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Webinars have long become an essential marketing tool, especially if you hope to tap into the vast online market. They help generate leads, engage with potential customers, and build brand identity.
However, using webinars as a primary source of content marketing can take some time to kick off, and your company may require a much quicker route to promote your product or service.
It is also possible that the nature of your business doesn't require an elaborate or prolonged digital marketing process. If this is your case, you can still tap into the power of webinars by sponsoring one. In this article, you will discover the benefits of webinar sponsorship and some steps you can take to ensure that you're sponsoring webinars that best represent your brand.
The concept of sponsoring a webinar
Sponsored webinars are no different from any other online webinar, but they have one caveat— a business name or brand associated with them. When you sponsor a webinar, you pay a third party to organize and market an online event instead of hosting one.
The sponsored webinar could be a stand-alone event created and hosted solely for the benefit of your business and aimed at your target audience. Another common way to sponsor a webinar is by paying an already famous host to advertise your product or service to their vast audience. Either way you choose to go about it, there are several benefits to sponsoring a webinar as part of your marketing and branding efforts.
Benefits of sponsoring webinar
There are several reasons why sponsoring a webinar instead of hosting yours can benefit your business. Here are some of them:
Lead generation
Webinars are excellent lead generation sources, and you can cash in on the action by sponsoring a webinar, usually called a lead generation website, because webinars have several features that allow you to generate and convert leads.
With a vast audience, webinar hosts can attract potential leads. They can use best webinar platforms to manage attendee lists and provide metrics on every webinar registrant and how to contact them. Also, if the webinars are pre-recorded, they can repeatedly reach people in different time zones. Also, they can still generate interest and possible leads long after the event has gone online, making it a continuous means of advertisement and marketing.
Thought leadership and building authority
Webinars are also crucial for building thought leadership and positioning your brand as the leading authority in any field. You can create a brand by association by sponsoring a webinar, especially where its host prominently aligns with your message. Prospective leads may find it more believable when a third party outlines the highlights of your service, especially if it is someone they already trust.
A sponsored webinar can also deliver detailed audio and visual information while also encouraging the audience to participate actively in the conversation. This way, you can gain insights about your leads while gathering feedback from a panel of prospective clients. This information can help improve the marketing of your product.
Less use of resources
Although webinars are virtual events that are cheaper to run than physical events, they do require a lot of planning. Some webinars, mostly live ones, would need staff or at least someone tech-savvy to take care of the technical aspects of the webinar. When you sponsor a webinar, you absolve yourself of the stress required to put out a good show.
Additionally, with fewer resources needed to host a webinar and fewer people targeting webinars, you'll spend less of your budget than you would have if you had chosen traditional advertising channels. As they are an excellent way to publicize your business or product, this makes a cheaper and slightly more desirable way of advertising your brand and the services you offer.
Help for your sales team
As a business, you likely have a sales team dedicated to moving your products to your customers. This may require them to spend much time and resources pursuing avenues to market the product. A well-targeted sponsored webinar can relieve your sales team of much of the effort.
Instead of spending time organizing and possibly travelling for an in-person event, they can follow up on the webinar, giving their input when necessary.
You can have your sales team members monitor the audience and their conversations, quickly address pain points, and instantly convert any lead to a sale. The nature of virtual events like webinars means they can follow up on raised issues more rapidly than any other online platform.
Reduced follow-up time for business owners
As a business owner, you can make your business model unique by employing a hands-on approach to customer satisfaction; sponsoring a webinar allows you to do this. Outsourcing webinars not only frees up your time to work on improving more vital parts of your business, such as quality control and converting leads, but it also allows you to respond to complaints and potential leads quickly. This ability is especially vital in a B2B business, where speed and agility can be pivotal.
Sponsored webinars benefit you in this regard in the following ways:
- No travel time involved; everything you need is in your device, literally at your fingertips. According to reports, you can send the prospect the necessary information at once, giving you an 87% more chance of closing sales.
- Virtual meetings make prospective leads more comfortable.
- You get to have an honest conversation that would inspire the lead to buy and be more loyal to your brand. On your part, you gain a deeper understanding of how the product benefits the user, which can help your branding process.
- It is more convenient for everyone involved, making sales and receipt of feedback more likely.
Easier one-to-one meetings
This advantage is more important for B2B businesses whose sales cycle is highly influenced by the business's connection with customers.
Webinars alone are crucial lead generation sources for these businesses as they help companies create awareness for their product and build authority. But they can also help build relationships by making one-on-one meetings more straightforward to arrange.
Some of the features that make this possible are the chat options so you can communicate with the attendees. They also allow you to gain access to the information you can reach out to following the webinar and book one-to-one meetings.
Social media and website traffic
One of the positive aftermaths of good webinars is that they can drive websites to your social media and websites and lead to increased engagement. Even if you're sponsoring a webinar, you can use it to craft a good content strategy. You can create a killer landing page so interested webinar attendees can easily be converted into sales. You can also ensure that any social media visitor is quickly exposed to your offers. You want to have your best package pinned to the top of your page to seize their attention and make them more likely to purchase them.
Advantage over absentee rivals
The business landscape can be very competitive, and as a business owner, you want to ensure that you are exploiting every opportunity to edge out your competition. Sponsoring a visible webinar can be a good way of putting your products in places your competition may have yet to consider. Webinars are particularly good at exposing brands to new markets, and you can benefit from that level of exposure.
What to consider when sponsoring a webinar
Sponsoring webinars has so many benefits and is undoubtedly a smart move you can make for your business. However, like any other business decision, you want to have a good strategy when going about it. To get the best results from sponsoring webinars, you want to consider the following options:
Find the right source
You want to ensure you're looking at the right source to get the best webinars that would be fantastic for your business. Many companies have found that Publishers of Industry journals, Trade Associations, and Business Chambers often make good partners and often have webinars needing sponsorships. As these organizations are usually reputable and have a dedicated audience they influence, this can be good for your business.
Ensure you have aligned interests
Even though a webinar has a large audience and is popular, it may not be the right target for your business. You want to do some research and ensure that the webinar's themes align with those of your company and product. For example, if you sell health products, you want to avoid collaborating with a webinar focused on adventure. While being adventurous is not bad, it still needs to reflect the spirit of your brand ultimately.
Reserved resources
Finally, whatever webinar you sponsor, you want to ensure that it leaves you with the energy, time, and budget to follow up on the generated lead. Ideally, the host should be on a platform that makes collecting feedback and contacting clients easier and faster. You and your sales team can focus more on selling and converting leads instead of trying to manage the webinar's quality.
Conclusion
Webinars are essential to promoting your business and generating leads that can be converted to paying clients. However, considering the effort it could take to set up, sponsoring a webinar is less technical than hosting one yourself.
This approach has several benefits, including increased lead generation, improved website and social media traffic, brand awareness, and more authority in your field of business. However, you want to ensure that you're getting these webinars from the right source and that they align with your products or services.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to sponsor a webinar?
Costs for webinar sponsorship vary depending on factors like audience size, reach and the size of the event in consideration for the sponsorship.
What do sponsors get in return?
Sponsors gain valuable brand exposure through placing there brandings, valuable mentions during the event, and visibility in the eyes of their valuable audience. Additionally, sponsors receive the opportunity to align their brand with relevant content and engage with a targeted audience.
What do sponsors look for in an event?
Sponsors seek events with relevant target audiences, strong engagement potential, and opportunities for meaningful brand exposure. Our webinars provide sponsors with a platform to connect with their target market and enhance brand awareness.
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