Earlier this year, we shared a blog post that outlined some of our projections and insight about the growing virtual trade show and webinar market caused by the global pandemic. Since May, there has been a spike in the presence and planning of global virtual trade shows and on-demand webinars.
Webinars have always been a popular way to virtually connect global audiences and share timely topics within networks. However, like virtual trade shows, the pandemic caused a major uptick in webinars as businesses looked for ways to continue driving engagement and sales in the absence of large meetings and networking opportunities.
If your company invests marketing resources in webinar development and distribution, there are many ways to leverage the content to secure earned media and maintain engagement with current and prospective customers. Below are a few ways to promote webinars before and after they are pushed out to audiences.
Before the Webinar Launch Date
Prior to the webinar going live, it can be beneficial to distribute a press release, media alert or email that tees up the webinar. Developing and distributing press releases can be a great way to share the webinar topic in a concise format and with a widespread, but relevant group of individuals.
Of course, some news outlets will not cover enterprise webinars, but many niche trade outlets will repost press releases or publish articles that highlight the webinar topic and registration link, as the topic directly impacts their readers.
However, when developing these materials, it is important to explain why audiences should care about the webinar, as well as how the topics covered impact the industry at large, not just the company at hand. This approach and combination of information will help generate excitement about the webinar, while also driving registrations.
If distributing a press release via a wire service does not align with your marketing budget, you can simply distribute it via email. There is the potential for less exposure due to a wire service’s broad distribution channels, but this approach can still yield earned interview requests and coverage about the impact of the topics presented in the webinar.
After the Webinar
Many organizations could find themselves with a plethora of sales collateral including webinars, white papers or research that they are unsure what to do with. Deadlines and external pressures to develop and distribute this content could have prevented the ability to leverage these materials in pitching when they first were developed. Have no fear, this is still an opportunity to leverage this content for earned media.
Depending on the timeliness of the topic, marketing teams could revisit these webinars and determine how the topics shared impact the current industry landscape. For example, does the webinar cover an emerging technology that has now seen a resurgence. Is the webinar a Q&A with an industry analyst or influencer from the company? Is the topic evergreen and does it impact the industry or the economy at large? If the answer was “yes” to any of these questions, there is a way to leverage the content into a campaign and potentially secure earned editorial coverage.
Below are three types of webinar topics with ideas on how they can be leveraged to bring these three questions to life.
- Emerging technology. One way to leverage this type of webinar content for earned media is to distribute a proactive pitch and offer the journalist an interview or contributed article about how the emerging technology is resurfacing and impacting the industry. Just be sure to offer your spokesperson’s insight from the webinar and new learnings from the evolution of the technology. One of the most important elements of this outreach will be to make sure you are targeting the right media contacts. If they haven’t published trend stories in the past, it is best to select another target.
- Expert Q&A. Depending on the experts and the content of their remarks, there may be an opportunity to offer reporters interviews or a written Q&A developed from the webinar. The resulting articles would help build thought leadership while also sharing insight into the topics at hand.
- Evergreen topics. Although these topics can sometimes be a harder sell to media, it can be beneficial to research recent news, regulatory changes or relevant updates that may have made this topic more relevant and topical. If so, there could be an opportunity to revamp this content for newsjacking or proactive pitching. The resulting article would also help increase thought leadership for the company and spokesperson by providing them with a chance to comment on a current trend.
Webinars are extremely useful for sales initiatives and can be equally valuable to strengthen or shape PR campaigns. By leveraging webinars in the proactive pitch angles suggested above, companies can secure earned editorial coverage, drive interest and registrations in the webinar, while also building thought leadership and brand awareness, which are two of the leading communication objectives we see on corporate radars.