the only technology that can cause a webinar to fail if you are not careful. You also need to pay close attention to the equipment that you use. For instance, you may want to use a standalone mic instead of the one that is built into your laptop.

It’s also a good idea to plan for any problems that might happen. For instance, what would happen if your internet connection got interrupted for too long? Or worse, if your laptop crashed? It’s good practice to have an alternative available. Your audience knows that technology can fail, but if you have a back-up plan prepared, they will be impressed.

If you get it right, a webinar can help you raise the profile of your organization and secure new leads. However, if you make mistakes, your webinars re unlikely to help you achieve your goals. Any of the factors mentioned in this article could be the cause of your problems. Hopefully, you now have the inspiration you need to create successful webinars that eventually convert to leads.