Common Uses Of Webinars Include

According to Google, a webinar is a "seminar conducted over the Internet." While that webinar definition is true, a webinar is more than that.

When done correctly, information technology's a powerful marketing tactic that can position yous equally an expert in your field. It'll permit you to connect with your audience, train new employees, and increase your profit margin.

What Is a Webinar — Learn how to use webinars in your business. In this article we report webinar meaning. (Image source: Envato Elements)

In this article, nosotros'll explain what a webinar really is, how to use webinars in your business, and discuss how webinars work. You'll walk away with some applied ideas about running and benefiting from webinars. We'll also answer some questions like "are webinars live" and "how do I brand a webinar?"

What Is a Webinar? (Definition & What It Means)

As mentioned in the earlier webinar definition, a webinar is a seminar conducted online. It allows you to host a virtual meeting without the need to detect a suitable physical venue. With a webinar, share your presentation with your audition without physically beingness there.

Your audience gets the benefit of participating without leaving the comfort of their home. They can but watch your webinar using their desktop or laptop estimator or mobile device.

In most cases, webinars are concern-related and are used as an authority-building or relationship-building tactic. Webinars tin also be used internally for team meetings, especially if y'all work with an international, remote team.

A webinar offers the following benefits when it comes to communicating with your audition:

Interactivity through live chat between the host and the attendees besides equally attendees themselves. This not only allows webinar hosts to engage with their audience and build a relationship, but also to improve the webinar based on the feedback received.
The ability to share your screen and your webcam so your audition can non only see your presentation, but also your face up.
The ability for your audience to ask questions and take part in polls, which is another manner to go along the audience engaged throughout the webinar.
Webinars can be recorded then repurposed later on as digital products such every bit workshops and training sessions.
Webinars tin accommodate a large number of participants due to the fact they aren't limited by physical space.

If you've been wondering, "are webinars live," here's your respond. In that location are two different types of webinars:

Live webinar. Live webinars happen in real-fourth dimension and allow for much more interactivity as the audition tin enquire questions at any time and become an answer.
Pre-recorded webinars. Pre-recorded webinars have already taken identify and are unremarkably offered as a replay. This means the audience tin can't have office in a live chat nor can they become their questions answered. With a pre-recorded webinar, y'all tin can offering several replay times to allow anyone to register and view it at a time that's user-friendly for them.

How to Use Webinars in Your Business in 2020

Now that nosotros've covered what webinars are, let'due south discuss different ways they tin can be used in your business. Hither'southward a listing of common uses for webinars:

1. Employ Webinars as a Marketing & Sales Tool

In most cases, webinars are used as a function of a concern or brand'southward marketing strategy. Webinars aren't reserved for just large companies and corporations. They can exist successfully used by small businesses, solopreneurs, and startups besides. In this case, requesting registrations for the webinar allows you to significantly abound your electronic mail list. At the end you can pitch your product and service to an interested and engaged audience too every bit follow up with them afterward on.

two. Free Content equally List Building Strategy

While webinars usually involve a sales pitch at the end, information technology'due south not uncommon for business concern owners to run a "no-pitch" webinar purely to build their email list. In this case, all that's required out of participants is to annals for the webinar with their email accost.

An alternative to this is using a social media platform such as YouTube Live, Instagram Live or Facebook Live to host a gratis webinar. Encourage attendees to follow you on those platforms and so they don't miss it.

The primary goal of this type of webinar is to establish your expertise and build a relationship with your audience by providing value instead of focusing on the sale.

Once you lot've connected with them on social media, you can keep to engage and turn them into e-mail subscribers where you nurture the human relationship even further.

three. Live Q&A Sessions

Another way to use webinars is to run a live Q&A session where y'all respond your audience's questions almost your products or services. This blazon of webinar works well with production-based concern owners, whether the product is digital or physical. You can not only answer questions about your product, but also offer product demonstrations or interactive walkthroughs.

Use this type of webinar as an opportunity to motility your customers from a trialing stage into a paid tier and keep your retention rate loftier. You lot can likewise use this to upsell the next paid plan or other products and services, which represent the next logical footstep in their customer journey.

Q&A sessions also work well for authors, independent musicians, or filmmakers. They can exist a great way to connect with your audience, merely also to go feedback on the direction of your creative piece of work.

Blueprint the perfect Q&A slide by following the steps in this tutorial:

Once your audition feels involved in creating the concluding piece, they'll be more inclined to not only buy it but to also spread the give-and-take nearly information technology to their friends and family unit.

4. Live Preparation Webinars

Live Training Webinars — What is webinar training? Information technology's a great fashion to train a remote squad. (Image source: Envato Elements)

If y'all've got a remote team, a webinar is a great way to train them on a new piece of software, walk them through the standard operating procedures in your visitor, update them on the latest changes, and more.

Since webinars tin be recorded, yous don't have to worry about team members missing it as you lot tin can simply send them a recording of a webinar.

5. Interactive Interviews

You tin also use webinars to conduct live, interactive interviews where your audience can join in and participate. Provide your customers with more than value past bringing on an expert and get exposure to their audience once they register for the webinar.

half-dozen. Customer Onboarding & Training

If you've got a software visitor, you lot tin can benefit greatly from using webinars to onboard and train your customers. This can happen alive as well equally in the class of a pre-recorded webinar. It allows you to cutting the confusion and frustration that comes from having to learn new software, which then increases your churn rate.

Webinars make it easier to learn new software and adjust to it. In return, once your customers know how to utilize it, they're more than inclined to stay as well as open new support tickets.

How Does a Webinar Piece of work in 2020?

To host a webinar, at that place are a few things you'll need to take care of first. Allow's address them more than in-depth beneath:

one. Webinar Construction

Almost webinars are normally between 45-60 minutes long and involve the host presenting a specific topic, a Q&A session with the audience, and a sales pitch at the end.

First, y'all'll demand to come up with a topic for your webinar. Your topic should be of interest to your audience. So, information technology pays off to keep a running list of common questions and interests that you lot notice with your current customers, clients, and followers. The topic should relate to your business organization if yous plan on using it as a marketing or sales tool.

Once you know what your topic will be, yous'll demand to outline it and then create a slide deck for information technology using a program like PowerPoint or Keynote. A webinar template like those available through Envato Elements is a great way to create a professional-looking slide deck speedily.

Envato Elements has a swell offer:download as many every bit pattern assets yous want for ane low price.

If you're interested in a one-time webinar template download, yous can also find attractive, professional person PowerPoint templates on GraphicRiver.

You'll also need to create a marketing programme that'll promote your webinar to your audition.

This article features some webinar templates to assistance you first creating your webinar today:

After y'all've taken care of those details, information technology's fourth dimension to consider the technical requirements.

2. Technical Requirements

When information technology comes to technical requirements, you'll need to consider the following:

Webinar Platform

I of the kickoff choices, you'll have to make is your webinar platform. There'due south no shortage of webinar platforms to choose from, ranging from gratuitous to paid, depending on your upkeep.

Virtually all the paid platforms offer interactive features such as live chat, polls, the ability to share your screen and your webcam, and more. They also offer the ability to record the webinar and ready up an automatic replay schedule. The price will depend on the number of participants that show up alive. Some of the most popular platforms include WebinarJam, Webinar Ninja, Demio, and others.

If you're on a budget, you can utilize YouTube Live to host a webinar for free. For this, y'all'll need to set upwards a YouTube channel kickoff. The downside of using YouTube Live is that yous tin't gear up an automated replay of the recorded webinar. Only yous can download the recording from your YouTube channel and repurpose it as a digital product.

Photographic camera

Y'all'll besides need a camera so that your audience tin can see yous. This allows you to build a amend relationship with them and adds a dose of personality to your brand. Employ your webcam if you've got nothing else, merely proceed in listen that you don't accept a lot of control over your built-in webcam.

You tin can besides invest in a more professional USB webcam or even accept reward of a pro-video camera if you've got one already. The latter options give you lot more than command over the position of your camera. They tin can be used with software that adds extra effects or allows yous to fine-tune details such every bit effulgence, contrast, and more than.

Microphone

The adjacent slice of equipment you'll need is a microphone. As with the camera, there'southward a wide variety of choice from using USB microphones to lavalier microphones to smash microphones. The choice will, once again, depend on your budget as well as personal preference. Keep in listen that you'll get better sound quality than with a built-in microphone.

Cyberspace Connection

Lastly, your internet connection volition play a role in the quality of your webinar. Ideally, you want your download and upload speeds to exist betwixt a minimum of 4 Mbps and an optimum speed of 15 Mbps.

Test your internet speed with a tool like SpeedTest.cyberspace and talk to your Isp well-nigh the possibility of upgrading your programme if need be.

The following tutorial explains how to prepare and run a webinar:

3. How to Bring together a Webinar

How your audience joins the webinar depends on your chosen platform. Some of them require the attendees to download a small application first and enter their registration details.

Some platforms crave a special link that'll be emailed to them before the webinar starts. On some platforms, your audition will have the power to call in and attend past dialing a specific phone number.

Think to read through the documentation of your chosen platform so you can ready all the necessary emails to ensure your audience doesn't miss the webinar.

4. Post-Webinar Follow Up

Finally, once the webinar is over, you'll desire to follow upwardly with audition members who registered but didn't testify up. Send them a replay link and give them a limited fourth dimension frame such as 24 or 48 hours to view the recording.

You tin as well transport a special-offer electronic mail if your webinar was focused on a sales pitch and remind them when the offer expires.

v Quick Webinar Slide Blueprint Trends for 2020

The design of your webinar can make or break your webinar. If you've got a design that makes it difficult to read the slides, people will lose interest. Having a nice design will make your presentation look and feel more professional.

Hither are five webinar design trends to be aware of:

ane. Minimal

Minimal designs are perfect for anyone who doesn't want a distracting design. A minimal design is nifty if you want a design that won't distract your audition. Minimal design is swell if you want people to focus on the chart or your text.

two. Vintage

Vintage design has a nice classic feel. A vintage design typically has soft hues and retro style aspects to the blueprint. This can be a slap-up contrast to the modern loud and noisy designs that are popular today.

three. Colorful Themes

Colorful themes are fun and full of creativity that'll inspire your audience. They'll make your presentation stand out. Simply recollect to make certain that the colors don't disharmonism.

4. Dark Backgrounds

The nighttime background has become really pop because they work all-time on electronic displays. A dark background is great if you're giving a long webinar or presentation considering it's easy on the eyes.

five. Colorful Charts

Having colorful charts and graphs volition draw the attention of the audience to the data you are presenting. If you've got a plain groundwork your colorful charts or data will stand out against everything else on the slide. Colorful charts and graphs brand that data a little more interesting for the audience.

The Best Webinar Templates of 2020

Need help designing your webinar presentation? Turn to Envato Elements for professionally designed webinar presentation templates. Here are some of the best:

1. Magnum PowerPoint Template

Magnum has viii color schemes to choose from for your presentation. This template comes with over 970 slides that you can add information to. It likewise comes with infographics, custom animation for slides, lists, and tables.

ii. The Beginning - Business Presentation

The showtime comes with fifty unique templates. They've got a nice pattern that tin be used for any topic. This template comes with icons and infographics that you can add to your slides. The beginning comes with both light and dark versions.

iii. Metropolis - Business PowerPoint Template

Urban center comes with fifty unique slides. At that place are both lite and dark versions. Forth with slide templates, you also go infographics and icons. The design in the Metropolis template is a professional and elementary blueprint.

four. Eduvision - Education PowerPoint Template

Eduvison template comes with over 50 unique slide templates. Along with slide templates, it comes with infographics and icons. This template comes in two aspect ratio sizes: 16:9 and 4:iii.

5. Pozea : Webinar, Seminar & Briefing PowerPoint

Pozea template comes with 100 total slides and 50 unique slides. Hands add together images of your choice to the template by dragging and dropping them into the image placeholder. This template comes with two color scheme options for you lot to choose betwixt.

Learn More than About Webinars and How to Utilise Them

Making a webinar from scratch tin can be time-consuming. Using a template volition ensure that you lot've got a professional template that'll impress your audience.

Now that you lot've looked at trends and templates, you tin ameliorate sympathise the answer to "how do webinars work." Learn more past studying our webinar guide. Or start with 1 or more of these tutorials:

Improve Your Business With Webinars

No matter what type of business y'all run, you lot can realize peachy benefits from hosting a webinar. Now that we've answered the question, "what is a webinar and how does information technology work," you're ready to create your own webinar.

With the tips in this article and the rest of our webinar series, you'll become a webinar pro in no time. Start using webinars in your business to connect with your audience, establish your expertise, and reach your business organization and sales goals.

Editorial Note: The tutorial was originally published in August of 2018. It'southward been comprehensively revised to include new information—with special help from Sarah Joy.